Happy World Heart Day 2012!

World Heart Day 2012 is today, Saturday, September 29. World Heart Day was created by the World Heart Federation in 2000 to educate people around the world that heart disease and stroke are the world’s leading cause of death, claiming 17.3 million lives each year, with higher numbers each year. This year’s theme is “One World, One Heart, One Home,” with a focus on women, children and cardiovascular disease.

Opening Ceremony of ERS Congress 2012: sound:frame Vienna Visuals

Todays post is about original Opening Ceremony of ERS Congress at Vienna, 1 September 2012. We are sharing with you this wonderful presentation.

THE MEDICINE EDIT : sound:frame Vienna Visuals from sound:frame on Vimeo.

For creation of special atmosphere of Vienna was invited the famous VJ duo Luma.Launisch, alias Astrid Steiner and Florian Launisch, which usually create their surreal worlds on screens in techno-clubs and classical concert halls. All visual act was accompanied by Klezmer music by Roman Grinberg & Enesemble. 
Special thanks to Florian Launisch for permission to use this video.

Sunday Respiratory Video: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis is OUT OF DARKNESS!

We are continuing Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis World Week 2012! We are happy to present you Italian documentary OUT OF DARKNESS! This is movie about Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis! Ir was created by students from University of Modena, Italy! It is very inspirational documentary. 

Today is a Global Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Day

Today is a Global Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Day!
Respiratory Decade is participating actively in promoting of this important event at the global level! You can join today webcasts from Modena, Italy and Denver, USA!

In 2007, the United States Congress supported the designation of "National Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Week" to take place each year in September. This year, as part of a full month of awareness activities, was designated September 22nd as Global Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Day and will offer a "Living with Pulmonary Fibrosis" educational event in partnership with the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Modena, Italy, and National Jewish Health, in Denver, Colorado. Sessions will include: “What is Pulmonary Fibrosis?,” "The Role of Support Groups,” and “Tools for Living Better with Pulmonary Fibrosis" and will be followed by a Q&A period.

Webcasts will take place in Modena, Italy, at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (San Geminiano Complex, Via San Geminiano 3) and in Denver, Colorado, at National Jewish Health (Molly Blank Conference Center).

In addition to the broadcast locations in Modena and Denver, individuals will be able to view the webcasts at Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) centers in Europe and the United States. Patients, caregivers, and family members will be able to come together to view the presentation in a supportive environment at a convenient location. A health care professional will be present at these sites to answer any questions viewers may have.
The session in Modena will begin at 4:00 p.m. (CEST) / 9:00 a.m. (CDT)
(Attending in person? Registration begins at 3:30 p.m.)
The webcast will be presented in English with simultaneous live French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations.
The Denver session will begin at 10:00 a.m. (MDT) / 11:00 a.m.(CDT)
(Attending in person? Registration begins at 9:30 a.m.)
To view the webcasts click on 'Live from Modena' and 'Live from Denver' in the top menu.

If you are unable to attend the ILD center viewings, anyone may view the webcasts from the comfort of their own home via the internet.

Webcasts will be available at www.livingwithpulmonaryfibrosis.org

Take That TB: TB has many faces and many languages!

Dear friends, we are happy to present today to you our new partners international organization Take That TB! We had meeting at Vienna and discuss about this exiting project dedicated and created for patient with tuberculosis.

We are publishing very inspirational manifesto by Take That TB:

We are a group of former patients from Europe and Australia and we are trying to build a meeting area “From Patients For Patients”.
Our aim is the exchange between patients and the discussion about our experiences with TB.
We want to be a platform for patients on treatment and for former patients who want to exchange about their experiences with TB.
We want to be a chatroom for patients in isolation.
While others are busy working hard in the fight to develop better drugs and treatment regimes, we want to be a place for patients to get the support and understanding that only other patients can give…
Collectively we can offer great support to each other, and help raise the awareness of TB in our communities, and help remove the stigma this disease has unfortunately associated with it.
We welcome doctors and hospital staff to join us, to help you understand TB from another point of view… to help you have another resource to offer your patients to help them through their experience. 

We want to talk about our experiences during treatment and afterwards and make the stay in hospital a little bit better.
As a result of our exchange we want to make an ebook / book or journal with TB patient stories from as many countries as possible. We want to write this in our / your mother tongue (and English) to show that TB can be found worldwide and that TB has many faces and many languages!!
Not all patients have the possibility to use the Internet for information and many patients also have no computer.
So this document should also show these patients that TB has got not only THEM but many others, from all countries, all age groups and all social classes.
It could be support for the TB patients on treatment and a review for former patients.

Press Conference at ERS Annual Congress 2012: Connection between Parental Problems and Children's Non-Adherence to Asthma Medication

Professor Paul Brand, Princess Amalia children's Clinic, The Netherlands presented a study on parental problems which prevent children taking much-needed asthma medication.

The motive of realising this investigation is the indeterminacy of major barriers which many little patients face while asthma treatment. The research was based not only on clinical cases, but mostly on discussion of hows and whys of (non)adherence. A part of qualitative study consisted in recording and analysing of factors associated with family lifestyles which could be causing low adherence to asthma medication.  

It was established that there are several types of users:

1) Followers manifest stable adherence to doctor's prescriptions.  These are highly disciplined parents who are always aware of giving the medicine to their children. 

2) Self-managers usually look closely at how child is doing. They have a high observation spirit and link the treatment to their schedule. 

3) A highly variable adherence is typical for Strugglers who follow the medication in a disordered way.

4) Chaotic users belong to the families with lower education. They never force the child and are even shocked when the kids do not take the medication. They think of a child as of an adult who is responsible and can do everything by himself.

In-depth interviews have shown that the lifestyle factors often hide behind children's non-adherence to the prescribed medication. It was concluded that parenting problems can be the reasons of ineffective following of the treatment.

Therefore it would be reasonable if doctors would give a genuine interest in what happens with the patient and would encourage the parents to keep a close eye on their child's adherence. Otherwise it will be impossible to reveal and to remove the barriers preventing the appropriate asthma treatment in children.

Liudmila CORLATEANU,
Respiratory Decade Official Media-Representative at ERS 2012 Vienna Congress