Archivio Monaldi per le malattie del torace最新文献

The Authors value 407 consecutive outpatients, with rhinitis, conjunctivitis and asthma, coming from Flegrean area. In the patients with prick test positivity for pollen or inhalants the results were compared with clinical symptomatology. The data obtained, confirm the importance of inhalants persistent in asthma, and the rilevance of seasonal pollens in rhinoconjunctivitis and episodic asthma. In this homogeneous population, never the olea positivity was demonstrated as a single, whereas ambrosia (ragweed) was founded.

The aim of this study is to verify the psychological attitude and the quality of life in patients suffering from chronic respiratory insufficiency. Taking for granted that a bad quality of life is connected with the symptom of a depressed state (loss of appetite, quality of sleep, sexuality, psychomotor slowing down, loss of energy, weariness, reduced interest for the external world, feelings of self-devaluation, reduced working and concentration capacity, complainings of turning over type) we have taken as index of "normal quality of life" the lack of these attitudes correlating them to the clinical symptoms and/or the patient's functional troubles and verifying how much they can affect the psychological features and how much the deterioration of the quality of life. For this reason a questionnaire, taken from the MMPI test (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory), restricted to the items related to the D scale (depression scale), has been given to one hundred COPD patients who had been examined previously from a clinical functional point of view. In the end, we have drawn our results both on the ground of the answers given by the patients to the single questions and on the grounds of the total score D (= depression index) and relating the previous data with the clinical-functional ones. Finally we have compareted these data with those ones connected with non selected population. So we have succeeded in outlining a psychophysical profile of the patient suffering from chronic respiratory diseases. Such a profile is marked by an objective element, that is pathology, and by a psychological element inserted into the organic one as there is an inter-dependence between pathology and psychological features. From the collected data, we have noted the behavioural spheres which are more upset are working capacities, sleep and mood and these features are directly proportional to the seriousness of the pathology. From a practical and therapeutic point of view, all this can be of great importance.

In this study the Authors have verified the efficacy of Thymopentin administered via aerosol in the prevention of recurrent catarrhal episodes in the patients affected by COPD during the winter season, compared to the previous winter. In October, 1 phial of Thymopentin was administered via aerosol to 15 patients affected by COPD, daily, for 10 consecutive days; all patients were evaluated at monthly clinical control for 4 months and all patients were invited to keep a diary of daily variations. After 4 months from treatment a net improvement was observed in the clinical parameters studied: sputum (volume and purulence), cough and dyspnoea, but the most interesting datum was the total absence of recurrent episodes of infection, associated to the reduction in quantity of antibiotics, mucolytics and number of days of illness and with noticeable improvement in the quality of life of the patients.

The authors report their observations on 7 cases of multiple malignant tumors during the period 1988/1992 (frequency of 0.03 x 100). They report that primary malignant tumors involved the laryinx and the wang, and both the lungs in a synchronous or metacronous way. They suggest that pathogenesis of multiple malignant tumors may be very similar to that of multiple endocrinous neoplasms.

To assess the smoking cessation efficacy of transdermal nicotine patches an adjunct to low-intervention therapy, we conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 158 smokers. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the following three study regimens that required daily application of two 15-cm2 patches: 1) 24-hour nicotine delivery, 2) nicotine delivery during wakeful hours only, and 3) placebo. The impact of the three regimens on smoking cessation rates and tobacco withdrawal symptoms was examined. During the last 2 weeks of the trial, 39% of the 24-hour nicotine regimen delivery group, 35% of those on wakeful hour nicotine regimens, and 13.5% of the placebo treatment group achieved abstinence. Self-reported quit rates for the two nicotine patch-wearing regimens, as compared with that for the placebo group, continued to be significantly higher at 6 months. Moreover, compared with placebo, the transdermal nicotine patches significantly reduced tobacco withdrawal symptoms during the first few weeks of quitting. The differences in quit rates and tobacco withdrawal symptoms between the to active groups were not statistically significant. The patches were well tolerated both topically and systemically. We concluded that transdermal nicotine, when used as an adjunct to low-intervention therapy, significantly reduced tobacco withdrawal symptoms and enhanced smoking cessation rates.

Authors showed that it's possible to control the asthmatic component in patients with persistent allergical rhinitis without bronchodilatory drugs. AA. compared two groups of ten patients: Group A has been treated with antihystaminical drugs or ketotifen per os and Disodium chromoglycate per nasal spray, Group B has been treated with the same drugs and Beclomethasone Dipropionate per nasal spray more (400 mcg a day). Respiratory functionality tests (FEV1 and MEF75) have been carried out at the beginning and at the end of the trial and the subsequent clinical parameters have been considered: dispnoea attacks, rhinorrhaea, sneezes, lost working or school days. The results of the study showed after three months of therapy a statistically significant improvement of FEV1 and MEF75 in Group B only; moreover the patients of the Group B had lower number of asthmatic attacks then patients of the Group A.