Clinical Pharmacology of Antihypertensive Drugs [antikvár]

ForewordThe scope of hypertension in man has developed over the last 30 years from the short-term care of a small number of hospitalized patients with severely elevated blood pressure and extensive target-organ failure to a major long-term community-health problem involving a substantial proportion of the population.It appeared possible at one time that the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of hypertension could be identified by a limited number of circumscript and straightforward experiments in laboratory animals. This is clearly not so. The field of experimental hypertension has, if anything, expanded even more than the clinical setting. There have been many attempts to present the new information and concepts in hypertension. Several well-written 'textbooks' on hypertension have appeared with an attractive systematic approach and compact comprehensive presentation.We shared with our Publisher the view that the accumulation of biological and clinical knowledge in the field of hypertension has outgrown the limitations of the classical textbook. Moreover, the subject of hypertension by its very nature is a multidisciplinary one, attracting such diverse professionals as biochemists and public health workers, in addition to chnicians. When one tries to envisage what would happen to a single all-encompassing book, it is clear that it could never satisfy the different groups involved in high blood pressure. Some sections would become outdated rapidly whilst others would have a longer life-span. An alternative, to escape from the constraints of a single textbook and to reconcile the interests of both generalists and specialists, was to choose the format of a serial handbook.The present work has resulted from lengthy deliberations and discussions with many clinicians and scientists. At present, 8 volumes have been or are currently under preparation. We believe that they will be of interest to many different groups including cHnical investigators, house officers, general practitioners, biomedical students, pharmacologists, pharmacists, biological scientists, physiologists and epidemiologists.The volumes in this series are intended to appear in the following sequence:1.Clinical Aspects of Essential Hypertension (Editor: J.I.S. Robertson)2.Clinical Aspects of Secondary Hypertension (Editor: J.I.S. Robertson)3.Pharmacology of Antihypertensive Drugs (Editor: P.A. van Zwieten)4.Experimental and Genetic Models of Hypertension (Editor: W. de Jong)5.Clinical Pharmacology of Antihypertensive Drugs (Editor: A.E. Doyle)6.Epidemiology of Hypertension (Editor: C.J. Bulpitt)7.Physiology and Pathophysiology of Hypertension Cardiovascular Aspects (Editors: R.C. Tarazi and A. Zanchetti)8.Physiology and Pathophysiology of Hypertension Regulation Mechanisms (Editors: R.C. Tarazi and A. Zanchetti^xiii