Clarivate Analytics released the "2017 Journal Citation Report" on 27 June 2018, showing Respirology's 2017 Impact Factor increased to 4.407, from 3.256 the previous year; a large increase approaching 40%. Respirology is now ranked 10th of 59 journals in the Respiratory System category; up from 18th the previous year.

This is a significant boost to the reputation of not only Respirology, but also of authors who publish in the journal.

The APSR is pleased to announce two Research Awards; the Harasawa Research Award and the Woolcock Research Award, to two APSR members.

The awardees will deliver lectures at the 23rd Congress of the APSR in Taipei, 29 November-2 December 2018.

Nominations can be made by any member of the APSR and nominees can be any member of the APSR, whose work enshrines excellence in respiratory research.

Nominations should be sent to the APSR Secretariat (APSRinfo@theapsr.org) and will be considered by the APSR Research Committee.

Deadline for nominations: 10 July 2018.

The APSR Medal will be bestowed during the 23rd Congress of the APSR in Taipei, 29 Novewmbe-26 December 2018.

The award of this medal is made for the advancement of respirology in the Asia-Pacific region in fields other than research but including major achievements in advocacy, teaching, or clinical practice.

Any member of the APSR fulfilling the criteria is eligible for this award. Nominations should be sent to the APSR Secretariat (APSRinfo@theapsr.org) and will be considered by the Chairperson of the Strategic Planning Committee, Chairperson of the Education Committee, Secretary General, Past President and President of the APSR.

Deadline for nominations: 10 July 2018.

As with their 2017 International Conference, the ATS has kindly arranged for you to benefit from recordings of some of the most popular sessions from the 2018 International Conference, sharing tremendous ATS scientific research and clinical care knowledge.

Access is free for APSR members via apsresp.org/archive/ats-2018-stream.php and is scheduled to be available until 30 August 2018

The June and July 2018 issues are now online.

The June issue (Vol 10.6) features Non-Invasive Ventilation:

• Effect of home Noninvasive Ventilation with Oxygen Therapy vs Oxygen Therapy alone on hospital readmission or death after an acute COPD exacerbation: a randomized clinical trial.
• Impact of High-Intensity-NIV on the heart in stable COPD: a randomised cross-over pilot study.
• Discontinuing noninvasive ventilation in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations: a randomised controlled trial.
• The comparative effectiveness of noninvasive and invasive ventilation in patients with pneumonia.
• Prognostic value of nocturnal hypoventilation in neuromuscular disease.
• Treating chronic hypoventilation with automatic adjustable versus fixed EPAP Intelligent Volume-Assured Positive Airway Pressure Support (iVAPS): a randomized controlled trial.
• NIV prolongs survival in some ALS patients with severe bulbar impairment at NIV indication.
• Laryngeal responses to mechanically assisted cough in progressing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
• Switch of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in patients with obesity hypoventilation syndrome: a pilot study.
• Adaptive servo-ventilation for central sleep apnoea in systolic heart failure: results of the major substudy of SERVE-HF.

The July issue (Vol 10.7) features Bronchiectasis:

• Adult Patients with Bronchiectasis. A first look at the US Bronchiectasis Research Registry
• Research priorities in bronchiectasis: a consensus statement from the EMBARC Clinical Research Collaboration
• Aetiology of bronchiectasis in adults: A systematic literature review
• Multi-dimensional severity assessment in bronchiectasis: an analysis of seven European cohorts
• Comorbidities and the risk of mortality in patients with bronchiectasis: an international cohort study
• Bronchiectasis severity is an independent risk factor for vascular disease in a bronchiectasis cohort
• A randomised controlled trial of atorvastatin in patients with bronchiectasis infected with Pseudomonas aerigunosa. A proof of concept study
• Bronchoarterial ratio in non-smoking adults: implications for bronchial dilation definition
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa adaption and diversification in the non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis lung
• FUT2 Genotype Influences lung function, exacerbation frequency and airway microbiota in non-CF bronchiectasis
• The development and validation of the Bronchiectasis Health Questionnaire (BHQ)
• Pulmonary exacerbation in adults with bronchiectasis: a consensus definition for clinical research
• The BRICS (Bronchiectasis Radiologically Indexed CT Score). A multicentre study score for use in idiopathic and post-infective bronchiectasis

The Sri Lanka College of Pulmonologists (SLCP) has been the pioneering organization for respiratory medicine in Sri Lanka since its foundation as an association in 2006. Currently it consists of leading medical professionals in respiratory medicine who work as respiratory physicians island-wide and is expanding day by day with all the new comers to the field, as respiratory medicine is becoming a well-known subspecialty in Sri Lanka.

Recently the country has benefitted from the first appointments of consultant paediatric pulmonologists, as three post graduates undergo their foreign training and are to start another new era of the local respiratory medicine.

Although lacking facilities and resources as a developing country, respiratory physicians in Sri Lanka have been able to provide their services to all four corners of the country by establishing new units and developing the already existing units with the help of the government.

Respiratory physicians have been able to maximize the use of respiratory equipment, including thoracoscopes, bronchoscopes, spirometry and have even introduced new technology to the country such as flexi-rigid thoracoscopy, endobronchial ultrasound, and sleep medicine. With all these victories and obstacles, they have now confirmed their place as a vital part of curative care services in Sri Lanka.

The society has organised a vast range of activities which benefitted the health care of the country and even made footsteps to an international level as well.

SLPC Council (2018-2019)

• Dr Chandana Kulathunga (President)
• Dr S Muhunthan (Immediate Past President)
• Dr Saman Kapilawansa (President Elect)
• Dr Neranjan Dissanayake (Joint Secretary)
• Dr Bodhika Samarasekera (Joint Secretary)
• Dr Nandika Harischandra (Treasurer)
• Dr Sumedha Samankantha (Asst. Treasurer)
• Dr Dushantha Madegedara (Chief Editor)
• Dr Duminda Yasaratne (Asst. Editor)
• Dr Dinesh Dassanayake
• Dr Thushara Galabada
• Dr Wathsala Gunasinghe
• Dr Saman Kularatne
• Dr Damith Nandadeva
• Dr Manil Peiris
• Dr Aflah Sadikeen
• Dr Chatura Wirasinghe

Public Awareness Programmes

World TB Day Activities

In parallel with the 2017 World TB Day, the SLCP conducted many events such as a media conference, health walks and art competitions island-wide to improve public awareness on tuberculosis.

A media conference was held in Colombo, which provoked public awareness about tuberculosis with the participation many college members. In Anuradhapura, a public health walk and arts competition were organized by the district chest clinic. In Hatton, an awareness programme was conducted for estate medical assistants and estate healthcare workers to increase awareness on tuberculosis. The national tuberculosis day programme was conducted in Kaluthara by the National Programme for Tuberculosis Control and Chest Diseases (NPTCCD), which included a health walk and art competition organized to create public awareness on tuberculosis. Similar workshops and public awareness programmes were conducted by respiratory teams at Badulla and Kurunegala districts.

