Latent change models of lifestyle in acute coronary syndrome patients: Are lifestyle changes associated with resilience changes?

This study aimed to examine the role of resilience resources in patients' lifestyle changes after the first Acute Coronary event. 275 Italian patients (84.0% men; mean age = 57.

Associations between Lifestyle Changes and Adherence to COVID-19 Restrictions in Older Adults with Hypertension.

COVID-19 has changed people's routines and imposed new ways of living. This study investigated variations in lifestyles (namely, physical activity, diet, alcohol consumption, and cigarette smoking) between the prepandemic and the pandemic period in a sample of older adults with hypertension. Moreover, it investigated predictors of adherence to government restrictions during the first lockdown period, evidencing the role of relevant sociodemographic indicators and lifestyle changes.

Sense of Coherence Predicts Physical Activity Maintenance and Health-Related Quality of Life: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study on Cardiovascular Patients.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. A physically active lifestyle can improve the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of people with CVD. Nevertheless, adherence to a physically active lifestyle is poor.

Impulsivity assessed ten years earlier and sociodemographic factors predict adherence to COVID-19 related behavioral restrictions in old individuals with hypertension.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had clear and dramatic repercussions on health, the economy, and psychosocial well-being. Behavioral measures, such as wearing facemasks and maintaining distance from others, have proven crucial in fighting the contagion's spread. This study aimed to investigate Type A personality traits and sociodemographic predictors of adherence to governmental measures in a sample of frail individuals.

Depression symptoms as longitudinal predictors of the psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic in hypertensive patients.

COVID-19 has brought considerable changes and caused critical psychological responses, especially among frail populations. So far, researchers have explored the predictive effect of diverse factors on pandemic-related psychological distress, but none have focused on the impact of prior depression and anxiety symptomatology adopting an extended (10-year) longitudinal design. 105 patients aged over 60, affected by hypertension who participated in a previous longitudinal study were assessed through a follow-up telephone structured interview.

Cardiac rehabilitation outcome after transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

Patients with severe aortic stenosis are increasingly treated with transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) as a safer option to surgical aortic valve replacement (sAVR).  Similar to many other heart diseases, after the specific therapeutic intervention patients are eligible for cardiac rehabilitation (CR) for the purpose of functional recovery. Thus far, CR after both sAVR and TAVI has been used to a limited extent, as shown by the availability of only two meta-analyses including 5 studies and 6 studies, respectively.

Protein Intake and Physical Activity in Newly Diagnosed Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common causes of hospitalization and is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Among the most important modifiable and well-known risk factors are an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. Nevertheless, adherence to healthy lifestyle regimes is poor.

Stability and change of lifestyle profiles in cardiovascular patients after their first acute coronary event.

Background: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Lifestyle and health behavior changes play an important role in the primary and secondary prevention of ACS recurrence. Changes in unhealthy lifestyles after an acute coronary event have been analyzed by considering separate behaviors individually, even though research on the healthy population has demonstrated that unhealthy behaviors tend to co-occur.

Changes in physical activity among coronary and hypertensive patients: A longitudinal study using the Health Action Process Approach.

Objectives: Physical activity (PA) is a key factor in cardiovascular disease prevention. Through the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA), the present study investigated the process of change in PA in coronary patients (CPs) and hypertensive patients (HPs).

Design: Longitudinal survey study with two follow-up assessments at 6 and 12 months on 188 CPs and 169 HPs.

Validity of the Talk Test for exercise prescription after myocardial revascularization.

Background: For exercise prescription, rating of perceived exertion is the subjective tool most frequently used in addition to methods based on percentage of peak exercise variables. The aim of this study was the validation of a subjective method widely called the Talk Test (TT) for optimization of training intensity in patients with recent myocardial revascularization.

Design And Methods: Fifty patients with recent myocardial revascularization (17 by coronary artery bypass grafting and 33 by percutaneous coronary intervention) were enrolled in a cardiac rehabilitation programme.

