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

Ewing's five standard cardiovascular reflex tests were used for the assessment of autonomic function. Changes in heart rate during deep inspiration and expiration, Valsalva manoeuvre or standing up evaluate parasympathetic innervation, whereas blood pressure fluctuations during standing up and handgrip evaluate sympathetic innervation. According to physiological principles we must remind that each test is useful predominantly but not exclusively to reveal the impairment of parasympathetic or sympathetic innervation. A total of 271 patients (247 with diabetes mellitus) were estimated for the diagnosis of autonomic neuropathy. Computed time domain analysis of the heart rate variability reveals 21% of the patients with autonomic neuropathy, but this method doesn't rich the performance of spectral analysis witch is x3 times greater. The deep inspiration and expiration remains the preferable test according to its sensibility, specificity and predictive value. I found that handgrip test has, beside the known limitations (arterial hypertension, heart failure, valvular disease, emphysema, advanced diabetic retinopathy, drugs like digitalis, beta-receptor blockers, antihypertensives, sedatives, etc.) one more linked by the hand muscular force. Orthostatic hypertension has too many false results so the interpretation must be done with much precaution.
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PMID:[The cardiovascular reflex tests in autonomic cardiac neuropathy diagnosis]. 1497 22

Lung transplantation is indicated for patients with cystic fibrosis, emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis or pulmonary hypertension whose life expectancy is less than two years. Criteria of severity are detailed. Three types of transplantation can be proposed: single lung transplant for fibrosis and dry emphysema; bilateral lung transplant for cystic fibrosis, and certain types of emphysema and pulmonary hypertension; heart-lung transplant for pulmonary hypertension and Eisenmenger syndrome. Due to insufficient supply of donor organs, one quarter of the candidates die on the waiting list and the limit for inscription is often 60 years. Postoperative mortality at two months is about 15% and is related to graft dysfunction, infection, bronchial complications,... Acute rejection usually occurs during the first year. Chronic rejection is expressed by obliterating bronchiolitis, the leading cause of death after one year. There is a risk of cancer (EBV-induced lymphoproliferative syndromes and skin cancer). Five-year survival is still only about 50%. Immunosuppressor treatments still cause numerous adverse effects (hypertension, renal toxicity...); function and quality-of-life have however greatly improved.
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PMID:[Lung transplantation]. 1513 44

Quality of life is an important indicator in assessing the burden of disease, especially for chronic conditions. The Health Utilities Index (HUI) is a recently developed system for measuring the overall health status and health-related quality of life (HRQL) of individuals, clinical groups, and general populations. Using the HUI (constructed based on eight attributes: vision, hearing, speech, mobility, dexterity, cognition, emotion, and pain/discomfort) to measure the HRQL for chronic disease patients and to detect possible associations between HUI system and various chronic conditions, this study provides information to improve the management of chronic diseases. This study is of interest to data analysts, policy makers, and public health practitioners involved in descriptive clinical studies, clinical trials, program evaluation, population health planning, and assessments. Based on the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) for 2000-01, the HUI was used to measure the quality of life for individuals living with various chronic conditions (Alzheimer/other dementia, effects of stroke, urinary incontinence, arthritis/rheumatism, bowel disorder, cataracts, back problems, stomach/intestinal ulcers, emphysema/COPD, chronic bronchitis, epilepsy, heart disease, diabetes, migraine headaches, glaucoma, asthma, fibromyalgia, cancers, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis, thyroid condition, and other remaining chronic diseases). Logistic Regression Model was employed to estimate the associations between the overall HUI scores and various chronic conditions. The HUI scores ranged from 0.00 (corresponding to a state close to death) to 1.00 (corresponding to perfect health); negative scores reflect health states considered worse than death. The mean HUI score by sex and age group indicated the typical quality of life for persons with various chronic conditions. Logistic Regression results showed a strong relationship between low HUI scores (< or = 0.5 and 0.06-1.0) and certain chronic conditions. Age- and sex-adjusted Odds Ratio (OR) and p values showed an effect among individuals diagnosed with each chronic disease on the overall HUI score. Results of this study showed that arthritis/rheumatism, heart disease, high blood pressure, cataracts, and diabetes had a severe impact on HRQL. Urinary incontinence, Alzheimer/other dementia, effects of stroke, cancers, thyroid condition, and back problems have a moderate impact. Food allergy, allergy other than food, asthma, migraine headaches, and other remaining chronic diseases have a relatively mild effect. It is concluded that major chronic diseases with significant health burden were associated with poor HRQL. The HUI scores facilitate the measurement and interpretation of results of health burden and the HRQL for individuals with chronic diseases and can be useful for development of strategies for the prevention and control of chronic diseases.
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PMID:Using Health Utility Index (HUI) for measuring the impact on health-related quality of Life (HRQL) among individuals with chronic diseases. 1534 14

