Time-related variation of non-protein sulfhydryl concentrations in rat tissues and human blood

Summary The concentration of non-protein sulfhydryl compounds (NPSH) were measured at various times of the day in rat blood, liver, lung, and kidney as well as in human blood. In each of these cases, there was a significant (p < 0.05) 24 h concentration variation. The variation in rat liver non-protein sulfhydryl concentration, with a maximum around the noon-time period and a minimum around midnight, appeared to be related to food intake. Blood, lung, and kidney concentrations were not similarly related to food intake. No simple, linear correlation could be shown between tissue non-protein sulfhydryl concentration among the four rat tissues. Thus, rat blood NPSH does not predict rat tissue NPSH concentrations. In seven normal human volunteers, four males and three females, significant 24 h variations in blood NPSH concentrations were observed.     

Regional variations of blood pressure in the United States are associated with regional variations in dietary intakes: the NHANES-III data

Compared with other regions in the United States, the southern region has had the highest stroke mortality rate and a more prevalent and resistant hypertension. We designed this analysis of the data obtained from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey III (NHANES-III), which is a community-based cross-sectional survey, to describe regional variations in blood pressure and the reported consumption of nutrients, focusing on those linked to blood pressure, in the United States. We selected the following variables from the NHANES-III data for this analysis: systolic and diastolic blood pressures, protein, carbohydrates, total fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, cholesterol, fiber, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, iron, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, alcohol and vitamins C, E, B-6 and B-12. Of the 17,752 participants in the survey who were 18 y of age or older, the south had the highest systolic and diastolic blood pressures (P < 0.005 for each) and reported the highest consumption of monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol (P < 0.05 for all) and the least amount of fiber in the multivariate analysis (P < 0.005). The highest reported sodium consumption was in the south region (3.4 +/- 0.02 g), and the lowest was in the west (3.2 +/- 0.03 g; P < 0.05). The south also consumed the least potassium, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, copper, riboflavin, niacin, iron and vitamins A, C and B-6 (P < 0.005). There was no difference among the four regions in frequency of "adding salt on the table." The region of the United States that includes the "stroke belt" has dietary patterns that may contribute to the high prevalence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease.     

Influence of postural changes on the variations of blood volume in hemodialysis and reincidence post-dialysis blood volume

The aim of the present work is to study the possible increment of blood volume, in the seated as well as the lying position, and to analyse the influence of changes of posture on the changes of blood volume during the hemodialysis. 17 patients were studied, evaluating the variations of the hematocrit in the extracorporeal circuit on entry into the dialyzer, by means of a photometric system (Crit-Line Instrument, Izasa). Every 15 minutes the values of the hematocrit were taken and heir repercussion in the blood volume in different changes of posture. Initially all of the patients improved their blood volume, both seated and lying down. During the session of hemodialysis and ultrafiltration, with the patient in a seated position, an important drop in the blood volume was noticed; this was the case in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd hours. This drop improved when the patient adopted a lying position and there was a "reincidence of post-dialysis blood volume" at the end. According to these results, the supine posture improves the refill, confirming that the patients position influences the vascular refill.     

Geographic variations in elementary school-based physical activity practices

BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) is associated with health and academic benefits among children, but many schools do not meet national recommendations. This study examined school‐based PA practices in nationally representative samples of public elementary schools, and geographic variations in those practices. METHODS: Mail‐back surveys were used to gather data from 578 public elementary schools during the 2006‐2007 school year and 680 public elementary schools during the 2009‐2010 school year. RESULTS: Nationwide, only 1 in 5 schools met the national recommendation of at least 150 minutes of physical education (PE) per week, although PE was more prevalent in the South. Nearly three‐fourths of schools nationwide met recommendations for 20 or more minutes of recess daily, and this was more prevalent in the Midwest but less so in the South. Approximately 40% of schools offered sports and approximately 40% offered other opportunities for PA during the school day. The only practice that increased over time was formal classroom instruction on PA. CONCLUSIONS: There has been little change in elementary school‐based PA practices nationwide in recent years. With the upcoming renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, policymakers have an important opportunity to promote increased PA in schools.     

Large ethnic variations in recommended physical activity according to activity domains in amsterdam, the netherlands

Purpose

The level of recommended physical activity (PA) is met less frequently by people from some ethnic minorities than others. We explored whether these differences in recommended PA between ethnic minority groups and the general population varied by domain and type of culturally-specific activity.

