Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is associated with impaired baroreflex at rest and during orthostatic stress in hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy.

The study aimed to determine the relationship between left ventricular (LV) diastolic function and the heart's spontaneous baroreflex at rest and in response to orthostatic stress during a prospective follow-up of hypertensive patients with LV hypertrophy (LVH+). LV structure and function and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) during tilt testing were evaluated in 24 LVH+ patients and compared with 25 age-matched healthy controls and 25 hypertensive patients without LVH (LVH-). Clinical status, diastolic function and BRS were then assessed in LVH+ patients during treatment with telmisartan (monotherapy or combined with hydrochlorothiazide and/or amlodipine) at 6- and 18-month follow-ups. LVH+ patients had significantly altered diastolic function indices and decreased BRS as compared with healthy controls and LVH- patients. During the 18-month follow-up, favorable changes in diastolic function were associated with improvement in BRS at rest and during tilting. In multivariate regression models, an index reflecting rate of LV myocardial relaxation (E'sept) where E'sept denotes peak early diastolic velocity at the septal mitral annulus and a surrogate for LV filling pressure (E/E'sept), independently from other clinical and echocardiographic variables related to the low-frequency component of BRS during tilting. In conclusion, the LV diastolic function indices have independent associations with BRS parameters obtained at rest and during orthostatic stress in LVH+ patients receiving long-term pharmacological intervention.

[An information system for analyzing the need for examining certain aspects of radiologic contamination caused by the Czernobyl catastrophe]. / System informacyjny na potrzeby badan niektórych skutków skazenia radiologicznego po awarii Czarnobylskiej.

In this paper we briefly report a set of programming tools designed to support the analysis of some aspects of radiological contamination caused by Tchernobyl catastrophe. First of all a system for data storing is characterized; after mentioning basic data structures, two mutations of this system are described (one version for data collected during a pilot study and the second for the main investigation). Next the problems of data analysis are discussed. Again we distinguish between pilot and main analysis. A simple query language is introduced and the procedures for coding some variables are mentioned. Lastly the problems and difficulties arising during the whole analysis are specified.