Safety of brigatinib following alectinib-induced-pneumonitis: Case report.

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase tyrosine kinase inhibitors (ALK TKIs) show robust efficacy and has revolutionized the treatment of NSCLC patients harboring an ALK-rearrangement. Side effects, sometimes even serious such as pneumonitis, can occur with ALK TKIs. We report a case of a patient with ALK positive advanced NSCLC who developed pneumonitis during treatment with first-line alectinib.

Mucus Plug Score predicts clinical and pulmonary function response to biologic therapy in patients with severe Asthma.

Background: Mucus plugging has been identified as an important feature of severe asthma contributing to airway obstruction and disease severity. Recently, improvement of mucus plugging has been found upon treatment with several biologic therapies.

Objective: We aimed to analyze associations of baseline characteristic with mucus plugging score (MPS) and asked whether MPS at baseline predicts the clinical and functional response to biologic treatment in patients with severe asthma.

Impact of smoking on biological treatment response in patients from the German Severe Asthma (GAN) Registry.

Background: Clinical studies of biologics in severe asthma exclude smokers or ex-smokers (ExS) with over 10 pack-years (py). Thus, the effectiveness of this therapy in ex-smokers with severe asthma is not well understood.

Objectives: To assess the impact of smoking on clinical efficiency of biologics in patients with severe asthma from the German Asthma Net (GAN), a comprehensive international registry.

Association of residential greenness and sleep duration in adults: A prospective cohort study in China.

Background: Exposure to residential greenness has been linked with improved sleep duration; however, longitudinal evidence is limited, and the potential mediating effect of ambient fine particulate matter (PM) has yet to be assessed.

Methods: We obtained data for 19,567 participants across seven counties in a prospective cohort in Ningbo, China. Greenness was estimated using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within 250-m, 500-m and 1000-m buffer zones, while yearly average PM concentrations were measured using validated land-use regression models, both based on individual residential addresses.

GOLD grade-specific characterization of COPD in the COSYCONET multi-center trial: comparison of semiquantitative MRI and quantitative CT.

Objectives: We hypothesized that semiquantitative visual scoring of lung MRI is suitable for GOLD-grade specific characterization of parenchymal and airway disease in COPD and that MRI scores correlate with quantitative CT (QCT) and pulmonary function test (PFT) parameters.

Methods: Five hundred ninety-eight subjects from the COSYCONET study (median age = 67 (60-72)) at risk for COPD or with GOLD1-4 underwent PFT, same-day paired inspiratory/expiratory CT, and structural and contrast-enhanced MRI. QCT assessed total lung volume (TLV), emphysema, and air trapping by parametric response mapping (PRM, PRM) and airway disease by wall percentage (WP).

Optical Control of TRPM8 Channels with Photoswitchable Menthol.

Transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (TRPM8) channels are well known as sensors for cold temperatures and cooling agents such as menthol and icilin and these channels are tightly regulated by the membrane lipid phosphoinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP). Since TRPM8 channels emerged as promising drug targets for treating pain, itching, obesity, cancer, dry eye disease, and inflammation, we aimed at developing a high-precision TRPM8 channel activator, to achieve spatiotemporal control of TRPM8 activity with light. In this study, we designed, synthesized and characterized the first photoswitchable TRPM8 activator azo-menthol (AzoM).

Unravelling the Information Contained in the Single Items of the COPD Assessment Test for Different Outcomes and Smoking Status in Patients with COPD: Results from COSYCONET.

Background: The COPD Assessment Test (CAT) comprises eight questions. We evaluated the information that each of the questions and the total score contributed to outcomes and characteristics of chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), including their dependence on smoking status.

Methods: Patients with COPD of the COSYCONET cohort with Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) grades 1-4 and the former grade 0 were included.

Association of Patients' Knowledge on the Disease and Its Management with Indicators of Disease Severity and Individual Characteristics in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): Results from COSYCONET 2.

Background: In patients with chronic diseases, including those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), knowledge on the disease and its self-management is considered as relevant for improving disease control and long-term outcome. We studied to which extent components of knowledge depended on potential predictors, such as participation in educational programs and disease severity. For example, the perception of exacerbations or GOLD grade might modulate the content and reliability of COPD understanding.

European Respiratory Society Research Seminar on Preventing Pediatric Asthma.

This report is a summary of the presentations given at the European Respiratory Society's Research Seminar on Asthma Prevention. The seminar reviewed both epidemiological and mechanistic studies and concluded that; (i) reducing exposure of pregnant women and children to air pollution will reduce incident asthma, (ii) there are promising data that both fish oil and a component of raw cow's milk prevent asthma, and (iii) modulating trained immunity by either mimicking helminth infection or oral and sublingual bacterial products is a promising area of research.

