Blockade of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) offers superior renoprotection in the treatment of patients with hypertension, but the efficacy of RAAS inhibition strongly depends on sodium status, presumably in relation to extracellular volume status. Because assessing volume status by physical examination is challenging, 24-hour urine collection and NT-proBNP levels are ...

In this study, the effect of nifedipine controlled-release tablets at a dose of 80 mg/day (NCR80) on blood pressure (BP) and safety was investigated. In essential hypertension (n = 50, >140/90 mm Hg) despite a combined therapy with antihypertensive agents, NCR80 was administered instead of the previous antihypertensive agents and ...

Recent clinical studies of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) have found correlations between increased pulmonary vascular stiffness (PVS) and poorer disease outcomes. However, mechanistic questions remain about the relationships amongst PVS, RV power, and vascular hemodynamics in the setting of progressive PAH that are difficult or impossible to answer using direct ...

Recognition and treatment of secondary causes of hypertension among patients with resistant hypertension may help to control blood pressure and reduce cardiovascular risk. However, there are no studies systematically evaluating secondary causes of hypertension according to the Seventh Joint National Committee. Consecutive patients with resistant hypertension were investigated for known ...

BACKGROUND: Data are limited with regard to the association of central blood pressure (BP) components with cardiac structure and function. METHODS: Our study was conducted in the framework of cardiovascular health examinations for the current and retired employees of a factory and their family members. We measured central BP by ...

Hypertension is an important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to determine the up-to-date prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension, and their related influencing factors in adults in Beijing, China. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2008. A total of 5760 adults aged 18-79 years were ...

The aim of this study was to investigate whether inflammatory markers are associated with hypertensive end organ damage or obesity in patients with hypertension. Seventy newly diagnosed essential hypertensive patients (29 men and 41 women aged 49.6 ± 9.5 y) and 25 age-sex-matched normotensive subjects (12 men and 13 women ...

Stroke is a major cause of disability and death worldwide. Prevention aimed at risk factors of stroke is the most effective strategy to curb the stroke pandemic. Hypertension is one of the most important risk factors for stroke. Despite the substantial evidence of the benefits of lowering blood pressure, conventional ...

The aim of our study was to compare the accuracy of blood pressure measurements in patients with atrial fibrillation using simultaneous measurements by a mercury sphygmomanometer and an electronic device Tensoval duo control, produced by Hartmann-Rico, with dual control of the measurements (oscillometric and auscultation). A total of 255 patients ...

Compared with acetate dialysate, bicarbonate dialysate has shown beneficial effects in reducing the morbidity associated with dialysis, but a small amount of acetate in bicarbonate dialysate may evoke hypotension or malaise. Acetate-free citrate hemodialysis (AFHD) may avoid these problems. In 44 hemodialysis patients bicarbonate hemodialysis (BHD) was conducted for three ...

The literature on cerebrospinal fluid opening pressures for pediatric patients is scant. A retrospective study of measured opening pressures during lumbar punctures of pediatric patients in a controlled, uniform setting was conducted. These procedures were performed in an outpatient surgery setting under anesthesia. Patients' end-tidal carbon dioxide levels were maintained ...

PURPOSE: Although pediatric intensivists claim to embrace lung protective ventilation for acute lung injury (ALI), ventilator management is variable. We describe ventilator changes clinicians made for children with hypoxemic respiratory failure, and evaluate the potential acceptability of a pediatric ventilation protocol. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study performed in ...

Hypertension is the most prevalent and significant modifiable risk factor in individuals with concomitant coronary artery disease. The number of individuals with hypertension is substantially increasing every year. It has been shown in several studies that it is imperative to effectively control blood pressure in order to reduce the risk ...

We aimed to evaluate the associations between nocturnal blood pressure (BP) and serum uric acid (SUA) level, low-grade inflammation, and cardiac autonomic function in untreated dipper and nondipper hypertensive patients and normotensive individuals. The study included 92 consecutive patients (44 men, 48 women; mean age 51.6±9.7 years) who presented for ...

The clinical significance of masked hypertension (MHT) and white-coat hypertension (WCHT) remains controversial, whereas subclinical inflammation and arterial stiffness are associated with an adverse prognosis. We examined the interrelationships of MHT, WCHT, and sustained hypertension (SHT) with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and arterial stiffness. Our population consisted of 291 untreated ...

Dind A, Short A, Ekholm J, Holdgate A. International Journal of Nursing Practice 2011; 17: 525-533 The inaccuracy of automatic devices taking postural measurements in the emergency department Automatic devices are used to take postural blood pressures in the emergency department despite research proving their inaccuracy in taking single blood ...

