OBJECTIVE Autonomic nervous system (ANS) misbalance is a potential causal factor in the development of cardiovascular disease. The ANS may be programmed during pregnancy due to various maternal factors. Our aim is to study maternal prenatal psychosocial stress as a potential disruptor of cardiac ANS balance in the child. METHODS Mothers from a prospective birth cohort (ABCD study) filled out ...

Advanced mathematical models have the potential to capture the complex metabolic and physiological processes that result in heat production or energy expenditure (EE). Multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) is a nonparametric method that estimates complex nonlinear relationships by a series of spline functions of the independent predictors. The specific aim of this study is to construc...

QT interval decreases with increasing heart rate (HR), hence to define normal values of QT interval for different heart rates requires the application of a QT interval rate correction formula. However, it’s unknown the influence of HR on the ratios between several ventricular repolarization intervals, that can be useful as risk predictors of malignant ventricular arrhythmias. This study analyze...

Previously, we reported that males with mental retardation (MR) (MR group) expended more energy than males without MR (control group) at a given work load. The precise physiological mechanisms for this difference remain unclear. Using the same set of subjects (23 age-, height-, and weight-matched male pairs, mean age: 36.3 y), we examined possible causes for the observed metabolic difference by...

The redistribution of blood flow (BF) in the abdominal viscera during right-legged knee extension-flexion exercise at very low intensity [peak heart rate (HR), 76 beats/min] was examined by using Doppler ultrasound. While sitting, subjects performed a right-legged knee extension-flexion exercise every 6 s for 20 min. BF was measured in the upper abdominal aorta (Ao), right common femoral artery...

We investigated occupational energy expenditure and sitting time in the longest held job (in men only), nonoccupational physical activity, and former sports participation in relation to colorectal cancer endpoints. The Netherlands Cohort Study includes 120,852 participants who completed a self-administered questionnaire in 1986 when they were aged 55-69 years. By 2002, 1,819 male and 1,366 fema...

BACKGROUND Chair-sitting may allow for more readily activated scalene, sternocleidomastoid, and parasternal intercostal muscles, and may raise and enlarge the upper thoracic cage, thereby allowing the thoracic cage to be more easily compressed. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of chair-sitting during exercise training on respiratory muscle function in mechanically ventilated patients. METH...

During orthostatic stress, arterial and cardiopulmonary baroreflexes play a key role in maintaining arterial pressure by regulating heart rate. This study presents a mathematical model that can predict the dynamics of heart rate regulation in response to postural change from sitting to standing. The model uses blood pressure measured in the finger as an input to model heart rate dynamics in res...

BACKGROUND A lower heart rate is associated with better outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (EF). Less is known about this association in patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). OBJECTIVES The aims of this study were to examine associations of discharge heart rate with outcomes in hospitalized patients with HFpEF. METHODS Of the 8,8...

BACKGROUND Evidence suggests that sitting time is adversely associated with health risks. However, previous epidemiological studies have mainly addressed mortality whereas little is known of the risk of coronary heart disease. This study aimed to investigate total sitting time and risk of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease incidence and all-cause mortality. METHODS In the Danish He...