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Biomedical subjects

R Kronenberg

Publications and source records attributed to R Kronenberg.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Efficacy of inhaled metaproterenol and orally-administered theophylline in patients with chronic airflow obstruction.

To evaluate comparative bronchodilator efficacy with chronic airflow obstruction (CAO), we randomly administered to ten patients week-long treatments consisting of: inhaled metaproterenol from a metered dose canister (1.30 mg six times a day) and doses of a sustained-release theophylline formulation sufficient to achieve plasma levels of 10-15 micrograms/ml; metaproterenol-placebo; theophylline-placebo; or placebo-placebo. At the end of each period, treatment responses were evaluated by spirometric tests, by exercise tolerance (12 minute walk and progressive cycle ergometry) and by subjective perception of dyspnea (oxygen cost diagram and breathlessness rating). Metaproterenol as a single treatment caused statistically significant improvements in spirometric variables and in the breathlessness rating. Theophylline as a single treatment caused significant changes in none of the test variables, though favorable trends were observed. Combined drug therapy was significantly better than metaproterenol only in the case of the breathlessness rating. We conclude that in the treatment of patients with CAO, inhaled metaproterenol is superior to oral theophylline. Our results permit no definite conclusion concerning added benefits of combined drug therapy.

Administration, Oral↗

Pulmonary function in identical twins raised apart.

As part of the Minnesota Study of Twins Raised Apart, we measured pulmonary function in 15 pairs of monozygotic twins and one set of monozygotic triplets who were separated at an average age of 3.8 months. Six pairs of twins were concordant for nonsmoking, 3 pairs and the triplets were concordant for cigarette smoking, and 6 pairs were discordant for respiratory problems (5 pairs for smoking, 1 pair for asthma). Thirteen pulmonary function tests were done on each twin; however, only 2 tests of pulmonary function, the FEF25-75% and V75, could separate smokers from nonsmokers to a statistically significant degree. One additional test, the FEV1, was the most sensitive way to separate smoking from nonsmoking twins when only paired data from twin pairs discordant for smoking were used. Intratwin differences between twins of a pair for these three pulmonary function tests were small and virtually identical for both concordant groups, whereas the intratwin differences in the discordant group were large and distinctly different from the concordant groups. These results, together with those of previous studies in identical twins raised together, support the conclusion that genetic factors are important in determining susceptibility to airway obstruction from cigarette smoke.

Adolescent↗