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Query: UMLS:C0020538 (hypertension)
 170,190 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Basing clinical practice decisions on currently available evidence from clinical trials may result in suboptimal care in the real-world practice of medicine. The problem stems from both the quality of data and the means by which the data have been interpreted. In an attempt to remedy the situation, a term based on an assessment of all risk factors and comorbidity has been suggested and made more easily translatable to clinical decision making. This term, the reciprocal of absolute risk reduction, is the number needed to treat (NNT), an idea that has gained wide acceptance. There are, however, risks that the simplicity of the NNT will be misused to guide reimbursement decisions and potentially prevent patients from receiving optimal care. This seemingly objective measure may be seriously flawed if the data on which this measure is based do not necessarily reflect the results that real world doctors achieve in practice. These problems could lead to the misguided allocation of health care resources. It is therefore incumbent upon us to closely evaluate the data on which NNTs are based and, if necessary, to arrive at more accurate NNTs. In our view, such data should be gleaned from effectiveness trials done by real world doctors in real world settings with real world volunteers. Large simple trials, as have already been performed in a number of therapeutic areas, especially for acute management of myocardial infarction and in acquired immune deficiency syndrome, offer the best likelihood of yielding this crucial information. We need to be sure that future trials of chronic conditions such as hypertension are done with this trial paradigm, so that those who pay for care have the accurate knowledge needed to spend their money wisely.
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PMID:Number needed to treat: solid science or a path to pernicious rationing? 971 54

Regional practice-based network research has grown significantly in the past 15 years. Previous studies have reported on characteristics of physicians who participate in network research, but little is known about the specific a priori research interests of practicing physicians. Knowledge of such interests could be useful in planning network research studies. We conducted a mail survey to assess the research interests of primary care physicians in two contiguous research networks at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and at Stanford University. Among 120 respondents from the UCSF Collaborative Research Network and 85 from the Stanford Ambulatory Research Network, the most common topics of interest were disease prevention, communication and compliance, and managed care. Among specific conditions, heart disease, hypertension, and respiratory infection were of interest to the majority of respondents. Topics not of interest to network members were obstetrics, diagnostic procedures, alcoholism, drug abuse, tuberculosis, male genito-urinary problems, occupational hazards, domestic violence, and AIDS and HIV. Identification of network physician research interests can help focus research and recruitment efforts on topics of interest and provide estimates of participation levels for planning studies and preparing funding applications for research networks.
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PMID:Research interests of physicians in two practice-based primary care research networks. 992 31

Cerebral tumor-like American trypanosomiasis (CTLAT) is an uncommon complication of Chagas' disease, observed only in immunosuppressed patients. We assessed 10 human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients with Chagas' disease who presented with CTLAT. All patients had neurological involvement and 6 developed intracranial hypertension. Neuroimaging studies showed supratentorial lesions in 9 patients, being single in 8. One case had infratentorial and supratentorial lesions. Low CD4+ cell counts were observed in all the cases and in 6 of them CTLAT was the first manifestation of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Serological tests for Chagas' disease were positive in 6 of 8 patients. Trypanosoma cruzi was identified in all brain specimens and in three cerebrospinal fluid samples. CTLAT should be considered in the differential diagnosis of intracranial mass lesions in human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients and should be added to the list of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-defining illnesses.
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PMID:Cerebral tumor-like American trypanosomiasis in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. 1007 59

