The heart is electrically and mechanically controlled as a syncytium by the autonomic nervous system. The cardiac nervous system comprises the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and sensory nervous systems that together regulate heart function on demand. Sympathetic electric activation was initially considered the main regulator of cardiac function; however, modern molecular biotechnological approac...

We developed a smart-phone based system to measure the activities of autonomic nervous system during everyday life. Using commonly marketed smart phones, by touching your fingertips on the phone’s camera over a short time of about 30 seconds, it will detect changes in the brightness of the blood flow and in turn analyze your heart rate variability. By using this system, about 100,000 cases were...

Incidence ♦ In the US, approximately 700 children and adolescents younger than 20 years of age are diagnosed with tumors of the sympathetic nervous system each year, of which approximately 650 are neuroblastomas. ♦ Sympathetic nervous system tumors accounted for 7.8% of all cancers among children younger than 15 years of age. ♦ Over 97% of sympathetic nervous system tumors are neuroblastomas, e...

J.HE SYMPATHETIC-ADRENAL medullary system was the first endocrine system to be studied experimentally with regard to the possible participation of emotional factors in its regulation. The concept that the adrenal gland might be susceptible to emotional stimuli was developed by Walter Cannon with characteristic logic. He reasoned that: (1) it was known that the adrenal medulla is linked to the s...

The sympathetic nervous system regulates thermogenesis and energy homeostasis in humans. When activated it increases energy expenditure, particularly resting energy expenditure. Most human studies used acute infusion of β-blockers as a model to eliminate sympathetic stimulation and to examine the contribution of the sympathetic nervous system to energy metabolism and balance. Clinically, howeve...

PURPOSE Evidence exists for an additional inhibitory accommodative control system mediated by the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). This work aims to show the relative prevalence of sympathetic inhibition in young emmetropic and myopic adults, and to evaluate the effect of sympathetic facility on accommodative and oculomotor function. METHODS Profiling of ciliary muscl...

The immunomodulatory effect of the autonomic nervous system has raised considerable interest over the last decades. Studying the influence on the immune system and the role in inflammation of the sympathetic as well as the parasympathetic nervous system not only will increase our understanding of the mechanism of disease, but also could lead to the identification of potential new therapeutic ta...

The sympathetic nervous system regulates thermogenesis and energy homeostasis in humans. When activated it increases energy expenditure, particularly resting energy expenditure. Most human studies used acute infusion of -blockers as a model to eliminate sympathetic stimulation and to examine the contribution of the sympathetic nervous system to energy metabolism and balance. Clinically, however...

The sympathetic nervous system is an important determinant of vascular function. The effects of the sympathetic nervous system are mediated via release of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides from postganglionic sympathetic neurons. The present study tests the hypothesis that vascular smooth muscle cells (VSM) maintain adrenergic neurotransmitter/neuropeptide expression in the postganglionic sym...

For almost a century it is discussed that activity in the sympathetic nervous system may be involved in the generation of pain, e.g., in causalgia and reflex sympathetic dystrophy. This assumption is based mainly upon two observations: (1) the pain is spatially correlated with signs of autonomic dysfunction, i.e., with abnormalities in blood flow and sweating, as well as with trophic changes, a...