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World Asthma Day Programmes

A media conference was held with the participation of many college members. A series of school health education programmes were conducted in Galle District by the respiratory team at the Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya. These were coupled with an asthma awareness walk where over 400 participated enthusiastically including healthcare providers, regional politicians, government officials and the general public. Similar educational programmes and asthma walks were organized by the respiratory team at District General Hospital, Hambantota. A workshop on nebulizers and inhaler technique for health professionals was conducted in Base Hospital and Chest Clinic in Puttalam.

SLMA Run and Walk

The Sri Lanka Medical Association Run and Walk is a highlight of Sri Lanka's medical calendar. Last year the SLCP took the opportunity to collaborate with the SLMA in organizing the event. It was themed as "Clean air for healthy lungs" to create awareness of neglected noncommunicable diseases such as asthma, COPD and occupational lung diseases. The SLCP stall at the premises gave visitors the opportunity to enhance their knowledge on respiratory diseases, air pollution and the importance of clean air for healthy living, take free lung function tests and meet the experts in respiratory medicine. It was a successful event with over 500 participants

CCP Exhibition

The Ceylon College of Physicians, in order to celebrate their 50th anniversary, organized a three-day medical exhibition with the participation of various professional colleges in Sri Lanka last 14-16 July at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall. The SLCP took the opportunity to exhibit its own stall which was highlighted as giving the maximum knowledge on respiratory medicine. As the pioneers of respiratory medicine in Sri Lanka they were able to enhance the knowledge of visitors on the latest developments of respiratory medicine, its new technologies, respiratory diseases and even distributed leaflets to enhance public awareness in important areas of respiratory medicine, Visitors were also provided a free lung function test.

Website and E-newsletter

The SLCP launched two E-newsletters last year and upgraded the college website, which has patient educational materials, college activities, Guidelines and other information.

Breath Symposium

In order to disseminate new knowledge to all four corners of the island, a respiratory symposium was arranged in Jaffna for World COPD Day. It was enlightening with local respiratory experts covering major areas of the field.

Training Activities

• DTCD Course & Examination

  A new batch of post-graduate diploma trainees were enrolled into the Diploma in Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases programme under the direct supervision of Consultant Respiratory Physicians at Teaching, Provincial General and District General hospitals. The trainees commenced their one-year training on 18 April.

• USS Workshop

  A Chest Ultrasound Scan workshop was held for medical officers at Welisara, the National Chest Hospital.

• Inhaler Technique Workshop

  A workshop on nebulizers and inhaler technique for health professionals was conducted at the Base Hospital and Chest Clinic in Puttalam.

  
  

Publication of Guidelines

As the pioneers of respiratory medicine in Sri Lanka, the SLCP is continuously active in processing and updating guidelines on respiratory medicine. Currently they are in the process of finalizing National Paediatric TB Guidelines and formulating National COPD Guidelines.

Joining the International Stage

The SLCP took the opportunity to participate in the ERS World Village held at Milano, Italy in September 2017 and also at the APSR congress in Australia.

The Asian Pacific Congress on Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (or APCB 2019 for the short title) will take place at the Gold Coast Exhibition and Convention Centre, Australia, 28–30 March 2019. It will attract a distinguished audience comprised of researchers and clinicians in the field of bronchology and interventional pulmonology. The theme is "Case Based Training – Practice and Theory" and it will have a novel design with a hands-on focus; workshops will provide the core part of the Congress.

This Congress will have particular relevance for trainees, fellows and consultant specialists. Case-based learning is a key part of modern learning methods and APCB 2019 will allow this type of learning to take centre stage. We are developing a stimulating programme designed to explore the latest developments, medical advances, cutting-edge treatments and breakthroughs in the management of respiratory illnesses.

For more information, or to sign up to receive updates, please go to www.apcb2019.com

The Hong Kong Thoracic Society and CHEST Delegation Hong Kong and Macau will co-host the "Symposium on Asthma and COPD: NOW and Future" at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wanchai, Hong Kong on 1-2 September 2018.

This 2-day programme sessions include:

• Hands-on workshop for respiratory physicians
  • Bronchial thermoplasty
  • Endobronchial valve
  • Force oscillation technique
  • High flow oxygen therapy
  • Bronchial challenge test and FeNO
• Certificate course for nurses and allied health professionals
  • Asthma in children
  • Asthma in adult
  • COPD
  • Spirometry, lung volume study and diffusion study
  • Skin test and inhaler devices
  • High flow oxygen therapy and NIV
• Symposium on Asthma and COPD
  • Maximum bronchodilation for COPD: what to consider?
  • Asthma and COPD: how big is the problem and where do we go wrong?
  • The microbiome in respiratory health and disease: the key to prevent airway disease development?
  • Is asthma a western disease? Lessons from China
  • Can COPD development be halted?
  • Inhaler devices and inhaler techniques
  • Strategies for improving adherence in asthma & COPD
  • COPD according to the latest GOLD strategy: anything new?
  • Managing asthma in children: anything new?
  • Novel mechanisms of asthma attacks: new avenues for therapy & prevention
  • A practical approach to assessment and management of difficult-to-treat asthma
  • Treating type 2- high asthma
  • Treating non-eosinophilic asthma
  • Bronchial Thermoplasty
  • Measurement of bronchodilator responses in COPD: forced oscillation and imaging
  • Personalised therapy of COPD: ready for prime time
  • Is mild COPD worth treating?
  • Mechanisms of COPD exacerbations and their implications for treatment
  • Anti-IgE therapy in asthma
  • Rationale for dual bronchodilator therapy in COPD
  • Inhaled steroid for COPD
  • Trait-directed treatment of airway disease
  • Moving beyond disease labels in asthma & COPD - what are the research needs?
  • Asthma-COPD overlap
  • Eosinophilic COPD
  • Individualized care for our COPD patients
  • Endobronchial lung volume reduction for COPD

Invited speakers include:

• Neil Barnes (UK)
• Norbert Berend (Australia)
• Peter Calverley (UK)
• Mario Castro (USA)
• Veronica Chan (Hong Kong)
• Ratko Djukanovic (UK)
• Felix Herth (Germany)
• Sebastian Johnston (UK)
• Gregory King (Australia)
• Fanny Ko (Hong Kong)
• Grace Lam (Hong Kong)
• Wai-kei Lam (Hong Kong)

• Christopher Lai (Hong Kong)
• Jing Li (Mainland China)
• Neil Martin (UK)
• Fernando Martinez (USA)
• Fernando J Martinez (USA)
• Daniel Ng (Hong Kong)
• Ian Pavord (UK)
• Helen Reddel (Australia)
• Hoi-nam Tse (Hong Kong)
• Jorgen Vestbo (UK)
• Wisia Wedzicha (UK)
• Yiu-cheong Yeung (Hong Kong)

