Effects of Sixty-Minute Race-Pace Running on Cardiac Stress Biomarkers in Recreational Distance Runners.

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) in athletes is generally rare, but a serious complication of cardiovascular events during exercise. Although regular intensive physical exercise is thought to be a key to a healthy life, unsuspected pathologies might lead to SCD during or after physical activity. Cardiac dysfunction and elevated cardiac markers have been reported after prolonged exercise. We sought to clarify the cardiac marker levels and hydration status in healthy, middle-aged male subjects for 24 hours after running sixty-minute at race-pace. The participants were 47.4±1.7 years old, had peak oxygen consumption of 47.1±1.2ml/kg/min, and regularly running 70.5±6.4km/week. Blood biomarkers were performed before, immediately after, at the fourth and twenty-fourth hours after running. Compared to initial values, creatine kinase (before:161.2±22.5U/L, 24 hours after:411.9±139.7U/L, p<0.001) and CK-MB (before:4.3±0.7ng/ml, 24 hours after:10.1±3.0ng/ml, p<0.001) were significantly elevated immediately after running and remained significantly high for 24 hours. In addition, Troponin-I (before:5.0±1.1ng/l, 4 hours after:81.5±29.9ng/l, p<0.001) and NT-proBNP (before: 31.2±5.3pg/ml, immediately after: 64.4±8.5pg/ml, p<0.01) were significantly elevated immediately after running and returned to baseline levels in 24 hours. The sixty-minute running caused significant dehydration, but athletes were rehydrated at the 4th hour in their voluntary hydration behavior. As the individual data were analyzed, it was interesting to see that some of the athletes had critical biomarker levels without any cardiac symptom. Our findings indicate that race-pace sixty-minute running may induce a possible transient silent myocardial injury in apparently healthy master runners. Detailed pre-participation screening of these athletes may be necessary to reduce the risk of SCD.

Author Correction: Analog Coding in Emerging Memory Systems.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Analog Coding in Emerging Memory Systems.

Exponential growth in data generation and large-scale data science has created an unprecedented need for inexpensive, low-power, low-latency, high-density information storage. This need has motivated significant research into multi-level memory devices that are capable of storing multiple bits of information per device. The memory state of these devices is intrinsically analog. Furthermore, much of the data they will store, along with the subsequent operations on the majority of this data, are all intrinsically analog-valued. Ironically though, in the current storage paradigm, both the devices and data are quantized for use with digital systems and digital error-correcting codes. Here, we recast the storage problem as a communication problem. This then allows us to use ideas from analog coding and show, using phase change memory as a prototypical multi-level storage technology, that analog-valued emerging memory devices can achieve higher capacities when paired with analog codes. Further, we show that storing analog signals directly through joint coding can achieve low distortion with reduced coding complexity. Specifically, by jointly optimizing for signal statistics, device statistics, and a distortion metric, we demonstrate that single-symbol analog codings can perform comparably to digital codings with asymptotically large code lengths. These results show that end-to-end analog memory systems have the potential to not only reach higher storage capacities than discrete systems but also to significantly lower coding complexity, leading to faster and more energy efficient data storage.

Changes in substrate utilization rates during 40 min of walking within the Fatmax range.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in fat oxidation rate during 40 min of continuous exercise and identify the intensity at the highest fat oxidation rate (Fatmax). METHODS: A total of 14 sedentary males with age, body height, weight, and BMI averages of 29.3 ± 0.7 years, 178.3 ± 1.7 cm, 81.1 ± 3.9 kg, and 25.4 ± 0.9 kg/m2, respectively, were included in the study. Fatmax was determined using an indirect calorimeter with an incremental treadmill walking test at least after 12 h of fasting. On a separate day, at least after 12 h of fasting, the participants walked for 40 min within their predetermined individual Fatmax heart rate and speed ranges. RESULTS: The initial fat oxidation rate was not sustained within the first 16 min of exercise and was reduced; however, carbohydrate oxidation reached a stable level after nearly 10 min. CONCLUSIONS: In sedentary individuals, during low-intensity physical activity, fat oxidation rates may not be sustainable as expected from Fatmax testing. Therefore, when exercise is prescribed, one should consider that the fat oxidation rate might decrease in sedentary overweight individuals.

Does calcium dobesilate protect against intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury induced in rats?

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we investigated whether the administration of calcium dobesilate (CD) affects oxidative stress markers and histopathological outcomes in a rat model of intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted with 30 male Wistar rats. The rats were randomly assigned to three groups as follows: a sham group (n = 10), an IR group (n = 10), and an IR + CD group (n = 10). In the sham group, superior mesenteric artery (SMA) dissection alone was performed during laparotomy. In the IR group, the procedure included SMA occlusion for 60 min, followed by reperfusion for 60 min. In the IR + CD group, CD (100 mg/kg/day) was additionally given for two days before laparotomy by intragastric lavage. In all the rats, 2 ml of blood were drawn, and an ileal segment (approximately 2 cm in size) was removed to evaluate oxidative stress markers. The ileal segment removed was divided into two pieces, and one piece was reserved for histopathological evaluation. RESULTS: Compared to the other groups, both serum and tissue oxidative stress indices were lower in the IR + CD group. The decrease was due to CD increasing the total antioxidant capacity. Moreover, the histological analysis showed that CD reduced tissue injury. CONCLUSIONS: CD may exert a protective effect against intestinal IR injury by increasing antioxidant capacity.

Recombinant human erythropoietin administration in cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVE: Postoperative anemia and multiple blood transfusions are still important problems in cardiac surgery. During the past few years, there have been some reports indicating that multiple recombinant human erythropoietin infusions starting at least 2 weeks before the operation induced erythropoiesis. We aimed to reduce the risk of adverse reactions of high doses of recombinant human erythropoietin and reduce the period of hospitalization by using it only once, 4 days before the operation. METHODS: Twenty-five patients received recombinant human erythropoietin 4 days before the operation, and 28 patients comprised the control group. All the hematologic parameters of the patients are measured on the day of admission, the day before the operation (fourth day), the first day after the operation, and 1 week later. RESULTS: In the recombinant human erythropoietin group the mean hemoglobin concentration increased on the morning of the operation (14.5 +/- 0.52 g/dL in the recombinant human erythropoietin group and 12.4 +/- 0.65 in the control group, P <.05). To maintain hemoglobin levels at greater than 8.5 g/dL, 330 +/- 33 mL of homologous transfusion was required in the recombinant human erythropoietin group, whereas 680 +/- 75 mL was required in the control group (P <.01). CONCLUSION: Recombinant human erythropoietin induces erythropoiesis rapidly, even when it is used with a low single dose just 4 days before the operation. No adverse reactions were seen with this kind of recombinant human erythropoietin treatment.

Primary pericardial mesothelioma.

Primary pericardial mesothelioma is an extremely rare tumor. This case illustrates the typical late presentation of primary pericardial mesothelioma with symptoms and signs of constrictive pericarditis. An unusual feature was the complete encasement of the heart by the tumor. No satisfactory treatment was available.