Fifty-three inoperable lung cancer patients were treated with radiotherapy combined with immunostimulation with BCG. A good response was obtained in 30 patients (56%); the results were not significantly different than those obtained with a control group of 50 lung cancer patients matched by age, sex and stage of the disease (24 out of 50 equals 46%). These short-term results were compared with the immunologic "status" of patients evaluated before treatment by the parameters monitoring in vivo and in vitro delayed type hypersensitivity. The good response to therapy was documented in a higher percentage of patients with positive skin tests to recall and standard antigens and with normal values of lymphocyte transformation with PHA and Rosette E-forming cells, in comparison with patients with low levels of immunocompetence. An impairment of the cell-mediated immune response was found after combined therapy, presumably due to radiotherapy. BCG was not able to restore the patient's immunocompetence, no effect on host's immune reactivity was demonstrated. As regards humoral immunity, the patients with low levels of IgG before treatment (12/14) showed a good response.
Background: Australian studies have demonstrated that beta-blockers are under-prescribed and used at suboptimal doses in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). In this study we estimated the prevalence of CHF and aspects of beta-blocker utilisation using data from BEACH -a continuous, national, cross-sectional study of general practice activity in Australia from April 2010 to March 2011 and a SAND sub-study that collected CHF data from 2952 general practice patients from November 2010 to January 2011.Results: The prevalence of CHF in Australia was estimated as 1.9% (95% CI: 1.4-2.4%). Of general practice encounters with patients with CHF, 75.4% of patients were aged ≥75 years. The proportions of male and female patients were 48.5% and 51.5%, respectively. The proportions of patients with NYHA grading Class I, II, III and IV were 28.3%, 47.5%, 20.0% and 2.5%, respectively.Of the 123 respondents with medication data in the sub-study, 118 (95.9%) were taking medication for CHF, including 74 (60.2%) taking a beta blocker. Of the 315 listed medications for CHF, 88 (27.9%) were diuretics and 74 (23.5%) were beta blockers. Of the beta blockers, 39 (52.7%) were specifically indicated for CHF, and 13 (17.6%) were at target dose. Thus only 4.1% of the listed medications were beta blockers indicated for CHF at target dose. The most common reasons for not using a beta blocker were advanced age (57.1%), diabetes (16.3%) and renal impairment (16.3%).Conclusion: This data highlights the suboptimal use of beta blockers in CHF patients in an Australian community setting.http://dx.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.