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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the world's third leading cause of death, posing a significant public health challenge. Heart failure is an important milestone in the natural history of this disease's ever-decreasing course. Cor pulmonale alone is sometimes insufficient to explain the scenario, as many heart failures are refractory even after standard treatment. A possible explanation is involvement of the left ventricle (LV). However, there is currently no consensus on a therapeutic approach to LV dysfunction in COPD. Some previous studies were conducted on COPD patients regardless of the presence or absence of other factors influencing LV function. This study attempted to rule out all known confounding factors/co-morbidities that influence LV function. We discovered that LV diastolic dysfunction was common in subjects at all stages of COPD. We believe that all COPD patients, regardless of stage, should have screening echocardiography.

Although smoking and tuberculosis (TB) pose a health threat in low- and middle-income countries, they are less recognized as public health problems. Lack of awareness among smokers about smoking cessation services and health-care professionals not viewing apparently – healthy smokers as the candidates for smoking cessation treatment are some of the significant barriers. This qualitative study explores the opinions and views of primary care physicians (PCPs) on integrating smoking cessation programs with the ongoing antitubercular treatment in primary health-care settings of India. The study employs a deductive qualitative design using a purposive sampling method to recruit physicians to implement the Directly Observed Treatment Short Course for TB patients in primary health-care settings. A semi-structured, open-ended questionnaire was developed based on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research to conduct in-depth interviews of eight PCPs. Although smoking cessation intervention is noticeable in the primary health centers, lack of uniformity in service deliverables, nonusage of nicotine replacement therapy, shortage of human resources, and meager readiness of the patients to quit smoking are a few encounters. PCPs advocate early identification of smokers, delegation of responsibilities to grassroots level health-care workers, and collaboration with the nongovernmental organizations and private sector.

Lung cancer is a prominent global health issue responsible for the highest fraction of cancer-related mortality. The disease burden has incited the investigation of associated molecular pathways, to explore better therapeutic possibilities. MicroRNAs are extensively studied in recent years for their pivotal role in the regulation of several tumorigenic pathways. MicroRNA-30 (miR-30) family is primarily investigated in case of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and has been found to play the role of a tumour suppressor. There are six members of miR-30 family: miR-30a, miR-30b, miR-30c-1, miR-30c-2, miR-30d and miR-30e. They regulate several imperative signalling pathways like p53, PI3K/AKT, resulting in the modulation of key carcinogenic events involving cell proliferation, apoptosis, metastasis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and drug resistance. Their altered levels are documented in NSCLC tissue and blood samples. They are suggested as biomarkers of disease progression and therapeutic outcomes in lung cancer. They possess immense therapeutic potential in the treatment of lung cancer and combat the emerging problem of drug resistance by modulating prime regulatory axes. However, there are many limitations in the existing studies, and additional research is required for the comprehensive understanding of pathways so that the tumour suppressive potential of miR-30 can be translated into clinical benefits. In this review, we present a deeper understanding of the regulatory role and clinical significance of miR-30 and have emphasized the emerging roles in lung cancer.

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is the major underlying co-morbidity in many of the non-communicable diseases (NCD) due to obesity as a common risk factor. Incidence and prevalence of OSA is on the constant rise ever since this entity came to forefront three decades ago. Precise treatment of underlying OSA is extremely important in major NCDs like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, endocrine disorders and vascular diseases. OSA is subcategorized in to mild, moderate and severe based of apnoea-hypopnea index (AHI). Based on the severity grading, treatment of OSA ranges from life style modifications to oral appliances, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and surgeries. AHI system of severity grading in OSA has several inherent shortcomings and using AHI system for severity grading as the holy grail is likely to be counter-productive. AHI system equates apnoea and hypopnea as equal events, whereas physiological effects vary significantly. AHI system does not account duration of apnoea or body position during apnoeic events. We discuss at length the pitfalls of AHI system of severity grading in OSA.