PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C D Palù

Publications and source records attributed to C D Palù.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1981

Orthostatic hypotension after the first administration of prazosin in hypertensive patients: role of the plasma volume.

1. Prazosin (2 mg, p.o.) was administered to nine patients with essential hypertension while intra-arterial pressure was recorded by an Oxford portable apparatus. In all patients, 30 min-3 h after the administration, systolic and diastolic pressure fell on assuming the upright posture and four patients fainted. No correlation was found between the degree of fall in pressure and the plasma concentration of the drug. Acute expansion of the plasma volume by means of 6% Dextran infusion reduced the orthostatic blood pressure fall in all cases and a significant inverse correlation was found between plasma volume and orthostatic fall of pressure. 2. After ten days of continuous treatment with prazosin, 2 mg daily, a significant decrease in blood pressure was observed while orthostatic hypotension disappeared, probably due to the plasma volume expansion induced by the drug.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

[Precursors of arteriosclerosis in childhood. Protocol and firsts results concerning plasma lipids and carbohydrate tolerance in 520 school children at Pordenone (Italy) (author's transl)].

The cardiological centers of Pordenone and Cittadella (Italy) organized by the Institute of Clinica Medica II of Padua University, have carried out a study on the "Precursors of arteriosclerosis in children", according to a WHO protocol. In this paper some results of the Pordenone study are reported, concerning serum cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and blood glucose 1 h after 1 g/Kg glucose per os. 520 school children, males and females, aged 6, 9, 12, 15 years, entered the study. Mean serum TC resulted significantly higher at age 12 as compared to the other age classes. Serum TG progressively increased with age. Mean serum TC and TG in our italian children and adolescents were silimar to those reported in studies from other countries. Blood glucose resulted significantly higher in children than in adolescents. The distribution of the blood glucose values was bimodal. After having arbitrarily fixed cut-off points for serum TC, TG and blood glucose, the prevalence of hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia was determined. The prevalence figures have shown that at the pediatric age it is possible to identify subjects at "risk" of developing arteriosclerosis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Clinical experiences with methyldopa.

1. The hypotensive effect of methyldopa alone or associated with other hypotensive drugs was evaluated in 155 patients. After 10 days of treatment, the blood pressure was back to normal in 80% and in 50% of the patients with mild and moderate hypertension, and it was significantly decreased in those with severe hypertension. 2. Contrary to other hypotensive drugs, it did not produce a significant increase in BUN and serum creatinine. Occasional or recurrent episodes of orthostatic hypotension were observed in about 18% of the cases, but in none did it produce important symptoms of cerebral or myocardial ischaemia.

Blood Pressure↗
PubMed1977

[Relations between hypotensive effect and modifications of volemia and plasma renin activity in patients with essential hypertension treated using spironolactone].

The hypotensive effect of spironolactone and its relation to the changer in volaemia and renin activity induced by the drug were studied in 12 hospitalised patients with essential hypertension. After 4 weeks, arterial pressure was significantly decreased in direct relation to reductions in plasma volume in 9 subjects in both the erect and the recumbent position. These reductions were probably responsible for an increase in renin activity noted (sometimes at significant levels) in all subjects. It would appear that such increase does not impede the hypotensive effect of the drug. The hypotensive response was, in fact, less marked in only 3 patients, whose basal renin levels were themselves high.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

[The hypotensive effect of propranolol: pathophysiological and clinical approach (author's transl)].

The hypotensive effect of propranolol and its correlation with the fall in heart rate, plasma volume and plasma renin activity produced by this drug, were studied in 20 hypertensive hospitalised patients. Heart rate and plasma volume fell to approximately the same level (20%) in all cases, while the hypotensive response varied according to the pretreatment levels of plasma renin activity. Patients with low renin did not respond, while those with normal renin and especially those with high renin responded with a significant fall in blood pressure which was directly correlated to the fall of plasma renin activity. It is concluded that propranolol might be the specific treatment for hypertension in those cases which are accompanied or caused by high plasma renin.

Drug Evaluation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A nifedipine-sensitive smooth muscle cell population is present in the atherosclerotic rabbit aorta.

We evaluated the ability of the Ca2+ channel blocker nifedipine to influence the severity of atherosclerotic lesions and the pattern of aortic smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation in cholesterol-fed New Zealand White rabbits. The animals were fed a 1% cholesterol-enriched diet for 12 weeks. After 4 weeks of the diet, some rabbits were given nifedipine (20 mg b.i.d.) for another 8 weeks without discontinuation of the cholesterol-enriched diet (experiment 1). Another group of rabbits was treated with nifedipine from the beginning of the cholesterol-enriched diet for the entire 12 weeks (experiment 2). The severity of ahterosclerotic lesions was determined by computerized planimetry, and qualitative effects of nifedipine on SMCs were studied by monoclonal antibodies specific for smooth muscle and nonmuscle myosins. In the aortic media of normal rabbits, these antibodies can identify an SMC population with an "immature" type of myosin pattern; a marked increase in the number of these cells is observed during atherogenesis. In experiment 1, we observed a marked decrease of medial SMCs with the immature type of myosin pattern, without any significant reduction in atherosclerosis severity. In experiment 2, disappearance of the previously mentioned medial SMC population was accompanied by a dramatic slowing of intimal lesion development. These results indicate that nifedipine treatment is effective in reducing atherosclerotic lesions only when given from the beginning of a cholesterol-enriched diet. Delay of nifedipine administration until the fourth week of the cholesterol-enriched diet fails to halt progression of the disease. The observed antiatherosclerotic activity can be attributable to a direct effect of the drug on the medial SMC population, which increases during the course of experimental atherogenesis.

Animals↗