An alternative introduction to reading and evaluating the primary literature for beginning graduate students.

Students are challenged in transitioning from acquiring knowledge and understanding through reading textbooks to their learning to select, read, evaluate, and synthesize the primary literature. A customary approach to teaching this transition to beginning graduate students is for a faculty member to assign "readings" from the recent literature that promise to become key publications; such assignments generally underscore recent, novel scientific content. We advocate here an alternative approach for coaching students very early in their training: first, to read, analyze, and discuss a paper that highlights critically important features of effective and valid experimental design; and, second, to study a paper that can be shown historically to have fundamentally changed the way in which physiological function is understood.

Stress, cognitive appraisal, coping, and event free survival in patients with heart failure.

Objectives: To describe self-reported stress level, cognitive appraisal and coping among patients with heart failure (HF), and to examine the association of cognitive appraisal and coping strategies with event-free survival.

Methods: This was a prospective, longitudinal, descriptive study of patients with chronic HF. Assessment of stress, cognitive appraisal, and coping was performed using Perceived Stress Scale, Cognitive Appraisal Health Scale, and Brief COPE scale, respectively.

Body Size Predicts Cardiac and Vascular Resistance Effects on Men's and Women's Blood Pressure.

We report how blood pressure, cardiac output and vascular resistance are related to height, weight, body surface area (BSA), and body mass index (BMI) in healthy young adults at supine rest and standing.Much inter-subject variability in young adult's blood pressure, currently attributed to health status, may actually result from inter-individual body size differences.Each cardiovascular variable is linearly related to height, weight and/or BSA (more than to BMI).

Effects of Respiratory Training on Heart Rate Variability and Baroreflex Sensitivity in Individuals With Chronic Spinal Cord Injury.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of pressure threshold respiratory training (RT) on heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity in persons with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Before-after intervention case-controlled clinical study.

Setting: SCI research center and outpatient rehabilitation unit.

Baroreceptor reflex during forced expiratory maneuvers in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury.

Pulmonary and cardiovascular dysfunctions are leading causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). Impaired respiratory motor function and decreased Baroreflex Sensitivity (BS) are predictors for the development of cardiopulmonary disease. This observational case-controlled clinical study was undertaken to investigate if respiratory motor control deficits in individuals with SCI affect their ability to perform the Valsalva maneuver, and to determine if a sustained Maximum Expiratory Pressure (MEP) effort can serve as an acceptable maneuver for determination of the BS in the event that the Valsalva maneuver cannot be performed.

Examination of the potential association of stress with morbidity and mortality outcomes in patient with heart failure.

Objectives: The high mortality and morbidity rates associated with heart failure are still not well explained. A few psychosocial factors have been studied and explain some of this risk, but other factors, like stress, remain largely unexplored in heart failure. This study aimed to (1) examine the association of stress with 6-month cardiac event-free survival, (2) examine the relationship of stress with salivary cortisol, and (3) examine the association of salivary cortisol level with 6-month cardiac event-free survival.

Near-infrared diffuse optical monitoring of cerebral blood flow and oxygenation for the prediction of vasovagal syncope.

Significant drops in arterial blood pressure and cerebral hemodynamics have been previously observed during vasovagal syncope (VVS). Continuous and simultaneous monitoring of these physiological variables during VVS is rare, but critical for determining which variable is the most sensitive parameter to predict VVS. The present study used a novel custom-designed diffuse correlation spectroscopy flow-oximeter and a finger plethysmograph to simultaneously monitor relative changes of cerebral blood flow (rCBF), cerebral oxygenation (i.

Effects of perinatal oxycodone exposure on the cardiovascular response to acute stress in male rats at weaning and in young adulthood.

Unlabelled: Oxycodone (OXY) is one of the most commonly abused opiates during pregnancy. Perinatal opiate exposure (POE) is associated with neurobehavioral and hormone changes. Little is known about the effects of perinatal OXY on the cardiovascular (CV) responses to stress.

Chronic angiotensin-II treatment potentiates HR slowing in Sprague-Dawley rat during acute behavioral stress.

This study examined the effect of 2-week infusion of angiotensin-II (Ang-II; 175 ng/kg/min) via minipump in rats (n=7) upon the mean arterial blood pressure (mBP) and heart rate (HR) response to an acute stress as compared to rats infused with saline (n=7). The acute stress was produced by a classical aversive conditioning paradigm: a 15s tone (CS+) followed by a half second tail shock. Baseline mBP in Ang-II infused rats (167.

Extended longitudinal analysis of arterial pressure and heart rate control in unanesthetized rats with type 1 diabetes.

We recorded arterial pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) in type-1 diabetic rats vs. controls for >6 months. Diabetic rats (DIAB) were maintained on insulin from the day glucose >250 mg/dl ("Day 0").

Blood pressure regulation in diabetic patients with and without peripheral neuropathy.

Cardiac and vascular dysfunctions resulting from autonomic neuropathy (AN) are complications of diabetes, often undiagnosed. Our objectives were to: 1) determine sympathetic and parasympathetic components of compromised blood pressure (BP) regulation in patients with peripheral neuropathy and 2) rank noninvasive indexes for their sensitivity in diagnosing AN. We continuously measured electrocardiogram, arterial BP, and respiration during supine rest and 70° head-up tilt in 12 able-bodied subjects, 7 diabetics without, 7 diabetics with possible, and 8 diabetics with definite, sensory, and/or motor neuropathy (D2).

