Professor Lam has served the APSR since its inception in 1988, and was APSR President in 2002-2004. During his long term of engagement with the APSR, he has introduced important policies and saw through their implementation, building up the APSR as a regional society. He has also contributed to the Asia-Pacific region at large through his research in lung cancer in Asians, especially non-smoker lung cancer which notably afflicted some Asian populations, and the use of systemic chemotherapy at a time when it was not yet widely advocated.

He was one of the two co-subscribers (Founding members) of the Hong Kong Thoracic Society and the Founding Chairman of the Hong Kong lung Foundation. He was one of the core persons to draft the training of respiratory medicine in the Hong Kong College of Physicians and was Chairman of the Coordinating Committee for MRCP (UK) examination in Hong Kong, and College overseas/international advisor for many years. He was Head of Medicine at HKU, 2001-2004. He has always been a dedicated teacher and still regularly teaches medical students at the University of Hong Kong.

"Is bronchial thermoplasty cost-effective as treatment for problematic asthma patients? Singapore's perspective on a global model" doi/abs/10.1111/resp.13027

This paper has won the 2018 Fukuchi Award for the best original research paper published in Respirology.

September is a big month for the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS).

The United Nations will hold its High Level Meetings (HLM) on Tuberculosis on 26 September and Noncommunicable Diseases on 27 September, both of which are important to the respiratory community – and they occur just after World Lung Day, 25 September.

The content of the HLM is put together by different countries (member states), but the UN requests input from "civil society" and FIRS offers input for both events. We can also influence the HLM indirectly by voicing concerns at civil society forums and to people and places not necessarily connected to the UN.

FIRS represents the respiratory community in different venues and has been part of the call for action that TB diagnosis, treatment, and prevention reach all people with no person or area neglected; that the development of new tools to end TB be accelerated, and that funds be invested to do it.

Most importantly, commitments need to be accountable under regular UN reporting and review. FIRS asks that air pollution be considered a WHO health risk factor.

The World Lung Day momentum is building. This year we expect the number of organizations that celebrate 25 September to double. FIRS has a new Communication Officer, Lisa Roscoe, lisa.roscoe@firsnet.org, who is leading the promotion of World Lung Day. Be sure that your organization has contacted her to sign up to partner with FIRS for World Lung Day. FIRS will post your logo on the FIRS website and communicate with you about activities and ways to promote lung health on World Lung Day.

FIRS has become more active in air quality. The FIRS Environmental Committee is writing a review on the role of air pollution in systemic diseases and will be commenting on important events and scientific breakthroughs as they occur. We will represent the respiratory societies at the WHO Conference on Air Pollution and Health to be held in Geneva, 30 October to 1 November, and other venues.

Dean Schraufnagel, MD
Executive Director, FIRS

About FIRS: The Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) is an organization comprising the world's leading international professional respiratory societies presenting a unifying voice to improve lung health globally. Its members are: the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR), American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST), American Thoracic Society (ATS), Asociación Latino Americana De Tórax (ALAT), European Respiratory Society (ERS), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (The Union), the Pan African Thoracic Society (PATS), the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD), and the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA). FIRS has more than 70,000 professional members. The physicians, and patients they serve, magnify FIRS' efforts allowing it to speak for lung health on a global scale.

Dr John Ray T Galamay will live-tweet and upload to the APSR's social networking site (SNS) accounts during the ERS congress 2018 in Paris. Please enjoy his message and photos!

Sunday 16 September, 13:30–14:00, at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles

"Supporting clean air and healthy lungs in Asia-Pacific countries"
Tentative programme

• Opening & Welcome
  Dr Kwun Fong, President of the APSR
• World Lung Day and the Charter for lung health
  Dr Kwun Fong, President of the APSR
• Efforts to Clean Air World (Overview on activities in the Asia-Pacific region)
  Dr Chong Jen Yu, the Taiwan Society of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine
  Dr Vu Van Giap, the Viet Nam Respiratory Society
  Dr Arifin Nawas, the Indonesian Society of Respirology
  Dr Geethal Perera, the Sri Lanka College of Pulmonologists
• Impact of air pollution on three countries and steps being taken by the societies
  Dr Wilson Yee Kwok Sang, the Hong Kong Thoracic Society
  Dr Mohammad Mosharaf Hossain, the Bangladesh Lung Foundation
  Dr Puah Ser Hon, the Singapore Thoracic Society
• APSR 2018 Congress in Taipei, video & talk
  Dr Chong Jen Yu, President of APSR 2018 Congress
• Closing
  Mr Yasutomi Yamanaka, Executive Manager of the APSR

