Albumin stimulates monocyte chemotactic protein-1 expression in rat embryonic mixed brain cells.

Albumin, a blood protein absent from the adult brain in physiological situations, can be brought into contact with brain cells during development or, in adult, following breakdown of the blood-brain barrier occurring as a result of local inflammation. In the present study, we show that ovalbumin and albumin induce the release of monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1/CCL2) from rat embryonic mixed brain cells. A short-term exposure to ovalbumin during the cell dissociation procedure is sufficient to generate MCP-1 mRNA.

Circadian variability of blood pressure in liver transplant recipients without antihypertensive therapy.

Hypertension is a frequent cardiovascular risk factor in liver transplant recipients. The usefulness of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in these patients is unknown. This study was aimed at evaluating the circadian rhythms of blood pressure in liver allograft recipients.

Doxazosin GITS versus standard doxazosin in mild to moderate hypertension.

Background: The selective alpha 1-adrenoceptor antagonist doxazosin in both standard formulation and gastrointestinal therapeutic system (GITS) controlled-release formulation is effective for hypertension without having a negative impact on serum lipids. This study was designed to compare the relative efficacy of these two formulations of doxazosin on clinic and ambulatory blood pressure and serum lipids in patients with mild to moderate hypertension.

Methods: Hypertensive patients aged 18-70 years (n = 335) were evaluated in a multi-center prospective randomized study.

Lipoprotein composition in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus. Both quantitative and qualitative abnormalities of lipo-proteins are associated with the development of atherogenesis. In this study, the prevalence of dyslipidemia and the relative levels of glycosylated lipoproteins in 20 children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus were determined.

[Outcome of tunneled hemodialysis catheters as permanent vascular access].

Unlabelled: Tunneled cuffed hemodialysis catheters (THC) are developed as a means of short hemodialysis access while a more permanent form of access are maturing. The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness, survival and complications of the THC used for long-term vascular access.

Methods: In a retrospective study we looked at 42 THC inserted between November 2000 and October 2003, in 40 elderly patients, with systemic disease or when other vascular access was not possible.

Microalbuminuria in hypertensive patients: evaluation of one-year treatment with irbesartan.

Background: Microalbuminuria is an important cardiovascular risk factor, and appears to be a marker of early arterial disease in patients with and without diabetes and/or hypertension. The aim of this study was to investigate prevalence of albuminuria in hypertensive patients in clinical settings, as well as to assess the efficacy of the angiotensin receptor blocker irbesartan on the evolution of this risk marker in habitual clinical practice.

Methods: KORAL-HT is a prospective, multicenter 1-year follow-up study in inadequately controlled hypertensive patients.

Characteristics and outcome of cardiorespiratory arrest in children.

Objective: To analyse the present day characteristics and outcome of cardio-respiratory arrest in children in Spain.

Design: An 18-month prospective, multicentre study analysing out-of-hospital and in-hospital cardio-respiratory arrest in children.

Patients And Methods: Two hundred and eighty-three children between 7 days and 17 years of age with cardio-respiratory arrest.

Administration-time-dependent effects of doxazosin GITS on ambulatory blood pressure of hypertensive subjects.

Previous studies have shown that a single nighttime dose of standard doxazosin, an alpha-adrenergic antagonist, reduces blood pressure (BP) throughout the 24 h. We investigated the administration-time-dependent effects of the new doxazosin gastrointestinal therapeutic system (GITS) formulation. We studied 91 subjects (49 men and 42 women), 56.

Molecular basis of resistance to macrolides and other antibiotics in commensal viridans group streptococci and Gemella spp. and transfer of resistance genes to Streptococcus pneumoniae.

We assessed the mechanisms of resistance to macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLS(B)) antibiotics and related antibiotics in erythromycin-resistant viridans group streptococci (n = 164) and Gemella spp. (n = 28). The macrolide resistance phenotype was predominant (59.

Autonomic neuropathy and QT interval in hemodialysed patients.

Background: QT interval prolongation increases the risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death in diabetic autonomic neuropathy and ischemic heart disease. In end-stage renal disease (ESRD), the effects of hemodialysis on QT interval are diverse and the influence of autonomic neuropathy has yet to be clearly defined.

Methods: Sixty-nine ERSD patients (age 64 +/- 14) were studied.

Effect of continuous positive airway pressure on ambulatory blood pressure in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea.

Objectives: Previous reports on the effects of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy for obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) on blood pressure has shown contradictory results. Accordingly, we have investigated the effects of CPAP on blood pressure and on the potential reversal of the diagnosis of hypertension in patients with OSA evaluated repeatedly by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

Methods: We studied 122 patients (104 men and 18 women), 55.

The deep-breath test as a diagnostic maneuver for white-coat effect in hypertensive patients.

