The best 3 Respiratory apps released in 2014

1. Respi is a startup aiming to enable patients with asthma, COPD and other respiratory conditions. Respi is an comprehensive management system, comprised of a mobile spirometer and software that offers personalized advice to enable disease optimization by patients and their physicians.

2. Amiko can help patients to become more mindful, more engaged, more active in managing their medication while we have also developed a bridge to keep the patients and the caregivers and their loved ones connected always. It also involves staying in touch with your personal doctor so he or she can stay updated on how the treatment is progressing, staying in touch with the pharmacists for automatic refill of your prescriptions.

3. Doctot GOLD COPD Strategy provides the GOLD strategy for assessing and treating COPD in a user-friendly and easily navigable format with interactive tables and charts. Physicians can easily record patient answers to questions about symptoms and functional status, and the app automatically generates and categorizes the patient's score on the Combined Assessment of COPD Scale. 

 

Janus Look in Pulmonology: COPD-Asthma overlap syndrome

In ancient Roman religion, Janus (his name in Greek is 'Ιανός - Ianós) is the god of beginnings and transitions, thence also of gates, doors, passages, endings and time. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past. The Romans named the month of January (Ianuarius) in his honor.

An overlap syndrome is a disease in which a patient presents with symptoms of two or more diseases. That is why Janus can be associated with overlap syndrome.

Multiple epidemiological studies demonstrate that in persons with obstructive airway disease, as many as half or more may have overlapping of asthma and COPD. The term Asthma COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) was recognized and is appearing for the first time in GOLD 2014, but without clear definition and therapeutic options. A COPD-Asthma overlap syndrome is defined as an airflow obstruction that is not completely reversible, accompanied by symptoms and signs of increased obstruction reversibility. For the clinical identification of overlap syndrome COPD-Asthma Spanish guidelines proposed six diagnostic criteria. The major criteria include very positive bronchodilator test [increase in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) ≥15% and ≥400 ml], eosinophilia in sputum, and personal history of asthma. The minor criteria include high total IgE, personal history of atopy and positive bronchodilator test (increase in FEV1 ≥12% and ≥200 ml) on two or more occasions. The overlap syndrome COPD-Asthma is associated with enhanced response to inhaled corticosteroids due to the predominance of eosinophilic bronchial inflammation.The future clinical studies and multicenter clinical trials should lead to the investigation of disease mechanisms and simultaneous development of the novel treatment.

New review article on this Hot Respiratory topic just published in Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Medicine and its free for download.