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Biomedical subjects

B J Martin

Publications and source records attributed to B J Martin.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Inhibitory effects of combined agonist and antagonist muscle vibration on H-reflex in man.

Vibration alters human sensory motor performance. Changes in the excitability of spinal reflex mechanisms may be responsible for the majority of the observed alterations. We studied the differential effects of vibration locally applied to gastrocnemius soleus and tibialis anterior muscles separately and to both muscles simultaneously. From the results, it is deduced that combined agonist and antagonist muscle vibration may lead to summative interaction between pre- and postsynaptic inhibition at motoneuronal level. Whole-body vibration is taken to mean a combination of synchronous vibrations applied locally and simultaneously to several muscles. The results also demonstrate that the level of inhibition of the H-reflex resulting from the vibration is directly related to the displacement amplitude of the vibration, regardless of the frequency.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Adapted head- and eye-movement responses to added-head inertia.

Adaptation to inertia added to the head was studied in man by mounting masses on a rigidly attached helmet. Two- to ten-fold increases of inertia were thus produced, while an overhead suspension compensated for the weights. Eye and head positions and corresponding velocities were simultaneously recorded during eye-head tracking of a target stepping at 0.2 Hz in the horizontal direction. Without added inertia, fast gaze movements are type III, the accelerated head movement coming early and the resulting VOR truncating the simultaneous eye movement saccade in both amplitude and velocity. Head oscillations are fast and overcompensated by higher gain VOR. With added inertia, the adapted head movement is slowed and delayed. This permits the eye movement saccade to be completed before head movement begins and to escape truncation; the saccade is normal or slightly increased in amplitude. Head oscillations are slow and compensated by normal gain VOR. Either truncation of the saccade or overcompensation of the VOR leads to eye movement and gaze position error that is corrected for by secondary corrective saccades. These same two errors in gaze coordination could explain the cause of the perceived oscillopsia. Oscillopsia, or continual displacement or instability of the visual worlds, is a symptom of breakdown of space constancy, and was prominent and consistent in perceptual reports of our subjects. Adaptation resulting from adding inertia to the head occurred much faster than that induced by adding prisms or lenses.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1985

Normal pressure hydrocephalus and Paget's disease of bone.

Although senile dementia of Alzheimer type (SDAT) is the commonest cause of dementia in the elderly, it is important to recognise potentially reversible causes such as normal pressure hydrocephalus. This has been reported to occur in association with Paget's disease of the skull, but would appear to be an extremely rare complication of this disease. To date 4 cases of successful surgical intervention in normal pressure hydrocephalus complicating Paget's disease of skull have been reported. We report 3 cases which have presented to one Department of Geriatric Medicine during a 3-year period. Two cases were diagnosed prior to death and both responded well to ventriculo-peritoneal shunting.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

The economy of isometric force development, myosin isoenzyme pattern and myofibrillar ATPase activity in normal and hypothyroid rat myocardium.

Hypothyroidism was induced in Wistar-Kyoto rats by adding propylthiouracil to the drinking water (0.8 mg/ml). Initial heat, total activity-related heat, and resting heat rate were measured in left ventricular papillary muscle preparations of propylthiouracil-treated and control rats contracting isometrically at 12 beats/min (21 degrees C), using Hill type, planar vacuum-deposited bismuth and antimony thermopiles. In the propylthiouracil preparations, relative to control, time-to-peak tension increased from 288 +/- 27 (mean +/- SD) to 411 +/- 25 msec (P less than 0.001), dp/dtmax decreased from 38.3 +/- 9.5 to 20.4 +/- 3.5 g X mm-2/sec (P less than 0.001), and peak developed tension decreased from 6.11 +/- 1.75 to 4.64 +/- 0.89 g X mm-2 (P less than 0.05). In the propylthiouracil preparations, initial heat was significantly (P less than 0.001) reduced by 27 or 43% when normalized to peak twitch tension or tension-time integral, respectively. In experiments where the papillary muscles were tetanized, the slope of the linear function of total activity-related heat versus tension-time integral was decreased by 43% (P less than 0.001) in the propylthiouracil preparations, indicating an improved economy of isometric tension maintenance. The predominant myosin isoenzyme of the left ventricular wall, as well as the papillary muscle myocardium, was the V3 variety in the propylthiouracil animals, in contrast to V1 in the controls. Myofibrillar actomyosin calcium-magnesium-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase activity was significantly (P less than 0.02) decreased from 55 +/- 18 (control) to 31 +/- 8 nmol inorganic phosphate ion/mg X min (propylthiouracil).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Actomyosin↗
PubMed1985

