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

A major expansion of opioid agonist treatment is needed to reduce overdose deaths in the USA

https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:340048/UQ340048_OA.pdf

Should Australia reconsider its ban on the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems

Does the gateway theory justify a ban on nicotine vaping in Australia

Carbon fibre buckle arrestors for offshore pipelines

Public attitudes towards the use of drugs for cognitive enhancement and enhancement in sport are not well understood. This qualitative study used an open ended response format to explore reasons underlying public attitudes towards: (1) the use of prescription drugs to enhance concentration/alertness, and more specifically, the use of Ritalin by healthy university students as a “study aid” and (2) the prospect of “legalised doping” in sport. Participants were 55 members of the Australian public. Participants generally held unfavourable attitudes towards both the use of drugs for cognitive enhancement and “legalised doping”. The reasons underlying attitudes towards both contexts overlapped and reflected four main themes: (1) regard for authenticity; (2) concerns about safety and side-effects; (3) unfairness; and (4) proper use of medicines. An understanding of unfavourable public attitudes towards the non-medical use of drugs for enhancement purposes is useful to inform appropriate health policy and clinical practice responses.

Wayne Hall

Papers

A major expansion of opioid agonist treatment is needed to reduce overdose deaths in the USA

Should Australia reconsider its ban on the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems

Does the gateway theory justify a ban on nicotine vaping in Australia

Carbon fibre buckle arrestors for offshore pipelines

“If you’re healthy you don’t need drugs”: Public attitudes towards “brain doping” in the classroom and “legalised doping” in sport