COPD is common. It is the third leading cause of death worldwide, causing 3.23 million deaths in 2019. And anyone who has worked in a hospital will know that exacerbations are common also. So it is important that we get the diagnosis and management of this condition right. To find out more details about this problem and what we can do about it, please do listen to his podcast interview with Neil Greening, Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant Physician at the Institute for Lung Health, Leicester. Competing interests: Dr Greening has received honoraria, lecture fees, travel for conferences and consultancy fees from AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Chiesi, Sanofi and Pulmonx. His Institution has received grant funding and consultancy fees from GSK, and Roche.

Syncope is common. It accounts for approximately 1% of all emergency department visits and 2% of all hospital admissions from the emergency department. Causes include dysrhythmias, pulmonary embolism, subarachnoid haemorrhage, and acute coronary syndrome - to name but a few. So what if anything can we do to ensure that it is diagnosed and managed correctly? To answer this and other important questions, please do have a listen to this podcast interview with Professor Shamai Grossman, Associate Professor of Medicine and Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Competing interests: none

Sepsis is common. In 2018, more than one million US Medicare patients were admitted to hospital with sepsis.

And complications are serious - from renal failure to ARDS to DIC.

So what if anything can we do to ensure that it is diagnosed and managed correctly?

To answer this and other important questions, have a listen to this podcast with Professor Andre Kalil, from the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

For more on sepsis, visit BMJ Best Practice.

Competing interests: none

Acne is a common condition. The Global Burden of Disease estimates the prevalence of acne to be 8%, ranking it the eighth most prevalent disease worldwide.

And acne can cause complications - from scarring to dyspigmentation to mental health problems.

So what if anything can we do to ensure that it is diagnosed and managed correctly?

To answer this and other important questions, please have a listen to this podcast interview with Professor John Barbieri, Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Harvard. 

For more on acne, visit BMJ Best Practice.

Competing interests: JB has received consulting fees from Dexcel Pharma.

Cervical spine injuries result primarily from motor vehicle accidents, sports activities, and diving into shallow water. These mainly happen with young people. In older people, falls are a common cause. And such injuries can cause a range of complications from pain to radiculopathy to other neurological disability.

So what if anything can we do to ensure that cervical spine trauma is diagnosed and managed correctly?

To answer this and other important questions, listen to this interview with Michael Fehlings, Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto, and author of our BMJ Best Practice topic on this condition.

Competing interests: MGF served as a consultant for Zimmer, In Vivo Therapeutics, and Pfizer. He receives institutional fellowship grant support from AOSpine, Medtronic, and Depuy-Synthes.

Croup is a frequent cause of acute respiratory distress in young children. Typically, it affects those between six months and three years of age, peaking in the second year of life. And croup can be serious and can cause complications - such as pneumonia.

So what if anything can we do to ensure that it is diagnosed and managed correctly?

To answer this and other important questions, please do have a listen to this podcast interview with Professor David Johnson who is from the Department of Pediatrics and Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Calgary, Canada.

For more on croup, visit BMJ Best Practice. 

Competing interests: none

As the climate changes, we are getting more diseases associated with extremes of temperature - such as frostbite.

Frostbite is classically associated with mountaineering and winter activities. But it also occurs in armed conflict and of course in homeless people. Frostbite can result in wound infection, gangrene and amputation.

So what if anything can we do to ensure that it is diagnosed and managed correctly? To find the answer to this and other important questions, please have a listen to this podcast interview with Professor Chris Imray, Consultant Vascular and Renal Transplant Surgeon.

For more on frostbite, visit BMJ Best Practice.

Disclosures: CI has been paid for medicolegal work and receives royalties for the Oxford Handbook of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine.  

A US study of high-risk drinking patterns suggests that deaths due to alcohol-associated liver disease are expected to double in the next twenty years. And this condition is associated with a range of complications - including hepatic encephalopathy, GI bleeding, and hepatorenal syndrome. So what if anything can we do to ensure that it is diagnosed and managed correctly?

To answer this and other important questions, please have a listen to this podcast interview with Professor Craig McClain, Chief of Research Affairs and Associate Vice President for Health Affairs and Research at the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, University of Louisville School of Medicine. 

For more on alcohol-associated liver disease, visit BMJ Best Practice.

CM acts as a consultant for Nestlé, Durect, Allergan, Intercept, and DISCUS. He works for the Veterans Administration on a part-time basis, has received grants from the NIH and VAMC, and is working on the update of the AGC nutritional guideline.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) has an incidence of 64 per 100,000 per year, increasing by 40% with each decade of life. This means about 200,000 new patients per year in the USA. And BPPV can cause problems - including falls and accidents and of course injuries. So what if anything can we do to ensure that it is diagnosed and managed correctly?

To answer this and other important questions, please do have a listen to this podcast interview with Professor Lorne Parnes of the Departments of ENT, Head and Neck Surgery and Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario.

For more on BPPV, visit BMJ Best Practice.

Competing interests: none

In 2019, lower respiratory tract infections affected 489 million people worldwide, and were the cause for approximately 2.5 million deaths. Children less than 5 and adults older than 70 were the populations most affected by pneumonia. Mortality was highest in patients aged over 70.

So what if anything can we do to ensure that pneumonia is diagnosed and managed correctly?

To answer this and other important questions, please do have a listen to this podcast interview with Dr Catia Cillóniz, Associate Professor at the University of Barcelona.

For more on community acquired pneumonia, visit BMJ Best Practice.

Competing interests: none