Both sensorimotor and autonomic dysfunctions often occur after spinal cord injury（SCI）. Particularly, a high thoracic or cervical SCI interrupts supraspinal vasomotor pathways and results in disordered hemodynamics ...Both sensorimotor and autonomic dysfunctions often occur after spinal cord injury（SCI）. Particularly, a high thoracic or cervical SCI interrupts supraspinal vasomotor pathways and results in disordered hemodynamics due to deregulated sympathetic outflow. As a result of the reduced sympathetic activity, patients with SCI may experience hypotension, cardiac dysrhythmias, and hypothermia post-injury. In the chronic phase, changes within the CNS and blood vessels lead to orthostatic hypotension and life-threatening autonomic dysreflexia（AD）. AD is characterized by an episodic, massive sympathetic discharge that causes severe hypertension associated with bradycardia. The syndrome is often triggered by unpleasant visceral or sensory stimuli below the injury level. Currently the only treatments are palliative - once a stimulus elicits AD, pharmacological vasodilators are administered to help reduce the spike in arterial blood pressure. However, a more effective means would be to mitigate AD development by attenuating contributing mechanisms, such as the reorganization of intraspinal circuits below the level of injury. A better understanding of the neuropathophysiology underlying cardiovascular dysfunction after SCI is essential to better develop novel therapeutic approaches to restore hemodynamic performance.展开更多
Background: Women are thought to be more susceptible to stress than men in a stressful society, and reducing stress is crucial for women to maintain their health. Static stretching (SST) is applied in various fields t...Background: Women are thought to be more susceptible to stress than men in a stressful society, and reducing stress is crucial for women to maintain their health. Static stretching (SST) is applied in various fields to not only increase muscle flexibility but also reduce stress. Additionally, conscious slower breathing (CSB) predominates parasympathetic activity, causing a relaxing effect. These results indicate that combining SST and CSB may be more useful in reducing stress. However, to the best of our knowledge, the effect of this combination remains unclear. Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the effects of the combination of SST and CSB on autonomic activity and stress in adult women. Methods: Eleven healthy Japanese adult female participants performed SST with nonconscious natural breathing for 20 min. The same participants performed SST in combination with CSB (2 s inspiratory and 4 s expiratory) for 20 min on another day. Salivary cortisol and chromogranin A levels were measured before and after stretching as stress markers of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system. The coefficient of variation of the R-R interval (CVR-R) and high-frequency component (HF), which reflect parasympathetic nerve activity, and heart rate and low-frequency component (LF)/HF ratio, which reflect sympathetic nerve activity, were measured before, during, and after stretching. Results: SST decreased cortisol levels but with no significant changes in chromogranin A, heart rate, CVR-R, HF, or LF/HF ratio. The combination of SST and CSB increased CVR-R and HF levels in addition to decreasing cortisol levels but with no significant changes in chromogranin A, heart rate, or LF/HF levels. Conclusion: These results indicate that the combination of SST and CSB may increase parasympathetic activity and reduce stress. However, future randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes should support this conclusion.展开更多
<b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Background and Aim:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common medical disorder tha...<b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Background and Aim:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common medical disorder that may be severe enough to impair the quality of life. This study aimed to assess the role of each of dietary, psychiatric, autonomic, and microbiology</span><span style="font-family:""> </span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">background and their interactions in Egyptian patients with IBS. