Cardiac markers (BNP, NT-pro-BNP, Troponin I, Troponin T, in female amateur runners before and up until three days after a marathon.

PURPOSE: Transient cardiac ventricular dysfunction or sudden cardiac deaths have been reported for male athletes participating in marathon racing. Less is known about the myocardial response in females. We examined natriuretic peptides and cardiac troponins in female athletes after a marathon. METHODS: At the 31st real,- Berlin Marathon plasma levels of NT-pro-BNP, BNP, cTnI and cTnT were measured in 15 women (age 35+/-6 years; finishing times between 3:22 h and 5:21 h) at four different time points (before, immediately after, day one and day three). RESULTS: An increase in [NT-pro-BNP] was observed immediately after the marathon (median [NT-pro-BNP] before: 39.6 pg ml(-1), after: 138.6 pg ml(-1), p=0.003) with a further increase on day one. [BNP] did not increase immediately after the marathon but increased on day one (median [BNP] before: 15 pg ml(-1), day one: 27.35 pg ml(-1), p=0.006). On day three, [NT-pro-BNP] and [BNP] returned to initial values. [cTnI] was under the detection limit prior to the marathon in all runners. [cTnT] was under the detection limit before the marathon except in one runner who presented a concentration of 0.03 ng ml(-1). Cardiac troponins (median [cTnl] after: 0.098 ng ml(-1), p=0.028; median [cTnT] after: 0.032 ng ml(-1), p=0.012) increased immediately after the marathon and returned to initial values on day one [cTnT] and three [cTnI]. DISCUSSION: Parameters representing cardiac stress increased in females after a marathon. Different kinetics of natriuretic peptides BNP and NT-pro-BNP post-marathon could be due to their different half-lives and dependence on renal function. The increase of cTnI and cTnT may result from minor myocardial lesions.

Water immersion is associated with an increase in aquaporin-2 excretion in healthy volunteers.

Here, we report the alterations in renal water handling in healthy volunteers during a 6 h thermoneutral water immersion at 34 to 36 degrees C. We found that water immersion is associated with a reversible increase in total urinary AQP2 excretion.

Observation of serum erythropoietin concentrations in female athletes for up to eight days after a marathon run.

Erythropoietin (EPO) was studied in 13 female marathon runners before and up to 8 days after a competition marathon run. The median baseline control value was 13.7 U/l. No change in EPO concentration was found immediately (15 min.) and one day after the run. However, a median increase in EPO concentration (18.1 U/l) was found on day three post-exercise (p< 0.05). On day 8 no change was found compared to pre-exercise values. This late increase in EPO concentration would seem to be responsible for the well known increase of red blood cell mass in long distance runners.

[Astigmatism against the rule after small incision cataract surgery. A multifactorial, multivariate study]. / Der Astigmatismus gegen die Regel nach Kleinschnitt-Kataraktchirurgie. Eine multifaktorielle, multivariate Studie.

BACKGROUND: Small-incision cataract surgery has been further developed by the introduction of the sutureless technique. This procedure has reduced operation time and the surgically induced astigmatism compared to closure technique. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We evaluated 426 patients operated by the same surgeon using the same intraoperative approach. Patients were monitored for postoperative induced astigmatism and postoperative complications. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated small induced astigmatism after one week and one month. The no-stitch technique showed the smallest postoperative astigmatism with the least variation. With multivariate methods we also analysed several factors influencing the axis of the induced astigmatism. CONCLUSION: The most important factor for a postoperative astigmatism against the rule is using the no-stitch-technique and the existence of a preoperative astigmatism against the rule.