AIMS: Optimizing stent deployment is important for both acute- and long-term outcomes. High-pressure balloon inflation is the standard for coronary stent implantation. However, there is no standardized inflation protocol. We hypothesized that prolonged high-pressure balloon inflation until stabilization of inflation pressure is superior to a rapid inflation/deflation sequence for both ...

To determine whether longer periods of stent balloon inflation result in greater minimal luminal diameter (MLD) as measured by quantitative coronary analysis (QCA), and to determine whether measured size correlated with that predicted by pressure-diameter nomograms. Seventy-four stents were implanted in 52 patients. Stent acquisitions at a steady inflation pressure ...

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) stent inflation pressure correlates to angiographic lumen improvement and stent expansion but the relation to outcome is not clarified. Using comprehensive registry data our aim was to evaluate how stent inflation pressure influences restenosis, stent thrombosis and death following PCI. METHODS: We evaluated all consecutive ...

BACKGROUND: TO QUANTIFY THE CHANGES IN ARTERIAL DIMENSIONS AFTER THE ACUTE CHANGES IN PRESSURE ASSOCIATED WITH PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTION (PCI).METHODS AND RESULTS: FORTY-EIGHT PATIENTS WITH ONE ANGIOGRAPHICALLY MODERATE-TO-SEVERE STENOSIS WERE INCLUDED IN THE STUDY. THE PRESSURE PROXIMAL AND DISTAL TO THE STENOSIS AND THE ARTERIAL DIAMETER PROXIMAL AND DISTAL TO ...

We report that a series of lanthanide-based bulk metallic glasses show a pressure-induced polyamorphic phase transition observed by in situ angle-dispersive x-ray diffraction under high pressures. The transition started from a low-density state at lower pressures, and went through continuous densification ending with a high-density state at higher pressures. We demonstrate ...

Clear differences between professional and recreational deep diving are disappearing, at least when taking into account the types of breathing mixtures (oxygen, nitrox, heliox, and trimix) and range of dive parameters (depth and time). Training of recreational deep divers is conducted at depths of 120-150 metres and some divers dive ...

Calcified nondilatable lesions remain a challenge for the interventional cardiologist, and they are becoming more frequent in the catheterization laboratory as the overall complexity of interventions increases. Stent underexpansion is the main risk factor for restenosis and thrombosis, which is the most feared complication for the interventionalist.In this report, we ...

OBJECTIVE: One large cross-sectional study across four countries suggests that glutamate intake may be inversely associated with blood pressure (BP). The aim of this analysis was to investigate a possible association between monosodium glutamate (MSG) intake and change in blood pressure over 5 years. METHODS: Data from 1227 Chinese men ...

Sub-optimal maternal nutritional status has been implicated in the development of cardiovascular risk in the child. Initially inferred from studies of low birthweight children, investigations in cohorts of women subjected to famine, provide direct evidence for an independent influence of the mother's diet on the cardiovascular health of her child. ...

In spite of the huge amount of research recently performed in this area, the pathogenesis of human hypertension remains elusive. Thus, hypertension has to be defined as "essential" for the majority of patients with high blood pressure. Given the lack of animal models useful to investigate essential hypertension, we analyze ...

The disturbance of circadian variability helps predict, among others, the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. Circadian Hyper Amplitude Tension (CHAT) is a psychosomatic disorder related to an inappropriate lifestyle (including unbalanced diet, stress-inducing environment/development) and genetic factors. Blood pressure and heart rate are phenotypes characterized by rhythmic fluctuations over time under ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between brachial and central blood pressure (bBP and cBP) levels and aortic root dilatation (ARD) in essential hypertensive patients. A total of 190 untreated and treated essential hypertensive patients (mean age, 55 ± 11 years) were considered for this analysis. ...

In the present work, the new extraction process of Détente Instantanée Contrôlée DIC (French, for instant controlled pressure drop) was studied, developed, quantitatively and qualitatively compared to the conventional hydrodistillation method for the extraction of essential oils from Algerian myrtle leaves. DIC was used as a thermomechanical treatment, DIC subjecting ...

Both apelin and asymetric dymethyl arginine (ADMA) regulate blood pressures. Low apelin and high ADMA levels have been reported in several cardiometabolic disorders. However, there is no data about ADMA and apelin levels in essential hypertension and any relationship between them. We investigated a group of newly diagnosed and untreated ...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), after consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is amending FDA's regulation on the use of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) in self-pressurized containers to remove the essential-use designations for flunisolide, triamcinolone, metaproterenol, pirbuterol, albuterol and ipratropium in combination, cromolyn, and nedocromil used in oral pressurized ...

AIMS: To analyze the association of haplotypes of the adrenergic system with essential hypertension and with the blood pressure response to beta-blockers. MATERIALS & METHODS: In 1112 never-treated essential hypertension patients and 203 normotensive controls, tightly linked SNPs of beta-adrenergic receptors (ADRB1 - Ser49Gly and Arg389Gly; ADRB2 - Cys19Arg, Gly16Arg ...

