Digitalis was given by mouth to five normal young male adults in amounts ranging from 2.0 to 3.0 gm. of standardized leaves in the course of 7 to 10 days. The As-Vs interval was prolonged in four of the five subjects, the greatest prolongation occurring in the case of the subject who received the most digitalis and none at all in one who received only 2.0 gm. There was no prolongation to so gre...

Clinical manifestations of digitalis toxicity were clearly described by Withering in 1785. One hundred years later, certain digitalis-induced arrhythmias were inscribed on the smoked drum, and shortly thereafter with the introduction of the electrocardiograph, manifestations of digitalis toxicity as recognized today were recorded in animals and human beings. With popularization of the direct-wr...

IN 1919, Pardee attempted to assess the daily maintenance requirements of digitalis.1 He administered digitalis to patients in small repetitive doses until toxicity occurred. Digitalis was then withheld for some days and the patients were again given digitalis until toxicity developed. He calculated that the amount required to achieve toxicity the second time minus that required the first time ...

There are many recent Noire Dame graduates who have left the Dome — and their homes — to spend two years as volunteer te a c h e r s in needy Catholic schools as part of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) p rog ram . And now H u rr ican e K atr ina has m ade their already challenging jobs even harder. Twenty-live Notre Dame gradu­ ates are serving in areas affected by I lurrican...

Gary Eggleston method of administration of digitalis is based upon using digitalis standardised in Cat-units. A cat-unit of digitalis is the weight of dry ^rug in milligrams required to kill one kilogram of cat when an aqueous infusion of it is slowly injected intravenously. The Cary Eggleston dosage, to produce c?mplete digitalisation, finds it necessary to give one Cat-unit of digitalis for e...

Stimulated whole saliva was collected from 118 subjects: 36 were not receiving digitalis; 40 received digitalis but were nontoxic; 14 were digitalis-toxic; 24 had impaired renal function; and four subjects were followed during the administration of digitalis. Saliva calcium and potassium products in the digitalis-toxic group were significantly higher than in the nontoxic group. Subjects with im...

BACKGROUND Digitalis glycosides augment cardiopulmonary baroreceptor mechanisms in animals. This could result from inotropic actions or from direct sensitization of cardiac mechanoreceptors. METHODS AND RESULTS To determine if digitalis has similar actions in humans and to evaluate the mechanisms involved, we measured muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA; microneurography) during unloading...

The effect of digitalis therapy on 4-month posthospital cardiac mortality was investigated in 812 patients who survived the hospital phase of acute myocardial infraction. A stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify variables associated with increased mortality and to adjust for differences in confounding variables between digitalis and nondigitalis patients. The major ...

Cardiac glycosides have played a prominent role in the therapy of congestive heart failure since William Withering codified their use in his late 18th century monograph on the efficacy of the leaves of the common foxglove plant (Digitalis purpurea). Despite their widespread acceptance into medical practice in the ensuing 200 years, both the efficacy and the safety of this class of drugs continu...

SUMMARY Prior to consideration of the effects of digitalis compounds on ionic exchange the basic mechanisms of active Na+ and K+ transport are discussed. It is generally accepted that digitalis is a specific inhibitor of the Na+-K+ activated ATPase located primarily in the sarcolemmal membrane. Present evidence supports the concept that positive inotropic effects of digitalis are not seen unles...