[Daily living with hypertension: changes, restrictions and reactions]. / O cotidiano da vida de hipertensos: mudanças, restrições e reações.

Aiming to describe daily living of hypertensive people after Arterial Hypertension (AH) diagnoses and to identify changes in their lives. The method of inquiry used was descriptive and qualitative using discursive method to figure out theme factors. The results showed different behaviors/reactions of being sick according to their daily living after discovering AH, that not always happened at the same time that the antihypertensive treatment began. Those differences seems to be associated with individual understanding of sickness itself and of impact in their lives. So, getting along with hypertension is to learn about the sickness and symptoms and also make the necessary changes.

DL-methionine supplementation of rice-and-bean diets affects gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase activity and glutathione content in livers of growing rats.

Gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT-EC 2.3.2.2) activity and glutathione (GSH) content were measured in livers of female weanling Wistar rats (N = 5-18), submitted to rice-and-bean diets (13 and 6% w/w protein), both supplemented or not with DL-methionine (0.5 and 0.23 g/100 g dry diet, respectively). After 28 days, the rats on the rice-and-bean diets showed significantly higher levels (four times higher) of liver GGT activity and a concomitant 50% lower concentration of liver GSH in comparison with control groups feeding on casein. The addition of DL-methionine to rice-and-bean diets significantly increased the liver GSH content, which reached levels 50% higher than those found in animals on casein diets. The increase in GSH was accompanied by a decrease in liver GGT activity, which did not reach levels as low as those observed in the control groups. No significant correlation could be established between GGT and GSH changes under the present experimental conditions. Linear correlation analysis only revealed that in animals submitted to unsupplemented rice-and-bean diets GSH concentration was positively associated (P < 0.05) with weight gain, food intake and food efficiency. GGT, however, was negatively correlated (P < 0.05) with food intake only, and exclusively for supplemented rice-and-bean diets. The high levels of GGT activity observed in the present study for rats receiving a rice-and-bean mixture could be a result of the poor quality of these diets associated with their deficiency in sulfur amino acids. The results also suggest that diet supplementation with methionine could be important in the reduction of the deleterious effects of GSH depletion by restoring the intracellular concentration of this tripeptide.

DL-methionine supplementation of rice-and-bean diets affects gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase activity and glutathione content in livers of growing rats

Gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT-EC 2.3.2.2) activity and glutathione (GSH) content were measured in livers of female weanling Wistar rats (N = 5-18), submitted to rice-and-bean diets (13 and 6 per cent w/w protein), both supplemented or not with DL-methionine (0.5 and 0.23 g/100 g dry diet, respectively). After 28 days, the rats on the rice-and-bean diets showed significantly higher levels (four times higher) of liver GGT activity and a concomitant 50 per cent lower concentration of liver GSH in comparison with control groups feeding on casein. The addition of DL-methionine to rice-and-bean diets significantly increased the liver GSH content, which reached levels 50 per cent higher than those found in animals on casein diets. The increase in GSH was accompanied by a decrease in liver GGT activity, which did not reach levels as low as those observed in the control groups. No significant correlation could be established between GGT and GSH changes under the present experimental conditions. Linear correlation analysis only revealed that in animals submitted to unsupplemented rice-and-bean diets GSH concentration was positively associated (P<0.05) with weight gain, food intake and food efficiency. GGT, however, was negatively correlated (P<0.05) with food intake only, and exclusively for supplemented rice-and-bean diets. The high levels of GGT activity observed in the present study for rats receiving a rice-and-bean mixture could be a result of the poor quality of these diets associated with their deficiency in sulfur amino acids. The results also suggest that diet supplementation with methionine could be important in the reduction of the deleterious effects of GSH depletion by restoring the intracellular concentration of this tripeptide.

[Problems and solutions for patients with hypertension]. / Dificuldades e facilidades dos doentes no seguimento do tratamento da hipertensão arterial.

This study aims to identify difficulties and facilities of the patients in following the treatment of the arterial hypertension; and, to verify differences that exist between those difficulties and facilities in two moments of the trajectory--in the ambulatorial treatment and in the hospital stay. For this quantitative, descriptive study, 34 patients with medical diagnosis of arterial hypertension or its complications were interviewed, being 17 registered in the ambulatorial unit and 17 hospitalized in the nephrology unit. The results of the study revealed that, in general, there were no differences among the difficulties and the facilities referred by the patients for the following of the treatment in the two studied moments. The difficulties and facilities pointed out by the patients refer to the financing of the treatment (medication purchase and expenses with transport); accessibility to the service (easiness in marking medical consultation and distance of the service of health); change of alimentary habit (hipossodic diet), and the importance of the family support in this trajectory.