The Effect of Tiaprofenic Acid on Blood Pressure Control in Treated Hypertensive Patients

Eleven patients with osteoarthritis and mild hypertension completed an 8-week, double-blind crossover study in which 200 mg tiaprofenic acid 3-times daily or placebo were substituted for their normal non-steroidal anti-inflammatory therapy. Systolic blood pressure was significantly higher on tiaprofenic acid therapy than on placebo and plasma renin activity was significantly lower on active treatment. No significant changes were seen in biochemical parameters, though the weight of the patient was also higher on tiaprofenic acid than on placebo. Duration of morning stiffness was also lower on tiaprofenic acid than on placebo. Blood pressure on tiaprofenic acid was not different from baseline readings on other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug therapy. This study suggests that tiaprofenic acid, like other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, may interfere with blood pressure control in treated hypertensive patients

Spin and statistics of quantum kinks

Apart from some brief and inconclusive remarks concerning the problem of spin and statistics of quantum kinks in space-time dimension D>2, a detailed discussion of the D=2 situation is given. The main result is that two-dimensional quantum kinks are statistical 'schizons'; they exist in the same Hilbert space either as bosons or as fermions. In those cases where one can introduce local kink-sector generating operators as in the sine-Gordon model, the Bose and Fermi fields are strictly local fields, which are relatively nonlocal with respect to each other. (20 refs)

Comments on confinement criteria

For a QED/sub 2/ model with SU(n) flavour, the nature of the physical- states space is more subtle than one expects on the basis of the loop criterion for confinement. One may have colour confinement without confinement of the fundamental flavour representation. Attempts to formulate confinement criteria in which the quark fields play a more fundamental role are discussed. (16 refs)