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Monday, March 24, 2014

World Tuberculosis Day 2014: Consensus statement on the management of patients with MDR-TB and XDR-TB in Europe

Today, the European Respiratory Journal has released the publication of the TBnet consensus statement on the management of patients with MDR-TB and XDR-TB in Europe. The manuscript can be accessed online and  free of charge.
You will find important facts and information on the management of your patients as well as recommendations for therapy monitoring and documentation.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

2014 World Tuberculosis Day

For the 2014 World TB (Tuberculosis) Day on 24 March 2014 many individuals, groups and organizations are standing together to spread the message of ZERO STIGMA. As the international leader in the fight against TB, Dr. Mario Raviglione, the director of the Global TB Programme at the WHO shared this ZERO STIGMA message. Take up his call to action and join the cause! 

Friday, March 21, 2014

Healthy Lungs for Life campaign 2014: continuing success of the Year of the Lung 2010

Hundreds of millions of people suffer every day from lung diseases, and they cause almost 20% of all deaths in the world. Increased awareness about lung diseases is vital, because they are killing more and more people every year and account for a socioeconomic burden of €102 billion due to health care costs and lost working days in Europe alone. The ‘Big Five' lung disorders are lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB) and asthma. The impact of lung diseases remains as large today as it was at the turn of the century and is likely to remain so for several decades. Each year in the EU, one in eight of all deaths are due to respiratory diseases and lung conditions cause at least 6 million hospital admissions.

In 2010 was started very ambitious initiative YEAR OF THE LUNG. YEAR OF THE LUNG was the most important and the most successful campaign which emphasized the importance of public awareness about respiratory diseases. Speaking at the European Launch, Prof Nikos Siafakas, ERS President 2010, said that the most respiratory diseases are both preventable and treatable, treatment however is very costly, and effective prevention policies in the EU and worldwide are severely lacking”.


The "Healthy Lungs for Life" initiative will be launched in 2014. The concept behind this initiative is to develop a long-term health awareness campaign that will speak not only to those already affected by lung disease, in order to improve their quality of life, but also to those who may be affected in the future. The objective is to focus on prevention and public education, to try and reduce the
burden of lung disease on society, and to use the ERS congress as the driving force behind the campaign.

This year, in 2014, the theme for Healthy Lungs for Life will be Clean Air. The air that we breathe each day has a massive impact on our lungs, the first internal organ it comes in contact with.
 

Saturday, March 15, 2014

COPD Istanbul 2014: International update on COPD



I would like to share with you my experience and impressions about the COPD Istanbul 2014, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey at 8-10 March 2014. The main topic of the Congress was COPD. The conference was attended by a wide range of professionals (more than 500 persons) such as industry leaders, university academics and researchers from all the regions including Turkey, Middle East, Asia, North Africa and Europe. It was high level meeting, the speakers were world known leader in COPD and in Respiratory medicine:
Antonio Anzueto, USA
Ashraf Alzaabi, UAE
Abdel Rahman Anani, Jordan
Nasser Behbehani, Kuwait
Francesco Blasi, Italy
Miron Bogdan, Romania
Demosthenes Bouros, Greece
Jean Bousquet, France
Vito Brusasco, Italy
Mario Cazzola, Italy
Alexander Chuchalin, Russia
Alexandru Corlateanu, Moldovia
Mukadder Calikoglu, Turkey
Ronald Dahl, Denmark
Giuseppe Di Maria, Italy
Anh-Tuan Dinh Xuan, France
Pinar Ergun, Turkey
Leonardo Fabbri, Italy
Mina Gaga, Greece
Christina Gratziou, Greece
Hakan Gunen, Turkey
Gazi Gulbas, Turkey
Nilgun Gurses, Turkey
Nicola Alexander Hanania, USA
Ashraf Hatem, Egypt
Ismail Hanta, Turkey
Loay El Husseini, Jordan
Yavor Ivanov, Bulgaria
Nadim Kanj, Lebanon
Adel Khatab, Egypt
Gunseli Kilinc, Turkey
Kosta Kostov, Bulgaria
Filiz Kosar, Turkey
Jan Lotvall, Sweden
Bassam Mahboub, UAE
Maria Gabriella Matera, Italy
Florin Mihaltan, Romania
Marc Miravitlles, Spain
Arzu Mirici, Turkey
Mostafa Moin, Iran
Levent Cem Mutlu, Turkey
Denis O'Donnell, Canada
Mustafa Ozhan, Turkey
Can Ozturk, Turkey
Onder Ozturk, Turkey
Clive Page, UK
Reynold Panettieri, USA
Alberto Papi, Italy
Mehmet Polatli, Turkey
Nikolaos Siafakas, Greece
Joan Soriano, Spain
Mecit Suerdem, Turkey
Sema Umut, Turkey
Omar Usmani, UK
Esra Uzaslan, Turkey
Thys Van der Molen, The Netherlands
Mirna Waket, Lebanon
Wisia Wedzicha, UK

1st  Day of the COPD Istanbul 2014  was dedicated to hot topics in COPD:
Phenotyping the heterogeneity of COPD
Inhaled corticosteroids for COPD
Bench to bedside approach in COPD
New GOLD 2014 Staging: COPD Treatment from A to D
Outcomes for COPD
Pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD; highlights
Emerging therapies for COPD
Prof. Mario Cazzola, Italy and Prof. Gunseli Kilinc, Turkey. Opening Ceremony of COPD Istanbul 2014.
2nd Day of the COPD Istanbul 2014 was dedicated to:
Overlap syndromes in COPD
COPD: markers and inflammation
COPD guidelines: the important thing is not to stop questioning
Exacerbation of COPD: New perspectives
Management of COPD with NIV
this my presentation: 
Small airways in COPD – no longer silent
COPD: Effects beyond the Lungs
Prof. Nikos Siafakas, Greece. Closing ceremony of COPD Istanbul 2014

Finally we would like to thank COPD Istanbul 2014 Scientific committee and its Chair Prof. Mario Cazzola, Italy and Vice-chairs Prof. Nikos Siafakas, Greece and Prof. Gunseli Kilinc, Turkey for a successful Conference and remarkable annual organization which allowed taking part in different discussions, to acquire useful information and to establish relations with international specialists.