Heterogeneity of myosin isozyme content of rabbit heart.

A detailed study was carried out to measure the relative contents of V1 and V3 myosin isozymes in different regions of rabbit ventricle as a function of age, to assess animal-to-animal variability, and to compare different experimental approaches aimed at minimizing the effects of such variability. In addition, comparisons were made in normal developing hearts between ventricular isozyme composition and myofibrillar myosin calcium-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase. V1 isozyme predominated relative to V3 isozyme in the hearts of 2-week-old rabbits, decreasing to become a minor component in 10-week-old animals. Despite this trend, there was considerable variability in relative isozyme content of whole ventricular tissue among different rabbits of the same age. This variability was reduced in comparisons of littermates and by use of cardiac biopsies to measure changes in isozyme content in the same animal over time. Within different regions of a given heart, there also were small but significant differences in the percent V1 isozyme. The percent V1 was greatest for right ventricular papillary, followed by right ventricular free wall and then the left ventricle (free wall plus septum). There also were differences in the percent V1 within those regions, as exemplified by the significantly higher values for ventricular epicardium vs. endocardium. There was a linear correlation between the myofibrillar myosin calcium-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase and percent V1 of total isozyme for both right and left ventricles in normal and developing hearts. The regression lines for calcium-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase vs. percent V1 had a steeper slope in the left than in the right ventricle.

Aging↗
PubMed1985

Inspiratory muscle training in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

To investigate the effects of inspiratory muscle resistive loading training (IMT) on exercise performance in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 13 patients undergoing standard pulmonary rehabilitation were divided into control (n = 6) and experimental (n = 7) groups. Prior to training, we measured inspiratory muscle strength and endurance, resting pulmonary function, and exercise performance on a bicycle ergometer (a progressive test and an endurance test at two thirds of maximal work load). We then determined their resistive loads for training by measuring their 10-min maximal sustainable resistance. Training by patients in the experimental group involved inspiring against a predetermined resistive load. The control subjects breathed through a sham training tube, so that studies were performed in double-blind fashion. The training consisted of 15-min sessions twice daily for 4 wk. The IMT dramatically improved inspiratory muscle endurance--represented as either sustainable inspiratory pressure (SIP) or endurance time at 60% of maximal inspiratory mouth pressure (Pimmax) at functional residual capacity. The SIP of the trained group increased from 29 +/- 11 to 46 +/- 11% of Pimmax (p less than 0.005). Training slightly increased inspiratory muscle strength (p less than 0.05), as determined by Pimmax. In contrast, resting pulmonary function and performance of both progressive and constant-load exercise remained unchanged. We conclude that 4-wk IMT in a pulmonary rehabilitation setting improves inspiratory muscle endurance in patients with COPD without changing pulmonary function or exercise performance.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

Familial Hodgkins disease.

Three cases of Hodgkins Disease in one family are described. The index case presented with pyrexia of unknown origin and the diagnosis of Hodgkins Disease was made at post mortem. Two other members of the family had died of a similar cause many years previously. Triple occurrence of Hodgkin's Disease within one family is very uncommon as is a long time interval between cases.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Maximal ventilation after exhausting exercise.

