Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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 23,843 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

An autopsy case of meningeal spreading of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) probably originating in the cervical cord was reported. In contrast to autopsy findings, main symptoms were similar to subacute meningitis, and any signs of myelopathy could not be detected during the clinical course. The patient was a 22-year-old man who was hospitalized because of a 2-week history of progressive headache following cough and slight fever. Vomiting and somnolence, developing 5 days before admission, were improved the day after a lumbar puncture performed at another hospital. On admission, meningeal signs, mild right abducens palsy, and depressed deep tendon reflexes were detected. There was no muscle weakness, sensory loss, or Babinski sign. Lumbar puncture yielded CSF with an opening pressure of 280 mmH2O, 21 mononuclear cells/mm3, a protein level of 645 mg/dl, and a glucose level of 7 mg/dl. Cytology for malignancy and multiple cultures were negative. Brain CT scan showed mild hydrocephalus and swelling of the brainstem and cerebellum. Intravenous administration of antimicrobial drugs was started and ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery was performed. During the third hospital week, however, meningeal signs progressed and somnolence reappeared, followed by progressive multiple cranial neuropathy and polyradiculopathy characterized by flaccid tetraparesis, muscle atrophy, and sensory impairment without a level. Babinski sign could not be detected. MRI revealed an intramedullary lesion in the lower cervical cord, swelling of the brainstem, cerebellum, spinal cord and nerve roots, and a diffuse or nodular thickning of leptomeninges. Repeated CSF cytology disclosed atypical cells. Examinations for extraneural malignancies were negative. During the 9th hospital week, flaccid tetraplegia progressed and stupor developed, and the patient died 2 weeks later. The pathological study was limited to the brain. The brain showed a diffuse opalescent thickening of the leptomeninges, especially over the ventral aspect of the brainstem and cerebellum, where the blood vesseles and cranial nerves were obscured. Histological examination revealed the appearance of GBM. The malignant cells filled the subarachnoid space, and to a variable extent penetrated the brainstem and cerebellum along perivascular spaces. Hypertrophied optic tracts and trigeminal nerves were also infiltrated by the cells. However, there were no mass lesions assumed to be primary ones anywhere in the cerebral parenchyma. Therefore, it was thought that GBM primarily growing in cervical cord metastasized to intracranial subarachnoid space by way of the cerebrospinal fluid pathway. Spinal cord GBM usually presents signs of myelopathy from the early stage. The present case was characterized by no signs of myelopathy during the clinical course. It is speculated that the intramedullary GBM, originating near the surface of cervical cord, had been rapidly disseminated into the subarachnoid space up to the intracranial cavity before myelopathy appeared, and caused cranial and spinal nerve roots dysfunction, which covered signs of myelopathy. Cord GBM should be always considered as a differential diagnesis in a case of subacute meningitis.
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PMID:[Meningeal seeding of spinal cord glioblastoma multiforme without any signs of myelopathy]. 872 Mar 35

The clinical efficacy and tolerability of losartan were studied in clinical trials in Japanese patients with essential hypertension. In a short-term trial, losartan (25 to 100 mg once daily) provided good control of blood pressure for 24 h without affecting the patient's own diurnal blood pressure profile. In a double-blind study, the efficacy and tolerability of losartan (25 to 50 mg once daily) were compared to enalapril (5 to 10 mg) in Japanese patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension. Losartan, 25 to 50 mg given once daily, produced an antihypertensive effect comparable to enalapril, 5 to 10 mg, in these patients. The incidence of adverse reactions in the losartan group was 9.0% (13/144), which was lower than that observed in the enalapril group, 20.3% (29/143). The incidence of cough in the losartan group (0.7%) was lower than that of the enalapril group (13.3%). No discontinuation due to cough was observed in the losartan group: however, seven patients were discontinued from the enalapril group. Losartan exhibited antihypertensive efficacy comparable to enalapril and a tolerability profile superior to enalapril in this study. The efficacy and tolerability of losartan were also investigated in 29 hypertensive patients with renal impairment. When losartan (25 to 100 mg) once daily was used, blood pressure was controlled in 62.1% (18/29) of patients. The rate of cases assessed as "useful" was 58.3% when the pretreatment serum creatinine level was less than 3.0 mg/dL. No cases, however, were assessed as "useful" in patients in which the level was 3.0 mg/dL or higher. In a trial with hypertensive diabetic patients, losartan did not adversely affect glucose tolerance and lipid metabolism. Losartan was associated with a decreased total cholesterol (p < 0.01) and LDL cholesterol (p < 0.01) without significantly changing HDL cholesterol in patients with total serum cholesterol of > 220 mg/dL. In summary, losartan, the first angiotensin II antagonist, is an effective antihypertensive agent with an excellent tolerability profile.
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PMID:The clinical efficacy and tolerability of the angiotensin II-receptor antagonist losartan in Japanese patients with hypertension. 891 45

