The study was carried out on patients with intermittent claudication (Fontaine's stage II). The arterial and atheromatous origin of the disease was confirmed and localized by angiography or Doppler velocimetry examination. One hundred eighty-six patients were selected initially. Their pain-free walking distance on a treadmill (at a speed of 3 km/hour and an inclination of 10%) had to be 150-300 m. During the first month all patients received 3 placebo tablets daily. At the end of this run-in period (D-30; D 0) and after checking walking distance stability (allowed variation: +/- 20% between the two measurements) the patients were included in the study. One hundred fifty-four patients were selected and 118 remained during the whole study. The study was designed as a double-blind, using two parallel randomly selected groups. Sixty-four patients received for six months Naftidrofuryl (3 X 200 mg tablets daily with meals); 54 patients received placebo under the same conditions. During this period, clinical and paraclinical examinations were carried out every quarter (D 90 and D 180). After checking the initial homogeneity of the Naftidrofuryl and placebo-groups, the comparison between groups indicates a significant improvement in Naftidrofuryl group after 3 and 6 months of treatment. At the end of the study the observed differences in walking distance with Naftidrofuryl are approximately twice the difference in the reference group (D 90: p less than 0.05; D 180: p less than 0.02). The results of this study indicate that Naftidrofuryl is an efficient pharmacological tool for treatment of patients with chronic arterial disease (Fontaine's stage II).

!Background: Pre-existing underlying bronchopulmonary diseases and relative impairments of the immune system are risk factors that predispose to the development of pulmonary infections with non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), even if the impairment is not severe. Methods: In a prospective study n = 111 patient diagnoses between 1992 and 2004 were included. The criterion for inclusion was laboratory evidence of non-tuberculous mycobacteria. The local risk factors and general risks were recorded for each case and the total number of risks for each patient was counted. Risk profiles were drawn up and risk scores calculated for different groups. Results: N = 66 patients met the ATS criteria for NTM disease. The disease rates for the most frequent species varied widely (M. avium complex 57 %, M. kansasii 100 %, M. xenopi 73 %). Older women (> 65 years) with M. avium complex were rarely ill. The risk factors were almost equally frequent for patients meeting criteria for disease status and those who did not and patients under 65 years of age had fewer local risk factors than older patients. Patients with M. gordonae showed fewer local risk factors than patients with M. avium complex or M. xenopi. Conclusions: Even local risk factors predispose towards infections with mycobacteria and do not only lead to disease after infection. Bullous changes of the lungs, cavities and bronchiectasis are local risk factors, but can also develop as sequelae of mycobacteriosis. There is sufficient evidence to support the continued use of the concept of colonisation alongside those of infection with and infection without disease status. In our region, a thorough evaluation is needed to establish whether older women with M. avium complex actually have mycobacteriosis.

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