Forward to Smoke Free Society

Today is World No Tobacco Day 2011.

World Health Organization produced this video for World No Tobacco Day 2011, the theme of which is a public health treaty, the "WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control". The tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of whom more than 5 million are users and ex‑users of tobacco and more than 600 000 are nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is the world's answer to the tobacco epidemic. Adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2003 and entered into force less than two years later, it now has more than 170 Parties, making it one of the most rapidly embraced treaties in the history of the United Nations. World No Tobacco Day 2011 highlights the critical importance of ensuring full implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The      Framework      Convention       on        Tobacco           Control require signatories         to develop        and            disseminate       appropriate guidelines   and       take      measures          to promote tobacco cessation and            adequate          treatment          for        tobacco dependence. There      are       a number          of            different guidelines across          the world.        

Key      common           themes  in          the        guidelines          are: 

• Increased         availability         and       accessibility      of         services 
• Implementation of         comprehensive  smoking cessation programms,  combining pharmacological and non pharmacological            methods
• Delivery            of         smoking            cessation          interventions     through  healthcare services as a            cost-effective            way      to reduce mortality        and       ill-health
• Guidelines         can       help      in          clinical  practice            and treatment monitoring 
• Documentation and       monitoring        is          important.

Based on international experience, it is thought that the best results to reduce tobacco demand are obtained when various tobacco control measures are implemented TOGETHER. Therefore, the next step is to create an integrated approach. The aim of an integrated approach is to combine treatment with prevention and follow-up, to stop people starting to smoke, to encourage them to quit, maintain abstinence and to support quitters who relapse. As well as focusing on treatment, tobacco control should be combined with preventative measures and long-term follow-up.

Lets work together for Smoke Free Society!

SMOKE - The Convenient Truth [1st place Worlds Best Presentation Contest] - EP

View more presentations from Empowered Presentations, Presentation Design Firm - Honolulu, HI

Unmet needs in COPD: COPD Guidelines 2011

Dear Respiratory friends,

Today I would to share with you my presentation “Unmet needs in COPD” dedicated to modern COPD guidelines. The presentation took place last week at the Congress of Internal Medicine in Chisinau, Moldova.

There can be figured 3 main parts:

•  COPD is a multifaceted disease
•  Multilateral evaluation COPD
•  Priorities in COPD management.

In my report I tried to analyse the new information extracted from different studies and highlight update from COPD guidelines. Also several slides were dedicated to the material referring to the hypothesis – potential link between BODE index classification and comorbidities in COPD patients. I will further develop and present this idea at the European Respiratory Society Congress at Amsterdam in September 2011.

Unmet needs in COPD: COPD Guidelines 2011

View more presentations from Alexandru Corlateanu.

Let me know if you are interested to get this presentation in power point format and simply email me: alexandru_corlateanu@yahoo.com.

I will be happy to get a feedback from you. Thanks!

X WORLD CONGRESS ON Sleep Apnea, Sleep respiratory disorders and snoring

May is a better sleep month! Respiratory Decade proud to invite you on X WORLD CONGRESS ON Sleep Apnea, Sleep respiratory disorders and snoring, which will take place at Rome, Italy August 27 - September 1, 2012. Read guest post by Professor of  Otolaryngology, Audiology and Phoniatrics at Università di Roma "La Sapienza" Mario FABIANI:

Dear Collegues and Friends,

I am honored to invite you to the next Congress on Sleep Apnea that the responsible Scientists in charge in the International Scientific Committee, advised by Christian Guilleminault, have decided to give us in Roma, Italy, on 2012. Developing studies about sleep apnea showed that this pathology is responsible for a wide range of serious clinical consequencies either in adults than in children, involving a large number of medical and surgical Specialties. The Congress on Sleep Apnea is the occasion every three years has the task to collect the most recent opinions and results on these various aspects. It is, therefore, our duty to call in the Congress the most prominent Scientists to offer their experience to the Participants.