Click here (PDF file) for details of academic accreditations, conference registration, and the detailed programme, or contact the meeting secretariat:

• MIMS (Hong Kong) Limited
  27/F., OTB Building, 160 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
  Tel: (852) 2155 8557 or 2116 4348 Fax: (852) 2559 6910
  E-mail: meeting.hk@mims.com

There will be a special scientific meeting of the Indonesian Society of Respirology (ISR) (Pertemuan Ilmiah Khusus PDPI 2018) with the theme Current approach in respiratory medicine – Special issues in interventional pulmonology and thoracic oncology

Four months ago, a 9 year old girl was admitted in Baby Memorial Hospital, Kozhikode, Kerala State, India in a serious condition and the child died without making a definite diagnosis, though the girl was examined by many Consultants. Soon after this episode, it was reported from a village in North Kerala that four members of a family had died mysteriously and subsequent investigations revealed that the deceased were poisoned by the mother of the girl by mixing aluminium phosphate in the food items of these victims. This episode put the Critical Care physician of the same hospital on an alert when a 28 year old person was admitted on 17 May 2018 in a serious condition with features of encephalitis and died on 18 May. His younger brother (26 years old) had fever on 3 May and was admitted to the local hospital in Perambra in Kozhikode district. He began to lose consciousness on 5 May and was shifted to Kozhikode medical college by his father and died in the night without a diagnosis. Initially it was suspected that it may be a case of poisoning based on the experience of the death of the 9 year old girl since more than one member of the family had similar symptoms of encephalitis within a short span of two weeks. However, the Neurologist of the hospital noted peculiar symptoms such as high blood pressure, tachycardia and hypotonia which, he thought may not be usually seen in other viral encephalitis cases. He suspected that this may be an exotic viral infection and suggested by scanning the medical literature that it may be a case of Nipah virus infection, first reported from Malaysia in 1998. Within a span of three weeks, four members of the index family (father, maternal aunt and two brothers) had died. A nurse, Lini Puthussery, infected by a patient whom she treated initially at the Perambra Taluk hospital died on 20 May and the World Health Organisation has paid glowing tributes to her. These cases were confirmed as Nipah virus infection by the investigations carried out by the scientists from the Virology Department of Manipal Centre for Virus Research and National Institute of Virology, Pune. As of 1 June 2018, nineteen close contacts including the index case had confirmed Nipah viral infection and 17 of them (89%) lost their lives.

The Government of Kerala with support from Government of India; Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi; National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi; National Institute of Virology, Pune; National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai; National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal; Animal Husbandry Department, Forest Officials and medical personnel took immediate action on a war footing and implemented well established protocols to contain the outbreak at the earliest. The promptness of making a diagnosis of Nipah viral infection in the initial patient within three days of admission to the hospital greatly helped the authorities to tackle the situation within a month. Though there was panic among the people; and the Kozhikode city and surrounding areas were deserted for a few weeks, timely action by the authorities has normalised the situation.

After the outbreak in 1998 in Malaysia and Singapore, the next outbreak had occurred in Bangladesh (Meherpur) and India (Siliguri, West Bengal) in 2001. Yearly outbreaks of Nipah viral infections were reported since then in Bangladesh in the months of January to May and one recurrence occurred in Nadia, India in 2007; but recurrences were not reported from Malaysia. The mortality rate in Malaysia and Singapore outbreak was 40% whereas in Bangladesh from 2001 to 2015 it was 82% (198/241) and in Kozhikode 89% (17/19). It has been reported that viral strain isolated in Kozhikode is similar to that from Bangladesh and is different in isolates from Malaysia suggesting the possibility of higher virulent strains in Bangladesh and Kozhikode. This has been reflected in higher mortality seen in Bangladesh and Kozhikode compared to that in Malaysia. There is therefore an urgent need to have a multidisciplinary team for sustained surveillance activities in Kozhikode to identify recurrences and to initiate prompt containment activities. Now, samples for virology studies are sent to Manipal laboratory about 300 km from Kozhikode. This outbreak in Kozhikode emphasises the need to have a Biosafety level (BSL)-4 laboratory for virology studies in Northern Kerala.

Dr V K Vijayan MD, PhD, DSc, FCCP, FAPSR
Former Director, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, University of Delhi;
Senior Consultant in Chest Medicine, Baby Memorial Hospital, Kozhikode

14 June 2018

Residents of India's capital Delhi are battling high pollution levels and extreme temperatures due to an unusual dust haze covering the city. People have been complaining about breathing problems, with many saying the city has become unliveable. The state government has responded by banning all construction and deploying the fire brigade to sprinkle water across the city. People have been advised to stay indoors as much as possible.

"In this case, dust has become a carrier of toxic pollutants. Pollution levels are 8-9 times higher than normal. And when we breathe, we are taking in toxic substances, which can have serious health repercussions," Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director of the Centre For Science and Environment, told BBC Hindi.

Delhi is already one of the most polluted cities in the world but the recent weather pattern has caused more problems for its residents.

Experts say dust storms originating from the nearby desert state of Rajasthan are to blame.

"This phenomenon is not uncommon in the pre-monsoon season," Dr Kuldeep Srivastava of the meteorological department told the BBC. "But this time the haze has stayed unusually longer because of the delay in the arrival of seasonal monsoon rains."

The air quality worsens every year in November and December as farmers in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana burn crop stubble to clear their fields. Pollution levels reached 30 times the World Health Organization's safe limits in some areas of Delhi last year. The air quality improved in the following months but has gone back to "severe" from "moderate" in June this year.

(Extracted from BBC News, 14 June 2018)

The format of passwords required to log into members-only webpages has been greatly simplified. You can now use a PIN number or any password which is easy to remember.

If you have not registered yet to access the members-only webpages, click the REGISTER button at the top of this Bulletin.

Prof. Chunxue Bai and Prof. Kwun Fong hosted another successful one-day session in San Diego on Saturday 19 May, which was well attended. The audience enjoyed talks by

• Prof. Yoichi Nakanishi: "New trend of lung cancer treatment; biomarker-based medicine"
• Prof. Chong Jen Yu: "LDCT screening for lung cancer in never smoker"
• Prof. Chunxue Bai: "Early detection of lung cancer with Medical Internet of Things"
• plus the many poster and oral presentations by ISRD and APSR Young Investigators.

The poster presentations were facilitated by Dr Arata Azuma, Dr Chunxue Bai, Dr Kwun Fong, Dr Yoichi Nakanishi, Dr Michiaki Mishima, Dr Kazuto Matsunaga, Dr Chin Kook Rhee, Dr Yuanlin Song and Dr Chong Jen Yu. ATS President Prof. Marc Moss presented awards to the Young Investigators listed below, including the Best Abstract Award to Dr Chin-Chung Shu.