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Patients and Methods:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Forty adult patients diagnosed with IBS, equally divided into 2 groups the diarrhea predominant and the constipation predominant, were recruited from the Endoscopy Unit. Dietary assessment was done by monthly food frequency questionnaire. Psychiatric assessment was done by both the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-90). Microbiologic evaluation was done by faecal cultures and neurophysiologic autonomic evaluation was done via the sympathetic skin response and the parasympathetic R-R interval variation. Another 20 healthy subjects were included as control group. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Results:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> All IBS patients were young, with significant female predominance (P</span></span><span style="font-family:""> </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">=</span><span style="font-family:""> </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">0.007), particularly in IBS-C group (20/20;100%, P</span><span style="font-family:""> </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">=</span><span style="font-family:""> </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">0.003). Psychologically, abnormal scores of neuroticism, extraversion and criminality, and depression, obsessive compulsion, somatization, sensitivity and anxiety in both IBS groups with particularly extraversion, criminality and depression were significantly higher in constipation subtype. Microb展开更多
Background: The optimal breathing pattern (BP) to effectively regulate autonomic nervous activity is yet to be determined. Objective: We aimed to clarify the effects of four BPs (BP-1, BP-2, BP-3, and BP-4) on autonom...Background: The optimal breathing pattern (BP) to effectively regulate autonomic nervous activity is yet to be determined. Objective: We aimed to clarify the effects of four BPs (BP-1, BP-2, BP-3, and BP-4) on autonomic nervous activity and mood changes. Methods: Eleven healthy adult female volunteers performed each BP in a sitting position for 5 min in a resting state. The time required for one breathing for BP-1 (30 breaths/min), BP-2 (20 breaths/min), BP-3 (15 breaths/min), and BP-4 (10 breaths/min) were 2 s, 3 s, 4 s, and 6 s, respectively. The inspiratory/expiratory time of one breathing was 1 s/1 s, 1 s/2 s, 2 s/2 s, and 2 s/4 s. The high-frequency component (HF) and low-frequency component (LF)/HF ratio during and before (control) performing a BP were calculated from heart rate variability data recorded using the wearable biometric information tracer M-BIT. Three mood changes, which are, “pleasure—unpleasure”, “relaxation—tension”, and “sleepiness—arousal”, in the subjects were assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS) before and after performing a BP. Results: Slower breathing induced an increase in HF power and a reduction in LF/HF ratio, indicating increased parasympathetic activity and decreased sympathetic dominance. Furthermore, VAS revealed that slower breathing increased the tendency to feel “pleasure”, “relaxation”, and “sleepiness”. Conclusion: Our results suggest that slower breathing predominates parasympathetic activity in the autonomic nervous system, resulting in a relaxing effect. This result may help lay the foundation for deriving breathing methods that efficiently regulate an individual’s autonomic activity.展开更多
Behcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that can affect many systems in the body. Cardiac involvement increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality and occurs in 1%-5% of patients with BD. Ventricul...Behcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that can affect many systems in the body. Cardiac involvement increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality and occurs in 1%-5% of patients with BD. Ventricular arrythmias are believed to be the cause of this increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and it is also thought to be related with cardiac autonomic dysfunction. Heart rate turbulence (HRT) is a new predictor of cardiac autonomic activity. HRT is an independent and powerful predictor of mortality. In this study, we investigated the cardiac autonomic activity which can be determined by HRT in patients with BD. Forty patients with BD (20 men, mean age: 40 ± 9 years, range: 27-55 years) were diagnosed according to the International Study Group Criteria (ISGC) and gender and age matched healthy volunteers (20 men, mean age: 39 ± 8 years, range: 26-56 years) were included in this study. All of the participants (patients and controls) underwent 24 hours Holter electrocardiogram. HRT parameters, turbulence onset (TO) and turbulence slope (TS) were calculated with HRT (View Version 0.60-0.1 of Software Program). There were no significant differences in TO and TS values between patients with BD and control subject (TO-BD: 0.014 ± 0.03, TO-Control: 0.011 ± 0.04;TS-BD: 7.88 ± 4.9, TS-Control: 9.42 ± 6.7 respectively). Although increased cardiovascular mortality rates in BD have been shown in many studies, HRT values—detecting the risk of sudden death—do not seem to be altered in this disease.展开更多
