OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate long-term weight loss in overweight hypertensive patients receiving dietary counseling. METHODS: Longitudinal study included overweight hypertensive patients who had an initial individual consultation with a nutritionist between January 2002 and December 2005 and were followed for four years in a hypertension clinic. Patients who had at least four consultations during the follow-up period were included in the dietary counseling group. Those who scheduled their first consultation but missed that appointment or had fewer than […]

INTRODUCTION: High blood pressure during mental stress in subjects with prehypertension is associated with blunted vasodilation in skeletal muscles, which might be improved by an acute bout of exercise. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the hemodynamic responses to mental stress before and after a bout of exercise in subjects with prehypertension. METHOD: Eighteen subjects with prehypertension and 16 with normotension underwent a mental stress test before and after a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test on a treadmill. Blood pressure was measured by auscultation, […]

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of rosuvastatin on renal injury and inflammation in a model of nitric oxide deficiency. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 10/group) and treated for 28 days with saline (CTRL); 30 mg/kg/day L-NAME (L-name); L-NAME and 20 mg/kg/day rosuvastatin (L-name+ROS-20); or L-NAME and 2 mg/kg/day rosuvastatin (L-name+ROS-2). Systolic blood pressure was measured by plethysmography in the central artery of the tail. The serum […]

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the influence of sildenafil on cardiac contractility and diastolic relaxation and examined the distribution of phosphodiesterase-5 in the hearts of hypertensive rats that were treated with by NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME). METHODS: Male Wistar rats were treated with L-NAME and/or sildenafil for eight weeks. The Langendorff method was used to examine the effects of sildenafil on cardiac contractility and diastolic relaxation. The presence and location of phosphodiesterase-5 and phosphodiesterase-3 were assessed by immunohistochemistry, and cGMP plasma levels […]

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Kidney disorders can cause essential hypertension, which can subsequently cause renal disease. High blood pressure is also common among those with chronic kidney disease; moreover, it is a well-known risk factor for a more rapid progression to kidney failure. Because hypertension and kidney function are closely linked, the present study aimed to observe the beneficial effects of low-intensity physical activity on structural and ultrastructural renal morphology and blood pressure in normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats. METHOD: Male […]

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of spironolactone on ventricular stiffness in spontaneously hypertensive adult rats subjected to high salt intake. INTRODUCTION: High salt intake leads to cardiac hypertrophy, collagen accumulation and diastolic dysfunction. These effects are partially mediated by cardiac activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. METHODS: Male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs, 32 weeks) received drinking water (SHR), a 1% NaCl solution (SHR-Salt), or a 1% NaCl solution with a daily subcutaneous injection of spironolactone (80 mg.kg-1) (SHRSalt- S). Age-matched normotensive […]

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the importance of providing guidelines to patients via active telephone calls for blood pressure control and for preventing the discontinuation of treatment among hypertensive patients. INTRODUCTION: Many reasons exist for non-adherence to medical regimens, and one of the strategies employed to improve treatment compliance is the use of active telephone calls. METHODS: Hypertensive patients (n=354) who could receive telephone calls to remind them of their medical appointments and receive instruction about hypertension were distributed into two groups: […]

The present review updates the current knowledge on the question of whether high fructose consumption is harmful or not and details new findings which further pushes this old debate. Due to large differences in its metabolic handling when compared to glucose, fructose was indeed suggested to be beneficial for the diet of diabetic patients. However its growing industrial use as a sweetener, especially in soft drinks, has focused attention on its potential harmfulness, possibly leading to dyslipidemia, obesity, insulin resistance/metabolic […]

Hypertension is a ubiquitous and serious disease. Regular exercise has been recommended as a strategy for the prevention and treatment of hypertension because of its effects in reducing clinical blood pressure; however, ambulatory blood pressure is a better predictor of target-organ damage than clinical blood pressure, and therefore studying the effects of exercise on ambulatory blood pressure is important as well. Moreover, different kinds of exercise might produce distinct effects that might differ between normotensive and hypertensive subjects. The aim […]

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe blood pressure responses during resistance exercise in hypertensive subjects and to determine whether an exercise protocol alters these responses. INTRODUCTION: Resistance exercise has been recommended as a complement for aerobic exercise for hypertensive patients. However, blood pressure changes during this kind of exercise have been poorly investigated in hypertensives, despite multiple studies of normotensives demonstrating significant increases in blood pressure. METHODS: Ten hypertensive and ten normotensive subjects performed, in random order, […]

BACKGROUND: Spontaneously hypertensive rats develop left ventricular hypertrophy, increased blood pressure and blood pressure variability, which are important determinants of heart damage, like the activation of renin-angiotensin system. AIMS: To investigate the effects of the time-course of hypertension over 1) hemodynamic and autonomic patterns (blood pressure; blood pressure variability; heart rate); 2) left ventricular hypertrophy; and 3) local and systemic Renin-angiotensin system of the spontaneously hypertensive rats. METHODS: Male spontaneously hypertensive rats were randomized into two groups: young (n=13) and […]

INTRODUCTION: The goal of antihypertensive treatment is to reduce blood pressure without interfering in health-related quality of life (HRQL) OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the influence of hypertension control upon HRQL in hypertensive patients with and without complications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-seven hypertensive outpatients (71% women, 58% white, 60% with elementary school level education, average age 54 ± 8 years) were observed during a 12-month special care program (phase 1: clinical visits every two months, donation of all antihypertensive […]

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the impairment of endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent coronary blood flow reserve after administration of intracoronary acetylcholine and adenosine, and its association with hypertensive cardiac disease. INTRODUCTION: Coronary blood flow reserve reduction has been proposed as a mechanism for the progression of compensated left ventricular hypertrophy to ventricular dysfunction. METHODS: Eighteen hypertensive patients with normal epicardial coronary arteries on angiography were divided into two groups according to left ventricular fractional shortening (FS). Group 1 (FS >0.25): n=8, FS=0.29 ± […]

BACKGROUND: Even with anti-hypertensive therapy, it is difficult to maintain optimal systemic blood pressure values in hypertensive patients. Exercise may reduce blood pressure in untreated hypertensive, but its effect when combined with long-term anti-hypertensive therapy remains unclear. Our purpose was to evaluate the acute effects of a single session of aerobic exercise on the blood pressure of long-term-treated hypertensive patients. METHODS: Fifty treated hypertensive patients (18/32 male/female; 46.5±8.2 years; Body mass index: 27.8±4.7 kg/m2) were monitored for 24 h with […]

OBJECTIVES: 1) To evaluate the compliance with drug treatment in patients with metabolic syndrome. 2) To determine association between access to and use of medicines, as well as the level of knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors and compliance. INTRODUCTION: Low compliance has been one of the greatest challenges for the successful treatment of chronic diseases. Although this issue has been widely studied in patients with isolated hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia, compliance studies involving patients with these concomitant diseases or with […]