Background
Exercise training has now become established practice in patients with chronic heart failure. Women are often under-represented in intervention studies compared to men. For this reason it ...was our aim to conduct a combined endurance and muscle strength training program to evaluate its effect on clinical performance data and health-related psychosocial factors in women and men.
Methods
One hundred and sixteen women, mean age 69 ± 9 years, body mass index (BMI) 25.8 ± 4.9, and 169 men, mean age 66 ± 9 years, BMI 26.6 ± 3.6 underwent combined endurance/resistance training. The training program lasted 29 ± 7 days and comprised bicycle ergometer training, a 6-min walk test as a training unit and muscle strength training for the lower and upper extremities.
Results
Differences between women and men were found in clinical parameters. In particular, statistically significant differences were revealed between the women and men with regard to cardiopulmonary performance. Quality of life was significantly improved on discharge with regard to both physical and mental health, whereas anxiety and depression showed no significant alteration.
Conclusion
A specialized in-hospital program for women and men combining endurance/resistance training and education is feasible. But our program revealed a very low level of cardiopulmonary performance in women. Women need to be encouraged and motivated to participate in such programs.
Chronic heart failure (CHF) will become one of the greatest medical challenges during the next decades. This is especially true with regard to elderly patients. Besides medical diagnostics and drug ...therapy, efficient treatment of CHF must also include exercise training.
The purpose of our study was 1) to record health-related quality of life (QOL) in elderly patients with CHF and 2) to assess the efficacy of a training program, as well as to evaluate any changes detected during a six month follow-up.
In our non-randomized study, 116 patients, divided according to age into Group 1 (>70 years) and Group 2 (<70 years), took part in a 4-week training program.
There were differences in the clinical parameters and the QOL between the older and the younger patients both after 4 weeks and at the follow-up. After six months, however, the older patients again recorded having an inferior QOL to that of the younger patients.
Elderly patients can also benefit from physical exercise training, with improvement in clinical parameters and QOL. In order to maintain the subjectively improved QOL in the long term, however, continued special heart failure education and support is required.
Summary Physical activity plays a key role in the control of neuroendocrine, autonomic, and behavioral responses to physical and psychosocial stress. However, little is known about how the level of ...physical activity modulates stress responsiveness. Here, we test whether different levels of physical activity are associated with different adrenal, cardiovascular, and psychological responses to psychosocial stress. In addition, competitiveness is assessed as a personality trait that possibly modulates the relationship between physical activity and stress reactivity. Eighteen elite sportsmen, 50 amateur sportsmen, and 24 untrained men were exposed to a standardized psychosocial laboratory stressor (Trier Social Stress Test). Repeated measures of salivary free cortisol, heart rate, and psychological responses to psychosocial stress were compared among the 3 study groups. Elite sportsmen exhibited significantly lower cortisol, heart rate, and state anxiety responses compared with untrained subjects. Amateur sportsmen showed a dissociation between sympathetic and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal responsiveness to stress, with significantly reduced heart rate responses but no difference in cortisol responses compared with untrained men. Different levels of competitiveness among groups did not mediate stress reactivity. Our results are in line with previous studies indicating reduced reactivity of the autonomic nervous system to psychosocial stress in trained individuals. More importantly, these findings imply a differential effect of the level of physical activity on different stress-related neurophysiological systems in response to psychosocial stress.
Here, we investigate whether a single administration of dark chocolate buffers endocrine reactivity to acute psychosocial stress in healthy men and whether this effect relates to plasma levels of the ...flavonoid epicatechin. ...we wanted to determine whether this effect would be peripheral (by measuring the adrenal gland hormones cortisol and epinephrine) or more central (by assessing adrenocorticotropic hormone ACTH, norepinephrine, and cognitive stress appraisal). Univariate analyses of variance (unit, dark chocolate group: mean ± SEM/placebo group: mean ± SEM) revealed that the groups significantly differed in epicatechin plasma levels before (ng/ml, 40.5 ± 2.9/<5, p < 0.001) and 120 min (ng/ml, 16.7 ± 1.1/<5, p < 0.001) after stress. ...there were no group differences in stress hormone levels before chocolate consumption (cortisol: nmol/l, 10.1 ± 1.5/9.9 ± 1.2, p = 0.90; ACTH: pg/ml, 6.9 ± 1.7/8.6 ± 3.2, p = 0.66; epinephrine: pg/ml, 26.6 ± 3.6/19.9 ± 2.1, p = 0.33; norepinephrine: pg/ml, 397.4 ± 25.7/446.1 ± 33.9, p = 0.26), age (years, 34.5 ± 1.6/36.8 ± 1.5, p = 0.30), body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2, 25.0 ± 0.8/25.2 ± 0.7, p = 0.84), mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) (mm Hg, 89.6 ± 1.8/91.3 ± 1.6, p = 0.48), or stress appraisal (PASA stress index, -0.79 ± 0.58/-0.45 ± 0.45, p = 0.64).
