APSR Newsletter

Vol. 9, No. 2, 2000

Editor:	Yoshinosuke Fukuchi
Associate Editors:	J Patrick Barron H Sato Cochrane

In this issue

• World Congress on Lung Health / 6th APSR Congress
• Message from the President
• Message from the Congress President
• Message from the President-elect
• Report from Research & Education Committee
• APSR -Past, Present and Future-
• Forthcoming Meetings
• APSR Members
• 41st JRS Meeting and 6th APSR Workshop
• Notice from the Secretarial Office
• Officers of the APSR
  • Council Members
  • Executive Members representing the Council Members
  • International Advisory Committee
  • Finance Committee
  • Membership Committee
  • Research & Education Committee
  • Past Congress Presidents

World Congress on Lung Health / 6th APSR Congress

August 30th - September 3rd, 2000. Florence, Italy

This was a most successful meeting in that a large number of people attended and a wide range of respiratory diseases were discussed, both from a scientific and an educational viewpoint. The anticipated problems of sufficient accommodation in Florence proved somewhat of a difficulty but were not insurmountable. Attendance at sessions was excellent. In addition, a large number of people from developing countries attended and the APSR was well represented.

The executive committee of the APSR had a one-day meeting during which a number of matters were discussed and a new Executive Committee was elected. Prof. Lam from Hong Kong is the president elect and will take over from Prof. Kira in two years time. Heartiest congratulations to him. It was decided to have yearly meetings after 2002 and the Scientific meeting for 2003 is planned for Malaysia. In addition to the Executive Committee the publications committee and the Council of the APSR held meetings. Prof. Thompson is now the editor of Respirology.

During the ERS meeting, I was awarded the President's prize by Dr. Jacob Boe - this is an honour for the APSR.

Now is a time for the APSR to forge ahead with its mission to represent respiratory science in our region. We have many challenges - the most important being money. I would like to extend to the Executive and especially to Professor Kira my best wishes for the future. I urge all members to pay their membership dues promptly because without money the Society cannot run. Finally, I wish to thank all those who helped me during my presidency - Professor Fukuchi, Professor Kira, and Mrs. Sato Cochrane and in Australia of Professors Berend, Scale and Thompson. Good luck for the future and may all members enjoy their research!

Ann J. Woolcock, M.D.
Past President and Past Congress President
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Australia

Message from the President

I am honoured to become the President of the APSR, but I also feel a great responsibility to be involved at this special time of transition from the 20th to the 21st century.

The first APSR Congress was held in Tokyo in 1988. Since then, 13 countries have joined, there are 1,000 members from all over the world, and according to its Charter & Bylaws, biennial congresses have been held. I would like to particularly refer to the 6th congress that was held in Florence, Italy, in 2000. This was the World Congress on Lung Health held jointly with the ERS, the ATS and the IUATLD, under the Presidency of Dr. Ann J. Woolcock. It gave the APSR a wonderful opportunity to show the world our existence and the Society's activities. The APSR Congress will be held annually from the year 2002. The Executive Committee, which includes representatives from the councillors, initially held biennially but now annually, gives an opportunity for active discussion amongst members. The Society's quarterly journal, Respirology, started in 1996. It is of great significance that Respirology has been selected to be indexed and included in Index Medicus and MEDLINE. A new Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Philip Thompson, has been selected and Respirology is poised for substantial progress in 2001. We could say that the APSR has completed the first chapter of its history, and we are stepping into the second phase of its development.

There are still many problems which need to be solved; such as increasing membership, stabilizing finances, co-operating in the promotion of regional clinical, education and research for chest diseases, and joint research on a world-wide scale rather than a regional one. Our challenge is to make the APSR able to solve these problems and contribute to conquering regional and world chest diseases. With your help as members, I would like to address these problems by making a formal and close federation between the Thoracic Societies of each member region. I am looking forward to seeing the APSR's progress in the new century with your strong support and enthusiasm.

Shiro Kira, M.D.
President, APSR
Professor Emeritus Juntendo University and Jichi Medical College

Message from the Congress President

Dear Colleague

The last few years have witnessed a growing advance in respiratory medicine, including both basic and clinical researches in asthma, in lung cancer and in critical care medicine.

It is our privilege to organize the 7th Congress of Asian Pacific Society of Respirology, which will take place in Taipei, Taiwan, on October 24-27, 2002. The scientific programs will consist of more than 20 attractive, up-to-date symposia and mini-symposia covering main topics in the field of respirology. Internationally renowned scholars from the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world will share their expertise in respirology. Free communication sessions, either oral or poster presentations will enhance the close communication and opinion exchange among participants. The programs, combined with the hospitality of the Chinese people, will ensure you have an unforgettable experience.

