Prevalence of pre-eclampsia in women in the Middle East: a scoping review.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are the second most common cause of maternal deaths worldwide. Metabolic syndrome is recognized as one of the risk factors for pre-eclampsia. A recent study revealed a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), particularly amongst Emirati women compared with global estimates.

Human Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation Reduces Sympathetic Outflow and Long-Term Blood Pressure.

This study hypothesized that dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation would reduce sympathetic nerve activity and would alter hemodynamic variables. This study directly recorded muscle sympathetic nerve activity during ON and OFF stimulation of the DRG while measuring hemodynamic parameters. DRG stimulation significantly reduced the firing frequency of sympathetic nerves, as well as significantly reducing blood pressure, with greater reductions evident when stimulation was left-sided.

High-Intensity Interval Training Decreases Muscle Sympathetic Nerve Activity in Men With Essential Hypertension and in Normotensive Controls.

Exercise training is a cornerstone in reducing blood pressure (BP) and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) in individuals with essential hypertension. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been shown to be a time efficient alternative to classical continuous training in lowering BP in essential hypertension, but the effect of HIIT on MSNA levels has never been investigated. Leg MSNA responsiveness to 6 weeks of HIIT was examined in 14 hypertensive men (HYP; age: 62 ± 7 years, night time BP: 136 ± 12/83 ± 8 mmHg, BMI: 28 ± 3 kg/m), and 10 age-matched normotensive controls (NORM; age: 60 ± 8 years, night time BP: 116 ± 2/68 ± 4 mmHg and BMI: 27 ± 3 kg/m).

Variations in Cardiovascular Structure, Function, and Geometry in Midlife Associated With a History of Hypertensive Pregnancy.

Hypertensive pregnancy is associated with increased maternal cardiovascular risk in later life. A range of cardiovascular adaptations after pregnancy have been reported to partly explain this risk. We used multimodality imaging to identify whether, by midlife, any pregnancy-associated phenotypes were still identifiable and to what extent they could be explained by blood pressure.

A single-centre investigator-blinded randomised parallel-group study protocol to investigate the influence of an acclimatisation appointment on children's behaviour during NO/O sedation as measured by psychological, behavioural and real-time physiological parameters.

Aims And Objectives: To describe a study protocol of a randomised control trial (RCT) assessing the effectiveness, in reducing dental anxiety, of an acclimatising nitrous oxide sedation (NO) session prior to actual dental treatment with NO.

Materials And Methods: A single-centre investigator-blinded parallel-group RCT conducted in a postgraduate dental hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Anxious children requiring NO (aged 5-15 years) will be randomly assigned to; a study group: children who will have a preparatory NO trial experience or; a control group: children who will only have NO explained to them.

Regional Cerebral Activation Accompanies Sympathoexcitation in Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Context: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with increased sympathetic nervous system activation, but the cerebral pathways involved are unclear.

Objective: To compare cerebral [blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI], pressor [blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR], and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) responses to isometric forearm contraction (IFC) in women with PCOS and matched control subjects.

Design: Case-control study.

Neonatal autonomic function after pregnancy complications and early cardiovascular development.

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) has emerged as a predictor of later cardiac risk. This study tested whether pregnancy complications that may have long-term offspring cardiac sequelae are associated with differences in HRV at birth, and whether these HRV differences identify abnormal cardiovascular development in the postnatal period.

Methods: Ninety-eight sleeping neonates had 5-min electrocardiogram recordings at birth.

Long-term cerebral white and gray matter changes after preeclampsia.

Objective: To determine whether changes in cerebral structure are present after preeclampsia that may explain increased cerebrovascular risk in these women.

Methods: We conducted a case control study in women between 5 and 15 years after either a preeclamptic or normotensive pregnancy. Brain MRI was performed.

Differentiated baroreflex modulation of sympathetic nerve activity during deep brain stimulation in humans.

Targeted electric deep brain stimulation in midbrain nuclei in humans alters cardiovascular parameters, presumably by modulating autonomic and baroreflex function. Baroreflex modulation of sympathetic outflow is crucial for cardiovascular regulation and is hypothesized to occur at 2 distinct brain locations. The aim of this study was to evaluate sympathetic outflow in humans with deep brain stimulating electrodes during ON and OFF stimulation of specific midbrain nuclei known to regulate cardiovascular function.

Stress-induced cardiomyopathy in Sweden: evidence for different ethnic predisposition and altered cardio-circulatory status.

Background: In this paper, we report about new insights regarding clinical course, long-term outcome, ethnic/genetic predisposition and cardio-circulatory status in the large stress-induced cardiomyopathy (SIC) cohort from Sweden.

Methods And Results: We have included 115 consecutive SIC patients between January 2005 and January 2010 at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg. Hemodynamic status and sympathetic nerve activity were evaluated and compared with those of healthy controls.

Sympathetic nerve activity in stress-induced cardiomyopathy.

Purpose: To evaluate directly recorded efferent sympathetic nerve traffic in patients with stress-induced cardiomyopathy (SIC).

Background: SIC is a syndrome affecting mostly postmenopausal women following severe emotional stress. Though the precise pathophysiology is not well understood, a catecholamine overstimulation of the myocardium is thought to underlie the pathogenesis.

Sympathetic nerve activity in women 40 years after a hypertensive pregnancy.

Objectives: Epidemiological studies show that women with pregnancies complicated by hypertension have an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity later in life. The underlying mechanisms to the risk increase remain largely unknown. This study evaluated sympathetic nerve activity in women with hypertensive pregnancies 40 years earlier compared to women with normotensive pregnancies.

