The persistent sciatic artery.

Background: A persistent sciatic artery (PSA) is a rare vascular anomaly with an estimated incidence of 0.03-0.06%.

Beneficial effect from a cognitive training programme on children with acquired brain injuries demonstrated in a controlled study.

Primary Objective: To test the effectiveness of a cognitive training programme in children and adolescents with attention and memory deficits after acquired brain injury (ABI).

Research Design: Randomized controlled study.

Participants: Thirty-eight children with ABI, 9-16 years of age.

Cardiovascular response to physical stress in offspring of hypertensive parents: Dutch Hypertension and Offspring Study.

Blood pressure (BP) regulatory mechanisms were studied in youngsters with contrasting risks for hypertension, based on parental history, during physical stress. As a static exercise, an isometric handgrip task (22% of maximal force during 5 min) was used and a dynamic exercise task was performed on a bicycle ergometer. At rest and during stress, BP and heart rate were recorded.

Calcium metabolism and familial risk of hypertension.

There is circumstantial evidence that disturbances of calcium metabolism are implicated in primary hypertension. From a large number of observational epidemiological studies, data have shown that a low dietary calcium intake increases the risk for high blood pressure. There is no general sensitivity for the effects of inadequate calcium intake, but subgroups of hypertensive patients have been described characterized by reduced serum ionized calcium levels, increased urinary excretion of calcium, raised intracellular calcium levels, reduced cellular membrane calcium binding, and other indicators of a relative calcium need.

Cardiovascular response to mental stress in offspring of hypertensive parents: the Dutch Hypertension and Offspring Study.

Objective: To compare blood pressure-regulating mechanisms during mental stress in two groups of offspring with contrasting risk for hypertension.

Design: Cardiovascular reactivity to two different types of mental stressors was studied in adolescents and young adults with two hypertensive or two normotensive parents. The two tasks used were intended to evoke either a predominantly adrenergic cardiac response (a memory search task) or a predominantly vascular response (a reaction-time task with visual search and tone avoidance).

A mutant renin gene in familial elevation of prorenin.

A case of familial elevation of plasma prorenin levels was discovered during an epidemiological survey of a Dutch population. Trypsin-activated prorenin was elevated in the 58-year-old father, his son, and one of his sisters. All family members were normotensive and had normal plasma renin activities.

Anthropometric measures, fitness and habitual physical activity in offspring of hypertensive parents. Dutch Hypertension and Offspring Study.

As part of the Dutch Hypertension and Offspring Study, subjects with contrasting risk for hypertension according to their parental history of hypertension were compared with respect to anthropometric measures and measures of fitness and physical activity. Body height, weight, two skinfolds, and blood pressure at rest were measured. Fitness was evaluated by a maximal exercise test, and habitual physical activity was assessed using a questionnaire.

Hemodynamic characteristics of the early phase of primary hypertension. The Dutch Hypertension and Offspring Study.

Background: The hemodynamic characteristics of the early phase of primary hypertension are subject to debate. In particular, it remains unclear whether an increased vascular peripheral resistance or a raised cardiac output is involved as the primary hemodynamic alteration in hypertension.

Methods And Results: We studied hemodynamic characteristics and oxygen consumption in relation to 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure measurements in three groups of normotensive children with a different familial predisposition for hypertension.

Polymorphism of the angiotensin I converting enzyme gene is apparently not related to high blood pressure: Dutch Hypertension and Offspring Study.

Objective: Studies in genetically hypertensive rats and their normotensive Wistar-Kyoto control rats have revealed a linkage of a chromosomal region containing the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene with blood pressure. This led to the hypothesis that ACE is a possible candidate gene for primary hypertension in humans. We defined the genotypes and allele frequencies of an insertion-deletion (I/D) polymorphism in parental couples who both had either high or low blood pressure and in their offspring.

Alterations in calcium metabolism in young people at risk for primary hypertension. The Dutch Hypertension and Offspring Study.

Several disturbances in calcium metabolism have been reported in primary hypertensive subjects. It is, however, not clear whether these alterations predate the development of hypertension or occur as a consequence of high blood pressure. We studied indexes of calcium metabolism in three groups of normotensive children with different familial predispositions for hypertension, based on parental blood pressure levels, with two, one, or no hypertensive parents.

Renal hemodynamics and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in normotensive subjects with hypertensive and normotensive parents.

Background And Methods: The kidney is important in blood-pressure regulation, but its role in the development of essential hypertension is still subject to debate. We compared renal hemodynamics, measured in terms of the clearance of para-aminohippuric acid and inulin, and the characteristics of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in three groups of normotensive subjects at different degrees of risk for hypertension: 41 subjects with two normotensive parents, 52 with one normotensive and one hypertensive parent, and 61 with two hypertensive parents. The subjects ranged in age from 7 to 32 years.

[Altered sensitivity of Escherichia coli for antibiotics in the population].

Faecal carriage rates for antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli were determined in a Dutch urban population during two periods with an interval of seven years. In the period 1978-1980 faecal samples were collected from 624 persons and in 1987 from 154 persons. E.

Determinants of blood pressure in the first decades of life.

The blood pressure (BP) in children has been studied since the beginning of this century, and in the past decade the potential association between childhood BP levels and adult hypertension has gained increasing interest. From several longitudinal studies, many of them comprising large numbers of children and youngsters, it appears that the BP of children is significantly associated with BP on follow-up measurements and that childhood BP is related to adult levels. Whether the objective is to predict future BP, or the aim is to shed light on the early pathogenesis of primary hypertension, it is of major importance to find out why BP rises in some and stays the same in others.

Twenty-four-hour ambulatory blood pressure pattern in youngsters with a different family history of hypertension: the Dutch Hypertension and Offspring Study.

The offspring of hypertensive parents in general show higher casual blood pressure levels during adolescence than the offspring of normotensive parents. Comparative ambulatory blood pressure measurements might reveal the stability and pattern of this difference during circadian blood pressure variation. We studied the 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (Space-Labs 90202 monitor, Redmond, Washington, USA) in youngsters with two hypertensive parents (high; n = 62), with one hypertensive parent (mixed; n = 51) and with no hypertensive parent (low; n = 42).

Similar plasma atrial natriuretic factor levels in children and young adults with a high and low probability of developing hypertension: the Dutch Hypertension and Offspring Study.

The role of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) in the genesis of primary hypertension is not clear. However, a natriuretic and blood pressure lowering effect has been observed after infusion of ANF. Therefore, subjects at risk of future hypertension might be deficient in ANF or less responsive to it.

Change in blood pressure in offspring of parents with high or low blood pressure: the Dutch Hypertension and Offspring Study.

A family history of hypertension is an important predictor of high blood pressure. We investigated the question of whether this predisposition affects the level and change of blood pressure early in life, and in particular, at what age the familial aggregation of blood pressure occurs. Blood pressure and related characteristics were studied in children whose parents both had relatively high blood pressure ('high') and the results were compared with those from children whose parents both had a relatively low blood pressure ('low') and with children with one parent high and the other parent low ('mixed').