I would like to thank the APSR for supporting my attendance at the 2018 ATS International Conference in San Diego, California.

The ATS is one of the most important meetings of the year in respiratory science and covers a wide range of topics in clinical and basic science. There were approximately 6,700 abstracts and case reports, and 500 sessions on basic and clinical research in the fields of pulmonology, critical care and many other subjects. I was surprised at this large-scale international conference because I participated in ATS for the first time.

It was an honour to have the opportunity to present "Telomere-associated Polymorphisms and risk of Chronic Respiratory Diseases, Results from Fold Registry" in an oral and a thematic poster session at the conference.

Telomeres are DNA-protein structures that cap the ends of chromosomes. Evidence has been accumulating that telomere length may have an important mechanism in the pathogenesis of a variety of lung diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, most of the studies are conducted in Caucasians but few in Asians. Our study aimed to investigate whether polymorphisms of telomere length related genes are associated with susceptibility to chronic respiratory diseases in a Japanese population.

In this presentation, I was lucky enough to meet with many key scientists in my field from across the world and gain some knowledge and career advice from them. It was very helpful to gain feedback from this study and to discuss future plans for this work. Aside from my presentation, I heard about the latest respiratory research presentation by young investigators in Asia-Pacific countries, for which I am very grateful for. In addition, Dr Ortega's symposium and several posters showed racial differences in the genetic background, and the difference was important for precision medicine. The guidance shows the direction of our research. Overall, it was a wonderful and valuable experience to attend this conference. I would again like to thank APSR that allowed young investigators like me to attend ATS International Conference.

Dr Masako Arimura

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the APSR for having given me the opportunity to represent the Philippine Heart Center, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in the mini-oral presentation of ISRD-APSR Joint Session in the American Thoracic Society Annual Convention 2018 (ATS 2018) 19 May 2018 in the San Diego Convention Center. The meeting also provided new insights in the field of pulmonary and critical care medicine through the sessions that I attended.

The American Thoracic Society (ATS) is a prestigious organization that aims to hearten research, expand clinical practice through teaching and promote the exchange of knowledge among Respirologists all over the world. It was held on 18–23 May 2018 in the San Diego Convention Center. It was fortuitous that I was able to attend it as a delegate and as a presenter. It has always been my dream to attend the American Thoracic Society Annual Convention and what better way to attend it than to have the privilege of presenting my research paper in the ISRD-APSR Joint Session.

Distinguished speakers from all over the globe imparted their wisdom and expertise through their lectures on variegated topics related to Pulmonary Medicine that can be applied for adult and/or pediatric patients we might encounter in our practice.

The highlight of my attendance in this session was the mini-oral presentation of my research paper entitled "Association of Serum Uric acid Levels and Outcomes of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: a Prospective Cohort Study". Speaking next to Dr Marc Moss (President, ATS), Dr Chunxue Bai (Director, ISRD) and Dr Kwun M Fong (President, APSR) is definitely one for the books. I am now inspired to work harder. There were also other delegates from the Asia-Pacific region who were selected for oral and poster presentation of their note-worthy researches.

Indeed, it was a prolific learning experience for me to be able to broaden my perspective beyond the walls of my Institution.

Dr John Ray T Galamay

This year's ATS International Conference was very exciting and was one of the most highly attended in my (relatively short) experience. Thanks to Rina and the rest of the APSR for providing us with the travel award. I appreciate the opportunity to view the work of other APSR members because the ATS is very large and it is hard to see everything interesting!

I am a research scientist based at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Along with my supervisor (A/Prof. Glen Westall), we have established a large bank of samples derived from patients with end-stage, fibrotic interstitial lung disease. We primarily use primary fibroblast cell lines in pre-clinical drug development studies.

My personal disease focus is on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which until recently had no therapeutic options. We are particularly interested in new models of fibrosis that involve primary, patient-derived cells as we believe they will give us the best chance of discovering better targets for development of anti-fibrotic therapies.

I presented my work in a Poster Discussion session that was in the RAPID format. This format is a recent change in the ATS and every speaker is allocated 90 seconds to present their research. In my session there were many new cutting-edge techniques on display. Some involved 3D printing, some involved single-cell RNA Seq and others were more translationally focused, looking at biomarkers of disease progression. It was amazing to see how many different ways researchers are working on the same problem: how do we best model the disease.

This year I also chaired a workshop on Big Data and was fortunate to meet some heavy-hitters in the field. I am part of the Respiratory Structure and Function (RSF) Assembly and helped organize the workshop. The RSF Assembly is a very friendly group of people and there are a lot of fellow APSR members. If there is anyone who would like to join in volunteering for the RSF Assembly, we are always happy to have more help! Please contact me via the APSR Secretariat (APSRinfo@theapsr.org) for more information.

Dr Jade Jaffar

I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the APSR for giving a chance of oral presentation in the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR) and International Society for Respiratory Diseases (ISRD) Young Investigator Session at the ATS International Conference on 19 May 2018. This session is jointly held by the APSR and ISRD and provides an opportunity for young investigators from the Asia-Pacific region to present at the prestigious ATS International Conference. I was awarded an Abstract Award for the presentation from ATS president Dr Marc Moss and APSR president Dr Kwun Fong.

The topic of our presentation was "A retrospective study on the diagnostic yield of medical thoracoscopy in diagnosis of exudative pleural effusion". We described our experience of medical thoracoscopy in a large cohort of 137 patients over 18 months duration in Sarawak General Hospital. We were able to achieve pathological diagnosis in 82.5% of cases and overall conclusive clinical diagnosis in 94.9% with the majority of them was malignant and tuberculous pleural effusion. We were pleased to present our result as an oral presentation during the APSR/ISRD session on 19 May 2018 as well as a poster presentation on 22 May 2018 at the ATS thematic poster session under the Interventional Pulmonology and Pleural Diseases category. We were also working on the final manuscript for this topic, planning for publication in a peer-reviewed journal in the near future.

The ATS conference was attended by mainly researchers and health care professionals from basic science research backgrounds, and hence the presented works were mainly of molecular, genomics and translational research in nature. However, there were also a substantial amount of clinical research and presentation of rare cases in the conference. Ideas and advice had been shared with young investigators around the world on a clinical approach on common pulmonary diseases and future research opportunities were also discussed.

Besides attending the conference, I also had a chance to visit San Diego, which was frequently referred as the finest city of America. I visited some of the art galleries in the world-renowned Balboa Park, the historic Old Town State Historic Park, the USS Midway aircraft carrier, just to name a few.

