Plasma adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine in pregnancy hypertension.

The resting plasma adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine were measured in nine hypertensive women and seven normotensive women in the third trimester of pregnancy on two successive days. The mean plasma adrenaline concentrations on the two days in the hypertensive women (442 and 298 pg/ml) were significantly higher than in the normotensive women (43.9 and 61.6 pg/ml). The mean plasma noradrenaline concentrations in the hypertensive women (232 and 274 pg/ml) were higher than in the normotensive women (48 and 110 pg/ml) and the difference was significant on Day 1 but not Day 2. The mean plasma dopamine concentrations in the hypertensive women (98.6 and 62.1 pg/ml) were higher than in the normotensive women (23.2 and 26.0 pg/ml) and the difference was significant on Day 1 but not Day 2. The plasma adrenaline/noradrenaline ratios were significantly increased in the hypertensive compared with the normotensive women on both days. It is suggested that sympathetic nervous system activity may be increased in some women with hypertension in pregnancy.

Evaluation of the 3-drug combination, Rifater, versus 4-drug therapy in the ambulatory treatment of tuberculosis in Cape Town.

The subjective impression among clinicians that the use of Rifater was causing delayed sputum conversion and increased drug resistance was tested in a prospective study. Adults in the Cape Town municipal area with a first episode of pulmonary tuberculosis were treated either with Rifater or a regimen consisting of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol. All patients who took the treatment as prescribed (67 Rifater, 39 the 4-drug regimen) converted to a negative sputum culture by the time 90 doses had been taken. The rates of inadequate compliance and of side-effects were similar in the two groups. Drug sensitivity testing of bacteria cultured from pre-treatment sputum specimens revealed an overall primary resistance rate of 4.84% in the population studied, sufficiently low to preclude any necessity for routine pre-treatment drug sensitivity testing.