4000 family planning (FP) clinics in the US serve about 5 million women each year most of whom are poor. They provide FP as well as screening services for hypertension, breast and cervical cancer, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), pelvic exams, and urine tests. Even though they are the most important means of health care for these women, the US public knows little about them. The main reason for this disinterest is Americans' ambivalence about sex. The abortion issue has clouded FP. Mass media, policymakers, and politicians do not distinguish between FP and abortion. Yet few FP clinics do abortion. Public FP funds have never been used to do abortions. Many conservatives believe that FP services for teenagers promotes premarital sex, but most teenagers have been sexually active for at least a year before coming to FP clinics. Conservatives think the only way to stem adolescent pregnancy is abstinence, but 75% of all teenagers have had premarital intercourse before the end of their senior year. Some antiabortion groups harass FP providers because of their association with sexuality. The Reagan administration cut so much funding that 20% of FP clinics had to close. Yet demand for their services increased. US contraceptive services' expenditures decreased 66% during the 1980s. The Bush administration forbade FP workers at federally funded clinics from counseling clients about abortion. This restriction allowed the government to define the physician-patient relationship. Some FP clinics may give up federal funding so they can provide patients complete information and services. Some advocates suggest comprehensive reproductive health care centers that integrate FP and pre- and postnatal care while others suggest integrating FP with AIDS prevention, substance abuse, STD services, and maternal and child health care.
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PMID:Bound and gagged: America's family planning network. 1011 82

To better understand disease progression in older persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV infection or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), we studied patients aged 50 years and older hospitalized with a diagnosis of HIV infection or AIDS between January 1985 and October 1995. Data collected included demographics, opportunistic infections, comorbid disease, neurologic dysfunction, and antiretroviral therapy. A total of 86 patients with a mean age of 54.3 years was identified. Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia was the most frequent opportunistic infection (43%). Hypertension was the most common previous medical condition (38%). Other comorbid disease was present in less than 15% of the subjects. Fifty-seven patients (66%) had neurologic impairment, with 30 requiring treatment for delirium. In these 30, 23 (77%) had anemia, infection, or both. The median length of survival following the diagnosis of AIDS was 18.5 months, for HIV it was 48 months. The median survival following the diagnosis of AIDS in patients who received antiretroviral therapy was 22 months compared with 11 months for those who did not receive antiretroviral therapy (p < 0.0004). Multivariable analysis found that antiretroviral therapy was the only independent predictor of survival after the diagnosis of AIDS. In contrast to previous studies, the present findings suggest that older age may not necessarily be associated with more rapid disease progression and reduced survival times in persons with HIV infection or AIDS. In those patients with delirium, many may have readily treatable conditions (anemia and/or infection). The absence of significant comorbid disease and the access to antiretroviral therapy may be in part responsible for the longer survival times obtained in this cohort compared to that reported previously.
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PMID:Is age a negative prognostic indicator in HIV infection or AIDS? 1033 40

Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been linked to the development of glomerular disease. HCV infection is highly prevalent among intravenous drug users, a population that is also at risk for HIV coinfection. This study reports the clinical-pathologic features and outcome of HCV-associated glomerular disease (HCV-GD) in 14 patients with HIV coinfection. All were intravenous drug users and all but one were African-Americans. Renal presentations included renal insufficiency, microscopic hematuria with active urine sediment, hypertension, and nephrotic syndrome or nephrotic-range proteinuria without hypercholesterolemia. Hypocomplementemia and cryoglobulinemia were present in 46 and 33% of patients, respectively. The predominant renal biopsy findings were membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis type 1 or type 3 (Burkholder subtype) in 79% of patients and membranous glomerulopathy with atypical features in 21% (including overlap with collapsing glomerulopathy in one patient). The clinical course was characterized by rapid progression to renal failure requiring dialysis. The overall morbidity and mortality were high with median time of 5.8 mo to dialysis or death. Although most patients died in renal failure, cause of death was primarily attributable to long-term immunosuppression and advanced AIDS. Patients with AIDS had shorter survival than those without (median survival time of 6.1 mo versus 45.9 mo, log-rank test P = 0.02). Only two patients were alive with stable renal function at follow-up of 28.5 mo. In patients with HCV-GD, coinfection with HIV leads to an aggressive form of renal disease that can be easily confused with HIV-associated nephropathy. Although hypocomplementemia, cryoglobulinemia, and more prominent hypertension and microscopic hematuria may provide clues to the presence of HCV-GD, renal biopsy is essential to differentiate HCV-GD from HIV-associated nephropathy.
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PMID:Hepatitis C virus-associated glomerular disease in patients with human immunodeficiency virus coinfection. 1040 13