An impaired ability to experience and express emotions, known as alexithymia, has previously been associated with hypertension. Alexithymia and related emotion-processing variables, however, have never been examined as a function of the type of hypertension, essential (EH) or secondary (SH). Our working hypothesis was that if dysregulated emotional processes play ...

Neutrophils play a significant role in maintaining the integrity of innate immunity via their potent respiratory burst activity. However, the uncontrolled activation of respiratory burst in neutrophils also attributes to chronic diseases such as primary hypertension and atherosclerosis. In our study, we have investigated the activation of respiratory burst function ...

BACKGROUND: Essential hypertension is a complex, multifactorial, polygenic disease in which the underlying genetic components remain unknown. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) enzyme is involved in detoxification of reactive oxygen species. This study aimed to investigate GSTM1 and GSTT1 gene polymorphisms in Egyptian essential hypertensive patients and their relationship with oxidative stress-related ...

Although essential hypertension seems to have a strong hereditary component, the triggering mechanism is unclear. It is likely that the central nervous system via autonomic sympathetic overactivation plays a key role in the development of hypertension. High heart rate has proven to be a strong predictor for cardiovascular disease and ...

The brain is typically considered a target for late stage hypertensive disease due to the high prevalence of stroke among hypertensive patients. Research is reviewed, however, that suggests that the brain is implicated in the initiation of high blood pressure and is itself altered by early disease processes. A substantial ...

Arterial hypertension is associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF), and leads to a pronounced increase in morbidity and mortality. Left atrial volume (LAV) is an important prognostic marker in the older populations. The aim of our study was to identify the clinical and echocardiographic determinants of LAV ...

Because kidney tissue damage is associated with both hypertension and impaired nitric oxide (NO) production, we investigated the possibility whether the kidney tissue contains any activator of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) that could be important in essential hypertension. An activator protein of M(r) 43000 Da for eNOS from the goat ...

Logging operations brought a boom in the bushmeat trade and wildlife management projects into the heart of the forest in southeastern Cameroon. Hunting pressure on duikers (Cephalophus spp.) reached an unsustainable level because of the intensified hunting in areas close to roads. Control of the bushmeat trade was then reinforced, ...

OBJECTIVES: To determine if capillary rarefaction persists when hypertension is treated with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, thiazidic diuretic and/or beta-blocker, and to identify which microcirculatory alterations (structural and functional) persist after anti-hypertensive treatment. METHODS: We evaluated 28 well-controlled essential hypertensive patients and 19 normotensive subjects. Nailfold videocapillaroscopy examination of the ...

This review examines 2 potentially important morbid changes that may precede the onset of hypertension-capillary rarefaction (CR) and large artery rigidity (LAR). The mechanisms responsible for CR, currently measured in the skin microcirculation, as well those responsible for LAR, have yet to be fully delineated. Nor has the duration been ...

The fundamental mechanism that underlies essential hypertension is a high total peripheral resistance. We review here possible origins of high total peripheral resistance in physiologically hypertensive giraffes, spontaneously hypertensive rats and humans with essential hypertension. We propose that a common link could be reduced brainstem perfusion, as first suggested by ...

Renal Doppler ultrasonography (RDU) is a useful method to determine renal resistive index (RRI). The RRI has been used to evaluate target organ damage (TOD) in essential hypertension. Nocturnal non-dipping of blood pressure (BP) in essential hypertension was also associated with TOD. The relationship between increased RRI and non-dipping has ...

This study was conducted to evaluate (i) the effect of nebivolol, a selective beta1-adrenergic receptor antagonist, on plasma concentration of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and on flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in essential hypertensive patients; (ii) the effect of serum derived from the treated hypertensive patients on ADMA and on dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 2 ...

Serotonin [5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)] is an amine made from the essential amino acid tryptophan. 5-HT serves numerous functions in the body, including mood, satiety, and gastrointestinal function. Less understood is the role 5-HT plays in the cardiovascular system, although 5-HT receptors have been localized to every important cardiovascular organ and 5-HT-induced ...

BACKGROUND: Although several studies have reported that kidney stone disease and hypertension are associated, the link between the two conditions has not been identified. This study investigated urinary excretion of different solutes, particularly citrate and acids, in kidney stone formers and examined their association with high blood pressure. METHODS: The ...

Several studies documented an association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy. However, only in a few of these studies the impact of MetS on left ventricular mass (LVM) was separately analysed by gender, with conflicting results. The aim of our study was to verify, in a wide ...

Increased arterial stiffness and intima media thickness (IMT) in the common carotid artery (CCA) are related to cardiovascular risk in essential hypertension. Angiotensin II plays an important role in structural and functional changes in the vasculature. In this study, we evaluated the long-term effect of the angiotensin II receptor blocker, ...

