Objectives To study the effect of exercise and a high fat meal (HFM) on endothelial function. Background Postprandial lipemia and exercise oppose each other in terms of cardiovascular risk, however the mechanism of their interaction is not well understood. Methods Endothelial function was assessed by brachial artery flow mediated dilation (FMD), in eight healthy men before and after a HFM preceded (16–18 hrs) by rest, a single bout of continuous moderate intensity exercise (CME), and high intensity interval exercise (HIIE). Results Before the HFM, initial brachial artery diameters were similar in all trials (0.43±0.04 cm), but after the HFM basal diameter decreased only in the control (0.39±0.03) and CME (0.38±0.04) trials. Prior to the HFM, FMD/shear was improved by a single bout of CME (+20%, p<0.01) and HIIE (+45%, p<0.01, group differences, p<0.01), with no effect in the control trial. After the HFM (30, 120, and 240 mins), FMD decayed to a lesser extent with CME, but in a similar fashion to the control trial. In contrast FMD in the HIIE trial remained elevated following the exercise despite a clear meal-induced lipemia. Although, there were no correlations between vascular function and food-induced markers of cardiovascular risk, antioxidant status was strongly correlated with FMD (r=0.9, p<0.001). Conclusion These findings reveal a clinically relevant protective effect of acute exercise upon the vasculature that is clearly exercise intensity dependent and tightly related to exercise-induced antioxidant capacity.

Graft flow is highly dependent on the degree of competitive flow. High competitive flow was found to produce unfavourable WSS consistent with endothelial dysfunction and subsequent graft narrowing and failure. Partial competitive flow, however, may be better tolerated as it was found to be similar to the ideal condition of no competitive flow.

Improving reduced skeletal muscle function is important for optimising exercise tolerance and quality of life in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. By applying high-intensity training to a small muscle group, we hypothesised a normalisation of muscle function.Seven patients with COPD performed 6 weeks (3 days?week -1 ) of high-intensity interval aerobic knee extensor exercise training. Five age-matched healthy individuals served as a reference group. Muscle oxygen uptake and mitochondrial respiration of the vastus lateralis muscle were measured before and after the 6-week training programme. Initial peak work and maximal mitochondrial respiration were reduced in COPD patients and improved significantly after the training programme. Peak power and maximal mitochondrial respiration in vastus lateralis muscle increased to the level of the control subjects and were mainly mediated via improved complex I respiration. Furthermore, when normalised to citrate synthase activity, no difference in maximal respiration was found either after the intervention or compared to controls, suggesting normal functioning mitochondrial complexes.The present study shows that high-intensity training of a restricted muscle group is highly effective in restoring skeletal muscle function in COPD patients.