Reference values of inspiratory spirometry for Finnish adults.

Inspiratory spirometry is used in evaluation of upper airway disorders e.g. fixed or variable obstruction.

Reference values for pulmonary diffusing capacity for adult native Finns.

Measurement standards for pulmonary diffusing capacity were updated in 2005 by the ATS/ERS Task Force. However, in Finland reference values published in 1982 by Viljanen et al. have been used to date.

Mild obstructive sleep apnea does not modulate baroreflex sensitivity in adult patients.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a chronic and progressive disease. OSA is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, the risk being more frequently encountered with severe degrees of OSA. Increased sympathetic activation and impaired cardiac autonomic control as reflected by depressed baroreceptor reflex sensitivity (BRS) are possible mechanisms involved in the cardiovascular complications of OSA.

The impact of weight reduction in the prevention of the progression of obstructive sleep apnea: an explanatory analysis of a 5-year observational follow-up trial.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a chronic progressive disease, and it is well-documented that severe OSA is associated with an increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Weight reduction has been shown to improve OSA; however, we need further evidence to determine if it may prevent the progression of OSA in the long term. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of weight change during a 5-year observational follow-up of an original 1-year randomized controlled trial.

Heart rate variability associates with asymptomatic coronary atherosclerosis.

Purpose: Heart rate variability (HRV) becomes impaired in symptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD), particularly, after myocardial infarction. The mechanism how CAD results in impairment of cardiac autonomic regulation is not known. Whether it results rather from coronary atherosclerosis itself than myocardial ischemia and myocardial injury has remained elusive.

Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and chronic atrial fibrillation.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC). We explored the clinical characteristics of IDC patients with chronic AF compared with those with sinus rhythm (SR).

Methods: A group of patients with IDC underwent extensive non-invasive and invasive evaluation during a hospitalization period.

Ambulatory arterial stiffness index and nocturnal blood pressure dipping in pregnancies complicated by hypertension.

Background: The study sets out to examine differences in arterial stiffness and nocturnal blood pressure dipping as outcomes in women with gestational hypertension compared with healthy pregnant women during pregnancy and 3 months after delivery.

Methods And Results: We prospectively studied a cohort of 60 women during the third trimester of pregnancy; of them, 28 suffered pregnancy-induced hypertension or pre-eclampsia and 32 had uncomplicated singleton pregnancies. Subsequently, 42 of these were re-examined 3 months after delivery.

Cholesterol metabolism and weight reduction in subjects with mild obstructive sleep apnoea: a randomised, controlled study.

To evaluate whether parameters of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) associate with cholesterol metabolism before and after weight reduction, 42 middle-aged overweight subjects with mild OSA were randomised to intensive lifestyle intervention (N = 23) or to control group (N = 18) with routine lifestyle counselling only. Cholesterol metabolism was evaluated with serum noncholesterol sterol ratios to cholesterol, surrogate markers of cholesterol absorption (cholestanol and plant sterols) and synthesis (cholestenol, desmosterol, and lathosterol) at baseline and after 1-year intervention. At baseline, arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2 ) was associated with serum campesterol (P < 0.

Endothelial function is well preserved in obese patients with mild obstructive sleep apnea.

Purpose: Endothelial dysfunction is one of the early markers of cardiovascular complications in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The aim of our study was to evaluate whether overweight patients with mild OSA displayed endothelial dysfunction, and to assess the effect of 1-year lifestyle intervention with an early very low calorie diet in endothelial function.

Methods: At baseline, the study population consisted of 83 overweight patients with mild OSA and 46 weight-matched non-OSA subjects.

Intermittent levosimendan treatment in patients with severe congestive heart failure.

Objective: Levosimendan (LS) is a novel inodilator for the treatment of severe congestive heart failure (CHF). In this study, we investigated the potential long-term effects of intermittent LS treatment on the pathophysiology of heart failure.

Methods: Thirteen patients with modest to severe CHF received three 24-h intravenous infusions of LS at 3-week intervals.

Influence of serotonin transporter gene polymorphism (5-HTTLPR polymorphism) on the relation between brain 5-HT transporter binding and heart rate corrected cardiac repolarization interval.

Objective: Serotonin transporter gene polymorphism (5-HTTLPR polymorphism) predicts the degree of structural and functional connectivity in the brain, and less consistently the degree of vulnerability for anxiety and depressive disorders. It is less known how 5-HTTLPR polymorphism influences on the coupling between brain and neuronal cardiovascular control. The present study demonstrates the impact of 5-HTTLPR polymorphism on the relations between heart rate (HR) corrected cardiac repolarization interval (QTc interval) and the brain 5-HTT binding.

Need for insulin to control gestational diabetes is reflected in the ambulatory arterial stiffness index.

Background: The aim was to evaluate the metabolic profile in conjunction with vascular function using the ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) in women with uncomplicated pregnancies and in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Methods: Plasma glucose, lipids, HOMA -IR (homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance) and AASI, as obtained from 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in third trimester pregnancy and at three months postpartum, were measured in three groups of women: controls (N=32), women with GDM on diet (N=42) and women with GDM requiring insulin treatment (N=10).

Results: Women with GDM had poorer glycemic control and higher HOMA-IR during and after pregnancy and their total and LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels were significantly higher after pregnancy than in the controls.

Baroreflex sensitivity in asymptomatic coronary atherosclerosis.

