[Validity limits of data on secretory IgA].

Secretory IgA (sIgA) in saliva, and sometimes in expectoration, have been titrated in various groups of persons, both in pediatric age and in adults, by means of radial immunodiffusion technic. The aim was to find differences among sIgA levels in the course of respiratory tract infections, both acute and chronic, in consequence of treatment with Erythromycin (in children and in adults) in consequence of surgical intervention (in adults). Adjunctive aim was to establish if it was possible to recognize hereditary of the character that remark the predisposition to produce high sIgA quantities.

Endoscopic gluing of bronchopleural fistula.

Three patients with postpneumonectomy bronchopleural fistula were treated with endoscopic gluing of the fistula. The technique and the results of this method are described.

Aminophylline blood levels with concomitant erythromycin therapy in relapsed chronic obstructive lung disease.

Sixty patients affected by chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD) in relapse were treated with erythromycin and aminophylline. The patients were divided into three groups: Group A received 2 g erythromycin and 1200 mg aminophylline daily, and Group B and C received 2 g erythromycin with respectively 800 mg and 600 mg of aminophylline daily, administered as two oral doses in each case. On day 5 of therapy, we chromatographically evaluated aminophylline in a serum sample taken two hours after morning drug administration which corresponds to the peak plasma level.

Clinical study with cefoxitin in paediatrics.

A trial of cefoxitin was performed on 25 children needing urgent and accurate antibiotic therapy before laboratory test results could be made available. Cefoxitin proved to be highly active in the treatment of infections of bacterial origin. It was therefore found suitable for use in the clinical situation where the urgency of the need for treatment differs from theoretical practice.

Assessment of sarcoidosis activity by 67gallium lung scan. A study with follow-up.

71 consecutive patients with histologically confirmed sarcoidosis, in various clinical stages of activity, were submitted to 67Ga lung scan, and 23 of them were studied with two or more scans at intervals of 4-6 months. In patients on steroid therapy, the drug was suspended 7 days before scan to avoid the steroids interfering with the gallium (Ga) uptake mechanism. In order to assess the usefulness of 67Ga in the evaluation of sarcoid activity, six other parameters of activity were considered, ranging from angiotensin-converting enzyme levels to progressive symptoms, from deteriorating X-ray or pulmonary function tests to clinical or laboratory evidence of prominent extra thoracic involvement.