Understanding noninguinal abdominal hernias in the athlete.

Abdominal hernias are common with over 20 million hernia repairs performed worldwide. Inguinal hernias are the most common type of hernia. Inguinal and sports hernia have been discussed at length in recent literature, and therefore, they will not be addressed in this article.

Acute effects of hemodialysis on nitrite and nitrate: potential cardiovascular implications in dialysis patients.

Cardiovascular mortality in dialysis patients remains a serious problem. It is 10 to 20 times higher than in the general population. No molecular mechanism has been proven to explain this increased mortality, although nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated.

Testicular conditions in athletes: torsion, tumors, and epididymitis.

Individuals involved in sports are at risk for sustaining various injuries. In addition to musculoskeletal complaints, male athletes are at risk of incurring testicular injuries. These issues can range from an acute emergency such as testicular torsion to indolent testicular tumors.

Needs assessment of family medicine residency programs and predoctoral directors.

Background And Objectives: Both predoctoral directors and residency program directors are invested in the education of students in family medicine. However, the perspectives and goals of each group can be diverse. Improved collaboration between these groups of educators would be anticipated to enhance the education of students in family medicine, allow for greater interaction between family medicine resident and faculty physicians and students, and eventually entice more students to enter family medicine as a career.

Freiberg's Infraction in an Adolescent Dancer: Condition Often Mistaken for a Stress Fracture.

Freiberg's infraction is not widely seen but can occur among young athletes. Its symptoms and radiographic signs may mimic stress fractures, as in the 12-year-old female dancer described here. This condition, an osteochondrosis that most commonly affects the second metatarsal, is diagnosed with plain radiography.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy: case report and literature review.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy is an unusual and uncommon form of dilated cardiomyopathy that is often fatal to young women. Fetal outcome, however, is quite good. The disease occurs in 250-1350 women each year in the United States.

Prevention of heart failure by antihypertensive drug treatment in older persons with isolated systolic hypertension. SHEP Cooperative Research Group.

Context: Heart failure is often preceded by isolated systolic hypertension, but the effectiveness of antihypertensive treatment in preventing heart failure is not known.

Objective: To assess the effect of diuretic-based antihypertensive stepped-care treatment on the occurrence of heart failure in older persons with isolated systolic hypertension.

Design: Analysis of data from a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Osteoarthritis, chiropractic, and nutrition: osteoarthritis considered as a natural part of a three stage subluxation complex: its reversibility: its relevance and treatability by chiropractic and nutritional correlates.

It is proposed that chiropractic and nutritional treatment contribute to the amelioration and perhaps reversal of osteoarthritis (OA). It is further proposed that the chiropractic manipulative thrust, is in effect, treating dysfunctional bio-mechanics of joints, affecting positive cartilaginous change. The pathophysiology and multi-factorial causes of OA are reviewed.

Once-daily pravastatin in patients with primary hypercholesterolemia: a dose-response study.

This multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted to evaluate dose-response effects and safety of once-daily administration of pravastatin, a new inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase. Pravastatin 5, 10, 20, 40 mg or placebo was administered at bedtime to 150 patients with primary hypercholesterolemia inadequately controlled on a low-fat, low-cholesterol (AHA Phase I) diet. After 8 weeks of treatment, pravastatin produced dose-dependent reductions in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol of 19.

Initial antihypertensive drug therapy. Final report of a randomized, controlled trial comparing alpha-blocker and diuretic.

We compared the effect on serum lipids of an alpha-blocker (prazosin) and a diuretic (hydrochlorothiazide) used as initial antihypertensive drug treatment for 102 men and women with less severe hypertension (average entry blood pressure, 148/97 mm Hg, with no major organ system damage). A two-center trial randomized patients to treatment with either prazosin or hydrochlorothiazide; the alternate drug was added if adequate blood pressure control was not achieved with the originally assigned drug, and patients were removed from any drug they were not able to tolerate. After an average of 40 weeks on the assigned drug regimen, a decline was observed in prazosin-treated patients in both serum total cholesterol (-9.

Education, smoking and non-cardiovascular mortality: findings in three Chicago epidemiological studies.

The interrelationships among education, smoking, and non-cardiovascular (non-CVD) mortality were examined in middle-aged white males from the Chicago Peoples Gas Company Study (PG), the Chicago Western Electric Company Study (WE), and the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry (CHA). In each study, college graduates had the lowest prevalence of current smokers and the highest prevalence of former smokers. The associations between education and smoking were strongest in CHA, a study with baseline measurements 10-14 years after those of PG and WE and 3-8 years after the US Surgeon General's report on smoking and health in 1964.

Initial antihypertensive drug therapy: alpha blocker or diuretic. Interim report of a randomized, controlled trial.

A two-center, randomized, controlled trial designed to evaluate and compare an alpha blocker and a diuretic as initial antihypertensive drug treatment is currently in progress. Approximately 100 men and women, aged 30 to 69 years, are being randomly assigned to treatment with either of these two agents. If diastolic blood pressure is not reduced to its target level and is 85 mm Hg or higher, the alternate agent is added.

Ethnic differences in blood pressure and heart rate of Chicago school children.

In 1975-1978, the Chicago Department of Health conducted a screening program that included measurements of blood pressure, heart rate, height, weight, triceps skinfold thickness, and arm circumference, and calculation of body mass index and muscle circumference for non-public school children. Based on data on 4,086 boys and girls aged 5-10 years from the program, this study examined the ethnic differences in blood pressure and heart rate among children of white, black, Latino, and Oriental ethnicity. Mean levels for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were higher for Oriental and black children than for white and Latino children.

Smoking cessation in the Chicago Coronary Prevention Evaluation Program.

Quit-rates for cigarette smokers in a lifestyle intervention program aimed at reducing coronary risk were 24 percent for all participants and 34 percent for non-dropouts. Recidivism remained very low during participation in the program. Half of the smokers who quit did so after being in the program more than two years.

Relative weight and blood pressure in four Chicago epidemiologic studies.

Because systolic blood pressure rises more sharply with age than diastolic blood pressure, leading to an increasing prevalence with advancing age of elevated systolic blood pressure without elevated diastolic pressure, i.e. so-called pure systolic hypertension, the question arises as to whether or not pure systolic hypertension has its own etiology and pathogenesis.

Methodological problems in characterizing an individual's plasma glucose level.

Two methodological problems in characterizing an individual's plasma glucose level are examined in this study. First, how large is the intra-individual variation of an individual's 1-hr post-load glucose level and for this estimated intra-individual variation what are the probabilities of misclassifying individuals based on a one-time measurement only of glucose level? Second, do different tests-i.e.

Pulse pressure-III. Prognostic significance in four Chicago epidemiologic studies.

This report, the third in a series on pulse pressure and pure systolic hypertension, examines the associations between blood pressure and the cardiovascular diseases and coronary heart disease, both cross-sectionally and prospectively, utilizing data from four Chicago epidemiologic studies, in an effort to determine whether or not a widened pulse pressure, or pure systolic hypertension, is an independent risk factor. In these analyses, blood pressure is divided into two components, one related to level and the other to pulse pressure, with pulse pressure redefined so that the association between pulse pressure and the prevalence of ECG abnormalities or mortality, indicates whether the endpoint is more strongly related to systolic or diastolic blood pressure. In these studies, blood pressure level is significantly related to both ECG abnormalities and mortality.