Energy specificity of rock climbing and aerobic capacity in competitive sport rock climbers.

Over the past few years, competitive rock climbing has experienced increased popularity world wide. In 1989, the first six-event World Cup competition was held with all events contested on artificial modular walls. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which oxidative metabolism is utilized in competitive rock climbing with regard to the climber's maximal O2 consumption (VO2max). VO2max--was measured with two direct triangular protocols: the first from running ("running" VO2max) and the second from pull offs performed with arms and before arms ("pulling" VO2). Moreover, VO2 was also before measured during two competitive climbing routes difficulty quantified 7b on the European numerical scale ranging from 5 to 9. However these routes had different profiles: route 1 was more complex from the informational aspect, holds being smaller and more difficult to see even though the second route was presumed harder from the physical point of view, the holds being bigger but the profile being steeper. The first and the second route involved only 45.6% and 37.7% of the "running" VO2max but 111.6% and 92.3% of the "pulling" VO2max. Heart rates (HR) were equal to 176 bpm and 159 bpm i.e. 85.5% and 77% of maximal HR respectively. Blood lactate collected three minutes after the end of the two ascents were 5.7 mmol.1(-1) and 4.3 mmol.1(-1). The paired "t" test indicated no significant differences in heart rates for the two exercises condition i.e. climbing route. These results suggest that the competitive rock climbing elicit particularly arms since heart rate is high for a relatively low value of VO2.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Arrhythmogenic myocardiopathy of the left ventricle: dynamic ECG. Morphologic data and age of the patient in the prediction of the onset of arrhythmic events]. / Miocardiopatia aritmogena del ventricolo destro: ECG dinamico. Dati morfologici ed età dei pazienti nel predire l'insorgenza di eventi aritmici.

In 57 patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, 34 males 23 females, aged 5 to 60 average 27.93 years, arrhythmias recorded during the whole clinical history have been compared with the 24 hours ECG ambulatory monitoring data, age and anatomic extension of the disease. In 77.77% of patients with history of sustained ventricular tachycardia Holter monitoring showed Lown class less than or equal to 3 arrhythmias, in 75% of patients with ventricular fibrillation Holter monitoring showed no arrhythmias. 55.88% of patients whose Holter monitoring documented Lown class less than or equal to 3 arrhythmias had more severe arrhythmias in their history. There is not a close relation between Holter data and arrhythmias that occurred during the whole history; however, Holter monitoring is a useful tool in evaluating risk when it shows complex arrhythmias.

[Incidence of conduction disorders in patients who underwent surgery for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy]. / Incidenza di disturbi di conduzione in pazienti operati per miocardiopatia ipertrofico-ostruttiva.

Thirteen non-consecutive patients, aging 7 to 61 (average 27) years, underwent left ventricular myotomy-myectomy for a severely symptomatic idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis (IHSS). In all patients the resting ECG before surgery showed P-R less than 0.18 sec, QRS duration less than 0.11 sec, QRS axis ranging from +10 to +80 degrees. In the immediate post-surgical period 3 patients has complete heart block and 1 had 2nd degree type 2 atrio ventricular block. Lesion was infra-Hisian in 3 patients and intra-Hisian in 1 patient. In the remaining 9 patients an immediate post-surgical left bundle branch block appeared; in 3 out of these patients ECG and an electrophysiologic study documented severe infra-Hisian conduction impairments after an average period of 4 years from surgery. During follow-up 3 patients died suddenly.

[Electro-vectorcardiographic analysis of the negative, diphasic and bifid T wave in right precordial leads in young subjects]. / Análisis electro-vectocardiográfico de la onda T negativa, difásica y bífida en las derivaciones precordiales derechas en sujetos jóvenes.

Morphology, genesis and incidence of isolated T wave abnormalities on right precordial leads of healthy young individuals were studied in this work. ECG were obtained from 1510 healthy subjects aged 14 to 40 years consecutively submitted to a cardiological evaluation in order to assess their fitness for sport. In 510 of them a VCG was made too. The results showed that T waves were rarely negative beyond V1 (0.46%) and even more rarely negative from V1 to V3 (0.13%); diphasic T waves were present in 2.38% and bifid T waves in 6.15% of our cases. The T loop of VCG tended to be more posteriorly displaced and evolved from a counterclockwise to a clockwise rotation as the presence of negative T waves spread toward left on precordial leads. The "+-" type of diphasic T wave corresponded to a counterclockwise rotation of the T loop, the "-+" type to a clockwise rotation. Bifid T waves were associated with figure of eight or "arched" T loops of VCG. The T loops of those subjects who underwent a second evaluation after several years tended to be displaced more anteriorly, with counterclockwise rotation. The causes of these T wave abnormalities have not been clearly explained yet, even if a slight delay in the right final vectors was present in the majority of our cases.