Inhibition of IL-17 receptor A did not produce a treatment effect in subjects with asthma. The results of the high-reversibility subgroup analysis are of uncertain significance, requiring further study of brodalumab in this asthma subpopulation. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01199289).

NVA237 (glycopyrronium bromide) is a once-daily long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) in development for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The GLycopyrronium bromide in COPD airWays clinical Study 2 (GLOW2) evaluated the efficacy and safety of NVA237 in moderate-to-severe COPD over 52 weeks.Patients were randomised 2:1:1 to NVA237 50 μg, placebo or open-label tiotropium 18 μg for 52 weeks. Primary end-point was trough forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) at 12 weeks.1,066 patients were randomised, 810 completed the study. At week 12, trough FEV1 increased significantly by 97 mL with NVA237 (95% CI 64.6–130.2; p<0.001) and 83 mL with tiotropium (95% CI 45.6–121.4; p<0.001). Compared with placebo, NVA237 produced significant improvements in dyspnoea (Transition Dyspnoea Index at week 26; p=0.002) and health status (St George's Respiratory Questionnaire at week 52; p<0.001). NVA237 significantly reduced the risk of moderate-to-severe COPD exacerbations by 34% (p=0.001) and the use of rescue medication (p=0.039), versus placebo. NVA237-placebo and tiotropium-placebo differences were comparable for all outcomes. Safety profiles were similar across groups.NVA237 50 μg provided significant improvements in lung function, dyspnoea, health status, exacerbations and rescue medication use, versus placebo, and was comparable to tiotropium. NVA237 can potentially be an alternative choice of LAMA for COPD patients.

No abstract

Overall, treatment with golimumab did not demonstrate a favorable risk-benefit profile in this study population of patients with severe persistent asthma. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00207740).

For a number of years it has been known that flexural vibrations in a plate can be damped by the application of a layer of damping (viscoelastic) material that is in turn constrained by a backing layer or foil. A common example is the damping tape currently used in aircraft. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the damping effectiveness of such a constrained layer. As in the work of H. Oberst the damping is characterized by the loss factor η, which is the normalized imaginary part of the complex bending stiffness of the damped plate. The calculated damping factor depends on the wavelength of bending waves in the damped plate, and on the thicknesses and elastic moduli of the plate, the damping layer, and the constraining layer. A complex shear modulus is assigned to the damping layer, where all of the energy dissipation is assumed to take place. Damping factors have been determined experimentally on laboratory test bars for a number of constrained-damping-layer applications for frequencies from about 100 to 4000 cps over a range of temperatures. Gratifying agreement with calculated damping has been found for variations in frequency, temperature, and damped-bar geometry.