Results indicated that 24 weeks of ST improved body composition parameters, increased muscular strength, and preserved BMD in postmenopausal women.

Current results indicate that the WE and WL programs improved the cardiorespiratory and neuromuscular fitness of older women. Furthermore, when the effectiveness of the training programs were compared, it was verified that the WE program was more powerful in inducing changes in physical fitness versus the WL program.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of physical exercise on the functional capacity and quality of life in heart failure patients. METHODS: Forty-two patients of both sexes with heart failure of NYHA class II and III with different etiologies were randomly divided into untrained or trained groups. The six-month exercise program consisted of aerobic training, muscle strength training, agility and joint flexibility activities. Physical fitness was evaluated by testing the performance on these trained components. Quality of life was evaluated by scored answers to a standardized questionnaire involving multiple domains. RESULTS: Baseline values did not differ between groups. Improvement in the trained group was identified in all components of functional capacity when compared to the untrained group (p < 0.001). Quality of life improved in the trained patients concerning physical, psychological, social and environmental domains (p < 0.001), whereas no significant change was found in the untrained patients. CONCLUSIONS: Guided and monitored physical exercise is safe and has the potential to improve functional capacity and quality of life in heart failure patients with multiple etiologies

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the effects of short‐term exercise detraining on the functional fitness of older women after a 12‐week water‐based exercise (WE) program.METHODS:Healthy older women (trained (TR) group) were submitted to 12 weeks WE (three 45 min sessions per week) followed by a 6‐week detraining period. A group of aged‐matched women without any exercise training (UN group) were evaluated during the same period. The aerobic power, measured by VO2max and 800 meters performance, and the neuromuscular fitness and quality of life were evaluated. All assessments were made at baseline, after 12 weeks of training and after 4 and 6 weeks of detraining.RESULTS:No changes were found for the UN group during the follow‐up study, but WE induced significant improvement in aerobic capacity, neuromuscular fitness and quality of life score. However, the upper and lower body strength, agility, flexibility, and body balance returned to UN levels (p>0.05) after 6 weeks of detraining.CONCLUSIONS:The results confirmed that 12 weeks of WE improves the functional fitness parameters and quality of life of older women. However, after a short detraining period of 4–6 weeks, the neuromuscular parameters and the quality of life score returns to baseline or untrained subject levels.

AimThe aim of this study was to investigate the impact of circuit-based exercise on the body composition in obese older women by focusing on physical exercise and body weight (BW) gain control in older people.MethodsSeventy older women (>60 years old) voluntarily took part in the study. Participants were randomized into six different groups according to body mass index (BMI): appropriate weight (AW) control (AWC) and trained (AWT) groups, overweight (OW) control (OWC) and trained (OWT) groups, and obesity (O) control (OC) and trained (OT) groups. The exercise program consisted of 50 minutes of exercise three times per week for 12 weeks. The exercises were alternated between upper and lower body using rest between sets for 40 seconds with intensity controlled by heart rate (70% of work). The contraction time established was 5 seconds to eccentric and concentric muscular action phase. The following anthropometric parameters were evaluated: height (m), body weight (BW, kg), body fat (BF, %), fat mass (FM, kg), lean mass (LM, kg), and BMI (kg/m2).ResultsThe values (mean ± standard deviation [SD]) of relative changes to BW (−8.0% ± 0.8%), BF (−21.4% ± 2.1%), LM (3.0% ± 0.3%), and FM (−31.2% ± 3.0%) to the OT group were higher (P < 0.05) than in the AWT (BW: −2.0% ± 1.1%; BF: −4.6% ± 1.8%; FM: −7.0% ± 2.8%; LM: 0.2% ± 1.1%) and OWT (BW: −4.5% ± 1.0%; BF: −11.0% ± 2.2%; FM: −16.1% ± 3.2%; LM: −0.2% ± 1.0%) groups; additionally, no differences were found for C groups. While reduction (P < 0.03) in BMI according to absolute values was observed for all trained groups (AWT: 22 ± 1 versus 21 ± 1; OWT: 27 ± 1 versus 25 ± 1, OT: 34 ± 1 versus 30 ± 1) after training, no differences were found for C groups.ConclusionIn summary, circuit-based exercise is an effective method for promoting reduction in anthropometrics parameters in obese older women.

