Correlation between sodium and potassium excretion in 24- and 12-h urine samples

Low-sodium and high-potassium diets have been recommended as an adjunct to prevention and treatment of hypertension. Analysis of these nutrients in 24-h urine has been considered the reference method to estimate daily intake of these minerals. However, 24-h urine collection is difficult in epidemiological studies, since urine must be collected and stored in job environments. Therefore, strategies for shorter durations of urine collection at home have been proposed. We have previously reported that collecting urine during a 12-h period (overnight) is more feasible and that creatinine clearance correlated strongly with that detected in 24-h samples. In the present study, we collected urine for 24 h divided into two 12-h periods (from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm and from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am next day). A sample of 109 apparently healthy volunteers aged 30 to 74 years of both genders working in a University institution was investigated. Subjects with previous myocardial infarction, stroke, renal insufficiency, and pregnant women were not included. Significant (P < 0.001) Spearman correlation coefficients (r s) were found between the total amount of sodium and potassium excreted in the urine collected at night and in the 24-h period (r s = 0.76 and 0.74, respectively). Additionally, the 12-h sodium and potassium excretions (means ± SD, 95% confidence interval) corresponded to 47.3 ± 11.2%, 95%CI = 45.3-49.3, and 39.3 ± 4.6%, 95%CI = 37.3-41.3, respectively, of the 24-h excretion of these ions. Therefore, these findings support the assumption that 12-h urine collected at night can be used as a reliable tool to estimate 24-h intake/excretion of sodium and potassium.

Remodeling in the ischemic heart: the stepwise progression for heart

Abstract Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death in the developed world and in developing countries. Acute mortality from acute myocardial infarction (MI) has decreased in the last decades. However, the incidence of heart failure (HF) in patients with healed infarcted areas is increasing. Therefore, HF prevention is a major challenge to the health system in order to reduce healthcare costs and to provide a better quality of life. Animal models of ischemia and infarction have been essential in providing precise information regarding cardiac remodeling. Several of these changes are maladaptive, and they progressively lead to ventricular dilatation and predispose to the development of arrhythmias, HF and death. These events depend on cell death due to necrosis and apoptosis and on activation of the inflammatory response soon after MI. Systemic and local neurohumoral activation has also been associated with maladaptive cardiac remodeling, predisposing to HF. In this review, we provide a timely description of the cardiovascular alterations that occur after MI at the cellular, neurohumoral and electrical level and discuss the repercussions of these alterations on electrical, mechanical and structural dysfunction of the heart. We also identify several areas where insufficient knowledge limits the adoption of better strategies to prevent HF development in chronically infarcted individuals.

Kinetics of cardiac and vascular remodeling by spontaneously hypertensive rats after discontinuation of long-term captopril treatment

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors reduce blood pressure and attenuate cardiac and vascular remodeling in hypertension. However, the kinetics of remodeling after discontinuation of the long-term use of these drugs are unknown. Our objective was to investigate the temporal changes occurring in blood pressure and vascular structure of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Captopril treatment was started in the pre-hypertensive state. Rats (4 weeks) were assigned to three groups: SHR-Cap (N = 51) treated with captopril (1 g/L) in drinking water from the 4th to the 14th week; SHR-C (N = 48) untreated SHR; Wistar (N = 47) control rats. Subgroups of animals were studied at 2, 4, and 8 weeks after discontinuation of captopril. Direct blood pressure was recorded in freely moving animals after femoral artery catheterism. The animals were then killed to determine left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and the aorta fixed at the same pressure measured in vivo. Captopril prevented hypertension (105 ± 3 vs 136 ± 5 mmHg), LVH (2.17 ± 0.05 vs 2.97 ± 0.14 mg/g body weight) and the increase in cross-sectional area to luminal area ratio of the aorta (0.21 ± 0.01 vs 0.26 ± 0.02 ìm²) (SHR-Cap vs SHR-C). However, these parameters increased progressively after discontinuation of captopril (22nd week: 141 ± 2 mmHg, 2.50 ± 0.06 mg/g, 0.27 ± 0.02 ìm²). Prevention of the development of hypertension in SHR by using captopril during the prehypertensive period prevents the development of cardiac and vascular remodeling. Recovery of these processes follows the kinetic of hypertension development after discontinuation of captopril.