For the treatment of hypertension, the combination of an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and a thiazide diuretic is supported by multiple lines of evidence, because these drugs have synergistic action and are expected to cancel out each other's adverse side effects. However, the long-term outcome of this combination antihypertensive therapy is not entirely clear. In the present multicenter open trial, we investigated the long-term efficacy and safety of combined antihypertensive therapy with an ACE inhibitor, lisinopril, and a thiazide diuretic, trichlormethiazide. A total of 466 patients with essential hypertension were treated with lisinopril alone (monotherapy group, n = 360) or with a combination of lisinopril with trichlormethiazide (combination therapy group, n = 106) for 1 year. The average blood pressure was effectively lowered to below 150/90 mmHg in both the monotherapy and the combination therapy groups throughout the study period. The average maintenance dose of lisinopril was lower when combined with thiazide than when given alone (9.8 vs. 11.5 mg/day, p < 0.001). Dry cough was the major side effect of lisinopril; no severe adverse effects were observed. The incidence of cough was not significantly different between the monotherapy group (13.1%) and the combination therapy group (11.3%). The increase in serum potassium observed in the monotherapy group was reversed by the concurrent use of the thiazide diuretic in the combination therapy group. Fasting blood glucose was significantly reduced in the monotherapy group; the reduction observed in the combination therapy group was not significant. Thus, the present results provide useful information as to the effectiveness and safety of combined antihypertensive therapy with lisinopril and a thiazide in comparison with monotherapy with lisinopril.
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PMID:Long-term evaluation of combined antihypertensive therapy with lisinopril and a thiazide diuretic in patients with essential hypertension. 948 36

In order to verify whether pregnancy induces or worsens diabetic retinopathy or somatic and autonomic neuropathy, 16 insulin-dependent diabetic (IDDM) pregnant women, 14 age-matched nondiabetic pregnant women, and 12 IDDM nonpregnant women matched for age and disease duration were studied. Plasma glucose, HbA1c, and fructosamine were repeatedly assayed during pregnancy. Retinopathic and neuropathic endpoints were evaluated through ophthalmoscopy, electrophysiology of left peroneal and sural nerves (motor and sensory conduction velocities), and cardiovascular autonomic tests (deep breathing, cough test, lying-to-standing). In the IDDM pregnant women, evaluations were performed three times during pregnancy and 6 months after delivery. Good metabolic control was achieved during pregnancy. At baseline, nine IDDM pregnant women did not show signs of retinopathy, and seven had nonproliferative retinopathy. Only one patient showed worsening during pregnancy, but she improved after delivery. Motor conduction velocity, significantly lower in IDDM pregnant women, progressively improved, and, in the third trimester, was not significantly different from that of nondiabetic pregnant women. At baseline, none of the IDDM pregnant women had abnormal responses to cardiovascular autonomic tests. During pregnancy, the response to deep breathing appeared temporarily reduced in all pregnant women, possibly due to lowered ventilatory excursion at the end of pregnancy. In IDDM women with minimal or no retinopathy, and subclinical or no peripheral neuropathy, pregnancy does not appear to induce or worsen these complications.
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PMID:Pregnancy does not induce or worsen retinal and peripheral nerve dysfunction in insulin-dependent diabetic women. 955 84

Malignancy is one of the most common causes of exudative effusions and increases in incidence in the elderly. Lung cancer is the most common cause of malignant effusion caused by contiguous spread and its propensity to invade the pulmonary vasculature and embolize to the visceral pleura. Lung, breast, ovary, and gastric cancer and lymphomas account for about 80% of all malignant effusions. Dyspnea and cough are the most common symptoms at presentation. Thirty percent of patients have a low pleural fluid pH (> or = 7.30) and glucose (> 60 mg/dL) at presentation, which predicts a decreased survival, an increase yield on diagnostic studies, and a poor response to chemical pleurodesis. Talc by poudrage or slurry is the most successful pleurodesis agent. Pleural peritoneal shunt is an option for patients with an intractable, symptomatic malignant effusion who cannot undergo or who have failed pleurodesis.
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PMID:Malignancy metastatic to the pleura. 964 86

