The effects of paroxetine on rat isolated vas deferens.

The aim of the present study is to evaluate whether paroxetine (a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor) can modify the contractile responses of isolated vas deferens. Some contractile agents, potassium chloride (KCl), adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP), noradrenaline (NA), and electrical field stimulation (EFS) caused contractions both in epididymal and prostatic portions of vas deferens. Paroxetine (PX) in concentrations 10(-7) and 10(-6)M potentiated the contractions to KCl and ATP only in epididymal portion but in higher concentrations (10(-5) and 10(-4)M) inhibited the responses in both portions. NA responses were inhibited by PX in all concentrations used, both in prostatic and epididymal portions. Prazosin (PR), an alpha adrenergic receptor blocking agent, inhibited PX-induced potentiation observed for higher concentrations of KCl. PR also inhibited PX-induced potentiation on the responses to ATP in epididymal portion. Pretreatment with PX (10(-7) to 10(-6)M) increased the contractions to EFS but in 10(-5) and 10(-4)M concentrations inhibited them. Even though the preparations were washed out, the inhibited responses of contractile agents could not be restored. After a washout period for PX, when Bay K 8644 (calcium channel activator) was added to the bath medium, the contractile responses to KCl were partially restored. In calcium-free medium, KCl caused contractions in concentrations higher than 80 mM with lower amplitudes which were not affected by PX. Reserpinization did not change the inhibitory pattern of PX's effect on exogenously applied NA in all concentrations tested. In reserpinized rats, the potentiation caused by PX in exogenously applied ATP responses was not observed. In conclusion, we can say that PX has two different effects: inhibition and potentiation of contractions to various agonists. The inhibitory effect of the drug can be explained by a calcium channel blocking activity. The potentiating effect of the drug is mainly related to its presynaptic action, such as NA re-uptake inhibitory effect.     

The contracting and relaxing responses of human internal mammary artery grafts harvested by two different methods

Perioperative spasm of internal mammary artery is a common experience in coronary artery bypass grafting. Many techniques were described of harvesting the internal mammary artery to prevent vasospasm. We investigated the comparison of the contracting and relaxing responses of human internal mammary artery grafts harvested by two different methods. Patients were divided into two groups depending on the harvesting technique. In the first and second groups arteries were harvested by classical and carbon dioxide insufflation techniques, respectively. In both groups, endothelial function of arteries was assessed by precontracting the rings with phenylephrine (10(-5)M) and dilatating them by cumulative acetylcholine (10(-8) to 10(-5)M) concentrations. Cumulative concentration-response curves for phenylephrine (10(-8) to 10(-4)M), noradrenaline (10(-9) to 10(-4)M), and 5-hydroxytryptamine (10(-9) to 10(-4)M) were obtained in all groups. Endothelial integrity of arteries were histopathologically evaluated. In both groups, acetylcholine caused concentration-dependent relaxations in rings precontracted with phenylephrine (10(-5)M). In arteries harvested by carbon dioxide insufflation technique, acetylcholine caused significantly higher relaxations compared to the rings obtained by classical technique (p<0.05). In all rings of study groups, phenylephrine, noradrenaline and 5-hydroxytryptamine caused concentration-dependent contractions. There was not any significant difference in concentration-dependent responses of these contracting pharmacological agents between the groups. Histopathological evaluation revealed no major arterial damage in both groups. Carbon dioxide insufflation technique does seem not only to protect the integrity of the endothelium and the whole vessel, but also prevent the possible vasospasm of the internal mammary artery segments.     

Associations between Poor Sleep Quality,Obesity, and the Anthropometric Measurements of Women in Turkey

Recent studies have shown that poor sleep quality is significantly associated with obesity. The aim of this study is to examine the association of sleep quality with obesity and specific anthropometric measurements. A total of 105 women aged 20–55 years with no chronic diseases participated in this study. They filled out the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), their anthropometric measurements were taken, and their dietary data were collected with a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). There was no significant relationship between sleep quality and BMI, waist circumference, triceps skinfold thicknesses, body fat ratio (%), and body fat mass (p > .05), but high bread consumption was significantly associated with poor sleep quality (p < .05). The women with poor sleep quality consumed significantly more bread, but not other foods, than the women with good sleep quality. Sleep quality can thus be related to eating habits.     

