[Hearing aid efficacy according to the data from the Tula regional Deaf and Dumb Centre].

Auditory inefficiency creates a serious social problem due to the ever increasing number of people with this pathology. The use of hearing aids constitutes the basis of rehabilitative measures for these patients. The authors present results of the analysis of hearing aid efficacy among adult subjects residing in the Tula region carried out in the framework of the relevant Federal program during the last 3 years.

[Correlation between the parameters of 24-hour monitoring of arterial pressure and changes in arterial wall structure based on the results of a prospective trial].

Aim: To evaluate prognostic value of 24-h monitoring of blood pressure (BPM-24) for assessment of structural changes in arterial walls in patients with essential hypertension living in West Siberia.

Material And Methods: In the course of 5-year prospective study we made two extended clinical and device examinations with use of BPM-24 and ultrasonic measurements of arterial intima-media complex (IMC) in 160 patients (mean age 48.97+/-8.

[Recognition of actual periods of nocturnal rest from 24-hour heart rate profile].

Unlabelled: Inability to delineate exactly periods of nocturnal sleep and diurnal wakefulness during 24-hour blood pressure (BP) monitoring causes reporting of erroneous BP values for these periods. We suggested a simple mathematical algorithm for detection of periods of nocturnal rest determined as period of low values of cardiac rhythm using data of BP monitoring itself.

Aim: To compare novel method of recognition of periods of sleep with 2 standard techniques: use of fixed time interval between 23 and 7 hours (1), or period of sleep according to patient's diaries (2).

[Relationship between changes of endothelial vasodilator function, vascular and cardiac structure and derangements of blood pressure 24-hour profile].

Aim: To assess relationship between 24-hour blood pressure (BP) rhythm and structural and functional state of the heart and blood vessels.

Material And Methods: Echocardiography, sonography of carotid artery intima-media, and assessment of endothelium dependent (flow mediated) and endothelium independent (nitroglycerine) brachial artery vasodilatation were used in the study of 83 patients with stage I-II essential hypertension (mean age 49.2+/-6.

[A decrease in left ventricular hypertrophy and the dynamics of the parameters of circadian BP monitoring under the influence of ramipril in patients with essential arterial hypertension].

To evaluate factors of action of ramipril, an inhibitor of angiotensin-converting enzyme, which may induce a decrease in left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), 45 LVH patients aged 21-53 years with mild and moderate essential hypertension have underwent echo-CG determination of left ventricular mass and 24-h monitoring of arterial pressure (AP). Multiple regression was used to examine prognostic significance of such parameters as age, sex, height, weight, duration of the disease, mean 24-h AP, its variability and the degree of nocturnal fall. It was found that ramipril reduced LVH irrespective of the hypotensive effect.