The Development of Alginate/Ag NPs/Caffeic Acid Composite Membranes as Adsorbents for Water Purification.

Since the water pollution problem still affects the environmental system and human health, the need to develop innovative membranes has become imperious. Lately, researchers have focused on developing novel materials to help diminish the contamination problem. The aim of present research was to obtain innovative adsorbent composite membranes based on a biodegradable polymer, alginate, to remove toxic pollutants.

HLA class II distribution in Congolese with hyperthyroidism: preliminary results.

Objective: Incidence of the hyperthyroidism is continuously increasing, whereas our knowledge concerning the facilitating or etiologic factors of this increase are still partial. To evaluate some of these unknown factors, we started this preliminary study, in order to identify HLA genes in hyperthyroid Congolese, and to determine their susceptibilty in the appearance and development of hyperthyroidism at the Hospital Clinic of Kinshasa.

Materials And Methods: Nine Congolese women with hyperthyroidism, and thirteen healthy controls (3 women and 10 men) were examined and compared for HLA-DR and HLA-DQ genes analyses, from August 2000 to August 2002.

Calcium entry blockade or beta-blockade in long-term management of hypertension in blacks.

The long-term efficacy of nitrendipine and acebutolol was assessed during a 40-week double-blind randomized trial in 60 hypertensive blacks. Nitrendipine (mean dose 32 mg/day) and acebutolol (414 mg/day) were administered in monotherapy in increasing dosage and mefruside was added in patients not controlled by monotherapy. The recumbent and standing blood pressures were reduced (P less than 0.

Epidemiological study of blood pressure and hypertension in a sample of urban Bantu of Zaïre.

Blood pressure and anthropometric characteristics were studied in a 10% random sample (n = 675) of Bantu, aged greater than or equal to 10 years and living in an urban quarter of Kinshasa, Zaïre. The prevalence and awareness of hypertension as well as the therapeutic situation in adult participants aged greater than or equal to 20 years were also evaluated. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure tended to be higher in males than in females.

Relative potency of a beta-blocking and a calcium entry blocking agent as antihypertensive drugs in black patients.

The short-term efficacy of nitrendipine (N) as a first stage antihypertensive drug in black patients has been assessed and compared with acebutolol (A) in a double-blind study. Forty patients were randomized and after a 4 week run-in period on placebo, the active treatment was administered for 6 weeks starting with 20 mg N or 200 mg A once daily. The dose was increased up to 60 mg N or 600 mg A as needed.