Specific immunotherapy by the sublingual route for respiratory allergy

Specific immunotherapy is the only treatment able to act on the causes and not only on the symptoms of respiratory allergy. Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) was introduced as an option to subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT), the clinical effectiveness of which is partly counterbalanced by the issue of adverse systemic reactions, which occur at a frequency of about 0.2% of injections and 2-5% of the patients and may also be life-threatening. A large number of trials, globally evaluated by several meta-analyses, demonstrated that SLIT is an effective and safe treatment for allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma, severe reactions being extremely rare. The application of SLIT is favored by a good compliance, higher than that reported for SCIT, in which the injections are a major factor for noncompliance because of inconvenience, and by its cost-effectiveness. In fact, a number of studies showed that SLIT may be very beneficial to the healthcare system, especially when its effectiveness persists after treatment withdrawal because of the induced immunologic changes

Origin and ascent history of unusually crystal-rich alkaline basaltic magmas from the western Pannonian Basin

The last eruptions of the monogenetic Bakony-Balaton Highland Volcanic Field (western Pannonian Basin, Hungary) produced unusually crystal- and xenolith-rich alkaline basalts which are unique among the alkaline basalts of the Carpathian- Pannonian Region. Similar alkaline basalts are only rarely known in other volcanic fields of the world. These special basaltic magmas fed the eruptions of two closely located volcanic centres: the Bondoró-hegy and the Füzes-tó scoria cone. Their uncommon enrichment in diverse crystals produced unique rock textures and modified original magma compositions (13.1-14.2 wt.% MgO, 459-657 ppm Cr, 455-564 ppm Ni contents). Detailed mineral-scale textural and chemical analyses revealed that the Bondoró-hegy and Füzes-tó alkaline basaltic magmas have a complex ascent history, and that most of their minerals (~30 vol.% of the rocks) represent foreign crystals derived from different levels of the underlying lithosphere. The most abundant xenocrysts, olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and spinel, were incorporated from different regions and rock types of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle. Megacrysts of clinopyroxene and spinel could have originated from pegmatitic veins / sills which probably represent magmas crystallized near the crust-mantle boundary. Green clinopyroxene xenocrysts could have been derived from lower crustal mafic granulites. Minerals that crystallized in situ from the alkaline basaltic melts (olivine with Cr-spinel inclusions, clinopyroxene, plagioclase, Fe-Ti oxides) are only represented by microphenocrysts and overgrowths on the foreign crystals. The vast amount of peridotitic (most common) and mafic granulitic materials indicates a highly effective interaction between the ascending magmas and wall rocks at lithospheric mantle and lower crustal levels. However, fragments from the middle and upper crust are absent from the studied basalts, suggesting a change in the style (and possibly rate) of magma ascent in the crust. These xenocryst- and xenolith-rich basalts yield divers tools for estimating magma ascent rate that is important for hazard forecasting in monogenetic volcanic fields. According to the estimated ascent rates, the Bondoró-hegy and Füzes-tó alkaline basaltic magmas could have reached the surface within hours to few days, similarly to the estimates for other eruptive centres in the Pannonian Basin which were fed by "normal" (crystal- and xenolith-poor) alkaline basalts

Intropic effects of several antiarrhythmic drugs.

The effects of intravenous administration of several quinidine-like antiarrhythmic drugs (bunaftine, monochloroacetyl ajmaline, lidocaine, mexiletine, disopyramide, aprindine, diphenylhydantoin, procainamide) on left ventricular performance, evaluated by systolic time intervals (STI), were studied in 100 patients with atherosclerotic heart disease. The STI were measured: the pre-ejection period (PEP), the isometric contraction time (ICT), the left ventricular ejection time (LVET), corrected LVET (LVETc), and the PEP/LVET ratio. The degree of impairment of left ventricular performance was maximal after aprindine and disopyramide administration. This was demonstrated by significant increases in the PEP, ICT, and PEP/LVET and by significant decreases in LVET and LVETc, in patients in both III-IV and I-II NYHA classes. Bunaftine, monochloroacetyl ajmaline, and lidocaine induced a less marked impairment of myocardial performance, since the PEP, ICT, and PEP/LVET increases were not significant compared to controls in patients in NYHA class I-II, and since no variation of LVET and LVETc were observed. Mexiletine effects on myocardial performance appear to be intermediate between these groups of drugs. Diphenylhydantoin and procainamide, considered separately because of their effects on heart rate and blood pressure which are not possessed by the other drugs, induced significant increases of PEP in NYHA class III-IV patients. However, the effects of these 2 drugs on myocardial performance may have been underestimated, due to the concomitant hemodynamic effect of these drugs