Tobacco quitlines in the United States.

Tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of death and disability in the United States today. In 2003, the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health recommended to establish a federally funded national tobacco quitline network by 2005. Quitlines are telephone-based programs that assist tobacco users to quit.

Troponin release following endurance exercise: is inflammation the cause? a cardiovascular magnetic resonance study.

Background: The aetiology and clinical significance of troponin release following endurance exercise is unclear but may be due to transient myocardial inflammation. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) affords us the opportunity to evaluate the presence of myocardial inflammation and focal fibrosis and is the ideal imaging modality to study this hypothesis. We sought to correlate the relationship between acute bouts of ultra endurance exercise leading to cardiac biomarkers elevation and the presence of myocardial inflammation and fibrosis using CMR.

Association of physical inactivity with increased cardiovascular risk in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are characterized by reduced physical activity and increased morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD). The aim of this study was to investigate associations between levels of physical activity and CVD risk profile in RA patients.

Methods: Levels of physical activity were assessed in 65 RA patients (43 females).

Validity of the emotional intelligence scale for use in sport.

This study investigated the factorial validity of the 33-item self-rated Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS: Schutte et al., 1998) for use with athletes. In stage 1, content validity of the EIS was assessed by a panel of experts (n = 9).

Changes in vascular and cardiac function after prolonged strenuous exercise in humans.

Prolonged exercise has been shown to result in an acute depression in cardiac function. However, little is known about the effect of this type of exercise on vascular function. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of an acute bout of prolonged strenuous exercise on vascular and cardiac function and the appearance of biomarkers of cardiomyocyte damage in 15 male (32 +/- 10 yr) nonelite runners.