The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of dynamic superimposed submaximal whole-body electromyostimulation (WB-EMS) training on maximal strength and power parameters of the leg muscles ...compared with a similar dynamic training without WB-EMS. Eighteen male sport students were randomly assigned either to a WB-EMS intervention (INT;
= 9; age: 28.8 (
: 3.0) years; body mass: 80.2 (6.6) kg; strength training experience: 4.6 (2.8) years) or a traditional strength training group (CON;
= 9; age: 22.8 (2.5) years; body mass: 77.6 (9.0) kg; strength training experience: 4.5 (2.9) years). Both training intervention programs were performed twice a week over a period of 8 weeks with the only difference that INT performed all dynamic exercises (e.g., split squats, glute-ham raises, jumps, and tappings) with superimposed WB-EMS. WB-EMS intensity was adjusted to 70% of the individual maximal tolerable pain to ensure dynamic movement. Before (PRE), after (POST) and 2 weeks after the intervention (FU), performance indices were assessed by maximal strength (F
) and maximal power (P
) testing on the leg extension (LE), leg curl (LC), and leg press (LP) machine as primary endpoints. Additionally, vertical and horizontal jumps and 30 m sprint tests were conducted as secondary endpoints at PRE, POST and FU testing. Significant time effects were observed for strength and power parameters on LE and LC (LE F
+5.0%; LC P
+13.5%). A significant time × group interaction effect was merely observed for F
on the LE where follow-up
testing showed significantly higher improvements in the INT group from PRE to POST and PRE to FU (INT: +7.7%,
< 0.01; CON: +2.1%). These findings indicate that the combination of dynamic exercises and superimposed submaximal WB-EMS seems to be effective in order to improve leg strength and power. However, in young healthy adults the effects of superimposed WB-EMS were similar to the effects of dynamic resistance training without EMS, with the only exception of a significantly greater increase in leg extension F
in the WB-EMS group.
Highlights • Dark chocolate consumption (DCC) relates to higher basal IL-10 mRNA levels. • DCC relates to a blunted stress reactivity of NF-κB-binding activity. • DCC relates to a blunted stress ...reactivity of IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA expression. • The blunted stress reactivity relates to higher levels of cocoa flavanols.
Abstract
Alcohol consumption is a consistent protective factor for the development of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The underlying mechanism for this tolerance-inducing ...effect of alcohol, however, is unknown. Here we show that alcohol and its metabolite acetate alter the functional state of T follicular helper (T
FH
) cells in vitro and in vivo, thereby exerting immune regulatory and tolerance-inducing properties. Alcohol-exposed mice have reduced Bcl6 and PD-1 expression as well as IL-21 production by T
FH
cells, preventing proper spatial organization of T
FH
cells to form T
FH
:B cell conjugates in germinal centers. This effect is associated with impaired autoantibody formation, and mitigates experimental autoimmune arthritis. By contrast, T cell independent immune responses and passive models of arthritis are not affected by alcohol exposure. These data clarify the immune regulatory and tolerance-inducing effect of alcohol consumption.
Background:
Whole-body electromyostimulation (WB-EMS) gained increasing interest in sports within recent years. However, few intervention studies have examined the effects of WB-EMS on trained ...subjects in comparison to conventional strength training.
Objective:
The aim of the present mini-meta-analysis of 5 recently conducted and published randomized controlled WB-EMS trails of our work group was to evaluate potentially favorable effects of WB-EMS in comparison to conventional strength training.
