The impact of physical exercise on neuromuscular function in Myasthenia gravis patients

Background: Menopause is associated with negative cardiovascular adaptations related to estrogen depletion, which could be counteracted by physical exercise (PhE). However, the impact of total adherence-rate (TA) to PhE and sedentary time (SedT) on cardiometabolic profile in this population has not been elucidated. Methods: For 13-weeks, 43 women (57.1 ± 4.7 years) participated in a 4-days-a-week moderate-intensity walking training. They underwent laboratory, anthropometric and echocardiographic assessment, before and after training (T0–T1). Spontaneous physical activity (PhA) was assessed with a portable multisensory device. The sample was divided according to TA to PhE program: <70% (n = 17) and ≥70% (n = 26). Results: TA ≥ 70% group experienced a significant T1 improvement of relative wall thickness (RWT), diastolic function, VO2max, cortisol, cortisol/dehydroandrostenedione-sulphate ratio and serum glucose. After adjusting for SedT and 10-min bouts of spontaneous moderate-to-vigorous PhA, TA ≥ 70% showed the most significant absolute change of RWT and diastolic function, body mass index, weight and cortisol. TA ≥ 70% was major predictor of RWT and cortisol improvement. Conclusions: In a group of untrained, postmenopausal women, a high TA to a 13-weeks aerobic PhE program confers a better improvement in cardiometabolic profile, regardless of SedT and PhA levels.

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Absence of Association between Previous Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection and Subsequent Myasthenia Gravis: A Nationwide Population-Based Matched Cohort Study

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18147677 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (14) ◽

pp. 7677

Author(s):

Kuan Chen ◽

James Cheng-Chung Wei ◽

Hei-Tung Yip ◽

Mei-Chia Chou ◽

Renin Chang

Keyword(s):

Cohort Study ◽

Myasthenia Gravis ◽

Mycoplasma Pneumoniae ◽

Pathogenic Bacteria ◽

Case Reports ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Subsequent Development ◽

Population Based ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

The Impact

Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is not only one of the most common pathogenic bacteria for respiratory infection but also a trigger for many autoimmune diseases. Its infection process shared many similarities with the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis (MG) at cellular and cytokine levels. Recent case reports demonstrated patients present with MG after M. pneumoniae infection. However, no epidemiological studies ever looked into the association between the two. Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between M. pneumoniae infection and subsequent development of MG. In this population-based retrospective cohort study, the risk of MG was analyzed in patients who were newly diagnosed with M. pneumoniae infection between 2000 and 2013. A total of 2428 M. pneumoniae patients were included and matched with the non-M. pneumoniae control cohort at a 1:4 ratio by age, sex, and index date. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was applied to analyze the risk of MG development after adjusting for sex, age, and comorbidities, with hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals. The incidence rates of MG in the non-M. pneumoniae and M. pneumoniae cohorts were 0.96 and 1.97 per 10,000 person-years, respectively. Another case–control study of patients with MG (n = 515) was conducted to analyze the impact of M. pneumoniae on MG occurrence as a sensitivity analysis. The analysis yielded consistent absence of a link between M. pneumoniae and MG. Although previous studies have reported that M. pneumoniae infection and MG may share associated immunologic pathways, we found no statistical significance between M. pneumoniae infection and subsequent development of MG in this study.

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The impact of physical exercise on the fatigue symptoms in patients with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BMC Neurology ◽

10.1186/s12883-020-01654-y ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Nazanin Razazian ◽

Mohsen Kazeminia ◽

Hossein Moayedi ◽

Alireza Daneshkhah ◽

Shamarina Shohaimi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Physical Exercise ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

The Impact

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Enhancing Patient Motivation through Intelligibility in Cardiac Tele-rehabilitation

Interacting with Computers ◽

10.1093/iwc/iwz008 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 122-137

Author(s):

Supraja Sankaran ◽

Kris Luyten ◽

Dominique Hansen ◽

Paul Dendale ◽

Karin Coninx

Keyword(s):

Medication Adherence ◽

Exercise Training ◽

Physical Exercise ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Cardiac Rehabilitation ◽

Field Studies ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Patient Motivation ◽

