The large-amplitude circadian pattern in blood pressure of healthy subjects of both genders suggests that the constant threshold currently used to diagnose hypertension should be replaced by a time-specified reference limit reflecting the mostly predictable blood pressure variability during the 24 h. Accordingly, we derived circadian time-specified reference standards for blood pressure as a function of gender. We studied 743 normotensive Caucasian volunteers (400 men and 343 women), 45.7 +/- 16.5 (mean +/- SD) years of age. Blood pressure was measured by ambulatory monitoring at 20-min intervals during the day and at 30-min intervals at night for 48 consecutive hours. Data from each blood pressure series were synchronized according to the rest-activity cycle of each individual in order to avoid differences among subjects in actual times of daily activity. Data were then used to compute 90% circadian tolerance intervals for each gender separately. The method, derived on the basis of bootstrap techniques, does not need to assume normality or symmetry in the data and, therefore, it is highly appropriate to describe the circadian pattern of blood pressure variability. Results reflect expected changes in the tolerance limits as a function of gender and circadian sampling time, as well as upper blood pressure limits below the thresholds currently used for diagnosing hypertension, especially for women. The use of these time-dependent tolerance limits for the computation of a hyperbaric index as a measure of blood pressure excess has already been shown to provide a reproducible and high-sensitivity test for the diagnosis of hypertension, which can also be used to evaluate treatment efficacy.
Recently, investigations of biological toxicity of cadmium QDs and their toxic interaction with plasma proteins have attracted great interest. In this work, flavonoids were studied for the affinities for human serum albumin (HSA) in the presence and absence of CdTe G-QDs by fluorescence quenching method. CdTe G-QDs obviously enhanced the binding affinities of kaempferol, genistein and biochanin A by 3.78 to 154.88 times depending on the QDs concentration. However, the affinity of kaempferide for HSA was slightly weakened in the presence of G-QDs. The non-methylated flavonoids were more sensitive to G-QDs than their methylated forms. The affinities of kaempferide and kaempferol for HSA at first were slightly improved and then obviously decreased with increasing G-QDs concentration. For genistein, the affinities for HSA decreased with increasing G-QDs concentration. However, the G-QDs concentration showed no obvious effect on the affinity of biochanin A. The binding affinities of flavonoids for HSA improved with increasing QDs size.
Hermida, R. C.1; Ayala, D. E.1; Calvo, C.2; Dominguez, M. J.2; Covelo, M.2; Mojon, A.1; Fernandez, J. R.1; Fontao, M. J.1; Soler, R.1; Lopez, J. E.2 Author Information
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND To evaluate the impact of daytime, nighttime, and nocturnal blood pressures (BPs) fall on heart failure (HF). METHODS We analyzed data from five cohorts including 15,526 treated hypertensive patients, experiencing 625 HF events, by study-level meta-analysis. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for 1SD increase in BP parameters or per group were calculated. RESULTS When individually analyzed after adjustment for covariates, clinic systolic BP (SBP) (HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.01–1.43), daytime SBP (HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.06–1.70), nighttime SBP (HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.20–1.71), nighttime diastolic BP (DBP) (HR 1.26, 95% CI 1.05–1.52), % of nocturnal SBP fall (HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.75–0.88), and nondipping (HR 1.64, 95% CI 1.54–1.98) were associated with HF. If daytime or nighttime BP was further adjusted for clinic BP results remained similar. When clinic, daytime, and nighttime BPs were mutually adjusted, nighttime SBP (HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.27–1.61) and nighttime DBP (HR 1.37, 95% CI 1.14–1.64) remained associated with the outcome. Heterogeneity across cohorts was explained by BP, sex, and follow-up duration. In sensitivity analyses, for daytime and nighttime BPs, no study had a relevant influential effect on overall estimates. Looking for publication bias and adjusting for missing studies by Duval and Tweedie’s method, clinic SBP lost significance but daytime SBP, and nighttime SBP and DBP remained significantly associated with HF. CONCLUSIONS Daytime and nighttime BPs are stronger than clinic BP in predicting HF, nighttime BP is stronger than daytime BP, and a reduced nocturnal BP fall is associated with outcome.
