COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE EFFICACY OF FIXED-DOSE COMBINATIONS OF AMLODIPINE/LISINOPRIL AND BISOPROLOL/HYDROCHLORTHIAZIDE IN PATIENTS WITH ESSENTIAL ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION COMBINED WITH OBESITY AND OVERWEIGHT

Aim. To study the characteristics of the daily profile of blood pressure (BP) and heart damage in patients with essential hypertension (HT), depending on the presence of obesity as well as the antihypertensive and organoprotective effects of fixed-dose combinations of amlodipine/lisinopril and bisoprolol/hydrochlorothiazide in hypertensive patients with obesity or overweight.Material and methods. 60 patients with untreated HT, stage II, degree 1-2 (51.7% of men, aged 53.6±0.8 years) were examined. 24-hour BP monitoring and transthoracic echocardiography with calculation of myocardial stiffness parameters were performed in all patients. Hypertensive patients with obesity and overweight were randomized into groups treated with fixed-dose combinations amlodipine/lisinopril (n=25) or bisoprolol/hydrochlorothiazide (n=30). Doses of drugs were titrated until the target BP was achieved. The follow-up was 12 weeks.Results. Patients with HT and obesity (n=28) compared with hypertensive patients without obesity (n=32) had greater systolic BP (SBP) variability at night (p<0.05) and a morning surge in SBP (p<0.01), end systolic volume (p<0.05), systolic volume (p<0.01),right ventricle anterior-posterior dimension (p<0.001), right atrium volume (p<0.01), the thickness of the interventricular septum (p<0.01) and the posterior wall (p<0.001) of the left ventricle (LV), significantly lower LV global longitudinal systolic 2D-strain (p<0.001), coefficient of diastolic and end-systolic LV elastance (p<0.05 for both). At the end of the follow-up period patients in the amlodipine/lisinopril group compared to patients in the bisoprolol/hydrochlorothiazide group had a greater decrease in the mean daily pulse BP (-10.8 vs -5.4 mm Hg, respectively; p<0.05) and variability of SBP in daytime (-2.8±0.8 vs -0.9±0.3 mm Hg, respectively; p<0.05). Only patients in the amlodipine/lisinopril group had a significant decrease in the variability of SBP (from 12.2±0.8 to 10.9±0.5 mm Hg; p<0.05) and diastolic BP (from 9.3±0.5 to 8.4±0.4 mm Hg; p<0.001) at night. Patients in the amlodipine/lisinopril group compared to patients in the bisoprolol/hydrochlorothiazide group had a greater increase in the left atrium strain (p<0.01), 2D-strain of LV and a greater decrease in the LV end diastolic stiffness (-21.39±2.45 vs -3.54±1.57 mm Hg/ml, respectively; p<0.001), the LV end systolic elastance (-16.15±2.14 vs -12.85±1.37 mm Hg/ml, respectively; p<0.05), and LV myocardial mass index (-13.2±0.9 vs -8.4±0.7 g/m2, respectively; p<0.01), the thickness of the interventricular septum and the posterior wall of the LV.Conclusion. Untreated hypertensive obese patients in comparison with hypertensive patients without obesity have higher BP level variability during the night and early morning SBP surge, greater sizes of the heart chambers and LV myocardial wall thickness, higher LV myocardium stiffness. In obese or overweight patients with HT, a fixed-dose combination of amlodipine/lisinopril, compared with the fixed-dose combination of bisoprolol/hydrochlorothiazide, resulted in a more significant decrease in pulse BP and variability of systolic and diastolic BP at night, contributed to a more pronounced improvement in the elastic properties of the left atrium and LV myocardium and decrease in LV hypertrophy

Branched-chain and aromatic amino acid catabolism into aroma volatiles in Cucumis melo L. fruit

The unique aroma of melons (Cucumis melo L., Cucurbitaceae) is composed of many volatile compounds biosynthetically derived from fatty acids, carotenoids, amino acids, and terpenes. Although amino acids are known precursors of aroma compounds in the plant kingdom, the initial steps in the catabolism of amino acids into aroma volatiles have received little attention. Incubation of melon fruit cubes with amino acids and α-keto acids led to the enhanced formation of aroma compounds bearing the side chain of the exogenous amino or keto acid supplied. Moreover, L-[13C6]phenylalanine was also incorporated into aromatic volatile compounds. Amino acid transaminase activities extracted from the flesh of mature melon fruits converted L-isoleucine, L-leucine, L-valine, L-methionine, or L-phenylalanine into their respective α-keto acids, utilizing α-ketoglutarate as the amine acceptor. Two novel genes were isolated and characterized (CmArAT1 and CmBCAT1) encoding 45.6 kDa and 42.7 kDa proteins, respectively, that displayed aromatic and branched-chain amino acid transaminase activities, respectively, when expressed in Escherichia coli. The expression of CmBCAT1 and CmArAT1 was low in vegetative tissues, but increased in flesh and rind tissues during fruit ripening. In addition, ripe fruits of climacteric aromatic cultivars generally showed high expression of CmBCAT1 and CmArAT1 in contrast to non-climacteric non-aromatic fruits. The results presented here indicate that in melon fruit tissues, the catabolism of amino acids into aroma volatiles can initiate through a transamination mechanism, rather than decarboxylation or direct aldehyde synthesis, as has been demonstrated in other plants

Can Heritage Speakers Predict Lexical and Morphosyntactic Information in Reading?

