Usefulness of sparfloxacin against Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in patients with bronchial asthma.

The efficacy of sparfloxacin (SPFX) for the control of bronchial asthma was evaluated in 26 patients with suspected Chlamydia pneumoniae infection. Patients were randomly allocated to receive SPFX 200 mg/day (n = 14) or control treatment (n = 12) for 21 days. Significant improvements in serum C-reactive protein levels, and significant decreases in peripheral eosinophil counts, serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) and sputum ECP were observed in the SPFX-treated group at day 21. SPFX-treated patients also had a significantly reduced frequency of asthma symptoms, reduced inhalant beta2-stimulant use, and significant increases in morning peak expiratory flow. At the end of the study, C. pneumoniae was undetectable in two SPFX-treated patients who underwent polymerase chain reaction testing, but one control patient who was tested still had detectable levels of C. pneumoniae. These results suggest that SPFX could be used to control bronchial asthma in patients with suspected persistent C. pneumoniae infection.

On chronological changes in the basic EEG rhythm in persons with Down syndrome - with special reference to slowing of alpha waves.

The authors tried to know specificity of aging in persons with Down syndrome (DS) from the aspect of electroencephalograph (EEG) frequency changes through the cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, in comparison with normal persons as well as those with mentally retardation except the Down syndrome (non-DS MR). Subjects for a cross-sectional study were 265 persons with DS, 242 with non-DS MR and 239 healthy persons, and subjects for a follow-up study were 28 persons with DS and 14 with non-DS MR, whose EEGs were recorded repeatedly once a year during 8 or 9 years. Resting EEGs from the frontal, central and occipital regions were examined through power spectrum. In the cross-sectional study, the number of subjects with DS who showed dominant component within 8 Hz band of the basic rhythm reached maximum in its appearance rate at 40-44 years of age in the occipital area, but this slowing progressed already at 30-34 years of age. While in non-DS MR, the number of subjects who showed dominant component at 8 Hz reached maximum at 45-49 years of age, and this slowing of the basic rhythm was not so clear as in DS. In the follow-up study for subjects with DS, although the lowering in EEG frequency to 8 Hz took place in various years of age individually, earlier distinct decrease of the frequency was commonly noticed. These earlier steep lowering of EEG frequency was discussed in relation to the senile signs and to the decline of brain function referring to Alzheimer disease.

Preliminary study on the effect of rocking on activities of persons with severe mental and physical handicaps.

In this preliminary observation, a group of seven mentally and physically handicapped persons of chronological ages ranging from 15.4 yr. to 26.8 yr. experienced 15 sec. of physical rocking. For the further analysis, the poststimulus periods were classified into either those when the subjects' spontaneous head, mouth, and body movements had increased from the prestimulus period or those decreased. The median heart rates recorded in the poststimulus period were not significantly different from those in the prestimulus period on trials on which there was an observable increase in the rates of spontaneous head, mouth, and body movements; however, the median heart rates decreased during those trials on which a decrease in the rates of the movements occurred. Since it is said that rocking heightens arousal of persons with mental and physical handicaps, it is suggested that spontaneously emitted, aimless head, mouth, and body movements attributed to low arousal were reduced by heightened arousal rather than by a decline in participants' activities.