In patients previously hospitalised for COVID-19, a 12-week high-intensity interval training (HIIT) intervention has previously been shown to increase left ventricular mass (LVM) immediately after the intervention. In the present study, we examined the effects of the same HIIT scheme on LVM, pulmonary diffusing capacity, symptom severity and functional capacity at 12-month follow-up. In this investigator-blinded, randomised controlled trial, 12 weeks of a supervised HIIT scheme (4 × 4 min, three times a week) was compared to standard care (control) in patients recently discharged from hospital due to COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExp Physiol
July 2024
Whilst the exercise-induced myokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays a beneficial role in cardiac structural adaptations, its influence on exercise-induced functional cardiac outcomes remains unknown. We hypothesised that IL-6 activity is required for exercise-induced improvements in left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LV GLS). In an exploratory study 52 individuals with abdominal obesity were randomised to 12 weeks' high-intensity exercise or no exercise in combination with IL-6 receptor inhibition (IL-6i) or placebo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Appl Physiol (1985)
August 2023
A large proportion of patients suffer from a persistent reduction in cardiorespiratory fitness after recovery from COVID-19, of which the effects on the heart may potentially be reversed through the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). In the present study, we hypothesized that HIIT would increase left ventricular mass (LVM) and improve functional status and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in individuals previously hospitalized for COVID-19. In this investigator-blinded, randomized controlled trial, 12 wk of supervised HIIT (4 × 4 min, three times a week) was compared with standard care (control) in individuals recently discharged from hospital due to COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMJ Open
May 2023
Introduction: The chronic inflammatory state in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) augments the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), with pro-inflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) playing a vital role. Consequently, biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) may attenuate that risk. IL-6 is also a myokine, secreted from exercising skeletal muscles, where IL-6 exhibits anti-inflammatory effects that may ameliorate the risk of CVD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) during pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may alleviate the symptom burden, but the fidelity and tolerability of HIIT using long or short intervals in patients with COPD are unknown.
Methods: Twelve patients with moderate-to-severe COPD were included in a randomised cross-over pilot study. They completed two supervised HIIT protocols (4×4 and 10×1).
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol
December 2022
In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the progressive loss of lung tissue is widely considered irreversible. Thus, various treatment and rehabilitation schemes, including exercise-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) are thought to slow down but not reverse or halt the disease. Nonetheless, the adult lung conceals the intrinsic capacity for de novo lung tissue formation in the form of abundant progenitor/stem cell populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMJ Open
November 2021
Introduction: COVID-19 is associated with a marked systemic inflammatory response with concomitant cardiac injury and remodelling, but it is currently unknown whether the latter is reversible. Given that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a powerful stimulus to improve cardiorespiratory fitness while also eliciting marked anti-inflammatory effects, it may be an important countermeasure of reducing cardiopulmonary morbidity following COVID-19.
Methods And Analysis: 40 COVID-19 survivors who have been discharged from hospital will be included in this investigator-blinded randomised study with a 12-week HIIT intervention.
BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med
September 2021
Objectives: Many patients with COVID-19 suffer from persistent symptoms, many of which may potentially be reversed by high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Yet, the safety and tolerability of HIIT after COVID-19 is controversial. This study aimed to investigate the fidelity, tolerability and safety of three different HIIT protocols in individuals that had recently been hospitalised due to COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNew Findings: What is the topic of this review? The use of proning for improving pulmonary gas exchange in critically ill patients. What advances does it highlight? Proning places the lung in its 'natural' posture, and thus optimises the ventilation-perfusion distribution, which enables lung protective ventilation and the alleviation of potentially life-threatening hypoxaemia in COVID-19 and other types of critical illness with respiratory failure.
Abstract: The survival benefit of proning patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is well established and has recently been found to improve pulmonary gas exchange in patients with COVID-19-associated ARDS (CARDS).
New Findings: What is the central question of this study? Does blockade of the IL-6 receptor by tocilizumab inhibit immune cell mobilization to the blood stream in humans during an acute bout of exercise? What is the main finding and its importance? Blockade of IL-6 receptor signalling by tocilizumab attenuates mobilization of NK cells and dendritic cells to the blood stream during exercise. This implies an inhibitory effect of tocilizumab on the innate immune response to physical stress, which could be considered in clinical settings.
Abstract: Immune cells are recruited from their storage organs and the endothelial walls to the blood stream in response to physiological stress.
Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) and pericardial adipose tissue (PAT) are metabolically active fat depots implicated in cardiovascular disease, and EAT has potential as a novel cardiac risk factor, suitable as a target for interventions. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the evidence whether EAT and PAT volume can be reduced by weight-loss interventions (exercise, diet, bariatric surgery or pharmaceutical interventions). A systematic literature search identified 34 studies that were included in the qualitative synthesis (exercise, n = 10, diet, n = 5, bariatric surgery, n = 9 and pharmaceutical interventions, n = 10).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFType 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and heart failure, which highlights the need for improved understanding of factors contributing to the pathophysiology of these complications as they are the leading cause of mortality in T2D. Patients with T2D have high levels of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT). EAT is known to secrete inflammatory factors, lipid metabolites, and has been proposed to apply mechanical stress on the cardiac muscle that may accelerate atherosclerosis, cardiac remodeling, and heart failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cardiac adipose tissue may have local paracrine effects on epicardial arteries and the underlying myocardium, promoting calcification and affecting myocardial microcirculation. We explored whether the total amount of cardiac adipose tissue was associated with coronary artery calcium score (CAC) and myocardial flow reserve in persons with type 1 or type 2 diabetes and healthy controls.
Methods: We studied three groups: (1) 30 controls, (2) 60 persons with type 1 diabetes and (3) 60 persons with type 2 diabetes.
Circulation
November 2019
Front Physiol
October 2019
Background: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is released from skeletal muscle during exercise and systemic IL-6 levels therefore increase acutely in response to a single bout of exercise. We recently showed that an acute increase in IL-6 delayed gastric emptying rate and improved postprandial glycemia. Here we investigate whether repeated increases in IL-6, induced by exercise training, influence gastric emptying rate and moreover if IL-6 is required for exercise-induced adaptations in glycemic control including secretion of glucagon and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cardiac fat is a cardiovascular biomarker but its importance in patients with type 2 diabetes is not clear. The aim was to evaluate the predictive potential of epicardial (EAT), pericardial (PAT) and total cardiac (CAT) fat in type 2 diabetes and elucidate sex differences.
Methods: EAT and PAT were measured by echocardiography in 1030 patients with type 2 diabetes.
Importance: Epicardial and pericardial adipose tissues are emerging as important risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and there is a growing interest in discovering strategies to reduce the accumulation of fat in these depots.
Objective: To investigate whether a 12-week endurance or resistance training intervention regulates epicardial and pericardial adipose tissue mass.
Design, Setting, And Participants: Secondary analysis of a randomized, assessor-blinded clinical trial initiated on August 2016 and completed April 2018.
Low-grade inflammation is recognized as an important factor in the development and progression of a multitude of diseases including type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. The potential of using antibody-based therapies that neutralize key players of low-grade inflammation has gained scientific momentum as a novel therapeutic strategy in metabolic diseases. As interleukin-6 (IL-6) is traditionally considered a key pro-inflammatory factor, the potential of expanding the use of anti-IL-6 therapies to metabolic diseases is intriguing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to investigate the association of epicardial (EAT) and pericardial (PAT) adipose tissues with myocardial function in type 2 diabetes (T2D). EAT and PAT were measured by ultrasound in 770 patients with T2D and 234 age- and sex-matched non-diabetic controls. Echocardiography was performed, including tissue Doppler imaging and 2D speckle tracking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVisceral adipose tissue is harmful to metabolic health. Exercise training reduces visceral adipose tissue mass, but the underlying mechanisms are not known. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) stimulates lipolysis and is released from skeletal muscle during exercise.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrials
May 2018
Background: Exercise reduces the amount of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and the risk of cardiometabolic diseases. The underlying mechanisms responsible for these exercise-induced adaptations are unclear, but they may involve lipolytic actions of interleukin-6 (IL-6). Contracting skeletal muscles secrete IL-6, leading to increased circulating IL-6 levels in response to exercise.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEukaryotic ribosome biogenesis is a complex dynamic process which requires the action of numerous ribosome assembly factors. Among them, the eukaryotic Rio protein family members (Rio1, Rio2 and Rio3) belong to an ancient conserved atypical protein kinase/ ATPase family required for the maturation of the small ribosomal subunit (SSU). Recent structure-function analyses suggested an ATPase-dependent role of the Rio proteins to regulate their dynamic association with the nascent pre-SSU.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground We evaluated the association of cardiac adipose tissue including epicardial adipose tissue and pericardial adipose tissue with incident cardiovascular disease and mortality, coronary artery calcium, carotid intima media thickness and inflammatory markers. Design A prospective study of 200 patients with type 2 diabetes and elevated urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER). Methods Cardiac adipose tissue was measured from baseline echocardiography.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The event-free survival of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has been reported to be superior when oral methotrexate (MTX) and 6-mercaptopurine (6MP) maintenance therapy (MT) is administered in the evening compared to the morning.
Procedure: In the ALL92 MT study we prospectively registered the intake of MTX/6MP. The registration was done when blood samples for erythrocyte MTX/6MP metabolite measurements were collected, and referred to the time of intake in the period since last registration.