OBJECTIVE: To assess autonomic and peripheral nervous system function in patients with chronic alcoholism. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. PATIENTS: A consecutive sample of 107 alcoholic patients and 61 controls. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: For autonomic assessment, heart rate variations during deep breathing and Valsalva maneuver and on standing were measured. Blood ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in 15 male alcoholic normotensive subjects during alcohol consumption and following an abstinence phase and the effects of alcohol consumption compared with a period of 1 week of abstinence. The average 24-h BP was not different, but ...

The positive association between alcohol consumption and blood pressure is well known. Little is known, however, about effect modification by age, gender, and smoking on the alcohol-blood pressure association. We used data of a cross-sectional study conducted in the Netherlands to investigate the association between alcohol consumption and blood pressure. ...

Erythrocyte Na+/K(+)-pump activities have been measured in hypertensives, alcohol consumers and obese persons, but the results have been variously reported as decreased, increased or unchanged. We analyzed the relationships between erythrocyte Na+/K(+)-ATPase activities and the membrane and serum lipid profiles in 83 middle-aged men, to clarify the reasons for these ...

BACKGROUND: Youth unemployment is of increasing importance, not only as a social but also as a clinical problem. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted during a five-year period in a municipality in the northern part of Sweden, where the youth unemployment rate was between 6% and 8%. All 1,083 pupils ...

We have previously demonstrated that alcoholics with transitory (< 72 hr) elevations in blood pressure (BP) during withdrawal continue to show residual cardiovascular dysregulation up to 4 weeks of abstinence. The present study replicates and extends these findings. Alcoholic inpatients were divided into three subgroups (ns = 14) based on ...

Alcohol consumption has been recognized as an important correlate of blood pressure in many epidemiologic studies, but few interventional studies have been conducted to examine the effect of a reduction in alcohol intake on blood pressure. Because these studies have usually included few subjects and been of short duration, the ...

The effects of continuous and intermittent caffeine abstinence and their time course were investigated under field conditions. After 3 days with habitual coffee, subjects were switched for 9 days to regular instant coffee (n = 40), decaffeinated coffee (n = 40), or an intermittent regime (2 days decaff, 1 day ...

1. The acute effects of a moderate dose of ethanol (1g/kg body weight) on heart rate and blood pressure variability and baroreflex sensitivity were studied in 12 healthy male subjects in a juice-controlled experiment. Electrocardiographic and finger blood pressure data were recorded and stored in a minicomputer during 5 min ...

Spinal arteriovenous malformations (spinal AVMs) are now treated using microcatheters and various embolic materials. Interventional techniques of this type are thought to be the first choice for treatment of spinal AVMs. In this study, we used the Tracker vascular access system and MAGIC catheter for intravascular treatment of spinal AVMs ...

BACKGROUND: Uncertainty continues to surround the role of habitual caffeine consumption as a cardiovascular risk factor. The present study examined the effects of moderate caffeine intake on 24h blood pressure and heart rate in normotensive men and women. METHODS: A double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design with counterbalancing was used, in which ...

Caffeine has been shown to increase mean blood pressure, but studies documenting the effect of caffeine on digits are lacking. We evaluated the effect of caffeine on digital blood pressure and pulse volume in normal volunteers. In the first part of the study, 24 subjects were given water containing either ...

BACKGROUND: The association between alcohol and blood pressure (BP) may be related to the temporal sequencing of alcohol use and BP measurement. We investigated the effects of single and repeated intakes of alcohol on 24-hour BP. METHODS AND RESULTS: Fourteen male habitual drinkers with essential hypertension were placed sequentially on ...

OBJECTIVE: To clarify whether the acute and marked increase in blood pressure associated with smoking is accompanied by an alteration in arterial compliance. DESIGN: Arterial compliance was measured in 13 subjects before and after smoking a cigarette with a nicotine content of 1.2 mg, or before and after sham smoking. ...

OBJECTIVES: To assess the relation between alcohol intake and blood pressure in men and women and in men at younger and older ages; to examine the influence of amount and pattern of alcohol consumption, as well as of acute effects, taking into account body mass index, smoking, and urinary sodium ...

The association between perceived interpersonal attitudes and psychiatric complaints in a group of hypertensives (N = 37) was evaluated. The Influential Relationships Questionnaire (IRQ), which measures perceived care, overprotection, and criticism, was administered to all patients. Hypertensives with psychiatric complaints (n = 14) were not different in terms of age, ...

BACKGROUND: It remains controversial whether the relation between alcohol intake and blood pressure is linear or non-linear. METHODS: The relation between alcohol intake and blood pressure was investigated in 2341 male self-defence officials who received a preretirement health examination at the Self-Defense Forces Fukuoka Hospital between October 1986 and December ...

