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Electronic cigarettes: Investigating the harms and benefits

Guest Editor: Robert Bals (Saarland University, Germany)

This series of articles, published in Respiratory Research, provides the newest research and comprehensive background information on e-cigarettes. The articles aim to address the needs of basic researchers, clinicians and other individuals that need up-to-date information on this topic.

The series is still open for submissions which would undergo the journals normal peer review process. Funds may be available to cover article processing charges, at the Editors discretion.

Manuscripts should be formatted according to our submission guidelines and submitted via the online submission system. In the submission system please make sure the correct collection title is chosen from the additional information tab. Please also indicate clearly in the covering letter that the manuscript is to be considered for the electronic cigarette collection.

For further information, please email respiratory-research@biomedcentral.com

  1. Exposure to e-cigarette vapors alters important biologic processes including phagocytosis, lipid metabolism, and cytokine activity in the airways and alveolar spaces. Little is known about the biologic mechani...

    Authors: Kristi J. Warren, Emily M. Beck, Sean J. Callahan, My N. Helms, Elizabeth Middleton, Sean Maddock, Jason R. Carr, Dixie Harris, Denitza P. Blagev, Michael J. Lanspa, Samuel M. Brown and Robert Paine III
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2023 24:162
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Electronic (e)-cigarettes are popular among youth and cigarette smokers attempting to quit. Studies to date have focused on the utility of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool, but the biological effects a...

    Authors: Mario F. Perez, Marina Yurieva, Spandana Poddutoori, Eric M. Mortensen, Laura E. Crotty Alexander and Adam Williams
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2023 24:134
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is an acute and critical disease among children and adults, and previous studies have shown that the administration of corticosteroids remains controversial. Therefor...

    Authors: Xinyan Chang, Shaojun Li, Yueqiang Fu, Hongxing Dang and Chengjun Liu
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2022 23:301
    Content type: Review Published on:

  5. Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are used worldwide as a substitute for conventional cigarettes. Although they are primarily intended to support smoking cessation, e-cigarettes have been identified as a ga...

    Authors: Moegi Komura, Tadashi Sato, Hitomi Yoshikawa, Naoko Arano Nitta, Yohei Suzuki, Kengo Koike, Yuzo Kodama, Kuniaki Seyama and Kazuhisa Takahashi
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2022 23:216
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Although still considered a safer alternative to classical cigarettes, growing body of work points to harmful effects of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) affecting a range of cellular processes. The biolog...

    Authors: Sara Trifunovic, Katarina Smiljanić, Albert Sickmann, Fiorella A. Solari, Stoimir Kolarevic, Aleksandra Divac Rankov and Mila Ljujic
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2022 23:191
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. The electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), for many considered as a safe alternative to conventional cigarettes, has revolutionised the tobacco industry in the last decades. In e-cigarettes, tobacco combustion is re...

    Authors: Patrice Marques, Laura Piqueras and Maria-Jesus Sanz
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2021 22:151
    Content type: Review Published on:

  8. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is the most common interstitial lung diseases with a poor prognosis. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to be involved in IPF in several studies. However, the...

    Authors: Panpan Liu, Lei Zhao, Yuxia Gu, Meilan Zhang, Hongchang Gao and Yingxia Meng
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2021 22:44
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. Exposure to electronic-cigarette (e-cig) aerosols induces potentially fatal e-cig or vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI). The cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these effects, however, are unknown....

    Authors: Alexandra Noël, Ekhtear Hossain, Zakia Perveen, Hasan Zaman and Arthur L. Penn
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2020 21:305
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Globally, a surge in electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has been observed in recent years, with youth being the most susceptible group. Given their recent emergence, studies assessing the health consequenc...

    Authors: Abdullah Alnajem, Abdullah Redha, Dalal Alroumi, Ahmed Alshammasi, Mohamad Ali, Maram Alhussaini, Waad Almutairi, Ali Esmaeil and Ali H. Ziyab
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2020 21:300
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. JUUL, an electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS), which first appeared on the US market in 2015, controled more than 75% of the US ENDS sales in 2018. JUUL-type devices are currently the most commonly used ...

    Authors: Rakeysha Pinkston, Hasan Zaman, Ekhtear Hossain, Arthur L. Penn and Alexandra Noël
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2020 21:269
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. Electronic cigarette (e-cig) vaping is increasing rapidly in the United States, as e-cigs are considered less harmful than combustible cigarettes. However, limited research has been conducted to understand the...

    Authors: Qixin Wang, Isaac K. Sundar, Dongmei Li, Joseph H. Lucas, Thivanka Muthumalage, Samantha R. McDonough and Irfan Rahman
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2020 21:154
    Content type: Research Published on:

  14. A cluster of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia were discharged from hospitals in Wuhan, China. We aimed to determine the cumulative percentage of complete radiological resolution at e...

    Authors: Dehan Liu, Wanshu Zhang, Feng Pan, Lin Li, Lian Yang, Dandan Zheng, Jiazheng Wang and Bo Liang
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2020 21:125
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. The use of electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) is increasing, but the impact of ECIG-vapor on cellular processes like inflammation or host defense are less understood. The aim of the present study was to compare the...