Longitudinal analysis of arterial blood pressure and heart rate response to acute behavioral stress in rats with type 1 diabetes mellitus and in age-matched controls.

We recorded via telemetry the arterial blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) response to classical conditioning following the spontaneous onset of autoimmune diabetes in BBDP/Wor rats vs. age-matched, diabetes-resistant control (BBDR/Wor) rats. Our purpose was to evaluate the autonomic regulatory responses to an acute stress in a diabetic state of up to 12 months duration.

Circadian Variations in Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, and HR-BP Cross-Correlation Coefficient during Progression of Diabetes Mellitus in Rat.

Circadian changes in cardiovascular function during the progression of diabetes mellitus in the diabetes prone rat (BBDP) (n = 8) were studied. Age-matched diabetes-resistant rats (BBDR) served as controls. BP was recorded via telemetry in contiguous 4 hr time periods over 24 hours starting with 12 midnight to 4 am as period zero (P0).

Effects of perinatal cocaine exposure on open field behavior and the response to corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) in rat offspring.

Previous reports indicate that prenatal cocaine exposure alters specific behaviors and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) function in the offspring. In most previous studies, cocaine was given via subcutaneous injections. However intravenous administration more closely mimics human cocaine abuse during pregnancy.

Atomoxetine changes rat's HR response to stress from tachycardia to bradycardia via alterations in autonomic function.

Atomoxetine is a central norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. We tested the effects of atomoxetine upon the heart rate (HR) and mean arterial blood pressure (mBP) response to aversive conditioning. In Protocol 1 the mBP and HR responses to a stress (15s tone followed by shock) were tested in 8 Sprague-Dawley rats given saline pretreatment for 3 days; the rats' responses were then tested for 3 additional days following atomoxetine (1mg/kg, sc).

Parasympathetic response to acute stress is attenuated in young Zucker obese rats.

We compared arterial blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) control in 9- to 11-week old obese Zucker rats (n=10; weight=452+/-45 g, average+/-SD) to age-matched, lean Zucker animals (n=13; weight=280+/-46 g). BP was measured by indwelling catheter. Baseline pressure was 113.

Hypertension and disrupted blood pressure circadian rhythm in type 2 diabetic db/db mice.

Human Type 2 diabetes is associated with increased incidence of hypertension and disrupted blood pressure (BP) circadian rhythm. Db/db mice have been used extensively as a model of Type 2 diabetes, but their BP is not well characterized. In this study, we used radiotelemetry to define BP and the circadian rhythm in db/db mice.

Effects of perinatal oxycodone exposure on the response to CRH in late adolescent rats.

We hypothesized that prenatal oxycodone exposure suppresses the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) response to stress in late adolescence. Dark Agouti rats were given either intravenous oxycodone or vehicle (controls, CON) daily from gestation day 8 until postnatal day (PD) 5. At PD 45, the male and female offspring received intravenously either ovine corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) or saline.

Blood pressure regulation in neurally intact human vs. acutely injured paraplegic and tetraplegic patients during passive tilt.

We investigated autonomic control of cardiovascular function in able-bodied (AB), paraplegic (PARA), and tetraplegic (TETRA) subjects in response to head-up tilt following spinal cord injury. We evaluated spectral power of blood pressure (BP), baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), baroreflex effectiveness index (BEI), occurrence of systolic blood pressure (SBP) ramps, baroreflex sequences, and cross-correlation of SBP with heart rate (HR) in low (0.04-0.

Empirical and theoretical analysis of the extremely low frequency arterial blood pressure power spectrum in unanesthetized rat.

The slope of the log of power versus the log of frequency in the arterial blood pressure (BP) power spectrum is classically considered constant over the low-frequency range (i.e., "fractal" behavior), and is quantified by beta in the relationship "1/f(beta).

Genetic manipulation of intraspinal plasticity after spinal cord injury alters the severity of autonomic dysreflexia.

Severe spinal cord injuries above mid-thoracic levels can lead to a potentially life-threatening hypertensive condition termed autonomic dysreflexia, which is often triggered by painful distension of pelvic viscera (bladder or bowel) and consequent sensory fiber activation, including nociceptive C-fibers. Interruption of tonically active medullo-spinal pathways after injury causes disinhibition of thoracolumbar sympathetic preganglionic neurons, and intraspinal sprouting of nerve growth factor (NGF)-responsive primary afferent fibers is thought to contribute to their hyperactivity. We investigated spinal levels that are critical for eliciting autonomic dysreflexia using a model of noxious colorectal distension (CRD) after complete spinal transection at the fourth thoracic segment in rats.

Heart rate variability analysis in the assessment of autonomic function in heart failure.

Heart rate is not static, but rather changes continuously in response to physical and mental demands. In fact, an invariant heart rate is associated with disease processes such as heart failure. Heart rate variability analysis is a noninvasive technique used to quantify fluctuations in heart rate.

Differential acquisition of specific components of a classically conditioned arterial blood pressure response in rat.

Presenting a 15-s pulsed tone, the conditional stimulus (CS(+)), followed by 0.5-s tail shock, to a well-trained rat causes a sudden, but transient, pressor response (C(1)). Blood pressure (BP) then drops before increasing again (C(2)).