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Biomedical subjects

P T Scarpelli

Publications and source records attributed to P T Scarpelli.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Self-measurement and ambulatory monitoring of blood pressure: a subject's chronobiological perspective.

Population studies show the direct benefit from self-measurement for guiding the treatment of patients with severe hypertension; they also separate groups of children with a positive vs. negative family history of high blood pressure, despite the difficulty of obtaining valid readings during the rest/sleep span, which are needed for a reliable estimation of the circadian parameters. From the viewpoint of preventive maintenance, a 67-year-old woman monitored her blood pressure and heart rate around the clock for 7 days, using concomitantly an ambulatory monitor and a manual instrument. Self-measurement profiles were repeated on several occasions. The results are compared with those of a 62-year-old woman who followed the same initial 7-day protocol. The estimation of the circadian blood pressure pattern differed between the profiles obtained with an ambulatory monitor and by self-measurement. The differences, relatively small in one subject, were much larger for the other subject. Provided the results are chronobiologically analyzed and interpreted in the light of reference limits which are specific to self-measurement series as well as for gender, age and times of sampling, systematic self-measurement of blood pressure may yield a reliable assessment of the circadian variation for some, but not for all, individuals. For those who have been validated in at least one 7-day/24-h profile, occasional automatic ambulatory profiles are tentatively recommended as the main approach, with complementary systematic self-measurement when automatic instruments are scarce. For those with discrepant results, automatic monitoring is invariably recommended.

Aged↗

Simultaneous and sequential same-arm measurements in the validation studies of automated blood pressure measuring devices.

The oscillometric ambulatory blood pressure recorder Daypress 500 was validated according to the British Hypertension Society protocol. Both sequential and simultaneous measurements were used. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated a significant influence of subject pulse pressure and arm circumference on device-observer systolic pressure differences. Differences between observer consecutive readings were inversely related to heart rate. Device and observer blood pressure readings were closer at simultaneous than at sequential measurements. However, both kinds of measurement led to the same final evaluation (A for diastolic and B for systolic blood pressure), provided that the appropriate grading criteria were applied for each method.

Adult↗

Echocardiographic evaluation of children with and without family history of essential hypertension.

A family history of hypertension is considered a risk factor for developing hypertension. We studied two groups of normotensive children (aged 14 years): one comprising 14 subjects with family history of hypertension, the other comprising 15 subjects without family history of hypertension. Children were comparable with respect to age, weight, height, body surface area, heart rate, and arterial blood pressure. M-mode echocardiography demonstrated higher interventricular septum/posterior wall ratio in progeny of hypertensive subjects. Interestingly, all the parameters evaluated were within the normal limits. Our data suggest that a certain degree of cardiac changes is present in children with positive family history of hypertension, though further studies are needed before considering these findings predictive of future essential hypertension.

Adolescent↗

Autometrically and automatically monitored, iatrogenous, inhalant-decongestant-associated high blood pressure quantified by rhythmometry.

Blood pressure and heart rate were oscillometrically monitored with an automatic Nippon Colin instrument (Komaki, Japan) and were also self-measured by a 20-year-old man treated with an inhalant-decongestant containing an adrenergic and a corticosteroid analog. The subject also collected 24-hr urines for aldosterone determination. An elevation of urinary aldosterone excretion was observed compared to the usual value range of a peer group. After removal of the drug, urinary aldosterone dropped as did urinary potassium, whereas plasma potassium rose. Chronobiologic serial sections, carried out to follow the time course of blood pressure and heart rate, showed decreasing trends in MESOR after discontinuance of treatment. A decrease in the hyperbaric index, a measure of blood pressure excess over 24 hr, was also observed. Another subject treated with the same and a third treated with a similar inhalant-decongestant, who also monitored their blood pressures automatically and/or with self-measurements, showed similar effects: a decrease in blood pressure after removal of treatment and an increase in blood pressure when (for testing only) treatment was briefly resumed.

Adult↗

Chronic total renal artery occlusion: a diagnostic challenge.

Chronic renal artery occlusion must be suspected whenever a moderate hypertensive patient over 50 years of age presents increase of blood pressure refractory to treatment, sometimes causing heart failure or stroke. This suspicion is reinforced by the presence of renal insufficiency and of anatomical and/or functional lateralization of renal damage at intravenous pyelography.

Adult↗

Assessment of optimal dose of diuretic associated with fixed dose of beta-blocking: a new experimental model based on multiple sampling of blood pressure performed by self-measurements.

A new experimental model is presented for determining the optimum dose of 3 different doses (13 mg, 25 mg, 37 mg per day) of hydrochlorothiazide employed to enhance hypotensive effect of 200 mg/day of metoprolol in human hypertension. The model takes into account the circadian variability of blood pressure as sinusoidal function and wash-out effect as a linear trend so as to compensate for bias due to normal temporal variability.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗

The antibody response in chronic pyelonephritis.

Serum antibodies specific for the bacteria isolated from the urines of 41 patients with chronic pyelonephritis and 14 with asymptomatic bacteriuria were assayed. Even though it is clear that infections which involve the kidney evoke higher antibody responses than do purely bladder infections, it is difficult to establish a cut-off level for distinguishing the two by this method. There is a greater probability that there will be an upper urinary tract infection without an antibody response than that there will be a good antibody response in cases with lower tract infections. In our case list, 49% of the patients with chronic pyelonephritis had titers equal to or greater than 1:400, and another 44% had titers between 1:50 and 1:100. Therefore it appears that the magnitude of the antibody response depends not only on the location of the infection but also on other factors, such as the intrinsic immunogenicity of the different bacterial strains and the properties of the immunological system of the patient.

Adolescent↗

The close interrelationship between increased vascular retinal permeability and blood pressure level. Evidence from retinal fluorangiography.

A long-term study was done by means of interative fluorangiography on microvascular retinal permeability versus the blood pressure control carried out in 11 patients with a diastolic blood pressure of greater than or equal to 130 mm Hg and with retinal exudates, haemorrhages and oedema. No matter what the original disease was (i.e., essential, renovascular, endocrine hypertension or chronic nephropathy with terminal renal failure) the increased permeability appeared to be critically connected with the blood pressure level. Our results confirm that hypertension per se might be the cause of vascular permeability changes.

Adult↗

Peripheral small vessel involvement in chronic nephritides.

Small cutaneous vessels, obtained by ear lobe biopsies, were studied in 14 patients with various chronic nephritides and in 10 normal controls. The capillaries in the group of patients with nephritis were found to undergo two main changes: thickening of the adventitia reticularis and perivascular cellular infiltration in an inverse ratio. This infiltration was seen to be made up of mononuclear cells and an increased number of mast cells in various stages of degranulation. Changes in the basement membrane as seen by electron microscopy are not constant. All of the above changes were absent in the controls and are similar to what has been described in previous studies in both experimental and spontaneous pathologic conditions, such as experimental hypertension, diabetes mellitus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. Small vessel involvement in chronic nephritides could be part of a process of diffuse microvascular damage that includes the kidneys or it may be related to hypertension or to the biochemical changes which follow uremic and pre-uremic states.

Adolescent↗