Assessment of Parasympathetic Cardiovascular Activity in Primary Open Angle Glaucoma

PurposeTo describe the pattern of quantitative parasympathetic cardiovascular autonomic function among patients with normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) and high-tension primary open-angle glaucoma (HTG) patients. MethodologyThis was cross-sectional study of ninety-two subjects enrolled into three groups: HTG (31 patients), NTG (31 patients) and Control (30 patients). All the participants had anthropometric assessment, ophthalmic examination, baseline cardiovascular examination and the three parasympathetic components of Ewing’s battery of autonomic cardiovascular function tests namely heart rate (HR) response to deep breathing, HR response to Valsalva manoeuvre and HR response to standing.ResultThe baseline PR intervals were significantly prolonged in HTG (0.18 ± 0.03 sec) and NTG (0.18 ± 0.04 sec) groups compared with control (0.15 ± 0.03sec) (p = 0.008). The HTG group had a significantly longer mean RR interval (1.09 ± 0.17 sec) than the NTG group (1.03 ± 0.20 sec) and control (0.97 ± 0.17 sec) during the expiratory phase of the HR response to deep breathing test (p = 0.037). The HTG group also had significantly longer mean RR intervals around the 15th beat (p = 0.033) and 30th beats (p = 0.202) post-standing during the HR response to standing test. The HR response to Valsalva manoeuvre test showed a significantly higher mean Valsalva ratio in the NTG group (1.65 ± 0.48) compared to the HTG group (1.45 ± 0.31) and control (1.43 ± 0.25) (p = 0.034).ConclusionThis study demonstrated that normal-tension and high-tension primary open-angle glaucoma have higher parasympathetic cardiovascular activity than normal individuals.

Pharmacological Activities of Celastrus paniculatus Willd.: A Review

Current review includes medicinal importance and various pharmacological activities of Celastrus paniculatus Willd. Celastrus paniculatus Willd. belongs to Celastraceae family. It is a plant of medicinal importance and is being used in Ayurveda from a very long time to treat different disorders mainly brain related disoders. It is also known as ‘Tree of life’. It is commonly known as Malkangani and Jyothishmati in hindi and sanskrit respectively. Different studies have proved that it has various pharmacological activities which includes neuroprotective activity, rejuvenative activity, cardiovascular activity, analgesic activity, anti-inflammatory activity, antiinfertility activity, antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging activity anti-arthritic activity etc. It has been proved in various studies that Celastrus paniculatus willd. is a potent drug for improving memory and intellect. This manuscript reviews current information on various pharmacological and medicinal activities of Celastrus paniculatus.

Dynamics of changes in cardiorespiratory capabilities among the students of the Faculty of Biology and Chemistry, depending on the season of the year

The scientific article presents the changes in cardiorespiratory parameters among the students of the Chechen Republic in the autumn and spring periods. During the examination of the students’ health, we found that as the air temperature decreases, the physiological state deteriorates (SBP, heart rate, Kerdoe's Vegetative Index increase). With an increase in ambient temperature, VC, respiration rate, Shtange and Genchi’s tests increase; according to adaptation indicators, the adaptive capacity of cardiovascular activity rises.

Risk Assessment of Infection by Airborne Droplets and Aerosols at Different Levels of Cardiovascular Activity

Since end of 2019 the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is threatening humanity. Despite the fact that various scientists across the globe try to shed a light on this new respiratory disease, it is not yet fully understood. Unlike many studies on the geographical spread of the pandemic, including the study of external transmission routes, this work focuses on droplet and aerosol transport and their deposition inside the human airways. For this purpose, a digital replica of the human airways is used and particle transport under various levels of cardiovascular activity in enclosed spaces is studied by means of computational fluid dynamics. The influence of the room size, where the activity takes place, and the aerosol concentration is studied. The contribution aims to assess the risk of various levels of exercising while inhaling infectious pathogens to gain further insights in the deposition behavior of aerosols in the human airways. The size distribution of the expiratory droplets or aerosols plays a crucial role for the disease onset and progression. As the size of the expiratory droplets and aerosols differs for various exhaling scenarios, reported experimental particle size distributions are taken into account when setting up the environmental conditions. To model the aerosol deposition we employ $$\text{OpenFOAM}$$ OpenFOAM by using an Euler-Lagrangian frame including Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes resolved turbulent flow. Within this study, the effects of different exercise levels and thus breathing rates as well as particle size distributions and room sizes are investigated to enable new insights into the local particle deposition in the human airway and virus loads. A general observation can be made that exercising at higher levels of activity is increasing the risk to develop a severe cause of the COVID-19 disease due to the increased aerosolized volume that reaches into the lower airways, thus the knowledge of the inhaled particle dynamics in the human airways at various exercising levels provides valuable information for infection control strategies.

Does Attentional Focus Influence Psychophysiological Responses to an Acute Bout of Exercise? Evidence From an Experimental Study Using a Repeated-Measures Design

Attentional focus during aerobic exercise has been studied in the context of sports performance, injury prevention and affective experience. Previous research suggests that an additional mental task parallel to the physical activity might influence exercise experience and performance. It has been tested if attentional focus influences cardiovascular activity, positive/negative affect, and subjective exertion during a cycling exercise. Data from N = 30 female participants has been collected using a repeated measures design, with the following experimental manipulations: (A) an internal attention focus (i.e., paying attention to force production of the quadriceps muscles), (B) an external attention focus (i.e., paying attention to changes in brightness in the cycling track simulation), and as control conditions, (C) exercise without attention focus (i.e., no specific instruction was given) and (D) no exercise, no attention focus. Subjective affect and subjective exertion were assessed, and changes in cardiovascular activity were recorded via mobile impedance cardiography (ICG) at rest, during and after the exercise, including HR, HRV (RMSSD, HF), PEP, CO, SV, LVET, and RSA. Exercise was associated with adaptations in cardiovascular activity, positive/negative affect, and subjective exertion. However, this did not interact with attentional focus. The original hypothesis could not be supported: instructed attentional focus does not influence affect, exertion, or cardiovascular activity during a cycling exercise. Therefore, attentional focusing during exercise does not appear to put notable additional mental demands on the physically active participant. Nonetheless, impedance cardiography delivered reliable measurements even during the cycling exercise.

Author Correction: The effect of changes in cardiovascular activity on corneal biomechanics and pulsation in rabbits

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.