Randomized controlled trial of supported discharge in patients with exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: A randomised trial was performed on patients presenting to hospital with an exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to compare outcomes in those managed at home with support with those admitted to hospital in the standard manner.

Methods: Over an 18 month period all patients presenting to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh on weekdays (n=718) with a diagnosis of an exacerbation of COPD were assessed for inclusion in the trial. Patients with impaired level of consciousness, acute confusion, acute changes on radiography, or an arterial pH of <7.

Systemic and pulmonary oxidative stress in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

An oxidant/antioxidant imbalance has been proposed in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We tested this hypothesis by measuring various parameters of the oxidant/antioxidant balance in the plasma of 12 patients with IPF (7 nonsmokers and 5 smokers); in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of 24 patients with IPF (17 nonsmokers and 7 smokers) and 31 healthy subjects (23 nonsmokers and 8 smokers). The trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) in plasma and BALF was lower in nonsmoking patients with IPF (plasma 0.

Attenuation of oxidant/antioxidant imbalance during treatment of exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: An oxidant/antioxidant imbalance is thought to occur in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It has recently been shown that during exacerbations of COPD the antioxidant capacity and protein sulfhydryls of plasma are lower and the levels of products of lipid peroxidation are higher than in age matched healthy subjects. The aims of this study were to confirm these data and to measure the time course of these changes.

ALG/ATG treatment--a useful alternative for BMT in selected aplastic anaemia patients.

8 patients with severe and 4 with non-severe aplastic anaemia, aged 7 to 46 years, whose suppressor lymphocyte activity was in most cases elevated and who had no histocompatible sibling donor, underwent 1-2 courses of ALG/ATG treatment. 6 patients got CR and 1 PR and during 1-4 years they live with sustaining haemopoiesis, independent of blood transfusion (except one in PR). Among these seven responders increased suppressor lymphocyte activity normalized in 6.