Cacao polyphenol-enriched dark chocolate may have beneficial effects on human health, such as facilitating maintaining good performance in long-lasting cognitive tasks. This study examined the effects of dark chocolate intake on improving brain function during cognitive tasks using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In this randomized, single-blinded, crossover, and dose-comparison study, 26 healthy middle-aged participants ingested dark chocolate (25 g) either with a low concentration (LC) (211.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil
October 2021
The cardiovascular effects of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) are modulated by inputs from peripheral sensors and other brain regions. However, it currently remains unknown whether the manual acupuncture (MA) stimulation of different acupuncture points evokes different responses by the heart and vasculature, a phenomenon known as "site specificity". Sixty healthy subjects were randomly divided into a control group and MA stimulation groups at the lower leg, ear, abdomen, and forearm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study examined the effect of an exercise intervention on the composition of the intestinal microbiota in healthy elderly women. Thirty-two sedentary women that were aged 65 years and older participated in a 12-week, non-randomized comparative trial. The subjects were allocated to two groups receiving different exercise interventions, trunk muscle training (TM), or aerobic exercise training (AE).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Cerebral blood flow (CBF) would be impaired with dual stresses of heat and orthostatic changes, even if those stresses are mild, in the elderly with declined cardio- and cerebrovascular functions with aging. To test the hypothesis, we compared the response of blood flow in the internal carotid artery (ICA) and vertebral artery (VA) to dual stresses of heat and orthostatic changes between the elderly and young individuals.
Methods: Nine elderly and eight young healthy men (71.
It remains unknown whether the high insulin (INS) levels in the brain affect fat oxidation during exercise. We examined the effects of the intranasal administration of INS, which increases the INS concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid when peripheral effects are lacking, on the maximum fat oxidation rate (maxFOR) and its intensity (FATmax) during exercise in 15 young normal-weight (N group) and eight young overweight (O group) individuals. On two separate days, either INS or placebo (PL) was randomly administered intranasally before a graded exercise test.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe aimed to examine the effect of 2-year cognitive⁻motor dual-task (DT) training on cognitive functions and motor ability of healthy elderly people without marked cognitive impairment. From the 25 participants of our 12-week DT trial conducted in 2014, we recruited 8 subjects who voluntarily participated in a new DT training program once a week for 2 years (exercise (EX) group). Their cognitive functions were evaluated by the Modified Mini-Mental State (3MS) examination and the Trail Making Test, and results were compared with those of the 11 subjects who discontinued the training and did not perform any types of exercise for 2 years (non-exercise (NO) group).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe aimed to develop a novel method to quantitatively evaluate the effects of odor stimulation on cardiorespiratory functions over time, and to examine the potential usefulness of clinical aromatherapy. Eighteen subjects participated. Nine people were assigned to each of the two resting protocols.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Med Insights Cardiol
November 2015
Background/purpose: Heterogeneity with respect to skin color tone is one of the key factors in visual perception of facial attractiveness and age. However, there have been few studies on quantitative analyses of the color heterogeneity of facial skin. The purpose of this study was to develop image evaluation methods for skin color heterogeneity focusing on skin chromophores and then characterize ethnic differences and age-related changes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe previously reported that skin surface electrical potential might be a good parameter of skin pathophysiology. To examine the potential availability of skin surface electrical potential measurement for diagnostic purposes, we measured the change of the potential in surfactant-induced dry skin and we compared the values of the potential in volunteers of different age groups. We also measured trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) in the same groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe previously demonstrated that the skin surface electric potential, which has been long recognized as a parameter of emotional or physiological state, is generated by epidermal keratinocytes and is strongly associated with the ion concentration gradient in the epidermis. Thus, at temperatures below the threshold of sweating, the potential provides a measure of the epidermal ion concentration gradient, which in turn is related to epidermal homeostasis and pathology. In the present study, we established a new, non-invasive method to measure skin surface electric potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe plasminogen/plasmin system in epidermis is thought to be the major protease involved in the delay of barrier recovery. However, little is known about the mechanism through which this system is activated. In order to clarify this mechanism, we first determined the distribution of proteolytic activity by using in situ zymography.
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