"Formosa", the island Taiwan, invites all participants to enjoy its beauty and warmth.

Looking forward to meeting you in Taipei.

Kwen-Tay Luh, M.D.
Congress President
The 7th Congress of APSR
National Taiwan University

Date: October 24-27, 2002

Congress Venue: The 2nd Student Activity Center, National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan

Organizer: Taiwan Society of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

Secretariat: Taiwan Society of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Department of Laboratory Medicine
National Taiwan University Hospital
No. 7 Chung-Sham South Road, Taipei, Taiwan 100
Tel: 886-2-23123456 ext.5354 Fax: 886-2-23936237

Message from the President-elect

It is my great honour and pleasure to be President-Elect of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.

The APSR was established in 1985 with the objective of advancement and promotion of knowledge of the respiratory system in health and disease. It strives to encourage research, improve clinical practice through teaching, increase awareness of health problems in the area and promote the exchange of knowledge among respirologists in the Asian and Pacific region. Through the leadership of successive Officers, Executive and Council Members and active participation of members, the APSR has grown from strength to strength. The fact that the APSR stood alongside with the ERS, ATS and IUATLD as co-organisers in the very successful World Congress on Lung Health in 2000 in Florence is solid evidence of the international recognition of the APSR as respirology representative of the Asia Pacific region just as ERS is in Europe and ATS is in N. America.

The road ahead remains long and full of challenges. To sustain the vigour of the APSR and to make great strides forward, we must strive to increase and diversify the activities of the Society to attract new members and to keep them. How best to develop the "federation" aspect of the Society should be worked out. The APSR Congresses are already well known in this region, and there are plans to have it annually as from 2002 after the Taipei Congress. In this regard, we should work towards getting the ACCP, ATS and ERS to join in our Congress for better and greater strength and coordination. More workshops and courses can be organised in collaboration with national thoracic societies / academic institutions. Our journal Respirology is now entering the 6th year of publication, and has been indexed in MEDLINE and Index Medicus. Great strides of improvement have been made in the editorial and review process, and the number and quality of manuscripts received have steadily increased. Its frequency of publication (currently quarterly) will increase in due course. The Research and Education Subcommittee has made a good start by coordinating a COPD Epidemiology study - after all, one objective of the society is to foster research activities especially on diseases that affect our region.

All these activities would call on to respirologists in this region that the Society belongs to them and exists for them, and that they should take pride in joining the Society. Able and dedicated new blood should be recruited to the Council. The Society should also be forward looking and explore new memberships / collaboration with more Asia Pacific countries and regions and other regional scientific societies, culminating in being the strong representative of the Asia Pacific region in a future World Chest Disease Society.

This is a most challenging task ahead. We must overcome the great diversities of the Asia Pacific nations and regions involved. Central to the success of the Society is the enthusiasm, unity and participation of all of us with a common vision.

The new millennium heralds in an era of dynamic changes and opportunities. I look forward to working with all respirologists in the region to realise the objectives of the Society.

WK Lam, M.D.
President-elect, APSR
he University of Hong Kong

Report from Research & Education Committee

1. Project on Prevalence of COPD in the Asia Pacific region:

   This project is being coordinated by Prof. WC Tan, Singapore, and Prof. P Scale, Australia, with input from representatives from various countries. The project is conducted in two phases, and in the first phase, a computer programme of a mathematical model has been developed by Protocare Sciences, with support from Boerhinger Ingelheim, which utilised demographic data to estimate the prevalence of COPD in a certain locality. It is anticipated that this prevalence data will be forthcoming in several months time, and that the information will be published in Respirology. In the second phase, it is hoped that some countries will conduct prevalence studies of COPD within their communities, and the data thus obtained can serve as validation for the estimated prevalence based on demographic characteristics. To date, it is known that Hong Kong will soon be conducting a community study of lung function in smokers, which will yield data on COPD. Alternatively, some countries may have recent data collected from community prevalence studies, which can be utilised for validation.

2. Project on Syndrome of Obstruction Post - tuberculosis (SOPT)

   This syndrome, as observed by Prof. Hadiarto, Indonesia, referred to a phenomenon of airway obstruction after treatment of PTB, was put forth as a project for regional study. It was suggested that some countries should conduct a pilot study regarding the estimated prevalence of airflow obstruction post-TB and characteristics of subjects before a full study would be launched.

