Sport climbing with pre-existing cardio-pulmonary medical conditions.

Over the past 25 years sport climbing has developed from an elite extreme sport subculture pursued by few into a mainstream recreational sport enjoyed globally by climbers of all ages, climbing abilities, and with pre-existing health conditions. As the demands and grades of climbing difficulty have increased over this period, most scientific literature on sport climbing focused on acute injuries and overuse syndromes, or performance physiology in healthy adult males. The physiological response to sport climbing is more similar to that of resistance training (i.e., body building) rather than a predominantly aerobic sport (i.e., running, cycling), so that heart rate and blood pressure during a climb will be disproportionately high relative to the 'exercise' of climbing, and breathing may be irregular. Therefore this review sought evidence-based recommendations for recreational sport climbing participation by those individuals with pre-existing cardiopulmonary medical conditions including coronary heart disease, chronic heart failure, cardiac dysrhythmia, pulmonary diseases (i.e., asthma) or hypertension. This review defines the criteria that must be fulfilled for safe sport climbing by those with pre-existing cardiopulmonary conditions or those with hypertension.

Effects of propofol and fentanyl on duodenal motility activity in pigs.

To investigate the effects of propofol and fentanyl on the postprandial duodenal motility the intraluminal impedance technique was used. Six pigs were instrumented with a central venous catheter, a percutaneous enterogastrostomy (PEG), and an impedance catheter, which was introduced via the PEG into the duodenum through endoscopy. Over the following 3 d, duodenal motility was measured for 8-hour periods. Measurements were taken on each subject under 3 different sets of conditions: in the conscious unrestrained pig, during propofol sedation, and during sedation with propofol-fentanyl. Both, after morning feeding and during gastric nutrition via the PEG, duodenal feeding patterns and duodenal phase II of the migrating motor cycle were shortened during propofol and propofol-fentanyl sedation. In contrast, the duration of phase I was prolonged by propofol and propofol-fentanyl. In conclusion, either propofol or propofolfentanyl sedation shortens duodenal feeding patterns, as well as phase II of the migrating motor cycle.