http://www.health.am/hypertension/ http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/blood-pressure-rich-blood-affect-babys-growth/ http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/blood-pressure-rich-blood-affect-babys-growth/ Women with high blood pressure and blood overly rich in red blood cells are more likely to give birth to babies who are too small or born too early, researchers in the Netherlands reported on Tuesday. Mothers who smoked or who did not take supplements correctly also were more likely to have babies who were underweight or born too early, the study found - and these factors seem to affect the fetus during the first three months of pregnancy, before a woman has had much prenatal care. But early ultrasounds may help identify the babies most at risk, the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests. High Blood Pressure news 2010-02-10T23:29:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/about-how-smoking-could-cause-high-blood-pressure/ http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/about-how-smoking-could-cause-high-blood-pressure/ Arteries are arteries that carry the blood from the heart to other parts of your body. Raised blood pressure will occur if the blood can’t pass through these arteries at a normal pace. In relation to smoking, the nicotine content of cigarettes or tobacco causes the arteries to constrict. The blood in circulation isn’t able to pass through while the building pressure of the suppressed blood flow will result to a transient rise in the blood pressure. During this time, the heart has a tendency to beat at a quicker rate. Smoking hurts the arterial walls and accelerates the toughening of the arteries. It’s a major risk factor for any kind of heart illness ( CVD ). When you smoke, you are doubling the chance of having the CVD Problems. Additionally, smoking could cause brain attack, coronary, stroke, and leg pains leading to amputation due to poor blood circulation.  High Blood Pressure news 2010-01-30T14:05:01-08:00 http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/low-carb-diet-best-for-lowering-blood-pressure/ http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/low-carb-diet-best-for-lowering-blood-pressure/ People with high blood pressure who want to drop some pounds may want to choose a low-carb diet, a new study shows. In the study, overweight or obese individuals who went on a low-carb diet lost about the same amount of weight as those who cut down on their fat intake and took the weight-loss aid orlistat (sold as Xenical or Alli). However, the low-carb diet produced more favorable effects on blood pressure. Most studies of weight loss methods have enrolled overweight or obese volunteers who were healthy, aside from weighing too much. The current study, in contrast, enrolled “real patients” with common conditions like diabetes and heart disease, William S. Yancy Jr. of the VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, told Reuters Health. People with these health issues are often excluded from weight loss studies, Yancy said. High Blood Pressure news 2010-01-27T09:31:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/blood-pressure-control-abnormal-in-newborns-of-smoking-mothers/ http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/blood-pressure-control-abnormal-in-newborns-of-smoking-mothers/ Newborns of women who smoked during pregnancy show signs of circulatory dysfunction in the first few weeks of life that get worse throughout the first year, Swedish researchers reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. The blood pressure response to tilting the infants upright during sleep — a test of how the body copes with repositioning — was dramatically different in infants born to smoking mothers compared to those born to nonsmoking parents. Infants not exposed to tobacco experienced only a 2 percent increase in blood pressure when they were tilted upright at one week of age and later a 10 percent increase in blood pressure at one year. Infants of smoking mothers had the reverse — a 10 percent increase in blood pressure during a tilt at one week and only a 4 percent increase at one year. At three months and one year, the heart rate response to tilting in the tobacco-exposed infants was abnormal and highly exaggerated, researchers reported. High Blood Pressure news 2010-01-26T10:39:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/with-high-blood-pressure/ http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/with-high-blood-pressure/ For people with hypertension, the damage of unhealthy eating can have particularly negative consequences. About one in four Americans has hypertension, a disease that elevates blood pressure and can lead to a host of serious problems including heart attacks and strokes. “I tell patients to allow themselves one special meal occasionally, but not to continue unhealthy eating habits for several days or weeks,” said Dr. Shawna Nesbitt, hypertension specialist at UT Southwestern Medical Center. High Blood Pressure news 2010-01-22T20:42:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/hypertension-linked-to-dementia-in-older-women/ http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/hypertension-linked-to-dementia-in-older-women/ Older women with hypertension are at increased risk for developing brain lesions that cause dementia later in life, according to data from the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS). The findings were published in the December 2009 online issue of