A quasi-experimental test of an intervention to increase the use of thiazide-based treatment regimens for people with hypertension.

Background: Despite recent high-quality evidence for their cost-effectiveness, thiazides are underused for controlling hypertension. The goal of this study was to design and test a practice-based intervention aimed at increasing the use of thiazide-based antihypertensive regimens.

Methods: This quasi-experimental study was carried out in general medicine ambulatory practices of a large, academically-affiliated Veterans Affairs hospital.

Occult sleep-disordered breathing in stable congestive heart failure.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and effect of sleep-disordered breathing in ambulatory patients with stable, optimally treated congestive heart failure.

Design: A prospective, longitudinal study.

Setting: Referral sleep laboratory of a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center.

Effects of controlled liver injury and ethanol pretreatment on monoethylglycine xylidide formation in the rat.

Measuring the monoethylglycine xylidide (MEGX) serum level 15-30 min after intravenous administration of lidocaine has been shown to be an accurate predictor of early success in liver transplants. This study evaluates the changes in the MEGX formation test associated with changes in liver mass and ethanol pretreatment in a rat model. Mean MEGX levels were significantly higher for the sham-operated group versus each of the partially hepatectomized groups at 15, 30, and 45 min after injection.