A fifty-year-old Portuguese man presented with a six-month history of low back pain, which initially was mechanical and slowly became inflammatory. Secondarily, he complained of right atypical sciatalgia. He did not report any fever, loss of weight, cough nor personal or familial history of tuberculosis. General examination was normal. Neurologic examination showed weakness of the extensors of the right leg, with a symmetric increased reflexes of the lower extremities suggesting a pyramidal syndrome without Babinski's sign. Laboratory data were normal as well as chest radiographs. Dorsolumbar gadolinium enhanced MRI revealed an intramedullary ringlike enhancing mass at T12 level. Lumbar puncture showed 11 WBC/mm3 (95 p. 100 lymphocytes), a normal protein and glucose content. PCR and culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis were negative. Within a few days, he developed meningoencephalitis with fever, CSF examination revealed then 360 WBC/mm3 (65 p. 100 lymphocytes and 17 p. 100 neutrophils), a protein content of 7 g/l and a glucose level of 1.7 mmol/l. The clinical picture was then suggestive of tuberculosis and a specific therapy with rifampin, izoniazid, pyrazinamid, ethambutol and steroids was started. Clinical improvement and a second CSF culture that revealed one month later Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex confirmed this diagnosis. Ten months later, the patient was asymptomatic with a normal MRI. To our knowledge, this is the first total recovery of an intramedullary tuberculoma on medical therapy alone, confirmed by MRI normalization. We reviewed also 19 recent cases of tuberculomas in the literature, intending a therapeutic attitude when discovering an intramedullary ringlike enhancing mass on MRI.
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PMID:[Intramedullary tuberculoma: a case report]. 977 87

The present study investigated the effect of the new ACE-inhibitor moexipril versus the beta 1-adrenergic blocker atenolol on metabolic parameters, adverse events (AEs) and sitting systolic (SSBP) and sitting diastolic blood pressure (SDBP) in obese postmenopausal women with hypertension (stage I and II). After a 4-week placebo run-in phase, 116 obese, postmenopausal women with primary hypertension were randomised into two treatment groups receiving once daily dosages of either moexipril 7.5 mg or atenolol 25 mg initially (mean age: 57 +/- 7 years in both groups; mean weight: 94 kg in the moexipril group and 89 kg in the atenolol group, corresponding to a body mass index (BMI) of 35.2 kg/m2 and 34.1 kg/m2 in both groups, respectively). After 4 and 8 weeks, the dosages were uptitrated to moexipril 15 mg, or if necessary to moexipril 15 mg/hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 25 mg, or to atenolol 50 mg and atenolol 50 mg/HCTZ 25 mg, in patients whose blood pressure was not sufficiently controlled. At endpoint, metabolic parameters (total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, HDL, glucose, insulin) were not significantly altered in either treatment group. Most frequent adverse events under monotherapy (moexipril/atenolol) were asthenia (5.3/13.0%), headache (13.2/21.7%), cough (7.9/6.5%), pharyngitis (21.1/8.7%) and peripheral oedema (5.3/13.0%). Overall at least one AE was reported in 66% of the patients treated with moexipril and in 78% of those treated with atenolol. Reduction of SSBP/SDBP at endpoint was 14.7 +/- 1.9/10.0 +/- 1.1 and 8.7 +/- 1.9/8.4 +/- 1.1 mmHg after treatment with moexipril and atenolol, respectively. The results showed that moexipril and atenolol are equally effective in reducing blood pressure without adversely affecting blood lipids and carbohydrate metabolism.
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PMID:Comparison between moexipril and atenolol in obese postmenopausal women with hypertension. 981 86

Tolerability and not efficacy is the limiting factor for long-term successful antihypertensive treatment. Since the discontinuation rate of first line antihypertensives may be as high as 50-60% over six months, it is important to develop new agents with an improved efficacy/tolerability ratio. Candesartan cilexetil is particularly promising in this respect. Candesartan is a potent and selective angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor blocker that binds selectively and tightly (insumontable binding) to the receptor. Candesartan is not associated with any increased risk of cough or angiodema. It is an orally effective vasodilator that does not cause reflex tachycardia or first dose hypotension or orthostatic hypotension. In the dose range from 4-16 mg, once daily candesartan cilexetil is not associated with any dose-dependent adverse events and it is equally well tolerated in men and women and by older (> 65 years) and younger (< 65 years) patients. Furthermore, the drug has no adverse effect on glucose homeostasis or plasma lipid profile. In a double-blind comparison with losartan 50 mg od, candesartan cilexetil 16 mg once daily was significantly more effective in lowering the diastolic blood pressure at the end of the 24 h dose interval but was equally well tolerated. In meta-analyses of clinical trials, candesartan cilexetil showed a tolerability profile comparable to that of placebo therapy.
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PMID:Tolerability of a modern antihypertensive agent: candesartan cilexetil. 983 64