This was definitely an eye opening opportunity for me to understand how respiratory medicine had advanced globally. Given the vast amount and variety of cases we encounter at home every day, it is our responsibility as clinicians to be more engaged in clinical research and contribute to the global scientific world.

Dr Sze Shyang Kho

First, I'm very honoured and grateful to the APSR for selecting our case report as a top ranked poster presentation from APSR-ISRD young investigators.

In this case report, "Management of Massive Pulmonary Hemorrhage with Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) and Temporary Clamping of the Endotracheal Tube", we described an applicable and effective method to resuscitate vasculitis-related massive bilateral pulmonary hemorrhage with clamping the endotracheal tube and ECMO support. In this extreme case, the traditional recommended approaches to pulmonary hemorrhage, such as bronchoscopic intervention or transarterial embolization might not be promptly and effectively performed due to unstable hemodynamics and diffuse bleeding from both lungs. Under ECMO support, we can clamp the endotracheal tube as airway tamponade therapy. ECMO also stabilized the hemodynamics and let us have time to treat underlying disease, microscopic polyangiitis. The patient was successfully recovered from this life-threatening episode and there was no obvious adverse effect of clamping the endotracheal tube. The successful experience provides us an alternative method if traditional management of massive pulmonary hemorrhage cannot be employed. I think this is a case report worth sharing to other doctors in case they encounter similar life-threatening pulmonary hemorrhage in their clinical practice.

I learned a lot from this poster presentation in the APSR-ISRD joint session. Since it was my first time attending and presenting in an international conference, the experience of discussing and exchanging ideas with other distinguished scholars and practitioners had widened my knowledge regarding patient care.

Second, the presentation presented in each session broadened my horizon in clinical practice and optimal patient care. I had the chance to meet other excellent and outstanding investigators from different countries, including China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan, and learn from their study through their presentation. Besides the young investigators' presentations, the presentations from Dr Yoichi Nakanishi "New trend of lung cancer treatment: biomarker-based medicine", Dr Chong Jen Yu "LDCT screening for lung cancer in never smoker" and Dr Chunxue Bai "Early detection of lung cancer with medical internet of things", were impressive. Upon all the presentations, the speech provided by Dr Chin-Chung Shu, the best abstract award winner, and Professor Chong Jen Yu left a deep impression on me. Dr Shu discussed various inflammatory cytokine responses in different non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM) species and tried to find the risk factors for each NTM infection. Also, Dr Yu's study project about the LDCT screen in non-smoker Asian woman would affect the current guideline of lung cancer screen. I've learned a lot through this session's programme.

Finally, I would like to thank the APSR and ISRD again for holding this session at the ATS annual conference in San Diego. I had a great experience in this session.

It was a great honour and privilege to be selected by the APSR as a top ranked Scientific ATS submitted poster presentation abstracts in the APSR-ISRD joint session at ATS 2018 International Conference in San Diego. At the conference, I met many intelligent and excellent international doctors and colleagues from different countries. Personally I think the APSR-ISRD joint session was very well organized and very successful. The APSR provided opportunities for our junior investigators to speak for poster presentation in the APSR-ISRD joint session and share some of our research findings in the field of pulmonary medicine and critical care.

In the APSR-ISRD joint session, I presented my poster titled "Early High Glycemic Variability was Associated with an Increased 30-day Mortality in Patients with Sepsis". I had a deep discussion with the experts in critical care from various countries and benefitted a lot from their useful comments. I was also very excited because it was an excellent opportunity to learn from other presenters' research and experience.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to people who have made this APSR-ISRD joint session possible and those who have shared their experiences during the ATS 2018 International Conference. Also, I greatly appreciate the support and contribution of my supervisor and family. Thank you again for everything.

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It was a great honour to be chosen and invited to the APSR-ISRD joint session during ATS 2018 in San Diego representing Taiwan and the National Taiwan University Hospital. We participate in international meetings not only to receive breaking news on medical research first hand and learn from other outstanding researchers, but also to collaborate and get to meet with others to form connections. After all, it is people that matter. During the presentation session, I was able to meet other excellent doctors and scholars working on respiratory medicine and had some very good times exchanging experiences. It was a unique and pleasant experience during the whole ATS meeting.

I had the opportunity to present my research in 3 minutes with 3 slides. My topic: "Genome-wide RNA-seq Analyses of O-glycan Glycosyltransferases for Molecular Prognostic Markers in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer" was about the complex glycosyltransferases involved in lung cancer and its prognosis by using next generation sequencing technique. I used to present the work in a session of 30 minutes to make the audience understand what it is about and its impact. To condense the information in 3 minutes really made me thoroughly think about what were the essence and most important aspects of the study. This led to some re-designed graphs, illustrations, and slides. The speech draft had been repeatedly modified and practiced to make sure that people unfamiliar to glycobiology and next generation sequencing could grasp the idea of my study.

I had a great time viewing the posters during the earlier facilitated poster viewing session. I was hoping that I could also view the posters and discuss with the authors from those who gave oral presentations. After all, not everyone is used to "3-min thesis", and most of us were not native English speakers. The form of "RAPID" poster discussion that was first introduced in ATS this year seemed to be a great mix of poster viewing and presentation for future reference.

I enjoyed and learned a lot from the speeches made by Dr Nakanishi, Dr Yu and Dr Bai. The short talk by Dr Moss, ATS president, was very inspiring. Last but not least, the kind and professional hosting of Dr Fong made the session very enjoyable. The session made my ATS experience this year very different in a very good way. I look forward to future chances of meeting and sharing each other's work again in the near future!

Dr Shu-Yung Lin

I am delighted and very honoured to have the opportunity of presenting at the APSR-ISRD Joint Session Award at ATS 2018.

I presented a smartphone application entitled "CureApp", a smoking cessation tool based on a multicentre cooperative single group intervention study. It is not only drug therapy, but also rehabilitation and environmental adjustment that are important in the treatment of respiratory diseases.

I had a reunion at this APSR session. Dr Kho from Malaysia presented about the thoracoscopy in pleural fluid examination. He also came to study at Saiseikai Utsunomiya Hospital, the hospital where I worked last year, through a programme offered by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. After a one-week training session, we often exchange information and consulted with each other on various medical situations and cases.

I hope to continue improving as a medical practitioner in the future by engaging with medical professionals and friends in Asia-Pacific countries. We plan to reflect this global and regional outlook by delivering our application not only to Japan, but to people all over the world.

Dr Katsunori Masaki

I'm working as a pulmonologist and interested in nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease. I am a recipient of the 2018 ATS scholarship, which is my second experience. I was honoured to receive this scholarship and am grateful for the opportunities it will provide me.

