Kato et al. (A-23) measured the plasma concentration of adrenomedullin (AM) in patients with chronic congestive heart failure due to various cardiac diseases. AM is a hypotensive peptide, which, on the basis of other studies, the authors say, has an implied role as a circulating hormone in regulation of the cardiovascular system. Other data collected from the subjects included plasma concentrations of hormones known to affect the cardiovascular system. Following are the plasma AM

(fmol/ml) and plasma renin activity (PRA) ng ð Þ =L s values for 19 heart failure patients:

Patient Sex Age AM PRA No. 1ð Þ ¼ M; 2 ¼ F (Years) (fmol/ml) ng ð Þ =L s 1 1 70 12.11 .480594 2 1 44 7.306 .63894 3 1 72 6.906 1.219542 4 1 62 7.056 .450036 5 2 52 9.026 .19446 6 2 65 10.864 1.966824 7 2 64 7.324 .29169 8 1 71 9.316 1.775142 9 2 61 17.144 9.33408 10 1 68 6.954 .31947 11 1 63 7.488 1.594572 12 2 59 10.366 .963966 13 2 55 10.334 2.191842 14 2 57 13 3.97254 15 2 68 6.66 .52782 16 2 51 8.906 .350028 17 1 69 8.952 1.73625 18 1 71 8.034 .102786 19 1 46 13.41 1.13898