Monitoring exercise intensity in diabetes: applicability of "heart rate-index" to estimate oxygen consumption during aerobic and resistance training.

PURPOSE: Accurate quantification and monitoring of exercise "dose", described by oxygen consumption (VO2), is necessary for exercise prescription and individualization. However, due to the complexity and elevated cost of direct, gold-standard methods, this is rarely done outside research laboratories. Heart rate-index (HRindex) is a new simple method to estimate VO2 in healthy and clinical populations. We tested the performance of HRindex to estimate VO2 in diabetic patients during aerobic (AT) and isotonic training (IT). METHODS: Data from 12 males (age: 64 ± 5 years; BMI: 26 ± 12) with type 2 diabetes were analysed. VO2 and heart rate were measured during one AT and one IT session. Furthermore, VO2 was indirectly estimated based on HRindex. Then, the correspondence between measured and estimated VO2 was evaluated by two-way RM-ANOVA, correlation and Bland-Altman analysis. RESULTS: Estimated average VO2 values during AT (1292 ± 366 ml/min) were not different from (p = 0.243) and highly correlated with (r = 0.87, p < 0.001) the measured values (1369 ± 417 ml/min), with a small bias and imprecision. Conversely during IT, HRindex overestimated VO2 compared to the actual measures (1048 ± 404 vs 667 ± 230 ml/min, p ≤ 0.001) and only a moderate correlation was found between values (r = 0.43, p ≤ 0.001), with a large bias and imprecision. CONCLUSION: VO2 of aerobic exercises can be accurately estimated in diabetes patients using HRindex. During isotonic exercise, this method is not recommended for monitoring metabolic intensity due to large overestimation and imprecision. In aerobic exercise, HRindex offers a simple and valid alternative to the direct VO2 determination and may favour the applicability of time-resolved measures of exercise "dose".

Androgen receptor deficiency alters the arginine-vasopressin sexually dimorphic system in Tfm rats.

In rodents as well as in many other mammalian and non-mammalian species, the arginine-vasopressin (AVP) system includes a parvocellular sexually dimorphic portion located within the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), the medial amygdaloid nucleus (MeA) and the lateral septum. In this system, males have more cells and denser projections than females, neurons show androgen and estrogen receptors, and gonadal hormones are required for the activation. However, the role of these hormones for the differentiation of the system is not clear. Previous studies performed on aromatase knockout mice suggested that estradiol is not necessary for the differentiation of the system, but it is important for its activation in adulthood. To elucidate the role of androgens on differentiation and functioning of AVP parvocellular system, we compared male and female rats with a non-functional mutation of androgen receptor (Tfm, testicular feminization mutation) to their control littermates. Our data show that the lack of a functional androgen receptor significantly decreases the expression of AVP immunoreactivity within the BST and MeA of male Tfm. Thus supporting the hypothesis that androgens, through the action of their receptor, should have a relevant role in the organization and modulation of the AVP parvocellular sexually dimorphic system.

[Pathology of the internal organs and central nervous system in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (with special reference to opportunistic infections)]. / La patologia degli organi interni e del sistema nervoso centrale nella sindrome da immunodeficienza acquisita (con particolare riferimento alle infezioni opportunistiche).

Extracerebral and cerebral pathology in AIDS (with particular emphasis on the opportunistic infections). The Authors present the extracerebral pathology of 27 cases of AIDS observed at the Department of Pathology of Milan and the cerebral pathology of 80 cases of AIDS collected by three Institutes (Department of Pathology of Milan, Department of Pathology of Rimini and Department of Neuropathology of Münster) with particular emphasis on the pathology of the opportunistic infections. In the adults' group, the most frequent infections are the protozoan ones (T. gondii) followed with equal incidence by the viral and fungal diseases. In the pediatric group the viral diseases are the most frequently seen. Almost all of the adults show multiple infections in the same organ or in different organs. Diffuse lesions with heavy pathologic fields were observed also without tissue reaction. As to cerebral pathology AIDS' patients with opportunistic infections show focal symptoms, whereas the so called "subacute microglial encephalitis" generally appears as a demential syndrome. In cases with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy JC virus was always found and in one case also SV 40 - and BK virus. The diffuse demyelinization in some cases of HIV-Encephalopathy is aspecific. In HIV-positive newborns with cerebral signs, the lesions are characterized by oedema, spongiosis and microcalcifications of the basal ganglia; these are aspecific lesions which can be found in toxic and infectious encephalopathies.

Gastric cancer in San Marinese and their first degree relatives in San Marino and the United States. Gastroscopic biopsy as an epidemiological tool.

The Republic of San Marino, a small, 23-square mile, independent country near the Adriatic Coast within Italy, has been noted to have a high incidence of gastric cancer in its 22,000 population (9% of all deaths from 1969-1983 with 33% of all cancer deaths attributed to gastric cancer). Gastroscopic biopsy studies on 284 first degree relatives of San Marinese gastric cancer patients in the Republic of San Marino and in Detroit, where 2,000-2,500 San Marinese reside, have allowed detection of six gastric malignancies. Intestinal metaplasia of gastric mucosa was found in 16 (52%) of 31 Detroit first degree relatives and 51 (36%) of 143 San Marino first degree relatives. Gastroscopy provides an important tool not only for the early detection of gastric cancer in populations of high risk (such as that of San Marino), but also for providing clues to the genetic and environmental factors in gastric neoplasia.