1,720,981 research outputs found
How to Improve Patients' Adherence to Antihypertensive Therapy. A Simple Solution for a Big Trouble
No full textNo abstract availabl
Xanthine oxidase inhibitors in elderly patients with heart failure. useful or useless?
No full textElevated serum uric acid levels have been progressively emerged as a powerful and independent risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, coronary artery disease, stroke and congestive heart failure. It has been also reported strong, positive and independent correlations between high-serum levels of uric acid and metabolic abnormalities, including hypercholesterolemia, atherogenic dyslipidaemia, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. Additionally, high serum uric acid levels are able to predict progression from end-stage renal and heart failure and they have been related to worsen prognosis and increased risk of cardiovascular death in many observational studies. On the other hand, several reports have demonstrated that reducing levels of serum uric acid levels with xanthine oxidase inhibitors was associated with better prognosis and improved event-free survival rate in different cardiovascular settings, including hypertension, coronary artery disease, and even congestive heart failure. On the basis of these consideration, high-serum levels of uric acid should never be neglected or ignored, independently by the clinical context or the clinical condi- tion in which they are observe
Excess of dyslipidemia in low income countries. The case of Colombia in the PURE study
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Hypertensive crisis management in the emergency room. time to change?
No full textA rapid, marked and persistent rise in blood pressure (BP) levels above 180/120 mmHg is a clinical condition currently defined as hypertensive emergency or urgency in the presence or absence of acute signs of hypertension-mediated organ damage, respectively [1]. Beyond the magnitude of BP rise and absolute BP levels, early recognition of these conditions is crucial from both a prognostic and a therapeutic point of view. Indeed, current European guidelines recommend clinical observation with repeated BP measurements and gradual BP reductions throughout the administration of oral antihypertensive drug therapies in individuals with hypertensive urgencies [2]. On the other hand, patients with hypertensive emergencies should immediately receive pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for lowering BP levels, mostly through the administration of intravenous drugs, and undergo specific treatment protocols for the clinical management of associated clinical conditions, such as acute coronary syndromes, stroke, pulmonary oedema, eclampsia, and aortic dissection [2]. Similar recommendations have been issued by the United States guidelines on hypertension [3]
Stereopsis in sports: Visual skills and visuomotor integration models in professional and non-professional athletes
Full text linkVisual skills in sport are considered relevant variables of athletic performance. However, data on the specific contribution of stereopsis—as the ability to perceive depth—in sport performance are still scarce and scattered in the literature. The aim of this review is therefore to take stock of the effects of stereopsis on the athletic performance, also looking at the training tools to improve visual abilities and potential differences in the visuomotor integration processes of professional and non-professional athletes. Dynamic stereopsis is mainly involved in catching or interceptive actions of ball sports, whereas strategic sports use different visual skills (peripheral and spatial vision) due to the sport-specific requirements. As expected, professional athletes show better visual skills as compared to non-professionals. However, both non-professional and professional athletes should train their visual skills by using sensory stations and light boards systems. Non-professional athletes use the visual inputs as the main method for programming motor gestures. In contrast, professional athletes integrate visual information with sport expertise, thus, they encode the match (or the athletic performance) through a more complex visuomotor integration system. Although studies on visual skills and stereopsis in sports still appear to be in their early stages, they show a large potential for both scientific knowledge and technical development
Antihypertensive drugs and the risks of cancer: more fakes than facts