Co-administration of antihypertensive drug therapy and hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) is frequent in postmenopausal women but it is not known whether HRT interacts with concomitant antihypertensive therapy. The present study was designed to investigate efficacy and safety of the ACE inhibitor moexipril in comparison to placebo in hypertensive, postmenopausal women on HRT. After a 4-week placebo run-in phase, 95 postmenopausal women (35-74 years of age) who had a sitting diastolic blood pressure (BP) of 95-114 mm Hg and were treated with HRT were randomised to a 12-week treatment with moexipril 15 mg or placebo. Efficacy and safety were assessed by measuring changes in sitting BP and metabolic parameters associated with cardiovascular disease including triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, total cholesterol/HDL ratio and glucose. Adverse events were recorded continuously. After 12 weeks of treatment, moexipril 15 mg was significantly more effective in reducing sitting systolic and diastolic BP from baseline than placebo (-12.2/-9.9 mm Hg vs -1.6/-4.3 mm Hg, P < 0.001). Metabolic parameters were not affected by treatment with moexipril: mean levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, total cholesterol/HDL ratio and glucose remained unchanged throughout the study. Fibrinogen, an independent cardiovascular risk factor, increased after placebo (+35.0 mg/dl) and decreased after treatment with moexipril (-33.6 mg/dl), the difference, however, was not statistically significant. Moexipril was well-tolerated by postmenopausal women using HRT. The most frequent adverse events included headache (21.3%), cough (12.8%) and rhinitis (10.6%) and there were no significant differences in the number and severity of adverse events between the moexipril and placebo groups. This study indicates that moexipril is effective and well tolerated in the treatment of hypertensive, postmenopausal women and can safely be co-administered to HRT.
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PMID:Co-administration of an ACE-inhibitor (moexipril) and hormonal replacement therapy in postmenopausal women. 1037 52

Vanadium is a steel-grey, corrosion-resistant metal, which exists in oxidation states ranging from -1 to +5. Metallic vanadium does not occur in nature, and the most common valence states are +3, +4, and +5. The pentavalent form (VO3-) predominates in extracellular body fluids whereas the quadrivalent form (VO+2) is the most common intracellular form. Because of its hardness and its ability to form alloys, vanadium (i.e., ferrovanadium) is a common component of hard steel alloys used in machines and tools. Although most foods contain low concentrations of vanadium (< 1 ng/g), food is the major source of exposure to vanadium for the general population. High air concentrations of vanadium occur in the occupation setting during boiler-cleaning operations as a result of the presence of vanadium oxides in the dust. The lungs absorb soluble vanadium compounds (V2O5) well, but the absorption of vanadium salts from the gastrointestinal tract is poor. The excretion of vanadium by the kidneys is rapid with a biological half-life of 20-40 hours in the urine. Vanadium is probably an essential trace element, but a vanadium-deficiency disease has not been identified in humans. The estimated daily intake of the US population ranges from 10-60 micrograms V. Vanadyl sulfate is a common supplement used to enhance weight training in athletes at doses up to 60 mg/d. In vitro and animal studies indicate that vanadate and other vanadium compounds increase glucose transport activity and improve glucose metabolism. In general, the toxicity of vanadium compounds is low. Pentavalent compounds are the most toxic and the toxicity of vanadium compounds usually increases as the valence increases. Most of the toxic effects of vanadium compounds result from local irritation of the eyes and upper respiratory tract rather than systemic toxicity. The only clearly documented effect of exposure to vanadium dust is upper respiratory tract irritation characterized by rhinitis, wheezing, nasal hemorrhage, conjunctivitis, cough, sore throat, and chest pain. Case studies have described the onset of asthma after heavy exposure to vanadium compounds, but clinical studies to date have not detected an increased prevalence of asthma in workers exposed to vanadium.
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PMID:Vanadium. 1038 61


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