Together with the efforts of maintaining a so high tradition we must warrant the high scientific quality together with the social opportunities offered by our country on natural, artistic and recreational fields.We will not miss the occasion of the forthcoming tenth World Congress to spread the knowledge of sleep apnea within those populations that are still underrepresented  among us and that instead, traditionally look to Italy and to the Mediterranean area with wide scientific interest like African and East Europeans. For doctors coming from these nations and other developing countries we will reserve particular lower conditions of subscription and prizes for original presentations.

Italy stands at the center of the western civilization area and we think that this tradition will bring a large audience of scientists from all over the world and particularly from Europe, North America and from the Latin American countries. Everybody knows that Italy is the garden of Europe with blue skies and sunny warm days, the highest mountains in Europe, erupting volcanoes, alpine lakes and beaches on 4 surrounding seas. I do not need to add much on natural beauties.

In every field we have famous protagonists. So we are proud to remember an important precursor in the field of Sleep Apnea studies, prof. Elio Lugaresi, who on 1968 published on an Italian Journal “The disorder of sleep and respiration in the Pickwick syndrome” and in 1980 the famous study on the population of the state of San Marino about “Some epidemiological data on snoring and cardio-circulatory disturbances”.

Roma will host the Tenth Congress organized by me and by prof. Oliviero Bruni under the auspices of the Italian Society of Sleep Medicine and many other scientific societies involved.  

Prof. Mario Fabiani speaks at Seoul Closing Ceremony to illustrate Roma candidacy for X WCSA

The end of August is a magical period for Roma, the streets are free from heavy car traffic as schools are closed, the time is warm but not hot, no rain, long days, people is coming back to work after the summer. In the hotels you will have all the comforts and the attentions at a price reduced at half the ordinary price as it is still considered a low season period. In the Congress facilities a full air conditioned environment is available.We are sure that the unique mix of classical antiquities, the modern stylish Italian way of life and the traditional hospitality and popular humor of Roman people would make your stay unforgettable.

Welcome to Roma in 2012 !!!!

Mario FABIANI

Professor of Otolaryngology, Audiology and Phoniatrics

Università di Roma "La Sapienza"

New non-communicable diseases prevention policies or 7 reasons for the cancer emperor’s new clothes

The Australian government has announced one of the most important non-communicable diseases prevention policies ever adopted. Thus, Australia will become the first country to specifically ban cigarette packet branding and emphasize the health risks of smoking. The introduction of the cigarette packaging branding measure is scheduled for July 2012 and it follows guidelines issued by the World Health Organization.

7 reasons for the cancer emperor’s new clothes (mandatory graphic warnings and standardized packaging) at the global level:

Every person has a right to be fully informed of the risks of smoking

A picture says a thousand words

Bigger is better

Low in cost – paid for by tobacco companies, not governments

Discourages uptake of smoking, especially among youth

Informs and enhances motivation to quit

Supported by evidence

Tobacco Control as a Primary Unmet Need

Earlier we wrote about non-communicable diseases (NCD) - respiratory diseases occupy a very important segment in the structure of chronic pathologies. 63% of all deaths are caused by NCDs, for which tobacco use is the greatest risk factor, after high blood pressure. 
The link between tobacco and some respiratory diseases is well known and was demonstrated in multiple scientific studies. Cigarettes kill half of all lifetime users. Half die in middle age – between 35 and 69 years old. No other consumer product is as dangerous, or kills as many people. Tobacco kills more than AIDS, legal drugs, illegal drugs, road accidents, murder, and suicide combined. It is ironic that we do not observe decreasing of smoking all over the world.

Recent control of the use of tobacco has been highlighted as the most urgent and immediate priority to help overcome the non-communicable disease crisis. This simple and efficient intervention was chosen for their health effects, cost-effectiveness, low costs of implementation, and political and financial feasibility.