Coronary artery spasm （CAS） is one of the leading pathological causes of a wide spectrum of ischemic heart diseases, ranging from variant angina pectoris to acute myocardial infarction and even sudden cardiac death[...Coronary artery spasm （CAS） is one of the leading pathological causes of a wide spectrum of ischemic heart diseases, ranging from variant angina pectoris to acute myocardial infarction and even sudden cardiac death[1]. Furthermore, Pierron et al. concluded that CAS of angiographically normal or sub-normal arteries is responsible for death or myocardial infarction in 11.6% of all cases. Oddly, the incidence of CAS is remarkably higher in Asians than in Caucasians[3], suggesting genetic involvement In its pathogenesis.展开更多
基金supported by research grants to VJT from the National Institutes of Health(R01 NS085426)the Department of Defense(W81XWH-14-1-060)
文摘Both sensorimotor and autonomic dysfunctions often occur after spinal cord injury（SCI）. Particularly, a high thoracic or cervical SCI interrupts supraspinal vasomotor pathways and results in disordered hemodynamics due to deregulated sympathetic outflow. As a result of the reduced sympathetic activity, patients with SCI may experience hypotension, cardiac dysrhythmias, and hypothermia post-injury. In the chronic phase, changes within the CNS and blood vessels lead to orthostatic hypotension and life-threatening autonomic dysreflexia（AD）. AD is characterized by an episodic, massive sympathetic discharge that causes severe hypertension associated with bradycardia. The syndrome is often triggered by unpleasant visceral or sensory stimuli below the injury level. Currently the only treatments are palliative - once a stimulus elicits AD, pharmacological vasodilators are administered to help reduce the spike in arterial blood pressure. However, a more effective means would be to mitigate AD development by attenuating contributing mechanisms, such as the reorganization of intraspinal circuits below the level of injury. A better understanding of the neuropathophysiology underlying cardiovascular dysfunction after SCI is essential to better develop novel therapeutic approaches to restore hemodynamic performance.
文摘Background: Women are thought to be more susceptible to stress than men in a stressful society, and reducing stress is crucial for women to maintain their health. Static stretching (SST) is applied in various fields to not only increase muscle flexibility but also reduce stress. Additionally, conscious slower breathing (CSB) predominates parasympathetic activity, causing a relaxing effect. These results indicate that combining SST and CSB may be more useful in reducing stress. However, to the best of our knowledge, the effect of this combination remains unclear. Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the effects of the combination of SST and CSB on autonomic activity and stress in adult women. Methods: Eleven healthy Japanese adult female participants performed SST with nonconscious natural breathing for 20 min. The same participants performed SST in combination with CSB (2 s inspiratory and 4 s expiratory) for 20 min on another day. Salivary cortisol and chromogranin A levels were measured before and after stretching as stress markers of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system. The coefficient of variation of the R-R interval (CVR-R) and high-frequency component (HF), which reflect parasympathetic nerve activity, and heart rate and low-frequency component (LF)/HF ratio, which reflect sympathetic nerve activity, were measured before, during, and after stretching. Results: SST decreased cortisol levels but with no significant changes in chromogranin A, heart rate, CVR-R, HF, or LF/HF ratio. The combination of SST and CSB increased CVR-R and HF levels in addition to decreasing cortisol levels but with no significant changes in chromogranin A, heart rate, or LF/HF levels. Conclusion: These results indicate that the combination of SST and CSB may increase parasympathetic activity and reduce stress. However, future randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes should support this conclusion.