Methods:
We included parameter of selected leg muscle's strength and power as well as sprint and jump performance. All subjects were moderately trained athletes >2 training sessions/week, >2 years of experience in strength training; experimental group (
n
= 58): 21.5 ± 3.3 y; 178 ± 8 cm; 74.0 ± 11 kg; control group (
n
= 54): 21.0 ± 2.3 y; 179.0 ± 9 cm; 72.6 ± 10 kg. The following WB-EMS protocols were applied to the experimental group (EG): 2 WB-EMS sessions/week, bipolar current superimposed to dynamic exercises, 85 Hz, 350 μs, 70% of the individual pain threshold amperage. The control groups (CG) underwent the same training protocols without WB-EMS, but with external resistance.
Results:
Five extremely homogenous studies (all studies revealed an
I
2
= 0%) with 112 subjects in total were analyzed with respect to lower limb strength and power in leg curl, leg extension and leg press machines, sprint—and jump performance. Negligible effects in favor of WB-EMS were found for F
max
of leg muscle groups SMD: 0.11 (90% CI: −0.08, 0.33),
p
= 0.73,
I
2
= 0% and for CMJ SMD: 0.01 (90% CI: −0.34, 0.33),
p
= 0.81,
I
2
= 0%. Small effects, were found for linear sprint SMD: 0.22 (90% CI: −0.15, 0.60),
p
= 0.77,
I
2
= 0% in favor of the EMS-group compared to CON.
Conclusion:
We conclude that WB-EMS is a feasible complementary training stimulus for performance enhancement. However, additional effects on strength and power indices seem to be limited and sprint and jump-performance appear to be benefiting only slightly. Longer training periods and more frequent application times and a slightly larger stimulus could be investigated in larger samples to further elucidate beneficial effects of WB-EMS on performance parameters in athletes.
Ductal occlusion has been postulated to precipitate focal pancreatic inflammation, while the nature of the primary occluding agents has remained elusive. Neutrophils make use of histone ...citrullination by peptidyl arginine deiminase-4 (PADI4) in contact to particulate agents to extrude decondensed chromatin as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). In high cellular density, NETs form macroscopically visible aggregates. Here we show that such aggregates form inside pancreatic ducts in humans and mice occluding pancreatic ducts and thereby driving pancreatic inflammation. Experimental models indicate that PADI4 is critical for intraductal aggregate formation and that PADI4-deficiency abrogates disease progression. Mechanistically, we identify the pancreatic juice as a strong instigator of neutrophil chromatin extrusion. Characteristic single components of pancreatic juice, such as bicarbonate ions and calcium carbonate crystals, induce aggregated NET formation. Ductal occlusion by aggregated NETs emerges as a pathomechanism with relevance in a plethora of inflammatory conditions involving secretory ducts.
Psychological stress delays wound healing but the precise underlying mechanisms are unclear. Macrophages play an important role in wound healing, in particular by killing microbes. We hypothesized ...that (a) acute psychological stress reduces wound-induced activation of microbicidal potential of human monocyte-derived macrophages (HMDM), and (b) that these reductions are modulated by stress hormone release.
Fourty-one healthy men (mean age 35 ± 13 years) were randomly assigned to either a stress or stress-control group. While the stress group underwent a standardized short-term psychological stress task after catheter-induced wound infliction, stress-controls did not. Catheter insertion was controlled. Assessing the microbicidal potential, we investigated PMA-activated superoxide anion production by HMDM immediately before and 1, 10 and 60 min after stress/rest. Moreover, plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine and salivary cortisol were repeatedly measured. In subsequent in vitro studies, whole blood was incubated with norepinephrine in the presence or absence of phentolamine (norepinephrine blocker) before assessing HMDM microbicidal potential.
Compared with stress-controls, HMDM of the stressed subjects displayed decreased superoxide anion-responses after stress (p's <.05). Higher plasma norepinephrine levels statistically mediated lower amounts of superoxide anion-responses (indirect effect 95% CI: 4.14-44.72). Norepinephrine-treated HMDM showed reduced superoxide anion-production (p<.001). This effect was blocked by prior incubation with phentolamine.
Our results suggest that acute psychological stress reduces wound-induced activation of microbicidal potential of HMDM and that this reduction is mediated by norepinephrine. This might have implications for stress-induced impairment in wound healing.
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