Comparison of efficacy and safety between bisoprolol transdermal patch (TY-0201) and bisoprolol fumarate oral formulation in Japanese patients with grade I or II essential hypertension: randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

TY-0201 (TY) is a new drug absorbed by the transdermal delivery system developed for the treatment of hypertension, which contains the free base of bisoprolol fumarate that is widely used. An 8-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted in hypertensive patients to evaluate the superiority of TY 8 mg to placebo and the noninferiority of TY 8 mg to bisoprolol fumarate oral formulation (BO) 5 mg. Changes in diastolic blood pressure (BP) (primary endpoint) from baseline in the TY 8 mg group, the BO 5 mg group, and the placebo group were -12.

Low salt intake and changes in serum sodium levels in the combination therapy of low-dose hydrochlorothiazide and angiotensin II receptor blocker.

Background: The present study was conducted to examine the association of dietary salt intake with changes in serum sodium (srNa) levels when angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) treatment is changed to the combination of ARB plus low-dose diuretic (hydrochlorothiazide [HCTZ]).

Methods And Results: In 88 patients (age 70 ± 12 years), ARB treatment was switched to the combination therapy (same dosage ARB+12.5mg/day HCTZ).

[Calcium antagonists: current and future applications based on new evidence. Calcium channel blockers and EBM].

Calcium channel blockers are antihypertensive drugs which are prescribed widely for reducing high blood pressures. This is due to confirmed and stable efficacy, small side effects, and less influence on metabolism. Nowadays, many clinical trials, studies have proven that calcium channel blockers strongly reduce high blood pressure, prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke, and regress left ventricular hypertrophy.

[Difference in blood pressure measured in the office and out of office].

For a long time, diagnosis and treatment of hypertension were conducted based on the blood pressure measured in the office. However, recent clinical evidence clearly indicated the blood pressure measured out-of-office predict future development of cardiovascular events compared with BP measured in the office.

[Antihypertensive effects of nifedipine and changing for modified-release formula].

Nifedipine was initially developed as an anti-anginal drug, and it was Professor Murakami who first reported its usefulness in the management of hypertension. However, rapid decrease in blood pressure with immediate-release formulations of nifedipine led to simultaneous increases in heart rate, presumably because of reflex sympathetic activation, and a meta-analysis in the mid-1990s suggested an increased incidence of serious adverse events (AEs) with short-acting Ca2+ channel antagonists. Although subsequent reviews of the literature found little scientific basis for increased serious AEs with short-acting Ca2+ channel antagonists, this controversy led to the accelerated development of long-acting preparations.

Workplace hypertension is associated with obesity and family history of hypertension.

Job strain, which is a risk for hypertension and increased left ventricular mass, is thought to cause masked hypertension during work even if blood pressure (BP) is normal at health examinations. To study the prevalence of and factors related to workplace hypertension, 265 public officials (mean age, 41.4+/-10.

Increase in pulse pressure relates to diabetes mellitus and low HDL cholesterol, but not to hyperlipidemia in hypertensive patients aged 50 years or older.

Higher pulse pressure is associated with higher cardiovascular risk. We investigated the relationship between pulse pressure and known metabolic risk factors in hypertensive patients who had not experienced stroke or myocardial infarction. In a multicenter cross-sectional survey made in 1995, we registered 939 hypertensive patients aged > or = 50 years.

Blood pressure measurement in research.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to summarize the issues raised during a consensus conference on the role of different blood pressure (BP) monitoring techniques in research, including pathophysiological studies, clinical outcome trials and clinical pharmacology trials.

Methods: This review includes the contribution of the participants in a task force at the Eighth Consensus Conference on Ambulatory BP Monitoring (October 28-31, 2001, Sendai, Japan) and the results of a discussion open to all conference participants. Individual contributions have been summarized together with the points raised during the subsequent discussion, and the main statements are also presented in a table format.

Effects of the long-acting calcium channel blocker barnidipine hydrochloride on 24-h ambulatory blood pressure.

The effect of the long acting calcium channel blocker, barnidipine hydrochloride (barnidipine) on 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) was evaluated in J-MUBA (Japanese Multicentre Study on Barnidipine with Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring). Following an observation period of two weeks, antihypertensive treatment with barnidipine was continued for at least six months. At the end of each period, ABP were measured.

Expressing health experience through embodied language.

Purpose: To describe embodied language for Japanese elders who suffered a stroke or cardiac disease within the previous year. Embodied language is the overlap of feeling and temporal word use with blood pressure during descriptions of health experience.

Design: Exploratory.