Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0015672 (fatigue)
 51,768 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Overt congestive heart failure (CHF) has a prevalence of 1% of the population. The predominant symptoms of patients with CHF are fatigue and dyspnoea. Fatigue is thought to result from changes in peripheral muscle metabolism secondary to decrease vasodilative capacity and physical inactivity. An increase of peripheral perfusion by vasodilator therapy and physical activity are therefore recommended. Beside overt decompensation, where dyspnoea results from acute pulmonary congestion due to backward failure, increased physiological dead space ventilation caused by pulmonary ventilation/perfusion mismatch accounts, to a large degree, for dyspnoea, and can be improved by vasodilator therapy. According to the pathophysiology of CHF, normalisation of loading conditions and myocardial inotropy are the parameters addressed by various pharmacological agents in order to alleviate symptoms and slow progression of the disease. Diuretics are rapidly acting and effective agents to improve congestion and decrease filling pressures. Digitalis improves haemodynamics and symptomatology by increasing inotropy and slowing resting heart rate in atrial fibrillation; however, prognostic effects have yet to be proved. The introduction of vasodilators has significantly improved the prognosis of the disease, and the administration of ACE inhibitors in particular has been shown to slow progression of CHF. This results in a substantial decrease in morbidity and mortality. The present article appraises the role of the currently used drugs in the treatment of CHF, considering effects on pathophysiology and clinical outcome and provides an approach to a differential drug regimen.
 ...
PMID:Current guidelines for the treatment of congestive heart failure. 874 Dec 34

Early intervention and attention to nutritional status are essential in patients with cachexia. Identification of reversible causes of decreased energy intake and/or weight loss is the first step in treatment. When such factors cannot be identified, pharmacologic interventions should be considered. To date, megestrol acetate is the most effective appetite stimulant. Appetite and weight gain occur to a greater and more rapid degree as megestrol dose increases. Unfortunately, the weight gain is due predominantly to an increase in fat mass. Whether this is due to a lack of exercise in the face of increased caloric intake and/or to the hypogonadal effects of megestrol acetate is being tested in ongoing clinical trials. Anabolic agents, particularly growth hormone, are exciting potential therapies. No data are yet available on alternate doses and schedules of growth hormone or on its effect in patients with decreased oral intake. Current studies addressing combination therapy with anabolic agents and appetite stimulants should clarify their respective therapeutic roles.
 ...
PMID:Anorexia/cachexia in patients with HIV: lessons for the oncologist. 883 21

Prospective registry of newly diagnosed cases of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in subjects under 20 years began in 1988 in Aquitaine, Lorraine, Basse- and Haute-Normandie (population base = 2,288,018 inhabitants under 20). The registry gave a complete coverage of the population as the capture-recapture method gave a 98% yield. The mean annual incidence was 7.6/100,000 for the period 1988-1990. A specific survey aimed at describing clinical and biological presentation at diagnosis. The main symptom was polyuria in 98% of the cases, fatigue in 58% and weight loss in 44%. Abdominal pain was reported in 34% of the cases. Diagnosis was ascertained by measurement of plasma glucose, which was > or = 11 mmol/l in 95% of the cases and associated with ketonuria in 84% of the children. Coma in 13% of the children and acidosis (total CO2 < or = 18 mmol/l) in 48% showed the severity at diagnosis. Ketonuria and acidosis were significantly more frequent in the younger age group (0-4 yr). Diagnosis was made by a general practitioner in the majority of the cases; conversely insulinotherapy was initiated at the hospital in 95% of the cases. Initial insulin treatment was 2 daily injections. Following the French experience the collaborative network EURODIAB ACE has undertaken the same survey among the European Registries. Important geographical variations in incidence rates of IDDM in children has been reported across Europe but it is not known whether this interferes with presentation at diagnosis of the disease.
 ...
PMID:[Diagnosis of insulin-dependent diabetes in children: data from the incidence registry]. 893 70

Chronic heart failure is a well-recognized syndrome in which left ventricular impairment produces a constellation of secondary changes in other organ symptoms leading to symptoms such as muscular fatigue and dyspnoea and objective limitation to exercise tolerance. With modern drug therapy of diuretics and ACE inhibitors, the majority of patients have minimal if any signs of congestion, and yet severe symptomatic limitation remains. This limitation bears little relationship to conventional measures of either left ventricular function or the haemodynamic profile of the patient. The symptoms limiting exercise are predominantly fatigue or dyspnoea, and yet the classical pathophysiological explanations for their genesis now seem inadequate. Recent investigations, as demonstrated, in part, by the research presented in this symposium, attest to the importance of abnormalities in peripheral blood flow and in skeletal muscle in producing both objective limitation to exercise and in explaining the generation of the exercise-limiting symptoms of the syndrome of stable optimally treated chronic heart failure. In addition it is now evident that these muscle changes may in addition have pathophysiological significance for the maintenance of sympatho-excitation during exercise and potentially therefore in the progression of left ventricular remodelling and in the susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmias. This paper presents some of the background evidence which leads to the hypothesis that a feedback loop links changes in skeletal muscle to abnormal reflex cardiopulmonary control which may both limit exercise and be harmful in the progression of the syndrome.
 ...
PMID:The "muscle hypothesis" of chronic heart failure. 893 79

The aim of this study was to describe the clinical presentation and severity of the disease at onset in childhood during 1994. Based on the prospective national incidence registry, data were collected (using a modified version of the EURODIAB ACE questionnaire) from all diabetic children diagnosed during a full calendar year (1994). The ascertainment was 91%. Polyuria, polydipsia and weight loss were the most frequent clinical symptoms, but fatigue, abdominal pain and personality changes were also often reported. Almost one quarter of the children presented with diabetic ketoacidosis. There was no correlation between age, duration of symptoms, blood glucose levels and the severity of disease. The unacceptably high incidence of presentation ketoacidosis called for an urgent improvement of the diagnostic acumen of the physicians dealing with children.
 ...
PMID:[Clinical diagnosis of childhood insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Hungarian Epidemiological Group for Childhood Diabetes]. 902 72

