Impact of Muscle Changes Assessed by Ultrasonography on Muscle Strength and Functioning after ICU Discharge: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.

Background: Ultrasonography has been used to identify structural, quantitative, and qualitative muscle changes. These changes have been assessed in different muscles during ICU stays; however, it is unclear if it can predict functioning after ICU discharge.

Objective: To analyze the relationship between muscle changes assessed by ultrasonography and the strength and functioning of ICU survivors.

The use of a biopsychosocial model in the treatment of patients with chronic.

Objective: To explore the available knowledge on the application of biopsychosocial model (BPS) in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP).

Methods: A scoping review, including 32 papers that used a BPS to manage adult patients with CLBP, published in any language. Six different databases were searched.

Inter-Examiner and Intra-Examiner Reliability of Quantitative and Qualitative Ultrasonography Assessment of Peripheral and Respiratory Muscles in Critically Ill Patients.

ICU patients are exposed to several factors that can lead to muscle structural and functional changes, and ultrasonography can identify them. Although several studies have analyzed the reliability of muscle ultrasonography assessment, a protocol with more muscle assessments becomes a challenge. The aim of this study was to analyze the inter and intra-examiner reliability of peripheral and respiratory muscle ultrasonography assessment in critically ill patients.

Effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on functional exercise capacity in patients undergoing cardiac surgery: A randomized clinical trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on functional capacity of patients in the immediate postoperative period of cardiac surgery.

Design: A prospective, randomized controlled trial.

Setting: A cardiac surgery specialist hospital in Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil.

Adverse Events in Emergency Department Boarding: A Systematic Review.

Background: Overcrowding in emergency departments (EDs) is a worldwide challenge. As a result of the increased demand for EDs, slow internal patient flow, and unavailability of hospital beds, patients are kept in the corridors, causing a boarding effect. Studies have associated boarding in EDs with unfavorable clinical outcomes and adverse events.

Resistance training improves cardiac function and cardiovascular autonomic control in doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anticancer chemotherapy drug that is widely used in clinical practice. It is well documented that DOX impairs baroreflex responsiveness and left ventricular function and enhances sympathetic activity, cardiac sympathetic afferent reflexes and oxidative stress, which contribute to hemodynamic deterioration. Because resistance training (RT)-induced cardioprotection has been observed in other animal models, the objective of this study was to assess the effects of RT during DOX treatment on hemodynamics, arterial baroreflex, cardiac autonomic tone, left ventricular function and oxidative stress in rats with DOX-induced cardiotoxicity.

Do the commonly used standard questionnaires measure what is of concern to patients with low back pain?

Objective: Evaluate whether questionnaires identified all the self-reported patient outcomes raised in focus groups.

Design: Mixed methods research combined with qualitative analysis of focus groups.

Settings: Physical therapy clinic in a teaching hospital in Brazil.

NOX-dependent reactive oxygen species production underlies arrhythmias susceptibility in dexamethasone-treated rats.

Dexamethasone is the most clinically used glucocorticoid with an established role in the treatment of a wide spectrum of inflammatory-related diseases. While the therapeutic actions are well known, dexamethasone treatment causes a number of cardiovascular side effects, which are complex, frequent and, in some cases, clinically unnoticeable. Here, we investigated whether a therapeutic regimen of dexamethasone affects cardiac arrhythmogenesis, focusing on the contribution of Nox-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Resistance training improves cardiovascular autonomic control and biochemical profile of rats exposed to Western diet in the perinatal period.

Introduction And Objectives: Consumption of a Western diet during the perinatal period is associated with development of cardiovascular disease. Resistance training (RT) has been used to treat cardiovascular disorders. The aim of this work was to assess the effect of RT on cardiometabolic disorders in rats exposed to a Western diet in the perinatal period.

Resistance exercise mediates remote ischemic preconditioning by limiting cardiac eNOS uncoupling.

