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Biomedical subjects

Y Cassuto

Publications and source records attributed to Y Cassuto.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Autonomic dysfunction in patients with fibromyalgia: application of power spectral analysis of heart rate variability.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the interaction between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FM), using power spectrum analysis (PSA) of heart rate variability (HRV). In addition, we explored the association between HRV, measures of tenderness, FM symptoms, physical function, psychological well being and quality of life. METHODS: We studied 22 women with FM and 22 age-matched healthy women. Twenty-minute electrocardiogram recordings were obtained in a supine position during complete rest. Spectral analysis of R-R intervals was done by the fast-Fourier transform algorithm. RESULTS: Heart rate was significantly higher in FM patients compared with controls (P < .006). FM patients had significantly lower HRV compared with controls (P= .001), and higher low-frequency (LF) and lower high-frequency (HF) components of PSA than controls (P < .001). Quality of life, physical function, anxiety, depression, and perceived stress were moderately to highly correlated with LF, HF (in normalized units), and LF/HF. No association was observed between HRV parameters and measures of tenderness and FM symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The basal autonomic state of patients with FM is characterized by increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic tones. Autonomic dysregulation may have implications regarding the symptomatology, physical and psychological aspects of health status.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1999

Heart rate variability in the neonate and infant: analytical methods, physiological and clinical observations.

Naturally occurring oscillations in heart rate have long been considered to reflect the modulating influences of the autonomic nervous system. Individual reports of heart rate variability in healthy and sick neonates and infants have provided valuable information as to pathophysiological changes in autonomic cardiovascular control. It is evident that prematurity and poor health are reflected in attenuated heart rate variability. However, at present, there are few standard criteria for the analysis of heart rate variability, preventing precise comparisons among the various studies. Until recommendations for standardized analytical methods are made, clinical application of heart rate variability in neonatal and infant prognosis and therapy remains premature.

Asphyxia Neonatorum↗
PubMed1998

Analysis of heart rate variability in posttraumatic stress disorder patients in response to a trauma-related reminder.

BACKGROUND: Spectral analysis of heart rate variability has recently been shown to be a reliable noninvasive test for quantitative assessment of cardiovascular autonomic regulatory responses, providing a dynamic map of sympathetic and parasympathetic interaction. In a prior study exploring the state of hyperarousal characterizing the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) syndrome, the authors described standardized heart rate analysis carried out in 9 PTSD patients at rest, which demonstrated clear-cut evidence of a baseline autonomic hyperarousal state. METHODS: To examine the dynamics of this hyperarousal state, standardized heart rate analysis was carried out in 9 PTSD patients compared to a matched control group of 9 healthy volunteers. Twenty-minute recordings of electrocardiogram in response to a trauma-related cue as opposed to a resting state were performed and analyzed. The PTSD patients were asked to recount the presumed triggering traumatic event, and the control subjects recounted a significant stressful negative life event. RESULTS: Our results show that, whereas the control subjects demonstrated significant autonomic responses to the stressogenic stimulus supplied by the recounting of a major stressful experience, the PTSD patients demonstrated almost no autonomic response to the recounting of the triggering stressful event. The PTSD patients demonstrated a degree of autonomic dysregulation at rest which was comparable to that seen in the control subjects' reaction to the stress model. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of response to the stress model applied in the study appears to imply that PTSD patients experience so great a degree of autonomic hyperactivation at rest, that they are unable to marshal a further stress response to the recounting of the triggering trauma, as compared to control subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Physical performance and heat tolerance after chronic water loading and heat acclimation.

Heat acclimation (HA) and forced water intake (FWI) have both been found to improve the endurance of human subjects working in hot environments. Therefore, we studied the interaction between HA and FWI. Prior to any treatment (control, AI and BI) the subjects (n = 9) underwent a heat tolerance (HT) test. Thereafter, they were divided into two groups. The first (n = 5) were heat-acclimated (AII), underwent a second HT test, doubled their normal daily water intake for 1 week (AIII), and underwent a third HT test; the second group (n = 4) were subjected to the same protocol, except that the FWI came before and during HA (BII). It was found that both regimens (phases AII and BII) significantly increased work duration. Although the results of the two methods were similar, their combination somewhat lengthened work tolerance time (phases AIII, BIII). Maximal oxygen uptake did not change after HA (BII) or FWI (AII), but the maximal values were attained at significantly lower heart rates, both after BII alone or combined with HA (BIII). In an additional experiment, the time needed to "ride" 15 km on a bicycle ergometer was reduced by 10% after FWI as compared to control time.

