[The role and importance of ambulatory monitoring of blood pressure in the diagnosis, control and therapy of hypertension]. / Místo a význam ambulantního monitorování krevního tlaku v diagnostice, kontrole a terapii hypertenze.

For the diagnosis, control and treatment of hypertension for non-invasive assessment of the blood pressure at present a combination of three methods is used. Clinical assessment (by a physician in the surgery or in bed in bedridden patients) is the basic approach, if necessary supplemented by assessment at home and/or ambulatory monitoring of the blood pressure. Twenty-four-hour ambulatory monitoring can provide representative blood pressure readings. It furnishes information which cannot be obtained in another way; if correctly indicated and the results are used in practice, it is effective and economical. It permits evaluation of the blood pressure response to physical and emotional activity in the course of the day, to assess changes of blood pressure during sleep and to define the prognosis of the disease more accurately. It makes it possible to establish a correct indication of medicamentous therapy, selection of effective drugs and correct timing of the doses. In the submitted paper the authors describe also the limitations of the method as well as possible complications during implementation. Long-term monitoring of the blood pressure should resolve special problems in selected groups of patients. In indicated cases it should be available also in this country and introduced to an appropriate extent also in selected departments concerned with hypertensiology.

Development of aminotransferase activities in the serum of young rats born to normal females and to females exposed to intermittent hypoxia during pregnancy.

In the rat, aspartate aminotransferase (GOT) and alanine aminotransferase (GPT) activity increase during early postnatal ontogenesis. The development of these enzyme activities also remains normal in young whose mothers were repeatedly exposed to altitude hypoxia at a simulated altitude of 5 000 m during the whole of pregnancy.

[Lactic acid content and total saccharides in postmortem tissues and expressing the degree of probability in interpreting the findings]. / Obsah kyseliny mlécné a sumy sacharidu ve tkáních post mortem a vyjádrení míry pravdepodobnosti prí interpretaci nálezu.

In representative victims of aircraft accidents whose death had occurred under known conditions, a mathematically statistical evaluations of the results of biochemical examinations of the brain, heart, liver and muscular tissue has been performed. The importance of the determination of the lactic acid contents and of those of the sum of the saccharides for the purpose of an anterograde evaluation of the premortal state of the organism, has been demonstrated, and the boundary line levels of the values enabling the expression of probability in the conclusion of an expertise, have been calculated. This method of biochemical examination may be used even in common forensic medical practice, especially for the purpose of examination of cases of violent death.

Effect of long-term hypoxia upon the activity of some enzymes in the brain of rats during early postnatal ontogenesis and in adulthood.

Enzymatic activities were determined in the prosencephalon of rats which had been exposed repeatedly for 8 hrs, either from the age of 1 to 17 days or in adulthood, to an altitude of 7,000 m in a barometric chamber (up to a total of 104 hrs). The activity of enzymes was assayed 20 hrs after the last exposure. The results were compared with values obtained 20 hrs after a single 8-hour exposure to a stimulated altitude of 7,000 m in 17-day-old and adult rats. In young rats a single exposure to hypoxia, the most elevated was the activity of LDH and isoCDH, while GPT and CPK were decreased. After repeated hypoxia, the most significant increasw was noted in the activity of PK and again a decrease in GPT and CPK. In adulthood, a single exposure to hypoxia causes the greatest increase in CPK, while LDH and GOT are reduced. Following repeated hypoxia, none of the enzyme activities were increased by more than 20%, while LDH, GOT, GIDH and CPK were again lower. It is concluded from these results that a single exposure to hypoxia increases anaerobic glycolysis in the immature nervous tissue and improves its oxygen utilization. The relationship between glycid and amino acid metabolism are not appreciably altered. On the other hand, a general reduction of bioenergetics and biosynthesis occurs in adulthood. Repeated hypoxia, on the contrary, has similar after-effects in both age groups, namely inhibition of aerobic metabolism and of the relations between glycid and amino acid metabolism.