Relationship between pulse transit time and blood pressure is impaired in patients with chronic heart failure.

Aims: Pulse transit time (PTT), the interval between ventricular electrical activity and arrival of the peripheral pulse wave, has been used to detect changes in autonomic tone during sleep and anesthesia. The purpose of this study was to evaluate PTT in patients with chronic heart failure (HF).

Methods And Results: Pulse transit time was measured with R-wave gated photoplethysmography in 24 healthy volunteers and in 112 patients with chronic HF and ejection fraction (EF) <40%.

[Telemedicine assisted diet and diagnosis management in food hypersensitivity].

Several studies have shown that the current prevalence of food allergy in Western Europe is about 4% and will further increase. Because of missing therapeutic alternatives, food allergy patients are required to identify individual allergens in the daily food by carefully reading the product's ingredient lists. Experiences with other chronic diseases show that a combination of telemedicine and Disease Management (DM) could have a positive impact on medical outcome and health related costs.