Enhanced vascular reactivity in the sympathectomized rat: studies in vivo and in small isolated resistance arteries.

Objective: In the conscious rat, sympathectomy (6-hydroxydopamine pretreatment, 100 mg/kg intraperitoneally, twice in the previous 5-6 days) induces, among various homeostatic modifications, the frequent occurrence of sudden and wide oscillations of blood pressure. Since one of the mechanisms underlying this, as yet unexplained, phenomenon may be an enhanced vascular reactivity, we tested the hypothesis that sympathectomized rats exhibit such a hyper-reactivity. We examined the response to a variety of vasoactive agents both in vivo (chronically instrumented conscious animals) and in vitro (small isolated resistance arteries).

Sympathovagal interplay in the control of overall blood pressure variability in unanesthetized rats.

The role of sympathetic and parasympathetic influences in the control of overall blood pressure variability was studied in chronically instrumented, freely behaving Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) subjected to sympathectomy by 6-hydroxydopamine (100 micrograms/kg ip) twice in 1 wk (effectiveness verified by abolition of pressor and tachycardic response to tyramine, 150 mg/kg i.v.) and/or to cholinergic blockade by atropine (0.

Sympathetic, parasympathetic and non-autonomic contributions to cardiovascular spectral powers in unanesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Objective: To determine whether spectral powers of blood pressure and pulse interval can specifically reflect sympathetic and parasympathetic effects in unanesthetized, free-moving spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR).

Design: Spectral powers were observed before and after various autonomic interventions in chronically instrumented rats.

Materials And Methods: Chemical sympathectomy was produced in 12-week-old SHR by repeated injections of 6-hydroxydopamine, while control rats were given vehicle alone.

Sympathectomy and cardiovascular spectral components in conscious normotensive rats.

We examined the extent to which sympathetic influences are reflected by spectral powers of blood pressure and pulse interval in specific frequency bands in spontaneously behaving Wistar-Kyoto rats subjected to continuous intraarterial blood pressure recording. The rats were pretreated with 6-hydroxydopamine (150 mg/kg twice in 1 week, n = 19) to produce chemical sympathectomy or received vehicle (n = 15). In the sympathectomized group, additional monitoring sessions were performed with rats under alpha-adrenergic receptor blockade with phenoxybenzamine (n = 8), beta-receptor blockade with propranolol (n = 7), or cholinergic receptor blockade with atropine (n = 8).

Spontaneous variability of regional haemodynamics in unanaesthetized rats.

Aim: To study the spontaneous variability in regional haemodynamics.

Methods: Twenty normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats were chronically instrumented with an arterial catheter and with pulsed Doppler flowmeters on the distal aorta, and the superior mesenteric and left renal arteries. After surgical recovery, the rats were monitored in unrestrained conditions.

Cardiac parasympathetic hyperresponsiveness in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

The bradycardic response to baroreceptor stimulation is impaired in human and experimental hypertension. Because this bradycardia mainly depends on the vagus, this may reflect a reduced cardiac parasympathetic responsiveness, which would parallel the reduced cardiac adrenergic responsiveness observed in hypertension. To test this hypothesis, 12-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (n = 12) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (n = 11) were anesthetized with ketamine and underwent bilateral vagotomy.

Potentiation of the baroreceptor-heart rate reflex by sympathectomy in conscious rats.

In both animals and humans, stimuli leading to sympathetic activation are accompanied by an impairment of the baroreceptor-heart rate reflex. To determine whether sympathetic activity normally interferes with this reflex function we examined in conscious Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats the effect of chemical sympathectomy by 6-hydroxydopamine on the bradycardic response to baroreceptor stimulation induced by raising blood pressure via intravenous phenylephrine boluses; control rats received vehicle. Spontaneously hypertensive rats were also studied because in these animals there is both a baroreceptor reflex impairment and a sympathetic overactivity.