The treatment of hypertension

1 A 'retrospective' of the development of the drug treatment of hypertension is presented from the early days of ganglion blockers to the present time together with a review of the evidence of benefit from treatment.
2 Current issues and debates are summarised including shortfalls in the control of hypertension in populations, difficulties surrounding the measurement of blood pressure, disagreement on the levels of blood pressure to treat, the goal blood pressures to aim at, issues surrounding lifestyle measures such as the low salt diet and low intensity exercise, and treatment with diuretics and with calcium antagonists.
3 A 'perspective' is presented on some avenues for progress in the years ahead. These will include the identification of genetic markers to determine the hypertensive individuals with the greatest risk of death and of cardiovascular complications.     

Making poverty a practice issue

Trends in poverty and changes in service provision are combining to make the promotion of health in poverty a particular challenge to health and welfare practitioners. The evidence suggests that practitioner groups have failed to respond adequately to this challenge. Factors concerned with professional perceptions of poverty, the nature of qualifying and post-qualifying education and the difficulties associated with taking research into practice all appear, in some way, to contribute to practitioners’ failure to incorporate a poverty perspective in their work. A team training approach appears to offer one way forward in the practice-setting. Using a team training approach, the‘Health Promotion in Poverty Project’ has sought to enable the lessons learnt from the broad base of poverty theory and research to be used by practitioners to build responsive and integrated support strategies for low-income families with dependent children.     

Observations on two members of the Swedish family with congenital dyserythropoietic anaemia,type III

Abstract: Two affected individuals of the Swedish family with CDA, type III, in which the disease is transmitted as an autosomal dominant character, were studied. Both cases displayed features hitherto undescribed in this family but described in patients with CDA, type III, in whom the inheritance may have been as an autosomal recessive character. Such features were: (a) haemosiderinuria, (b) grossly disorganised erythroblast nuclei, (c) differences in the ultrastructural appearances of individual nuclei within the same multinucleate erythroblast and (d) intraerythroblastic inclusions resembling precipitated globin chains. In both cases the giant mononucleate erythroblasts and the multinucleate erythroblasts had total DNA contents up to 28c (1c = haploid DNA content) and 48c respectively, and some DNA synthesising bi- and multinucleate erythroblasts contained one or more nuclei which were unlabelled with ³H-thymidine. These findings are similar to those in patients with the autosomal recessive type of disease. Thus no major phenotypic differences are yet apparent between cases of CDA, type III, with different patterns of inheritance. Analysis of the surface erythrocyte proteins of the 2 Swedish CDA, type III, patients with monoclonal antibodies recognising Band 3, glycophorins A, B, C and D, Rh, CD44, CD47, CD55, CD58, CD59, Lutheran, Kell, LW and acetylcholinesterase did not reveal any gross abnormality of expression of these proteins. A slightly altered expression of blood group antigens A and H was revealed by the lectins Dolichos biflorus and Ulex europaeus and the Mr of Band 3 as judged by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was also slightly reduced, suggesting that there may be minor alterations in the degree of N-glycosylation of some red cell membrane constituents.     

Malignant chiasmal glioma: a rare cause of rapid visual loss

The clinical, neuroradiological, and histological findings of an adult patient suffering from malignant optic glioma is reported. Rapid visual deterioration was misdiagnosed for several months until biopsy confirmed the tumor. The patient died despite radiation therapy nine months after first symptoms. Our presentation will focus on the problems of diagnosing and establishing therapeutic procedures in this rare malignant neoplasm.     

颈动脉间隙肿瘤的MRI诊断

目的：探讨颈动脉间隙肿瘤的MRI影象特征及其病理、解剖学基础和诊断价值。材料和方法：分析25例颈动脉间隙肿瘤的MRI征象，并与手术病理或血管造影比较。结果：多数肿瘤的病理改变或血管造影的特征能在MRI图像上反映，囊变和含丰富粘液的神经源性肿瘤T2加权像呈边界光滑的极高信号，化学感受器瘤瘤内的血管表现为扭曲条状和圆点状的极低信号，颈内动脉瘤信号分层，转移瘤边界毛糙或不清；不同来源的肿瘤与颈内、外动脉或颈总动脉和颈内静脉的位置关系有解剖上的相关性，有利于准确的定位和鉴别诊断；25例中术前诊断正确22例（88％）。结论：MRI对颈动脉间隙肿瘤的定位和定性具有重要的诊断价值，结合病史可减少误诊。     

人碱性成纤维细胞生长因子基因在大肠杆菌中的克隆与表达

应用DNA重组技术将编码人碱性成纤维细胞生长因子（bbFGF）的基因克隆至原核高效表达质粒pBV_(221)的启动子下游。SDS-SAGE、ELISA和NTT活性监测结果表明:该重组质粒pBV-hbFGF在大肠杆菌DH5α中,经42℃诱导后,可表达出有较高生物活性的hbFGF。     

火器伤后胸心异物存留

目的：探讨火器伤后胸心异物存留摘除的指征、时机、方法及结果。方法：回顾性分析了３９例火器伤后胸心异物存留摘除者的一般资料、临床表现、不同处理方法的选择及效果。结果：１９例患者早期因凝固性血胸及肺持续漏气伴异物存留或异物存留伴胸腔及心包腔化脓性感染，在开胸清创时做了异物摘除；另２０例患者为胸伤伤情恢复后单纯异物存留，因异物位于肺门、心脏及大血管旁或远期并发症等，而后期开胸异物摘除。结论：火器性胸部穿透伤后，因异物本身或其他原因所致早期并发症者，应在开胸清创的同时摘除异物；胸伤伤情恢复而单纯胸心异物存留，应选择性摘除或因并发远期并发症而摘除。     

Characterization of adenosine deaminase (ADA)-negative B-lymphoblastoid cells cocultured with ADA-positive fibroblasts

Abstract: A cell line, BAD05, derived from B lymphocytes of an adenosine deaminase (ADA; EC 3,5,4,4)-deficient patient could not proliferate in a serum-free medium containing 100 μmol/l deoxyadenosine. When BAD05 was cultured with ADA-positive fibroblasts, the proliferation of BAD05 was improved. BAD05 cell density increased when the initially mixed ratio of fibroblasts/BAD05 was 1/10 or higher, but decreased when the ratio was 1/20 or lower. Deoxyadenosine concentrations in the medium and ATP and deoxyATP (dATP) levels in the BAD05 were measured after 4 hours of coculture at initial BAD05 cell densities of 1 × 10⁵and 1 × 10⁶cells/ml. Deoxyadenosine concentrations in the medium decreased as the density of fibroblasts increased. The dATP level decreased as the mixed ratio rose. The ratio of fibroblasts/BAD05 rather than the cell density of fibroblasts had a larger effect on the dATP levels in BAD05. Under our experimental conditions, ADA-negative cells proliferated well when the ratio of ADA-positive cells/ADA-negative cells was over 1/10.     

Brain stem tuberculoma in adult patients: Diagnosis and treatment

A consecutive series of six adult patients ranging in age from 29 to 53 years is presented. The clinical and radiological features in each patient are described. Attention is drawn to the features demonstrated on computed axial tomography. In only one patient, the first encountered, was surgical excision undertaken and histological verification obtained. One patient died before any form of treatment could be instituted. The remaining four patients were treated with antituberculous chemotherapy alone and their progress monitored by sequential computed tomography. The excellent response and good outcome in this conservatively treated group are documented.