Pressure modes of invasive mechanical ventilation generate a tidal breath by delivering pressure over time. Pressure control ventilation (PC) is the prototypical pressure mode and is patient- or time-triggered, pressure-limited, and time-cycled. Other pressure modes include pressure support ventilation (PSV), pressure-regulated volume control (PRVC, also known as volume control plus ...

BACKGROUND: This study reports the value of accurate pulmonary contusion (PC) volume measurement with 3-dimensional computed tomography (CT) in predicting acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) development. METHODS: The study enrolled all patients who were diagnosed with PC on admission by CT and had a chest Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS) exceeding ...

: Published trials evaluating pressure garment and/or silicone therapy as a treatment for hypertrophic burn scarring are of poor quality and highly susceptible to bias. The authors' aim was to compare the efficacy of pressure garment therapy alone and in combination with silicone gel sheet or spray therapy for the ...

Academic Emergency Medicine 2011; 18:1045-1052 © 2011 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine ABSTRACT: Objectives:  In this hypothesis-generating study, we observe, identify, and analyze how emergency clinicians seek to manage work pressure to maximize patient flow in an environment characterized by delayed patient admissions (access block) and emergency department ...

Hypertension is an important cardiovascular risk factor that influences patient survival. This study sought to evaluate hypertension incidence and circadian rhythms of blood pressure (BP) among liver transplant recipients during the first posttransplant month. We also compared hypertension incidence according to clinical and automated blood pressure monitoring methods. BP was ...

Laparoscopic approach is increasingly performed for functional adrenal tumor resections. The aim of this study was to compare general anesthesia and general anesthesia combined with epidural anesthesia for laparoscopic adrenalectomy.In our study, we planned to examine hemodynamic changes (heart rate, systolic, diastolic, and mean pressures) and quantity of adrenocorticotropic hormone, ...

In chronic heart failure (CHF), neurohumoral systems, which help to maintain circulatory homeostasis, are maladaptive and responsible for disease progression and congestion in the long term. The activation of sympathetic hormones and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), in addition to non-osmotic vasopressin release, up-regulation of aquoporine 2 and renal sodium transporters, and ...

The objective of this article was to describe a new method for assessing expiratory flow limitation during spontaneous breathing, using the negative expiratory pressure test to identify patients at risk for obstructive sleep apnea. Upper airway collapsibility is evaluated by measuring decreases in flow and in expired volume in the ...

Pressure ulceration causes much distress to patients and family, and can be taken as an indication of poor nursing care. It is vital that both parties understand when pressure damage can be prevented, and those circumstances when skin failure at the end of life cannot be avoided. Appropriate risk assessment, ...

Objective: To study the effect of a minor degree of artificially induced leg length discrepancy (LLD) on plantar pressure distribution in diabetic patients with neuropathic foot ulceration. Method: In-shoe plantar pressure distributions were measured on the ulcerated foot during walking using F-scan (Tekscan Inc.). To simulate minor LLD, the contralateral ...

Percutaneous angioplasty (PTA) and stenting is an established procedure for the treatment of hypertension caused by atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis. However recently, the decision whether or notto perform this procedure has raised considerable debate. To examine the association between the basic clinical and radiological characteristics of candidates for renal artery ...

To assess and compare the predictive effects of hypertension before puberty and during puberty on adult hypertension. A total of 412 adults from the "Beijing children and adolescents blood pressure (BP) study" cohort were followed up in a clinical examination in 2005. Systolic and diastolic BP, height, and weight in ...

Angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) have beneficial effects on cardiovascular, metabolic, and inflammatory parameters in addition to controlling blood pressure (BP). However, few comparative clinical studies have been conducted with different ARBs. We compared these effects in patients with uncomplicated hypertension who were receiving telmisartan or valsartan. The subjects were patients with ...

Elderly trauma patients have worse outcomes than their younger counterparts. Early risk stratification remains difficult, particularly because traditional vital signs are less reliable. We hypothesized that arrival lactate and base deficit (BD) could be used to predict mortality in elderly trauma patients with a normal admission blood pressure. We retrospectively ...

Early diagnosis of hypertension (HT) is an important strategy in its control. Previous studies have documented that hypertension may begin in adolescence, perhaps even in childhood. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of hypertension and risk factors among school going children in Surat city, south Gujarat, ...

As our understanding of the underlying aetiology of hypertension is far from adequate, over 90% of patients with hypertension receive a diagnosis of essential hypertension. This non-specific diagnosis leads to suboptimal therapeutics and a major problem with non-compliance. Understanding the normal control of blood pressure (BP) is, hence, important for ...

Hypertension affects about 10 - 25% of the population and is an important risk factor for cardiovascular and renal disease. The renin-angiotensin system is frequently implicated in the pathophysiology of hypertension, be it primary or secondary. The prevalence of primary aldosteronism increases with the severity of hypertension, from 2% in ...

