EDITORIAL

We continue with our lung cancer review series with two more reviews. Our Associate Editor, Dr Fong, is presenting a very thorough and extremely detailed review on the ‘Epigenetics of lung cancer’, with Drs Bowman, Yang and Semmler as co-authors (pp. 355–365). Dr Fong and his co-authors work at the Prince Charles Hospital at the University of Queensland, Australia in the Department of Thoracic Medicine. This is a fascinating area of how the environment may be modifying genes that give rise to malignancy. The second review by Prof. Stephen Lam, and Drs Mc Williams and Shaipanich of the Cancer Imaging Department of the British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, Canada describes with great clarity and insight the steps to ‘Early detection and chemoprevention of lung cancer’ (pp. 366–372). This is a true state of the art review of where we headed with lung cancer screening. I recommend it to you. We trust that both reviews will be of great interest to you and that you will enjoy reading them. Other highlights in this issue include a review by Dr Slader et al. (pp. 373–387) on the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in asthma. This review shows that although it is sometimes difficult to establish with accuracy how often CAM is used in the management of asthma and even more difficult to prove its efficiency, it is nonetheless essential to recognise its usage and take it into account in the management of patients with asthma. The study by Nishigaki et al. (pp. 407–413) reports findings on the levels of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in patients infected with Mycobacterium avium complex. Nishigaki et al. showed in their study that infected patients had significantly higher serum VEGF levels and that these levels correlate with the extent of the disease. The authors propose that VEGF may be associated with the pathogenesis of pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex and that its serum levels could be a useful surrogate marker for evaluating the extent of the disease and the response to treatment. Another illustration of the impact of cigarette smoke exposure was presented by Dr Unlu et al. (pp. 422–428) who showed dramatic histopathological changes and an imbalance of the oxidant-antioxidant status in lungs of exposed rabbits. Intriguingly, a low daily dose of melatonin, had a limited protective effect on these changes. An interesting and nicely written study by Dr Oishi et al. (pp. 429–436) presents recent data on the distribution of drug-resistant strains isolated in patients with community-acquired pneumonia in Japan identifying the most common resistance-gene variations and serotypes. The data from this study provide salutary information for clinicians who may be oblivious to the level of drug resistance for common respiratory organisms elsewhere in the world. Finally, a study on the effects of corticosteroids on adult varicella pneumonia by Dr Adhami et al. (pp. 437–441) showed that corticosteroids administered together with antiviral treatment in adults patients with severe varicella pneumonia dramatically accelerated the physiological recovery of these patients and could also shorten the duration of mechanical ventilation, providing us with new data to help combat this serious disease. Prof. Mishima from Japan and Prof. Yoo from Korea have announced their retirement from their role as Associate Editors due to increased extra responsibilities. Prof. Mishima joined Respirology in June 2003 and Prof. Yoo in March 2004. Their contributions over the past years to the growth and success of the Journal have been greatly appreciated. We are very grateful for their dedication and commitment to the Journal, and we will miss working with them. Both will stay involved with Respirology as Editorial Board members. With three Associate Editors stepping down recently, it is with great pleasure that we welcome five new Associate Editors. Prof. Takahide Nagase from Japan and Prof. David Hui from Hong Kong both started on the 1 March 2006. Prof. Nagase’s interest is in molecular biology and cell biology of lung cancer, Prof. Hui’s interests are in sleep apnoea, non-invasive ventilation, viral pneumonia and COPD. In mid-March, Prof. O Jung Kwon from Korea started, whose interests are in tuberculosis and critical care medicine while on the 3 April 2006, Prof. Phillip Eng from Singapore and Prof. Chong-Kin Liam whose collective interests are in bronchoscopy intervention techniques, and critical care medicine and lung cancer will start. We will continue our tradition and all our new Associate Editors will be offered the opportunity to provide an Editorial to the Journal which will help promote their respiratory interests and their commitment to the Journal. Submission to Respirology is now made online through the very user-friendly ScholarOne which also enables authors to check the status of their manuscript online as it undergoes the review process. To submit a new manuscript or check the status of a submitted manuscript log on to manuscript central at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/res If you need assistance, lost your login details or have any problem with the new system you can contact the Editorial Office at: respirol@cyllene.uwa.edu.au. Furthermore, we are now able to offer the opportunity to track your manuscript as it goes through the publication phase by logging into http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor We hope you enjoy using these new systems and that you agree that these represent further important improvements to our Journal.

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