3. Project on quality of Life Assessment

   Since countries in the Asia Pacific region may have different cultural and economic backgrounds, QoL assessment instruments developed in Western countries may not be suitable. It was therefore proposed that a project to validate disease-specific QoL questionnaires, e.g. in COPD, in asthma, in sleep apnoea, should be conducted.

4. Workshops

   To promote the work of the APSR, it was suggested that member countries would be encouraged to conduct workshops that are jointly organised by local chest societies and the APSR. Such workshops can serve several roles:

   1. Through cooperation with local respiratory societies, help to promote awareness among health professionals in the region of APSR as "the" regional association in the field of respirology
   2. Serve as an educational forum in respiratory health and disease for health professionals in the region, especially on issues relevant to the region
   3. Function as a focal point for meeting of coordinators from various countries who are conducting a specific research project. This would hopefully help to resolve some of the difficulties we encounter in promoting collaborative regional research

Mary SM Ip, M.D.
The University of Hong Kong

APSR -Past, Present and Future-

The great success of the APSR is due to a combination of many factors. These include the dedication, foresight and hard work of many dedicated people throughout the region as well as, in the initial stages, the help of people outside the region. At the same time there has been a certain amount of good timing in terms of when the organization was set up, when the conferences began to be held and also in the establishment of our journal Respirology. The factor of good timing is particularly the case with Respirology since after publishing for only 18 months, we were notified that we would be listed on Index Medicus, retroactive to the first issue. When the first talks were held in Tokyo in 1984 and 1985 concerning whether there was a need for yet another medical society, it was decided by those present who were leaders in the field of respiratory science and diseases, that the Asia-Pacific area not only presented certain unique features but also had unique needs that might not be completely served by existing North American and European societies. Therefore, in order to fulfil the needs of the region, it was finally considered necessary to have a society for the region. In addition, in the future it was hoped that it would be possible for the Asian-Pacific society to join in some way with the North American and European societies to form a global interactive network that would facilitate the study of respiratory function and diseases and thereby contribute more to patient welfare. The fruit of that effort was seen this year in the huge conference in Florence, Italy which was a combination primarily of the APSR, ATS, FIRS and IUALT (in alphabetical order).

One of the initial problems facing the founders of the society was how to structure the society. Should the society be an umbrella organization consisting of representatives from various national and regional societies? If so, how could we maintain continuity of commitment, since national society officers often change annually. In fact many of us did not know exactly who or where the national societies of many regions were located. Or should the society be mainly individually oriented? In either case, how would we obtain financial independence, given the great disparity between earnings in different countries in the region? It was eventually decided to have democratic elections of individuals from the various regions and countries. Yet another point was to determine the Asia-Pacific regions. The geographical limits of this area are still not easy to define.

Once it was eventually decided that we did need a new society to fit the needs of the region, and since the aims of the society were to study not only respiratory diseases but also the healthy lung and its functions, the question of the name of the new society arose. It was decided to coin a new term 'Respirology' which was, I believe, proposed by Dr. Peter Macklem and the decision to call it the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology was made in Singapore in 1986. We had our first meeting in Tokyo under Dr. Harasawa in 1987 and our second in Bali, Indonesia under Dr. Alsagaff Hood, our 3rd meeting was in Singapore in 1991 under Dr. Wang Cheng Tan, then there were congresses in Beijing, Sydney and the latest one in the year 2000 in Firenze as mentioned above.

Each of the congresses grew in size and in stature and it was the third meeting in Singapore at which we realized that not only could we make a profit by our congresses but that it was essential for the financial well-being of the society, since we were maintaining annual dues at an absolute minimum in order to accommodate those from countries not so well off as others. Subsequent meetings have helped to significantly promote the budget of the society, adding to the annual support from the Japan Respiratory Society.

Yet another problem facing the society was that of how to start a good journal on a shoe-string budget. The way that this was accomplished was for a combined approach to producing not only the English language journal but also Japanese language translations of the extended abstracts for pharmaceutical company publicity in Japan. The combined support obtained by these activities provided a sufficient subsidy to allow us to continue to present our members with all the services of the society, including this Newsletter and also with a full-fledged quarterly journal. Needless to say, the costs of the journal exceeded the cost of the annual dues.

These achievements have not come easily. They have come at the expense of sacrifice and efforts by many individuals but the result is that we have a very viable society of over 900 members from 35 countries, we have an active Newsletter, we have a good journal that is in Index Medicus and Medline among other indexing systems, and we have very high quality congresses.

