Dexamethasone-isonicotinate aerosol in the long-term treatment of steroid-dependent asthmatic children.

Dexamethasone-isonicotinate aerosol (DIA) was administered to twenty-nine steroid-dependent children with chronic perennial asthma, in an open trial during one year. An attempt was made to withdraw systemic corticosteroid therapy. As judged by clinical results, inhaled dexamethasone-isonicotinate controlled the asthma quite as well as did previous therapy.

Relationships of carbon dioxide retention to ventilatory impairment and hypoxemia in chronic obstructive lung disease.

In a group of 80 male patients (average age 52.5 years) with severe obstructive ventilatory impairment (FEV1.0 less than 40% of predicted) due to chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema, the blood carbon dioxide tension measured at rest, in a stable clinical status, was confronted to the spirometric variables and the oxygen tension.

Dexamethasone isonicotinate aerosol therapy in patients with chronic bronchial asthma.

Dexamethasone isonicotinate aerosols were used for the management of 106 patients (33 men, 73 women) with bronchial asthma (mean age 32.7 years); 62 of the patients were steroid-dependent (maintenance dose 1 to 25 mg prednisone/day for 0.5 to 11 years) at the start of the study.

Hypoxemia in chronic bronchitis and pulmonary emphysema.

The measurement of arterial blood oxygen tension (PaO2) in 54 patients with chronic nonspecific lung disease with a FEV1.0 of 1.51 or less, in a stable clinical state, at rest, indicated subnormal results to be more frequent among "bronchitics" (79 per cent with hypoxemia) than than among "emphysematous" patients (63 per cent with hypoxemia).

Ventilatory impairment and hypoxemia in chronic non-specific lung disease.

The relation between arterial oxygen tension at rest (Pao2) and ventilatory performance (VC and FEV1.0) was studied (198 determinations) in a group of 156 patients (11 females) aged 31 to 76 (mean 52.1) years, with chronic non-specific lung disease (asthmatics non included).

Arterial carbon dioxide tension and dyspnea in chronic bronchitis and pulmonary emphysema.

The severity of dyspnea (MRC scale) was confronted to the blood carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) in 45 patients with chronic nonspecific lung disease having moderate or severe airway obstruction (FEV1.0 of less than 1.5 liters).

Breathlessness and blood oxygen tension in patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

The dyspnea grade (MRC scale) was confronted with the arterial oxygen tension (PaO2) measured at rest in a group of 51 patients with chronic obstructive lung disease with moderate or severe impairment of ventilatory function (FEV 1.0 less than 1.5 1).

[Clinico-functional correlations in chronic obstructive bronchopneumopathy: dyspnea and arterial oxygenation].

The severity of dyspnoea was confronted to the value of the partial pressure of arterial oxygen at rest in a group of 51 patients with chronic non-specific pneumopathy associated to medium or severe ventilatory obstruction (VEMS under 1,5 I). The patients have been classified as "predominantly bronchitic" or "predominantly emphysematous" on the basis of clinical, radiological and biological criteria. In the group as a whole there was no relation between the partial pressure of arterial oxygen and the severity of the dyspnoea.

Transfer factor for the lung, airway obstruction and hyperinflation in chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

The interrelationships of breath holding lung transfer factor (TCO) and transfer coefficient (KCO) with ventilatory obstruction (FEV1.0) and FEV1.0/VC) and hyperinflation (RV and RV/TLC) were studied in 37 patients with chronic nonspecific lung disease with a FEV1.

Smoking and blood oxygen tension in healthy middle-aged males.

The blood oxygen tension (PaO2) was measured using a Clark-type microelectrode on 'arterialised' capillary blood samples obtained from 74 sitting subjects; these were asymptomatic and spirographically normal men aged 42-63 (average 53.7) years. The mean PaO2 of smokers (83.

New devices: the McDermott spirometer.

The assessment of a new bellows spirometer against a water spirograph showed: slight alinearity, minimal overestimation of FVC (1.7%) and underestimation of FEV 1-0 (2.9%) as well as of the ratio FEV 1-0/FVC (4.

Coronary heart disease and its risk factors in a group of 5,000 middle aged men in urban environment.

The results obtained at entry in the subjects included in a pilot study (Institute of Internal Medicine, Bucharest) for the detection and prevention of coronary heart disease and hypertension, are presented. These data are the prevalences of the risk factors of coronary heart disease (high serum cholesterol, hypertension, smoking, overweight, diabetes, nonspecific minor ECG signs, family history), as well as the prevalences of the various forms of coronary heart disease. The study of the frequency distribution of biologic parameters likely to become risk factors showed that in middle aged subjects the upper limit of the normal should be lowered from the 95th percentile to the 76th one.

Smoking habits in Romania.

The main aspects and consequences of tobacco use resulting from a series of field surveys in Romania are reviewed. The proportion of smokers in middle-aged adults is about 10 per cent for women and 40 to 50 per cent for men. Cigarettes are practically the only form of tobacco consumed--cigars are very rarely smoked and pipe-smoking accounts for less than 1 per cent of tobacco use.

Coronary heart disease and risk factors in some special type collectivities.

Transversal epidemiologic investigations carried out in different populations from several regions of Romania : Gurghiu Valley (lumberjacks from a mountain region), Danube Delta and Razelm lagoon complex (fishermen), and Bucharest have shown that, in spite of the high caloric value of food and even of a high intake of saturated fats, mean serum cholesterol is lower in the rural areas than in Bucharest, probably owing to the strenuous physical work. However, except myocardial infarction, more frequent in the urban than in the rural regions, the other forms of coronary heart disease have a relatively higher frequency in villages, particularly atrial fibrillation and ECG signs of ischemia. These findings might be explained by a greater prevalence of hypertension in these populations.

Prevalence of respiratory symptoms in towns with different air pollution.

An epidemiologic study was carried out for the estimation of air pollution as a risk factor for chronic obstructive lung disease. The whole male population aged 40 to 60 years was investigated in a polluted and a non-polluted control town. The subjects with occupational exposure to dusts, gases and irritant vapours were discarded from the study.

Breathlessness and transfer factor for the lung in chronic obstructive lung disease.

The breath-holding CO transfer factor and transfer coefficient were correlated with the severity of dyspnea in 37 patients with moderate or severe obstructive lung disease FEV 1.0 less than 1.5 1) No correlation was evident when the whole group was considered.