Acclimatization↗
PubMed1994

Cardiorespiratory response to lower body negative pressure.

The cardiovascular effects of supine lower body negative pressure (LBNP, 0 mm Hg, -8 mm Hg, -15 mm Hg, -25 mm Hg, -35 mm Hg, and -45 mm Hg) were studied in humans (n = 10). The LBNP's were applied in a random order (three per session) for 20 min, with 15 min between each LBNP. Leg blood flow, cardiac output (Q), stroke volume (SV) and estimated lung blood volume were significantly reduced at -15 mm Hg. Increasing LBNP to -35 mm Hg did not result in further changes. When the LBNP was increased to -45 mm Hg, Q and SV were lower than comparable values at -15 mm Hg. Heart rate was unchanged up to -25 mm Hg, after which it increased proportionally to the LBNP. Systolic blood pressure was maintained throughout. Diastolic blood pressure was unchanged below -45 mm Hg, but was significantly elevated at -45 mm Hg. Mean arterial pressure was maintained up to LBNP's of -35 mm Hg by increased vascular resistance, in spite of reduced thoracic blood volume, as indicated by reduced central venous pressure and Q. Greater levels of LBNP were outside the physiological adjustment range and blood pressure dropped progressively.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Improved thermoregulation caused by forced water intake in human desert dwellers.

Residents of the Negev desert in Israel sustain a mild state of dehydration. Low, concentrated urine outputs, high incidence of kidney diseases and high hematocrit ratios characterize this population. Educational programs to increase the awareness of the population to the dangers of dehydration have undoubtedly failed. It was our purpose to see whether forced increased drinking will affect the above variables. Ten healthy subjects were asked to double their normal voluntary water intake without (phase II) and with salt supplements (50 mM NaCl, 20 mM KCl) (phase III), for one week. After phases II and III significant increases in body masses, decreased concentrations of serum proteins, hemoglobin, hematocrit ratios and serum osmolalities were found. No significant changes were found in the concentrations of sodium and potassium in the serum. At the end of each phase, the subjects were asked to exercise on a bicycle ergometer for 60 min at 50% VO2max in a heated chamber at 45 degrees C, and 30%-50% relative humidity. Experiments were terminated if and when heart-rates exceeded 180 bpm or the rectal temperature increased to 39 degrees C. After both experimental phases, subjects increased their tolerance to heat, extending the exercise periods by 25% and 30%. Compared with their starting levels, hematocrit ratios, serum proteins and hemoglobin concentrations increased in phases II and III while no changes were recorded in the control period (phase I). It is suggested that spontaneous voluntary water drinking in desert dwellers is not enough to achieve a true state of "euhydration".

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Circulatory response to arterial hyperoxia.

We have studied the circulatory response to 100% O2 at 1 and 3 atm, using unanesthetized rabbits in which a systemic artery and the right heart had been cannulated previously. One group of animals served as controls; the other was infused with a flurocarbon emulsion that boosted blood O2 solubility to approximately 5 ml.100 ml-1.atm-1. Exposure to hyperoxia caused an identical sustained rise in arterial PO2 in both groups. O2 uptake was measured during normobaric exposure to 100% O2 and was found to be the same as in control conditions. There was an immediate rise in right heart PO2, more marked in infused animals, but this increase was only temporary, and PO2 dropped, while the right heart-arterial PCO2 difference rose, indicating a gradual fall in cardiac output. This readjustment occurred at a faster rate in the infused animals, a difference that led us to conclude that the peripheral response to hyperoxia is influenced by factors other than arterial PO2. The pronounced decrease in cardiac output seen in infused rabbits was accompanied by lactic acidosis, implying that some of the animals' tissues were becoming hypoxic in the presence of arterial hyperoxia.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Lipolysis in brown adipose tissue of cold- and heat-acclimated hamsters.

