Search results for "FAS"
showing 10 items of 2015 documents
Endothelial function and other biomarkers of cardiovascular risk in frequent consumers of street food.
2012
Summary Background & aims Street food (SF) is defined as out-of-home food consumption, and generally consists of energy dense meals rich in saturated fats, and poor in fibers, vitamins and anti-oxidants. Though SF consumption may have unfavorable metabolic and cardiovascular effects, its possible association with endothelial function has not been considered. Methods Participants were recruited among those who took part in a previous study of ours, done in Palermo, Italy, which investigated the association between consumption of SF and health in 1002 people. In that study, a score of SF consumption was obtained by categorizing each of ten foods consumed less than or more than once a month (0…
Effects of enzyme replacement therapy on growth in patients with mucopolysaccharidosis type II
2010
Mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II; Hunter syndrome) is an X-linked, recessive, lysosomal storage disorder caused by deficiency of iduronate-2-sulfatase. It has multisystemic involvement, with manifestations in the brain, upper respiratory tract, heart, abdomen, joints and bones. Bone involvement leads to decreased growth velocity and short stature in nearly all patients. A therapeutic option for patients with MPS II is enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with idursulfase (Elaprase®). We compared annual growth rates before and during ERT in 18 patients from Mainz, Germany, and Manchester, UK. Group 1 included nine patients who started ERT before 10 years of age; group 2 contained nine patie…
Neural correlates of disturbed perception of verticality.
2012
Objective: Perception of verticality can be perturbed after cortical stroke. However, a relationship between lesion location and pathologic perception of verticality is still a matter of debate since previous studies revealed contradictory results. Thus, the aim of the current study was to test whether specific cortical lesions were associated with tilts of subjective visual vertical (SVV) and to determine the critical brain areas that cause such tilts in the case of a lesion. Methods: SVV was systematically studied in 54 patients (22 patients with left-sided and 32 patients with right-sided lesions) with acute unilateral strokes, analyzed by modern voxel-wise lesion-behavior mapping techni…
Epidemiology of depressive disorders in people living with hypertension in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis
2020
ObjectivesBetter knowledge of epidemiology of depressive disorders in people living with hypertension can help to implement pertinent strategies to address its burden. The objective was to estimate the prevalence of depressive disorders and symptoms in people living with hypertension in Africa.DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis.Data sourcesPubMed, EMBASE, African Index Medicus, African Journals OnLine were searched up to 31 January 2020, regardless of the language of publication.Eligibility criteriaWe included studies conducted among adult patients with hypertension (≥18 years) living in Africa and reporting the prevalence of depressive disorders and symptoms.Data extraction and synt…
Low-intensity exercise stimulates bioenergetics and increases fat oxidation in mitochondria of blood mononuclear cells from sedentary adults.
2020
Aim Exercise training induces adaptations in muscle and other tissue mitochondrial metabolism, dynamics, and oxidative phosphorylation capacity. Mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation was shown to be pivotal for the anti‐inflammatory status of immune cells. We hypothesize that exercise training can exert effects influence mitochondrial fatty acid metabolism in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The aim was to investigate the effect of exercise on the fatty acid oxidation‐dependent respiration in PBMCs. Design Twelve fasted or fed volunteers first performed incremental‐load exercise tests to exhaustion on a cycle ergometer to determine the optimal workload ensuring maximal health benefi…
Long term structural effects of combination therapy in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis: five year follow up of a prospective double blind co…
2003
Objective: To evaluate whether early combined therapy with methotrexate (MTX) and sulfasalazine (SSZ) during the first year in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) induces long term beneficial effects, compared with monotherapy, when the further treatment strategy is a free choice. Methods: Study design: five year multicentre prospective longitudinal trial. Participants: 146/205 patients with RA previously included in a one year prospective randomised trial comparing the effects of treatment with MTX, SSZ, or a combination of both. Criteria for inclusion: patients with early RA (⩽1 year duration). Follow up: between the end of years 1 and 5, patients were followed up and treated by their own rhe…
Conditioning hops increase triceps surae muscle force and Achilles tendon strain energy in the stretch-shortening cycle
2018
Postactivation potentiation can improve athletic performance, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. This study investigated the effect of conditioning hops on triceps surae muscle force and tendon strain and its contribution to potentiated stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) performance. Thirty-two subjects participated in two experiments. In both experiments, subjects performed three drop jumps (DJs) after prior conditioning with 10 maximal hops, three unconditioned DJs served as control. Ground reaction forces, kinematics, and triceps surae electromyographic activity were recorded. Ultrasound imaging was used to determine fascicle lengths (FASC) of the gastrocnemius (GM) and sol…
Mechanical and neural function of triceps surae in elite racewalking
2016
Racewalking is a unique event combining mechanical elements of walking with speeds associated with running. It is currently unclear how racewalking technique impacts upon lower limb muscle-tendon function, despite the relevance of this to muscle economy and overall performance. The present study examined triceps surae neuromechanics in 11 internationally competitive racewalkers (age 25±11 years) walking and running on a treadmill at speeds between 4.5 - 13.8 km/h whilst triceps surae fascicle lengths, electromyography and kinematic data were recorded. Cumulative muscle activity required to traverse a unit distance (CMAPD) was calculated for each muscle. Medial gastrocnemius (MG) and soleus …
Key issues in decomposing fMRI during naturalistic and continuous music experience with independent component analysis
2014
Background: Independent component analysis (ICA) has been often used to decompose fMRI data mostly for the resting-state, block and event-related designs due to its outstanding advantage. For fMRI data during free-listening experiences, only a few exploratory studies applied ICA.New method: For processing the fMRI data elicited by 512-s modern tango, a FFT based band-pass filter was used to further pre-process the fMRI data to remove sources of no interest and noise. Then, a fast model order selection method was applied to estimate the number of sources. Next, both individual ICA and group ICA were performed. Subsequently, ICA components whose temporal courses were significantly correlated …
Postactivation potentiation can counteract declines in force and power that occur after stretching.
2016
Stretching can decrease a muscle's maximal force, whereas short but intense muscle contractions can increase it. We hypothesized that when combined, postactivation potentiation induced by reactive jumps would counteract stretch-induced decrements in drop jump (DJ) performance. Moreover, we measured changes in muscle twitch forces and ankle joint stiffness (KAnkle ) to examine underlying mechanisms. Twenty subjects completed three DJs and 10 electrically evoked muscle twitches of the triceps surae subsequent to four different conditioning activities and control. The conditioning activities were 10 hops, 20s of static stretching of the triceps surae muscle, 20s of stretching followed by 10 ho…