    Authors: Christian Herr, Konstantinos Tsitouras, Julia Niederstraßer, Christina Backes, Christoph Beisswenger, Li Dong, Loïc Guillot, Andreas Keller and Robert Bals
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2020 21:67
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. This study was to investigate of the mechanism by which histone deacetylase (HDAC) 8 inhibitor ameliorated airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and allergic airway inflammation.

    Authors: Meng-lu Li, Xin-ming Su, Yuan Ren, Xuan Zhao, Ling-fei Kong and Jian Kang
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2020 21:62
    Content type: Research Published on:

  17. Bacteria have been extensively implicated in the development of smoking related diseases, such as COPD, by either direct infection or bacteria-mediated inflammation. In response to the health risks associated ...

    Authors: Deirdre F. Gilpin, Katie-Ann McGown, Kevin Gallagher, Jose Bengoechea, Amy Dumigan, Gisli Einarsson, J. Stuart Elborn and Michael M. Tunney
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2019 20:267
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by alveolar epithelial disruption. Lipoxins (LXs), as so-called “braking signals” of inflammation, are the first mediators identified to have dual an...

    Authors: Jing-xiang Yang, Ming Li, Xin-ou Chen, Qing-quan Lian, Qian Wang, Fang Gao, Sheng-wei Jin and Sheng-xing Zheng
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2019 20:192
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. Acute lung injury (ALI) is a life-threatening lung disease where alveolar macrophages (AMs) play a central role both in the early phase to initiate inflammatory responses and in the late phase to promote tissu...

    Authors: Huaizheng Liu, Kefu Zhou, Liangkan Liao, Tianyi Zhang, Mingshi Yang and Chuanzheng Sun
    Citation: RESPIRATORY RESEARCH 2018 19:243
    Content type: Research Published on:

  21. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare systemic disorder associated with considerable metabolic dysfunction. Although enormous metabolomic studies on PAH have been emerging, research remains lacking o...

    Authors: Hai-Kuo Zheng, Jun-Han Zhao, Yi Yan, Tian-Yu Lian, Jue Ye, Xiao-Jian Wang, Zhe Wang, Zhi-Cheng Jing, Yang-Yang He and Ping Yang
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2018 19:94
    Content type: Research Published on:

  22. Despite their growing popularity, the potential respiratory toxicity of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) remains largely unknown. One potential aspect of e-cigarette toxicity is the effect of e-cigarette v...

    Authors: Rebecca J. Przybyla, Jason Wright, Rajan Parthiban, Saeed Nazemidashtarjandi, Savas Kaya and Amir M. Farnoud
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2017 18:193
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. Electronic cigarettes (ECs) are battery-operated devices designed to vaporise nicotine, which may help smokers quitting or reducing their tobacco consumption. There is a lack of data on the health effects of E...

    Authors: Riccardo Polosa, Jaymin Bhagwanji Morjaria, Pasquale Caponnetto, Umberto Prosperini, Cristina Russo, Alfio Pennisi and Cosimo Marcello Bruno
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2016 17:166
    Content type: Research Published on:

  26. The potential for adverse respiratory effects following exposure to electronic (e-) cigarette liquid (e-liquid) flavorings remains largely unexplored. Given the multitude of flavor permutations on the market, ...

    Authors: Cara L. Sherwood and Scott Boitano
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2016 17:57
    Content type: Research Published on:

  27. The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) is increasing and there is widespread perception that e-cigs are safe. E-cigs contain harmful chemicals; more research is needed to evaluate the safety of e-cig use. O...

    Authors: Andrew Higham, Nicholas J. W. Rattray, Jennifer A. Dewhurst, Drupad K. Trivedi, Stephen J. Fowler, Royston Goodacre and Dave Singh
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2016 17:56
    Content type: Research Published on:

  28. Smoking cessation following lung cancer diagnosis has been found to improve several patient outcomes. Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use is now prevalent within Great Britain, however, use and practice amo...

    Authors: Frances C. Sherratt, Lisa Newson and John K. Field
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2016 17:55
    Content type: Research Published on:

  29. Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is defined as a condition of inflammation in the paranasal sinus mucosa persisting for more than 12 weeks. We previously reported that the prevalence of CRS was about 8 % in China....

    Authors: Wen-Xiang Gao, Chun-Quan Ou, Shu-Bin Fang, Yue-Qi Sun, Hua Zhang, Lei Cheng, Yan-Jun Wang, Dong-Dong Zhu, Wei Lv, Shi-Xi Liu, P. Z. Li, Geng Xu, Jianbo Shi and Qing-Ling Fu
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2016 17:54
    Content type: Research Published on:

  30. Due to their similarity to tobacco cigarettes, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) could play an important role in tobacco harm reduction. However, the public health community remains divided concerning the a...

    Authors: Caroline Franck, Kristian B. Filion, Jonathan Kimmelman, Roland Grad and Mark J. Eisenberg
    Citation: Respiratory Research 2016 17:53
    Content type: Review Published on: