Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C1323099 (sympathomimetic)
 2,957 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The development of effective drugs for chronic lung disease, especially bronchodilator aerosols, has been a boon to patients and physicians alike, but these agents also may provoke arrhythmias. Fluorocarbon propellants, once regarded as harmless, are now known to disrupt cardiac function, sensitizing the heart to the arrhythmic effects of sympathomimetic amines. Catecholamine drugs as a group have a strong impact on heart rate and contractility. But the danger of rhythm disturbances often can be reduced by cutting the dosage or choosing a preparation with more beta 2 activity. Methylxanthines, generally safer than catecholamines, nevertheless must be used with caution and preferably alone in patients with heart and lung disease.
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PMID:When drug therapy for lung disease affects the heart. 18 24

The incidence of unrecognised ventilatory impairment was investigated in a group of 531 routine hospital admissions who had been considered to be free of significant respiratory disease. Using spirometric tests of FEV 1, FVC and FEV 1/FVC percent before and after sympathomimetic bronchodilator, it was found that 42 percent of these patients had abnormal ventilatory tests, and 47 percent were considered to have obstructive lung disease. Routine use of screening respiratory function tests would be useful in the assessment and management of general medical and surgical hospital admissions.
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PMID:Ventilatory abnormalities in hospital admissions. 106 18

beta-Blockers are effective in reducing the blood pressure of many patients with systemic hypertension. They differ in terms of the presence or absence of intrinsic sympathomimetic activity, membrane-stabilising activity, beta 1-selectivity, alpha-blocking properties, and relative potency and duration of action. All beta-blockers appear to have blood pressure lowering effects. The choice of which beta-blocker to use in an individual patient is determined by the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic differences between the drugs in conjunction with the patient's other medical condition(s). This review discusses the practical use of beta-blockers and provides rational suggestions for which drug(s) to use in selected patient groups (Black, elderly, postinfarction, diabetes, renal disease, obstructive lung disease, elevated lipid levels, coexisting angina, and left ventricular hypertrophy).
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PMID:Clinical use of beta-adrenoceptor blockade in systemic hypertension. 197 82

Theophylline's role in the treatment of airway obstruction has been challenged, yet it remains a useful agent in the management of obstructive lung disease. It has a narrow therapeutic range and frequent side effects. Drug interactions are common, and variations in theophylline clearance among patients arise from individual differences in its absorption, metabolism, and elimination. Acute bronchospasm is best treated with inhaled sympathomimetic agents, but the nonbronchodilator effects of theophylline offer therapeutic benefits for the patient with non-reversible disease. When properly monitored by serum level determinations, theophylline may be used as an adjunct to aerosol therapy and corticosteroids in asthma. However, the patient with COPD may benefit the most from an empiric trial of the drug, using lower doses than were commonly employed in the past.
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PMID:Theophylline in asthma and COPD: changing perspectives and controversies. 201 95

Diuretics and beta blockers are the mainstay in treating mild and moderate systemic hypertension, but there is controversy as to which should be used first. Recent evidence of an increase in sudden death and a greater number of intolerable side effects in the diuretic-treated groups in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial in the U.S. and the Medical Research Council Trial in Great Britain has prompted some to suggest beta blockers as first-line therapy. However, beta blockers also have side effects, such as decreased ventricular function in patients with mild heart failure, increased airways resistance in those with chronic obstructive lung disease, increased plasma lipids, in particular low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and increased problems in patients with peripheral vascular disease and those with diabetes requiring insulin treatment. Many new beta-blocking drugs with different pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties allow the physician to choose the best one for each patient. beta-blocking drugs with long durations of action, high levels of bioavailability, beta 1 selectivity and intrinsic sympathomimetic activity appear most suitable for therapy. Cardioselectivity is suggested for patients with obstructive lung disease and peripheral vascular disease, and diabetic patients who take insulin. Long durations of action permit infrequent administration and recently agents with intrinsic sympathomimetic activity have been shown to have less effects on plasma lipid levels. Acebutolol also reduces ventricular arrhythmias, and may therefore be used to reduce sudden death in patients with coronary artery disease. The pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of beta-blocking drugs can indicate the most appropriate choice for hypertensive patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of beta-blocking drugs influencing choice in treatment of systemic hypertension. 288 49

Antiasthma drug development, for the most part, seems based on three classes of therapeutic agents. Many new sympathomimetic and corticosteroid drugs with increased specificity for the lung have been introduced. The third class of drugs, the xanthines, is still best represented by the prototype drug theophylline. After a brief review of the chemical history of antiasthma xanthines (the first limited attempts to develop novel derivatives 30 to 40 years ago), and some recent structure-activity findings, this article discusses the pharmacology of a selected xanthine derivative, enprofylline (3-propylxanthine). In various experimental systems and in patients, enprofylline shares antiasthmatic effects with theophylline; however, enprofylline is the more potent of the two (greater than 1 to 2 micrograms/ml plasma are effective concentrations of enprofylline). At present, enprofylline, which lacks diaphragmatic and central nervous system stimulatory actions, has been shown to be at least as clinically efficacious as theophylline in obstructive lung disease. Further work is needed to elucidate the target cells and mechanism(s) of action involved in bronchodilatory and anti-inflammatory effects of the xanthines. Growing numbers of animal and human pharmacologic studies show that enprofylline is without many of theophylline's extrapulmonary effects--in particular the excitatory ones. Perhaps most significantly, enprofylline does not produce central nervous system stimulant behavioral effects, including seizures. If and when enprofylline becomes available as an alternative drug, increased attention will probably be focused on the significance of other theophylline actions (gastric secretion, release of free fatty acids, vasoconstriction, diuresis, etc.) that are not shared by enprofylline.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Development of safer xanthine drugs for treatment of obstructive airways disease. 353 62