The role of morphometric and respiratory factors in predicting the severity and evolution of urinary symptoms in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Objectives: To assess the severity, evolution, and behaviour of several urinary symptoms in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) before and after the treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).

Methods: A prospective study was performed on patients with a recent diagnosis of sleep apnea confirmed by nocturnal sleep polygraphy and absence of medical urological past history. The symptom incidence was analysed seeking predictive factors for initial nocturia, nocturnal polyuria (NP), and unfavourable International Prostate Symptoms Score (IPSS) before and after a 1-year period of treatment using a CPAP device.

Lower urinary tract symptoms and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: Urodynamic evolution before and after one year of treatment with continuous positive airway pressure.

Objective: To report the clinical evolution and the urodynamic behaviour of several lower tract urinary symptoms in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome before and after the treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices.

Methods: A prospective study was performed; patients with recent diagnosis of sleep apnea confirmed by nocturnal sleep polygraphy and absence of medical urological past history. In order to discard important lower urinary tract conditions, urological examinations were previously performed.

[Readability of informed consent documents used in the hospitals of Asturias].

Objective: To evaluate the readability of the informed consent documents (ICD) used in the health centers of Asturias (Spain) with the aim of verifying whether the ICD are understandable and sufficient as a vehicle of information to empower patients to participate in decisions related to their diagnosis and treatment.

Method: A total of 1114 ICD were gathered from the health centers in Asturias. A representative random sample from each hospital was selected and the following readability indexes were obtained: the Flesch index, the sentence complexity index, and the integrated legibility index.

Preliminary study of the vasorelaxant effects of (+)-nantenine, an alkaloid isolated from Platycapnos spicata, in rat aorta.

In this work, the potential vasorelaxant activity of (+)-nantenine, an alkaloid isolated from Platycapnos spicata, was studied for the first time in rat aorta. (+)-Nantenine (3 - 30 microM) totally relaxed, in a concentration-dependent manner and with almost equal effectiveness, the contractions induced by noradrenaline (NA) or by a high KCl concentration (60 mM) in intact rat aortic rings. Mechanical removal of endothelium and/or pretreatment of aorta rings with glibenclamide (10 microM) or tetraethylammonium (TEA, 2 mM) did not significantly modify the vasorelaxant effects of this aporphine alkaloid.

Effects of hydralazine on contractile responses to alpha 1 and alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonists in isolated rubbed rat aorta.

1. Effects of hydralazine on contractile responses to noradrenaline (an alpha 1- and alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonist) to phenylephrine and methoxamine (both selective alpha 1-adrenoceptor agonists) and to clonidine and BHT-920 (both relatively selective alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonists) were examined in isolated rat aorta deprived of endothelium. Hydralazine (1 mM) produced a rightward shift with depression of the maximal tension of the concentration-response curves for all the agonists tested.