Skin Markers of Premature Ageing in Patients with COPD: Results Form COSYCONET.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is commonly associated with ageing, with the prevalence and severity increasing by age. Smoking-induced premature ageing is thought to contribute to COPD, particularly lung emphysema. This study aimed to explore the relationship between lung function impairment and skin texture, as a marker of biological or premature ageing, in COPD patients.

Molecular Dynamics Simulations Elucidate the Molecular Organization of Poly(beta-amino ester) Based Polyplexes for siRNA Delivery.

Cationic polymers are known to efficiently deliver nucleic acids to target cells by encapsulating the cargo into nanoparticles. However, the molecular organization of these nanoparticles is often not fully explored. Yet, this information is crucial to understand complex particle systems and the role influencing factors play at later stages of drug development.

Novel immunotherapeutic approaches in lung cancer: driving beyond programmed death-1/programmed death ligand-1 and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated Protein-4.

Purpose Of Review: In this review, our aim is to highlight the latest novel immunotherapeutic approaches for advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) beyond anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) and anti- cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated Protein-4 (CTLA4).

Recent Findings: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) revolutionized the treatment of advanced NSCLC. Despite that, patients develop primary or acquired resistance to ICIs.

Characteristics and outcomes of patients hospitalized for infection with Influenza A, SARS-CoV-2 or respiratory syncytial virus in the season 2023/2024 in a large German primary care centre.

Background: In addition to the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 infections, those with Influenza A/B and RSV have reappeared in 2022/23. To compare the development of prevalence, clinical outcomes and risk factors, we analysed data of the season 2023/24 from the same region/hospital as for 2022/23.

Methods: Patients covering the whole age range with a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A/B, RSV were included from the internal, neurological and paediatric units of the RoMed hospital Rosenheim, Germany/Bavaria, from August 1st 2023 to 29th February 2024.

Socioeconomic status, smoking, and lung cancer: mediation and bias analysis in the SYNERGY study.

Background: Increased lung-cancer risks for low socioeconomic status (SES) groups are only partially attributable to smoking habits. Little effort has been made to investigate the persistent risks related to low SES by quantification of potential biases.

Methods: Based on 12 case-control studies, including 18 centers of the international SYNERGY project (16,550 cases, 20,147 controls), we estimated controlled direct effects (CDE) of SES on lung cancer via multiple logistic regression, adjusted for age, study center, and smoking habits, and stratified by sex.

Subclinical impairment of the left atrium is associated with MRI-based lung volume but not with parameters from pulmonary function testing.

Left atrial (LA) physiology and hemodynamics are intimately connected to cardiac and lung function in health and disease. This study examined the relationship between MRI-based left atrial (LA) size and function with MRI-based lung volume and pulmonary function testing (PFT) parameters in the population-based KORA study cohort of 400 participants without overt cardiovascular disease. MRI quantification assessed LA size/function in sequences with and without ECG synchronization, alongside lung volume.

Tumor board simulation improves interdisciplinary decision-making in medical students.

Introduction: Training of interdisciplinary clinical reasoning and decision-making skills, essential in daily clinical practice in oncological specialties, are still underrepresented in medical education. Therefore, at LMU University Hospital Munich, we implemented a didactically modified tumor board simulation with experts from five different disciplines (medical oncology, pathology, radiation oncology, radiology, and surgery) presenting patient cases into a one-week course on the basic principles of oncology. In this survey, we examined the self-assessed impact of our course on the interdisciplinary decision-making skills of medical students.

GOLD-Grade Specific Disease Characterization and Phenotyping of COPD Using Quantitative Computed Tomography in the Nationwide COSYCONET Multicenter Trial in Germany.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to apply quantitative computed tomography (QCT) for GOLD-grade specific disease characterization and phenotyping of air-trapping, emphysema, and airway abnormalities in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from a nationwide cohort study.

Methods: As part of the COSYCONET multicenter study, standardized CT in ex- and inspiration, lung function assessment (FEV1/FVC), and clinical scores (BODE index) were prospectively acquired in 525 patients (192 women, 327 men, aged 65.7 ± 8.

Physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and childhood asthma: a European collaborative analysis.

Objectives: To investigate the associations of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour in early childhood with asthma and reduced lung function in later childhood within a large collaborative study.

Design: Pooling of longitudinal data from collaborating birth cohorts using meta-analysis of separate cohort-specific estimates and analysis of individual participant data of all cohorts combined.

Setting: Children aged 0-18 years from 26 European birth cohorts.