Since the first description in 1998, the minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum has gained increasing acceptance. The aim of this survey is to report on the experiences of eight European centres with this technique. 172 patients with a mean age of 15.1 (+/- 4.6) years were treated and evaluated, 35.5 % were symptomatic. 45.3 % of the patients had an asymmetric configuration of the chest, 74.3 % had a CT index above 3.25. Mean duration of the operative procedure was 76 minutes. Major complications, including dislocation of the bar or stabiliser, pneumonia, atelectasis, local infection, pleural and pericardial effusion and liver injury occurred in 11.1 % of the patients. Minor complications, such as self-resolving pneumothorax, atelectasis and subcutaneous emphysema were reported in another 8.1 %. Early cosmetic results were excellent or good in 81.5 %. Although the surgical procedure is simple, blood-sparing and short, consideration of some important technical details, proper patient selection and knowledge of the limitations is of vital importance. Long-term results are still lacking.

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Thirty-six patients with confirmed allergic bronchial asthma were divided into 3 parallel groups and treated with ketotifen 1 mg b.i.d. (Group I), ketotifen 2 mg b.i.d. (Group II), and clemastine I mg b.i.d. (Group III) respectively for 6 months. Nine out of 12 patients in Group I and 10 out of 12 in Group II experienced a statistically significant improvement in dyspnoea and in pulmonary function (Tiffeneau test). Likewise there was a marked reduction in the number, severity and average duration (minutes per week) of asthmatic attacks. By the 12th week, 8 out of 12 patients in the clemastine group had dropped out because of inefficacy. Ketotifen was very well tolerated by all the patients. In both ketotifen groups pathological eosinophil counts returned to normal during treatment. It can be concluded that ketotifen is effective in the long-term prophylaxis of bronchial asthma.

Chiral bis‐cyclometalated octahedral organoiridium(III) complexes were designed to target different classes of enzymes, namely carbonic anhydrases, histone deacetylases, and serine proteases. The stereoselective non‐racemic synthesis of selected complexes was used to study the chiral discrimination of enzyme active sites for enantiomers of propeller‐type octahedral metal complexes. Cases for negligible, modest, and significant chiral discrimination in the interaction of iridium propeller complexes with enzyme active sites were identified.