Sex steroids, insulin sensitivity and sympathetic nerve activity in relation to affective symptoms in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Context: Affective symptoms are poorly understood in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Clinical signs of hyperandrogenism and high serum androgens are key features in PCOS, and women with PCOS are more likely to be overweight or obese, as well as insulin resistant. Further, PCOS is associated with high sympathetic nerve activity.

Muscle sympathetic nerve activity is related to a surrogate marker of endothelial function in healthy individuals.

Background: Evidence from animal studies indicates the importance of an interaction between the sympathetic nervous system and the endothelium for cardiovascular regulation. However the interaction between these two systems remains largely unexplored in humans. The aim of this study was to investigate whether directly recorded sympathetic vasoconstrictor outflow is related to a surrogate marker of endothelial function in healthy individuals.

Firing probability and mean firing rates of human muscle vasoconstrictor neurones are elevated during chronic asphyxia.

Elevated muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) features in many cardiovascular diseases, but how this sympathoexcitation is brought about differs across pathologies. Unitary recordings from post-ganglionic muscle vasoconstrictor neurones in human subjects have shown that the augmented MSNA in the obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is associated with an increase in firing probability and mean firing rate, and an increase in multiple within-burst firing. Here we characterize the firing properties of muscle vasoconstrictor neurones in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), who are chronically asphyxic.

Low-frequency electroacupuncture and physical exercise decrease high muscle sympathetic nerve activity in polycystic ovary syndrome.

We have recently shown that polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with high muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA). Animal studies support the concept that low-frequency electroacupuncture (EA) and physical exercise, via stimulation of ergoreceptors and somatic afferents in the muscles, may modulate the activity of the sympathetic nervous system. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of these interventions on sympathetic nerve activity in women with PCOS.

Firing properties of sudomotor neurones in hyperhidrosis and thermal sweating.

Objectives: Idiopathic palmar-plantar hyperhidrosis is characterized by excessive sweating of the palms and feet, and is commonly treated by transthoracic regional sympathicotomy. As the condition is believed to be due to a high sudomotor drive, we wanted to assess the firing properties of individual sudomotor neurones in this state of sympathoexcitation, extending our recent work on other pathologies associated with high sympathetic nerve activity.

Methods: Single-unit recordings were made from eight sudomotor neurones supplying the fingers via tungsten microelectrodes inserted percutaneously into the median nerve at the wrist or upper arm.

Is polycystic ovary syndrome associated with high sympathetic nerve activity and size at birth?

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine and metabolic disturbance among women of reproductive age and is proposed to be linked with size at birth and increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease. A disturbance in the sympathetic nervous system may contribute to the etiology of PCOS. This study evaluates sympathetic outflow in PCOS and its relation to size at birth.

Epidermal growth factor levels are related to diastolic blood pressure and carotid artery stiffness.

Objectives: The epidermal growth factor (EGF) is believed to be involved in vascular remodelling. EGF receptors are expressed in human atherosclerotic tissue.

Design: In order to study the role of EGF in vascular remodelling and early progression of atherosclerosis, 17 men and 16 women aged 20 to 45 years were recruited.

Low birth size and final height predict high sympathetic nerve activity in adulthood.

Objective: Being born small for gestational age (SGA) is associated with insulin resistance, hypertension and increased cardiovascular morbidity/mortality in adulthood. Sympathetic nerve hyperactivity is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease mortality and is proposed to link insulin resistance with hypertension. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that sympathetic nerve activity is altered in individuals born SGA.

The effect of growth hormone (GH) replacement therapy on sympathetic nerve hyperactivity in hypopituitary adults: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover, short-term trial followed by long-term open GH replacement in hypopituitary adults.

Objective: To test whether sympathetic nerve hyperactivity associated with adult hypopituitarism and untreated growth hormone (GH) deficiency is affected by GH treatment.

Design And Methods: Sympathetic nerve activity to the muscle vascular bed (MSA) expressed as burst frequency (bursts/min) and incidence (bursts/100 heartbeats) was recorded in 10 hypopituitary patients (aged 48-69 years), before and after acute (1 week) randomized, double-blind, crossover treatment with a 1-month washout period and chronic (1 year) GH replacement treatment.

Results: MSA burst frequency and incidence remained unchanged from baseline values after the short-term treatment, but exhibited decreases in median values [from 53 to 47 bursts/min (P = 0.

Resting discharge of human muscle spindles is not modulated by increases in sympathetic drive.

There is evidence in experimental animals that, in addition to receiving fusimotor drive, muscle spindles are subject to modulation by the sympathetic nervous system. We examined the validity of this idea in human subjects by recording from muscle spindles in the relaxed ankle and toe extensor muscles during a strong and sustained physiological activation of muscle sympathetic outflow. Unitary recordings were made from 20 primary and 17 secondary muscle spindle afferents via a tungsten microelectrode inserted percutaneously into the peroneal nerve in 10 awake, healthy subjects seated with the legs supported in the extended position.

GH increases extracellular volume by stimulating sodium reabsorption in the distal nephron and preventing pressure natriuresis.

Although sodium retention and volume expansion occur during GH administration, blood pressure is decreased or unchanged. The aim was to study the effect of short- and long-term GH replacement in adults on sodium balance, renal hemodynamics, and blood pressure. Ten adults with severe GH deficiency were included into a 7-d, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial followed by 12 months of open GH replacement.