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If you lined up all the blood vessels in your body, they'd be 60 thousand miles long. And every day, they carry the equivalent of over two thousand gallons of blood to the body's tissues. What effect does this pressure have on the walls of the blood vessels? Wilfred Manzano gives the facts on blood pressure.

An elderly woman living independently with some help from her family is brought to the local emergency room because she is confused and vomiting. While her son suspects a stroke, a quick battery of laboratory tests indicates that her current problems are the result of impaired kidney function, an old-fashioned home remedy for ulcers, and her prescribed blood pressure medication. The combination of patient- and drug-related factors produces an acid-base disorder responsible for her confusion. This disorder further disrupts her kidney function. The case illustrates secretion and reabsorption processes in the kidney tubule which regulate plasma and urinary electrolytes (including calcium) and pH. The role of bicarbonate in maintaining systemic pH is emphasized. Interactions among the renal, respiratory and nervous systems in the regulation of systemic pH are also illustrated. Further, basic principles of pharmacotherapy and issues related to the appropriate use of medications are introduced. The case was developed for use in a physiology or human anatomy and physiology course, but it might be used in undergraduate nursing courses as well (e.g., pharmacology, pathophysiology).

"Millions of people who suffer from less-intense sleep problems do suffer myriad health burdens. In addition to emotional distress and cognitive impairments, these can include high blood pressure, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. And recent research has suggested even mild sleep loss, the kind people often subject themselves to during the work week by watching late-night TV until midnight then rising before dawn, may lead to metabolic, cardiovascular, cognitive, and neurologic dysfunction."

A link has been made between sleep apnoea - which is often indicated by loud snoring - and worse cancer outcomes in recent studies.