the Journal of Clinical Hypertension. The research was conducted as part of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), the largest multi-site longitudinal study looking at health risks among postmenopausal women. WHIMS, which involves a subgroup of the women enrolled in WHI, looks at the influence of hormone therapy on thinking and memory. All the women in WHIMS were 65 or older. Upon enrolling in the trial and annually during their participation in it, the women had their blood pressure measured and underwent tests to measure their cognitive ability. High Blood Pressure news 2010-01-12T22:08:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/study-shows-key-protein-helps-control-blood-pressure/ http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/study-shows-key-protein-helps-control-blood-pressure/ University of Iowa researchers have shown that a protein channel helps nerve sensors in blood vessels keep blood pressure in check. Without the protein channel, known as ASIC2, the sensors are unable to send the brain the signals it needs to properly control blood pressure. The finding, which was based in animal models, is important because it could be used to create new treatments to prevent high blood pressure (hypertension). The study results appear in the Dec. 24 print issue of the journal Neuron. “Sensors in your body’s blood vessels sense when your blood pressure goes up, for instance, when you get mad at someone,” said the study’s principal investigator Frank Abboud, M.D., professor of internal medicine and molecular physiology and biophysics and director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Iowa. “These built-in sensors perceive the change and trigger a nearly instantaneous adjustment by sending signals to the brain, which in turn tells the blood vessels how to adjust.  High Blood Pressure news 2009-12-23T21:33:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/are-patients-losing-sleep-over-blood-pressure-monitors/ http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/are-patients-losing-sleep-over-blood-pressure-monitors/ A widely used test for measuring nighttime blood pressure may interfere with patients’ sleep, thus affecting the results of the test, reports a study in an upcoming issue of Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). “Blood pressure (BP), measured during sleep correlates better with heart attacks and strokes compared to blood pressure measured in the doctor’s office,” explains Rajiv Agarwal, MD (Indiana University and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Indianapolis). “However, if blood pressure measurement disturbs sleep, then it may weaken the relationship between ‘sleeping BP’ and these cardiovascular events.” Along with his data-manager, Robert Light, BS (also of Indiana University), Agarwal analyzed the results of 24-hour blood pressure monitoring in 103 patients with kidney disease. High Blood Pressure news 2009-12-20T18:45:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/gene-modulates-high-blood-pressure-in-mice-men/ http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/gene-modulates-high-blood-pressure-in-mice-men/ Does stress increase blood pressure? This simple question has been the focus of intense research for many years. Now new research has for the first time established a link between a novel gene, phosducin, and the blood pressure response to stress in mice as well as humans. The studies were directed by scientists at the University of Freiburg and Muenster in Germany, and the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, in collaboration with other institutions in Europe and Canada. The German team, led by Lutz Hein M.D., in collaboration with Monika Stoll, Ph.D., generated mice lacking the phosducin gene and compared them with normal mice. The mice lacking this gene developed high blood pressure under various conditions of stress. The mechanism of this gene’s action appears to be directly involved with specific sympathetic nerve cells The cells show a distinct increase in their activity translating into an increase in blood pressure. The findings were then tested using DNA from 342 African Americans enrolled in an ongoing high blood pressure study at the Medical College, and 810 French Canadians at the University of Montreal. High Blood Pressure news 2009-11-26T20:15:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/pharmacist-improves-blood-pressure-control/ http://www.health.am/hypertension/more/pharmacist-improves-blood-pressure-control/ Patients whose hypertension is managed by a physician-pharmacist team have lower blood pressure levels and are more likely to reach goals for blood pressure control than those treated without this collaborative approach, according to a report in the November 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Previous studies suggest that patients with hypertension (high blood pressure) that remains uncontrolled often do not receive additional blood pressure medications, according to background information in the article. One strategy to improve blood pressure control is team-based care, involving the assistance of a clinical pharmacist in patient management. Barry L. Carter, Pharm.D., of the University of Iowa and Iowa City Veterans Administration, Iowa City, and colleagues conducted a randomized, controlled clinical trial of a team-based approach in 402 patients (average age 58.3) with uncontrolled hypertension receiving care at one of six clinics. High Blood Pressure news 2009-11-24T06:59:00-08:00