It is known that branching strands of cardiac tissue can form a substrate for very slow conduction. The branches slow conduction by acting as current loads drawing depolarizing current from the main strand ("pull" effect). It has been suggested that, upon depolarization of the branches, they become current sources reinjecting current back into the strand, thus enhancing propagation safety ("pus...

BACKGROUND Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) is released from intracardiac neurons during vagal stimulation, ischemia, and heart failure, which are associated with increased vulnerability to atrial fibrillation. VIP shortens atrial effective refractory periods in dogs. Endogenous VIP contributes to vagally mediated acceleration of atrial electric remodeling. VIP is also shown to prolong t...

a square array of 64 closely spaced electrodes and a computer-assisted acquisition and analysis system. Amiodarone caused a rate-dependent decrease in conduction velocity with a slightly greater effect in the longitudinal direction of propagation. Rate-related depression of conduction velocity developed rapidly after abrupt shortening of the pacing cycle length; 67% of the change occurred betwe...

[Purpose] Painful diabetic polyneuropathy occurs as a complication in 16% of all patients with diabetes mellitus. [Subjects and Methods] A clinical, prospective open-label randomized intervention study was conducted of 60 adult patients, with distal sensorimotor diabetic neuropathy two groups of 30 patients, with diabetes mellitus type 2 with distal sensorimotor diabetic neuropathy. Patients in...

Twelve endurance athletes and six power athletes performed fatiguing isokinetic knee flexions/extensions. Isokinetic torque was recorded during the exercise. Isometric torque, cortisol and lactate responses, electromyographic (EMG) mean power frequency, average rectified value, and conduction velocity were analysed before and after the isokinetic exercise to determine correlations between elect...

Certain functions of the peripheral and autonomic nervous systems, and colour discrimination were examined in 45 workers (mean age 49; mean exposure to carbon disulphide (CS2) 20 years) and 37 controls (mean age 48). Conduction velocity and refractory period of the peroneal and sural nerves were determined. The conduction velocity of the slower fibres of the peroneal nerve was measured by means...

Previously we have demonstrated that diabetes causes impairment in vascular function of epineurial vessels, which precedes the slowing of motor nerve conduction velocity. Treatment of diabetic rats with aldose reductase inhibitors, aminoguanidine or myo-inositol supplementation have been shown to improve motor nerve conduction velocity and/or decreased endoneurial blood flow. However, the effec...

A small pneumatic cuff inflated around the knee was used to produce tourniquet paralysis in baboons. A cuff pressure of 1,000 mm Hg maintained for one to three hours produced paralysis of distal muscles lasting up to three months. Nerve conduction studies showed that most of the motor fibres to the abductor hallucis muscle were blocked at the level of the cuff and that they conducted impulses n...

Variation in peripheral nerve conduction velocity (PNCV) and intelligence was studied in 18-year-old Dutch twins. It has been suggested that both brain nerve conduction velocity and PNCV are positively correlated with intelligence (Reed, 1984) and that heritable differences in nerve conduction velocity may explain part of the well-established heritability of intelligence. The relationship among...

We studied muscle fatigue and recovery on healthy males by means of surface and invasive EMG, on biceps brachii and brachioradialis muscle. Fatigue was induced by 1 min of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), recovery was studied during 60 min (surface EMG) and 15 min (invasive EMG). The main finding was a long-lasting 'supernormal' muscle fiber conduction velocity (MFCV) during recovery. After...