In addition to the scholarship, I had chance to have a presentation in APSR-ISRD session. The abstract title was "Long-term natural history of non-cavitary nodular bronchiectatic nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease". The study evaluated 1,021 patients with newly diagnosed non-cavitary nodular bronchiectatic disease over 11 years. We found out that the natural history of the disease is variable and after diagnosis, the decision to initiate antibiotic therapy should be individualized based on consideration of the risk factors for disease progression. In addition, further research into the factors associated with spontaneous culture conversion and recurrent infection is warranted.

It was great time to present my study in front of APSR members and discuss the topic. Moreover, it was a really valuable time to see other investigators' great works. I met other researchers who have the same interest in the field and had a good time. Without a doubt, the session made the scientific networks stronger and the award helped to encourage me to investigate nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease.

Dr Seong Mi Moon

Thank you for selecting me for this award. I was very honoured to participate in the APSR-ISRD session at the ATS 2018.

My presentation title was "Medication persistence rates and predictive factors of anti-fibrotic agents for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: A real-world observational study". I presented that performance status is informative for predicting the discontinuation of anti-fibrotic agents in patients with IPF.

I had a beneficial time to discuss my work with other researchers and there was an excellent opportunity to interact and network with APSR young investigators. Moreover, Dr Nakanishi, Dr Yu and Dr Bai delivered their interesting presentations.

Overall, the session was very meaningful for all attendees, discussing the latest scientific data.

I am most grateful for the opportunity to participate in the APSR-ISRD session. I will continue to do my best.

Dr Keiji Oishi

I was awarded a Young Investigator Award by the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR) at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2018 International Conference to present the findings obtained as a part of the Ph.D. project supervised by Professor Merryn Tawhai and accepted in the form of a scientific abstract at the conference. The aim of the conference was to provide a platform for discussions on pulmonary physiology and respiratory medicine, basic and clinical research, as well as scientific and translational research, such as ours, and concepts, methods, algorithms and applications of imaging systems and computational modelling to improve lung health worldwide.

Our research carried out in collaboration with Professor Susan Hopkins and her Pulmonary Imaging Laboratory at the University California, San Diego, incorporates gold standard and novel imaging systems of lung structure and function, state-of-the-art, subject-specific computational and (patho)physiological modelling, advanced statistical analyses, lung tissue biomechanics, and the use of advanced mathematical and biophysical techniques to model, understand and define normal lung physiology and pathophysiology. We presented findings on a novel algorithmic implementation to improve the accuracy of a state-of-the-art computational model of lung tissue biomechanics (Tawhai et al., 2009) in capturing the underlying heterogeneity in lung tissue density from imaging systems to improve prediction of lung tissue deformation and lung tissue density distributions under gravity loading. This approach represents a first step towards developing a more comprehensive computational model to represent and predict pathophysiological heterogeneity in lung tissue deformation and lung tissue density distribution as well, e.g., because of pulmonary oedema and lung injury.

If you are interested in knowing more about our research study, please check the following: www.researchgate.net/ publication/ 325415247_A_Computational_ Model_of_Lung_Tissue_Mechanics_ Representing_Physiological_ Heterogeneity_in_Density_ from_Medical_Imaging_Data_ in_Healthy_Lungs

As a Medical Engineer, it is important to network and discuss our work with professionals using imaging systems and computational modelling to augment pulmonary physiology and respiratory medicine, to discuss new advances in these technologies and new applications where our research can be applied to improve the lung health and clinical outcomes of as many patients as possible worldwide. My aspirations of the conference were to gain an appreciation of the research currently undertaken in translational research applied to lung physiology and respiratory medicine, network with professionals in both research and clinical fields, and present our study from my Ph.D. research project carried out at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI), University of Auckland.

The scientific programme comprised keynote talks, podium/oral presentations, mini-oral presentations (three-minute long), poster presentations, such as the one I had the honour to give, and interactive sessions with e-posters. The sessions spanned a range of topics related to pulmonary physiology and respiratory medicine with an emphasis on novel application to aid diagnosis and treatment of several pulmonary and respiratory pathologies, as well as medical technologies to improve lung health.

I am very thankful to have been selected as a Young Investigator Awardee by the APSR at the conference, and I would like to thank the ATS President, Professor Marc Moss, the APSR President, Professor Kwun Fong, and the Director of the Shanghai Respiratory Research Institute, Professor Chunxue Bai for having selected me amongst the awardees.

Learning from the constructive discussions I had at the conference with doctors, healthcare professionals, professors, lecturers and researchers much more experienced than me attending my poster presentation and eager to learn more about our research, has been a memorable honour.

It generated a lot of interest and I gained several international contacts, with both hospitals and universities overseas, who showed a keen interest in applying computational modelling techniques to augment their current diagnostic and treatment capabilities.

Attendance at this conference gave me the opportunity to gain further experience in presenting my research. The opportunity to network with like-minded professionals in the field was invaluable, as it was that of sharing our advancements and working together to improve lung health worldwide.

I hope my contributions to the conference raised the awareness of APSR, the high profile of Lung Computational Modelling Research at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI), University of Auckland and New Zealand, and the high profile of the Pulmonary Imaging Research at the University California, San Diego (USA).

I would like to thank my main supervisor, Professor Merryn Tawhai, for being an inspiration as a leading researcher in the field and for giving me the opportunity to carry out this Ph.D. research work at the world-renowned Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI), University of Auckland (New Zealand), and all my Ph.D. supervisors, advisors and colleagues for their help and support.

Dulcis in fundo, I would like to thank the University of Auckland and the Medical Technologies Centre of Research Excellence (MedTech CoRE) from New Zealand, the University California, San Diego and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from the USA for their contribution to make my attendance to this conference possible.

This project is funded by: Flagship 1 from the Medical Technologies Centre of Research Excellence (MedTech CoRE), New Zealand, and National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States (NIH 1R01HL119201).

Mr Luca Parisi

It was January 2018 when I was notified that my research abstract entitled Adherence of Residents in Training of University of Perpetual Help DALTA Medical Center to the 2009 International Standards for Tuberculosis Care and Their correlation with Treatment Outcome was accepted for poster presentation at the ATS International conference.

It was my second time to have an abstract poster presentation, but this event was more exciting because of the travel award I received from the ISRD-APSR for being selected as one of top-ranked scientific ATS submitted poster abstracts from junior investigators.

The APSR facilitators and staff were very accommodating, and were of great help. I was able to socialize, converse and have exchange of views with them and to the other young investigators. The conference was very interesting and enriches my knowledge as well as my confidence.

Dr Raissa Joyce Ronquillo-Guarin

It was exciting experience for me attended to this very prestigious session, The Asian Pacific Society of Respirology - International Symposium on Respiratory Disease (APSR-ISRD), during the American Thoracic Society (ATS) event at San Diego 2018.

Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation for the invitation and opportunity to join at the event. It was a pleasure to follow the whole session including poster discussion, oral presentation by awardees and the lecture from the experts. By joining the session, I could meet and discuss with the very excellent and outstanding young investigators from around the Asia-Pacific region.