Background: Currently viewed as a complementary non-pharmacological intervention for preventing cardiac disorders, long-term aerobic training produces cardioprotection through remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) mechanisms. However, RIPC triggered by acute exercise remains poorly understood. Although resistance exercise (RE) has been highly recommended by several public health guidelines, there is no evidence showing that RE mediates RIPC.

Reference Values for the 6-min Walk Distance in Healthy Children Age 7 to 12 Years in Brazil: Main Results of the TC6minBrasil Multi-Center Study.

Introduction: Brazil is a country with great climatic, socioeconomic, and cultural differences that does not yet have a reference value for the 6-min walk test (6MWT) in healthy children. To avoid misinterpretation, the use of equations to predict the maximum walk distance should be established in each country.

Objectives: We sought to establish reference values and to develop an equation to predict the 6-min walk distance for healthy children in Brazil.

Effect of prophylactic non-invasive mechanical ventilation on functional capacity after heart valve replacement: a clinical trial.

Objective: During cardiac surgery, several factors contribute to the development of postoperative pulmonary complications. Non-invasive ventilation is a promising therapeutic tool for improving the functionality of this type of patient. The aim of this study is to evaluate the functional capacity and length of stay of patients in a nosocomial intensive care unit who underwent prophylactic non-invasive ventilation after heart valve replacement.

[Validation of the Brazilian version of Behavioral Pain Scale in adult sedated and mechanically ventilated patients].

Background And Objectives: The Behavioral Pain Scale is a pain assessment tool for uncommunicative and sedated Intensive Care Unit patients. The lack of a Brazilian scale for pain assessment in adults mechanically ventilated justifies the relevance of this study that aimed to validate the Brazilian version of Behavioral Pain Scale as well as to correlate its scores with the records of physiological parameters, sedation level and severity of disease.

Methods: Twenty-five Intensive Care Unit adult patients were included in this study.

Reference Values for the Six-Minute Walk Test in Healthy Children and Adolescents: a Systematic Review.

Objective: The aim of the study is to compare the available reference values and the six-minute walk test equations in healthy children/adolescents. Our systematic review was planned and performed in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. We included all studies that established reference values for the six-minute walk test in healthy children/adolescents.

Pain assessment during blood collection from sedated and mechanically ventilated children.

Objective: This study assessed pain and observed physiological parameters in sedated and mechanically ventilated children during a routine procedure.

Methods: This observational study was performed in a pediatric intensive care unit. Thirty-five children between 1 month and 12 years of age were assessed before, during, and five minutes after an arterial blood collection for gas analysis (painful procedure).

Determinants of distance walked during the six-minute walk test in patients undergoing cardiac surgery at hospital discharge.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to identify the determinants of distance walked in six-minute walk test (6MWD) in patients undergoing cardiac surgery at hospital discharge.

Methods: The assessment was performed preoperatively and at discharge. Data from patient records were collected and measurement of the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) were performed.

Electroacupuncture reduces hyperalgesia after injections of acidic saline in rats.

Background. Injections of acidic saline into the gastrocnemius muscle in rats produce a bilateral long-lasting hyperalgesia similar to fibromyalgia in humans. No previous study investigated the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on this acidic saline model.

Resistance training controls arterial blood pressure in rats with L-NAME- induced hypertension.

Background: Arterial hypertension is a multifactorial chronic condition caused by either congenital or acquired factors.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of Resistance Training (RT) on arterial pressure, and on vascular reactivity and morphology, of L-NAME-treated hypertensive rats.

Methods: Male Wistar rats (200 - 250 g) were allocated into Sedentary Normotensive (SN), Sedentary Hypertensive (SH) and Trained Hypertensive (TH) groups.

Experimental gestational hypothyroidism evokes hypertension in adult offspring rats.

Gestational hypothyroidism is a prevalent disorder in pregnant women. We aimed to investigate the impact of experimental gestational hypothyroidism (EGH) on cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems (ANS) in the offspring of rats. EGH was induced with methimazole (MMI) 0.