There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains a major public health problem. It is the fourth leading cause of chronic morbidity and mortality in the United States, and is projected to rank fifth in 2020 in burden of disease worldwide, according to a study published by the World Bank/World Health Organization. Yet, COPD remains relatively unknown or ignored by the public as well as public health and government officials. In 1998, in an effort to bring more attention to COPD, its management, and its prevention, a committed group of scientists encouraged the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the World Health Organization to form the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD). Among the important objectives of GOLD are to increase awareness of COPD and to help the millions of people who suffer from this disease and die prematurely of it or its complications. The first step in the GOLD program was to prepare a consensus report, Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of COPD, published in 2001. The present, newly revised document follows the same format as the original consensus report, but has been updated to reflect the many publications on COPD that have appeared. GOLD national leaders, a network of international experts, have initiated investigations of the causes and prevalence of COPD in their countries, and developed innovative approaches for the dissemination and implementation of COPD management guidelines. We appreciate the enormous amount of work the GOLD national leaders have done on behalf of their patients with COPD. Despite the achievements in the 5 years since the GOLD report was originally published, considerable additional work is ahead of us if we are to control this major public health problem. The GOLD initiative will continue to bring COPD to the attention of governments, public health officials, health care workers, and the general public, but a concerted effort by all involved in health care will be necessary.

https://www.who.int/respiratory/copd/GOLD_WR_06.pdf

Global strategy for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: GOLD executive summary.

Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)61728-0.pdf

Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)61766-8.pdf

A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

This editorial considers the findings of the systematic review of heroin-assisted treatment, with six different studies from six different countries, published in this issue The meta-analysis focuses on supervised injected heroin and reports significant crime reduction and an overall cost-effectiveness of treatment Despite this body of evidence, policy makers remain reluctant to develop this treatment further The question remains, what else is required to convince policy makers of the value of such treatment for severe and refractory heroin dependence?

/pdf/heroin-assisted-treatment-has-a-controversial-treatment-come-1jwp68o17x.pdf

Heroin-assisted treatment: has a controversial treatment come of age?†

In this Perspective, Wayne D. Hall & Michael Farrell discuss the current need for alternative strategies in the rising opioid crisis in the US and the necessity to fund evidence-based treatment initiatives to reduce the death toll.

/pdf/reducing-the-opioid-overdose-death-toll-in-north-america-43k8mvgnqt.pdf

Reducing the opioid overdose death toll in North America

Assessment of real cost effectiveness, with data linked to individual health outcomes while protecting patient privacy, is an essential challenge we need to meet

Tailoring access to high cost, genetically targeted drugs.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2007.01845.x

Wayne Hall

Papers

Heroin-assisted treatment: has a controversial treatment come of age?†

Reducing the opioid overdose death toll in North America

Tailoring access to high cost, genetically targeted drugs.

Standardizing terminology in addiction science: to achieve the impossible dream.

Thresholds for safer alcohol use might need lowering