Muscle acidosis during static exercise is associated with calf vasoconstriction.

In this study we measured (n = 6) the phosphocreatine-to-inorganic phosphate ratio (PCr/Pi), Pi, and pH with 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance (31P-NMR) in the human forearm during static work at 30% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) for 2 min followed immediately by 3 min of circulatory arrest (forearm arterial occlusion). Static exercise, with its central volitional and skeletal muscle metabolic and mechanical afferent components, caused a rise in heart rate (HR, 32%), blood pressure (BP, 29%), and calf vascular resistance (calf R, 30%). During forearm occlusion after static exercise, HR returned to base line, the increase in BP was attenuated by 30%, and calf R remained elevated and unchanged. The percent change in calf R was correlated with forearm cellular pH (R = 0.56, P less than 0.001) but only weakly associated with PCr/Pi (R = 0.33, P less than 0.042). 30% MVC for 1 min followed by arterial occlusion (3 min) reduced PCr/Pi by 65% and pH by 0.16 U (P less than 0.05). Calf R was unchanged. Circulatory arrest alone (20 min) caused no change in either pH or calf R but large changes in PCr/Pi (50% reduction). We conclude that 1) there is an association between forearm cellular acidosis and calf vasconstriction during static forearm exercise and 2) large changes in PCr/Pi without concomitant changes in pH are not associated with changes in calf R.

Denervation of the rabbit hind limb studied by 31-phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

An animal model of muscle denervation was examined by 31P. magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The experiments demonstrated that there is a significant alteration in high and low energy phosphate metabolites in rabbit muscle after nerve section. The data show that there is an early change in the metabolites which appears to plateau at about six weeks. High resolution spectra of muscle cell extracts demonstrate qualitative alterations in the phosphate resonances found in the phosphodiester and phosphomonoester regions of the spectra. There would seem to be a time-related alteration in these components.

Human muscle cell denervation: the results of a 31-phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.

The results presented here demonstrate that there is a major abnormality of high and low energy phosphate metabolism in muscle following peripheral nerve damage. Using 31-phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy the changes in phosphocreatine, adenosine triphosphate, inorganic phosphate and metabolites of membrane metabolism could be observed in vivo in human subjects. The data indicate that there may be a metabolic myopathy in the muscle cells after nerve injury. Further, the metabolic changes did not always return to the control level, indicating a persistence of the abnormality. This failure of the metabolic function of the cells may be important in determining the ultimate outcome of peripheral nerve surgery.

[Surgeons in Krakow between WWI and WWII]. / Chirurgia krakowska w miedzywojennym dwudziestoleciu.

During the war time when Polish borders had not been established yet, apart from having two surgical departments Jagiellonian University, Krakow had surgical departments in the Bonifratow, Izraelicki and Military Hospitals. More surgical departments were opened up in later years in pubic Health System Hospitals, among them were Narutowicz at near Pradnicka street and Sisters of Mercy at Lea street. Other well-known Krakow surgeons operated in smaller, private surgeries, such as: Dom Zdrowia (House of Health) or Zwiazkowy (Union) Clinic. At that time only 30 Surgeons worked in Kraków. They were outstanding specialists with a broad practice. Among them were Maksymilian Rutkowski, Jan Glatzel, Stanislaw Nowicki, Michal Hladij. Gradually, younger surgeons started to join them. they were: Jan Kowalczyk, Jerzy Jasienski, Stanislaw Kania, Wladyslaw Laszczak, Jozef Bugusz, Jozef Gasinski. Many of them who worked in the surgical hospitals in Krakow, left the city after obtaining a professorship (like Kornel Michejda, professor at the University of Wilno) or became heads of wards, like Zygmunt Drobniewicz, Alfons Mackowski and Tadeusz Guschlbauer. All of these surgeons were highly respected by the medical community as well as by the general public in their respective town and surrounding areas. A large income allowed that best of them to fund and supply their own wards. Occasionally, however, among the less successful surgeons, an uncompromising competition for patients developed. These events were disapproved and condemned by the medical establishment. Many surgeons led an active life outside of their profession. A surgeon with an exceptionally colorful personality was Jan Glatzel: witty, highly intelligent, a connoisseur of fine art, book lover with an active social life. Maksymilian Rutkowski was active in charitable organizations, helping to support Bratnia Pomoc Medykow. Michal Hladij, president of KS Cracovia, vice president of Krakowski Klub Automobilowy rendered his service to restore monumental cauldron in Rdzawka on the hillside of Obidowa. Others, like Dr Jozef Friszer, a former assistant in the Surgical Hospital, who also came from Krakow, later became and influential politician and the last prime Minister of the Second People's Republic.

[Incidence and causes of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage]. / Czestosc i przyczyny krwawien z górnego odcinka przewodu pokarmowego.

The incidence rate of the upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage in Nowy Sacz region in years 1991-1995 was 43.5/100 thousand/year among men and 20.1/100 thousand/year among women. The most common causes of bleeding among male were: duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer and haemorrhagic gastritis. Among female gastric ulcer was more frequent than duodenal ulcer. In the whole group of haemorrhage, the average age of men was lower than the age of women. In similar, in the bleeding duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer, haemorrhagic gastritis and gastric cancer groups--male were significantly younger.

[Splenomegaly and plasma lipids]. / Splenomegalia a lipidy osocza.

UNLABELLED: Lipid metabolism is influenced by several factors, among them the spleen is supposed to play some spleen. It has been noticed that in the asplenia the level of the triglycerides is raised. On the other hand the patients with myeloproliferative process and splenomegaly have lower level of serum lipids compared with the general population. The aim of this clinical study was to estimate the level of: total cholesterol (TC), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG), in group I which consisted of 17 patients with splenomegaly, which had developed during portal hypertension caused by liver cirrhosis, and group II 7 patients with splenomegaly caused by myeloproliferative disease. These patients were compared with the control group III of 25 patients without evidences of metabolism disturbances or splenomegaly. There were no statistically significant differences of the mean values of: TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, and TG between groups I and II. The levels of all serum lipids were lower in the patients with splenomegaly (groups I, II) irrespective of causal factor, compared with the control group III. CONCLUSION: The changes in the serum lipids in the patients with splenomegaly indicate the potential role which the spleen can play the spleen in the lipid metabolism.

Skeletal muscle metabolism in heart failure: a 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy study of leg muscle.

1. The gastrocnemius muscle of seven patients with mild to moderate chronic heart failure and of five healthy control subjects was studied using 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Spectra were collected at rest and during an incremental, symptom-limited, exercise protocol. Blood flow was measured in the same study during brief interruptions to exercise. 2. The phosphocreatine/(phosphocreatine plus inorganic phosphate) ratio was lower in patients with heart failure than in control subjects at an exercise rate of 1.5 W, although intracellular pH and blood flow were similar. 3. The cytosolic free adenosine 5'-diphosphate concentration was markedly increased in patients with heart failure exercising at 1.5 W compared with control subjects exercising at the same workload. 4. Although the maximum workload achieved by patients with heart failure was less than half of that reached by control subjects, the pH and the phosphocreatine/(phosphocreatine plus inorganic phosphate) ratio were lower in patients with heart failure at maximal load. Blood flow was less at maximal exercise in patients with heart failure than in control subjects in keeping with the reduced work load. 5. The phosphocreatine depletion induced in the gastrocnemius muscle by exercise was more severe than previously described in the forearm of patients with heart failure. 6. Metabolic abnormalities in skeletal muscle may contribute to exercise intolerance in heart failure, particularly during submaximal exercise.