The World Health Organization (WHO) selects "The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control" as the theme of the World No Tobacco Day, which will take place on Tuesday, 31 May 2011. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is the world's foremost tobacco control instrument.

GLOBAL TOBACCO CONTROL CAN AND SHOULD BE THE LEAD ENGINE IN THE RESOLUTION OF NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CRISIS!

PREPARING WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY 2011 WITH RESPIRATORY DECADE

The next World No Tobacco Day will take place on Tuesday, 31 May 2011 and Respiratory Decade is starting to publish materials about smoking. Today we want to share with you 5 facts on second hand smoke and 5 tobacco free videos.

More than 6 million people die each year from tobacco use or exposure to tobacco.

63% of all deaths are caused by non-communicable diseases, for which tobacco use is the greatest risk factor, after high blood pressure.

1. Second-hand smoke is the smoke that fills restaurants, offices or other enclosed spaces when people burn tobacco products such as cigarettes, bidis and water pipes. Everyone is exposed to its harmful effects.

2. Guidelines to Article 8 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control state that there is “no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke”. Creating 100% smoke-free environments is the only way to protect people from the harmful effects of second-hand tobacco smoke.

3. Second-hand smoke causes 600 000 premature deaths per year. There are more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.

4. In adults, second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. In infants, it causes sudden death. In pregnant women, it causes low birth weight.

5. Separate or ventilated smoking areas do not protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke can spread from a smoking area to a non-smoking area, even if the doors between the two areas are closed and even if ventilation is provided. Only 100% smoke-free environments provide effective protection.

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Respiratory Decade supporting Global action against the non-communicable diseases

Respiratory Decade is active participant of the global action against the non-communicable diseases (NCD)!

Of 57 million global deaths in 2008, 36 million, or 63%, were due to NCD. The four main NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases. The burden of these diseases is rising disproportionately among lower income countries and populations. In 2008, nearly 80% of noncommunicable disease deaths -- 29 million -- occurred in low- and middle-income countries with about 29% of deaths occuing before the age of 60 in these countries.

The leading causes of NCD deaths in 2008 were cardiovascular diseases (17 million deaths, or 48% of all NCD deaths), cancers (7.6 million, or 21% of all NCD deaths), and respiratory diseases, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (4.2 million). Diabetes caused another 1.3 million deaths.

Heart and lung diseases, cancer and diabetes touch millions of people worldwide, inflicting great loss of life and suffering, as well as placing great socioeconomic burdens on families, communities and countries worldwide. But action against the global epidemics of these noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and the shared risk factors that contribute to them has now being taken on a global scale. 

Governments, civil society, many business leaders, academia, healthcare providers and the United Nations family are uniting in the fight against NCDs ahead of the 2011 UN General Assembly High-level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NCDs. This films describes the issues, challenges and opportunities to scale up international action against these diseases.

As wrote Professor Geneau in Lancet: "neglect of chronic disease by international agencies and national governments is a political, not a technical, failure since cost-effective interventions are available".

RESPIRATORY DECADE suggests working together on common aim: to help people with Non-Communicable Diseases and to prevent the increase of these diseases in the world by simple interventions on tobacco, salt, diets, alcohol!

ASTHMA ART CONTEST 2011

On World Asthma Day 2011 (3 May), people with asthma and severe asthma are being encouraged to get creative for a unique art contest which will explore what it is like to live with the condition. 

The contest is open to people of all ages and will help bridge the gap between doctors’ understanding of the condition and a person’s experience of it.

Asthma is a major health problem around the world and is a one of the world’s major non-communicable diseases. Not all types of asthma are the same and current treatments adopt a uniform approach, meaning they don’t work well for everybody. The art contest is part of a European-wide project called U-BIOPRED - Unbiased BIOmarkers in PREDiction of respiratory disease outcomes. U-BIOPRED is a research project funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), to understand more about severe asthma that involves scientists from universities, research institutes, the pharmaceutical industry and small companies.

