ATS Daily Bulletin

Successful completion of critical care trials is fraught with barriers. These barriers may include engaging with surrogates, as patients often cannot consent. Patients’ health can quickly take a turn for the worse and eliminate them from trials, resulting in missing data.

The FDA has recently approved two minimally invasive endobronchial valves (EBV) that mimic the effects of LVRS and can be placed endoscopically as a new option for these patients.

There has been a 78 percent increase in the number of high school students who are using e-cigarettes, JUUL pods, or similar products, and a 48 percent rise in use among middle schoolers, according to a 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Those percentages represent an increase of 1.5 million users in just one year. Health care professionals are increasingly alarmed by the statistics.

When can taking photos help resolve a health crisis? When your mission is to educate and change people’s minds about the way things really are. Photojournalist Ed Kashi does just that as he takes on issues that stir his passions about the state of humanity.

Don’t miss the final two days of the ATS Keynote Series on Tuesday and Wednesday as speakers explore evidence for value-based care in pulmonary medicine, look at enhancing diversity and inclusion in academic medicine, and outline what pulmonologists should know about artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Evidence-based medicine holds considerable weight, but it is not without controversy. Many controversies surround the diagnosis and management of common conditions encountered in clinical practice.

Research in pulmonary arterial hypertension has reached a turning point in several areas. Should research continue its quest to find novel PAH genes? Should it continue to employ animal models? These topics and more will be debated Tuesday morning to help clarify the alternatives and chart future research.

This year’s ATS Clinical Practice Guidelines will spotlight the latest evidence-based clinical recommendations on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, malignant pleural effusions, obesity in OSA, fungal infections, and pediatric supplemental oxygen.

Over the past few years, knowledge of the complement system has expanded, and researchers have identified several complement proteins as being synthesized in the lung and by key immune cells such as CD4+ T cells, dendritic cells, macrophages, and innate lymphoid cells. These cells play crucial roles in affecting the local microenvironment. In addition, recent studies have shown that complement proteins can modulate cell survival, polarization, and fate.

James Beck, MD, ATSF, will serve as president of the ATS for the 2019-2020 term. He is professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care at the University of Colorado in Denver and vice chair for Veterans Affairs in the University of Colorado’s Department of Medicine. He is also chief of medicine for the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System.