A new technique for simultaneous validation of two manual nonmercury auscultatory sphygmomanometers (A&D UM-101 and Accoson Greenlight 300) based on the International protocol.

Introduction: Auscultatory nonmercury manual devices seem good alternatives for the mercury sphygmomanometers in the clinic and for research settings, but individual internal validation of each device is time-consuming. The aim of this study was to validate a new technique capable of testing two devices simultaneously, based on the International protocol of the European Society of Hypertension.

Methods: The concept of the new technique is to measure blood pressure alternatively by two observers using a mercury sphygmomanometer and by two observers using the A&D UM-101 and Accoson Greenlight 300 devices, connected by Y-tube to obtain simultaneous readings with both nonmercury devices.

Prevalence of microalbuminuria in the general population of Seychelles and strong association with diabetes and hypertension independent of renal markers.

Objective: Few studies have examined microalbuminuria (MAU) in non-western populations. We assessed the prevalence of MAU in the general population of a middle-income country in the African region and relationships between MAU and selected cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods: An examination survey was conducted in a sample representative of the entire population aged 25-64 years in the Seychelles.

Patient adherence and the choice of antihypertensive drugs: focus on lercanidipine.

Despite the development of many effective antihypertensive drugs, target blood pressures are reached in only a minority of patients in clinical practice. Poor adherence to drug therapy and the occurrence of side effects are among the main reasons commonly reported by patients and physicians to explain the poor results of actual antihypertensive therapies. The development of new effective antihypertensive agents with an improved tolerability profile might help to partly overcome these problems.

[Treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in dialysis: Report of a case-study of treatment failure].

In this case report, we describe the story of a 42-year-old woman on haemodialysis who presented a severe secondary hyperparathyroidism and hyperphosphataemia, despite a heavy drug treatment including 90mg cinacalcet, 3600mg calcium carbonate and 2700mg aluminium hydroxide per day. Confronted to an apparent resistance to the calcimimetic, the question was: is this a true drug resistance or a pseudoresistance with, as clinical consequence, either a further increase of the dose of cinacalcet or a parathyroidectomy. To answer this question, we have monitored for two months drug adherence to phosphate binders and cinacalcet using electronic pillboxes called Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS) without modifying the drug prescription.

Preemptive versus Non-preemptive simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation: a single-center, long-term, follow-up study.

Background: Data regarding the timing-before or after initiation of dialysis-of simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPKT) in type 1 diabetes mellitus patients with end-stage renal failure are sparse. We studied the effect of preemptive transplantation on patient survival, cardiovascular endpoints, and graft survival, as compared with non-preemptive transplantation.

Methods: All 180 SPKT recipients (aged 23-58 years) who received a SPKT in Leiden between December 1986 and May 2004 were included in the analysis.