Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and vascular function in Hispanic and non-Hispanic males.

Hispanic men have one of the highest consumptions of sugar-sweetened beverages in the United States. Frequent sugar-sweetened beverage consumption has been associated with higher incidence of cardiovascular disease through altered vascular function. Cardiovascular disease is the second leading cause of death in the Hispanic population.

The influence of receiving real-time visual feedback on breathing during treadmill running to exhaustion.

Breathing plays a vital role in everyday life, and specifically during exercise it provides working muscles with the oxygen necessary for optimal performance. Respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) monitors breathing through elastic belts around the chest and abdomen, with efficient breathing defined by synchronous chest and abdomen movement. This study examined if providing runners with visual feedback through RIP could increase breathing efficiency and thereby time to exhaustion.

Examining Contributors to Intent to Continue Exercising in Patients With Cancer in Rehabilitation.

Background: Exercise is physiologically and psychologically beneficial to cancer survivors, leading to an increase in supervised exercise programs targeting this population. However, more than half of survivors who are offered a supervised exercise program do not complete it.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine which factors influence survivors' decisions to continue exercising in or outside of a supervised exercise program using the theory of planned behavior (TPB).

Cumulative oral examinations in undergraduate human physiology: process, student perceptions, and outcomes.

Assessment methods vary widely across undergraduate physiology courses. Here, a cumulative oral examination was administered in two sections of a 300-level undergraduate physiology course. Student performance was quantified via instructor grading using a rubric, and self-perceptions ( = 55) were collected via survey.

The 2019 P-MIG Student Survey report and capturing the undergraduate perspective of physiology programming.

The aim of the 2019 Student Survey was to inform the Physiology Majors Interest Group (P-MIG) of characteristics of undergraduates enrolled in physiology courses or degree programs from across the United States, to be used as one input source for the development of program-level guidelines. There were 1,389 participants from seven universities who completed the 2019 P-MIG Student Survey. Thirty-seven percent reported enrollment in a physiology/human physiology major; allied health-related programs were the second most common (24%).

Advising physiology students: perceptions from the programs.

Academic advising outcomes can be linked to both student success and retention. Yet relatively little is known specifically related to advising in physiology programs. Professional organizations dedicated to academic advising in general, and more specifically advising future health professional students exist, yet, whether current physiology programs utilize these resources remains unknown, as does a number of other demographic information about advising in physiology programs.

The theory of planned behavior and strength training in college-aged women.

Using Theory of Planned Behavior, the objective of this study was to determine how attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavior control related to intent to strength training by college-aged women. Participants were college-aged females ( = 162) from a mid-sized private university in the Midwestern United States who were divided into three groups: non-exercisers, cardiovascular-only exercisers, and strength or strength and cardiovascular exercisers. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavior control in relation to strength training behavior.

Effects of Single-Dose Dietary Nitrate on Oxygen Consumption During and After Maximal and Submaximal Exercise in Healthy Humans: A Pilot Study.

Dietary nitrate (NO) has been shown to reduce oxygen consumption (VO) during moderate to high-intensity (e.g. time to fatigue, time trials) exercise and often in trained athletes.

Inhibition of Na /K -ATPase and K channels abolishes hypoxic hyperaemia in resting but not contracting skeletal muscle of humans.

Key Points: Increasing blood flow (hyperaemia) to exercising muscle helps match oxygen delivery and metabolic demand. During exercise in hypoxia, there is a compensatory increase in muscle hyperaemia that maintains oxygen delivery and tissue oxygen consumption. Nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandins (PGs) contribute to around half of the augmented hyperaemia during hypoxic exercise, although the contributors to the remaining response are unknown.

Impaired peripheral vasodilation during graded systemic hypoxia in healthy older adults: role of the sympathoadrenal system.

Systemic hypoxia is a physiological and pathophysiological stress that activates the sympathoadrenal system and, in young adults, leads to peripheral vasodilation. We tested the hypothesis that peripheral vasodilation to graded systemic hypoxia is impaired in older healthy adults and that this age-associated impairment is due to attenuated β-adrenergic mediated vasodilation and elevated α-adrenergic vasoconstriction. Forearm blood flow was measured (Doppler ultrasound), and vascular conductance (FVC) was calculated in 12 young (24 ± 1 yr) and 10 older (63 ± 2 yr) adults to determine the local dilatory responses to graded hypoxia (90, 85, and 80% O saturations) in control conditions, following local intra-arterial blockade of β-receptors (propranolol), and combined blockade of α- and β-receptors (phentolamine + propranolol).

Physical and Psychological Effects of a 12-Session Cancer Rehabilitation Exercise Program.

Background: The positive effects of regular exercise for cancer survivors are becoming increasingly apparent. However, comprehensive examination of the benefits of modest levels of physical activity is somewhat lacking.

Objectives: This study aimed to test the hypothesis that participating in a 12-session exercise program will improve depression, fatigue, aerobic endurance, muscular strength, and quality of life (QOL) in patients with cancer.

Health-Related Quality of Life Improves Similarly in Patients With and Without Type 2 Diabetes After Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Purpose: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and results in substantial healthcare expenditures. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important aspect in long-term recovery for patients with cardiovascular disease. As such, improvement in HRQoL is a relevant outcome for determining cardiovascular rehabilitation (CR) program efficacy.

Acute ascorbic acid ingestion increases skeletal muscle blood flow and oxygen consumption via local vasodilation during graded handgrip exercise in older adults.

