William MacNee

TL;DR: The main goals of the updated document are to improve the quality of care provided to patients with COPD and to develop the project using a disease-oriented approach.

TL;DR: Although exacerbations become more frequent and more severe as COPD progresses, the rate at which they occur appears to reflect an independent susceptibility phenotype, which has implications for the targeting of exacerbation-prevention strategies across the spectrum of disease severity.

TL;DR: Exposing the mesothelial lining of the body cavity of mice to long multiwalled carbon nanotubes results in asbestos-like, length-dependent, pathogenic behaviour, including inflammation and the formation of lesions known as granulomas.

TL;DR: It is suggested that ultra-fine particles in the nature of the urban particulate cloud are able to provoke alveolar inflammation, with release of mediators capable, in susceptible individuals, of causing exacerbations of lung disease and of increasing blood coagulability, thus also explaining the observed increases in cardiovascular deaths associated with urban pollution episodes.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that only ultrafine polystyrene particles induced a significant increase in cytosolic calcium ion concentration and experiments using dichlorofluorescin diacetate demonstrated greater oxidant activity of the ultrafine particles, which may explain their activity in these assays.