A variable long path gas cell was used to measure the sorption of organic vapors by a polymer slab. Unfilled polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) slabs were cast and used to study the sorption of a series of aliphatic alcohols. The PDMS slab was suspended in the gas cell and exposed to low ...

Large amounts of alcohol are known to increase blood pressure. There is little evidence about the effect of binge drinking of alcohol on blood pressure, although this is the dominant style of alcohol drinking in several countries. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between binge ...

We wanted to determine whether the production of endogenous nitric oxide (NO) is affected by cigarette smoking and various pathological conditions. Endogenously produced NO was measured by chemiluminescence in the exhaled air of 81 healthy volunteers (21 nonsmoking females (NSF), 12 smoking females (SF), 24 nonsmoking males (NSM) and 24 ...

The link between alcohol and hypertension is well established, yet the mechanism through which alcohol raises blood pressure remains elusive. Possible mechanisms include an imbalance of the central nervous system, impairment of the baroreceptors, an increase of sympathetic activity, stimulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, an increase in cortisol levels, an ...

This study was designed to investigate the effect of smoking cessation on heart rate, blood pressure, and finger temperature absolute levels and reactivity to a range of laboratory challenges. The 148 quitters (mean age = 43.3 years, mean amount smoked = 24.9 cigarettes per day, mean years smoked = 25.2) ...

In a field study, 24-h heart rate, physical activity, and cigarette consumption were continuously recorded, whereas resting heart rate, blood pressure, dietary intake, and subjective parameters were assessed six times per day. Smoking habitual and ultralight cigarettes for two days each was compared in a sample of 48 smokers, consisting ...

It has been proposed that internal, stable, and global attributions for the cause of a lapse following a period of abstinence and concomitant feelings of guilt and loss of control increased the probability of a return to regular substance use. The Abstinence Violation Effect (AVE) hypotheses were tested in a ...

Hypothetically, blood lead may be involved in blood pressure elevations owing to a facilitation of vascular adrenergic stimulation by extrinsic factors like alcohol. We therefore investigated whether self-reported alcohol consumption was a modifier of the blood lead-blood pressure relation in 3,664 men and women, age 28-67 years, from the MONICA ...

Young adults are a subgroup particularly susceptible to traumatic injury; alcohol intoxication is a major risk factor for trauma in young adults. During the first hours following multiple trauma, however, little is known about the specific effects of alcohol intoxication on the circulatory response of critically injured young adults. The ...

Regular alcohol consumption raises blood pressure and in drinking populations contributes significantly to the prevalence of hypertension. The effect of alcohol is additive to that of obesity. Reduction in alcohol intake leads to a lowering of blood pressure over 1-4 weeks. Acute alcohol ingestion in the evening may lower blood ...

Cocaine abuse is widespread in North America. It is estimated that almost one in every four Americans has used cocaine at least once in his/her lifetime. In the past two decades, cocaine related cardiovascular complications have mushroomed because cocaine has become cheaper and more readily available. The fundamental effects of ...

In INTERSALT, the International Cooperative Study on Electrolytes and Blood Pressure, three centres located in the People's Republic of China (PRC) had distinctive patterns of BP and of life style variables that, in INTERSALT overall, were found to relate to BP. The PRC centres had low body mass index (BMI) ...

Mazindol is a catecholamine reuptake inhibitor that blocks binding of cocaine at the dopamine reuptake site. This study was conducted to determine whether the acute administration of mazindol modulates the pharmacological effects of intravenous cocaine in humans. In a crossover study, twelve acute drug conditions were tested in randomized order ...

It was hypothesized that blood pressure would be inversely related to cognitive functioning, if unconfounded with antihypertensive medication and measured over many occasions prior to neuropsychological testing. For stroke-free Framingham Study participants aged 55-88 years (n = 1,702), blood pressure levels were averaged over five biennial examinations (1956-1964) when few ...

The effects of 100 mg of intranasal cocaine (COC) in acute alcohol intoxication (1 g/kg) was assessed in nine experienced and non-dependent healthy volunteers in a double-blind, controlled, randomized, cross-over clinical trial. Alcohol alone impaired psychomotor performance, whereas COC alone produced subjective effects related to euphoria and well-being, improved the ...

Alcohol intake has been associated with higher blood pressure in acculturated populations but not in unacculturated societies. We performed a cross-sectional survey of a random community sample of 5023 male Yi rural farmers and 1656 Yi and 2173 Han men living in an urban setting. Average alcohol intake among drinkers ...

In a series of three exploratory studies, we examined the endocrine correlates of elation and sadness produced by the Velten Mood Induction Procedure (VMIP). In Study 1, 10 college females participated in elation and sadness mood inductions on separate days. In Study 2, 12 college females participated in a neutral ...

