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Purpose: This study was conducted in a rat model to determine whether there is a sex-difference in susceptibility to epinephrine-induced cardiac dysrhythmias. Background: Increased stress is associated with negative health [...]

Two research groups in both North and South America independently discovered that renin released a novel vasopressor agent. The Argentine group named it hypertensin, and called its plasma protein substrate hypertensinogen. The group from the United States named it angiotonin. In 1958, Braun Menendez and Irvine Page suggested that the peptide should be named angiotensin. The combined name eventually became commonly used to avoid linguistic confusion. Research scientists and physicians today acknowledge that studies of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) have greatly improved our understanding of several diseases. Certainly, medical practice profited significantly from the synthesis and application of numerous pharmacological agents that antagonize either the biosynthesis or pharmacological responses of endogenously generated angiotensin II. Ultimately, discovery of the renin-angiotensin system led to many studies that resulted in therapies for vascular disease. This article briefly reviews research related to the discovery of angiotensin and indicates the importance of additional studies related to the RAS.

Purpose: To estimate short-term and long-term influence of protracted stress caused by the NATO bombing of Serbia on self-reported cigarette smoking, we performed and analyzed smoking survey data., Materials and Methods: The survey included 320 adult citizens from Sombor, Novi Sad, and Belgrade, three cities that were bombed during the NATO campaign along with other Serbian target cities. We queried participants about their smoking habits before, during, and 8 years after the military intervention. We recorded smoking prevalence rates, intentions to stop smoking, and the age at which smoking began. We also recorded smoking history and cessation attempts., Results: Prior to bombing, 48% of the women and 63% of the men were smokers. During the bombing period, smoking prevalence in male smokers increased significantly. During this period, 32% of the women and 36% of the men increased their smoking by as much as two packs of cigarettes per week. A month after the bombing, the rate of consumption returned to the prewar levels. At present, 44% of the women, and 59% of the men smoke. The average age of current smokers is 43 years (standard deviation /SD/, 14.4) for women and 45 (SD, 16.3) years for men. Female smokers expressed greater interest in quitting smoking than their male counterparts, and they were slightly more successful than men at maintaining abstinence (20 vs. 18%). The participants in our study acknowledged that a compounding factor for successful abstinence was information on depleted uranium (DU) and other pollutants introduced into the environment by the war., Conclusion: Prolonged stress imposed by war causes a short-term increase in smoking prevalence in male smokers and higher cigarette consumption both in male and female smokers. Even though these increases dissipated after the war was over, the prevalence of smoking within the population of urban Serbia remains very high. Counseling and pharmacological support for abstinence relapse in Serbia ere insufficient to sustain smoking cessation during the 8-year period after the NATO bombing. Motivation for smoking cessation stems primarily from governmental regulatory measures and awareness of the dangers to health posed by tobacco smoking.

Twenty five years ago, medical students of the former Yugoslavia accepted an idea that emerged from the Medical School in Tuzla to carry out a national preventive campaign "January 31st, a Day without Cigarette". This campaign was soon recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of "the most successful preventive achievement of medical students in Europe". The only contribution that the government made was printing and releasing a postal stamp on January 31st, 1990. During the war in Bosnia, the UN sanctions imposed to Serbia, and the NATO bombing campaign of the F.R. Yugoslavia (Serbia & Montenegro) weakened this antismoking campaign. At the time of the civil war in several Yugoslav republics, more citizens, including children and youth, started to smoke than in previous years. In 2002, January 31st was proclaimed as the National Antismoking Day in Serbia and the "Republic of Srpska" in Bosnia & Herzegovina; the Republic of Slovenia, and to a smaller extent the rest of the "Bosnian Federation", continued to observe this antismoking campaign. In the future, the medical professionals have to look for new ways to help smokers quit smoking and to maintain abstinence. In addition to education and professional advice, they may use smoking cessation interventions, especially to smokers that require elective surgery. Medical students should continue to participate in the national antismoking campaigns, and they could be included in the comprehensive smoking intervention programs to improve their smoking cessation counseling skills. However, the governments should plan and rigorously realize needed measures to control smoking at public places, offices, and other closed working places. Such measures are especially needed in poor and developing countries where many people die unnecessarily.

