Association between Activity Quotient and cause-specific mortality - A prospective cohort study of 0.5 million participants in Asia.

Background: Regular physical activity (PA) is important for reducing the risk of chronic diseases and improving overall health. Activity Quotient (AQ) is a novel metric that translates heart rate during PA into a weekly score, providing an objective measure of an individual's PA. We prospectively examined the association of AQ with cancer and cardiovascular (CVD) mortality outcomes, the two major causes of death, in a Taiwanese population.

Comparison of exercise training modalities and change in peak oxygen consumption in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a secondary analysis of the OptimEx-Clin trial.

Aims: Exercise training (ET) is an effective therapy in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but the influence of different ET characteristics is unclear. We aimed to evaluate the associations between ET frequency, duration, intensity [% heart rate reserve (%HRR)] and estimated energy expenditure (EEE) with the change in peak oxygen consumption (V̇O2) over 3 months of moderate continuous training (MCT, 5×/week) or high-intensity interval training (HIIT, 3×/week) in HFpEF.

Methods And Results: ET duration and heart rate (HR) were recorded with a smartphone application.

Mind the intention-behavior gap: a qualitative study of post-myocardial infarction patients' beliefs and experiences with long-term supervised and self-monitored physical exercise.

Background: Many post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients struggle with physical activity behavior change (BC) for life-long secondary prevention. There is limited knowledge about factors influencing long-term physical activity BC among post-MI patients. This qualitative study aimed to explore the beliefs and experiences related to post-MI patients' physical activity BC process following a year's participation in a supervised and self-monitored exercise program: the Norwegian Trial of Physical Exercise After MI (NorEx).

Polygenic Interactions With Environmental Exposures in Blood Pressure Regulation: The HUNT Study.

Background: The essential hypertension phenotype results from an interplay between genetic and environmental factors. The influence of lifestyle exposures such as excess adiposity, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, diet, and activity patterns on blood pressure (BP) is well established. Additionally, polygenic risk scores for BP traits are associated with clinically significant phenotypic variation.

The relationship between adult hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease.

Neurogenesis persists throughout adulthood in the hippocampus and contributes to specific cognitive functions. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), the hippocampus is affected by pathology and functional impairment early in the disease. Human AD patients have reduced adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN) levels compared to age-matched healthy controls.

Diastolic function and dysfunction in athletes.

Cardiac remodelling is often most profound in male athletes and in athletes with the greatest volumes of endurance training and is characterized by chamber enlargement and a mild-to-modest hypertrophy. The diastolic filling of the left ventricle (LV) is a complex process including the early recoil of the contracted LV, the active relaxation of the myocardium, the compliance of the myocardium, the filling pressures, and heart rate. Echocardiography is the cornerstone for the clinical assessment of LV diastolic function.

Examining temporal changes in model-optimized parameters using longitudinal hemodynamic measurements.

Background: We previously applied hemodynamic data to personalize a mathematical model of the circulation expressed as physically interpretable parameters. The aim of this study was to identify patterns in the data that could potentially explain the estimated parameter changes. This included investigating whether the parameters could be used to track the effect of physical activity on high blood pressure.

Normative values for body composition in 22,191 healthy Norwegian adults 20-99 years: The HUNT4 study.

Background: Body mass, body mass index (BMI), and body composition components are essential for health and longevity. Considering the influence of demographic factors on body composition, there is a need for tailored reference values based on age-, sex-, and geography. We aimed to construct a comprehensive reference material on body composition in healthy Norwegian adults.

Cardiometabolic and immune response to exercise training in patients with metabolic syndrome: retrospective analysis of two randomized clinical trials.

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is defined by the presence of central obesity plus ≥two metabolic/cardiovascular risk factors (RF), with inflammation being a major disease-driving mechanism. Structured endurance exercise training (ET) may positively affect these traits, as well as cardiorespiratory fitness (V̇Opeak).

Aims: We explore individual ET-mediated improvements of MetS-associated RF in relation to improvements in V̇Opeak and inflammatory profile.

Inherited physical capacity: Widening divergence from young to adult to old.

Cardiorespiratory performance segregates into rat strains of inherited low- and high-capacity runners (LCRs and HCRs); during adulthood, this segregation remains stable, but widens in senescence and is followed by segregated function, health, and mortality. However, this segregation has not been investigated prior to adulthood. We, therefore, assessed cardiorespiratory performance and cardiac cell (cardiomyocyte) structure-function in 1- and 4-month-old LCRs and HCRs.