Background: Baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) reflects the effectiveness of cardiac parasympathetic regulation. BRS becomes impaired in stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and after myocardial infarction and carries prognostic information in these patients. Whether impaired BRS is found already in asymptomatic subjects, with subclinical coronary atherosclerosis, has remained elusive.

The association between anxiety and the degree of illness in mild obstructive sleep apnoea.

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) has been reported to associate with anxiety, but earlier observations are scarce and the role of the persistence of anxiety in this connection is unclear.

Objectives: To examine the associations between OSA and anxiety, and in particular clarify the observations regarding the role of the persistence of anxiety in this connection.

Methods: A total of 61 overweight patients with mild OSA participated in a 12-month lifestyle modification study and reported the presence of anxiety both at baseline and on 12-month follow up.

Flow-mediated vasodilation is not attenuated in hypertensive pregnancies despite biochemical signs of inflammation.

Background. Our objective was to evaluate endothelial function and markers of inflammation during and after pregnancy in normal pregnancies compared to pregnancies complicated with hypertension or preeclampsia (PE). Methods and Results.

Myocardial (123) I-metaiodobenzylguanidine washout and heart rate variability in asymptomatic subjects.

Background: Myocardial (123) I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) kinetics reflect the integrity and function of cardiac presynaptic sympathetic nerve terminals. Heart rate variability (HRV) is an indicator of cardiac sympatho-vagal balance. However, the function of cardiac sympathetic nerve terminals as a modulator of HRV in asymptomatic subjects has remained elusive.

Impact of childhood obesity treatment on body composition and metabolic profile.

Background: Childhood obesity is associated with adverse changes in cardiometabolic risk factors. A family-oriented group program stressing a health-promoting lifestyle has been more effective than routine counselling in the treatment of obesity in school children. The aim of the present study was to compare the impact of group program and routine councelling on body composition and metabolic profile, and to evaluate the associations of changes in adiposity with levels of cardiometabolic risk factors.

A prospective comparison of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and radionuclide ventriculography in the assessment of cardiac function in patients treated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy.

Purpose: To compare cardiac MRI and radionuclide ventriculography (RVG) in cardiac monitoring during anthracycline (doxorubicin)-based chemotherapy.

Materials And Methods: We studied 10 previously untreated adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was assessed by MRI and RVG simultaneously.

Half-time myocardial perfusion SPECT imaging with attenuation and Monte Carlo-based scatter correction.

Purpose: To test the potential of a new reconstruction algorithm with Monte Carlo-based scatter correction in half-time myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

Materials And Methods: The mathematical four-dimensional NURBS-based Cardiac-Torso phantom and the SIMIND Monte Carlo simulation package were used to simulate full-time and half-time SPECT projection data. The data were reconstructed using the standard ordered subset expectation maximization-based algorithm and the new Monte Carlo-based algorithm.

Ambulatory arterial stiffness index is unchanged in uncomplicated third-trimester singleton and twin pregnancies.

Objective: To document the ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) during pregnancy compared to three months after delivery in singleton and twin pregnancies.

Design: Descriptive study with a follow-up design.

Setting: University hospital in Eastern Finland.

Long-term epilepsy surgery outcomes in patients with MRI-negative temporal lobe epilepsy.

Purpose: The outcome of surgery in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and normal high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been significantly worse than in patients with unilateral hippocampal damage upon MRI. The purpose of this study was to determine the long-term outcomes of consecutive true MRI-negative TLE patients who all underwent standardized preoperative evaluation with intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes.

Methods: In this study we present all adult MRI-negative TLE surgery candidates evaluated between January 1990 and December 2006 at Kuopio Epilepsy Center in Kuopio University Hospital, which provides a national center for epilepsy surgery in Finland.

Cardiovascular autonomic responses to head-up tilt in gestational hypertension and normal pregnancy.

Aims: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of gestational hypertension on hemodynamics and cardiovascular autonomic regulation at rest and their responses to head-up tilt (HUT). We prospectively studied 56 pregnant women (28 with gestational hypertension and 28 healthy pregnant women) during the third trimester of pregnancy and 3 months after pregnancy.

Major Findings: In women with pregnancy-induced hypertension, compared with control women, there were significant differences in hemodynamics and in markers of cardiovascular regulation (p < 0.

Comparison of gated single-photon emission computed tomography with magnetic resonance imaging for evaluation of left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

To prospectively compare the left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), end-systolic volume (LVESV), and ejection fraction (LVEF) obtained from gated perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (GSPECT) with those obtained from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC). Twenty-one patients with IDC (6 females) with a median age of 45 years (range 17-65) were scheduled for (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin-GSPECT and MRI within a 3 h interval. In both methods LV volumes were analyzed with the Simpson method.

Sustained improvement in mild obstructive sleep apnea after a diet- and physical activity-based lifestyle intervention: postinterventional follow-up.

Background: Obesity is the most important risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Weight-reduction programs have been observed to represent effective treatment of overweight patients with OSA. However, it is not known whether beneficial changes remain after the end of the intervention.

Late potentials and QT dispersion after high-dose chemotherapy in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

The most common cardiotoxic effects of high-dose cyclophosphamide (CY) are electrocardiographic changes and transient arrhythmias. Therefore, we prospectively assessed serial electrocardiogram (ECG) and signal-averaged electrocardiogram (SAECG) recordings in 30 adult patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) receiving high-dose CY as part of high-dose chemotherapy (HDT) regimen. All patients were treated with anthracyclines earlier.