Rates of release of free fatty acids (FFA) and glycerol to the incubation medium by brown adipose tissue (BAT) slices isolated from heat-acclimated (H), cold-acclimated (C), and control (N) hamsters in the absence or presence of epinephrine (E) were studied. Rates of FFA and glycerol release by tissue slices isolated from H and N animals were similar. In tissue slices isolated from C animals rate of release of FFA and glycerol was three times as high. Addition of E to the incubation medium (200 microgram/ml) had no effect on the rate of FFA and glycerol release of slices from C animals, but tripled the rates of slices from N, resulting in similar values for the two groups. In slices from H animals the rate of release was lower than in the other two groups, increasing only 1.5-fold. Pretreatment of N animals with triiodothyronine (T3; 0.8 microgram/100 g daily for 7 days) doubled the rates of FFA and glycerol release. Addition of E to the medium affected both pretreated and nontreated slices similarly. Two possible mechanisms by which temperature acclimation controls the lipolytic rate of BAT are suggested by 1) the concentration of specific enzymes and 2) cellular metabolites and hormones which activate existing systems. It seems that both operate in temperature-acclimated hamsters.

Acclimatization↗
PubMed1976

Metabolic adaptations in brown adipose tissue of the hamster in extreme ambient temperatures.

Cold acclimation caused the following changes in the brown adipose tissue (BAT) of the hamster: the relative weight of the tissue increased, it color darkened, the multilocular structure predominated, and tissue protein content increased while fat content decreased. There was also an increase in the mitochondrial protein content. Heat acclimation had the opposite effects, i.e., the color became lighter, total and mitochondrial protein decreased, fat content increased, and tissue structure was mostly unilocular. Accordingly, cold acclimation was accompanied by increased tissue respiration in the presence of chi-glycerophosphate (chi-GP) and succinate, whereas heat acclimation reduced the respiratory activity of the tissue with these substrates. Isolated BAT mitochondria from cold-acclimated animals increased activities of chi-GP and NADH oxidase, whereas the activities of succinic and cytochrome oxidases and the amount of mitochondrial cytochromes were unchanged. The effects of heat acclimation were more pronounced: there was a decrease in the activities of chi-GP, succinic, NADH, and cytochrome oxidases, as well as in the cytochrome a and a3 content. When respiration of tissue slices on succinate was compared to the maximal potential respiration, as measured with mitochondria disrupted by freezing and thawing, it was found that the relative activity (slices vs. disrupted mitochondria) was highest in cold-acclimated animals and decreased progressively with increasing acclimation temperatures. It is suggested that the differences in the apparent activity of the mitochondria were due to changes in the conformation of the mitochondria as a result of acclimation.

Acclimatization↗
PubMed1976

Metabolic activity of brown adipose tissue in T3-treated hamsters.

Triiodothyronine (T3) treatment induced marked hypertrophy of the brown adipose tissue (BAT), similar to that observed in cold-acclimated animals, although partly due to fat deposition. Similar to cold acclimation, T3 treatment also increased the oxidation of succinate by tissue slices without concomitant increase in isolated mitochondria. It is therefore suggested that thyroid hormones, like cold acclimation, effect conformational changes in the mitochondria, leading to greater expression of the succinic oxidase in the tissue. T3 treatment was not followed by any change in the respiratory activity of tissue slices in the presence of alpha-GP. Likewise, no change was found either in other oxidative activities tested in isolated mitochondria (e.g., NADH and cytochrome oxidases) or in the concentration of the components of the electron transport chain in the mitochondria.

Adipose Tissue, Brown↗
PubMed1975

Energy metabolism in kidney of heat-acclimated hamsters.

Biochemical pathways which are involved in energy metabolism were examined in the kidney of heat-acclimated hamsters. It was found that heat acclimation caused 47% reduction in glucose-6-phosphatase (G1c-6-Pase) activity and 40% lower rate of gluconeogenesis. No changes were found in the activity of hexokinase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, pyruvate kinase, lactic dehydrogenase, or in kidney glycogen content. Isolated kidney mitochondria of heat-acclimated hamsters utilized 15% less oxygen than that of controls, but no differences were found in the P/O ratio. Determination of the content of some cytochromes showed a significant reduction in cytochromes c + c1, but no difference was found in the content of cytochromes a, a3, and b. These results suggest that the kidney plays a role in the reduction of energy metabolism during the process of heat acclimation.

Acclimatization↗