Human aging is associated with reduced skeletal muscle perfusion during exercise, which may be a result of impaired endothelium-dependent dilation and/or attenuated ability to blunt sympathetically mediated vasoconstriction. Intra-arterial infusion of ascorbic acid (AA) increases nitric oxide-mediated vasodilation and forearm blood flow (FBF) during handgrip exercise in older adults, yet it remains unknown whether an acute oral dose can similarly improve FBF or enhance the ability to blunt sympathetic vasoconstriction during exercise. We hypothesized that 1) acute oral AA would improve FBF (Doppler ultrasound) and oxygen consumption (V̇o2) via local vasodilation during graded rhythmic handgrip exercise in older adults (protocol 1), and 2) AA ingestion would not enhance sympatholysis in older adults during handgrip exercise (protocol 2).

Contracting human skeletal muscle maintains the ability to blunt α1 -adrenergic vasoconstriction during KIR channel and Na(+) /K(+) -ATPase inhibition.

Key Points: During exercise there is a balance between vasoactive factors that facilitate increases in blood flow and oxygen delivery to the active tissue and the sympathetic nervous system, which acts to limit muscle blood flow for the purpose of blood pressure regulation. Functional sympatholysis describes the ability of contracting skeletal muscle to blunt the stimulus for vasoconstriction, yet the underlying signalling of this response in humans is not well understood. We tested the hypothesis that activation of inwardly rectifying potassium channels and the sodium-potassium ATPase pump, two potential vasodilator pathways within blood vessels, contributes to the ability to blunt α1 -adrenergic vasoconstriction.

Intravascular ATP and the regulation of blood flow and oxygen delivery in humans.

Regulation of vascular tone is a complex response that integrates multiple signals that allow for blood flow and oxygen supply to match oxygen demand appropriately. Here, we discuss the potential role of intravascular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as a primary factor in these responses and put forth the hypothesis that deficient ATP release contributes to impairments in vascular control exhibited in aged and diseased populations.

KIR channel activation contributes to onset and steady-state exercise hyperemia in humans.

We tested the hypothesis that activation of inwardly rectifying potassium (KIR) channels and Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase, two pathways that lead to hyperpolarization of vascular cells, contributes to both the onset and steady-state hyperemic response to exercise. We also determined whether after inhibiting these pathways nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandins (PGs) are involved in the hyperemic response. Forearm blood flow (FBF; Doppler ultrasound) was determined during rhythmic handgrip exercise at 10% maximal voluntary contraction for 5 min in the following conditions: control [saline; trial 1 (T1)]; with combined inhibition of KIR channels and Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase alone [via barium chloride (BaCl2) and ouabain, respectively; trial 2 (T2)]; and with additional combined nitric oxide synthase (N(G)-monomethyl-l-arginine) and cyclooxygenase inhibition [ketorolac; trial 3 (T3)].

Reactive hyperemia occurs via activation of inwardly rectifying potassium channels and Na+/K+-ATPase in humans.

Rationale: Reactive hyperemia (RH) in the forearm circulation is an important marker of cardiovascular health, yet the underlying vasodilator signaling pathways are controversial and thus remain unclear.

Objective: We hypothesized that RH occurs via activation of inwardly rectifying potassium (KIR) channels and Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase and is largely independent of the combined production of the endothelial autocoids nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandins in young healthy humans.

Methods And Results: In 24 (23±1 years) subjects, we performed RH trials by measuring forearm blood flow (FBF; venous occlusion plethysmography) after 5 minutes of arterial occlusion.

Mechanisms of rapid vasodilation after a brief contraction in human skeletal muscle.

A monophasic increase in skeletal muscle blood flow is observed after a brief single forearm contraction in humans, yet the underlying vascular signaling pathways remain largely undetermined. Evidence from experimental animals indicates an obligatory role of vasodilation via K⁺-mediated smooth muscle hyperpolarization, and human data suggest little to no independent role for nitric oxide (NO) or vasodilating prostaglandins (PGs). We tested the hypothesis that K⁺-mediated vascular hyperpolarization underlies the rapid vasodilation in humans and that combined inhibition of NO and PGs would have a minimal effect on this response.

Mechanical effects of muscle contraction increase intravascular ATP draining quiescent and active skeletal muscle in humans.

Intravascular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) evokes vasodilation and is implicated in the regulation of skeletal muscle blood flow during exercise. Mechanical stresses to erythrocytes and endothelial cells stimulate ATP release in vitro. How mechanical effects of muscle contractions contribute to increased plasma ATP during exercise is largely unexplored.

Sources of intravascular ATP during exercise in humans: critical role for skeletal muscle perfusion.

Exercise hyperaemia is regulated by several factors, and one factor known to increase with exercise that evokes a powerful vasomotor action is extracellular ATP. The origin of ATP detected in plasma from exercising muscle of humans is, however, a matter of debate, and ATP has been suggested to arise from sympathetic nerves, blood sources (e.g.

ATP-mediated vasodilatation occurs via activation of inwardly rectifying potassium channels in humans.

Circulating ATP possesses unique vasomotor properties in humans and has been hypothesized to play a role in vascular control under a variety of physiological conditions. However, the primary downstream signalling mechanisms underlying ATP-mediated vasodilatation remain unclear. The purpose of the present experiment was to determine whether ATP-mediated vasodilatation is independent of nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin (PG) synthesis and occurs primarily via the activation of Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase and inwardly rectifying potassium (K(IR)) channels in humans.