Arterial stiffness is increased with increasing age, and pulse pressure (PP), a marker of arterial stiffness, predictor incident cardiovascular disease mortality. However, the prognostic relevance PP in heart failure (HF) preserved ejection fraction has not been fully understood. We studied 4796 patients HF from PARAGON-HF trial. All underwent sequential run-in phases valsartan sacubitril/valsa...

The pharmacological efficacy of various monotherapy, single pill, and combination therapies of the angiotensin II receptor blocker valsartan have been established, mainly through randomized controlled trials that used similar methodological and statistical platforms and thus enabled synthesis of evidence. The real world effectiveness of valsartan has been studied extensively, but the relative l...

The effect of valsartan, an angiotensin II-type I receptor blocker, on the mitochondrial function, was studied using an ex vivo animal model (hearts from Wistar rats), perfused in a Langendorff system and then submitted to global acute ischemia. Parameters evaluated were: membrane electrical potential (DeltaPsi, using a tetraphenylphosphonium-TPP+-electrode), oxygen consumption by the respirato...

Our previous study demonstrated that periostin, an extracellular matrix protein, plays an important role in left ventricular remodeling through the inhibition of cell-cell interactions. Because the gene regulation of periostin has not yet been examined, we focused on the effects of angiotensin (Ang) II and mechanical stretch, because Ang II and mechanical stretch are related to cardiac remodeli...

Pharmacological treatment of hypertension is effective in preventing cardiovascular and renal complications. Calcium antagonists and blockers of the renin-angiotensin system are widely used today to initiate antihypertensive therapy but, when given as monotherapy, do not suffice in most patients to normalize blood pressure. Combining the two types of agents considerably increases the antihypert...

There is accumulating evidence that blood pressure (BP) control significantly reduces the risk of future cardiovascular events in patients with essential hypertension. However, strict BP control is often difficult to maintain, and half of hypertensive patients fail to attain BP goals on single-drug therapy. Therefore, current guidelines recommend combinations of drugs that have complimentary mo...

Previous results have indicated that valsartan administration at bedtime as opposed to on wakening improves the diurnal/nocturnal ratio of blood pressure without loss in efficacy and therapeutic coverage. We hypothesized that increasing this ratio could reduce microalbuminuria. We conducted a prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded endpoint trial on 200 previously untreated nonproteinuric ...

Angiotensin II (Ang II) plays important roles in ageing-related disorders through its type 1 receptor (AT1 R). However, the role and underlying mechanisms of AT1R in ageing-related vascular degeneration are not well understood. In this study, 40 ageing rats were randomly divided into two groups: ageing group which received no treatment (ageing control), and valsartan group which took valsartan ...

BACKGROUND Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors have been shown to attenuate left ventricular (LV) enlargement in association with reducing mortality after myocardial infarction (MI). Preclinical data suggest that angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) may have similar structural and functional effects after MI. The Valsartan in Acute Myocardial Infarction (VALIANT) Echo study was desig...

INTRODUCTION The development of thrombocytopenia after a dose increase in losartan and subsequently after switching the patient to valsartan is reported. CASE PRESENTATION A 61-year-old Caucasian man presented with epistaxis and gingival bleeding of three weeks duration. Laboratory evaluation revealed a hemoglobin level of 144g/L, a leukocyte count of 16.2×109 cells/L (72.51% neutrophils, 20....