Mutations in transforming growth factor-beta family receptor-II, bone morphogenetic protein receptor-2, and activin-like kinase-1 have been associated with pulmonary hypertension. In the present study, we determined that pulmonary arteries in normal lungs and in lungs of patients with emphysema and idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension comparably expressed transforming growth factor-beta receptors I and II, Smad(1, 5, 8), Smad2, Smad3, Smad4, phosphorylated Smad(1, 5, 8), and phosphorylated Smad2 (the latter two both indicative of active in vivo signaling) in endothelial cells, as assessed by immunohistochemistry and quantitative morphometry. Medial or intimal smooth muscle cells had weak or absent expression of these molecules. In clear contrast to endothelial cell expression in pulmonary arteries and in endothelial cells lining incipient vessels within plexiform lesions of hypertensive lungs, endothelial cells present in the core of the lesions lacked expression of all examined members of the signaling molecules. These findings were made irrespective of the mutation status of bone morphogenetic protein receptor-2 in hypertensive patients. Our findings suggest that pulmonary artery endothelial cells in both normal and severely hypertensive lungs have active transforming growth factor-beta family signaling, and that loss of signaling might contribute to the abnormal growth of endothelial cells in plexiform lesions in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension.
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PMID:Impaired transforming growth factor-beta signaling in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension. 1536 68

There is increasing evidence that inflammation plays an important role in atherosclerosis. Such inflammation is likely related to the presence of infectious organisms. Hence, we examined whether the use of antibiotic drugs decreases the risk of first-time myocardial infarction (MI). We identified 6737 cases of first-time hospitalization for MI, and 67,364 age- and gender-matched, population-based controls during 1991-2002, using data from the County Hospital Discharge Registry and the Civil Registration System of North Jutland County, Denmark. All prescriptions for antibiotics prior to the hospitalization for MI were identified through a prescription database. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) associated with antibiotic use, adjusted for potential confounding factors including previous discharge diagnoses of hypertension, chronic bronchitis and emphysema, alcoholism, liver cirrhosis, or diabetes mellitus and prescriptions for anti-hypertensive drugs, antidiabetic drugs, lipid-lowering agents, high-dose aspirin, platelet inhibitors, oral anticoagulants, or hormone replacement therapy. The use of any one type of antibiotic in the 3 years before hospitalization was not associated with a decreased risk of MI; the adjusted ORs with corresponding 95% confidence intervals were 1.07, 1.00-1.14 for penicillins; 1.15, 1.00-1.33 for macrolides; 0.95, 0.65-1.39 for tetracyclines; 1.25, 0.84-1.87 for quinolones; and 0.95, 0.80-1.12 for sulfonamides. A slight increase in the risk of MI was seen with the use of more than one type of antibiotic in the preceding 3 years (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.09-1.27). Our findings do not support the hypothesis that the use of antibiotics is associated with a lower risk of first-time MI.
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PMID:Antibiotics and risk of first-time hospitalization for myocardial infarction: a population-based case-control study. 1589 Dec 66

Current pharmacotherapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) relieves symptoms and reduces exacerbation through improving airflow limitation. Such drugs do not effectively improve exercise tolerance due in part to pulmonary hypertension associated with severe COPD, nor impact on its increased morbidity and mortality. Exercise intolerance is often improved (temporarily) by lung volume reduction surgery and pulmonary rehabilitation. Ambulatory oxygen is the most effective treatment of exercise limitation. Chronic cigarette smoking is the principal cause of COPD. An early change in smokers' lungs is pulmonary artery intimal thickening and vessel narrowing, which, as COPD develops, is correlated with both the severity of emphysema and bronchiolitis. This may be the consequence of combined smoking-induced apoptosis, inflammation, and imperfect repair. End-stage bronchiolitis and emphysema are likely to limit the effectiveness of bronchodilators and corticosteroids. There are effective treatments for idiopathic and scleroderma pulmonary arterial hypertension, which increase exercise tolerance and improve survival. Because idiopathic and COPD pulmonary hypertension share a common vascular intimal thickening, excess endothelin receptor expression, and plasma endothelin-1, an important therapeutic question to address is whether an oral endothelin-1 antagonist can improve exercise tolerance in severe COPD.
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PMID:Pulmonary hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a case for treatment. 1611 63

The authors examined the relationship of noise sensitivity with health status and psychological factors in individuals <70 yr of age in Finland. Subjects (n = 1,355) were selected from a 1988 case-control study, based on the Finnish Twin Cohort, that assessed noise sensitivity, lifetime noise exposure, and hypertension. Other health status and psychological factors were obtained from a questionnaire that had been administered to the same individuals in 1981. Statistical analysis showed that noise sensitivity was associated significantly with hypertension, emphysema, use of psychotropic drugs (i.e., sleeping pills, tranquilizers, and pain relievers), stress, smoking, and hostility, even after adjustment for lifetime noise exposure. These results indicate that noise sensitivity has both psychological and somatogenic components.
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PMID:Somatic and psychological characteristics of noise-sensitive adults in Finland. 1626 17