The August issue (Vol 10.8) features Environmental and Occupational factors:

• Estimates and 25-year trends of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution: an analysis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2015
• Respiratory and cardiovascular responses to walking down a traffic-polluted road compared with walking in a traffic-free area in participants aged 60 years and older with chronic lung or heart disease and age-matched healthy controls: a randomized, crossover study.
• Association between exposure to ambient particulate matter and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: results from a cross-sectional study in China.
• Airway responsiveness to methacholine and incidence of COPD: an international prospective cohort study.
• Pollution and respiratory disease: can diet or supplements help? A review.
• Ambient air pollution and chronic bronchitis in a cohort of U.S. women.
• Fine particulate air pollution and the expression of microRNAs and circulating cytokines relevant to inflammation, coagulation, and vasoconstriction.
• Occupational exposures and subclinical interstitial lung disease. The MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) air and lung studies.
• Temporal changes in mortality attributed to heat extremes for 57 cities in Northeast Asia.
• Long-term air pollution exposure, genome-wide DNA methylation and lung function in the LifeLines cohort study.

Respirology has just published two new Topics in Focus article collections:

• Topic in Focus in support of 2018 World Lung Day

  

• Topic in Focus in support of 2018 Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month (September)

  

Access to the articles in both Topics in Focus collections will be free during the month of September, so you can share them with your colleagues who are not APSR members.

In Respirology Vol. 23 Issue 9, the Editors have especially chosen to feature the following two articles:

• Increased risk of acute coronary syndrome in patients with bronchiectasis: A population-based cohort study
  
  
  Chin-Tun Hung, Shu-Fen Li, Wei-Sheng Chung
  10.1111/resp.13298

  This is the first study in an Asian population to show that patients with bronchiectasis are at increased risk of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) compared with the general population. Patients with bronchiectasis experiencing frequent respiratory infections have a substantially higher risk of ACS.

• Cost-effectiveness of endobronchial valve treatment in patients with severe emphysema compared to standard medical care
  
  
  Jorine E Hartman, Karin Klooster, Henk Groen, Nick H T ten Hacken, Dirk-Jan Slebos
  10.1111/resp.13295

  We performed an economic evaluation of the bronchoscopic lung volume reduction treatment using valves compared with standard medical care from the hospital perspective. Our results showed that the treatment has a favourable cost-effectiveness profile in the long term and also when compared with other advanced treatments for severe emphysema patients.

Respiratory experts in Vietnam are organising this educational symposium, endorsed by the APSR as part of the APSR's ESAP programme. It will run on 11–12 January 2019.

Venue: University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City
217 Hong Bang Street, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

After this workshop, participants should:

1. Understand indications and test performance of cardiopulmonary exercise testing.
2. Understand parameters of cardiopulmonary exercise testing.
3. Interpret results of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in adults and children.
4. Apply the exercise tests for management of COPD.
5. Understand indications for lung function testing in the pediatric population.
6. Apply the usefulness of spirometry, lung volumes, forced oscillatory technique and FeNO in pediatric population into clinical practice.
7. Apply results of pediatric pulmonary function testing for management of asthma.

Chair: Ngo Quy Chau
Co-Chair: Le Thi Tuyet Lan

Faculty:

• Professor Carl Mottram (USA)
• Professor Graham Hall (Australia)
• A/Professor Le Thi Tuyet Lan (Vietnam)
• A/Professor Pham Thi Minh Hong (Vietnam)
• Ms Hynes MHA RRT (USA)
• Dr Dang Thi Kim Huyen (Vietnam)
• Dr Vu Tran Thien Quan (Vietnam)

Primary host: Vietnam Respiratory Society
Co-host: Society of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology of Hochiminh City

Further details will be posted at apsresp.org/education/esap/esap-201901-vietnam.html when available.

