Guest Editors Francesco Blasi Francesco Blasi is Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Vice-chairman of the Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation at the University of Milan, Milan, Italy, as well as Director of Respiratory Diseases at the Unit IRCCS Fondazione Ca ` Granda Ospedale Maggiore Milan. He is currently President of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) (2012–2013). Professor Blasi has published more than 180 papers in international journals. He is an Associate Editor on the editorial boards of Pulmonary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Respiratory Research, Clinical Respiratory Journal and Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease. His research interests include the effects of atypical bacterial infection on cellular immunity in chronic bronchitis, and the role of atypical bacteria and viral infection in asthma onset. He is also interested in the role of antibiotics in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations and asthma. He is actively working on pneumonia and tuberculosis research trials. Professor Blasi was also involved in the ERS/European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) guidelines on lower respiratory tract infections. In addition to being a member of the ERS, he is also a member of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the Italian Respiratory Medicine Society (SIMeR). Marc Miravitlles Marc Miravitlles is a pulmonologist working in clinical research in the Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona, Spain. His primary research interests include COPD, chronic bronchitis, a1-antitrypsin deficiency, lung defence mechanisms and respiratory infections. Marc Miravitlles serves on various medical committees and is a member of numerous professional societies, including the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), where he served as Secretary (1999–2003), and was responsible for international relationships from 2006 to 2011. Dr Miravitlles acted as the Chair of the Respiratory Infections Group of the ERS (2008–2011). He has also acted as a consultant for the development of different international guidelines for COPD, such as the ATS/ERS Task Force on outcomes in COPD. He was also a consultant of the Spanish Ministry of Health for the development of the national strategy against COPD (2009 onwards) and is the coordinator of the Spanish national guidelines for COPD. Dr Miravitlles is Editor in Chief of Hot Topics in Respiratory Medicine, Editor in Chief of Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Diseases and serves as an Associate Editor for Respiration, the International Journal of COPD and the Clinical Respiratory Journal. Dr Miravitlles has published over 200 articles in a number of peer- reviewed international medical journals, which were largely related to COPD, infection in COPD and a1-antitrypsin deficiency. Eur Respir Monogr 2013 60: vii. Copyright ERS 2013. DOI: 10.1183/1025448x.10005213 Print ISBN: 978-1-84984-034-7 Online ISBN: 978-1-84984-035-4 Print ISSN: 1025-448x Online ISSN: 2075-6674 vii