Russian immigrant cardiovascular risk assessment.

Immigration from the former Soviet Union has been increasing. In 1990, there were 454,000 Russian immigrants living in the United States. Lifestyle habits prevalent in Russia, including smoking, alcoholism, and little preventive health, are compelling medical and economic reasons to understand the health status of this population. This study identified a cohort of Russian-born subjects living in Denver to characterize their cardiovascular risk profile. Using a risk assessment questionnaire, 204 Russian immigrants were screened. Seventy-one percent had Medicaid insurance; 14 percent were medically indigent. Those aged 55 to 64 years had a higher prevalence of hyperlipidemia (p < 0.04) and hypertension (p < 0.03) than U.S. counterparts; those age 20 to 34 and 65 to 74 years had a higher prevalence of hypertension (p < 0.00001). Almost half of the participants had two or more cardiac risk factors. Cardiac risk factor identification and intervention programs may help to reduce the health care costs for these patients.

The effect of chlorothiazide on neurally mediated contraction of rabbit bronchial smooth muscle.

The neuromodulatory action of chlorothiazide (CTZ) was investigated in isolated rabbit bronchial smooth muscle (BSM) segments contracted with electrical field stimulation (ES). The tissues were placed in organ baths and stimulated with ES frequencies ranging from 1 to 75 Hz. CTZ (10(-4) to 10(-3) M) produced dose-dependent increases in ES-induced contractions. In the presence of 10(-3) M CTZ, the mean +/- SEM maximal tension (Tmax) induced by ES increased significantly (p less than 0.03) from 292.8 +/- 39.5 to 363.0 +/- 58.5 g/g tissue. BSM sensitivity to ES, expressed as the log ES frequency producing 50% of Tmax (i.e., log ES50) was also increased (p less than 0.001) in the presence of CTZ as indicated by a fall in the mean +/- SEM log ES50 from 1.05 +/- 0.05 to 0.804 +/- 0.09 Hz. The potentiating effect of CTZ on ES-induced contractions was independently blocked by either the neurotoxin, tetrodotoxin (4 x 10(-6) M), or the cholinergic antagonist, atropine (10(-5) M). In the presence of CTZ, the mean Tmax response to acetylcholine (ACh) was unaffected, whereas BSM sensitivity to the agonist increased significantly (p less than 0.001). On the other hand, the dose-response relationship to carbachol, a cholinergic agonist resistant to cholinesterase degradation, was unaffected by CTZ. In tissues pretreated with 10(-5) M neostigmine, an acetylcholinesterase (AChase) inhibitor, CTZ did not further augment either ES- or ACh-induced contractions. Taken together, these findings suggested that CTZ might be acting as an AChase inhibitor.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)