Prehospital noninvasive pressure support ventilation for acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema.

Severe acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema (ACPE) can successfully be treated with noninvasive pressure support ventilation (NIPSV) in a clinical setting. Whether prehospital NIPSV starting early at patients' home and being continued until hospital arrival is feasible and improves ACPE emergency care is examined in this study. End points of the study were oxygen saturation at hospital admission and clinical outcome.

To dip or not to dip: on the physiology of blood pressure decrease during nocturnal sleep in healthy humans.

That sleep is accompanied by a blood pressure decrease is well known; however, the underlying physiology deserves further investigation. The present study examines in healthy subjects 2 main questions: is this dipping actively evoked? and what are the consequences of nondipping for daytime blood pressure? Nocturnal blood pressure was extrinsically elevated in 12 sleeping subjects to mean daytime values by continuously infused phenylephrine. This nondipping significantly lowered morning blood pressure during rest and 3 hours after resuming physical activity compared with a control condition (isotonic saline).

Effect of facial cooling and cold air inhalation on sympathetic nerve activity in men.

In nine healthy subjects, cold stimuli were administered to the forehead and hand, to the oral and nasal cavities via ice cubes and to the bronchial system via inhalation of cold air (-25 degrees C). Blood pressure, heart rate and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) from the peroneal nerve were recorded. MSNA expressed as total activity increased during cold air inhalation, cooling of the forehead (P < 0.

Evidence for lower sympathetic nerve activity in young adults with low birth weight.

Objective: A dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system may contribute to the development of hypertension and obesity in subjects with low birth weight (LBW). The present study examines resting sympathetic nerve traffic and its baroreflex modulation to the muscle vascular bed in healthy LBW subjects.

Design: Case-control studies of 13 healthy LBW subjects (< 2500 g at term) aged 20-30 years and 13 normal birth weight subjects (NBW; 3200-3700 g) closely matched for age, gender and body mass index.

Effects of selective angiotensin II receptor blockade on sympathetic nerve activity in primary hypertensive subjects.

Objective: The role of the renin-angiotensin system in the regulation of sympathetic nervous activity in human hypertension was evaluated in patients with moderate primary hypertension. For that purpose, the effects of selective angiotensin II (ANG II) receptor blockade by valsartan on sympathetic outflow to the muscle vascular bed and hemodynamic parameters were examined. Results were compared with the effects of the peripherally acting calcium antagonist amlodipine.