Omalizumab has demonstrated therapeutic benefits in controlled clinical trials. Evaluation of outcomes in real-world clinical practice is needed to provide a complete understanding of the benefits of omalizumab treatment. eXpeRience was a 2-year, international, single-arm, open-label, observational registry that evaluated real-world effectiveness, safety and use of omalizumab therapy in 943 patients with uncontrolled persistent allergic asthma. Effectiveness variables (physician's Global Evaluation of Treatment Effectiveness [GETE], and change from baseline in exacerbation rate, symptoms, rescue medication use, and oral corticosteroid [OCS] use) were evaluated at pre-specified time-points. Safety data were also recorded. By physician's GETE, 69.9% of patients were responders to omalizumab after 16 (±1) weeks. The proportion of patients with no clinically significant exacerbations increased from 6.8% during the 12-month pre-treatment period to 54.1% and 67.3% at Months 12 and 24, respectively. Symptoms and rescue medication use at Month 24 were reduced by >50% from baseline. Maintenance OCS use was lower at Month 24 (14.2%) compared with Month 12 (16.1%) and baseline (28.6%). Overall, omalizumab had an acceptable safety profile. The results from eXpeRience indicate that omalizumab was associated with improvements in outcomes in patients with uncontrolled persistent allergic asthma; these improvements were consistent with the results of clinical trials.

To evaluate the effect of a delay in closure of the abdominal wall (AWC) on outcome in the management of gastroschisis, a retrospective analysis of 91 babies admitted over a 7-year period (1992-1998) to a single neonatal surgical unit with a diagnosis of gastroschisis was carried out. Antenatal diagnosis was made in 89 (98%) cases. Surgical intervention occurred in 90 babies at a median of 4 h (standard error 0.345, range 0.5-17) post-delivery. In 72 (80%) cases primary closure of the abdominal defect was achieved, with a silo fashioned in the remaining 18 (20%). One infant died prior to AWC. The median time to full oral feeding was 22 days (2.96, 5-160), and to discharge 28 days (4.03, 11-183). There was no correlation between time to AWC and any measured outcome parameter. There was no significant difference in mortality in those patients having closure before 6 h. Thus, no correlation between time to AWC and outcome was demonstrated. This would suggest that the time taken to optimally resuscitate a newborn infant prior to surgical closure does not have an adverse influence upon outcome and is to be recommended.

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quantitatively greater in patients with duodenal ulcer, it seldom exceeds 40 per cent of the maximum secretory capacity of the stomach as judged by histamine stimulation. Some patients with gastric ulcer, however, showed maximal secretion with antral stimulation. The apparent anomaly between the results of the autoinfusion experiments and those with extract stimulation was resolved by studying the secretory responses to commercial gastrin injected intravenously. Dose response curves indicated that patients with gastric ulcer did not respond at low dose levels, whereas with higher doses the response was similar to that found in patients with duodenal ulcer.