Harlequin syndrome is characterized by unilateral hyperhidrosis and flushing, which are predominantly induced by heat or exercise. Usually, the sympathetic deficits confine to the face. Rarely, the autonomic deficits involve the arm or the parasympathetic neurons in the ciliary ganglia. We report a 43-yr-old woman who presented with facial flushing and sweating in the right side, which were mainly induced by exercise. The facial flushing accompanied relative coldness in the right arm. Valsalva maneuver, cold pressure and 0.125% pilocarpine test, and computed tomography of the chest were normal. The crossed sympathetic deficit in the left face and right arm suggested that the lesions were multifocal. The sympathetic impairment in our patient may lie on a spectrum of pre- and postganglionic autonomic dysfunction, which was observed in Holmes-Adie, Ross, and Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Adult ; Arm/innervation/*physiopathology ; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases/*physiopathology ; Face/innervation/*physiopathology ; Female ; Flushing/*physiopathology ; Humans ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Sweating/*physiology ; Syndrome

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy of Breviscapine on essential hypertension (EH) patients complicated with micro-albuminuria of renal impairment.

METHODSSeventy-six EH patients were randomly assigned to the control group and the treated group, the former was given amlodipine, captopril/uropidil and the latter was given in addition Breviscapine intravenously dripped for 2 treatment courses. The indexes of serum creatinine (Cr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), blood and urinary beta(2)-microglobulin (beta(2)-MG), and quantitative determination of 24 hrs urinary protein were evaluated before and after treatment.

RESULTSIn the control group, compared with before treatment, the quantitative determination of 24 hrs urinary protein got reduced significantly (P < 0.05), while in the treated group, both urinary beta(2)-MG and quantitative determination of 24 hrs urinary protein got lowered significantly (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01). But after treatment, compared with the control group, urinary beta(2)-MG and quantitative determination of 24 hrs urinary protein in the treated group were obviously reduced (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONBesides lowering blood pressure effectively, Breviscapine could improve the renal function significantly and reduce the urinary micro-albuminuria, hence showing promising effect on renal protection.

Adult ; Aged ; Albuminuria ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Amlodipine ; therapeutic use ; Antihypertensive Agents ; therapeutic use ; Blood Pressure ; drug effects ; Captopril ; therapeutic use ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Flavonoids ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Flushing ; chemically induced ; Humans ; Hypertension ; complications ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Injections, Intravenous ; Kidney Diseases ; etiology ; urine ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Proteinuria ; etiology ; physiopathology ; beta 2-Microglobulin ; urine