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The authors reflect on a lack of international cooperation in having blood pressure related disease seen as a global health problem. They suggest that despite the fact that blood pressure related diseases have killed more than 50 million people cardiovascular disease is a massive problem that few want to acknowledge and fewer want to tackle. They argue that the issue of blood pressure related disease cannot continue to be ignored by those most able to bring about change.

Focuses on two studies by Jens Jordan and colleagues which report that oral water has substantial pressor effects. Effect that drinking water has on the blood pressures of healthy individuals, as well as those with orthostatic hypotension, Parkinson's disease and autonomic failure; Factors influencing blood pressure; Conclusion that the precise mechanisms causing the pressor response to oral water, especially in patients with sympathetic denervation, still remain to be determined.

Discusses how carotid chemoreceptors are associated with the control of ventilation and the hypoxic drive to breathe. Controversial relations between cardiovascular disease and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA); Comparison of arterial blood pressure in healthy people and in OSA patients; Study by V.K. Somers et al that suggests how carotid chemoreceptor stimulation by hypoxia may be relevant to the increased sympathetic activity found in OSA.

Focuses on techniques used to protect against loss of renal function. Inhibition of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) combined with a low-protein diet as an effective method of restricting protein excretion; Lowering blood pressure; Options for reducing residual proteinuria, including titration of therapy.

We gave captopril (25 mg) to nine pregnant and eight non-pregnant women. From baseline to 60 min post-captopril, mean arterial pressure decreased significantly more in pregnant than in non-pregnant women (mean 15.0 [SE 2.5] vs 5.2 [1.2] mm Hg; difference 9.8 [95% CI 3.9-15.9] mm Hg, p = 0.0036), whereas plasma renin activity increased significantly more in the pregnant group (18.0 [5.5] vs 4.5 [1.9] ng mL-1 h-1; difference 13.5 [0.71-26.5], p = 0.043). These findings support the hypothesis that stimulation of the renin-angiotensin system in pregnancy maintains blood pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previews a study by Forte et al. in the March 22, 1997 issue of `The Lancet' which provides further information of the physiological effects of nitric oxide (NO) on blood pressure. The study attempting to control dietary nitrate, an oxidative metabolite of nitric oxide; Focus also on arginine-derived nitrite; Conclusion that the nitrite represents some index of endogenous NO synthase activity; Mechanism of action; Need for further study.

The article focuses on the case of a 30 year old doctoral student who presented to doctors after having found blood in his ejaculate over the course of two months. The student indicated that he had received no injuries to the genitals or to the prostate and was referred to a genitourinary clinic. Following examination the student was found to have extremely high blood pressure which had not been diagnosed and had remained untreated. A discussion of the patient's treatment with blood pressure medicine and subsequent recovery is presented.

Focuses on the importance of systolic blood-pressure control in older adults. Advisory statement by the United States National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute indicating that the systolic pressure is a predictor of adverse cardio-vascular events; Comment of study lead author Joseph Izzo of State University of New York at Buffalo about hypertension.

Profiles Corneille Jean Francois Heymans, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1938. Birth in Ghent, Belgium; Education; Discovery of the role of chemoreceptors in proprioceptive regulation of arterial blood pressure and hypertension.