A developmentally delayed 11-year-old male developed extensive spontaneous subcutaneous emphysema 6 weeks after a laryngotracheal separation. Computed tomography demonstrated a small amount of air at the distal end of the laryngeal stump and significant esophageal air. Aerophagia was diagnosed with air presumed diverted through the laryngeal stump due to cricopharyngeal hypertension. Cricopharyngeal botulinum toxin injection was coordinated with a minimal neck dissection to drain the subcutaneous emphysema. The subcutaneous emphysema gradually improved and the patient was discharged home. His subcutaneous emphysema has not returned after four total botulinum toxin injections every 3 months.
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PMID:Botulinum toxin as treatment for a unique case of subcutaneous emphysema. 1716 70

The pulmonary vascular endothelial cell plays a crucial role in the regulation of the pulmonary vascular tone and in the maintenance of the barrier function and integrity of the alveolar-capillary membrane. It also plays a major role in coagulation, fibrinolysis, and angiogenesis and participates in inflammatory reactions. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a central growth and survival factor for the endothelial cell. Particularly high levels of VEGF are expressed in the lungs, reflecting the critical role of VEGF for lung development and structural integrity of the adult lung. Vascular endothelial growth factor exerts a variety of physiological and pathophysiological actions in the lung. Recent evidence suggests its involvement in the pathogenesis of lung diseases such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia, acute lung injury, emphysema, and pulmonary hypertension. To summarize the critical effects of VEGF on the pulmonary endothelial cell in the pathogenesis of these diseases, the purposes of this review are to (1) discuss the biological activities and intracellular signaling pathways of VEGF in the lung; (2) summarize the regulatory mechanisms involved in VEGF expression; (3)address the effects of VEGF on endothelial cells in hyperoxia-induced and other forms of lung injury; (4) highlight the endothelial effects of VEGF in the pathogenesis of emphysema; and (5) explore the role of VEGF in the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension.
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PMID:The critical role of vascular endothelial growth factor in pulmonary vascular remodeling after lung injury. 1751 May 98

A 60-year-old man presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with large, painful, indurated plaques on the right thigh, left abdomen, left chest, and right chest, which began without any preceding trauma on the right thigh 3 weeks prior to presentation in the ED. He was initially treated with cefazolin 1 g three times daily as home infusions. When the lesions continued to progress, he was admitted to the hospital and placed on amoxicillin/clavulanate and vancomycin. He had a single episode of fever of 102 degrees F, but his white blood cell count and differential remained normal. An initial biopsy showed a dermal inflammatory infiltrate composed primarily of neutrophils and eosinophils with rare flame figures in the dermis. There was minimal fat seen in this biopsy. A differential diagnosis of Wells or Sweet's syndrome was entertained, and he was placed on 60 mg/day prednisone with no resolution of his symptoms. The patient's past medical history included hypertension, hyperlipidemia, peripheral neuropathy, and hiatal hernia. His family history was significant for emphysema in both parents and coronary artery disease in his father. Both of his parents smoked cigarettes. His grandfather, who was a coal miner, also had emphysema. Whilst on antibiotics and prednisone, the plaques on the patient's right thigh, right abdomen, and left chest expanded and ulcerated, draining an oily liquid (Figs 1 and 2). An incisional biopsy was obtained from his thigh. Histopathology showed a septal and lobular panniculitis with fat necrosis, neutrophils, and histiocytes (Fig. 3). Special stains for organisms were negative. Tissue sent for bacterial and fungal culture had no growth. Amylase and lipase levels were normal. Rheumatoid factor, antinuclear antibody (ANA), antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA), cryoglobulins, and antiphospholipid antibodies were all normal. The alpha1-antitrypsin level was low at 25 mg/dL (ref. 75-135). The alpha1-antitrypsin phenotype was PiZZ. The patient had a normal glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase level and was placed on dapsone 200 mg/day. The inflammation resolved and, over the course of several months, the involved areas healed with scarring. The patient denied any pulmonary complaints but, during his hospitalization, was found incidentally to have an oxygen saturation of 88% on room air. He was sent for evaluation by a pulmonologist, and pulmonary function tests revealed a mixed restrictive and obstructive pattern with a forced expiratory volume in 1 to forced vital capacity (FEV(1)/FVC) ratio of 63% of predicted. He had never smoked. He was placed on supplemental oxygen but, as his pulmonary disease has been stable, he has not been treated with intravenous antitrypsin inhibitor.
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PMID:alpha1-Antitrypsin deficiency presenting with panniculitis and incidental discovery of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 1791 Jul 20


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