Application of cardiac autonomous indices in the study of neurogenic erectile dysfunction.

A research area of increasing interest consists of studying the benefits of using spectral analysis to screen neurogenic erectile dysfunctions. Our hypothesis is that spectral analysis consists of a non-invasive and simple procedure to investigate such patients. Subjects were allocated into two groups: control, no erectile dysfunction (n = 17), and patients with erectile dysfunction (n = 15).

Assessing erectile neurogenic dysfunction from heart rate variability through a Generalized Linear Mixed Model framework.

Background: The low (LF) vs. high (HF) frequency energy ratio, computed from the spectral decomposition of heart beat intervals, has become a major tool in cardiac autonomic system control and sympatho-vagal balance studies. The (statistical) distributions of response variables designed from ratios of two quantities, such as the LF/HF ratio, are likely to non-normal, hence preventing e.

Empirical mode decomposition to assess cardiovascular autonomic control in rats.

Heart beat rate and blood pressure, together with baroreflex sensitivity, have become important tools in assessing cardiac autonomic system control and in studying sympathovagal balance. These analyses are usually performed thanks to spectral indices computed from standard spectral analysis techniques. However, standard spectral analysis and its corresponding rigid band-pass filter formulation suffer from two major drawbacks.

Assessment of cardiovascular autonomic control by the empirical mode decomposition.

Objectives: Heart-rate variability (HRV) is an interesting tool for assessing cardiac autonomic system control, but nonstationarities raise problematic issues. The objective of this paper is to show that adapted signal processing tools may cope with nonstationary situations and improve the analysis of HRV.

Methods: We propose to use the recent method of Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD), so as to analyze the cardiac sympatho-vagal balance on automatically extracted modes.

The in vitro effect of dual combinations of ritodrine, nicardipine and atosiban on contractility of pregnant rat myometrium.

Objective: To compare the tocolytic potency of ritodrine, nicardipine and atosiban, used alone and in dual combinations, to see whether combinations of these drugs, which act via different pathways, could improve inhibition of uterine contractility.

Design: Study on myometrial contractility in vitro.

Setting: Laboratory of physiology, Lyon, France.

Smoothed pseudo Wigner-Ville distribution as an alternative to Fourier transform in rats.

Techniques for examining signals in the time and frequency domains are well-established tools. These tools have their limitations; they tell us in a broad sense where the signal component exists in the frequency domain, but they do not tell us how its frequency characteristics change over time. The time-frequency has become a powerful alternative for the analysis of signals.

No effect of venoconstrictive thigh cuffs on orthostatic hypotension induced by head-down bed rest.

Orthostatic intolerance (OI) is the most serious symptom of cardiovascular deconditioning induced by head-down bed rest or weightlessness. Wearing venoconstrictive thigh cuffs is an empirical countermeasure used by Russian cosmonauts to limit the shift of fluid from the lower part of the body to the cardio-cephalic region. Our aim was to determine whether or not thigh cuffs help to prevent orthostatic hypotension induced by head-down bed rest.

Effect of acute atenolol on short-term blood pressure variability and baroreflex sensitivity in rats.

Beta-blocker therapy for hypertension or coronary artery disease is common, but there are a lot of controversies about its effects on short-term blood pressure variability and arterial baroreceptor reflexes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of acute atenolol on baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) and on the spontaneous variability of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and RR intervals in conscious rats. Ten Wistar rats equipped with telemetry system were evaluated: 1) under control conditions; 2) after injection of saline; and 3) during beta1-adrenergic blockade by atenolol.

Even slight movements disturb analysis of cardiovascular dynamics.

We hypothesized that spontaneous movements (postural adjustments and ideomotion) disturb analysis of heart rate and blood pressure variability and could explain the discrepancy between studies. We measured R-R intervals and systolic blood pressure in nine healthy sitting subjects during three protocols: 1) no movement allowed, 2) movements allowed but not standing, 3) movements and standing allowed. Heart rate and blood pressure were not altered by movements.

Regional blood flow in conscious rats after head-down suspension.

Exposure to microgravity in humans causes cardiovascular deconditioning affecting blood pressure, heart rate and vascular responsiveness. This study investigated cardiac output, arterial blood pressure and regional blood flows [radioactive microspheres: 57Co, 15.5 (SEM 0.

Recording heart rate and blood pressure in rats during parabolic flight.

The way in which the cardiovascular system adapts to weightlessness is still under discussion. No data are yet available on the responses of rats during space flight, although this animal is commonly used in simulation studies. We have designed and tested a protocol to study the short term responses of the cardiovascular system to weightlessness during parabolic flight.

A metabolism study of human masseter muscle by 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy during long periods of exercise and recovery.

The metabolism of the human masseter muscle was investigated using phosphorus (31p) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) during long periods of exercise and recovery. Eleven subjects aged 19 to 28 yr were examined by 31p MRS during four consecutive periods of 13 min each: rest, exercise, recovery 1 and 2. For each subject, a biting force equal to 20% of maximum voluntary biting force was applied and controlled during the exercise period to produce maximum fatigue.

Cardiovascular adaptations to parabolic flight in rats: a radio-telemetry feasibility study.

This experiment was a feasibility study which consisted in investigating arterial blood pressure and heart rate to transient and repeated exposure to microgravity in eight unrestrained rats previously implanted with radio-telemetry transmitter. The aim was to perform such recordings throughout all the phases of a parabola during parabolic flights. This study revealed that it was possible to collect the radio-signal without any interference with electronic or magnetic environment.

