Habitual long-distance running does not enhance urinary excretion of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine.

The energy demand during physical exercise causes an increased oxygen uptake and supply to active tissues, which may increase the rate of free oxygen radical production and thereby affect the capacity of endogenous cellular defense systems. This could result in DNA base modifications, among which 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8OHdG) is one of the most important and has widely been used as a biomarker of in vivo oxidative lesions. Therefore, we examined the effect of regular running exercise on the urinary levels of 8OHdG in 32 long-distance runners and in a group of untrained healthy subjects.

Defective endogenous opioid response to exercise in type I diabetic patients.

Plasma beta-endorphin (beta-E) concentration was determined before, during, and after a standardized incremental exercise test to maximal capacity in eight type I diabetic patients and eight normal control subjects. Diabetic patients were studied under normoglycemic and hyperglycemic conditions in a single-blind random fashion to differentiate between the effects of acute hyperglycemia and of diabetes per se on the beta-E response to exercise. The perceived magnitude of leg effort elicited by exercise was evaluated using a category scale.

Nasal continuous positive airway pressure for nonapneic snoring?

The feasibility of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for heavy snoring associated with daytime sleepiness was studied in 118 consecutive patients with an apnea hypopnea index below 5. Fifty-nine of them reported daytime sleepiness in a questionnaire and were offered treatment with nasal CPAP. Whereas 48 patients refused it, the remaining 11 (19%) accepted nasal CPAP for home therapy.

Effects of combined inspiratory muscle and cycle ergometer training on exercise performance in patients with COPD.

Cycle ergometer training plays an important role in the rehabilitation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but the usefulness of specific inspiratory muscle training as part of pulmonary rehabilitation remains uncertain. To determine whether inspiratory muscle training could intensify the known beneficial effects of cycle ergometer training on exercise performance in these patients, we compared the effect of an 8 week inspiratory muscle training combined with cycle ergometer training with that of an 8 week cycle ergometer training alone on inspiratory muscle performance and general exercise capacity. Patients were randomly assigned to the two training groups; 21 patients received additional inspiratory muscle training (Group 1) and 21 did not (Group 2).

The effect of aminophylline on the force-length characteristics of the diaphragm.

The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of aminophylline on the contractile function of the human diaphragm during varying muscle fiber length. Ten healthy subjects were studied during maximal sniff maneuvers and bilateral phrenic nerve twitch stimulations, with and without intravenous infusion of aminophylline in a randomized fashion. The transdiaphragmatic pressures generated at various baseline lung volumes, from residual volume to 90% of total lung capacity, were recorded before and after the induction of diaphragm exhaustion.