Controle de crestamento bacteriano comum (Xanthomonas axonopodis Ppv. phaseoli) e alterações bioquímicas em feijoeiro induzidas por Pycnoporus sanguineus / Control of bacterial blight (Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. phaseoli) and biochemical analyses of bean resistance treated with Pycnoporus sanguineus extracts

O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar as atividades antibacteriana e indutora de resistência de extratos de Pycnoporus sanguineus para controle do crestamento bacteriano comum, causado por Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. phaseoli, em feijoeiro. In vitro foram utilizados extratos aquosos de basidiocarpo, micélio e filtrado de cultura de P. sanguineus nas concentrações de 1, 5, 10, 15 e 20%, além das testemunhas água, acibenzolar-S-metil (ASM - 125 mg i.a. L-1) e antibiótico (22,5 mg L-1 de oxitetraciclina + 225 mg L-1 de estreptomicina). In vivo foram realizadas avaliações de severidade e atividade de peroxidase, polifenoloxidase, ß-1,3 glucanase e fenilalanina amônia-liase, com o uso de extrato aquoso de micélio e de basidiocarpo e filtrado de cultura de P. sanguineus a 5% e 10%. Verificou-se atividade antibacteriana apenas para o filtrado de cultura em concentrações acima de 15% e para o extrato de basidiocarpo nas concentrações de 1 a 20%. In vivo, os resultados indicaram o potencial de extratos de basidiocarpos de P. sanguineus para o controle de X. axonopodis pv. phaseoli em feijoeiro, com redução média de 56% na severidade, o que pode ter ocorrido tanto por atividade antimicrobiana direta quanto por indução de resistência, envolvendo principalmente a ativação das enzimas de defesa vegetal peroxidase e polifenoloxidase.

The aim of this work was to verify the antimicrobial and resistance induction activities of Pycnoporus sanguineus extracts for the control of common bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. phaseoli. In vitro assays were performed using aqueous extracts from basidiocarp, mycelium and culture filtrate of P. sanguineus in concentrations of 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20%, with water, acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM - 125 mg a.i. L-1) and antibiotic (oxytetracycline 22.5 mg L-1 + streptomycin 225 mg L-1) as control treatments. For the in vivo assays the disease severity and the activities of peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, ß-1,3 glucanase and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase were evaluated using extracts of mycelium, basidiocarp and culture filtrate of P. sanguineus at 5% and 10%. Antibacterial activity was verified only for culture filtrate in concentrations above 15% and for concentrations of 1% to 20% of basidiocarp extract. The results of the in vivo assays indicated the potential of basidiocarps extracts from P. sanguineus for the control of X. axonopodis pv. phaseoli in beans, with an average severity reduction of 56%, which may have been due either to direct antimicrobial activity or to resistance induction involving mainly the activation of the plant defense enzymes peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase.

The decreased oxygen uptake during progressive exercise in ischemia-induced heart failure is due to reduced cardiac output rate

We tested the hypothesis that the inability to increase cardiac output during exercise would explain the decreased rate of oxygen uptake (VO2) in recent onset, ischemia-induced heart failure rats. Nine normal control rats and 6 rats with ischemic heart failure were studied. Myocardial infarction was induced by coronary ligation. VO2 was measured during a ramp protocol test on a treadmill using a metabolic mask. Cardiac output was measured with a flow probe placed around the ascending aorta. Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was higher in ischemic heart failure rats compared with normal control rats (17 ± 0.4 vs 8 ± 0.8 mmHg, P = 0.0001). Resting cardiac index (CI) tended to be lower in ischemic heart failure rats (P = 0.07). Resting heart rate (HR) and stroke volume index (SVI) did not differ significantly between ischemic heart failure rats and normal control rats. Peak VO2 was lower in ischemic heart failure rats (73.72 ± 7.37 vs 109.02 ± 27.87 mL min-1 kg-1, P = 0.005). The VO2 and CI responses during exercise were significantly lower in ischemic heart failure rats than in normal control rats. The temporal response of SVI, but not of HR, was significantly lower in ischemic heart failure rats than in normal control rats. Peak CI, HR, and SVI were lower in ischemic heart failure rats. The reduction in VO2 response during incremental exercise in an ischemic model of heart failure is due to the decreased cardiac output response, largely caused by depressed stroke volume kinetics.

The modulation of simple reaction time by the spatial probability of a visual stimulus

Simple reaction time (SRT) in response to visual stimuli can be influenced by many stimulus features. The speed and accuracy with which observers respond to a visual stimulus may be improved by prior knowledge about the stimulus location, which can be obtained by manipulating the spatial probability of the stimulus. However, when higher spatial probability is achieved by holding constant the stimulus location throughout successive trials, the resulting improvement in performance can also be due to local sensory facilitation caused by the recurrent spatial location of a visual target (position priming). The main objective of the present investigation was to quantitatively evaluate the modulation of SRT by the spatial probability structure of a visual stimulus. In two experiments the volunteers had to respond as quickly as possible to the visual target presented on a computer screen by pressing an optic key with the index finger of the dominant hand. Experiment 1 (N = 14) investigated how SRT changed as a function of both the different levels of spatial probability and the subject's explicit knowledge about the precise probability structure of visual stimulation. We found a gradual decrease in SRT with increasing spatial probability of a visual target regardless of the observer's previous knowledge concerning the spatial probability of the stimulus. Error rates, below 2 percent, were independent of the spatial probability structure of the visual stimulus, suggesting the absence of a speed-accuracy trade-off. Experiment 2 (N = 12) examined whether changes in SRT in response to a spatially recurrent visual target might be accounted for simply by sensory and temporally local facilitation. The findings indicated that the decrease in SRT brought about by a spatially recurrent target was associated with its spatial predictability, and could not be accounted for solely in terms of sensory priming