Thyroid disorders and primary hyperparathyroidism have been known to be associated with increases in blood pressure. The hypertension related to hypothyroidism is a result of increased peripheral resistance, changes in renal hemodynamics, hormonal changes and obesity. Treatment of hypothyroidism with levo-thyroxine replacement causes a decrease in blood pressure and an ...

Elevated renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) activity is an important mechanism in the development of hypertension. Both obesity and 25-hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH)D] deficiency have been associated with hypertension and augmented renin-angiotensin system (RAS) activity. We tried to test the hypothesis that vitamin D deficiency and obesity are associated with increased RAS ...

There are several complications of the cardiovascular system caused by acromegaly, especially hypertension. To evaluate hypertension characteristics in patients with cured/controlled acromegaly and with the active disease. Cross-sectional study of the follow-up of forty-four patients with acromegaly submitted to clinical evaluation, laboratory tests and cardiac ultrasound. Patients with cured and ...

The aim of this study was to assess whether subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is associated with carotid atherosclerosis, as well as dyslipidemia, and arterial hypertension. The study included 69 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed SCH, and 30 matched healthy controls. Body mass index (BMI), TSH, fT4, antibodies to thyroid peroxidase (TPOabs), ...

In 2007, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published a comparative effectiveness review (CER) on the benefits and risks of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) for treating essential hypertension in adults. The main findings indicated that the 2 classes of antihypertensive medications caused ...

Aim: to investigate the effect of consumption of dark chocolate 30 g/day for fifteen days on Nitric oxide (NO) serum levels and blood pressure in male and female employees with prehypertension. Methods: the study was a parallel randomized clinical trial. A total of thirty-two subjects was divided into two groups ...

Obesity and increased blood pressure are identified as risk factors for cardiac and pulmonary disorders. On the other hand, iron deficiency (another preventable disease) is common in adolescence and considered as associated with health impairment. The present study evaluates body mass index (BMI) and its association with blood pressure and ...

To minimize ventilator-induced lung injury, attention should be directed toward avoidance of alveolar over-distention and cyclical opening and closure of alveoli. The most impressive study of mechanical ventilation to date is the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) Network study of higher versus lower tidal volume (V(T)), which reported a reduction ...

Purpose: To evaluate the ophthalmic artery hemodynamics in patients with chronic heart failure. Methods: Doppler parameters of ophthalmic artery of 18 patients with chronic heart failure in different stages of the disease were compared with 21 healthy volunteers (control group). These parameters were also correlated with echocardiographic assessments and clinical ...

To evaluate the accuracy of measurement of hepatic venous pressure gradient by catheter wedge as compared to balloon wedge (the gold standard). Forty-five patients having a clinical diagnosis of intrahepatic portal hypertension were subjected to the two different types of pressure measurements (catheter wedge and balloon wedge) during transjugular liver ...

Objective: Microalbuminuria (MA) is a marker of vascular damage and has prognostic implications in hypertension. The objective of this study was to determine if the presence of MA increases the risk of hypertensive retinal damage in nondiabetic adult Nigerians with hypertension. Materials and Methods: A total of 96 consecutive newly ...

The Bonfils retromolar intubation fiberscope is a rigid endoscope designed to enable glottic visualization and facilitate intubation under endoscopic vision. Theoretically, avoiding direct-vision laryngoscopy and thus could produce less stimulation during intubation than the conventional direct laryngoscopic procedure. This prospective randomized study was designed to compare the effect of tracheal ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of increasing dose of intracoronary adenosine on fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurement. FFR is a validated method for the assessment of the severity of coronary artery stenosis. It is based on the change in the pressure gradient across the stenosis ...

Constrictive pericarditis is characterized by elevation in jugular venous pressure disproportionate to the severity of concurrent breathlessness. As pleural effusion may be an associated feature it is recommended that jugular venous pressure should be documented in all patients who present with pleural effusion.

Hypertension is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular and renal disease. Lowering blood pressure (BP) has been shown to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease, but randomized trials have not demonstrated a benefit of lowering BP for the progression of renal disease except in secondary analyses in patients with significant ...

Objective: The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of telmisartan addition to amlodipine, on peripheral edema in hypertensive patients. Research design and methods: Seventy-five outpatients were randomized to amlodipine (A) 10 mg or telmisartan (T) 80 mg, or amlodipine 10 mg plus telmisartan 80 mg, for 6 ...

BASIC CONCEPTS AND METHODOLOGY: Acceptance of the ESH/ESC 2007 hypertension guidelines and their reappraisal 2009 are not known by Austrian practitioners. Therefore, within the frame of a noninterventional trial we investigated 3,488 ambulatory hypertensive patients. Primary goal was the evaluation of the assignment to cardiovascular risk categories according to the ...