Effective blood pressure control with a large arsenal of conventional antihypertensive drugs, such as diuretics, beta-adrenergic blockers, and calcium channel blockers, significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease. However, blood pressure control with these drugs does not reduce cardiovascular disease risks to the levels in normotensive persons. Only two drug classes that inhibit or antagonize portions of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor type-1 (AT(1) receptor) blockers, have protective and beneficial effects unrelated to the degree of blood pressure reduction. These drugs may prevent the blood pressure related functional and structural abnormalities of the cardiovascular system and reduce the end organ-damage. The first part of this review presents the components of the RAS, biological actions of angiotensin peptides, and the functions of the enzymes that generate and metabolize angiotensins, including the likely effect of manipulating them. Special attention is devoted to renin, ACE, ACE2, chymase, and neprilysin. The second part of this review presents the rationale for targeting the RAS, based on clinical studies of the ACE inhibitors and AT(1) receptor blockers. Finally, we present the investigational agents acting on the RAS that have a potential for clinical usage, and give the perspective of pharmacological, immunological and gene targeting of the RAS for treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Itch and pain, like other sensations, serve as physiological self-protective mechanisms. However, in many clinical conditions, unrelieved itch and pain have potentially devastating effects on body functions. Thus, these two sensations present maladaptive phenomena. In this review, we present the neurophysiologic mechanisms of pruritus and pain, including their mutual interactions, but the accent is on causes, consequences and assessment of pruritus and pain in cancer patients. Understanding the mechanisms of pain and itch may optimize pain control in cancer patients amd enhance their quality of life.

Introduction: The purpose of the present study was to develop a simple method for the simultaneous determination of mepivacaine, tetracaine, and p-butylaminobenzoic acid (BABA) in human plasma using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a multiwavelength detector., Methods: Human blood samples containing heparin, as an anticoagulant, and physostigmine (100 microg/ml), as an anticholinesterase, or human plasma containing physostigmine were spiked with various concentrations of mepivacaine, tetracaine and, in some cases, BABA. Blood samples were centrifuged and plasma was deproteinized with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA; 7%). After centrifugation, the pH was adjusted to 4.5 and an aliquot of 20, 50 or 100 microl was injected into the HPLC apparatus. The detection was done simultaneously at wavelengths of 214 and 300 nm. Analytical chromatography was done on a Waters microBondapak C(18) reverse-phase column (3.9 x 300 mm; particle size 10 microm) with a 30-min increasing linear gradient of 20-40% acetonitrile+0.05% TFA in H(2)O+0.05% TFA at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. The Waters HPLC system included two pumps, an automatic injector, a column oven, and a M490 multiwavelength detector. Quantification was done using integration of peak areas with peaks of authentic mepivacaine, tetracaine, and BABA standards., Results: Calibration curves for standards of mepivacaine, tetracaine, and BABA were linear in the concentration ranges from 0.1 to 100 microg/ml, and the correlation coefficients exceeded.99 for all compounds. The lower limits of detection were 100 ng/ml for mepivacaine and 50 ng/ml for tetracaine and BABA. The yields for mepivacaine, tetracaine, and BABA were 91+/-2.1%, 82+/-3.3%, and 88+/-2.0% (mean+/-S.E.M., n=6), respectively. Degradation of tetracaine by human plasma at 37 degrees C was inhibited by physostigmine., Discussion: The method is sensitive enough to allow blood concentration determinations of mepivacaine and tetracaine or its metabolite, BABA, following local anesthesia induced by these two drugs, especially when their toxic effect may be present. This method also may be useful in forensic medicine for determination of the cause of death after local anesthesia with mepivacaine and/or tetracaine.