Acute hypernatremia increases functional connectivity of NaCl sensing regions in the human brain: An fMRI pilot study.

Rodent studies demonstrated specialized sodium chloride (NaCl) sensing neurons in the circumventricular organs, which mediate changes in sympathetic nerve activity, arginine vasopressin, thirst, and blood pressure. However, the neural pathways involved in NaCl sensing in the human brain are incompletely understood. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if acute hypernatremia alters the functional connectivity of NaCl-sensing regions of the brain in healthy young adults.

Midlife health crisis of former competitive athletes: dissecting their experiences via qualitative study.

Sports participation confers many health benefits yet greatly increases injury risk. Long-term health outcomes in former athletes and transition to life after competitive sports are understudied. Ending a sport may pose physical and psychosocial challenges.

Melatonin supplementation does not alter vascular function or oxidative stress in healthy normotensive adults on a high sodium diet.

High sodium diets (HSD) can cause vascular dysfunction, in part due to increases in reactive oxygen species (ROS). Melatonin reduces ROS in healthy and clinical populations and may improve vascular function. The purpose was to determine the effect of melatonin supplementation on vascular function and ROS during 10 days of a HSD.

Long-term function, body composition and cardiometabolic health in midlife former athletes: a scoping review.

While sports medicine has traditionally focused on recovering from injury and returning athletes to sport safely after injury, there is a growing interest in the long-term health of athletes. The purpose of this scoping review was to (1) summarise the literature (methodologies and findings) on physical function, body composition and cardiometabolic health in midlife (age 40-65 years) former competitive athletes compared with non-athlete controls, (2) identify areas for future study in long-term health in athletes and (3) determine outcomes that could be evaluated in a future systematic review(s). We searched PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science and SPORTDiscus for studies published between 2000 and 2022 evaluating former athletes and controls on physical function, body composition and/or cardiometabolic measures using MeSH terms.

Physiological Mechanisms of Dietary Salt Sensing in the Brain, Kidney, and Gastrointestinal Tract.

Excess dietary salt (NaCl) intake is strongly correlated with cardiovascular disease and is a major contributing factor to the pathogenesis of hypertension. NaCl-sensitive hypertension is a multisystem disorder that involves renal dysfunction, vascular abnormalities, and neurogenically-mediated increases in peripheral resistance. Despite a major research focus on organ systems and these effector mechanisms causing NaCl-induced increases in arterial blood pressure, relatively less research has been directed at elucidating how NaCl is sensed by various tissues to elicit these downstream effects.

Melatonin supplementation reduces nighttime blood pressure but does not affect blood pressure reactivity in normotensive adults on a high-sodium diet.

High-sodium diets (HSDs) can cause exaggerated increases in blood pressure (BP) during physiological perturbations that cause sympathetic activation, which is related to cardiovascular risk. Melatonin supplementation has been shown to play a role in BP regulation. Our aim was to examine the effects of melatonin taken during an HSD on 24-h BP and BP reactivity during isometric handgrip (IHG) exercise, postexercise ischemia (PEI), and the cold pressor test (CPT).

Effect of acute handgrip and aerobic exercise on wasted pressure effort and arterial wave reflections in healthy aging.

Aging increases arterial stiffness and wave reflections that augment left ventricular wasted pressure effort (WPE). A single bout of exercise may be effective at acutely reducing WPE via reductions in arterial wave reflections. In young adults (YA) acute aerobic exercise decreases, whereas handgrip increases, wave reflections.

Inverse salt sensitivity in normotensive adults: role of demographic factors.

Background: Salt sensitivity and inverse salt sensitivity [ISS; a reduction in blood pressure (BP) on a high sodium diet] are each associated with increased incidence of hypertension. The purpose of this analysis was to determine the prevalence of ISS in normotensive adults and whether ISS is associated with any demographic characteristic(s).

Methods: Healthy normotensive, nonobese adults [ n  = 84; 43 women; age = 37 ± 13 years; baseline mean arterial pressure (MAP) = 89 ± 8 mmHg] participated in a controlled feeding study, consuming 7-day low-sodium (20 mmol sodium/day) and high-sodium (300 mmol sodium/day) diets.

Impact of angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibition on vascular function in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: A pilot study.

The mechanisms for the benefits of Angiotensin Receptor Neprilysin Inhibition (ARNi) in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) are likely beyond blood pressure reduction. Measures of vascular function such as arterial stiffness and endothelial function are strong prognostic markers of cardiovascular outcomes in HFrEF, yet the impact of ARNi on vascular health remains to be explored. We hypothesized that arterial stiffness and endothelial function would improve after 12 weeks of ARNi in HFrEF.

High dietary salt intake increases urinary NGAL excretion and creatinine clearance in healthy young adults.

