The clinical effect of ketotifen in bronchial asthma.

A therapeutical trial using ketotifen, a prophylactic agent for the long-term treatment of bronchial asthma, was undertaken. Twenty-nine patients with a mean age of 33 years and suffering from bronchial asthma for six months to 20 years (mean 8.6 years) were treated for three months. Ketotifen demonstrated good results in alleviating the impact of the disease on the asthmatic patient. The lowering of the frequency of asthmatic attacks, their duration and the degree of dyspnoea was accompanied by a normalization of lung function parameters. An analysis of further respiratory investigations showed that the best results are to be obtained in the uncomplicated asthmatic. The need for the prophylactic treatment of asthma with an agent such as ketotifen is stressed, as only in this way can irreversible changes be prevented.

[Climate therapy, rehabilitation and psychotherapy in bronchial asthma]. / Klimatoterapia, rehabilitácia a psychoterapia prieduskovej astmy.

The authors explain the principle of effectiveness as regards treatment of bronchial asthma (AB) in the climate of the Tatra mountains. The most important place is held by elimination of noxious substances from the patient's environment which is comparable with the eliminations test. The second place is held by factors of a medium stimulating climate which calls for adaptation of the organism. This happens during the three-week acclimatization stage which acts as non-specific therapy. The result of climatotherapy is an increased immunological resistance, hardening, reduced bronchial hyperreactivity and improved life of asthmatic patients. Supplementary treatment comprises respiratory rehabilitation and psychotherapy. The aim of rehabilitation is active participation of the patient in treatment, adequate type of respiration and better tolerance of physical strain. The purpose of psychotherapy is to help the patient to overcome fear of AB, induce a change of lifestyle and regime. After comprehensive institutional treatment the patients are prepared for self-supporting ambulatory treatment. Under institutional conditions antiasthmatic treatment can be discontinued in as many as 24% of asthmatic patients and reduce substantially the administration of inhalatory beta-adrenergic substances, as demonstrated by the authors on 1725 asthmatic patients.

Event-by-event fluctuations of the Kaon-to-Pion ratio in central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon.

We present the first measurement of fluctuations from event to event in the production of strange particles in collisions of heavy nuclei. The ratio of charged kaons to charged pions is determined for individual central Pb+Pb collisions. After accounting for the fluctuations due to detector resolution and finite number statistics we derive an upper limit on genuine nonstatistical fluctuations, which could be related to a first- or second-order QCD phase transition. Such fluctuations are shown to be very small.