An open clinical trial of benazepril--a new ACE inhibitor in mild-moderate hypertension.

Benazepril hydrochloride, a new non-sulfhydryl ACE inhibitor (ACEI) was studied in a titrated dose of 10 mg-20 mg once a day for 6 weeks in 42 mild to moderate adult hypertensive patients with sitting diastolic blood pressure (SDBP) 95-114 mm Hg. The pre-drug SDBP(mean +/- SE) of 102.5 +/- 0.8 mm Hg showed a significant reduction to 87.5 +/- 0.93 mm Hg at the end of treatment. BP was controlled (SDBP < or = 90 mm Hg) in 34 (81%) patients and a drop of at least 10 mm Hg from the pre-treatment SDBP value was noted in 34 (81%) patients. Common adverse reaction was cough in 8(19%) patients. Clinically significant changes in laboratory evaluations were not seen in any patient. Study showed that benazepril in a dose range of 10 to 20 mg per day is an effective agent for treatment of mild to moderate hypertension.

HIV in intensive care--a 3 years experience.

A three year prospective study of a total of 62 critically ill HIV patients in MICU showed a rising percentage from 0.86 in 1992 to 3.17 in 1994. Four major presentations were observed, neurological-20 patients (32.5%), sepsis syndrome-18 (29%), poisoning-10 (16.1%) and miscellaneous-14 (22.6%). Acute poisoning emerged as the most important preventable indication for MICU admissions. Interventions like CVP and haemodynamic monitoring-25 patients, endotracheal intubation-18, mechanical ventilation-14, tracheostomy-3, haemodialysis-3 were done when indicated. The mortality of the 14 ventilated patients was high at 92.9% compared to the overall HIV mortality of 46.8%. This study shows that critically ill HIV patients do deserve intensive care management with optimum infection control precautions. Survival of 53.2% is noteworthy in a resource stretched set up.

Cadmium and hypertension.

Hypertension is a very common and important disease of modern civilised life. There are comflicting reports about cadmium, a trace element in the genesis of essential hypertension. The present study was conducted to estimate the cadmium levels in whole blood in the normal group of thirty subjects who were normotensive and the same was compared to that of thirty hypertensive patients and the levels were found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05).

Amlodipine in mild and moderate hypertension: initial Indian experience.

In an open, non-comparative, variable-dose study, 20 outpatients with mild to moderate essential hypertension were treated with 5-10 mg amlodipine once daily for 4 weeks, after their blood pressures had stabilized on placebo. Amlodipine produced a significant decrease in blood pressure (P < 0.05) from the initial mean of 162/100 mm Hg to 139/85 mm Hg at 4 weeks. 80% of the patients reached the goal diastolic blood pressure of < or = 90 mm Hg with a once-daily dose of 5 mg amlodipine within 2 weeks. The remaining 20% also attained the goal diastolic blood pressure within 4 weeks, with a one-step increase in the dose to 10 mg at 2 weeks. Amlodipine maintained blood pressure reduction throughout the 24-hours dosing interval with a once-daily dose. Notably, no side effects were observed; pulse rate, electrocardiogram, and laboratory parameters were not significantly altered with therapy. Amlodipine in a single daily dose of 5-10 mg is effective and well tolerated in the treatment of patients with mild to moderate hypertension.

Opsoclonus.

Opsoclonus is a rare and dramatic ocular sign. A case of opsoclonus is reported here with an unusually located CNS lesion.

Facial nerve involvement in pseudotumor cerebri.

A woman with history of bifrontal headache, vomiting and loss of vision was diagnosed as a case of pseudotumor cerebri based on clinical and MRI findings. Bilateral abducens and facial nerve palsies were detected. Pseudotumor cerebri in this patient was not associated with any other illness or related to drug therapy. Treatment was given to lower the raised intracranial pressure to which the patient responded.

Plasma fibrinogen levels in stroke.

Plasma fibrinogen levels were estimated in 56 patients of stroke, admitted in the hospital within 24 hours of symptoms. The levels were found to be raised significantly (531.73 +/- 74 mg%) compared to those of the age and sex matched control group (445.78 +/- 92.28 mg%). When the levels in stroke group with one risk factor were compared to those of individuals with comparable control group with same risk factor, a significant difference was observed in hypertensive, smokers, alcoholics and atherosclerotic stroke groups, which indicates that the observed rise is related to phenomenon of stroke rather than the associated risk factors. However, the rise observed in hypertensive stroke group (554.26 +/- 47.08 mg%) is significantly more (p. less than 0.01) than that occurring for nonhypertensive stroke group (497.82 +/- 93.12 mg%) indicating that the presence of hypertension does contribute to the rise.