Thorax Podcast

Patients exposed to air pollution after diagnosis of lung cancer have shorter survival, in particular those patients with early-stage non-small cell cancers (specially adenocarcinomas), according to a study published by Thorax and conducted by researchers from the Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California. The first study of this kind was based on a population of over 300 thousand patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer over more than two decades. In this podcast, Dr Jaime Hart, from the Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and author of the Thorax editorial about this study, tells Dr Jennifer Quint the details of this study and its impact on how air pollution is considered by general population. Read the original article ’Air pollution affects lung cancer survival’, which corresponding author is Dr Sandrah P Eckel, here: http://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/2016/06/22/thoraxjnl-2015-207927.full. The editorial is available here: http://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/2016/07/20/thoraxjnl-2016-208967.full.

In this podcast Dr Ian Mudway talks to Dr Elizabeth Batalla-Duran about his recent paper in Plos-One entitled "Effects of air pollution and introduction of the London low emission zone on the prevalence of respiratory and allergic symptoms on the school children of East London".

In this podcast Dr Elizabeth Batalla-Duran talks to Dr Adam Leventhal from the University Southern California about his paper "Association of Electronic Cigarette Use With Initiation of Combustible Tobacco Product Smoking in Early Adolescence" recently published in JAMA.

In this podcast Dr Janice Higginson talks to Dr Helena Anderson from Oslo University Hospital about her recent paper published in Rheumatology. The paper is a retrospective review of research done into rituximab's effect on the rare Antisynthetase Syndrome.

Thorax deputy editor Paul Cullinan talks to David Coggon, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, about pneumococcal vaccination for welders. Read the full article: http://goo.gl/p3qN8s

Ian Pavord talks to Scott Weiss, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, about his review on the genomic origins of asthma, which considers several areas where environmental exposures, genomics, development and asthma occurrence overlap. Read the full review: http://goo.gl/KctouZ

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) can result in significant morbidities including the cardiovascular, metabolic and neurocognitive systems. While great advances have been made in sleep medicine research in the past decades, there are still wide gaps in our knowledge concerning the exact underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of OSA and consequences. A recent review in Thorax discusses the recent exciting discoveries in genotype-phenotype interactions, epigenetics, genomics and proteomics related to OSA. Thorax editor Andy Bush talks to co-author David Gozal, professor in the Department of Pediatrics, The University of Chicago, about the highlights. Read the full paper: The promise of translational and personalised approaches for paediatric obstructive sleep apnoea: an ‘Omics’ perspective http://goo.gl/fKf28O

We are delighted to present a podcast recording of an interview with Professor Ajit Lalvani to coincide with the TB special edition of Thorax in March. He describes the development of the FDA-approved, NICE and CDC-endorsed interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA, ELISpot, T-SPOT.TB) which he invented and validated as the first advance in diagnosis of latent TB in 100-years. He will discuss new findings using this assay published in the March issue of Thorax, and the prospects for improved immunodiagnostics in TB. Professor Lalvani is a superstar in this field and has contributed greatly to the TB special edition of Thorax. He is the chair of infectious diseases, co-chairman of the Section of Respiratory Infection of the National Heart and Lung Institute, and honorary consultant physician at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, St Mary’s Campus. He is a Wellcome Trust senior clinical research fellow and NIHR senior investigator. Read the special issue: http://thorax.bmj.com/content/68/3.

Benny Weksler, associate professor of surgery, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, talks to Jennifer Quint, Thorax journal club editor, about surgery for small cell carcinoma of the lung. See also: http://ats.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/94/3/889

Jennifer Quint, Thorax’s journal club editor, talks to Philipp Lepper, consultant physician, University Hospital of Saarland, Germany, about his study which revealed glucose levels can predict mortality in patients admitted with community acquired pneumonia. See also: http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e3397

Closing schools to restrict the spread of influenza during a pandemic is an idea oftern floated, but what effect does it actually have? Thorax’s Journal Club editor Jennifer Quint asks David Earn, professor of mathematics, McMaster University, what his work on the 2009 H1N1 outbreak in Alberta, Canada reveals. See also: http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1033342

A combination of prednisone, azathioprine, and N-acetylcysteine has been widely used as a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, however the safety and efficacy of this three-drug regimen is unknown. Jennifer Quint, Thorax’s Journal Club editor, talks to Fernando Martinez, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, about the controversy surrounding the question, and what his paper on it reveals. See also: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1113354

Jennifer Quint, Thorax’s Journal Club editor, talks to David Jablons, University of California San Francisco, and consultant for Life Technologies, about his assay to predict survival in resected non-squamous, non-small-cell lung cancer. See also: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2811%2961941-7/abstract

Jennifer Quint, Thorax’s Journal Club editor, talks to Subroto Paul, Division of Thorasic Surgery at New York Presbrytarian Hospital System, about his study comparing short-term postoperative outcomes following open and thoracoscopic lobectomy. See also: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22826474 http://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/2012/08/23/thoraxjnl-2012-202521.full

Jennifer Quint (Thorax’s journal club editor) talks to Dale Needham (associate professor of medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) about his paper recently published in the BMJ: See also: http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e2124

Ian Pavord (Thorax editor) talks to Peter Gibson (professor of respiratory medicine, John Hunter Hospital, New South Wales, Australia) about non-eosinophilic asthma, particularly neutrophilic asthma. They discuss the stability of the different inflammatory phenotypes, tools to recognise non-eosinophilic asthma, whether these patients benefit from inhaled steroids, and Professor Gibson’s paper investigating the relationship between H influenzae respiratory infection and neutrophilic asthma. See also: Combined Haemophilus influenzae respiratory infection and allergic airways disease drives chronic infection and features of neutrophilic asthma