Effects of Kinesio tape application to trunk isokinetic strength in female participants

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to analyse the effects of KT on trunk strength with respect to different angular speeds when applied to the trunks of healthy women. Forty healthy female participants were randomly distributed into two groups: the placebo group (PG) in which placebo KT was applied and the experimental group (EG). Participants’ trunk concentric flexion and extension muscle strength were measured using an isokinetic dynamometer in two different angular speeds (60°/s ? 180°/s). In both PG and EG groups, there was no significant difference measured immediately after taping at the two angular speed values. In the measurements taken 48 h later, as regards PG trunk flexion, extension muscle strength increased significantly (p = 0.0001) at 60°/sc. angular speed while, for the EG only, the strength of trunk extension muscle increased significantly (p = 0.002). It was observed, that to ensure an increase in strength, waiting for a certain length of time was required. Lower angular speeds and short-term applied KT improved the strength of the trunk extension muscle.     

Targeted vessel reconstruction in non‐contrast‐enhanced steady‐state free precession angiography

Image quality in non‐contrast‐enhanced (NCE) angiograms is often limited by scan time constraints. An effective solution is to undersample angiographic acquisitions and to recover vessel images with penalized reconstructions. However, conventional methods leverage penalty terms with uniform spatial weighting, which typically yield insufficient suppression of aliasing interference and suboptimal blood/background contrast. Here we propose a two‐stage strategy where a tractographic segmentation is employed to auto‐extract vasculature maps from undersampled data. These maps are then used to incur spatially adaptive sparsity penalties on vascular and background regions. In vivo steady‐state free precession angiograms were acquired in the hand, lower leg and foot. Compared with regular non‐adaptive compressed sensing (CS) reconstructions (CS_low), the proposed strategy improves blood/background contrast by 71.3 ± 28.9% in the hand (mean ± s.d. across acceleration factors 1–8), 30.6 ± 11.3% in the lower leg and 28.1 ± 7.0% in the foot (signed‐rank test, P < 0.05 at each acceleration). The proposed targeted reconstruction can relax trade‐offs between image contrast, resolution and scan efficiency without compromising vessel depiction. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Avaliação de Padrões Pressóricos Dipper e Não-Dipper e Qualidade de Vida entre Pacientes com Doença Pulmonar Obstrutiva Crônica

BackgroundNon-dipper blood pressure is defined by less than a 10% reduction in nighttime blood pressure, and it is associated with cardiovascular disease. Inflammation is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and non-dipper blood pressure pattern, and both diseases are associated with lower quality of life.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the effects of non-dipper blood pressure pattern in patients with COPD.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out with 142 patients with COPD. The Saint George Respiratory Questionnaire and the Euro Quality of Life Scale were used to collect data. To understand arterial stiffness, the augmentation index and pulse wave velocity were measured, and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was subsequently performed. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to understand the relationship between different independent variables and blood pressure pattern. P values lower than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.ResultsAs a result, 76.1% (n = 108) of the patients had non-dipper blood pressure pattern. Non-dipper patients had higher C-reactive protein (OR:1.123; 95% CI:1.016;1.242), augmentation index (OR: 1.057; 95% CI: 1.011;1.105) and Saint George Respiratory Questionnaire total score (OR: 1.021; 95% CI: 1.001;1.042) than dipper patients. Also, as the number of people living at home increased, non-dipper blood pressure pattern was found to be more frequent (OR: 1.339; 95% CI: 1.009;1.777).ConclusionNon-dipper blood pressure pattern may increase cardiovascular risk by triggering inflammation and may adversely affect the prognosis of COPD by lowering the disease-related quality of life. (Arq Bras Cardiol. 2020; [online].ahead print, PP.0-0)     

Is there any relationship between adverse pregnancy outcome and first trimester nuchal translucency measurements in normal karyotype fetuses?

Aim: This study aims to research whether there is a relationship between first trimester nuchal translucency (NT) measurements and pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), gestational hypertension (GHT), intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and oligohydramnios.

Method: This study included 225 singleton pregnancies attending Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University Obstetrics and Gynecology clinic for all monitoring and examinations, and gave birth at our clinic between January 2011 and December 2012. Data sources were clinical records and the hospital's automation system, and the study was planned as retrospective cohort. NT measurement was made between 10 weeks 3 days and 13 weeks 6 days gestation. For data analysis, the chi-square, Mann–Whitney U test and Spearman correlation were used.

Results: Of pregnancies, in the study, 5 (2.2%) developed GDM, 6 (2.6%) developed GHT, 2 (0.89%) developed IUGR and 10 (4.4%) developed oligohydramnios. There was no correlation identified between NT measurements and development of GDM, GHT, IUGR and oligohydramnios.

Conclusion: There was no relationship found between first trimester NT measurements and complications that could develop in pregnancy. For the first time in the literature, NT and oligohydramnios were studied and no relationship was observed.