At the poster and oral presentation session, we had the opportunity to share and discuss very interesting topics that each investigator had researched. We also learned bright ideas from the expert lectures. I feel lucky to have been able to join the session, and it was important to increase my knowledge, to expand networking, and to encourage my research further.

The experience to give my oral presentation in front of an audiences was very useful for my personal development and important for my future. It was also challenging to have presentation and to share the information related my research accurately, concisely and understandably to the audience within the very tight time slot.

Finally, in the end of session, I was very proud to receive the award given directly by the president of the APSR and president of the ATS, Prof. Kwun Fong and Prof. Marc Moss, respectively.

Dr Arif Santoso

This 2018 ATS conference was my second time attending the conference, and this time, I was honoured to have an opportunity to present my research at APSR/ISRD joint session as a poster discussion. I really appreciate Professor Kwun Fong, Prof Chunxue Bai, and many other senior researchers for showing their interest in my research and giving me words of encouragement.

My research, entitled "NTM Lung Diseases Caused by Mixed Infection with Mycobacterium avium complex and Mycobacterium abscessus complex", evaluated clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes in 71 patients with concomitant infection with two major NTM pathogens. I think the two most important findings of this study are, 1) almost all patients had nodular bronchiectatic form of the disease and 2) these patients are especially vulnerable to repeated reinfections by new strains. My abstract was also chosen as a RAPiD poster discussion at NTM session. I personally thank Prof Won-Jung Koh for giving me a chance to study this topic and supervising me through whole process.

Lectures by Prof Nakanish, Prof Yu, and Prof Bai were brief but very informative. I also had a great time networking with other young researchers from Asia. Their brilliant studies and passion in this field truly motivated me. Lastly, the award scholarship did help a lot. Again, I sincerely appreciate the APSR for this precious opportunity.

During the 2018 ATS conference, I was very grateful to have received the Best Abstract Award in the APSR-IRSD joint session on 19 May. It was really an honour to attend this session. Professor Kwun Fong and Professor Chunxue Bai great hosts of the session.

We looked at the all the best posters and discussed with each author before the mini-oral presentations began. Many excellent researches were presented. I was pleased to present my abstract entitled "The roles of programed death-1, regulatory T cells and myeloid derived suppressor cells in patients with Mycobacterium avium complex and Mycobacterium abscessus lung disease" after a talk by Professor Marc Moss, the ATS president. Professor Moss presented the award to all the awardees and gave us a lot of encouragement.

In my abstract presentation, I reported my preliminary results regrading immune exhaustion in nontuberculous mycobacteria lung disease (NTN-LD), which has become a clinical concern due to its increasing prevalence. However, the etiology remains unclear at present and we investigated the role of immune exhaustion in the disease. In brief, we enrolled 96 participants, including 46 with Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC)-LD, 23 with M. abscessus (MAB)-LD, and 27 controls. We measured expressions of programmed death-1 (PD-1), regulatory T (Treg) cells on CD4+ lymphocytes and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and analyzed their association with clinical features and progression. For the results, the percentage of PD-1 on CD4+ (PD-1+CD4+) lymphocytes was higher in the MAC-LD group, and the MAC-LD and MAB-LD groups had higher levels of MDSCs than the controls. Positive sputum acid fast stains and fibrocavitary radiographic lesions were correlated with elevated expressions of PD-1+CD4+ lymphocytes and Treg cells. The percentage of PD-1+ on CD4+ lymphocytes significantly predicted radiographic progression.

In addition, there were three 10-minute topics reported by Professor Chunxue Bai (China), Professor Chong Jen Yu (Taiwan) and Professor Yoichi Nakanishi (Japan). The three topics focused on lung cancer early detection, discussion and optimal care. The talks were very comprehensive and the audience had many questions and discussions.

Overall, in this session we did not only learn and discuss the frontier of the pulmonary medicine, but also met the experts in respiratory fields. We appreciated the efforts from every colleague and hoped we could contribute more by our research.

Dr Chin-Chung Shu

I am very honoured to have been chosen as the awardee of the Best Abstract by the APSR-ISRD Joint-Session at the ATS International Conference in San Diego, 2018. The ATS conference always provides me with great opportunities to discuss the recent clinical advancements and collaborate with various foreign doctors.

I got an opportunity to conduct the research presentation in Mini Symposium entitled "A93-ILD: CLINICAL TRIALS". The title of my presentation was "High-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy on exercise capacity for fibrosing interstitial lung disease: a proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial". Fibrotic interstitial lung disease (FILD) is characterized by abnormalities in ventilator mechanics and gas exchange, resulting in exertion dyspnea and exercise limitations. There are no currently proven beneficial management methods for exercise limitations in patients with FILD. High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen therapy is a novel treatment, which has become widespread in various clinical settings. We hypothesized that HFNC oxygen therapy might be superior to conventional oxygen therapy for improving exercise capacity in FILD patients. We performed a prospective randomized controlled crossover trial with an endurance exercise tolerance test using HFNC (50L/min, FiO2 0.5) and a venturi mask (VM) (15L/min, FiO2 0.5) for oxygen delivery in FILD patients. Both HFNC and VM significantly improved endurance time and minimum SpO2 (baseline: 3.9 ± 3.3min, 77.7 ± 6.6%; HFNC: 6.8 ± 4.7min, 89.7 ± 9.3%; VM: 7.6 ± 6.3min, 89.4 ± 9.3%) compared with the baseline test. Although HFNC did not exceed the efficacy of VM in endurance time, it significantly improved exertion dyspnea in FILD patients. From our findings, HFNC might have potential benefits for improving exertion dyspnea in FILD patients.

I am most grateful to the team members for giving me this opportunity: Dr Yasuhiro Kondoh, Dr Tomoki Kimura, Dr Kensuke Kataoka, Dr Toshiki Yokoyama, Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergy, Tosei General Hospital; Dr Masahiko Ando, Center for Advanced Medicine and Clinical Research, Nagoya University Hospital. I also greatly appreciate the following people for their support: Tomoya Ogawa, Fumiko Watanabe, Jun Hirasawa, Takuya Mishima, Takuro Furukawa, Yusuke Nagae, Kazuya Shingai, and Yuko Kokubo, Department of Rehabilitation, Tosei General Hospital; Sayaka Tsukada, Department of Medical Engineering, Tosei General Hospital. They all are amazing professionals who deserve this award just as much as I do.

Additionally, I presented other clinical research in Rapid Abstract Poster Discussion Session entitled "A103- ILD: OUTCOMES". The title of presentation was "Acute exacerbations of fibrosing interstitial lung diseases; incidence, risk factors, and outcome". In this study, we demonstrated that all forms of FILD are at risk of acute exacerbation and have a similar outcome to acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Regarding this presentation, I would like to thank my colleague, Dr Jun Fukihara, for supporting me.