It remains unclear whether the hyperpnea of exercise severely stresses the ventilatory musculature. We hypothesized that the ability to ventilate maximally is decreased during and immediately following exhausting exercise. Subjects performed isocapnic maximal voluntary ventilations (60-s MVV) before, during the final minute, and after exhausting treadmill exercise lasting either 3-10 min or 60 min. Severe exercise lasting 3-10 min failed to change the 60-s MVV. In contrast, during the final minute and 5 and 10 min after 60 min of exhausting exercise, eight non-runners showed significantly lower (P less than 0.01) 60-s MVV values in comparison to control values. Eight runners had a lower (P less than 0.05) 60-s MVV 10 min post-exercise as compared with control and exercise values. Our data suggest that the capacity to ventilate maximally declines only in long-term exhausting exercise and that this decrement in most pronounced in non-runners.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Exercise in a cold environment after sleep deprivation.

Seven subjects exercised to thermal comfort in a cold environment (O degrees C, 2.5 m X s-1) after normal sleep (control) and following a 50-h period of sleep deprivation. Resting core temperature (rectal) taken before the subject entered the cold environment was significantly lower (-0.5 degrees C, P less than 0.05) following the 50-h period of wakefulness. However, rectal temperature was not different after 15 min of exercise during the two exposures, suggesting that the subjects stored heat more rapidly during the first 15 min of exercise after sleep deprivation. No significant differences in self-chosen exercise intensity, significant differences in self-chosen exercise intensity, heart rate, metabolic rate, or exercise time were evident between the control and sleep deprived exposures. Fifty hours of sleep deprivation failed to alter the core temperature response during exercise in severe cold stress, and subjects chose identical work rates to minimize fatigue and cold sensation. The results suggest that the 50-h sleep deprivation period was not a true physiological stress during exercise in a cold environment. (Supported by Contract #DAMD 17-81-C1023.)

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Respiratory frequency and the oxygen cost of exercise.

Although many studies indicate that the spontaneous breathing frequency minimizes breathing work, the consequences of this for exercise energetics have never been investigated. To see if the spontaneous exercise breathing frequency minimizes oxygen uptake, we compared VO2 during treadmill walking (2/3 VO2 max) at several alternative frequencies. The alternative frequencies ranged from the lowest sustainable to a frequency twice the spontaneous value. All eight subjects adjusted tidal volume to comfort. Exercise oxygen uptake was constant, independent of breathing frequency. At the same time, minute ventilation rose to be 65% greater at the highest frequency than at the lowest (P less than 0.01). We then reproduced the various exercise frequencies, tidal volumes, and ventilations during seated isocapnic hyperpnea to measure VO2 with locomotory muscles at rest. Once again, oxygen uptake was constant, independent of breathing frequency. We conclude that the spontaneous exercise breathing frequency fails to minimize VO2 during either exercise or resting reproduction of exercise ventilation.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Sleep loss and the sympathoadrenal response to exercise.

To determine whether sleep is necessary for the peripheral sympathetic nervous system response to exercise, we compared eight subjects' sympathoadrenal responses to treadmill walking at a constant exercise rate eliciting a heart rate around 160 beats X min-1 after normal sleep with those measured after a 50-h sleepless period. We found that sleeplessness left the sympathetic response to exercise intact. After 12 min of exercise, heart rate and plasma norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine levels were similar in both situations. In addition, we could find no other alterations in the physiological response to exercise after sleep loss, and minute ventilation, oxygen uptake, blood lactate levels, and rectal and skin temperatures were identical in the two conditions. Nevertheless, despite both unaltered physiological responses to exercise and doubled monetary incentives to perform, sleep loss reduced time to exhaustion by 20% (P less than 0.01). We concluded that sleep loss does not diminish the peripheral sympathetic nervous system response to exercise, although it reduces exercise tolerance through mechanisms that are unexplained as yet.

Adrenal Glands↗