About the Authors

Valérie Bougault

Affiliations Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada, Université de Lille, EA4488 « Activité physique, muscle, santé », Lille, France

Evelyne Blouin

Affiliation Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada

Julie Turmel

Affiliation Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada

Louis-Philippe Boulet

lpboulet@med.ulaval.calp

Affiliation Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada

Competing Interests

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest of L.-P. Boulet: L.-P. Boulet has no conflicts of interest, but wishes to declare what can be perceived as "potential" conflicts of interest: Advisory Boards: GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis. Conferences (honoraria): AstraZeneca; GlaxoSmithKline; Merck; and Novartis. Sponsorship for investigator-generated research: AstraZeneca; GlaxoSmithKline; Merck Frosst; and Schering. Sponsorship for research funding for participating in multicenter studies (most of these studies are performed in the context of the Canadian Investigative Collaboration with the NCE AllerGen): Altair; Amgen; Asmacure; AstraZeneca; Boehringer-Ingelheim; Genentech; GlaxoSmithKline; Novartis; Ono Pharma; Pharmaxis; Schering; and Wyeth. Support for the production of educational materials: AstraZeneca; GlaxoSmithKline; Merck Frosst; Boehringer-Ingelheim; and Novartis. Governmental: Adviser for INNESS, the Quebec National Health Institute; and member of the Quebec Workmen Compensation Board Respiratory Committee. Organisational: Chair of the Canadian Thoracic Society Respiratory Guidelines Committee; Chair of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Guidelines Dissemination and Implementation Committee; Holder of the Laval University Chair on Knowledge Transfer, Prevention and Education in Respiratory and Cardiovascular Health; Member of the Knowledge Translation (KT Canada) supported by the CIHR; Member of the Executive Committee of InterAsma (Global Asthma Organisation); Representing Canadian Member on the GARD (Global Alliance for Respiratory Diseases), World Health Organization; Member of the French-speaking Space of Pneumology (L'Espace Francophone de Pneumologie - Société de pneumologie de langue française); and member of experts' numerous committees of the American College of Chest Physicians, European Respiratory Society, American Thoracic Society and Canadian Respiratory Society. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: VB EB JT LPB. Performed the experiments: VB EB JT LPB. Analyzed the data: VB EB JT LPB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: VB EB JT LPB. Wrote the paper: VB EB JT LPB.