Physical Exercise Training ◽

The Impact

Abstract Physical exercise training and medication compliance are primary components of cardiac rehabilitation. When rehabilitating independently at home, patients often fail to comply with their prescribed medication and find it challenging to interpret exercise targets or be aware of the expected efforts. Our work aims to assist cardiac patients in understanding their condition better, promoting medication adherence and motivating them to achieve their exercise targets in a tele-rehabilitation setting. We introduce a patient-centric intelligible visualization approach to present prescribed medication and exercise targets to patients. We assessed efficacy of intelligible visualizations on patients’ comprehension in two lab studies. We evaluated the impact on patient motivation and health outcomes in field studies. Patients were able to adhere to medication prescriptions, manage their physical exercises, monitor their progress and gained better self-awareness on how they achieved their rehabilitation targets. Patients confirmed that the intelligible visualizations motivated them to achieve their targets better. We observed an improvement in overall physical activity levels and health outcomes of patients. Research Highlights Presents challenges currently faced in cardiac tele-rehabilitation. Demonstrates how intelligibility was applied to two core aspects of cardiac rehabilitation- promoting medication adherence and physical exercise training. Lab., field and clinical studies to demonstrate efficacy of intelligible visualization, impact on patient motivation and resultant health outcomes. Reflection on how similar HCI approaches could be leveraged for technology-supported management of critical health conditions such as cardiac diseases.

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3D Kinematics and Decision Trees to Predict the Impact of a Physical Exercise Program on Knee Osteoarthritis Patients

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11020834 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 834

Author(s):

Marwa Mezghani ◽

Nicola Hagemeister ◽

Youssef Ouakrim ◽

Alix Cagnin ◽

Alexandre Fuentes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Exercise ◽

Knee Osteoarthritis ◽

Decision Trees ◽

Exercise Program ◽

Patient Specific ◽

Pain Level ◽

Knee Kinematic ◽

Kinematic Data ◽

3D Kinematics ◽

The Impact

Measuring knee biomechanics provides valuable clinical information for defining patient-specific treatment options, including patient-oriented physical exercise programs. It can be done by a knee kinesiography test measuring the three-dimensional rotation angles (3D kinematics) during walking, thus providing objective knowledge about knee function in dynamic and weight-bearing conditions. The purpose of this study was to assess whether 3D kinematics can be efficiently used to predict the impact of a physical exercise program on the condition of knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients. The prediction was based on 3D knee kinematic data, namely flexion/extension, adduction/abduction and external/internal rotation angles collected during a treadmill walking session at baseline. These measurements are quantifiable information suitable to develop automatic and objective methods for personalized computer-aided treatment systems. The dataset included 221 patients who followed a personalized therapeutic physical exercise program for 6 months and were then assigned to one of two classes, Improved condition (I) and not-Improved condition (nI). A 10% improvement in pain was needed at the 6-month follow-up compared to baseline to be in the improved group. The developed model was able to predict I and nI with 84.4% accuracy for men and 75.5% for women using a decision tree classifier trained with 3D knee kinematic data taken at baseline and a 10-fold validation procedure. The models showed that men with an impaired control of their varus thrust and a higher pain level at baseline, and women with a greater amplitude of internal tibia rotation were more likely to report improvements in their pain level after 6 months of exercises. Results support the effectiveness of decision trees and the relevance of 3D kinematic data to objectively predict knee OA patients’ response to a treatment consisting of a physical exercise program.

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The impact of physical exercise on the occurence of arrhythmias in athletes – recommendations

In a good rythm ◽

10.5604/01.3001.0011.6478 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 (46) ◽

pp. 11-15

Author(s):

Jakub Szwed ◽

Michał Kowara ◽

Marcin Grabowski

Keyword(s):

Physical Exercise ◽

Heart Diseases ◽

Sudden Cardiac Arrest ◽

Endurance Sports ◽

Endurance Sport ◽

Sport Training ◽

Negative Results ◽

Structural Heart Diseases ◽

Long Time ◽

The Impact

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the impact of physical exercise on the development of arrhytmias in athletes. The studies show that this relation exist and concerns endurance sports practiced for a long time. In addition, this article contains review of the most common arrhythmias in athletes and appropriate recommendations. The time of arrhythmias onset depends on the presence of structural heart diseases. If the cardiac disorder is absent the arrhythmias appear at the age 40-50. If the structural heart diseases exist, the arrhythmias occur in young athletes and are more dangerous (can lead to sudden cardiac arrest). The most common arrhythmia in endurance athletes is atrial fibrillation. In order to avoid negative results of endurance sports, such as cardiac arrhythmias, the reliable examinations are necessary, especially to exclude structural cardiac diseases. These examinations should be undertaken before initiation of endurance sport training and routinely later, in course of follow-up.

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