Weight gain is a well-known side-effect of megestrol acetate (MA) treatment. This effect has been studied systematically in cancer and AIDS patients with involuntary weight loss, anorexia or manifest cachexia, situations in which weight gain is desirable. Significant, positive effects on weight gain and on certain quality of life aspects, such as appetite, nausea, body image and mood have been reported for cancer patients treated with 160 mg to 1.600 mg daily and similar effects have been registered in AIDS patients if doses of about 400-800 mg are used. Maximal weight gain is normally achieved within 8 weeks. The weight gain is, unfortunately, mainly due to an increase in fat mass and partly due to edema and, therefore, no significant effects are reported as regards the Karnovsky index. If anorexia, nausea and a negative body image are major concerns and if the patient has a life expectancy of more than 3 months, MA is a reasonable treatment option. However, if the central problem is fatigue and a low Karnovsky index, especially in a patient with a short expected survival, MA, which is not inexpensive, is not likely to be of significant help.
 ...
PMID:The effect of megestrol acetate on anorexia, weight loss and cachexia in cancer and AIDS patients (review). 906 97

The cancer cachexia syndrome is clinically characterized by anorexia, wasting, weight loss, weakness, fatigue, poor performance status, and impaired immune function, which are unresolved by forced caloric intake. Diminished nutritional intake, maladaptive metabolic processes, and increased metabolic expenditure all play roles in the development of this syndrome. Multiple mediators of both tumor and host cell origin are mechanistic in its etiology. Treatment is not entirely satisfactory and should be directed toward improvement in the quality of life of the patient and should often include nutritional counseling. It should take into consideration both disease and treatment related factors as well as the cachexia syndrome itself. Use of progestogens (megesterol acetate, medroxyprogesterone), corticosteroids (decadron, prednisone), metoclopramide, tetrahydrocannabinol (dronabinol), and possibly anabolic steroids (nandrolone decanoate, oxandrolone), melatonin, and eicosapentaenoic acid, may yield therapeutic benefit.
 ...
PMID:The cancer cachexia syndrome. 920 84

Valsartan competitively and selectively inhibits the actions of angiotensin II at the AT1 receptor subtype which is responsible for most of the known effects of angiotensin II. In clinical trials in patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension valsartan was as effective as losartan, lisinopril, enalapril, amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide. Addition of the latter reduced blood pressure in patients who did not respond sufficiently to valsartan monotherapy. Preliminary data also suggest valsartan may be effective in patients with severe essential hypertension. The drug was as effective as lisinopril as treatment for mild to moderate essential hypertension in patients with renal insufficiency and did not worsen renal function. Headache, dizziness and fatigue were the most common adverse events in placebo-controlled studies; the incidence of these adverse events was not significantly different between placebo and valsartan recipients. Compared with ACE inhibitors, valsartan was associated with a significantly lower incidence of dry cough. Thus, valsartan is an effective treatment for mild to moderate essential hypertension and may be particularly useful in patients who experience persistent cough during ACE inhibitor therapy.
 ...
PMID:Valsartan. A review of its pharmacology and therapeutic use in essential hypertension. 925 84

The mechanical activity of the human quadriceps muscle during maximal incremental cycle ergometry was investigated by mechanomyography (MMG). MMG and surface electromyography (EMG) recordings of vastus lateralis muscle activity were obtained from nine males. Cycle ergometry was performed at 60 rev/ min and work load was incremented step wise by 20 W (3.2 Nm) every minute until volitional fatigue. The mean amplitudes of MMG (mMMG) and EMG (mEMG) during the contraction phase were calculated from the last six contractions in each load. The duration, load and work rate of exercise at exhaustion were 13.3 (1.6) min, 44.1 (5.5) Nm, 276.7 (34.7) W, respectively. A linear relationship between mMMG and load was evident in each subject (r = 0.868-0.995), while mEMG seemed to dissociate as the load became greater. In the grouped mean data, mMMG was linearly related to load whether aligned to the absolute (r = 0.995) or maximal (r = 0.995) load. Involvement of the noise component was further investigated by studying passive cycling by four subjects. Pedals were rotated passively for the first half of each stage (PAS) and the subject then pushed the pedals for the second half (ACT). In the lighter load region, the mMMG of ACT was as small as that of PAS. However, the change in the mMMG of PAS was very small compared with that of ACT. In conclusion, this study demonstrates a linear relationship between the mMMG of the quadriceps muscle and work load during maximal incremental cycle ergometry. The effect of movement noise was thought to be small and stable.
 ...
PMID:Mechanomyography of the human quadriceps muscle during incremental cycle ergometry. 934 45

Interferon-alpha has been used to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma, and megestrol acetate has been shown to improve the quality of life of patients who have cancer. We combined interferon alpha-2b, 10 million IU/m2 subcutaneously 5 consecutive days per week, with megestrol acetate, 80 mg orally twice a day, in 15 patients who had advanced renal cell carcinoma. Only 6 (40%) had a prior nephrectomy, and most had disease in the lung and other sites. There were no complete or partial responders to this treatment, although stable disease was achieved in 5 (33%) patients. The treatment was excessively toxic, with 12 (86%) patients requiring dose modification or discontinuation of treatment due to fatigue. We conclude that interferon alpha-2b and megestrol acetate is an excessively toxic, inactive regimen, at least in a group of patients who have advanced disease with a poor prognosis.
 ...
PMID:Interferon alpha-2b and megestrol acetate in the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma: a phase II study. 953 14


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>