BEIJING, Feb. 6 --A study led by prominent Chinese medical expert Zhong Nanshan on a low-cost treatment for chronic respiratory disease has been voted the people's choice for the Lancet journal's paper of the year 2008.
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File photo of prominent Chinese medical expert Zhong Nanshan (front). A study led by Zhong on a low-cost treatment for chronic respiratory disease has been voted the people's choice for the Lancet journal's paper of the year 2008. (Xinhua File Photo)
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The editors' choice went to Werner Hacke and colleagues' study of alteplase for ischaemic stroke in the online selection during which 21,556 votes were cast.
The PEACE study of carbocisteine in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) carried out by Zhong Nanshan and his associates reported a 24.5 percent lower annualized rate of exacerbation of COPD with carbocisteine treatment.
The 1-year placebo-controlled randomized trial of 709 patients from 22 centers in China also found that COPD treatment using carbocisteine, a relatively cheaper mucolytic drug, can reduce treatment costs by 85 percent, the report said.
An article on the website of the Lancet journal noted that COPD is predicted to cause 65 million deaths in China between 2003 and 2033. Hence, the work of Zhong and his colleagues has important implications for treating COPD in developing countries.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung ailment that is characterized by a persistent blockage of airflow from the lungs. The most common symptoms of COPD are breathlessness (or a "need for air"), abnormal sputum (a mix of saliva and mucus in the airway), and a chronic cough.
Zhong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, was one of the leading scientists who helped control the spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in China in 2003.
(Source: CRIENGLISH.com)
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