Water is essential to life processes and has a number of significant functions. The ingredients of drinking water as well as nutrients in foodstuffs are now considered important to people's health. Deep-sea water in particular has started to receive attention for its rich inorganic nutrients such as Mg, Ca, and K 1,2) which are due mainly to less photosynthesis of plant plankton and much organic decomposition. In addition to the beneficial effects of these minerals on the cardiovascular system, unknown effects of some ultratrace elements or unknown substances in deep-sea water may be found in future. Some scientific evidences of therapeutic or preventive effects of deep-sea water have been reported recently. Deepsea water improved mineral imbalances and atopic eczema/ dermatitis syndrome in humans 2) and was effective in the prevention of hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed rabbits. 3,4) We expect that the continuous intake of deep-sea water could prevent hypertension as well as hypercholesterolemia, because investigators have revealed that oral supplementation of calcium 5,6) or magnesium 7,8) to hypertensive patients lowered blood pressure in addition to reducing the serum total cholesterol level. 7)Hypercholesterolemia and hypertension occur due to genetic as well as dietary factors. The Kurosawa and KusanagiHypercholesterolemic (KHC) rabbit is an animal model of spontaneous hypercholesterolemia (Type IIa) and atherosclerosis established by inbreeding a mutant of the Japanese White rabbit discovered by Japan Laboratory Animals, Inc. in 1985.9) The KHC rabbit is deficient in LDL-receptors in the liver and shows an abnormally increased LDL-cholesterol level without unusual deposits of fat in some organs.9) Atherosclerosis develops in the aortic arch and around bifurcations of the main branch arteries by the age of 3 months.9) We also reported previously that young adult KHC rabbits aged 10-12 months showed mild hypertension compared to agematched normal rabbits in addition to hypercholesterolemia, though atherosclerotic lesions were relatively in the earlystage. 10,11) The mild hypertension is thought to be independent of hypercholesterolemia.11) Intervention of either hypercholesterolemia or hypertension is considered to be inadequate to prevent progression of atherosclerosis and related cardiovascular events if hypertension and hypercholesterolemia coexist.12) Ca and Mg in deep-sea water could suppress absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine in cholesterol-fed rabbits, which might contribute to anti-hypercholesterolemic action of deep-sea water.3,4) Therefore, it is appropriate to use spontaneous hypercholesterolemic rabbits.In the present study, we investigated the effect of the intake of refined deep-sea water at a degree of hardness of 1000 for 6 months on hypercholesterolemia and mild hypertension in KHC rabbits aged 4 months, at which time atherosclerosis starts to occur in the ascending aorta and around orifices of branch arteries, by measuring serum and plasma biochemical par...

Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is a cause of death in bupivacaine-induced cardiovascular toxicity. We have examined the therapeutic effects of lidocaine on the threshold for bupivacaine-induced VF in in situ beating swine hearts. Twenty-four animals were allocated to one of three groups: 0.25% bupivacaine, 1% lidocaine or 0.25% bupivacaine with 1% lidocaine were infused into the left anterior descending coronary artery in increasing doses of 0, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 ml h-1 for 15 min, respectively. ECG and haemodynamic variables were monitored continuously during infusion. Regional myocardial function in the area supplied by the left anterior descending coronary artery was assessed using the sonomicrometry technique. VF did not occur in the lidocaine group. VF developed at higher infusion rates in animals given bupivacaine with lidocaine (in one animal at an infusion rate of 8 ml h-1 and in seven at 16 ml h-1) compared with animals given bupivacaine alone (in one at an infusion rate of 4 and in seven at 8 ml h-1). Although regional myocardial function decreased with increases in the infusion rate in each group, the depressant effects of the bupivacaine solution (medial inhibitory infusion rate of systolic shortening: IR50 = 2.43 (0.43) ml h-1) were significantly greater than those of the lidocaine solution (IR50 = 5.83 (0.87) ml h-1), but did not differ from those of the bupivacaine with lidocaine solution (IR50 = 3.54 (0.56) ml h-1). This study indicates that a combination of lidocaine and bupivacaine increased the threshold for bupivacaine-induced VF without further depressing myocardial contractility.

The mean CVP can be used as an index of right ventricular preload in patients under mechanical ventilation with regular sinus rhythm. Our newly developed system is useful for clinical monitoring and for education in circulatory physiology.

No abstract

No abstract