Effects of Twenty Days of the Ketogenic Diet on Metabolic and Respiratory Parameters in Healthy Subjects.

Purpose: The effects of the ketogenic diet (KD) on weight loss, metabolic, and respiratory parameters were investigated in healthy subjects.

Methods: Thirty-two healthy subjects were randomized into two groups. The KD group followed a ketogenic diet for 20 days (KD t 0-t 20), then switched to a low-carbohydrate, no-ketogenic diet for 20 days (KD t 20-t 40), and finally was on a Mediterranean diet (MD) for 2 more months (KD t 40-t 2m).

Effects of repetitive exposure to anesthetics and analgesics in the Tg2576 mouse Alzheimer's model.

The use of anesthetics and sedatives has been suggested to be a contributor to Alzheimer's disease neuropathogenesis. We wanted to address the in vivo relevance of those substances in the Tg2576 Alzheimer's mouse model. Tg7526 mice were anesthesia-sedated for 90 min once a week for 4 weeks.

Hippocampal cellular loss after brief hypotension.

Brief episodes of hypotension have been shown to cause acute brain damage in animal models. We used a rat hemorrhagic shock model to assess functional outcome and to measure the relative neuronal damage at 1, 4 and 14 days post-injury (3 min of hypotension). All rats underwent a neurological assessment including motor abilities, sensory system evaluation and retrograde memory at post-hypotensive insult.

Repetitive intraperitoneal caspase-3 inhibitor and anesthesia reduces neuronal damage.

Caspase inhibitors are usually administered intracranially. There's very limited evidence showing that they can be used intraperitoneally, and still have a beneficial effect. We tested the hypothesis that, during focal cerebral ischemia, caspase inhibitors when used in combination with an anesthetic agent results in a significantly reduction in the neuronal damage.

The effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition by captopril on respiratory mechanics in healthy rats.

Context: Angiotensin stimulates smooth-muscle contraction. Accordingly, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition is expected to decrease airway resistance.

Objectives: To measure the effects of ACE inhibition on respiratory mechanics in healthy mammals.

Body metabolic rate and electromyographic activities of antigravitational muscles in supine and standing postures.

We measured metabolic (oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide production, respiratory ratio), cardio-circulatory (heart rate, systolic and diastolic arterial blood pressure, rate-pressure product, an index of myocardial oxygen consumption calculated by multiplying heart rate by systolic pressure) and electromyographic (integrated electromyographic activities of two antigravitational muscles of the lower limb, soleus and gastrocnemius) variables on 12 young healthy subjects in supine and standing positions at rest. We found statistically significant increments of oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide production, heart rate and integrated electromyographic activities in standing versus supine position. Rate-pressure product increased but not significantly, and no other significant changes were detected.

Flow and volume dependence of rat airway resistance during constant flow inflation and deflation.

Study Objectives: The aim of this study was to measure the flow and volume dependence of both the ohmic and the viscoelastic pressure dissipations of the normal rat respiratory system separately during inflation and deflation.

Method: The study was conducted in the Respiratory Physiology Laboratory in our institution. Measurements were obtained for Seven albino Wistar rats of both sexes by using the flow interruption method during constant flow inflations and deflations.