Incidence of metabolic disorders in patients with essential hypertension and patients with primary aldosteronism / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the incidence of metabolic disorders (MS) in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) and essential hypertension (EH).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>MS prevalence was observed in 200 EH patients (male 104) and 220 PA patients (male 117) hospitalized to our hospital from August 2005 to March 2007.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) The prevalence of MS in PA group was significantly higher than that of EH group (47.3% vs. 31.5%, P = 0.009). (2) Blood pressure was significantly higher in PA group than that of EH [SBP: (150.67 +/- 15.45) mm Hg vs. (145.69 +/- 17.13) mm Hg, P = 0.042; DBP: (93.03 +/- 10.51) mm Hg vs. (85.83 +/- 14.44) mm Hg, P = 0.037]. (3) Incidences of abdominal obesity (86.8% vs. 78.5%, P = 0.024) and insulin resistance (insulin sensitivity index: 42.42 +/- 16.11 vs. 49.58 +/- 22.43, P = 0.008) were significantly higher in PA group than in EH group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The prevalence of MS in hospitalized PA patients was significantly higher than that of EH patients characterized by prevalent abdominal obesity, insulin resistant and severe hypertension.</p>

Endothelial Progenitor Cells Derived from Human Umbilical Cord Blood Culture in Vitro with Differential Attachment Method / 中华高血压杂志

Objective To establish a practical,stable and high purity endothelial progenitor cells culture meth- od in vitro.Methods Human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll density-gradient cen- trifugation,then plated on dishes coated with human fibronectin.After 48 hours,the nonaderent cells were collect- ed and replated onto fibronectin-coated dishes.After 7 days of culture,the cells were identified with the techniques of immunohistochemistry,immunofluorescence and flow cytometer.Results The cultured cells were small and spindle or polygonal in shape.Large numbers of typical endothelial progenitor cell colony-forming units were found,vWF and Flk-1 proteins expression were identified in more than 95% of the attached cells with 98% of them showing positive Dil-ac-LDL and FITC-UEA-1.According to the results from fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS),7.0%?1.8% of cells were recognized as CD_(133)~+.Conclusion Differential attachment technique is a practical and stable method for obtaining highly purified endothelial progenitor cells.

Effects of diabetes mellitus on left ventricular geometry in essential hypertension / 上海第二医科大学学报

Objective To explore the effects of diabetes mellitus on the left ventricular geometry in essential hypertension(EH). Methods Patients with hypertension admitted between 2000 to 2007 were retrospectively analysed.Those meeting the study criteria were divided into EH group(n=1660) and EH with diabetes mellitus group(n=953).The general data,biochemical parameters and echocardiographic findings were analysed. Results Compared with EH group,the age,course of hypertension,body mass index,systolic blood pressure,fasting blood glucose and triglyceride were increased(P

Aldosterone-to-renin ratio threshold for screening primary aldosteronism in Chinese hypertensive patients / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>In recent years, the assessment of the plasma aldosterone-to-renin ratio (ARR) has become a most effectively and commonly used method for screening primary aldosteronism from hypertensive patients. It is known that there is a large variance in ARR value between races and ARR is affected by many factors, such as drugs, posture and serum potassium etc. The objective of this study is to establish the threshold of ARR for screening primary aldosteronism in Chinese hypertensive patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 110 hypertensive patients were recruited and divided into essential hypertension group (n=65) and adenoma/hyperplasia group (n=45) according to the adrenal contrast CT scan. Antihypertensive drugs which can affect ARR such as beta-blockers, dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (CCBs), ACE inhibitors (ACEIs), angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) and clonidine, were withdrawn for at least 2 weeks. Washout period for diuretics including spironolactone were 4 weeks. Non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (slow released verapamil) and/or alpha-blocker (terazosin) are allowed for controlling blood pressure when needed. If the serum potassium value<3.6 mmol/L, an oral potassium supplement was prescribed. After keeping upright position for 2 hours, blood samples were drawn for PRA and PAC measurement between 9:00AM-10:00AM.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>ARR was 100.00+/-48.65 (14.19-285.16) pg/ml vs ngxml-1xh-1 in patients with essential hypertension and 699.33+/-213.33 (185.8-2150) pg/ml vs ngxml-1xh-1 in patients with adenoma/hyperplasia. ARR value was greater than 240 in 42 out of 45 patients (93.3%) with adenoma/hyperplasia and was less than 240 in 59 out of 65 (90.7%) patients with essential hypertension. We used ARR 240 as the cut-off threshold for screening primary aldosteronism in another 178 hypertensive patients and ARR was greater than 240 in all 15 patients with confirmed primary aldosteronism.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>It is suitable to use upright ARR 240 as a cut-off threshold for screening primary aldosteronism in Chinese hypertensive patients.</p>

No association between 3 polymorphisms of transforming growth factor beta3 gene and essential hypertension in Chinese / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate possible association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of transforming growth factor beta3 (TGF-beta3) gene and essential hypertension (EH) in Chinese.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The promoter region, exons, as well as part of the introns of TGF-beta3 gene were sequenced by a fluorescent labeling automatic sequencing method to detect and characterize the SNPs in 24 DNA samples from a Chinese population. Then we conducted a case-control study using 396 patients with hypertension (case) and 214 nomortensive subjects (control). The three SNPs including Thr63Asn, SS5608219 and SS5608220 were genotyped by PCR-RFLP or real-time allele-specific PCR in subjects studied.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Seven SNPs in the exons, introns and 3'untranslated region (3'UTR) of TGF-beta3 gene were identified. Among them, 2 SNPs were found to be novel genetic variants and one of the two located in the exon 1 and produced substitution of amino acid. However, no differences were found between hypertensives and nomortensives in genotype distribution and allele frequency of SS5608219, Thr63Asn or SS5608220 polymorphisms.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Two novel SNPs of TGF-beta3 gene were identified in Chinese. One of them produces a threonine to asparagines substitution in codon 63 (Thr63Asn). But no association was found between TGF-beta3 gene polymorphisms and EH in Chinese.</p>