A Qualitative Analysis of the Optimal Discharge Summary: Effective Communication of Medication Changes for Older Patients.

The importance of the discharge summary (DS) is well recognized. The format to be used is also important, but this aspect has not yet been studied in the literature. The purpose of this work was to establish a DS format for older patients that ensures effective communication with general practitioners (GPs).

[Left ventricular accumulation of messenger ribonucleic acid coding for the natriuretic atrial factor in various experimental models of cardiac hypertrophy in rats].

Cardiac hypertrophy secondary to chronic hemodynamic overload is associated with an increase in the ventricular concentration of the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) coding for the atrial natriuretic factor (ANF). We have compared, in male Wistar rats (10 week old, 200-220 g), using dot blot hybridization and a specific oligonucleotide probe, the left ventricular concentration of ANF mRNA (LV ANF mRNA) in 4 models of chronic hemodynamic overload inducing various patterns of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH): a model of volume overload, the aortocaval fistula (ACF, n = 15); a model of pressure overload, coarctation of the abdominal aorta (CoA, n = 13) and 2 models of mixed overload, aortic regurgitation (AR, n = 7) and myocardial infarction (INF, n = 18). A month after surgery, LVH was 49 p.

Effect of amiodarone on myosin isoenzymic distribution in rat ventricular myocardium.

Rats were given amiodarone (50 mg X kg-1 X day-1, orally) for 4 weeks and the distribution of ventricular isomyosins, a sensitive index of the effects of thyroid hormones on cardiac tissue, was analyzed. Amiodarone treatment induced a marked increase in both T4 and rT3 and tended to decrease T3 serum levels. At the pharmacologically active dosage we used, the drug induced a moderate redistribution of ventricular isomyosins in favour of V, at the expense of V1.

Messenger RNA content and complexity in normal and overloaded rat heart.

Cardiac overload was studied in rats by abdominal aortic constriction, which increased the left ventricular weight by 59% after 12 days. During the transition, which precedes the compensatory hypertrophy, both total RNA and poly(A)-containing messenger RNA increased. The concentration of these polynucleotides peaked by day 4 after constriction, rising from 1.

Alpha-myosin heavy chain isoform and atrial size in patients with various types of mitral valve dysfunction: a quantitative study.

The cardiac myosin phenotype, an important determinant of myocardial contractility, is modified by chronic increases in hemodynamic load. To quantify the proportion of atrial alpha-myosin heavy chain in various types of left atrial overload and to assess the possible relation between this proportion and atrial size, 34 patients were studied, 4 with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, 29 with various types of mitral valve dysfunction and 1 with an atrial septal defect. Four normal autopsy hearts were also studied.