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:
Placebo-controlled trial of cytisine for smoking cessation

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:
Efficacy of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

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:
Bronchoscopic lung-volume reduction with Exhale airway stents for emphysema (EASE trial): randomised, sham-controlled, multicentre trial
Accompanying slides

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:
Lebrikizumab treatment in adults with asthma
Accompanying slides

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:
Azithromycin blocks autophagy and may predispose cystic fibrosis patients to mycobacterial infection

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:
The impact of traffic air pollution on bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome and mortality after lung transplantation

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.