Ample evidence suggests that monolingual adults can successfully generate lexical and morphosyntactic predictions in reading and that correct predictions facilitate sentence comprehension. In this eye-tracking corpus reading study, we investigate whether the same is true for reading in heritage language. Specifically, we ask whether heritage speakers (HSs) of Russian are able to anticipate lexical and/or morphosyntactic information of the upcoming words in the sentence and whether they differ in the predictions from monolingual children and L2 learners. We are also interested in whether the literacy level (i.e., Russian literacy experience or reading fluency in English) influences lexical and morphosyntactic prediction. Our results indicate that HSs as well as other groups were able to anticipate the specific lexical item, and the ability was contingent on the Russian literacy experience and reading fluency in dominant English as evident in some of the early and late eye-tracking measures. Similar to children and L2 learners, the word class and the verb number predictability affected reading times in HSs, but HSs were the only group to anticipate the number of the upcoming noun. We discuss findings in respect to the utility account of the bilingual prediction and divergent attainment trajectory of the heritage language development

Monolingual and Bilingual Reading Processes in Russian: An Exploratory Scanpath Analysis

In the present study, we used a scanpath approach to investigate reading processes and factors that can shape them in monolingual Russian-speaking adults, 8-year-old children, and bilingual Russian-speaking readers. We found that monolingual adults’ eye movement patterns exhibited a fluent scanpath reading process, representing effortless processing of the written material: They read straight from left to right at a fast pace, skipped words, and regressed rarely. Both high-proficiency heritage-language speakers’ and second graders’ eye movement patterns exhibited an intermediate scanpath reading process, characterized by a slower pace, longer fixations, an absence of word skipping, and short regressive saccades. Second-language learners and low-proficiency heritage-language speakers exhibited a beginner reading process that involved the slowest pace, even longer fixations, no word skipping, and frequent rereading of the whole sentence and of particular words. We suggest that unlike intermediate readers who use the respective process to resolve local processing difficulties (e.g., word recognition failure), beginner readers, in addition, experience global-level challenges in semantic and morphosyntactic information integration. Proficiency in Russian for heritage-language speakers and comprehension scores for second-language learners were the only individual difference factors predictive of the scanpath reading process adopted by bilingual speakers. Overall, the scanpath analysis revealed qualitative differences in scanpath reading processes among various groups of readers and thus adds a qualitative dimension to the conventional quantitative evaluation of word-level eye-tracking measures

High sympathetic tone in development of the left ventricle hypertrophy and beta-blockers for regression

The review is focused on clinical significance of the left ventricle hypertrophy (LVH) — presentation of heart lesion as a target organ for systemic hypertension (SH). Various LVH development mechanisms are presented, and special attention is paid to sympathic nervous system and β-adrenoreceptors in pathogenesis. Fundamental methods of diagnostics are described for LVH, in comparison. The pathology is classified from the perspective of recent guidelines on echocardiographic diagnostics. Epidemiology provided. Taken current evidence, the prognostic role of LVH is described as a factor increasing the risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and renal complications in SH patients. Trials data presented that points on LVH regression with highly selective β1-blocker bisoprolol treatment. Pathophysiology of LVH regression is discussed for β1-blocker treatment

Effect of the Single-Pill Amlodipine/Valsartan Combination on Hypertrophy and Myocardial Deformation Characteristics in Middle-Aged Patients with Essential Arterial Hypertension

Aim. To investigate the impact of amlodipine/valsartan single-pill combination (A/V SPC) on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and left ventricular (LV) myocardial strain and stiffness parameters in naїve middle-aged patients with stage II grade 1-2 essential arterial hypertension (EAH).Material and methods. A group of patients with stage II grade 1-2 EAH who had not previously received regular antihypertensive treatment (AHT) [n=38; mean age 49.7±7.0 years] was retrospectively formed. All the patients were treated with A/V SPC and all of them achieved target office blood pressure (BP) (less than 140/90 mm Hg). And after 12 weeks follow-up (since the time of reaching the target BP) the AHT effectiveness assessment, its impact on LVH and LV myocardial strain and stiffness parameters (general clinical data, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, conventional and 2D-speckle tracking echocardiography) were performed in all included patients.Results. The number of patients with LVH significantly (p=0.039) decreased from 25 individuals (65.8%) at baseline to 15 patients (39.5%) at the end of follow-up. Among patients with LVH at baseline after the treatment with A/V SPC significantly decreased (p<0.001 for all) interventricular septum thickness (from 1.36±0.19 to 1.28±0.18 cm), LV posterior wall thickness (from 1.08±0.09 to 0.97±0.11 cm) and the LV myocardial mass index (from 123.3±19.3 to 110.8±20.8 g/m2). At the end of follow-up end-systolic elastance significantly (p<0.001) decreased from 4.01±1.12 to 3.46±0.88 mm Hg/ml. In the subgroup of patients with reduced (in absolute value) LV longitudinal 2D-strain (n=27) at baseline, there was a significantly (p=0.005) increasing in this parameter at the end of the study (from -16.14±2.21% to -17.30±2.13%, Δ%=8.45±13.35).Conclusion. In naive patients 40-65 years old with stage II grade 1-2 EAH AHT with A/V SPC provides effective 24 hours BP control, significantly reduced LVH and improves LV strain parameters, which indicates decreasing of LV myocardial stiffness