Early asthma onset: consideration of parenting issues

This report examines the relationship between early parental behavior and the later onset of asthma in a cohort of 150 children who were genetically at risk for developing asthma. Judgments of both parenting problems and maternal coping were made during a home visit when the infant was 3 weeks old. A clinical interview with the mother was developed and reliably coded. The sample was divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of concerns about coping and parenting. During the following 2 years, the respiratory status of the children was monitored. Four categories of respiratory status were defined: (1) asthma; (2) recurrent infectious wheezing; (3) a single isolated wheezing episode; or (4) no wheezing. Early problems in coping and parenting were associated with the later onset of asthma (p less than 0.001). Furthermore, parents of children who developed asthma were more likely to have been having difficulties at the 3-week visit than those whose children developed infectious wheezing (p less than 0.005).     

Influence of diuretics on brachial artery diameter and distensibility in hypertensive patients

Blood pressure, brachial artery diameter and pulse wave velocity were determined before and after diuretic treatment in 2 groups of hypertensive patients treated either by indapamide (2.5 mg per d) or by canreonate (50 mg per d). Brachial artery diameter, measured from pulsed Doppler flowmetry, and pulse wave velocity, evaluated from mechanography, did not alter significantly despite a significant blood pressure reduction. The study indicates that, in hypertensive patients of middle age, diuretics did not change brachial artery diameter and distensibility, whether the drug caused an increase or a decrease in plasma potassium levels.