In a placebo-controlled, double-blind randomized design, we investigated the cardiovascular interaction between caffeine (250 mg intravenously) and nicotine (4 mg chewing gum) in 10 healthy volunteers, both under baseline conditions and during physical and mental stress (standing up and mental arithmetic). Caffeine alone induced a significant increase in blood pressure ...

The case reported here concerns a 40-year-old woman who has suffered from severe migraine without aura since she was 23. The patient has been taking 1-3 suppositories of Virdex (2 mg of ergotamine tartrate, 250 mg of aminophenazone, caffeine) every day for the past three years. In addition to headache, ...

In order to assess left ventricular structure and diastolic function, 50 hypertensive male subjects, 25 with and 25 without a history of alcohol abuse, and 20 normotensive male controls underwent Doppler echocardiographic examination followed by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for 24 hours. Left ventricular mass was significantly higher in alcoholic ...

Effects of caffeine on ambulatory blood pressure, heart rate, renin-angiotensin system, and ANP were studied in patients treated for mild to moderate hypertension in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial comparing 2 weeks of caffeine-free diet with 2 weeks of regular coffee use. Twenty-three patients (13 men; aged 28-74 years) ...

Depersonalization and other behavioral and physiological indices were monitored before and after the administration of high- and low-potency marijuana cigarettes and a placebo cigarette in 35 physically and mentally healthy normal volunteers. The cigarettes were administered under double-blind conditions during three visits to the laboratory separated by a minimum of ...

The association between environmental lead exposure and raised blood pressure remains controversial. This association was examined in a cross-sectional study in 1981 on 809 male workers who were occupationally exposed to lead in a factory manufacturing car lead accumulator batteries in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Lead exposure was assessed by blood ...

During initial stages of hemorrhage in the rat, cardiovascular compensation leads to a tachycardia (mean +/- SE, 5.2 +/- 0.7%; n = 23) that helps prevent a large fall in blood pressure. This compensatory phase is followed by a decompensatory phase in which mean arterial pressure and heart rate fall. ...

The relationships of coffee consumption habits and cardiovascular tonus at rest and in response to an orthostatic and an ergometric challenge were determined in 338 nonsmoking women. Habitual coffee consumption was unrelated to blood pressure. Coffee consumption on the test day was associated with slightly higher systolic blood pressure at ...

We use econometric techniques to consider whether the statistical association between drinking and blood pressure among men may be due, in part, to the constitutional hypothesis. The constitutional hypothesis holds that the same unobserved genetic or personality factors that affect blood pressure will affect the amount of alcohol consumed. Our ...

Alcohol, consumed as 36% of the caloric intake for 8-10 wk, causes a potentiation of cardiac dysfunction induced by a second insult, sepsis. Because chronic alcoholism may attenuate the responsiveness of the myocardium to catecholamine stimulation, and because catecholamine support seems to be essential for the myocardium to generate an ...

Fifty-four untreated, mildly hypertensive men whose daily alcohol consumption was > or = 28 ml ethanol and who drank at least 4 times per week took part in a randomized, controlled crossover trial. The purpose of the trial was to test the effects of alcohol reduction on blood pressure. After ...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the acute effects of alcohol on blood pressure and erythrocyte cation concentrations in patients with essential hypertension. DESIGN: An alcoholic drink or an isocaloric control drink was given during supper in random order on different days, and blood pressure and erythrocyte cation concentrations were measured before and ...

The effect of acute alcohol consumption was studied in healthy subjects (Group-I) and in nondrinking hypertensive (Group-II) and in regularly drinking hypertensive patients (Group-III). All subjects consumed alcohol (1gm/kg body weight daily) for 5 days, then abstained for 5 days. Blood pressure was recorded in standing and supine position every ...

The effect of an acute oral caffeine load (250 mg capsule) and matching placebo on blood pressure and pulse rate were studied after 48 h caffeine abstention in 8 elderly, normotensive regular caffeine users. The caffeine loading phase was repeated after only 12 h abstention. Following 48 h abstention, supine ...

Subjects received acute doses of orally administered alcohol (0-1.0 g/kg) and intranasal cocaine (4-96 mg/70 kg) alone and in combination in two experiments. Results generally were consistent across both experiments. Cocaine administered alone improved Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) performance, increased subject ratings of stimulant-like effects, heart rate and blood ...

The blood pressure of 7 clinically healthy volunteering social drinkers was studied while they consumed, with a crossover design for 5 days, either 40 g of alcohol by day or fruit juice, with the two spans on alcohol and juice being separated by a one-week washout. Whereas the rhythm-adjusted mean ...