International Charter on Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation: a call for action.

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in both women and men globally and is a growing epidemic in low- to middle-income countries. Without systematic access to cardiac rehabilitation (CR), these individuals may experience multiple recurrent acute care events and suffer unnecessarily premature death. The 2 aims of this Charter are (1) to bring together national associations from around the world to harmonize efforts in promoting cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation and (2) to document consensus among national associations globally, regarding the internationally common core elements and benefits of cardiovascular disease prevention and rehabilitation.

Physiological responses to indoor rock-climbing and their relationship to maximal cycle ergometry.

Purpose: To quantify the cardiorespiratory responses to indoor climbing during two increasingly difficult climbs and relate them to whole-body dynamic exercise. It was hypothesized that as climbing difficulty increased, oxygen consumption ([V02] and heart rate would increase, and that climbing would require utilization of a significant fraction of maximal cycling values.

Methods: Elite competitive sport rock climbers (6 male, 3 female) completed two data collection sessions.

Resistance exercise, the Valsalva maneuver, and cerebrovascular transmural pressure.

Purpose: To examine the acute effects of resistance exercise (RE) performed without a Valsalva maneuver (VM) versus a VM performed alone on systolic pressure, intracranial pressure (ICP), and cerebrovascular transmural pressure (CVTMP) (i.e., the important pressure that stresses the cerebral arterial and aneurysmal walls and calculated as systolic pressure minus ICP).