Cardiovascular risk during physical activity in the mountains.

Objective: Several previous studies evaluated the cardiovascular risk associated with exercise, but only a few papers considered this risk during physical activity in the mountains. The aim of this study was to assess the cardiovascular risk in a population practising physical activity in the mountains.

Methods: We used an observational study design.

Metabolic and cardiovascular parameters in type 1 diabetes at extreme altitude.

Purpose: The American Diabetes Association states that physical activity can be performed by individuals with Type 1 diabetes. Nevertheless, extreme altitude mountaineering represents a demanding challenge. We present the metabolic and cardiovascular parameters found in individuals with Type 1 diabetes during the ascent to Cho Oyu located at a height of 8201 m.

Cancer mortality trends in two cohorts of elderly people having different life-styles.

We analyzed cancer mortality trends in 3282 elderly subjects from two general Italian populations with different life-style patterns taking part in the Cardiovascular Study in the Elderly (CASTEL). The aim of the study was to evaluate which predictors were able to influence cancer mortality. Age, gender, tobacco smoking, the presence of respiratory symptoms, increased serum levels of ALT and ALP, and the town of residence were powerful predictors.

24-hour leg and forearm haemodynamics in transected spinal cord subjects.

Objective: A circadian rhythm of blood pressure has been demonstrated both in subjects who are physically active during the day and in those confined to bed. The study of the circadian rhythm of arterial flow and peripheral resistance, on the other hand, is limited to pioneer experiments. This paper is aimed at demonstrating that leg peripheral resistance has circadian fluctuations which are modulated by spinal neural traffic.

Cytokines and the progression of liver damage in experimental bile duct ligation.

1. Cytokines are soluble factors whose action has been documented in physiological and pathological conditions. Some may be involved in the pathogenesis of cholestasis, whether of acute or chronic origin.

Tumour necrosis factor alpha and cellular proliferation in primary biliary cirrhosis.

Aims: 1) To evaluate serum levels and tissue expression of Tumour necrosis factor alpha in primary biliary cirrhosis: 2) to correlate serum tumour necrosis factor alpha levels and cellular proliferation with the severity and prognosis of liver disease.

Methods: Twenty-nine primary biliary cirrhosis patients (6 stage I, 8 II, 8 III, and 7 IV) entered the study. Serum tumour necrosis factor alpha was measured by EIA (Innogenetics, Antwerp, Belgium).

Leg versus forearm flow: 24 h monitoring in 14 normotensive subjects and in 14 age-matched hypertensive patients confined to bed.

A circadian blood pressure rhythm has been demonstrated in the majority of subjects, even if inactive during daytime. A rhythm of leg blood flow and peripheral resistance, with higher values during sleep than during waking, has also been recently shown in subjects confined to bed. Doubts still persist on whether such a rhythm also exists in the forearm, and whether or not its trend is similar to that found in the leg.

Blood pressure, serum cholesterol and nutritional state in Tanzania and in the Amazon: comparison with an Italian population.

Objective: To confirm that westernization of dietary habits represents a stimulus for the expression of cardiovascular risk.

Design: Three representative age- and sex-matched samples of general populations of three continents were compared cross-sectionally by analysis of variance.

Participants: In total 1110 subjects aged 22-89 years, divided into three groups (370 from Tanzania and Uganda, 370 from the Amazonian region of Brazil, and 370 from northern Italy; 111 men and 259 women in each group).

Lower blood pressure values in blood donors?

594 blood donors were studied to define the influence of regular blood donation on blood pressure. Blood pressures were compared at the first phlebotomy performed at the Padova Blood Unit, the 13-year phlebotomy, and the median between the two. As a control population, a cohort of 594 non-donors from the same general population similar to the blood donors was studied twice at a 15-year interval.

24 h rhythm of blood pressure and forearm peripheral resistance in normotensive and hypertensive subjects confined to bed.

Objectives: To define whether a diurnal rhythm of peripheral resistance exists in normotensive and hypertensive subjects, has any relationship with that of blood pressure and differs in dipper and non-dipper hypertensives.

Design And Methods: Forty-three subjects (13 normotensives and 30 mild-to-moderate essential hypertensives) confined for 24 h to bed were included. Blood pressure was recorded for 22 h at 15 min intervals, plethysmographic forearm flow was simultaneously measured and forearm resistance calculated.

Effects of in vivo exposure to antineoplastic drugs on DNA repair and replication in human lymphocytes.

In peripheral blood lymphocytes of 12 nurses and 3 patients exposed to antineoplastic drugs we determined the ability to repair DNA after UV irradiation and DNA replicative synthesis after stimulation by PHA. In nurses the levels of unscheduled DNA synthesis and DNA replication were not different than in a control group, whereas in patients significant changes were observed during and after chemotherapy in the level of both types of DNA synthesis.