Effect of fixed-dose ACE-inhibitor/calcium channel blocker combination therapy vs. ACE-inhibitor monotherapy on arterial compliance in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes.

Assessment of vascular compliance may be a useful measurement of the clinical effects of antihypertensive treatment. Both angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and calcium channel blockers are known to improve vascular elasticity. A study was performed to test the hypothesis that combined therapy with an ACE inhibitor and a calcium channel blocker would have additive benefits on vascular compliance at similar levels of blood pressure (BP), as compared with monotherapy with an ACE inhibitor.

Impact of obesity and the metabolic syndrome on risk factors in African American stroke survivors: a report from the AAASPS.

Background: The rates of obesity and the metabolic syndrome and the impact on traditional vascular risk factors in African American stroke survivors are unknown.

Objective: To describe the relationships between body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) and hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus.

Design: We classified 1711 subjects as underweight (BMI, <18.

Relationship between bridging with ventricular assist device on rejection after heart transplantation.

Background: Ventricular assist devices (VADs) are commonly used to bridge patients to heart transplantation. Recipients of VADs may develop anti-human histocompatibility leukocyte antigen antibodies, as reflected by elevated panel-reactive antibodies (PRA). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between bridging with VAD before heart transplantation and development of cellular rejection, humoral rejection, and allograft vasculopathy after transplantation.

Effects of COX inhibition on blood pressure and kidney function in ACE inhibitor-treated blacks and hispanics.

Cyclo-oxygenase (COX) inhibitors attenuate the antihypertensive effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and reduce kidney function. The study tests the hypothesis that these two classes of drugs have similar effects on glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and 24-hour blood pressure. The primary endpoint was change in 24-hour systolic blood pressure.

Aspirin and ticlopidine for prevention of recurrent stroke in black patients: a randomized trial.

Context: Blacks are disproportionately affected by stroke, and they are about 2 times more likely than most other individuals in the United States to die of or experience stroke.

Objective: To determine the efficacy and safety of aspirin and ticlopidine to prevent recurrent stroke in black patients.

Design, Setting, And Patients: Randomized, double-blind, investigator-initiated, multicenter trial of 1809 black men and women who recently had a noncardioembolic ischemic stroke and who were recruited between December 1992 and October 2001 from 62 academic and community hospitals in the United States and followed up for up to 2 years.

Stroke risk factor profiles in African American women: an interim report from the African-American Antiplatelet Stroke Prevention Study.

Background And Purpose: If sex differences in stroke risk factor profiles exist among African Americans in the United States, prevention strategies will need to reflect those differences. African Americans and women have been underrepresented in stroke prevention studies. The purpose of this study was to determine whether medical and lifestyle factors differ among women and men who have enrolled in the African-American Antiplatelet Stroke Prevention Study (AAASPS).