BACKGROUND Exercise intolerance is the hallmark of COPD. Static lung hyperinflation and increased dynamic hyperinflation during exercise are associated with reduced functional capacity in COPD patients. Inspiratory capacity correction for the total lung capacity, defined as inspiratory fraction (IF), may be functionally more representative than other traditional indices in these patients. OBJ...

OBJECTIVE We examined associations of cardiovascular, metabolic, and body composition measures with exercise capacity using baseline data from 5,145 overweight and/or obese (BMI > or = 25.0 kg/m2) men and women with type 2 diabetes who were randomized participants for the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) clinical trial. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Peak exercise capacity expressed as...

Indirect measures of cardiac vagal activity are strongly associated with exercise capacity, yet a causal relationship has not been established. Here we show that in rats, genetic silencing of the largest population of brainstem vagal preganglionic neurons residing in the brainstem's dorsal vagal motor nucleus dramatically impairs exercise capacity, while optogenetic recruitment of the same neur...

There are large interindividual differences in exercise capacity. It is well established that there is a genetic basis for these differences. However, the genetic factors underlying this variation are undefined. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify novel putative quantitative trait loci (QTL) for exercise capacity by measuring exercise capacity in inbred mice and performing geno...

OBJECTIVE To compare the aerobic and anaerobic exercise capacity of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) with healthy controls, to determine if there were differences based on disease onset type, and to examine the relationship between aerobic and anaerobic exercise capacity in children with JIA. METHODS Sixty-two patients with JIA (mean +/- SD age 11.9 +/- 2.2 years, range 6.7-1...

OBJECTIVE -We examined associations of cardiovascular, metabolic, and body composition measures with exercise capacity using baseline data from 5145 overweight and/or obese (BMI > 25.0) men and women with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) who were randomized participants for the Look AHEAD clinical trial. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -Peak exercise capacity expressed as metabolic equivalents (METs) and est...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) on exercise capacity and determine cardiopulmonary exercise (CPEX) parameters associated with improvement in right ventricle (RV) function. SUBJECTS AND METHODS We retrospectively analyzed CPEX and magnetic resonance imaging parameters in a total of 245 patients who underwent PVR...

OBJECTIVES Our study attempted to validate a Doppler index of diastolic filling (E/E') during exercise with simultaneously measured left ventricular diastolic pressure (LVDP), investigate its association with exercise capacity, and understand which patients to select for testing. BACKGROUND The ratio of early diastolic transmitral velocity to early diastolic tissue velocity approximates LVDP ...

Almost 3 quarters of a century ago, an experimental dog model, involving the electrocautery ablation of the free wall of the right ventricle (RV), served as the basis for the contention that the RV serves functionally as a passive conduit. Clearly, our understanding of the RV has evolved over subsequent decades, and the prognostic significance of RV dysfunction is now recognized in a wide array...

OBJECTIVE Type 2 diabetes is associated with reduced exercise capacity, but the cause of this association is unclear. We sought the associations of impaired exercise capacity in type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Subclinical left ventricular (LV) dysfunction was sought from myocardial strain rate and the basal segmental diastolic velocity (Em) of each wall in 170 patients with type ...