[Clinical features and prognosis of terminally ill patients in a geriatric long-term care hospital with particular regard to the implications of artificial nutrition].

Aim: To clarify the clinical features of terminally ill patients in our hospital and elucidate the implications of administering artificial nutrition.

Methods: Between April 2004 and March 2005, we assessed 155 patients who died in Nishimaruyama Hospital--a geriatric long-term care facility in Sapporo. We analyzed their clinical backgrounds on admission, the clinical course up to the terminal stage of the illness, and the outcome of patients who received artificial nutrition.

Interactions of sildenafil with various coronary vasodilators in isolated porcine coronary artery.

There are reports of serious hypotension or circulatory shock when sildenafil citrate, a selective cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, which was developed for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, is given to patients taking certain coronary vasodilators. We thus examined the interaction of sildenafil with various coronary vasodilators including nitric oxide (NO) donors in isolated porcine coronary artery. Sildenafil caused concentration-dependent relaxations of the artery precontracted with U46619 (9,11-dideoxy-9 alpha,11 alpha-methanoepoxy-prostaglandin F(2alpha)).