Jennifer Quint (Thorax’s journal club editor) talks to Paolo Macchiarini (professor in the Advanced Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm) about using bioartificial scaffolds to replace complex airway defects. Professor Macchiarini was part of a team who replaced the airway of a tracheal cancer patient with a tailor-made bioartificial scaffold. Their paper was recently published in the Lancet: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2811%2961715-7/abstract#cor1 ,

Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with an increased prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its components. Professor SK Sharma (head of the Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences) has investigated whether treatment of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) would modify these outcomes. Jennifer Quint (Thorax’s Journal Club editor) speaks to him about his results recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine. See also: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1103944

Jennifer Quint (Thorax’s Journal Club editor) talks to Onno Mets (Department of Radiology, University Medical Centre Utrecht) about his paper recently published in JAMA: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1104554

Jennifer Quint (Thorax’s journal club editor) talks to Ann Joseph (Wexler Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota) about whether treating tobacco dependence as a chronic condition results in better short and long term quit rates.

Jennifer Quint (Thorax’s Journal Club editor) talks to Frank McKeon (Genome Institute of Singapore, Harvard Medical School) about his work into the extent of lung regeneration following catastrophic damage and the potential role of adult stem cells. Dr McKeon’s latest paper, published in Cell, examines airway regeneration in mice after H1N1 influenza infection. See also: http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674%2811%2901173-1

Many treatments available for smoking cessation are unaffordable for the majority of smokers, however cytisine is one exception. Jennifer Quint (Thorax’s journal club editor) talks to Robert West (Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London) about the mechanism of the drug and his research into its efficacy and cost-effectiveness. Professor West’s trial was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. See also: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1102035

Only one treatment is licensed for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and this only in Europe. Luca Richeldi (Center for Rare Lung Diseases, University of Modena, Italy) describes his phase 2 trial of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor to see if it could be safely and effectively used in patients with the disease. Dr Richeldi’s research was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. See also: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1103690

Jennifer Quint (Thorax’s journal club editor) talks to Pallav Shah (a respiratory physician at the Royal Brompton Hospital, UK) about his trial of airway bypass for patients with severe emphysema, recently published in the Lancet. Dr Shah explains the procedure and how effective it was. See also: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2811%2961050-7/abstract

Jennifer Quint (Thorax’s journal club editor) talks to Dr John Matthews (Genentech) about his New England Journal of Medicine published study into whether lebrikizumab, an interleukin-13 monoclonal antibody, can improve asthma control. Dr Matthews explains the proposed mechanism behind the treatment and how they found it increased FEV1 in adults for whom inhaled glucocorticoids didn’t control their asthma - especially in those with high periostin levels. Dr Matthews was involved in the Milly trial. This podcast is intended for healthcare professionals only. See also: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1106469

In this inaugural Thorax journal club podcast, Jennifer Quint (Thorax’s journal club editor) talks to Dr Andres Floto (University of Cambridge) about how he’s confirmed long-term use of azithromycin in cystic fibrosis patients can lead to increased nontuberculous mycobacteria infections. Having recently had this work published in the Journal of Clinical Investigations, Dr Floto also explains the underlying machanism he identified for this. See also: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/46095

We were delighted to speak to Professor John Britton about the research published in the October issue of Thorax, by his and other groups, on smoking in the young. John is a chest physician, an epidemiologist and a former editor of Thorax. He is the director of the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies at the University of Nottingham. John has been a giant in tobacco research. He chaired the influential RCP Tobacco Advisory Group and played a major role in making the case for banning smoking in public places. Arguably, he has done more than anyone else in this country to limit tobacco exposure. We applaud his contribution.

A paper recently published in Thorax looks at the link between bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome in lung transplant recipients and the proximity of a major road to their home. In this podcast, two of the authors of that paper, Tim Narwot and Bart M Vanaudenaerde, talk to Paul Cullen about their research. See also: http://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/2011/03/31/thx.2010.155192.abstract?

Andrew Bush, Professor of Paediatric Respirology Imperial College London, talks to Fernando Martinez, Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Arizona Respiratory Center at University of Arizona, about recent developements in the understanding of the link between childhood asthma and infection.

Each month we aim to bring you an insight into different areas of Thorax, and explain a bit about the editorial processes and decisions that go on behind the scenes. In this podcast Dr Angshu Bhowmik talks to Thorax Editor Professor Wisia Wedzicha about her time as Thorax editor, and what steps to take to become an editor in a scientific journal.

Welcome to the Thorax podcast Each month we aim to bring you an insight into different areas of Thorax, and explain a bit about the editorial processes and decisions that go on behind the scenes. In this podcast Dr Angshu Bhowmik talks to Thorax Editor Professor Wisia Wedzicha about the articles highlighted in March’s “Airwaves”. They also discuss the importance of trial registration.

Welcome to the Thorax podcast Each month we aim to bring you an insight into different areas of Thorax, and explain a bit about the editorial processes and decisions that go on behind the scenes. In this podcast Dr Angshu Bhowmik talks to Thorax Editor Professor Wisia Wedzicha about the articles highlighted in January’s “Airwaves”. They also give some tips on writing a good paper.

Welcome to the first Thorax podcast Each month we aim to bring you an insight into different areas of Thorax, and explain a bit about the editorial processes and decisions that go on behind the scenes. In this first podcast Dr Angshu Bhowmik talks to Thorax Editor Professor Wisia Wedzicha about the articles highlighted in December’s ‘Airwaves’