Association between blood pressure, inflammation and spirometry parameters in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Many systems including the cardiovascular system (ischemic heart diseases, heart failure, and hypertension) may act as comorbidities that can be seen during the course of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Comorbidities affect the severity and prognosis of COPD negatively. Nearly 25% of patients with COPD die due to cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between the blood pressure, inflammation, hypoxia, hypercapnia, and the severity of airway obstruction. METHODS: We included 75 COPD patients in the study with 45 control cases. We evaluated age, sex, body mass index, smoking history, C-reactive protein levels, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure Holter monitoring, arterial blood gas, and respiratory function tests of the patient and the control groups. RESULTS: In COPD patients, the night time systolic, diastolic blood pressures and pulse per minute and the mean blood pressures readings were significantly elevated compared to the control group (p < 0.05). In the correlation analysis, night time systolic pressure was associated with all the parameters except forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁%). Diastolic blood pressure was associated with pH and HCO₃ levels. The mean night time, day time pulse pressures and 24-hour pulse per minute values were also associated with all the parameters except FEV₁%. CONCLUSIONS: In this study we found that parameters of systolic and diastolic blood pressures and pulse pressures were significantly elevated in COPD patients compared to the control groups. Blood pressure was associated blood gas parameters and inflammation parameters in COPD patients. This, in turn, may cause understanding of the pathophysiology of COPD and its complications.

Central Sagittal Angle of the Sacrum as a New Risk Factor for Patients with Persistent Low Back Pain after Caesarean Section

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective. PURPOSE: This study investigated the possible association of persistent low back pain (LBP) with caesarean section (CS) under spinal anesthesia. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: Many women suffer from LBP after CS, which is commonly performed under spinal anesthesia. However, this type of LBP is poorly understood, and there is poor consensus regarding increased risk after spinal anesthesia. METHODS: We examined two groups of patients who underwent cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia. Group I included patients who presented to a neurosurgical clinic complaining of LBP for at least 6 months. Group II was a control group with patients without LBP. We analyzed clinical and sagittal angle parameters, including age, body mass index, parity, central sagittal angle of the sacrum (CSAS), and sacral slope (SS). RESULTS: Fifty-three patients participated in this study: 23 (43.1%) in Group I and 30 (56.9%) in Group II. Non-parametric Mann–Whitney U-tests showed that age, parity, and CSAS significantly differed between the two groups at 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: Age, parity, and CSAS appear to be associated with increased risk for LBP after CS under spinal anesthesia. Future prospective studies on this subject may help validate our results.

Effect of testosterone propionate on hippocampal pyramidal neuron number in female rats

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>The hippocampus is an important region of the brain that regulates cognitive and emotional functions. In this study, we examined the impact of perinatal administration of testosterone propionate (TP) on the number of pyramidal neurons in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampi of female rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Five groups of rats were used in this study. Three groups of female rats were administered TP in either both the prenatal and the postnatal periods (Group 1), only the prenatal period (Group 2) or only the postnatal period (Group 3). The other two groups of rats included control females (Group 4) and control males (Group 5). The rats were sacrificed on postnatal Day 120 and their brains were analysed for hippocampal pyramidal neuron number using stereological methods.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Control male rats (Group 5; p = 0.043) and TP-treated female rats in Groups 1 (p = 0.012) and 2 (p = 0.037), but not Group 3 (p > 0.05), had a significantly higher number of pyramidal neurons than control female rats (Group 4). The rats in Group 1 had the highest number of pyramidal neurons among the female rats.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Perinatal TP treatment has an augmenting effect on the number of pyramidal neurons in the hippocampi of female rats. We also found gender-based differences in the hippocampi of male and female rats, with a higher number of pyramidal neurons seen in male rats. Continuous TP administration during the prenatal and postnatal periods is more effective than administration only in the prenatal or postnatal period.</p>

Serum arylesterase activity is negatively correlated with inflammatory markers in patients with acute coronary syndromes

To examined whether serum paraoxonase [PON1] and arylesterase [ARE] activities are correlated with inflammatory biomarkers [procalcitonin and high sensitivity C-reactive protein [hs-CRP] in patients with acute coronary syndrome [ACS]. This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Departments of Cardiology and Biochemistry, Uludag University School of Medicine, Bursa, Turkey, from April 2007 to December 2007. Seventy-eight consecutive patients with ACS and 39 healthy controls were investigated. Acute coronary syndrome patients were divided into 3 groups according to their clinical presentation: unstable angina pectoris [UAP] [Braunwald III-B, n=25], non-ST elevation myocardial infarction [NSTEMI] [n=18], and ST-elevation myocardial infarction [STEMI] [n=35]. Serum PON1/ARE activities were measured spectrophotometrically. Levels of procalcitonin and hs-CRP were measured by immunoassay. Paraoxonase/ARE activities were significantly lower in all patient groups compared to controls. No correlation between PON1/ARE activities and high-density-cholesterol levels was seen. Among ACS patients, serum ARE activity correlated inversely with baseline and 48-hour procalcitonin [r=-0.577, p=0.009, and r=-0.642, p=0.019] and hs-CRP levels [r=-0.614, p=0.03, and r=-0.719, p=0.044]. Serum ARE activity is reduced in ACS patients and inversely correlated with inflammatory markers