Treatment of hypertension in Germany: is there a social gradient?

Laaser U, Breckenkamp J, Bjegovic V. Treatment of hypertension in Germany: is there a social gradient? International Journal of Public Health. 2012;57(1):185-191.Effective hypertension control remains low without much improvement since the 1990s. However, information is limited whether and how social status impacts on hypertension control. Data from the German Health Survey 1998 are used to explore the role of social status according to educational achievement in treating hypertension, adjusted for key determinants in a logistic regression. Actual as well as population prevalence (a parts per thousand yen140 mmHg/a parts per thousand yen90 mmHg) is highest in the lowest of the three social classes with 59.4 and 51.9% as compared to 44.5 and 40.5% in the highest. Physician contacts during the previous year were also highest in the lower class with 76.0% as compared to 59.0% in the highest. The logistic regression revealed insignificant odds ratios (OR) of 1.46 for the highest and 1.12 for the middle class for treatment of known hypertension after adjusting for gender (OR for females, 1.38), age (OR for 60-69 years, 13.13), GP visits (OR, 1.43) and living in East Germany (OR, 1.56). German survey data for antihypertensive treatment do not show any significant disadvantage for the lowest social class

An Emerging Approach for Parallel Quantification of Intracellular Protozoan Parasites and Host Cell Characterization Using TissueFAXS Cytometry

Characterization of host-pathogen interactions is a fundamental approach in microbiological and immunological oriented disciplines. It is commonly accepted that host cells start to change their phenotype after engulfing pathogens. Techniques such as real time PCR or ELISA were used to characterize the genes encoding proteins that are associated either with pathogen elimination or immune escape mechanisms. Most of such studies were performed in vitro using primary host cells or cell lines. Consequently, the data generated with such approaches reflect the global RNA expression or protein amount recovered from all cells in culture. This is justified when all host cells harbor an equal amount of pathogens under experimental conditions. However, the uptake of pathogens by phagocytic cells is not synchronized. Consequently, there are host cells incorporating different amounts of pathogens that might result in distinct pathogen-induced protein biosynthesis. Therefore, we established a technique able to detect and quantify the number of pathogens in the corresponding host cells using immunofluorescence-based high throughput analysis. Paired with multicolor staining of molecules of interest it is now possible to analyze the infection profile of host cell populations and the corresponding phenotype of the host cells as a result of parasite load

Blood pressure re-screening for healthy adults: What is the best measure and interval

Blood pressure (BP) screening is important to identify those at risk of cardiovascular disease, but there has been little data on the appropriate interval of screening. We aimed to evaluate the optimal interval and the best measure for BP re-screening by estimating the long-term, true change variance ('signal') and short-term, within-person variance ('noise'). Study design was a cohort study from 2005 to 2008. Target population was Japanese healthy adults not taking antihypertensive medication at baseline, in a teaching hospital. We measured annually the systolic BP (SBP) and the diastolic BP (DBP), and calculated the pulse pressure (PP) and the mean arterial pressure (MAP). A total of 15 055 individuals (51% male) with a mean age of 49 years had annual check-ups. Short-term coefficient of variation was lowest for MAP at 5.2%, followed by SBP (5.7%) and DBP (5.8%), and highest for PP (12%). After 3 years, the 'signal' of true BP changes of only SBP and MAP equaled the noise of BP measurement; however, it was larger for those with higher initial BPs. SBP or MAP appears to be a better screening measure. The optimal interval should be 3 years or more, with SBP < 130 mm Hg and 2 years for those with SBP ≥ 130 mm Hg. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved