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Autonomic symptoms in hypertensive patients with post-acute minor ischemic stroke
No full textBackground
Most studies regarding autonomic dysfunction in ischemic stroke are limited to heart rate and blood pressure changes during the acute phase. However, there are few data on quantitative assessment of autonomic symptoms. We sought to assess autonomic symptoms in hypertensive ischemic stroke patients.
Methods
In 100 hypertensive patients (45 with symptomatic ischemic stroke (6 months after stroke onset) and 55 without stroke), we assessed autonomic symptoms using the Scale for Outcomes in Parkinson disease-Autonomic (SCOPA-AUT).
Results
The age (mean ± standard deviation) for the stroke group was 66 ± 12 and 63 ± 15 for the without stroke group (P = 0.8). Orthostatic hypotension occurred in 3.6% of the stroke group and 4.4% in the group without stroke. The total SCOPA-AUT score was higher in the stroke group compared with the group without stroke (P = 0.001). Domain scores for gastrointestinal (P = 0.001), urinary (P = 0.005) and cardiovascular (P = 0.001) were higher in the stroke group. No differences were found when comparing the total SCOPA-AUT scores for stroke subtypes (P = 0.168) and for lateralization (P = 0.6). SCOPA AUT scores were correlated with depression scores (P = 0.001) but not with stroke severity (P = 0.2).
Conclusion
Autonomic symptoms, especially, gastrointestinal, urinary and cardiovascular function, were significantly increased in hypertensive patients with minor ischemic stroke. Symptoms were associated with depression but not with the characteristic of the stroke
Macronutrient Consumption Prior to, and During, Mountain Marathon Events
No full textParticipation in ultra-endurance events such as mountain marathons is increasing, yet analysis of the nutritional intake and requirements of this group of athletes have received relatively little attention. This field study examined athletes’ food intake prior to, and during a mountain marathon event to assess compliance with recommendations and to identify associations with performance. Nineteen male athletes competing in the Longmynd Hike (LH) completed a 7-day food diary in the week prior to the event and a weighed food inventory of all items consumed during the event. Despite reported intentions to increase carbohydrate (CHO) consumption in the week prior to the event, there was no significant change in consumption across the week. The mean daily CHO intake of 4.5 g/kg/d was below that recommended to effectively enhance glycogen stores. CHO and energy consumption prior to the event were positively associated with performance [energy (kJ/kg/d): r = .56, p = 0.03; CHO (g/kg/d): r = .54, p = 0.04]. Energy and CHO consumption during the event were also positively correlated with performance [energy (kJ/kg/h): r = .80, p < 0.001; CHO (g/kg/h): r = .75, p = 0.001)], despite most participants again failing to meet recommendations for intake. Further research is needed to determine reasons for non-compliance with nutritional guidelines and to investigate to what extent type and timing of macronutrient intake during such events impacts on performance
Relationships among muscle dysmorphia characteristics, body image quality of life, and coping in males
Get PDFObjectives: The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among bodybuilding dependence, muscle satisfaction, body image-related quality of life and body image-related coping strategies, and test the hypothesis that muscle dysmorphia characteristics may predict quality of life via coping strategies. Design: Participants (294 males, Mage=20.5 years, SD=3.1) participated in a cross-sectional survey. Methods: Participants completed questionnaires assessing muscle satisfaction, bodybuilding dependence, body image-related quality of life and body image-related coping. Results: Quality of life was correlated positively with muscle satisfaction and bodybuilding dependence but negatively with body image coping ( P< 0.05). Body image coping was correlated positively with bodybuilding dependence and negatively with muscle satisfaction ( P< 0.05). Mediation analysis found that bodybuilding dependence and muscle satisfaction predicted quality of life both directly and indirectly via body image coping strategies (as evidenced by the bias corrected and accelerated bootstrapped confidence intervals). Conclusions: These results provide preliminary evidence regarding the ways that muscularity concerns might influence body image-related quality of life
QoS multicast routing protocol oriented to cognitive network using competitive coevolutionary algorithm
No full textThe human intervention in the network management and maintenance should be reduced to alleviate the ever-increasing spatial and temporal complexity. By mimicking the cognitive behaviors of human being, the cognitive network improves the scalability, self-adaptation, self-organization, and self-protection in the network. To implement the cognitive network, the cognitive behaviors for the network nodes need to be carefully designed. Quality of service (QoS) multicast is an important network problem. Therefore, it is appealing to develop an effective QoS multicast routing protocol oriented to cognitive network.
In this paper, we design the cognitive behaviors summarized in the cognitive science for the network nodes. Based on the cognitive behaviors, we propose a QoS multicast routing protocol oriented to cognitive network, named as CogMRT. It is a distributed protocol where each node only maintains local information. The routing search is in a hop by hop way. Inspired by the small-world phenomenon, the cognitive behaviors help to accumulate the experiential route information. Since the QoS multicast routing is a typical combinatorial optimization problem and it is proved to be NP-Complete, we have applied the competitive coevolutionary algorithm (CCA) for the multicast tree construction. The CCA adopts novel encoding method and genetic operations which leverage the characteristics of the problem. We implement and evaluate CogMRT and other two promising alternative protocols in NS2 platform. The results show that CogMRT has remarkable advantages over the counterpart traditional protocols by exploiting the cognitive favors
Alpha male replacements and delayed dispersal in crested macaques (Macaca nigra).
No full textIn species with a high male reproductive skew, competition between males for the top dominant position is high and escalated fights are common between competitors. As a consequence, challenges incur potentially high costs. Selection should favor males who time an alpha male challenge to maximize chances of a successful outcome minimizing costs. Despite the importance of alpha male replacements for individual males, we know little about the timing of challenges and the condition of the challenger. We investigated the timing and process of alpha male replacements in a species living in multi-male groups with high male reproductive skew, the crested macaque. We studied four wild groups over 6 years in the Tangkoko Reserve, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, during which 16 alpha male replacements occurred. Although unusual for cercopithecines, male crested macaques delayed their natal dispersal until they attained maximum body mass and therefore fighting ability whereupon they emigrated and challenged the alpha male in another group. Accordingly, all observed alpha male replacements were from outside males. Ours is the first report of such a pattern in a primate species living in multi-male groups. Although the majority of alpha male replacements occurred through direct male-male challenges, many also took place opportunistically (i.e., after the alpha male had already been injured or had left the group). Furthermore, alpha male tenures were very short (averaging ca. 12 months). We hypothesize that this unusual pattern of alpha male replacements in crested macaques is related to the species-specific combination of high male reproductive skew with a large number of males per group. Am. J. Primatol. 9999:1-8, 2015. © 2015 The Authors. American Journal of Primatology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc
Androgen correlates of male reproductive effort in wild male long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis): A multi-level test of the challenge hypothesis.
No full textThe challenge hypothesis (Wingfield et al., 1990) has been broadly utilised as a conceptual framework to study male androgen correlates of reproductive challenges in mammals. These studies mainly assessed male androgen responsiveness to a general degree of challenge over extended periods of time. Short term co-variation between the socio-sexual challenging context and androgen levels remains, however, largely understudied. We thus aim at providing a multi-level test of the challenge hypothesis by investigating the inter- and intra-individual variations in faecal androgen excretion associated to 1) breeding seasonality, 2) dominance rank, 3) mate-guarding activity and 4) value of the guarded female. We studied long-tailed macaques, a species in which males engage in highly challenging monopolisation of females over discreet periods of time. This particularity allows testing specifically the predicted increase from level B to level C in the challenge hypothesis. The study was carried out during two reproductive seasons on three groups of wild long-tailed macaques. We combined behavioural observations and non-invasive measurements of faecal androgen metabolite (fAM) levels. We found that, as predicted by the challenge hypothesis, male long-tailed macaques respond not only to seasonal but also to short term reproductive challenges by adapting their androgen levels. First, males exhibited a seasonal rise in fAM levels during the mating period which may be triggered by fruit availability as shown by our phenological data. Second, males had increased androgen levels when mate-guarding females and, across mate-guarding periods, males had higher fAM levels when monopolising high-ranking parous females than when monopolising low-ranking ones. Finally, high-ranking males had higher fAM levels than low-ranking males year round. Our study confirms that, in species with a high degree of female monopolisability, androgen may be an important physiological fitness enhancing tool for males by increasing female monopolisation efficiency (in particular with highly valuable females) and helping males to respond to rank take-over challenges
Sexual Skin Color Contains Information About the Timing of the Fertile Phase in Free-ranging Macaca mulatta
Get PDFFemales of several primate species undergo cyclical changes of their sexual skin, i.e., the development of a swelling or a change in color. The relationship between intracycle probability of fertility and the size of sexual swellings is well established, but in the only study to combine an objective measure of color with endocrinological data, researchers found no evidence that swelling color contains such information. To evaluate the role of female skin color in the context of sexual signaling further, we investigated whether changes in sexual skin color contain information about the timing of the fertile phase in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), a species in which adult females do not develop sexual swellings, but do express visually detectable changes in the skin color of the face and hindquarters. Using an objective and quantitative measure of color, along with detailed data on fecal progestogen and estrogen metabolite levels collected from 8 females of the Cayo Santiago colony, we show that the ratio of red to green (R/G) for facial and hindquarter skin significantly varies throughout the ovarian cycle. In addition, facial skin R/G is significantly higher during the 5-d fertile phase versus the 5-d periods immediately before or after this time, but no such pattern occurs in hindquarter R/G. This suggests that skin color change in female rhesus macaques may potentially signal information about the intracycle probability of fertility to male receivers, but that only facial skin color may signal reliable information about its timing
Age-Specific Effects of Mirror-Muscle Activity on Cross-Limb Adaptations Under Mirror and Non-Mirror Visual Feedback Conditions
No full textCross-limb transfer (CLT) describes the observation of bilateral performance gains due to unilateral motor practice. Previous research has suggested that CLT may be reduced, or absent, in older adults, possibly due to age-related structural and functional brain changes. Based on research showing increases in CLT due to the provision of mirror visual feedback (MVF) during task execution in young adults, our study aimed to investigate whether MVF can facilitate CLT in older adults, who are known to be more reliant on visual feedback for accurate motor performance. Participants (N = 53) engaged in a short-term training regime (300 movements) involving a ballistic finger task using their dominant hand, while being provided with either visual feedback of their active limb, or a mirror reflection of their active limb (superimposed over the quiescent limb). Performance in both limbs was examined before, during and following the unilateral training. Furthermore, we measured corticospinal excitability (using TMS) at these time points, and assessed muscle activity bilaterally during the task via EMG; these parameters were used to investigate the mechanisms mediating and predicting CLT. Training resulted in significant bilateral performance gains that did not differ as a result of age or visual feedback (both p > 0.1). Training also elicited bilateral increases in corticospinal excitability (p < 0.05). For younger adults, CLT was significantly predicted by performance gains in the trained hand (β = 0.47), whereas for older adults it was significantly predicted by mirror activity in the untrained hand during training (β = 0.60). The present study suggests that older adults are capable of exhibiting CLT to a similar degree to younger adults. The prominent role of mirror activity in the untrained hand for CLT in older adults indicates that bilateral cortical activity during unilateral motor tasks is a compensatory mechanism. In this particular task, MVF did not facilitate the extent of CLT
Inspiring to inspire: Developing teaching in higher education
No full textFollowing a three-year staff development initiative within one faculty in a UK university, the authors reflected on inspiring teaching and the role that staff development can play in enhancing individual practice. Teaching is a core component of Higher Education and is complex and multi-faceted both theoretically and in practice. Through individual reflections to a set of pre-determined questions, a group of Higher Education teachers (n = 5) with a responsibility for the development of learning, teaching and assessment, share their thoughts, feelings and beliefs on inspiring teaching. The interpretive analysis of the data shows from a staff perspective that the notion of inspiring teaching has three main components which are all interrelated, those being; the actual teaching and learning experience; the design of the curriculum and the teacher/student relationship. Staff development initiatives were found to help people explore and develop their own teaching philosophy, to develop new practices and to share and learn from others. However, individual’s mindset, beliefs and attitudes were found to be a challenge. Teachers can frame their development around the different aspects of inspiring teaching and with support from senior leadership as well as a positive culture, teaching communities can work together towards inspiring teaching
Reverse left ventricular remodelling - effect of cardiac rehabilitation exercise training in myocardial infarction patients with preserved ejection fraction.
Get PDFBACKGROUND: In the increasingly prevalent population of post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients with preserved left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (>45%), the effect of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) exercise training on LV structure and function is unknown. AIM: To examine the reverse LV remodelling effect of CR exercise training in post-MI patients with preserved LV ejection fraction (>45%). DESIGN: Prospective, longitudinal, controlled trial. SETTING: Outpatient CR program me. POPULATION: Fifty six asymptomatic, post-MI patients without residual myocardial ischemia and LV ejection fraction >45%. METHODS: Within 3-6 weeks of MI, and 10 weeks later, echocardiography and cardiopulmonary exercise testing were performed. An exercise training group (n=36) completed twice weekly gym based cardiovascular exercise (60-80% VO2 peak) and a resistance training programme, whilst a non-exercise group (n=20) did not. RESULTS: In comparison to the non-exercise group, in which there was no change, 10 weeks of CR exercise training resulted in increased VO2peak and reduced LV end diastolic and systolic volumes (all P45%), CR exercise training is effective in improving functional capacity and reducing LV volumes. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: In this previously unstudied population, the measurement of reverse LV volumetric remodelling may prove useful as an indicator of CR exercise programme efficacy. To maximise the potential clinical benefit from reverse LV remodelling, this patient group, should be actively encouraged to engage in CR exercise training
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