Sex-specific and polygenic effects underlying resting heart rate and associated risk of cardiovascular disease.

Aims: Resting heart rate (RHR) is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality. This study aimed to identify genetic loci associated with RHR, develop a genome-wide polygenic risk score (PRS) for RHR, and assess associations between the RHR PRS and CVD outcomes, to better understand the biological mechanisms linking RHR to disease. Sex-specific analyses were conducted to potentially elucidate different pathways between the sexes.

Polygenic risk scores associate with blood pressure traits across the lifespan.

Aims: Hypertension is a major modifiable cause of morbidity and mortality that affects over 1 billion people worldwide. Blood pressure (BP) traits have a strong genetic component that can be quantified with polygenic risk scores (PRSs). To date, the performance of BP PRSs has mainly been assessed in adults, and less is known about polygenic hypertension risk in childhood.

Cardiorespiratory fitness and the incidence of surgery for aortic valve stenosis-the HUNT study.

Objectives: Aortic valve stenosis (AVS) shares many risk factors with coronary disease, the latter being strongly and inversely associated with physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). However, the relationship between PA, CRF and AVS needs to be established. We explored whether PA habits and estimated CRF affect the risk of developing AVS demanding aortic valve replacement (AVR) and how these factors affect postoperative mortality.

Exploring shared genetics between maximal oxygen uptake and disease: the HUNT study.

Low cardiorespiratory fitness, measured as maximal oxygen uptake (V̇o), is associated with all-cause mortality and disease-specific morbidity and mortality and is estimated to have a large genetic component (∼60%). However, the underlying mechanisms explaining the associations are not known, and no association study has assessed shared genetics between directly measured V̇o and disease. We believe that identifying the mechanisms explaining how low V̇o is related to increased disease risk can contribute to prevention and therapy.

Wearable technology and the cardiovascular system: the future of patient assessment.

The past decade has seen a dramatic rise in consumer technologies able to monitor a variety of cardiovascular parameters. Such devices initially recorded markers of exercise, but now include physiological and health-care focused measurements. The public are keen to adopt these devices in the belief that they are useful to identify and monitor cardiovascular disease.

Indexing cardiac volumes for peak oxygen uptake to improve differentiation of physiological and pathological remodeling: from elite athletes to heart failure patients.

Aims: Cardiovascular structures adapt to meet metabolic demands, but current methodology for indexing by body size does not accurately reflect such variations. Therefore, we aimed to investigate how left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) and left atrial maximal volume (LAVmax) are associated with absolute (L/min) peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and fat-free mass (FFM) compared to body surface area (BSA). We subsequently assessed the impact of indexing by absolute VO2peak, FFM, and BSA to discriminate pathological from physiological remodeling.

Effect of Training on Vascular Function and Repair in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

Background: Exercise training improves peak oxygen uptake (V.Opeak) in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Multiple adaptations have been addressed, but the role of circulating endothelium-repairing cells and vascular function have not been well defined.

Normalized Echocardiographic Values From Guideline-Directed Dedicated Views for Cardiac Dimensions and Left Ventricular Function.

Background: Continuous technologic development and updated recommendations for image acquisitions creates a need to update the current normal reference ranges for echocardiography. The best method of indexing cardiac volumes is unknown.

Objectives: The authors used 2- and 3-dimensional echocardiographic data from a large cohort of healthy individuals to provide updated normal reference data for dimensions and volumes of the cardiac chambers as well as central Doppler measurements.

Age-related decline in peak oxygen uptake: Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal findings. A review.

Cardiorespiratory fitness is established as an important prognostic factor for cardiovascular and general health. In clinical settings cardiorespiratory fitness is often measured by cardiopulmonary exercise testing determining the gold-standard peak oxygen uptake (VO). Due to the considerable impact of age and sex on VO, results from cardiopulmonary exercise testing are typically assessed in the context of age- and sex-specific reference values, and multiple studies have been conducted establishing reference materials by age and sex using cross-sectional designs.

Hippocampal neurochemicals are associated with exercise group and intensity, psychological health, and general cognition in older adults.

Based on the premise that physical activity/exercise impacts hippocampal structure and function, we investigated if hippocampal metabolites for neuronal viability and cell membrane density (i.e., N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), creatine (Cr)) were higher in older adults performing supervised exercise compared to following national physical activity guidelines.