In rodents and older patients with elevated blood pressure (BP), high dietary sodium increases excretion of biomarkers of kidney injury, but it is unclear whether this effect occurs in healthy young adults. The purpose of this study was to determine whether short-term high dietary salt increases urinary excretion of the kidney injury biomarkers neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) in healthy young adults. Twenty participants participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized crossover study.

Dietary sodium and health: How much is too much for those with orthostatic disorders?

High dietary salt (NaCl) increases blood pressure (BP) and can adversely impact multiple target organs including the vasculature, heart, kidneys, brain, autonomic nervous system, skin, eyes, and bone. However, patients with orthostatic disorders are told to increase their NaCl intake to help alleviate symptoms. While there is evidence to support the short-term benefits of increasing NaCl intake in these patients, there are few studies assessing the benefits and side effects of long-term high dietary NaCl.

Activation of the Organum Vasculosum of the Lamina Terminalis Produces a Sympathetically Mediated Hypertension.

Neurons in the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT) sense extracellular NaCl and angiotensin II concentrations to regulate body fluid homeostasis and arterial blood pressure. Lesion of the anteroventral third ventricular region or OVLT attenuates multiple forms of neurogenic hypertension. However, the extent by which OVLT neurons directly regulate sympathetic nerve activity to produce hypertension is not known.

Consistency where it counts: Sleep regularity is associated with circulating white blood cell count in young adults.

Background: Sleep irregularity is predictive of poor health outcomes, and particularly those of cardiometabolic origins. The immune system is implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiometabolic diseases, however the relation between sleep regularity and immune cell profile is unclear.

Methods And Results: Forty-two healthy young adults (20 ​± ​2 years) completed 14 days of 24-h wrist actigraphy followed by a morning blood sample to evaluate circulating white blood cells (WBC) and subtypes (neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes).

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of aerobic exercise interventions on cardiorespiratory fitness in adults with intellectual disability.

Background: Adults with an intellectual disability (ID) have low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). Low CRF has been associated with a high risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. Participation in regular exercise can help adults with ID increase their CRF.

Actigraphy-derived rest--activity rhythms are associated with nocturnal blood pressure in young women.

Introduction: Misalignment between lifestyle behaviors and endogenous circadian rhythms is associated with elevated nocturnal blood pressure (BP) in experimental studies; however, less is known about free-living (i.e. nonlaboratory) circadian disruption and nocturnal BP.

Subjective sleep score is associated with central and peripheral blood pressure values in children aged 7-12 years.

Shortened and poor-quality sleep have emerged as non-traditional risk factors for the development of hypertension in adults, and it is likely these relations extend to paediatric populations when evaluating sleep subjectively. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate subjective sleep metrics and their associations with central and peripheral blood pressure (BP) values in children. We hypothesized that poor-quality sleep and short sleep duration would be associated with elevated pressures in healthy children.

Ten days of high dietary sodium does not impair cerebral blood flow regulation in healthy adults.

High dietary sodium impairs cerebral blood flow regulation in rodents and is associated with increased stroke risk in humans. However, the effects of multiple days of high dietary sodium on cerebral blood flow regulation in humans is unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether ten days of high dietary sodium impairs cerebral blood flow regulation.

Mechanisms of Dietary Sodium-Induced Impairments in Endothelial Function and Potential Countermeasures.

Despite decades of efforts to reduce sodium intake, excess dietary sodium remains commonplace, and contributes to increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality independent of its effects on blood pressure. An increasing amount of research suggests that high-sodium diets lead to reduced nitric oxide-mediated endothelial function, even in the absence of a change in blood pressure. As endothelial dysfunction is an early step in the progression of cardiovascular diseases, the endothelium presents a target for interventions aimed at reducing the impact of excess dietary sodium.

The effect of dietary nitrate on exercise capacity in chronic kidney disease: a randomized controlled pilot study.

Background: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients exhibit a reduced exercise capacity that impacts quality of life. Dietary nitrate supplementation has been shown to have favorable effects on exercise capacity in disease populations by reducing the oxygen cost of exercise. This study investigated whether dietary nitrates would acutely improve exercise capacity in CKD patients.

A high salt meal does not impair cerebrovascular reactivity in healthy young adults.

A high sodium (Na ) meal impairs peripheral vascular function. In rodents, chronic high dietary Na impairs cerebral vascular function, and in humans, habitual high dietary Na is associated with increased stroke risk. However, the effects of acute high dietary Na on the cerebral vasculature in humans are unknown.

Short-term water deprivation attenuates the exercise pressor reflex in older female adults.

Older adults have reduced fluid intake and impaired body fluid and electrolyte regulation. Older female adults exhibit exaggerated exercise blood pressure (BP) responses, which is associated with an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. However, it is unclear if dysregulated body fluid homeostasis contributes to altered exercise BP responses in older female adults.