Modulation of the perception of temporal order by attentional and pre-attentional factors

When two stimuli are presented simultaneously to an observer, the perceived temporal order does not always correspond to the actual one. In three experiments we examined how the location and spatial predictability of visual stimuli modulate the perception of temporal order. Thirty-two participants had to report the temporal order of appearance of two visual stimuli. In Experiment 1, both stimuli were presented at the same eccentricity and no perceptual asynchrony between them was found. In Experiment 2, one stimulus was presented close to the fixation point and the other, peripheral, stimulus was presented in separate blocks in two eccentricities (4.8º and 9.6º). We found that the peripheral stimulus was perceived to be delayed in relation to the central one, with no significant difference between the delays obtained in the two eccentricities. In Experiment 3, using three eccentricities (2.5º, 7.3º and 12.1º) for the presentation of the peripheral stimulus, we compared a condition in which its location was highly predictable with two other conditions in which its location was progressively less predictable. Here, the perception of the peripheral stimulus was also delayed in relation to the central one, with this delay depending on both the eccentricity and predictability of the stimulus. We argue that attentional deployment, manipulated by the spatial predictability of the stimulus, seems to play an important role in the temporal order perception of visual stimuli. Yet, under whichever condition of spatial predictability, basic sensory and attentional processes are unavoidably entangled and both factors must concur to the perception of temporal order

The attentional modulation of the flash-lag effect

If a dot is flashed in perfect alignment with a pair of dots rotating around the visual fixation point, most observers perceive the rotating dots as being ahead of the flashing dot (flash-lag effect). This perceptual effect has been interpreted to result from the perceptual extrapolation of the moving dots, the differential visual latencies between flashing and moving stimuli, as well as the modulation of attentional mechanisms. Here we attempted to uncouple the attentional effects brought about by the spatial predictability of the flashing dot from the sensory effects dependent on its visual eccentricity. The stimulus was a pair of dots rotating clockwise around the fixation point. Another dot was flashed at either the upper right or the lower left of the visual field according to three separate blocked situations: fixed, alternate and random positions. Twenty-four participants had to judge, in all three situations, the location of the rotating dots in relation to the imaginary line connecting the flashing dot and the fixation point at the moment the dot was flashed. The flash-lag effect was observed in all three situations, and a clear influence of the spatial predictability of the flashing dot on the magnitude of the perceptual phenomenon was revealed, independently of sensory effects related to the eccentricity of the stimulus in the visual field. These findings are consistent with our proposal that, in addition to sensory factors, the attentional set modulates the magnitude of the differential latencies that give rise to the flash-lag phenomenon

The spatial arrangement of the semicircular canals of the pigeon

The spatial orientation of the semicircular canals (SCC) was measured in the pigeon by fitting the best plane over 10 to 15 stereotaxically determined points to each canal. The vectores definign eah canal plane are presented in the standard stereotaxical position and for free moving behavior, and the coplanarity or orthogonality of pairs of semicircular canals are discussed

Accessory optic-pretectal interactions in the pigeon

This electrophysiological study analyzes the influence of the nucleus of the basal optic root (nBOR) of the avian accessory optic sustem on units within the lentiform nucleus (LM), which is the avian equivalent of the pretectal nucleus of the optic trat. A prominent depression of the spontaneous firing rat of neurons within the LM occurred following electrical stimulation of the ipsilateral nBOR. A close correlation was also found between the directional selectivity of LM units and the apparent displacements generated by rotations of the head around the horizontal semicircular canal axis. This is consistent with a possible rolo of the LM in the coordinate transformation from visual imputs to a vestibular referense system

The relation between head and apparent visual field motion in the pigeon(Columba livia)

In order to study the relationship the apparent motion of the visual field as a function of head motion, we have developed an equation that describes the apparent displacement of objects in the visual field produced by a general movement of the head consisting of a rotation plus a translation. We then used this equation to simulate the apparent motion of the visual field of a pigeon produced by rotation of the head about axes parallel to those of its anterior semicircular canals