George E. Brown

A STANDARD TEST FOR MEASURING THE VARIABILITY OF BLOOD PRESSURE: ITS SIGNIFICANCE AS AN INDEX OF THE PREHYPERTENSIVE STATE

Excerpt In health there is a balance of the various divisions of the autonomic nervous system that varies with the normal physiologic demands. It is likely that phylogenetic and anatomic factors, a...

Raynaud's Disease Affecting Men

Excerpt Of the vasospastic disorders affecting the peripheral circulation, of which Raynauds disease represents the most typical form, the distribution by sex is the reverse of that found in organ...

Diagnostic and Physiologic Studies in Certain Forms of Scleroderma

Excerpt Scleroderma is the term that has been applied to a syndrome characterized by induration, pigmentation, and sclerosis of the skin, associated with loss of weight, asthenia, arthritis, atroph...

OBSERVATIONS ON THE SURFACE ĊAPILLARIES IN MAN FOLLOWING CERVICOTHORACIC SYMPATHETIC GANGLIONECTOMY

In the last decade, an impressive amount of evidence has accumulated to indicate that the capillaries are capable of changing their caliber as a response to nervous impulses, independently of the arterioles; that is, that their r6le under certain conditions is active rather than passive. Rouget, in 1873, was the first to present anatomic evidence of the presence of branched cells, which he assumed were contractile, on the endothelial walls of the capillaries. Vimtrup (1922), in Kroghs laboratories, has made histologic studies confirmatory of Rougets work. The presence of contractile cells on the walls of capillaries has been shown in most tissues of mammals, also in birds, reptiles, and fishes, and more recently, in many tissues in man. Histologic proof is not complete, as contraction of capillaries has been demonstrated in the absence of Rouget cells. Clark and Clark (1925) recently reported that they have not been able to find contractile cells in the capillaries in tadpoles. St6hr (1926) was only rarely able to demonstrate nerve fibers to the capillary endothelium. Anatomic researches by Vimtrup (1923) on diverse tissues of the human being, including the cutaneous capillaries and venules, have shown the existence of contractile or Rouget cells. Schaley has demonstrated their presence in tissues in the eye of the human being. Beale, in 1860, and Glaser, in 1920, demonstrated in some organs in certain mammals that the capillaries are accompanied by fine, nonmedullated nerve fibers paralleling the capillary. Their connection with the wall of the capillary also has been demonstrated in tissues from some regions.

THE PRESSOR REACTION PRODUCED BY INHALATION OF CARBON DIOXIDE; STUDIES OF PATIENTS WITH NORMAL BLOOD PRESSURE AND WITH HYPERTENSION

Excerpt The specific stimulating action of carbon dioxide on the vasomotor centers and its pressor effect on blood pressure have been known for some time. As early as 1864, Thiry1observed a rise of...

THE REDUCTION OF HYPERCALCEMIA IN CASES OF POLYCYTHEMIA VERA BY PHENYLHYDRAZINE

The range of variation in serum calcium is relatively narrow in health and in most diseases. The accepted normal level is from 9 to 11 mgm. for each 100 cc. of serum or plasma. Lowered values for serum calcium have been found in tetany (parathyroid), rickets, nephritis, osteomalacia and sprue; elevated values are rare. High values have been found by Wells in terminal acidosis and by Coates and Raiment in gout, averaging 19 mgm. for each 100 cc. of serum; these data, however, have been questioned by Cameron. Horowitz has reported values as high as 16.8 mgm. for each 100 cc. of serum in cases of acute gout, and values as high as 16.2 mgm. in five of fourteen cases of arthritis deformans. Hench found that the serum calcium was normal in four cases of gout and in twenty-five cases of infectious arthritis. The calcium content of the whole blood in healthy subjects has been found by Kramer and Tisdall (16) to vary from 5.3 to 6.8 mgm. for each 100 cc. of blood. Calcium is absent, or present in small amounts, in the corpuscles of the blood. The calcium content of the whole blood and of the serum in cases of polycythemia vera has not been carefully studied, probably because of the relative rarity of the disease. Rabinowitch (18), employing McCallums gravimetric method (quantitative determination of calcium as calcium oxide) found lowered serum calcium in two cases of polycythemia vera.

The digital arterioles of normal and hypertensive individuals

Abstract The sensitivity of the digital arterioles of normal and hypertensive subjects to intravenous administration of epinephrine was investigated. We found that there is no essential difference in the sensitivity of the arterioles of these two groups of individuals to the administration of epinephrine. The possible relationship that the results of these observations might have to the abnormal vasomotor mechanism present in cases of hypertension has been considered.

Thrombo-Angiitis Obliterans Among Persons Past Middle Age

Excerpt Thrombo-angiitis obliterans usually occurs among men between the ages of twenty-five and fifty years. In a recent study of 150 proved cases by Brown and Allen the youngest patient was aged ...

SURGICAL PROCEDURES IN ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION

Excerpt The early work of Claude Bernard on the discovery of the vasomotor nerves was an event of tremendous importance. The application of this knowledge to problems in clinical medicine was delay...