No full textIn the last century, the diffusion of medical news to the public has been profoundly changed by the progressive spread of more pervasive, but at the same time often unreliable, means of communication. The misinterpretation of scientific evidence or fallacious presentation through social media could play as a great drawback to the success in the management of many diseases. This may become particularly alarming when concerning chronic diseases widely affecting the population. Arterial hypertension is still today one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in most countries, and its management generally requires chronic therapy lasting for decades. Therefore, a recent debate about the potential oncogenic effect of antihypertensive drugs has been made widely available to patients mostly through social media. Since this is a topic of great impact for millions of patients and of main relevance for the scientific community, it must not be contaminated by the spread of fake or twisted news. The objective of this article is to briefly discuss the almost complete lack of hard evidence about the potential oncogenic effect of the major classes of antihypertensive drugs as opposed to the exaggerated mediatic communication and impact of scattered and unconfirmed observations. We believe that it is of key importance to provide authoritative support for patients and clinicians from scientific societies and guidelines to balance an unopposed widespread penetration of twisted or even fake news
Home blood pressure and telemedicine: a modern approach for managing hypertension during and after COVID-19 pandemic
No full textHypertension is the most common cardiovascular risk factor for acute cardiovascular outcomes, including acute coronary disease, stroke, chronic kidney disease and congestive heart failure. Despite the fact that it represents the most prevalent risk factor in the general population, mostly in elderly individuals, its awareness is still relatively low, being about one third of patients living with undiagnosed hypertension and high risk of experiencing acute cardiovascular events. In addition, though recent improvement in pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapeutic options, hypertension is largely uncontrolled, with about 35–40% of treated hypertensive patients achieving the recommended therapeutic targets. Among different modern interventions proposed for improving blood pressure control in treated hypertensive patients, a systematic adoption of home BP monitoring has demonstrated to be one of the most effective. Indeed, it improves patients’ awareness of the disease and adherence to prescribed medications and allows tailoring and personalizing BP lowering therapies. Home BP monitoring is particularly suitable for telemedicine and mobile-health solutions. Indeed, in specific conditions, when face-to-face interactions between patients and physicians are not allowed or even suspended, as in case of COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine may ensure effective management of hypertension, as well as other cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular comorbidities. This review will summarize strengths and limitations of telemedicine in the clinical management of hypertension with a particular focus on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic
Blood Pressure Targets Achievement According to 2018 ESC/ESH Guidelines in Three European Excellence Centers for Hypertension
No full textIntroduction: The most recent European guidelines on hypertension redefined office blood pressure (BP) treatment targets according to age strata and cardiovascular (CV) risk profile. Aim: To evaluate proportions of adult outpatients achieving office BP treatment targets recommended by current compared to previous hypertension guidelines. Methods: We extracted data from medical databases of adult outpatients followed in three excellence centers in hypertension (Rome, Italy; L’Aquila, Italy; Valencia, Spain). Office BP treatment targets were defined according to either 2013 ESH/ESC guidelines (< 140/90 mmHg in non-diabetic individuals aged 18–80 years, < 150/90 mmHg in those aged ≥ 80 years, and < 140/85 mmHg in diabetic individuals), or 2018 ESC/ESH guidelines: (< 130/80 mmHg in individuals aged 18–65 years, < 140/80 mmHg in those aged 65–79 and ≥ 80 years). SCORE risk was assessed in all patients. Results: From an overall sample of 14,229 adult subjects, 4049 (28.5%) resulted normotensive individuals, 3088 (21.7%) were untreated and 7092 (49.8%) treated hypertensive outpatients. Treated hypertensives showed significantly higher ESC score risk (8.3 ± 13.0% vs. 3.9 ± 8.4%; P < 0.001) and lower systolic/diastolic BP (140.6 ± 18.8/83.9 ± 11.5 vs. 148.3 ± 14.2/94.7 ± 10.1 mmHg; P < 0.001) than untreated hypertensives. Compared to previous guidelines, BP control significantly lowered in non-diabetic outpatients (n = 5847) of all age groups [18–65 years: (13.1% vs. 42.9%), 65–79 years (25.8% vs. 42.5%) and ≥ 80 years (29.1% vs. 66.0%); P < 0.001 for all comparisons]; similar reductions were observed in diabetic outpatients (n = 1245) [18–65 years (32.7% vs. 14.8%), 65–79 years (37.3% vs. 24.7%) and ≥ 80 years (47.1% vs. 27.9%); P < 0.001]. Conclusions: According to the recommended new office BP treatment targets, the proportions of treated uncontrolled hypertensive patients substantially increased. These findings should prompt a tighter application of therapeutic recommendations and, thus, highlight the need for improving hypertension management and control strategies
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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