Search results for "Values."
showing 10 items of 1353 documents
Potent bronchoprotective effect of deep inspiration and its absence in asthma
2000
In the absence of deep inspirations, healthy individuals develop bronchoconstriction with methacholine inhalation. One hypothesis is that deep inspiration results in bronchodilation. In this study, we tested an alternative hypothesis, that deep inspiration acts as a bronchoprotector. Single-dose methacholine bronchoprovocations were performed after 20 min of deep breath inhibition, in nine healthy subjects and in eight asthmatics, to establish the dose that reduces forced expiratory volume in 1 s by >15%. The provocation was repeated with two and five deep inspirations preceding methacholine. Additional studies were carried out to assess optimization and reproducibility of the protocol …
Apoptosis-related Proteins in Skeletal Muscle Fibers of Spinal Muscular Atrophy
1997
There is evidence that apoptosis in spinal muscular atrophies (SMA) is not restricted to motor neurons but also affects muscle fibers. Studying the expression of several apoptosis-associated proteins we found constant expression of bax in muscle fibers, which promoted cell death. The expression of bax correlated with defective innervation of muscle fibers was also indicated by upregulation of N-CAM. While in early-onset SMA atrophic as well as normo- and hypertrophic muscle fibers displayed expression of bax, muscle fibers in late-onset SMA and peripheral neuropathies showed bax-expression only in atrophic fibers. Other investigated apoptosis-associated factors comprised interleukin-1 beta …
Early developmental milestones in adult schizophrenia and other psychoses. A 31-year follow-up of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort
2001
Abstract Delayed childhood development may precede adult psychoses. We tested this hypothesis in a large, general population birth cohort (n=12 058) followed to age 31 years. The ages at which individuals learned to stand, walk, speak, and became potty-trained (bowel control) and dry (bladder control), were recorded at a 1-year examination. Psychiatric outcome was ascertained through linkage to a national hospital discharge register. Cumulative incidence of DSM-III-R schizophrenia, other psychoses and non-psychotic disorders were stratified according to the timing of milestones and compared within the cohort using internal standardization. 100 cases of DSM-III-R schizophrenia, 55 other psyc…
Differential pathophysiological mechanisms of reduced P300 amplitude in schizophrenia and depression: a single trial analysis
1997
In order to address basic mechanisms behind a reduced averaged P300 wave in schizophrenia and depression, 17 unmedicated schizophrenic and 11 unmedicated depressive subjects were tested in an 'oddball paradigm' against healthy controls matched for gender and age. The amplitude distributions of single trials' maximum positive deflections after stimulation (P300) for both target and nontarget stimuli were determined, which served as a basis for calculating the discrimination index d'. This index characterizes differences in the electrophysiological responses to target and nontarget stimuli of a subject being engaged in a discrimination task. As a main result d' was significantly lower for sch…
Abnormal motor asymmetry only during bimanual movement in schizophrenic patients compared with healthy subjects.
2003
In schizophrenia, research on motor asymmetry has focused on the direction and the degree of handedness using unimanual motor tests and tasks. However, typically both hands collaborate in the production of most manual movements. This study explored motor asymmetry exhibited during unimanual and bimanual tasks in schizophrenic and healthy subjects using a new experimental motor battery. Specifically, the authors investigated the motor indices of laterality during finger-tapping and hand-turning tasks in four unimanual and four bimanual conditions in 84 schizophrenic and 31 healthy subjects, all right-handed. The schizophrenic patients showed reduced motor asymmetries only during bimanual tap…
High-Resolution Computed Tomographic Evaluation of Airway Distensibility and the Effects of Lung Inflation on Airway Caliber in Healthy Subjects and …
2001
The effects of a deep inspiration (DI) in individuals with asthma differ from those observed in healthy subjects. It has been postulated that the beneficial effect of lung inflation is mediated by airway stretch. One hypothesis to explain the defects in the function of lung inflation in asthma is that a DI may be unable to stretch the airways. This may result from attenuation of the tethering forces between the airways and the surrounding parenchyma. In the current study, we used high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) to examine the ability of a DI to distend the airways of subjects with asthma (n = 10) compared with healthy subjects (n = 9) at baseline and after increasing airway tone …
The Lack of the Bronchoprotective and Not the Bronchodilatory Ability of Deep Inspiration Is Associated with Airway Hyperresponsiveness
2001
In healthy subjects, deep inspiration (DI) acts both as a bronchodilator and a bronchoprotector. The latter is impaired in asthmatics. We have now evaluated whether the lack of bronchoprotection is related to bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR), and whether the bronchodilatory effect is also lost in asthmatics. Ten healthy subjects (PC20 > 75 mg/ml), 12 asthmatics with moderate to severe BHR (PC20 < 1 mg/ml), 14 asthmatics with mild to borderline BHR (1 < PC20 < 25 mg/ml), and 10 rhinitics with mild to borderline BHR (1 < PC20 < 25 mg/ml) underwent single-dose methacholine provocations inducing at least 20% reduction in FEV1 after 20 min of DI inhibition. To measure the bronchodilatory effe…
Airway inflammation in nonasthmatic amateur runners
2001
Elite athletes show a high prevalence of symptoms and signs of asthma, but no study has assessed the acute effects of endurance exercise on airway cells in nonasthmatic athletes. We measured exhaled nitric oxide (NO) and collected samples of induced sputum after 3% NaCl aerosol administration for 20 min in nonasthmatic middle-aged amateur runners after the Fourth Palermo International Marathon and 6–9 wk later (habitual training period) at baseline. After the marathon, exhaled NO ( n = 9 subjects) was higher [27 ± 9 parts/billion (ppb)] than at baseline (12 ± 4 ppb; P < 0.0005). Polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) counts in induced sputum were much higher in runners (91.2 ± 3.6% of total…
Cerebral potentials elicited by mechanical stimuli to the human leg: influence of artifacts
1992
Mechanical stimulation with a reflex hammer was applied to the quadriceps muscle tendon of healthy volunteers and patients. The time-locked electrical signals were recorded from the scalp. In all cases, reproducible potentials could be recorded, with latencies in a range of 20 ms to 100 ms. The potentials recorded in patients under complete spinal anesthesia were similar to those derived before the anesthesia. In brain dead patients who showed absence of median nerve or posterior tibial nerve SEP, reproducible potentials after mechanical stimuli could be recorded as well. The results suggest that the hammer taps lead to mechanical shock waves which are propagated along the body producing ti…
Neural and mechanical responses of the triceps surae muscle group after 1 h of repeated fast passive stretches
2004
Experiments were carried out to examine interaction between mechanical changes of the muscletendon unit and reduced reflex sensitivity after repeated and prolonged passive muscle stretching (RPS). There is some evidence that this interaction might be relevant also during active stretch-shortening cycle type of fatigue tasks. The results demonstrated a clear deterioration of voluntarily and electrically induced muscle contractions after RPS. Maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), average electromyographic activities of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, and maximal twitch contraction decreased on average by 13.8, 10.4, 7.6, and 16.8%, respectively. In addition, there was a 14% lengthening …