Once again, I would like to sincerely thank the APSR and ISRD for providing me with this great award. I hope further world collaboration will expand.

Dr Atsushi Suzuki

I attended ATS 2018 and the APSR-ISRD joint session in San Diego on 19 May. I wish to thank the APSR for giving me an award and the opportunity of presentation.

My presentation was a case report entitled "Pulmonary Tumor Thrombotic Microangiopathy (PTTM) Diagnosed by Autopsy in Thymic Adenocarcinoma Patient". I considered this case to be valuable because of three reasons. Firstly, thymic cancer is rare and the frequency of thymic adenocarcinoma is especially rare. Secondly, PTTM which is usually occurring in advanced adenocarcinoma patients is also rare. Finally, pathological diagnosis of thymic adenocarcinoma and PTTM were confirmed by autopsy. I am preparing to submit this case report for publishing.

During the conference, an attendee told me about his PTTM patient and the detail of its clinical course. The patient died, but had survived for 15 days treating with high flow nasal oxygen therapy in spite of it being reported that almost all PTTM patients die within one week because of rapid-progress hypoxia. It is reported that there is no effective treatment for PTTM other than chemotherapy, but most cases are unable to be treated because of poor performance status with severe respiratory failure. High flow nasal oxygen therapy might be useful for respiratory care in PTTM patients.

I visited San Diego for the first time and San Diego was comfortable to stay and a beautiful city. Once again, I would like to thank APSR for providing me a great experience.

Dr Ryosuke Tsugitomi

Attending the ATS Conference proved to be one of the most fruitful ventures I have carried out over the duration of my PhD candidature.

In preparation for my presentation, I learned how to best format my project in a way that would translate to respiratory professionals from a wide array of fields without compromising the complexity or novel nature of the work. Being able to discuss my work with peers and researchers working in similar fields left me feeling validated in my methods and provided incentive to pursue this project further.

Upon attending sessions in similar fields I was able to discuss novel techniques in my field – such as the Epic 805K array – with researchers who have had hands on experience with these and other cutting edge methods. These discussions also familiarized me with other institutions that are undertaking research in my field, which subsequently allowed me to take advantage of networking opportunities with researchers within these labs; thereby strengthening my chances for any future collaborative ties and/or post-doctoral positions with these institutions. A/Prof Brian Oliver invested his time in introducing me to established leaders in the field, working in both industry and academia, which further bolsters my opportunity for future collaborative ties and/or post-doctoral position successes.

Attending such a well-organized conference inspired me to become a member of the ATS and the Respiratory Structure and Function (RSF) assembly within the Society. I have since expressed interest in becoming a member of the Organising Committee for the RSF as I'd like to contribute to the success of future ATS Conferences.

Overall, presenting at the conference has allowed me to fine tune the work that will be part of a publication on this topic in a peer reviewed journal and will also be included in my thesis. The novel techniques I was exposed to will be incorporated into my work thereby ensuring that my methods and results are among the most robust in the field. Any collaborations that eventuate as a result of the contacts made at ATS 2018 will contribute to peer reviewed publications and will constitute part of my thesis.

Dr Razia Zakarya

Jaka Pradipta


Shaogi Syam

First of all we would like to express our sincere appreciation and thanks to the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR) and the Indonesian Society of Respirology (ISR) for selecting us to attend the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Resident Boot Camp which was held 18–19 May 2018 in San Diego, California, USA.

This was a two-day course for pulmonary residents and paediatric residents (as well as chief residents and hospitalists) who joined a fellowship programme in July 2017, usually for those who studied in the US and Canada. In 2018 the ATS made this event more international by inviting attendees from outside the US and Canada. The objectives were to observe whether all components of the course met the same needs within the US and outside the US.

The Boot Camp included large group lectures, small breakout sessions and hands-on, skill-based workshops. This event allowed residents to acquire knowledge of basic cardiopulmonary physiology, basic techniques and principles of mechanical ventilation, airway management and bronchoscopy in terms of indications, techniques and limitations, attain skills in vascular, thoracic and pleural ultrasound image acquisition for ultrasound-guided procedures and diagnosis (pneumothorax, thoracentesis, line placement, right ventricular dilation/dysfunction), and develop strategies to successfully manage common clinical emergencies encountered as a pulmonary resident or fellow.

This programme was a precious experience for us to enrich the information related to our pulmonology and respiratory medicine residency programme curriculum. We are very grateful to compare the curriculum and catch the different competencies needed to become pulmonologists.

We also would like to say thank you to all the ATS Resident Boot Camp faculty and all teachers, mentors who have been so kind and generous for teaching us how to be good residents. Also, we would like to thank and highly appreciate Dr Agus Dwi Susanto, President of the ISR; Dr Sita Andarini, Head of Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine Study Program; and Mr Yasutomi Yamanaka, Executive Manager of the APSR, for their generous support.

Dr Jaka Pradipta and Dr Shaogi Syam
Chief Residents
Department of Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine
Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia
Persahabatan Hospital

• Dr Kazuhisa Asai (Japan)
• Dr Jane Bourke (Australia)
• Dr Masaki Fujita (Japan)
• Dr Koichi Hagiwara (Japan)
• Dr Tomoaki Hoshino (Japan)
• Dr Toshio Ichiwata (Japan)
• Dr Mary Sau-Man Ip FAPSR (Hong Kong)
• Dr Tadashi Ishida (Japan)
• Dr Ki-Suck Jung (Republic of Korea)
• Dr Akira Koarai (Japan)
• Dr Yuzo kodama (Japan)
• Dr Hisako Matsumoto (Japan)
• Dr Yasutaka Nakano FAPSR (Japan)
• Dr Chau Ngo Quy (Vietnam)
• Dr Moo Suk Park (Republic of Korea)
• Dr Paul Reynolds FAPSR (Australia)
• Dr Chin Kook Rhee (Republic of Korea)
• Dr Kuniaki Seyama (Japan)
• Dr Noriaki Sunaga (Japan)
• Dr Toshinori Takada (Japan)
• Dr Kazuhisa Takahashi (Japan)
• Dr Akira Umeda (Japan)
• Dr Jennifer Ann Wi FAPSR (Philippines)

The APSR is profoundly grateful for their generosity.

A warm welcome to the following members who have recently joined APSR assemblies. They will undoubtedly enjoy working with and networking with their assembly colleagues.

If you have any news or announcement that could be of interest to other APSR members, please submit details to the APSR Bulletin coordinators: Dr Arata Azuma (a-azuma@nms.ac.jp), Dr David C L Lam (dcllam@hku.hk), Dr Shu Hashimoto (hashimoto.shu@nihon-u.ac.jp), or APSR Bulletin (bulletin@apsresp.org).