Professor Chau Ngo Quy, MD, PhD
Vice director of Bach Mai Hospital
Director of Respiratory Center – Bach Mai Hospital
President of Vietnam Respiratory Society
Head of Internal Medicine Department, Hanoi Medical University

1. Conferences and seminars

   25 February	Workshop "Updated in treating COPD according to GOLD 2017" (cooperated with representative office of Boehringer Ingelheim)
   16-29 March	Cooperated with Respiratory Center to organize course of "Practising spirometry" and grant certificates to 9 trainees of National Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health
   29 March	Workshop "Proper use of antibiotic in treating infectious disease (Cooperated with Vietnam Sanofi – Aventis Limited Co.)
   15 April	Workshop "Optimizing Antibiotic treatment in pneumonia" (Cooperated with Vietnam Sanofi – Aventis Limited Co.)
   17 June	Workshop "Effective asthma control in clinical practice" with participations of more than 160 doctors (Cooperated with representative office of GlaxoSmithKline)
   21 July	Workshop "Effective prevention of exacerbations – New evidence in managing and treating COPD (Cooperated with representative office of Novartis Pharma Services AG in Ho Chi Minh City)
   13 August	CME course with the topic of "Systemic corticosteroid and its role in respiratory diseases" with attendance of 60 trainees; grant certificate to 29 trainees (Cooperated with representative office of Pfizer Company (Thailand))
   25 August	Workshop "Treatment of COPD: from professional theory guidance to clinical practice" with attendance of more than 100 doctors (Cooperated with representative office of Boehringer Ingelheim Company)
   22-23 September	Annual Congress of the Vietnam Respiratory Society 2017

   (Click image to enlarge)

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

2. Scientific activities

   Collaborating with the Vietnam Medical Association to annually organize scientific conferences, in response to COPD Day on 21 November

3. Publication of Guidelines

   In order to update knowledge for the members, the VNRS participated in the activities of compilation and publication of professional books and documents as a host or a member of the Compilation Committee of the Ministry of Health:

   1. 
      Guideline for invasive fungal infections
   2. 
      Guideline of diagnosis and treatment of hospital acquired pneumonia – ventilator associated pneumonia
   3. 
      Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of acute respiratory tract infections in children
   4. 
      Translating full-text of "Global initiative for Chronic obstructive lung disease" into Vietnamese
      
      Translating full-text of "Global initiative for Asthma" into Vietnamese

4. Smoking prevention

   Bach Mai Hospital with core team from VNRS, "National Center of free counseling and quit–line for smoking cessation"

   
   

5. APSR 2019

   The 24th Congress of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR 2019) will be held in Hanoi on 14–17 November 2019 (Thursday to Sunday) hosted by the VNRS.

Venue:	Gold Coast, Australia
Dates:	28–30 March 2019
Details	www.apcb2019.com

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

This APSR-endorsed Educational Event (APSREE) will be held on Friday 2 November 2018 at Hilton, Xiamen, China

It will be an intensive, full-day event, packed with the following session:

Chairpersons for morning sessions: Jim Mulshine Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Rush Medical College, Vice President for Research, Rush University Medical Center Chunxue Bai Professor, Fudan University, China Charles A Powell Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York
08:20–08:30	Welcome and Introduction	Chunxue Bai Professor, Fudan University, China
08:30–09:00	(Title to be confirmed)	Jim Mulshine Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Rush Medical College, Vice President for Research, Rush University Medical Center
09:00–09:30	Advances in immunotherapy	M Patricia Rivera Professor of Medicine Co-Director, Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Programme
09:30–10:00	Telehealth for lung cancer assessment(16th)	Kwun Fong President of APSR, Professor, University of Queensland School of Medicine
10:00–10:30	Lung cancer biology, histology, and biomarkers	Charles A Powell Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York
10:30–11:00	Precision medicine in lung cancer	David Lam Associate Professor, Hong Kong University, China
11:00–11:30	CT screening for lung cancer: What's the evidence?	Pyng Lee Associate Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
11:30–12:00	Satellite meeting
12:00–13:30	Lunch
Chairpersons for afternoon sessions: David Lam Associate Professor, Hong Kong University, China James R Jett Professor of Medicine, Emeritus National Jewish Health, Denver Colorado Pyng Lee Associate Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
14:00–14:30	Clinical practice consensus guidelines for evaluation of pulmonary nodules for Asia and its implementation in China	Chunxue Bai Professor, Fudan University, China
14:30–15:00	Early detection of lung cancer and evaluation of the indeterminate pulmonary nodule	James R Jett Professor of Medicine, Emeritus National Jewish Health, Denver Colorado
15:00–15:30	Ebus for staging of lung cancer;	Pyng Lee Associate Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
15:30–16:00	Circulating biomarkers in lung cancer	David Lam Associate Professor, Hong Kong University, China
16:00–16:30	Augmented reality based modern education system for pulmonary nodule diagnosis and management	David Yang/ Chuxnue Bai Fudan University, China
16:30–17:00	A robotic guided bronchoscopy system for early detection and treatment of lung cancer	Jiayuan Sun Chest Hospital, Shanghai
17:00–17:30	Probe-based confocal laser bronchoscopy	Jie Hu Fudan University, China

Further details will appear here when available.

