Vitamin D insufficiency is associated with HT. Further studies are needed to determine whether vitamin D insufficiency is a casual factor in the pathogenesis of HT or rather a consequence of the disease.

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Abstract. The aim of this prospective cross-sectional study was to investigate the hypertrophic effects of endogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism on myocardium and early development of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in essential hypertensive patients accompanied by endogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism. A total of 31 consecutive patients with stage I hypertension were included in the study. Sixteen of them also had endogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism that they were unaware before. The patients and the controls formed out of ten healthy subjects all underwent an investigation of thyroid functions and cardiologic evaluation. The mean wall thickness of the left ventricle in the stage I hypertensive group with endogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism (group I) was significantly increased as compared with both hypertensive patients without thyroid disease (group II) and the control subjects. The mean left ventricle mass was also significantly higher in group I than group II. Both of the patients' groups had an increased prevalence of LVH as compared with the controls. In this study, hypertensive patients with subclinical hyperthyroidism presented more increase in left ventricular mass, suggesting that subclinical hyperthyroidism may contribute to left ventricular hypertrophy forming a natural progression to hypertension. The hypertensive population should always be screened for endogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism, and should be examined for the criteria of left ventricular hypertrophy by echocardiography in early stages. SUBCLINICAL hyperthyroidism is characterized by persistently suppressed plasma thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) concentrations and the presence of normal levels of free thyroxine (fT 4 ) and free triiodothyronine (fT 3 ) hormones. Subclinical hyperthyroidism can be the result of the same causes of overt clinical hyperthyroidism but patients with subclinical hyperthyroidism do not usually show specific symptoms and signs of hyperthyroidism [1,2]. It has been demonstrated that exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism, in which patients treated with TSHsuppressive doses of levothyroxine, may affect the heart as in subjects with overt hyperthyroidism, but it remains controversial whether endogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism affects the heart [3][4][5].Situations in which thyroid hormones were increased have been shown to stimulate myocardial hypertrophy. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Hypertension may also cause left ventricular myocardial hypertrophy. The importance of LVH in the prognosis of hypertension is well known because it clearly shows the duration and the severity of high blood pressure [6][7][8].Since hypertension and hyperthyroidism both may result in myocardial hypertrophy, we designed a crosssectional study to investigate the early development of LVH in essential hypertensive patients accompanied by endogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism. It could

Genetic sonogram presents an anxiety-inducing situation for the parents-to-be. The level of experienced anxiety was found to be proportional to the level of the perceived risk. Women with low risk for chromosomal/structural defects experienced lower anxiety than women with high risk. Following the examination, women with a negative result were found to have a significant reduction of anxiety and emotional relief whereas a positive test result led to a further increase in anxiety scores.