文摘<b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Background and Aim:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common medical disorder that may be severe enough to impair the quality of life. This study aimed to assess the role of each of dietary, psychiatric, autonomic, and microbiology</span><span style="font-family:""> </span><span style="font-family:""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">background and their interactions in Egyptian patients with IBS. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Patients and Methods:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> Forty adult patients diagnosed with IBS, equally divided into 2 groups the diarrhea predominant and the constipation predominant, were recruited from the Endoscopy Unit. Dietary assessment was done by monthly food frequency questionnaire. Psychiatric assessment was done by both the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-90). Microbiologic evaluation was done by faecal cultures and neurophysiologic autonomic evaluation was done via the sympathetic skin response and the parasympathetic R-R interval variation. Another 20 healthy subjects were included as control group. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Results:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> All IBS patients were young, with significant female predominance (P</span></span><span style="font-family:""> </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">=</span><span style="font-family:""> </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">0.007), particularly in IBS-C group (20/20;100%, P</span><span style="font-family:""> </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">=</span><span style="font-family:""> </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">0.003). Psychologically, abnormal scores of neuroticism, extraversion and criminality, and depression, obsessive compulsion, somatization, sensitivity and anxiety in both IBS groups with particularly extraversion, criminality and depression were significantly higher in constipation subtype. Microb
文摘Background: The optimal breathing pattern (BP) to effectively regulate autonomic nervous activity is yet to be determined. Objective: We aimed to clarify the effects of four BPs (BP-1, BP-2, BP-3, and BP-4) on autonomic nervous activity and mood changes. Methods: Eleven healthy adult female volunteers performed each BP in a sitting position for 5 min in a resting state. The time required for one breathing for BP-1 (30 breaths/min), BP-2 (20 breaths/min), BP-3 (15 breaths/min), and BP-4 (10 breaths/min) were 2 s, 3 s, 4 s, and 6 s, respectively. The inspiratory/expiratory time of one breathing was 1 s/1 s, 1 s/2 s, 2 s/2 s, and 2 s/4 s. The high-frequency component (HF) and low-frequency component (LF)/HF ratio during and before (control) performing a BP were calculated from heart rate variability data recorded using the wearable biometric information tracer M-BIT. Three mood changes, which are, “pleasure—unpleasure”, “relaxation—tension”, and “sleepiness—arousal”, in the subjects were assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS) before and after performing a BP. Results: Slower breathing induced an increase in HF power and a reduction in LF/HF ratio, indicating increased parasympathetic activity and decreased sympathetic dominance. Furthermore, VAS revealed that slower breathing increased the tendency to feel “pleasure”, “relaxation”, and “sleepiness”. Conclusion: Our results suggest that slower breathing predominates parasympathetic activity in the autonomic nervous system, resulting in a relaxing effect. This result may help lay the foundation for deriving breathing methods that efficiently regulate an individual’s autonomic activity.
文摘Behcet’s disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that can affect many systems in the body. Cardiac involvement increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality and occurs in 1%-5% of patients with BD. Ventricular arrythmias are believed to be the cause of this increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and it is also thought to be related with cardiac autonomic dysfunction. Heart rate turbulence (HRT) is a new predictor of cardiac autonomic activity. HRT is an independent and powerful predictor of mortality. In this study, we investigated the cardiac autonomic activity which can be determined by HRT in patients with BD. Forty patients with BD (20 men, mean age: 40 ± 9 years, range: 27-55 years) were diagnosed according to the International Study Group Criteria (ISGC) and gender and age matched healthy volunteers (20 men, mean age: 39 ± 8 years, range: 26-56 years) were included in this study. All of the participants (patients and controls) underwent 24 hours Holter electrocardiogram. HRT parameters, turbulence onset (TO) and turbulence slope (TS) were calculated with HRT (View Version 0.60-0.1 of Software Program). There were no significant differences in TO and TS values between patients with BD and control subject (TO-BD: 0.014 ± 0.03, TO-Control: 0.011 ± 0.04;TS-BD: 7.88 ± 4.9, TS-Control: 9.42 ± 6.7 respectively). Although increased cardiovascular mortality rates in BD have been shown in many studies, HRT values—detecting the risk of sudden death—do not seem to be altered in this disease.
基金supported by fund from Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (No. 9251001002000002)
文摘Coronary artery spasm （CAS） is one of the leading pathological causes of a wide spectrum of ischemic heart diseases, ranging from variant angina pectoris to acute myocardial infarction and even sudden cardiac death[1]. Furthermore, Pierron et al. concluded that CAS of angiographically normal or sub-normal arteries is responsible for death or myocardial infarction in 11.6% of all cases. Oddly, the incidence of CAS is remarkably higher in Asians than in Caucasians[3], suggesting genetic involvement In its pathogenesis.
