Effect of a load distribution system on mobility and performance during simulated and field hiking while under load.

This study was conducted to test a modular scalable vest-load distribution system (MSV-LDS) against the plate carrier system (PC) currently used by the United States Marine Corps. Ten Marines engaged in 1.6 km load carriage trials in seven experimental conditions in a laboratory study.

Changes in combat task performance under increasing loads in active duty marines.

Unlabelled: U.S. Marines perform mission tasks under heavy loads which may compromise performance of combat tasks.

Lesions of the dorsal noradrenergic bundle augment the renin response to blood loss but do not alter hypothalamic Fos expression.

The goal of this study was to determine if the dorsal noradrenergic bundle (DNAB) plays an essential role in mediating increased plasma renin activity (PRA) and hypothalamic activation, as indicated by increased Fos expression, in response to a small volume blood loss in unanesthetized animals. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were prepared with bilateral 6-hydroxydopamine or sham lesions of the dorsal noradrenergic bundle. In both groups of animals, blood pressure decreased by only 10-15 mmHg following hemorrhage (10 ml/kg over 15 min).

Pregnancy alters lateral parabrachial nucleus but not hypothalamic Fos expression following hypotensive hemorrhage.

The goal of these experiments was to determine if hemorrhage-induced Fos expression in the hypothalamus and lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPBN) is altered by reproductive cycle phase or pregnancy. Conscious unrestrained female Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a 16 ml/kg hemorrhage on the morning of the metestrus or proestrus phases of the estrous cycle, or on day 12-14 of pregnancy (mid-gestation). Hemorrhage induced a significant increase (p < 0.

Heart rate and blood pressure quantitative trait loci for the airpuff startle reaction.

The airpuff startle reaction is a probe of sensori-autonomic processing and is useful for studies of genetic control of stress-induced cardiovascular activity. Using a Wistar-Kyoto-Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat F2 cross, we reported an airpuff-elicited strain-dependent and trial-dependent bradycardia, the absence of which cosegregated with hypertension. Here, we use the mapping power of the HXB-BXH recombinant inbred rat strains (n=23) to locate quantitative trait loci (QTL) for this and associated cardiovascular phenotypes.