Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test Using Arm Ergometry in Children With Spina Bifida: A Prediction Model for O2peak.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a prediction model for peak oxygen uptake ((Equation is included in full-text article.)O2peak) in children with spina bifida (SB), considering peak workload (Wpeak), peak heart rate, age, sex, anthropometric measures, walking level, physical activity level, and level of the lesion.

Methods: Data of 26 participants with SB performing a graded arm crank test were used to develop the prediction model.

The Use of a Wheelchair Propulsion Field Test to Determine Peak Heart Rate in Children and Adolescents With Myelomeningocele.

Purpose: We analyzed the evolution and pattern of heart rate (HR) during the 12-minute wheelchair propulsion field test (WPFT) and compared the peak HR (HR) from the WPFT to the HR obtained in the progressive cardiopulmonary exercise test on arm cranking ergometer (ACT). We aimed to determine if the field test detects the HR consistently and could be used in clinical practice.

Methods: Eleven wheelchair-using children and adolescents with myelomeningocele (aged 8-15 y) performed a maximal ACT and a 12-minute WPFT.

Contribution of cardiopulmonary exercise testing to the identification of latent systolic dysfunction in chronic aortic regurgitation.

Chronic aortic regurgitation (AR) is a valvulopathy of slow and insidious evolution, and patients may remain asymptomatic for a long period of time. Exercise-induced systolic dysfunction occurs during the natural history of chronic AR and is related to changes in both preload and afterload. We describe the case of a 58-year-old woman with a diagnosis of chronic AR who reported progressive dyspnea of six years' duration.

The effect of acute magnesium loading on the maximal exercise performance of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.

Objective: The potential influence of magnesium on exercise performance is a subject of increasing interest. Magnesium has been shown to have bronchodilatatory properties in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of acute magnesium IV loading on the aerobic exercise performance of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.

Replacement of carvedilol for propranolol in patients with heart failure.

Background: Large clinical trials using the betablockers carvedilol, metoprolol, bisoprolol and nebivolol have demonstrated improvement of survival and symptoms in patients with heart failure. Despite the lack of scientific evidence, it is plausible that their beneficial effects are extensible to other betablockers.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the replacement of carvedilol for propranolol on left ventricular function, functional capacity, quality of life, pressure levels, and cardiac autonomic control in patients with heart failure.

Improved endothelial function and reversal of myocardial perfusion defects after aerobic physical training in a patient with microvascular myocardial ischemia.

The objective of this report is to document the effects of an aerobic training program on myocardial perfusion, and endothelial function abnormalities, and on the relief of angina in a patient with microvascular myocardial ischemia. A 53-year-old female patient exhibited precordial pain on effort and angiographically normal coronaries. Her symptoms had been present for 4 yrs despite pharmacologic treatment for the control of risk factors, with myocardial perfusion scintigraphy revealing an extensive reversible perfusion defect.

Determinants of accelerated small intestinal transit in alcohol-related chronic pancreatitis.

Patients with chronic pancreatitis may have abnormal gastrointestinal transit, but the factors underlying these abnormalities are poorly understood. Gastrointestinal transit was assessed, in 40 male outpatients with alcohol-related chronic pancreatitis and 18 controls, by scintigraphy after a liquid meal labeled with (99m)technetium-phytate. Blood and urinary glucose, fecal fat excretion, nutritional status, and cardiovascular autonomic function were determined in all patients.

Factors associated with abnormal gastric emptying in alcohol-related chronic pancreatitis.

Background: Patients with alcohol-related chronic pancreatitis (ARCP) may present with abnormal gastric emptying (GE), which has been ascribed mainly to nutrient maldigestion. Nevertheless, many patients also have diabetes with autonomic dysfunction and malnutrition and the role of these factors on abnormal GE has not been investigated.

Goals: To determine the influences of malabsorption, diabetes, malnutrition, and autonomic dysfunction on GE abnormalities in patients with ARCP.