Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023380 (lethargy)
 5,697 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A case-control study was performed to investigate the significance of arteriosclerosis, heredity and some infections in the etiology of Parkinson's disease. The study group consisted of all traceable patients with Parkinson's disease living in a defined area, a total of 444 patients, and of control subjects for each patient, matched in sex and age, chosen from among the general population residing in the same area. No significant differences were found between the patients and the controls concerning the occurrence of cardiac insufficiency, coronary heart disease, or stroke. The Parkinsonian patients, however, had a significantly lower incidence of clinical arterial hypertension when compared with the controls. In addition, the patients more often had low systolic blood pressures and more rarely high pressures than the controls. Even the mean systolic blood pressure was significantly lower in the patients than in the controls. The low blood pressure seems to be an effect of Parkinson's disease itself with a minor contribution of levodopa therapy. The observations above are considered to indicate that arteriosclerosis and Parkinson's disease are probably only concurrent disorders and not in etiological relationship with each other. There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of the patients and the controls with relatives with Parkinson's disease or essential tremor, which suggests that genetic factors do not have a significant role in Parkinson's disease and on the other hand that essential tremor and Parkinson's disease are two separate disease entities. No other encephalitis than a lethargic one was found to precede Parkinson's disease and the occurrence of meningitis was rare both among the patients and the controls. The history of Spanish influenza was found to be as frequent in the patients as in the controls, thus not supporting the idea that influenza has etiological importance in Parkinson's disease.
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PMID:Arteriosclerosis, heredity, and some previous infections in the etiology of Parkinson's disease. A case-control study. 100 13

The benefit of any medical intervention, particularly drug therapy, must be weighed against its cost. These costs are not only dollar expenditures but effects on lifestyle and overall health. Diuretic therapy for hypertension has been in use long enough to allow long-term clinical evaluation. It is clear from the numerous prospective drug intervention trials involving hypertensive patients that diuretic therapy is not free of "costs." Aside from the fact that 15 to 20% of diuretic-treated patients reportedly drop out of trials because of side effects, including exertional dyspnea, fatigability, lethargy and impotence, numerous metabolic derangements have been reported with these drugs, i.e., potassium, uric acid, lipid, sodium, glucose and magnesium alterations. Perhaps most important are the changes in lipid fractions, which may be responsible for the failure of antihypertensive therapy to decrease the risk of coronary heart disease. Thus, although diuretics are somewhat less expensive than other antihypertensive drugs in terms of dollars, their overall costs are high. The major alternatives, such as the alpha-blocker prazosin or the central nervous system agent clonidine, are preferable, do not impair a patient's lifestyle and are recommended to be used along with changes in diet and an exercise program for control of mild to moderate hypertension.
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PMID:Diuretic therapy for mild hypertension: the "real" cost of treatment. 642 Nov 37