The relationship between adrenergic stimuli and NO in modulating tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) release from endothelial cells was investigated in normotensive subjects and essential hypertensive patients. Sympathetic activation, a well-known stimulus for endogenous fibrinolysis, is also involved in the determination of cardiovascular risk in essential hypertension. However, the existence of ...

Essential hypertension is a principal cardiovascular risk factor whose origin remains unknown. Classical genetic studies have shown that blood pressure is at least partially heritable, opening a window to understanding the pathophysiology of essential hypertension in the human using modern genetic tools. The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium has recently ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Elevated intraabdominal pressure is commonly encountered in the critically ill, has detrimental effects on all organ systems, and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Serial intraabdominal pressure measurements are essential to the diagnosis, management, and fluid resuscitation of patients who develop intraabdominal hypertension and/or abdominal compartment ...

BACKGROUND: Hypertension and fluid overload (FO) are well-recognized problems in the chronic kidney disease (CKD) population. While the prevalence of hypertension is well documented, little is known about the severity of FO in this population. METHODS: A new bioimpedance spectroscopy device (BCM-Body Composition Monitor) was selected that allows quantitative determination ...

INTRODUCTION: The myocardial performance index, Tei index, is a relatively new echocardiography indice which is related to parameters which express both the systolic and diastolic myocardial function. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the possible correlation of Tei index to microalbuminuria, which is an indice of kidney ...

Hypertension and risk for hypertension have been associated with reduced pain sensitivity. It has been hypothesised that endogenous opioids contribute to this hypertensive hypoalgesia. The nociceptive flexion reflex can be used as a tool to investigate modulation of nociceptive transmission at spinal level. The current study employed a double-blind placebo-controlled ...

BACKGROUND: Lower activity of 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 (11beta-HSD2) classically induces hypertension by leading to an altered tetrahydrocortisol- versus tetrahydrocortisone-metabolites (THFs/THE) shuttle. Recent cell culture and animal studies suggest a role for promoter methylation, a major epigenetic feature of DNA, in regulation of HSD11B2 expression. Little is known, however, of ...

AIM: Available evidence on multiple target organ damage (TOD) in the early phases of essential hypertension is scanty. We examined the prevalence and correlates of multiple TOD in never-treated patients with recently diagnosed hypertension. METHODS: A total of 602 consecutive outpatients with grades 1 and 2 hypertension underwent the following ...

OBJECTIVE: The existence of microalbuminuria (MAU) in patients with essential hypertension is a strong indicator of microvascular damage. Although endothelial dysfunction and increased vascular permeability both have a role in the development of MAU, its ethiopathogenesis in hypertensive patients is not yet clearly understood. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is ...

The L-PAM-ILP procedures under true hyperthermal regime (41.5-41.8 degrees C) require both close control of the physical parameters of the treatment (temperatures profiles and time duration, artero-venous pressure, perfusate flow rate) and medical rationale (drug, dosage, fractioning, timing). All the above essential procedures must be supported by rigorous methodology, reliable ...

OBJECTIVES: To detect prevalence of essential hypertension in early and mid adolescents and to identify various risk factors. METHODS: Blood pressure was recorded in 503 apparently normal school students in 10 to 16 yr age group as per standard guidelines. Detailed clinical examination was done in all cases. A detailed ...

The extracellular matrix is vital for maintaining tissue integrity, and the matrix metalloproteinases/tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (MMPs/TIMPs) system is involved in the regulation of extracellular matrix metabolism. Extracellular matrix turnover plays an important role in the change of large arterial mechanical properties in hypertension. However, the association of the metalloproteinase-9/tissue ...

OBJECTIVE: Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) differentiate into mature endothelial cells and regenerate the injured endothelium. The role of homeobox A9 (HOXA9) is critical for endothelial commitment during progenitor cell maturation, postnatal neovascularization and vascular repair. The objective of our study was to measure the expression of HOXA9 in CD34+ ...

BACKGROUND:: Hypertension is a cardiovascular risk factor commonly associated with endothelial dysfunction and increased renal vascular resistance. Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) may beneficially affect these parameters via antagonism of angiotensin type 1 (AT1) receptor-mediated vasoconstriction and vascular superoxide production. We therefore investigated whether the new ARB telmisartan improves endothelial function ...

Blood pressure usually rises with age and most patients with essential hypertension are the elderly people. From the standpoint of physiology, the benefit of increasing blood pressure is to provide adequate oxygenation and nutrition to the brain and other critical organs. They suggest the rise of blood pressure is a ...

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to determine how N-terminal pro brain-natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels correlate with cyclic variation of integrated backscatter (CVIBS) as a reflection of abnormal diastolic function in hypertension. PATIENTS: Forty essentially hypertensive patients were studied. CVIBS values were obtained from the septal wall in the parasternal long-axis ...

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that metabolic syndrome (MS) is associated with an increased susceptibility to develop cardiovascular damage (CD). Experimental evidence indicates that inflammation and fibrosis could play a critical role in the development of CD in hypertension. This issue has not been clarified yet in patients with MS. ...