Methods

Participants were sampled from the population based SUNSET study and were from ethnic Dutch (n = 567), Hindustani-Surinamese (n = 370) and African-Surinamese (n = 689) descent. The validated SQUASH-questionnaire measured PA for the following domains: commuting, occupation, household, leisure time. Culturally-specific activities were added as extra question within the leisure time domain. The effect of each domain on ethnic differences in recommended PA prevalence was examined by odds-ratio (OR) analysis through recalculating recommended PA, while, in turn, excluding the contribution of each domain.

Results

In the ethnic Dutch population, more vigorous PA in commuting and leisure time was reported compared to the Surinamese groups. The Hindustani-Surinamese and African-Surinamese reported more walking as commuting activity, while the Dutch group reported cycling more frequently. Ethnic differences in recommended PA became smaller in both Surinamese groups compared with the Dutch after removing commuting activity, for example, in Hindustani-Surinamese men (OR = 0.92, 95%CI: 0.62-1.37 vs. OR = 1.33, 0.89-2.00) and women (OR = 1.61, 1.12-2.32 vs. OR = 2.03, 1.41-2.92). Removing occupational activity resulted in larger ethnic differences in both groups compared with the Dutch. Smaller effects were found for yoga and dancing, leisure time and household activities.

Conclusion

This study shows that differences in PA between ethnic minority groups and the general population vary according to the activity domain. The results indicate that including all relevant domains and activities is essential for assessment of ethnic differences in recommended PA.     

Geographical variations in blood pressure in British men and women

Geographical variations in blood pressure have been studied using an automatic sphygmomanometer in 2596 men and women aged 25-29, 40-44 and 55-59 living in nine British towns. In males aged 40-59, systolic blood pressure showed a range in age-adjusted town means of 9.0 mmHg (p less than 0.05); in females the difference of 8.6 mmHg was not significant (p = 0.14). Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and diastolic at age 40-59 were significantly different between towns for both sexes. Differences at age 25-29 were of a similar magnitude, and the mean town blood pressures at 25-29 correlated highly with those at 40-59 [systolic; males r = 0.74 (p less than 0.05), females r = 0.65 (p = 0.059)]. The ranking of town blood pressures in an earlier study was reflected in the present study, but stronger associations were observed with cardiovascular mortality. It is concluded that geographical blood pressure variations in Britain are established by age 25-29 years.     

镍作业女工外周血红细胞参数分析

目的了解职业性镍接触对女性外周血红细胞相关参数的影响。方法了解生产车间空气中镍及其化合物的浓度;对150名镍作业女工的外周血进行检测;比较接触组与对照组红细胞计数（RBC）、血红蛋白含量（HGB）、红细胞比积（HCT）、红细胞平均容积（MCV）、红细胞平均血红蛋白量（MCH）、红细胞平均血红蛋白浓度（MCHC）及红细胞体积分布宽度（RDW）之间均数和异常率的差异。结果①各工种镍作业工人的时间加权平均浓度（TWA）值均符合国家职业卫生限值。②接触组HGB、HCT、MCV、MCH、MCHC和RDW与对照组比较,差异均有统计学意义（P〈0.05）;接触组HGB、MCV、MCH和RDW的异常率高于对照组,差异有统计学意义（P〈0.05）。结论镍可导致作业女工的红细胞相关参数发生改变。     

Physiologic outcome of varying speed rotary blood pump support algorithms: a review study

Rotary blood pumps have the potential to become a viable long-term treatment option for the heart failure patients to bridge to transplantation or destination therapy. However, these devices operate at a constant speed which may lead to long term complications or they may operate in an undesired support mode such as excessive pumping in the patients’ body. A possible solution to such physiological problems or using these devices as a destination therapy or maintaining the optimal support level according to changing conditions in the body is applying a varying speed rotary blood pump support. Over the years, different varying operating speed support algorithms have been proposed to alleviate the effect of the constant speed rotary blood pump support and improve the outcome of these devices. In this paper, it is aimed to compile and present proposed varying speed rotary blood pump support algorithms by classifying them according to the considered physiological problem in each study.     

Physiologic adaptation of the thermal manikin

At present time thermal manikins (TM) are used as standard method to determine the thermal quality of clothing. Besides, in the last time TM's apply to estimate indoor climate. Now used types of TM enable quantitative assertions on human convective and conductive heat exchange, as for the whole body as for different parts. The limited factor for this heat flow is the topical value of TM's skin temperature which is regulated by software. As a rule, this temperature is the same like human's skin temperature at thermal comfort conditions. Distal change of skin temperature takes a leading part to determine thermal conditions which are still tolerable regarding human thermoregulation. The influence of this kind of thermal regulation on topical convection and conductive heat exchange was examined by variation of TM's skin temperature on a concrete indoor situation and defined clothing and metabolic conditions.