[The demonstration of a relation between premolar force and molar force within the limits of a simplified approach to masticatory system functioning].

The purpose of this study is to show the existence of a correlation between the premolar and molar clenching forces obtained during a voluntary clenching exercise. The study concerned 32 volunteers aged 21 to 28 with no manducatory problems. The forces were obtained using a device with four Kiowa traducers arranged in a complete Wheatstone bridge.

[The determination of the intensity of premolar and molar maximal forces during the isometric contraction of the masticatory muscles due to forced mandibular closure].

The purpose of this study to quantify the activity of the masticatory muscles. For this we recorded the maximum bite force of opposing teeth during voluntary clenching. The study was carried out on 31 students aged 21 to 28 with a satisfactory dental arch.

Soleus muscle alterations in spontaneously hypertensive rats are not dependent on activation of beta 2-adrenergic receptors.

The effects of selective beta 2-adrenergic blockade with ICI 118,551 on the histochemical, biochemical, and contractile properties of slow-twitch soleus muscle from spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and normotensive (WKY) rats were examined from birth to 8-10 weeks of age. Chronic treatment of normotensive rats with ICI 118,551 caused an impairment in the differentiation of slow type fibers during development but failed to alter the fiber type distribution of hypertensive rats. beta 2-Adrenoreceptor blockade was ineffective in reducing the enhanced glycolytic and oxidative capacities of soleus in hypertensive rats.

Fasting-induced rise in locomotor activity in rats coincides with increased protein utilization.

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible relation between the modifications in locomotor activity (on running wheel) which occur during prolonged fasting and changes in the utilization of energy reserves. In 18-week-old rats, we found that the rate of body mass loss reflects the changes in nitrogen excretion that occur over three phases of fasting: (I) initially decreasing, (II) maintained at a low level and (III) increasing. Locomotor activity started to increase during phase II without a change in its nycthemeral pattern.

Structural and metabolic properties of rat muscle exposed to weightlessness aboard Cosmos 1887.

Male Wistar rats were subjected to 12.5 days of weightlessness aboard Cosmos 1887. Histomorphometric and biochemical analyses were investigated in soleus (SOL), plantaris (PL) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles of flight rats (group F) and compared with data from two groups of terrestrial controls: one group living free in a vivarium (group V) and another subjected to a flight simulation except for the state of weightlessness (group S).

Effect of almitrine administration on pulmonary arterial pressure in resting and exercising dogs.

In addition to its well-known ventilatory effect, a small rise in pulmonary arterial pressure or pulmonary vascular resistance is occasionally observed with chronic administration of almitrine. In order to test the hypothesis of enhancement of exercise pulmonary vasoconstriction by almitrine, mongrel dogs were studied at rest and during submaximal exercise before and after 4 weeks of chronic ingestion of almitrine (10 mg/kg). It was shown that resting pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) remained unchanged by almitrine treatment.

Effects of swim training alone and in combination with clonidine and rilmenidine on blood pressure, plasma electrolytes, vasopressin, and renin activity in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Adaptations to the effects of clonidine (CL) and rilmenidine (R) were studied during a 12-week training program (swimming) in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was regularly measured during this period. Body weight (BW) was determined at the beginning and at the 12th week.

Skeletal muscle adaptation to physical training and beta-adrenergic blockade in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

The effects of training alone or in combination with long-term, non-selective, beta-adrenergic blockade on histochemical and biochemical properties of fast-twitch [extensor digitorum longus muscle (EDL)] and slow-twitch [soleus muscle (Sol)] muscle were analyzed in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto strain rats (WKY). Fiber type distribution of Sol was drastically modified in SHR with fewer type I fibers and more type IIA fibers. No such histochemical alterations were observed in EDL.

Effect of spontaneous recovery or retraining after hindlimb suspension on aerobic capacity.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of spontaneous recovery or recovery by treadmill training (180 min/day, 5 days/wk, 30 m/min for 8 wk) on maximal O2 uptake (VO2max), histochemical and biochemical muscular properties (soleus), of rats subsequent to 5 wk of hindlimb suspension. Spontaneous recovery reversed the 15% reduction in VO2max, whereas training posthypokinesia induced a 20% increase over control values. In the spontaneous recovery group, both citrate synthase and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase activities, decreased by hypokinesia (-40%), increased but remained 20% below the control level.

Ventilatory transients during exercise: peripheral or central control?

The fast component of the ventilatory changes that occur at the transition phases of exercise was studied in awake dogs trained to run on a treadmill. Two questions were examined: firstly, is the fast ventilatory component modified by changes in venous return to the lungs, such as those consecutive either to increased work loads or to beta adrenergic blockade?, and secondly, is this component altered by central ventilatory depressants? The results showed that at the onset of exercise, there is no correlation between the instantaneous increment in ventilation and the intensity of exercise, but at the end of the treadmill run, the fall in ventilation is closely linked to the power of the work performed. Ventilatory transients observed either at the start or at the end of exercise remain unaffected by administration of a beta-adrenergic blocking agent.

[Maximal oxygen uptake in French children in relation to age, sex and physical training].

1. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) was determined in 451 boys and girls ranging from 11 to 16 years and divided in two groups. Group I (n = 287) was considered as an untrained reference group.