Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine

A Buffalo News story on New York State’s need for ventilators interviews Sanjay Sethi, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, who explained what ventilators do. “They assist the lungs to get air in and out. You can control the volume of air, what rate it goes in, how much oxygen you add to it,” Sethi said.

Sanjay Sethi, MD, answers COVID-19-related questions about testing, the measures medical professionals are taking to protect themselves while treating COVID-19 patients, and the length of the contagious period. He also provides insight into whether it’s helpful to have an up-to-date pneumonia vaccine and whether smoking has an effect on the body’s ability to fight the virus. Sethi is a professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine.

A story on cutting-edge medical research features three Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences faculty members: Ali A. El Sohl, MD, professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine; Steven E. Lipshultz, MD, A. Conger Goodyear Professor and Chair of pediatrics; and Adekunle O. Odunsi, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

Sanjay Sethi, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, is quoted in an article about taking prednisone. “People who have conditions aggravated by the side effects of prednisone may be at risk,” he said. “This includes people with diabetes, since prednisone can increase blood sugar levels, and mood disorders, since the drug can cause difficulty sleeping, irritability and, rarely, psychosis.”

A story on legislation restricting the sale of flavored vaping products quotes Sanjay Sethi, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. Some retailers claim the regulation will in essence restrict the sale of an effective smoking-cessation method, resulting in more people smoking traditional cigarettes, but Sethi says such a claim may not be true. “Vaping tobacco has been shown to lead to smoking. Therefore, the idea that increased vaping regulation will lead to more smoking may not be true,” he said.

MD Magazine published a question-and-answer interview with Sanjay Sethi, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, about the potential benefits of aclidinium bromide in patients with COPD.

In stories about vaping-related illnesses, Sanjay Sethi, MD, professor of medicine and chair of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, said these illnesses are showing up in people, for the most part, who are vaping marijuana and black market products. “It can be really challenging to support these patients and find the right, specific treatment for them,” he said.

In Good Health, Western New York’s health care newspaper, featured Sanjay Sethi, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, in its “Meet Your Doctor” column. Sethi discussed the broad range of his research on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and related diseases.

An article about a new study that found the presence of fungi and bacteria in vape juice and e-cigarette cartridges interviews Sanjay Sethi, MD, professor of medicine and chief of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, who said the findings are “interesting, but not surprising.” The article notes that he would like to see further research elaborating on how the levels of endotoxin and glucan in e-cigarettes stack up against those in traditional cigarettes, which he says would give the results more context, adding, however, he agrees the current study’s findings are another reason for concern about e-cigarettes.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a twice-daily aclidinum and formoterol fumarate treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The approval is based on the results of multiple studies including ACLIFORM, AUGMENT and the AMPLIFY clinical trial. “The results of the AMPLIFY trial showed us that the benefits of the combination were more than its individual components in terms of efficacy, with a comparable safety profile,” says Sanjay Sethi, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine.

Sanjay Sethi, MD — professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine — advises on what happens to the body when a person stops smoking. “In terms of some of the risks, heart attacks and cardiac complications of smoking, those go down soon after quitting,” he explains. "Your risk for lung cancer goes down after you quit smoking, but it takes almost 15 years," he adds. He also says a person will cough less, their lungs will be less prone to infections and pneumonia, they may experience withdrawals, cardiac benefits happen fairly rapidly and the risk for other cancers will slowly decline. 

A story on WKBW-TV back-to-school tips to help children get a good night’s sleep includes suggestions from M. Jeffery Mador, MD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, to make sure they’re well rested and ready for school.

A story on WBFO-FM about the benefits of the meditation practice of mindfulness interviews Archana Mishra, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine, who practices mindfulness. “Mindfulness is something that helps you become a better human being,” she said. “It reduces anxiety and stress and that’s been proven … by true scientific methods.”

Eric Ten Brock, MD, professor of medicine, speaks about the changes to a person’s health that daylight savings time can bring about. “There have been studies that demonstrate increased risk of strokes and acute myocardial infarction that day and the next day,” says Ten Brock, who specializes in sleep medicine. "Over 40 percent of adults in this country are chronically sleep-deprived. And to lose one more hour is sort of a stress test and can exacerbate that problem so that people are often more tired.” The biannual time changes have also been liked to an increased risk of depression and mood changes.

Sanjay Sethi, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, has led a trial demonstrating a statistically significant improvement in lung function for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The results show the improvement is “achieved by the combination of aclidinium and formoterol compared to single LAMA bronchodilators tiotropium and aclidinium, with comparable safety,” he says.