U-BIOPRED will help scientists understand more about severe asthma. The researchers will look at how severe asthma differs from one person to another in the hope of uncovering more effective treatments in the future. 

                                            U-BIOPRED video

The competition is open to any person with asthma and all types of art work from dance, music and poetry, to paintings and photography are encouraged. The top three winning entries will be displayed on the U-BIOPRED website. 

The winner will be invited to the European Respiratory Society Congress in Amsterdam (24-25 September) to receive their award and see their winning entry presented at the opening ceremony. Professor Peter Sterk, project lead, said:  “The U-BIOPRED project aims to understand more about asthma and severe asthma. One important way we can do this is to hear from patients directly. This contest enables patients to express, through art, what the condition is like and how it impacts upon their life.”

Professor Peter STERK

University of Amsterdam

“The winning entry will be the piece which best conveys what it is like to have asthma and we want to hear from anyone with the condition, whether you are a budding or artist, or a complete beginner.”

The closing date for all entries is 1 June 2011. You can enter the art contest by uploading a digital copy of your artwork to the website. For full terms and conditions, visit: www.ubiopred.european-lung-foundation.org/artcontest.

THE SOUTH AMERICAN CONGRESS OF ALLERGY AND ASTHMA 2011

The South American Congress of Allergy and Asthma held in the city of Cordoba, Argentina at 28-30 April 2011, was a resounding scientific and organizational success  attended by many colleagues throughout the region. It was organized by the Southern Cone Chapter of the Latin American Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and INTERASMA (International Association of Asthmology). Had the invaluable support of the World Allergy Organization, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the Latin American Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Argentina Federation of ENT Societies, the Argentine Society of Pediatrics, the Allergy Societies of Southern Europe, and many allergy and immunology societies in Latin America.

The Scientific Program was divided into 3 main tracks: Allergies in adults, Allergies in Pediatrics and Allergy in ENT.
           It started with 3 pre-conference practical courses very useful in practice . One of allergy practice for the office and the emergency room, the second on diagnostic methods in allergy, and the last on flexible and rigid endoscopy of the upper airways.

The Congress held two international workshops, one on immunotherapy, celebrating 100 years of specific immunotherapy with allergens, and another on the initiative of WHO, ARIA (Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma).
The program addressed the key issues of allergy and respiratory medicine, with particular attention to the incorporation of allergic and respiratory diseases to the group of non-communicable chronic diseases of WHO.

Prof. Sandra N. González Díaz (Mexico)

We have the presence of 42 invited speakers from Europe, USA and Latin America, who, along with other Latin American and Argentine experts collaborated to deliver presentations of a high scientific level.

Participated as representatives of the World Allergy Organization, Drs. Nelson Rosário Filho (Brazil), Mario Sanchez Borges (Venezuela) and Juan C. Ivancevich (Argentina). Through them, it was announced the World Allergy Congress to be held in Cancun, Mexico next December and the promotion of the Allergy White Book of the WAO.
On behalf of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the President, Dr. Dennis Ledford,  gave interesting lectures.

Prof. G. Walter Canonica (Italy) - Simposio Latinoamericano de Inmunoterapia

The Organizing Committee gave awards to Dres. Mario Sánchez Borges (Venezuela), Dirceu Solé (Brazil), Gustavo Rodriguez (Uruguay), G. Walter Canonica (Italy), Gianni Passalacqua (Italy), Alejandro Tepper (Argentina).

Prof. Gianni Passalacqua (Italy) - Simposio Latinoamericano de Inmunoterapia

We acknowledge the great support of all sponsoring societies, and especially the World Allergy Organization.

Professor,

Juan Carlos Ivancevich, MD, PhD

Asthma Educational materials

We are continuing to promote Respiratory education for patients. Today topic is Asthma, because on 3 May 2011 we will have great Respiratory event - World Asthma Day 2011!
You can read Asthma Control Brochure from American Center for Disease Control and Prevention!

Asthma UK