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

Venue:	Crowne Plaza Hotel Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia
Dates:	23–27 October 2018
Secretariat:	pikpdpi2018@gmail.com Tel: +62 81313563575
Details	www.pikpdpi2018.com Avisena Dutha Pratama: avissena_dp@yahoo.com Erlang Samoedro: erlangsamoedro@gmail.com

A meeting of the Japan Society for Occupational Health will be held on 14-15 September 2018 in Tokyo.

A session on lung disorders due to asbestos and nanomaterials will take place in the morning of 15 September. Focus will be on the physiological response of personal protective equipment (respirators) and the clinical significance of circulating tumour cells in malignant mesothelioma.

Details: sanei2018.jp

3–6 October 2018
Venue: Keio Plaza Hotel, Tokyo Japan
Details: wca-2018.com

The 59th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Respiratory Society will be held on 12-14 April 2019 at the Tokyo International Forum.

The Meeting's president will be Prof. Koichiro Tatsumi (Department of Respirology, Chiba University)

Details: www.jrs.or.jp/english/?content_id=27

23rd Congress of the APSR will be held on 29 November – 2 December 2018 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Details: www.apsr2018.com

Despite being busy growing its economy over recent years, India has also made great strides in controlling childhood pneumonias, pulmonary TB and other infectious lung diseases.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that India is home to the world's largest burden of non-communicable chronic respiratory diseases. Tobacco smoke is an obvious cause. yet a greater contributor is the air pollution from the rapid increase in the number of cars (exhaust plumes and dust from old roads) and the rapidly developing industry.

Closing windows and doors in the home to exclude these threats only increases the greater danger from burning biomass fuel for cooking, mosquito coils, incense, and of course tobacco, aggravated by the ignorance or complacency of these pollutants.

Read Dr Sundeep Salvi's Letter from India doi.org/10.1111/resp.13369 and the remedies he recommends.

Pulmonary infarction secondary to pulmonary embolism: An evolving paradigm Marjan Islam, Jason Filopei, Matthew Frank, Navitha Ramesh, Stacey Verzosa, Madeline Ehrlich, Eric Bondarsky, Albert Miller and David Steiger
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/resp.13299 (Sep 2018)

Comment by Dr Mark Lavercombe:
This paper describes the findings of a retrospective review of 367 patients from a single centre who presented with pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary infarction was associated with younger age, absence of cardiopulmonary disease, presence of pleuritic chest pain and presence of an ipsilateral pleural effusion. Explanations based on pulmonary blood flow physiology and the development of collateral supply are proposed.

• Dr Hans Hamilton Liu
• Dr Narendra Kumar Narahari

have kindly sent their donations towards the Society's goals, as outlined at apsresp.org/members/donors.php.

The APSR is profoundly grateful for their generosity.

The APSR Environmental & Occupational Health and Epidemiology Assembly will award a research grant/fellowship of US$200 to each of three young investigators who will be presenting at the APSR Congress in Taipei 29 November – 2 December 2018. Applications will be considered from Assembly members who are sole or first authors and who are under 40 years old at the time of the Congress.

The deadline for application is 15 September 2018.

To apply, please send an email with the subject title:

with the following information:

1. Name
2. Affiliation/Institution
3. Email address
4. Date of birth
5. Abstract title
6. Abstract

to:

before:

The Award payment will be made by the APSR Secretariat Office at the Assembly meeting during the APSR 2018 Congress.

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.

	Assemblies
Anita Anokar (India)	Bronchoscopy and Interventional Techniques Lung Cancer Interstitial Lung Disease
Wei-hsin Hung (Taiwan)	Critical Care Medicine Interstitial Lung Disease Clinical Respiratory Medicine
Zhao Jun (China)	Clinical Respiratory Medicine Lung Cancer Asthma
Nguyen Ho Lam (Vietnam)	Tuberculosis Asthma Bronchoscopy and Interventional Techniques
Narendra Kumar Narahari (India)	Bronchoscopy and Interventional Techniques Critical Care Medicine Interstitial Lung Disease

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).

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