Background: The white-coat effect is a common phenomenon in hypertensive patients, and there is no current useful office test to detect it.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. We evaluated the deep-breath maneuver at the office as a diagnostic test of the white-coat effect.

[Acute interstitial nephritis associated with omeprazole therapy].

From 1 to 3% of acute renal failures are due to acute interstitial nephritis (AIN). Most of them are due to drugs. Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, penicillins and sulfonamides are the most frequently reported.

Circadian time-qualified tolerance intervals for ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in the diagnosis of hypertension.

The large-amplitude circadian pattern in blood pressure of healthy subjects of both genders suggests that the constant threshold currently used to diagnose hypertension should be replaced by a time-specified reference limit reflecting the mostly predictable blood pressure variability during the 24 h. Accordingly, we derived circadian time-specified reference standards for blood pressure as a function of gender. We studied 743 normotensive Caucasian volunteers (400 men and 343 women), 45.

Effects of telmisartan 80 mg and valsartan 160 mg on ambulatory blood pressure in patients with essential hypertension.

Objectives: This trial investigated and compared the antihypertensive efficacy of telmisartan and valsartan, two angiotensin II receptor blockers, used in monotherapy at their maximum recommended dose in hypertensive patients.

Methods: We studied 70 subjects (32 men and 38 women) aged 47.6 +/- 12.

Surfactant activity of a naphthalene degrading Bacillus pumilus strain isolated from oil sludge.

We studied the growth, biosurfactant activities and petroleum hydrocarbon compounds utilisation of strain 28-11 isolated from a solid waste oil. The isolate was identified as Bacillus pumilus. It grew well in the presence of 0.

Particulate silicone for vocal fold augmentation: morphometric evaluation in a rabbit model.

To study the augmentation of the paralyzed vocal fold in response to the injection of particulate plastics in a rabbit model, we performed a prospective, experimental, and controlled study in 45 New Zealand rabbits with surgical vocal fold paralysis. We compared a control group (acute unilateral recurrent nerve section) with a group that underwent polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) injection and with another group that underwent polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) injection. Equal volumes of implant material were injected.

Comparison of the antihypertensive effects of the fixed dose combination enalapril 10 mg/nitrendipine 20 mg vs losartan 50 mg/hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg, assessed by 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, in essential hypertensive patients.

Fixed combinations of calcium channel blockers and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors represent an alternative to diuretic-based combination therapy. The aim of the present study was to compare the antihypertensive efficacy of the combination enalapril 10 mg/nitrendipine 20 mg (E/N) vs losartan 50 mg/hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg (L/H), assessed by 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

Erectile dysfunction in essential arterial hypertension and effects of sildenafil: results of a Spanish national study.

Background: The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in hypertensive patients in specialized care hypertension units (SCHUs) and to assess the effectiveness and tolerability of sildenafil treatment.

Methods: This was a multicenter, prospective, open, observational pharmacoepidemiology study conducted in 25 Spanish SCHUs. A total of 2130 men with essential hypertension under treatment were recruited.

Pulse rate in childhood: reference limits.

Background And Aim: Systematic quantitative resting pulse rate measurements may represent an additional parameter for the study of cardiovascular risk factors in youth as well as in adulthood. The aim of this study was to evaluate resting pulse rate and its distribution curve in order to define reference limits in a sample of adolescents from Turin, Italy.

Methods And Results: The study population consisted of 2230 children aged 12-18 years, who were randomly enrolled from Turin Junior High Schools.

Once-daily fixed-combination irbesartan 300 mg/ hydrochlorothiazide 25 mg and circadian blood pressure profile in patients with essential hypertension.

Background: More than 60% of patients with hypertension included in morbidity and mortality trials needed >or=2 drugs to achieve a substantial, sustained reduction in blood pressure. Tolerable combinations using higher doses of antihypertensive drugs are frequently required to control blood pressure.

Objective: The goal of this study was to assess the effect of a once-daily fixed combination of irbesartan 300 mg/hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 25 mg on the circadian blood pressure profile in patients with essential hypertension that was not controlled with full-dose single therapy or low-dose combined therapy.

Neurons and brain macrophages regulate connexin expression in cultured astrocytes.

Neurons and brain macrophages (BM), respectively, increase and inhibit gap junctional communication (GJC) and connexin expression in cultured astrocytes. Thus, in brain diseases and injuries, neuronal death associated with the BM activation may decrease GJC in astrocytes and therefore have a physiopathological relevance.

The 'ABPM effect' gradually decreases but does not disappear in successive sessions of ambulatory monitoring.

Objectives: Previous results have indicated that ambulatory monitoring provides a pressor effect on patients using the device for the first time, but not on successive sessions of monitoring. Our objective was to validate and quantify the extent and duration of this pressor effect in hypertensive patients repeatedly evaluated every few months.

Methods: We studied 823 mild-to-moderate hypertensive subjects (347 men), 53.