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Disorders Of The Digestive-System In The Elderly, Robert D. Shamburek, John T. Farrar

Internal Medicine Publications

CHANGES in the anatomy and physiology of the epithelium of the digestive organs because of aging are slight.1 The functional capacity of both the secretory and absorptive cells of the gut is so great that a decrease to as little as 5 to 10 percent of normal function is required for a clinical effect to be evident. In contrast to the epithelial-cell reserve, connective-tissue changes are manifested in midlife, and age-related changes in these tissues are responsible for many digestive disorders, such as colonic vascular ectasias and diverticula of the gut.

The anatomical and physiologic changes that do occur …

Cyclosporine-Induced Sympathetic Activation And Hypertension After Heart-Transplantation, Urs Scherrer, Susan F. Vissing, Barbara J. Morgan, Julia A. Rollins, Richard S. A. Tindall, Steves Ring, Peter Hanson, Pramod K. Mohanty, Ronald G. Victor

Internal Medicine Publications

BACKGROUND.

Hypertension is a frequent complication of cyclosporine-induced immunosuppression, but the underlying mechanism is unknown. In anesthetized animals, the administration of cyclosporine increases sympathetic-nerve discharge, which may contribute to hypertension.

METHODS.

To determine whether cyclosporine-induced hypertension is accompanied by sustained sympathetic neural activation in patients, we recorded sympathetic action potentials using intraneural microelectrodes (in the peroneal nerve) in heart-transplant recipients receiving azathioprine and prednisone alone (n = 5) or in combination with cyclosporine (n = 14). We performed the same studies in eight patients with myasthenia gravis who were receiving cyclosporine and eight who were not, in five patients with …