Ten asthmatic children received on two separate occaQons rimiterol (500 jg) and orciprenaline (1.5 mg) as aerosols in a double-blind, crossover design trial. Respiratory parameters (FEV1, FVC and PEFR) and pulse rate were recorded for 60 min after each administration. 2 Rimiterol produced effective bronchodilation in children with negligible cardiac stimulation. It differed from orciprenaline in that the peak bronchodilator effect was not maintained during the 60 min observation period. 3 Rimiterol is a selective, short-acting, sympathomimetic bronchodilator in children.

Summary: In a study of adult patients with pneumonia in Papua New Guinea, the serum bilirubin was elevated in 45% of 42 bacteremic and 23% of 402 nonbacteremic cases and blood urea was elevated in 55% of bacteremic and 26% of non‐bacteremic episodes. Both abnormalities occurred more frequently in patients with extensive consolidation and neither was related exclusively to pneumococcal infection. Review of available evidence suggests that both prerenal and renal factors are operative in causing elevation of blood urea in pneumonia and that, similarly, elevation of bilirubin is of complex origin resulting from both pre‐hepatic and hepatic dysfunction.

No abstract

Fenoterol (Berotec) was administered by inhalation, using a Bennett nebulizer, to symptom-free asthmatic children aged 6-13 years. It was demonstrated in a double-blind, crossover trial in 6 children that the improvement in the forced expiratory volume produced by inhalation of a nebulised fenoterol solution was not a placebo effect. Fenoterol (0.1 mg) produced effective bronchodilatation but there was a significant logarithmic dose-response relationship over the dose range tested (0.1-0.8 mg cumulative). There was no effect of the drug on heart rate even with the 0.8 mg dose.