Search results for " function"
showing 10 items of 9395 documents
Acute effects of coffee on QT interval in healthy subjects
2011
Abstract The coronary endothelial function is recognized to have an important role in the physiology of the diastolic ventricular relaxation, a phase of the heart cycle that influences the electrocardiographic QT interval. Endothelial function is investigated in vivo by flow mediated dilation (FMD) in the brachial artery and has proven to be a strong predictor of both coronary endothelial function and cardiovascular events. It has been reported that coffee acutely induces FMD changes. In particular, the brachial artery FMD seems to decrease after caffeinated coffee (CC) and to increase after decaffeinated coffee (DC) ingestion. Since the cardiovascular effects of coffee are still a debated …
Dose-dependent effects of decaffeinated coffee on endothelial function in healthy subjects
2009
ackground/Objectives: Coffee is known to contain antioxidant substances whose effects may be blunted because of caffeine that may unfavorably affect the cardiovascular system. This study was designed to investigate the acute dose-dependent effects of decaffeinated coffee (DC) on endothelial function measured by the brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD). Subjects/Methods: A total of 15 (8 men and 7 women) healthy nonobese subjects underwent a single-blind, crossover study. Subjects ingested one and two cups of decaffeinated Italian espresso coffee in random order at 5- to 7-day intervals. Results: In the hour following the ingestion of two cups of DC, FMD increased (mean±s.e.m.): 0 mi…
Erectile dysfunction is associated with low total serum testosterone levels and impaired flow-mediated vasodilation in intermediate risk men accordin…
2015
Background: The role erectile dysfunction (ED) coupled with low testosterone levels as early markers of atherosclerosis is not well understood. Objectives: To analyze the relationship between serum testosterone levels with both ED and brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), in a primary prevention sample of men. Methods: We enrolled 802 asymptomatic, intermediate CV risk patients, according to the Framingham Risk Score, aged 40e80 years, who underwent the ultrasound examination of FMD, the evaluation of ED and the assessment of total serum testosterone levels. Results: Testosterone levels correlated both with FMD (r ¼ 0.85; p < 0.0001) and IIEF-5 score (rs ¼ 0.65; p < 0.0001…
Qualitative different memory impairments across frontal lobe subgroups
2006
Recall impairments in patients with lesions to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) have variously been attributed to problems with organisation at encoding, organisation at retrieval and monitoring at retrieval. Neuroimaging and recent theoretical work has associated the left lateral PFC with organisation and strategy production at encoding, and the right lateral PFC with organisation, error detection and monitoring at retrieval. However few lesion studies have been anatomically specific enough to test the direct predictions made by this work. Proactive interference, response to prompting, monitoring and organisational strategies were examined in 34 patients with frontal lobe lesions and 50 healthy…
Brain Function and Upper Limb Outcome in Stroke: A Cross-Sectional fMRI Study
2015
Objective The nature of changes in brain activation related to good recovery of arm function after stroke is still unclear. While the notion that this is a reflection of neuronal plasticity has gained much support, confounding by compensatory strategies cannot be ruled out. We address this issue by comparing brain activity in recovered patients 6 months after stroke with healthy controls. Methods We included 20 patients with upper limb paresis due to ischemic stroke and 15 controls. We measured brain activation during a finger flexion-extension task with functional MRI, and the relationship between brain activation and hand function. Patients exhibited various levels of recovery, but all we…
Quantitative Assessment of Right Ventricular Volumes in Severe Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension using Transthoracic Three-dimensional Ec…
2002
Evaluation of a three-dimensional reconstruction method to show the changes of right ventricular volume and systolic function when patients undergo pulmonary thromboendarterectomy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.In the examination of 11 patients (four female, seven male; age 56+/-10 years) before and after pulmonary thromboendarterectomy, end-diastolic and end-systolic right ventricular volumes were determined as a sum total of the calculated volumes of derived parallel slices of the right ventricle. Using a Tomtec workstation and a Vingmed CFM 800 echocardiography device, the acquired data were ECG-and respiration-triggered in the course of transthoracic examination, usin…
Left ventricular diastolic filling alterations in subjects with mitral valve prolapse: A Doppler echocardiographic study
1993
To assess left ventricular diastolic filling in mitral valve prolapse (MVP), we studied 22 patients with idiopathic MVP and 22 healthy controls matched for sex, age, body surface area and heart rate. A two-dimensional, M-mode and Doppler echocardiographic examination was performed to exclude any cardiac abnormalities. The two groups had similar diastolic and systolic left ventricular volumes, left ventricle mass and ejection fraction. Doppler measurements of mitral inflow were: E and A areas (the components of the total flow velocity-time integral in the early passive period of ventricular filling, E; and the late active period of atrial emptying, A), the peak E and A velocities (cm.s-1), a…
Lymphocyte beta-adrenergic receptors in young subjects with peripheral or central obesity: relationship with central haemodynamics and left ventricul…
1994
This study was designed to evaluate total (t) and surface (s) β-adrenergic receptor (BAR) density and their relationship with central haemodynamics and left ventricular function in young subjects with central or peripheral obesity. A total of 31 obese subjects (BMI ≥30.5 kg. m−2 for males and >27.3 kg. m−2 for females) aged less than 40 years and without other risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (smoking, hypertension, diabetes and lipid abnormalities) were studied. Nine had peripheral obesity and 22 central obesity according to WHR values; there were 20 lean controls (BMI <25 kg. m−2 for males and <24.7 kg. m−2 for females). Casual (c) and 24 h ambulatory mean blood pressures (MBP-24 …
Artery occlusion independently predicts unfavorable outcome in cervical artery dissection
2020
ObjectiveTo assess the impact of dissected artery occlusion (DAO) on functional outcome and complications in patients with cervical artery dissection (CeAD).MethodsWe analyzed combined individual patient data from 3 multicenter cohorts of consecutive patients with CeAD (the Cervical Artery Dissection and Ischemic Stroke Patients [CADISP]–Plus consortium dataset). Patients with data on DAO and functional outcome were included. We compared patients with DAO to those without DAO. Primary outcome was favorable functional outcome (i.e., modified Rankin Scale [mRS] score 0–1) measured 3–6 months from baseline. Secondary outcomes included delayed cerebral ischemia, major hemorrhage, recurrent CeAD…
The switch from conventional to atypical antipsychotic treatment should not be based exclusively on the presence of cognitive deficits. A pilot study…
2010
Abstract Background Atypical antipsychotics provide better control of the negative and affective symptoms of schizophrenia when compared with conventional neuroleptics; nevertheless, their heightened ability to improve cognitive dysfunction remains a matter of debate. This study aimed to examine the changes in cognition associated with long-term antipsychotic treatment and to evaluate the effect of the type of antipsychotic (conventional versus novel antipsychotic drugs) on cognitive performance over time. Methods In this naturalistic study, we used a comprehensive neuropsychological battery of tests to assess a sample of schizophrenia patients taking either conventional (n = 13) or novel a…