Myocardial hypertrophy and dysfunction occur in response to excessive catecholaminergic drive. Adverse cardiac remodelling is associated with activation of proinflammatory cytokines in the myocardium. To test the hypothesis that exercise training can prevent myocardial dysfunction and production of proinflammatory cytokines induced by β-adrenergic hyperactivity, male Wistar rats were assigned to one of the following four groups: sedentary non-treated (Con); sedentary isoprenaline treated (Iso); exercised non-treated (Ex); and exercised plus isoprenaline (Iso+Ex). Echocardiography, haemodynamic measurements and isolated papillary muscle were used for functional evaluations. Real-time RT-PCR and Western blot were used to quantify tumour necrosis factor α, interleukin-6, interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor β 1 (TGF-β 1 ) in the tissue. NF-κB expression in the nucleus was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. The Iso rats showed a concentric hypertrophy of the left ventricle (LV). These animals exhibited marked increases in LV end-diastolic pressure and impaired myocardial performance in vitro, with a reduction in the developed tension and maximal rate of tension increase and decrease, as well as worsened recruitment of the Frank-Starling mechanism. Both gene and protein levels of tumour necrosis factor α and interleukin-6, as well as TGF-β 1 mRNA, were increased. In addition, the NF-κB expression in the Iso group was significantly raised. In the Iso+Ex group, the exercise training had the following effects: (1) it prevented LV hypertrophy; (ii) it improved myocardial contractility; (3) it avoided the increase of proinflammatory cytokines and improved interleukin-10 levels; and (4) it attenuated the increase of TGF-β 1 mRNA. Thus, exercise training in a model of β-adrenergic hyperactivity can avoid the adverse remodelling of the LV and inhibit inflammatory cytokines. Moreover, the cardioprotection is related to beneficial effects on myocardial performance. Abbreviations CSA, cross-sectional area; +dP/dt, maximal positive time derivate of the developed pressure; −dP/dt, maximal negative time derivate of the developed pressure; DT, developed tension; +dT/dt, maximal rate of tension increase; −dT/dt, maximal rate of tension decrease; FS, left vetricular fractional shortening; GAPDH, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; HR, heart rate; IL-6, interleukin-6; IL-10, interleukin-10; L max , maximal length; LV, left ventricle; LVEDD, left vetricular end-diastolic diameter; LVEDP, left vetricular end-diastolic pressure; LVESD, left vetricular end-systolic diameter; LVPWd, diastolic left vetricular posterior wall thickness; LVPWs, systolic left vetricular posterior wall thickness; LVSP, left vetricular systolic pressure; MAP, mean arterial pressure; NF-κB, nuclear factor-κB; RT, resting tension; TGF-β 1 , transforming growth factor β 1 ; TNF-α, tumour necrosis factor α.

Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) has been used as an anti-inflammatory treatment in several disease conditions, even when inflammation is a secondary consequence, such as in myocardial infarction (MI). However, the mechanism by which LLLT is able to protect the remaining myocardium remains unclear. The present study tested the hypothesis that LLLT reduces inflammation after acute MI in female rats and ameliorates cardiac function. The potential participation of the Renin-Angiotensin System (RAS) and Kallikrein-Kinin System (KKS) vasoactive peptides was also evaluated. LLLT treatment effectively reduced MI size, attenuated the systolic dysfunction after MI, and decreased the myocardial mRNA expression of interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-6 in comparison to the non-irradiated rat tissue. In addition, LLLT treatment increased protein and mRNA levels of the Mas receptor, the mRNA expression of kinin B2 receptors and the circulating levels of plasma kallikrein compared to non-treated post-MI rats. On the other hand, the kinin B1 receptor mRNA expression decreased after LLLT. No significant changes were found in the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the myocardial remote area between laser-irradiated and non-irradiated post-MI rats. Capillaries density also remained similar between these two experimental groups. The mRNA expression of the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was increased three days after MI, however, this effect was blunted by LLLT. Moreover, endothelial NOS mRNA content increased after LLLT. Plasma nitric oxide metabolites (NOx) concentration was increased three days after MI in non-treated rats and increased even further by LLLT treatment. Our data suggest that LLLT diminishes the acute inflammation in the myocardium, reduces infarct size and attenuates left ventricle dysfunction post-MI and increases vasoactive peptides expression and nitric oxide (NO) generation.

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that causes changes in the autonomic nervous system. Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects the regulation of cardiac activity and autonomic nervous system tone. The early detection of epileptic seizures could foster the use of new treatment approaches. This study presents a new methodology for the prediction of epileptic seizures using HRV signals. Eigendecomposition of HRV parameter covariance matrices was used to create an input for a support vector machine (SVM)-based classifier. We analyzed clinical data from 12 patients (9 female; 3 male; age 34.5 ± 7.5 years), involving 34 seizures and a total of 55.2 h of interictal electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings. Data from 123.6 h of ECG recordings from healthy subjects were used to test false positive rate per hour (FP/h) in a completely independent data set. Our methodological approach allowed the detection of impending seizures from 5 min to just before the onset of a clinical/electrical seizure with a sensitivity of 94.1%. The FP rate was 0.49 h−1 in the recordings from patients with epilepsy and 0.19 h−1 in the recordings from healthy subjects. Our results suggest that it is feasible to use the dynamics of HRV parameters for the early detection and, potentially, the prediction of epileptic seizures.