According to the World Health Organization, 585,000 women die each year from a pregnancy-related cause, 99% of whom are from developing countries. The first International Conference on Safe Motherhood in 1987 sensitized the world community to this drama. Ever since, maternal mortality and its medical causes are better known. The maternal mortality ratio is highest in West Africa (1,020 maternal deaths per 100,000 live borns) when it is 27/100,000 in industrialized countries. Direct obstetric causes account for 80% of the deaths: hemorrhage, infection, dystocia, hypertension and abortion. Indirect causes are essentially anemia, malaria, hepatitis C and AIDS. Severe maternal morbidity is 6 to 10 times more frequent than maternal mortality but it also leads to handicaps which end up often in women's social rejection. However, WHO estimates that 95% of these deaths and handicaps are avoidable, and at a low cost.
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PMID:[Pregnancy and delivery in western Africa. High risk motherhood]. 1050 33

Anatomo-pathological correlation in a case of systemic talc granulomatosis affecting lungs, pleura, liver, spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes resulting in pulmonary arterial hypertension and cor pulmonale is described. The patient, a 26-year-old male HIV-negative intravenous drug addict had no lymphopenia or any histopathologic findings at necroscopy compatible with AIDS, despite of a chronic high-risk behavior favoring this illness.
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PMID:[Systemic talc granulomatosis in a HIV-negative intravenous drug addict]. 1051 62

Human herpes virus-8 (HHV-8)-associated primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) is an unusual lymphoma confined to the body cavities, which primarily affects human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive men at high risk for Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). We describe two HIV-negative elderly Italian men, who developed pleural HHV-8-positive PEL in association with other diseases (systemic hypertension, colonic carcinoma, chronic obstructive airways disease, dilated cardiomyopathy), but without KS. Thoracic computed tomography revealed unilateral pleural effusion and pleural thickening. Thoracentesis disclosed large lymphoma cells, with no T- or B-cell associated antigens, clonal rearrangement of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene and the presence of HHV-8 but not Epstein-Barr virus deoxyribonucleic acid sequences. Our cases differ from most pleural effusion lymphomas, in that they are non-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related. This highlights the possible human herpes virus-8-associated primary effusion lymphoma risk among elderly human immunodeficiency virus-negative patients, particularly Italians, in whom human herpes virus-8 seroprevalence rates and incidence of classic Kaposi's sarcoma are high.
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PMID:Human herpes virus-8 associated primary effusion lymphoma of the pleural cavity in HIV-negative elderly men. 1059 17

We report a case of neurocryptococcosis which is unique in the literature because the patient had a pseudocystic form of the disease during pregnancy and without any evidence of AIDS. The clinical picture was that of intracranial hypertension and the epidemiological background was highly suggestive of cysticercosis. CT showed multiple round hypodense lesions in the basal ganglia and cerebellum, without contrast enhancement. Since a scolex was not visible, the diagnosis of neurocysticercosis was considered probable. CSF examination was not performed in view of its high risk. The patient had progressive downhill course. Autopsy disclosed multiple gelatinous pseudocysts in the cerebral and cerebellar gray matter, containing abundant Cryptococcus neoformans. Meningeal involvement was minimal. The child was delivered by caesarean section and was free of infection, but died later of hyaline membrane disease. The neuroimaging appearances of this rare instance of the pseudocystic form of neurocryptococcosis mimicked closely neurocysticercosis and only postmortem examination allowed correct diagnosis. The pseudocystic form has so far only been reported in AIDS.
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PMID:Pseudocystic form of neurocryptococcosis in pregnancy. Case report. 1066 96


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