Urinary Excretion of Vanillymandelic Acid in Normal Korean Adults and in Patients with Primary Hypertension

Urinary excretion of vanillymandelic acid (VMA) during a period of 24 hours was determined in 127 normal Korean adults and in 27 patients suffering from primary hypertension. The diurnal and nocturnal variations of urinary VMA excretion were measured in 3O normal persons and 11 patients with primary hypertension, and the day to day variations of urinary VMA excretion in l2 normal persons. The mean daily output of urinary VMA was fairly constant in each individual but varied widely between individuals. The mean daily output of urinary VMA in normal Korean adults is 1.95 +/- 1.15 (S.D.)mg, which is similar to that observed in occidentals. There is no significant difference between the nocturnal and the diurnal excretion of VMA. The mean daily output of urinary VMA in patients with primary hypertension was 2.17 +/- 0.76(S.D.) mg. This means that there is no significant variation in the urinary excretion of VMA between normal adults and patients with primary hypertension. Furthermore, the urinary output of VMA is not influenced by the sex.

A Study of Household Contacts of Cases with Pulmonary Tuberculosis

When a Korean child is living in close contact with a person with active pulmonary tuberculosis, the risk of his acquiring the disease is great. In seeking an effective means of reducing this risk to the chi1d, isoniazid was given as secondary chemoprophylaxis to 233 tuberculin-positive children under 5 years of age who were clinically free of disease but were living in close contact with a household member with active tuberculosis. The condition of these children after 9 to 12 months of chemoprophylaxis was compared with a similar control group of 216 children living under exact1y comparable circumstances. An analysis of tile results of this study indicates that secondary chemoprophylaxis with isoniazid is effective and worthwhile for children under 4 years of age who are under constant exposure to tuberculosis. That there was such a protection is indicated by the fact that (1) isoniazid markedly reduced the size of the tuberculin reaction and that (2) only 2 children receiving isoniazid developed active tuberculosis (0.8%) as against the 8 controls who did (3.70%). The faithful cooperation of parents in administering prophylactic isoniazid to small children is often difficult to obtain. This difficulty is suggested by the fact that in the case of the 2 children in the isoniazid test group who developed active tuberculosis, the actual drug intake had been irregularly given and amounted to less than half the prescribed dose.