An improved design of optical sensor for long-term measurement of arterial blood flow waveform.

We present here the improved design and development of optical sensor for non-invasive measurements of arterial blood flow waveform. The sensor is based on a physical principle of reflective photoplethysmography (PPG). As the light source we used serially connected infrared diodes whereas NPN silicon phototransistors were used as light detectors.

Heart rate recovery in elite athletes: the impact of age and exercise capacity.

There is compelling evidence that postexercise heart rate recovery (HRR) is a valid indicator of sympaticovagal balance. It is also used in prescription and monitoring of athletic training. The purpose of our study was to determine HRR after maximal exercise among elite athletes with respect to age.

The impact of elevated blood pressure on exercise capacity in elite athletes.

Objectives: Hypertension is one of the most prevalent cardiovascular disorders in athletes. The aims of our study were to assess the impact of elevated blood pressure (BP) on exercise capacity in athletes and evaluate the differences in left ventricular structure and function.

Methods: Elite male athletes (n=517, aged 23±5years) underwent Doppler echocardiography with tissue Doppler imaging.

Complexity reduction of chromatin architecture in macula densa cells during mouse postnatal development.

Aim: To determine whether complexity of chromatin structure in kidney macula densa cells (MDC) decreases during postnatal development in mice.

Methods: The levels of chromatin structural complexity were measured by determining fractal dimension of MDC nuclei. Kidney tissue was obtained from the total of 32 male Swiss albino mice divided into four age groups (n = 8): newborn (0 days), 10 days old, 20 days old and 30 days old.

Overweight in trained subjects - are we looking at wrong numbers? (Body mass index compared with body fat percentage in estimating overweight in athletes.).

Body mass index (BMI) is widely used as an index of obesity in adults. In trained population, individual with low body fat could be classified as overweight by BMI. To evaluate this problem, the purposes of this study were to determine the BMI and body fat percentage (BF%) of trained and untrained subjects and to evaluate the accuracy of BMI classification (> or =25 kg.

Serum and erythrocyte membrane phospholipids fatty acid composition in hyperlipidemia: effects of dietary intervention and combined diet and fibrate therapy.

Hyperlipidemia is found to be associated with changes in fatty acid (FA) profiles. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of AHA-Step-1 dietary treatment and combination of fibrates (gemfibrozil) with dietary intervention on serum and erythrocyte phospholipid FA composition in human hyperlipidemia. 78 study participants with hyperlipidemia were divided in two groups.