So that is some of the background and present situation of the society. In the coming years, there are also more changes on the horizon. The Editor-in-Chief will change from Dr. Shiro Kira, who is replacing Dr. Ann Woolcock as President, to Dr. Philip Thompson of the University of Western Australia.

In addition our biennial meetings will become annual meetings in order to promote more continual exchange among our members. One other large event of the APSR is the APSR symposium held annually on the occasion of the Japan Society of Respirology. This coming April will see a huge symposium with more than 40 presenters not only from the Asia-Pacific region but also by colleagues from the ERS and ATS. This will be another step in the growth of the APSR and I feel we must thank the Japan Respiratory Society for their continued support without which the APSR could not have continued to grow as it has.

In addition the APSR is looking to establish a system whereby not only individuals, but also the societies of each of the countries and regions of our area, and that area seems ready to expand beyond the original limits set by the founders to include other nations in the southern hemisphere, will be able to take part in the council and Executive Committee of the APSR in addition to the already pre-existing heavy commitment from individuals throughout all these regions. In other words, it is important to be able to do what we can for our members but also to be able to interact with societies in order to have the greatest impact on health care of various countries in the region. In the annual meetings, I hope we will be welcoming participation from other groups and societies, not only in the Asia-Pacific region but also outside, in order to enhance the educational and academic quality of our annual forums. I think that the APSR has a very open and inclusionary attitude which is good for the development and growth of respirology in the region.

No doubt in the future we will have to make many adjustments to our constitution and to our modus operandi. Moreover, we will always be plagued by the question that has presented itself from the very beginning of the talks that were held to discuss the possibility of establishing a society that eventually became the APSR; that is the question of financial dues from less advantaged countries. To have a double-tiered or triple-tiered system of membership dues creates administrative chaos and it is also very difficult to decide whether one country belongs in a lower tiered group or not. There is also the question of whether members in such countries may be making significantly more than the average income for that country. These are thorny issues and they require on-going dialogue to make our society as strong as possible. The Secretariat is always open to suggestions from all members about possible changes or improvements in how we do things. I hope that for the continued and future success of the APSR, all members will feel free to express their opinions, either directly to the Secretariat or through their national members.

Professor J Patrick Barron
International Medical Information Center
Tokyo Medical College

Forthcoming Meetings

February 18-22, 2001
American Lung Association of Hawaii and Hawaii Thoracic Society First Annual Symposium-Respiratory Infections

March 7-9, 2001
8th International Conference on Home Mechanical Ventilation (Lyon, France)

April 1-4, 2001
International Paediatric Respiratory and Allergy Congress (Prague, Czech Republic)

April 4-6, 2001
6th APSR Workshop / 41st Japanese Respirat6ry Society Annual Conference (Tokyo, Japan)

May 18-23, 2001
97th ATS International Meeting (San Francisco, USA)

September 22-26, 2001
11th ERS Annual Congress (Berlin, Germany)

October 24-27, 2002
7th APSR Congress (Taipei, Taiwan)

COPD Workshop

The Workshop on the epidemiological survey of COPD and alpha-1-antitrypsin (a1AT) deficiency in the Asia-Pacific region was held on 2nd December, 2000 at the Toshi Center Hotel, Tokyo, Japan.

Dr. Y Fukuchi was the Chairman and the participants were Doctors YJ Zhu (China), YS Shim (Republic of Korea), MSM Ip (Hong Kong), WC Tan (Singapore), N Berend (Australia), M Amin (Indonesia), T Kuriyama (Japan), K Tatsumi (Japan) and K Seyama (Japan).

APSR Members

(as of November 2000)

AUSTRALIA BEIJING BELGIUM BRUNEI CANADA FRANCE FRENCH OLYNESIA GERMANY HONG KONG ILE DE LA REUNION INDIAN OCEAN INDIA INDONESIA ITALY JAPAN KUWAIT MALAYSIA NEW ZEALAND NORWAY PERU PHILIPPINES Republic of KOREA SAUDI ARABIA SINGAPOR SLOVENIA SOUTH AFRICA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWEDEN SWITZERLAND TAIWAN THAILAND TURKEY USA UNITED KINGDOM VIETNAM	63 151 2 1 4 1 2 1 38 1 4 17 4 391 1 25 7 1 1 22 42 5 12 1 1 1 3 5 1 56 22 5 13 3 5
Total	912

The APSR has had a promotion booth at the ATS and ERS Annual Congresses for the past five years. The ATS and FIRS have kindly provided the floor space.

