SummaryThe effects of a single 10 mg oral dose of nitrazepam were compared with those of a placebo in healthy young and old people. Both the young and the elderly slept better on three successive nights after nitrazepam but they felt less awake at 12 and 36 hours (P< 001

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The relative clinical efficacy and systemic effects of different inhaled corticosteroids is controversial. To obtain further information on this matter, the authors have performed meta-analysis of seven trials comparing fluticasone propionate (FP) with budesonide (Bud), and seven trials comparing FP with beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) for the treatment of asthma of all severities in adult and paediatric patients. In all cases, the drugs were compared at clinically equivalent doses, i.e. FP was given at half (or less) the microgram dose. The total number of patients was 1980 (1000 treated with FP 200-800 micrograms day-1 and 980 with Bud 400-1600 micrograms day-1), and 1584 patients in the second analysis (780 treated with FP 200-1000 micrograms day-1 and 804 with BDP 400-2000 micrograms day-1). FP significantly improved mean morning peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) compared with Bud, with an overall difference of +11 l min-1. Analysis of serum cortisols showed no differences between FP and Bud treatment at low doses, but at higher dosages, and overall, significant differences in favour of FP were observed. In the second meta-analysis, no significant differences in PEFR were observed between FP and BDP in any of the seven individual studies or in the pooled analysis. Analysis of serum cortisols showed a similar trend to the previous analysis, however, no overall difference in serum cortisol results were seen between FP and BDP. In conclusion, the pooled analysis shows that FP at half the dose (or less) is more effective than Bud and as effective as BDP in improving PEFR; in addition, these improvements were achieved with a reduction in cortisol suppression compared with BUD and with no greater degree of cortisol suppression compared with BDP. This demonstrates, in patients with asthma, that FP has an improved efficacy to safety ratio compared with older inhaled corticosteroids.

Data on the fish fauna of the Leschenault Estuary on the lower west coast of Australia were collected and used as a model to elucidate the characteristics of permanently open estuaries with a reverse salinity gradient, which undergo seasonal changes similar to many other estuaries with Mediterranean climate. Focus was placed on determining (1) the relationships of the number of species, density, life cycle category and species composition of fishes with region (within estuary), season and year and salinity, (2) whether species are partitioned along the lengths of such systems and (3) the extent and significance of any inter‐decadal changes in species composition. The analyses and interpretation involved using multi‐factorial permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) and analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) designs, and three new or recently published visualization tools, i.e. modified non‐metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) plots, coherent species curves and segmented bubble plots. The base, lower, upper and apex regions of the Leschenault Estuary, along which the salinity increased in each season except in winter when most rainfall occurs, were sampled seasonally for the 2 years between winter 2008 and autumn 2010. Estuarine residents contributed twice as many individuals, but less than half the number of species as marine taxa. While the numbers of marine species and estuarine residents declined between the base or lower and apex regions, the individuals of marine species dominated the catches in the base region and estuarine residents in the other three regions. Ichthyofaunal composition in each region underwent conspicuous annual cyclical changes, due to time‐staggered differences in recruitment among species, and changed sequentially along the estuary, both paralleling salinity trends. Different groups of species characterized the fauna in the different regions and seasons, thereby partitioning resources among species. The ichthyofauna of the apex region, in which salinities reached 54 and temperatures 36° C, recorded the highest maximum density and, in terms of abundance, was dominated (90%) by three atherinid species, emphasizing the ability of this family to tolerate extreme conditions. Comparisons between the data for 2008–2010 and 1994 demonstrate that the spotted hardyhead Craterocephalus mugiloides and the common hardyhead Atherinomorus vaigiensis had colonized and become abundant in the Leschenault Estuary in the intervening period. This represents a southwards extension of the distribution of these essentially tropical species during a period of increasing coastal water temperatures as a result of climate change. The abundance of weed‐associated species, e.g. the western gobbleguts Ostorhinchus rueppellii and the soldier Gymnapistes marmoratus, increased, whereas that of the longfinned goby Favonigobius lateralis decreased, probably reflecting increases in eutrophication and siltation, respectively.

Runoff from an extreme storm on 22 March 2010 led, during the next 3 months, to the formation of a pronounced halocline and underlying hypoxia in the upper reaches of the microtidal Swan–Canning Estuary. Benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled between January 2010 and October 2011 at five sites along 10km of this region. By mid-April, the number of species, total density, Simpson’s evenness index and taxonomic distinctness had declined markedly, crustaceans had disappeared and the densities of annelids and molluscs had declined slightly. These faunal attributes (except Simpson’s index) and species composition did not recover until after the end of the hypoxia. The survival of annelids and loss of crustaceans in this period reflects different sensitivities of these taxa to severe environmental stress. The results emphasise that microtidal estuaries with long residence times are highly vulnerable to the effects of environmental perturbations, particularly during warmer periods of the year.