The APSR booth at the World Congress on Lung Health, Florence, Italy. This attracted good number of applications for membership, and enquiries about the 7th Congress of the APSR in Taipei, 2002.

The 41st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Respiratory Society and The 6th APSR Workshop

President:	Yoshinosuke Fukuchi, M.D., PhD.
Secretariat:	Department of Respiratory Medicine Juntendo University, School of Medicine 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 113-8421 Tel +8l-3-5802-1O63 Fax +81-3-5802-1617 e-mail: jrs41@convention.co.jp
Period:	April 4 (Wednesday) to 6 (Friday), 2001
Place:	Tokyo International Forum 3-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 100-0005 Tel +8l-3-5802-1063 Fax +81-3-5221-9011

International Program in English

In order to make the Japanese Respiratory Society an open society in the 21st century, we have planned an international program, which consists of researchers officially nominated by the ATS, ERS, APSR, and JRS. The 6th APSR Workshop (lectures and poster session) will be integrated into the International Program.

Notice from the Secretariat

1. Bids invited for the Congress in 2004 and 2005!

   We invite you to present your case to host the APSR Congress in 2004 and 2005. Bids will be considered at the Executive Meeting in April, 2001 in Tokyo. You are requested to present a plan, venue and your country or regional Thoracic Society's plans for the arrangements and infrastructure of the Congress (e.g. Local Organizing Committee, etc.) no later than March 20, 2001.

   Please contact the Secretariat in Tokyo if you have any questions.

2. Prof. Philip J Thompson was appointed an Editor-in-Chief at the Executive Meeting held in Florence on 29th August, 2000. Therefore, as from lst January, 2001, please send your manuscripts to: Prof. Philip J Thompson
   University of Western Australia
   Dept. of Medicine, QEII Medical Centre
   Nedlands, Western Australia, 6009
   AUSTRALIA
   Te1: 61-8-9346-3822 Fax: 61-8-9346-2816
3. Please see the back page of the Newsletter for the new officers of the APSR.
4. We welcome statements, notices and other information from your country's Thoracic Society (Annual Meeting, etc.) to be printed in the Newsletter to encourage more vigorous exchanges of scientific accomplishments in Respirology within the APSR region.

Yoshinosuke Fukuchi, M.D.
Secretary General, APSR

Officers of the APSR

President: President-Elect: Congress president: Past President and Past Congress President: Secretary General: Treasurer: Editor-in-Chief:

Shiro Kira Wah Kit Lam Kwen-Tay Luh Ann J Woolcock Yoshinosuke Fukuchi Takashi Horie Philip J Thompson

Council Members

Australia:	Philip John Thompson Stephen Michael Stick Deborah Yates
Hong Kong:	Christopher KW Lai Alfred YC Tan
Indonesia:	Hadiarto Mangunnegoro Adji Widaja
Japan:	Masayuki Ando Shoji Kudoh Satoshi Kitamura Yoshikazu Kawakami
Malaysia:	Aziah A. Mahayiddin
New Zealand:	John Kolbe
Beijing:	Wei-Wu Deng Yuan-Jue Zhu Nan Sham Zhong
Philippines:	Camilo Roa Teresita S de Guia
Republic of Korea:	Sung-Kyu Kim Wong Dong Kim
Singapore:	Nyat-Kool Chin
Taiwan:	Kwen-Tay Luh Reury-Perng Perng Sow-Hsong Kuo
Thailand:	Suchai Charoenratanakul Praparn Youngchaiyud

Executive Members representing the Council Members

Suchai Charoenratanakul
Won Dong Kim
Hadiarto Mangunnegoro
Aziah A Mahayiddin

International Advisory Committee

J Patrick Barron
Norbert Berend
YoungSoo Shim
Wan-Cheng Tan
Wei-Ci Luo
J Paul Seale

Finance Committee

Yoshinosuke Fukuchi (Chairman)

Membership Committee

Teresita S de Guia (Chairman)

Research & Education Committee

Nan-Shan Zhong (Chairman)

Past Congress Presidents

1st APSR Congress, Tokyo, 1988: 2nd APSR Congress, Bali, 1990: 3rd APSR Congress, Singapore, 1993: 4th APSR Congress, Beijing, 1996: 5th APSR Congress, Sydney, 1998: 6th APSR Congress, Florence, 2000:

Michiyoshi Harasawa Hood Alsagaff Wan-Cheng Tan Wei-Ci Luo J Paul Seale Ann J Woolcock