Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to investigate regions of the brain that are selectively affected during different phases of the normal menstrual cycle. A total of 10 healthy 18-29 year old female volunteers had PET measurements of brain glucose metabolism between days 5 and 9 of the follicular phase when plasma concentrations of oestradiol and progesterone were relatively low and between days 5 and 8 of the luteal phase when plasma concentrations of oestradiol and progesterone were relatively high. Automated algorithms were used to align the PET images in each individual, transform them into the coordinates of a brain atlas, control for variations in whole brain measurements and compute t-score maps of phase-related differences in regional glucose metabolism. The mid-follicular phase was associated with significantly higher glucose metabolism in thalamic, prefrontal, temporoparietal and inferior temporal regions. The mid-luteal phase was associated with significantly higher glucose metabolism in superior temporal, anterior temporal, occipital, cerebellar, cingulate and anterior insular regions. While this study should be considered to be exploratory, it provides normative data for future studies and illustrates how PET can be used to help characterize relationships between phases of the female life cycle, temporally related disorders and local functions of the living human brain.

The relationships among interpersonal stressors, depression, coping inefficiency, hormones (prolactin, cortisol, and estradiol), and disease activity were examined. The sample comprised 33 women with rheumatoid arthritis (RAs; age 37-78) and 37 women with osteoarthritis (OAs; age 47-91), who served as controls. In a regression analysis, interpersonal conflict events accounted for more than twice as much variance in depression in RAs than in OAs. In the RA patients, the immune-stimulating hormones prolactin and estradiol were significantly positively correlated with interpersonal conflicts, depression, coping inefficacy, and clinician ratings of disease activity, suggesting that RAs are more reactive to interpersonal stressors than are OAs, both psychologically and physiologically.

Acute high-intensity exercise coupled with motor practice improves the retention of motor learning in neurologically intact adults. However, whether exercise could improve the retention of locomotor learning after stroke is still unknown. Here, we investigated the effect of exercise intensity and timing on the retention of a novel locomotor learning task (i.e. split-belt treadmill walking) after stroke. Thirty-seven people post stroke participated in two sessions, 24 h apart, and were allocated to active control (CON), treadmill walking (TMW), or total body exercise on a cycle ergometer (TBE). In session 1, all groups exercised for a short bout (∼5 min) at low (CON) or high (TMW and TBE) intensity and before (CON and TMW) or after (TBE) the locomotor learning task. In both sessions, the locomotor learning task was to walk on a split-belt treadmill in a 2:1 speed ratio (100% and 50% fast-comfortable walking speed) for 15 min. To test the effect of exercise on 24 h retention, we applied behavioural and computational analyses. Behavioural data showed that neither high-intensity group showed greater 24 h retention compared to CON, and computational data showed that 24 h retention was attributable to a slow learning process for sensorimotor adaptation. Our findings demonstrated that acute exercise coupled with a locomotor adaptation task, regardless of its intensity and timing, does not improve retention of the novel locomotor task after stroke. We postulate that exercise effects on motor learning may be context specific (e.g. type of motor learning and/or task) and interact with the presence of genetic variant (BDNF Val66Met).

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Chronic energy deficit is one of the strongest factors contributing to exercise-induced menstrual dysfunction. In such cases, macro- and micronutrient intakes may also be low. This study presents the results of a diet and exercise training intervention program, designed to reverse athletic amenorrhea, on improving energy balance and nutritional status in 4 amenorrheic athletes. The 20-week program provided a daily sport nutrition supplement and 1 day of rest/week. The intervention improved self-reported energy intake (El) and balance in all participants. The program increased protein intakes for the 3 athletes with a protein deficit to within the recommended levels for active individuals. Micronutrient intakes increased, as did serum concentrations of vitamin B12, folate, zinc, iron, and ferritin. These results indicate that some amenorrheic athletes have poor nutritional status due to restricted Els and poor food selections. A sport nutrition supplement may improve energy balance and nutritional status in active amenorrheic women.

Objective. The effects of interpersonal stress on disease activity were examined for married women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

Previous data support the idea of heightened sympathetically mediated cardiovascular reactivity in males. However, definitive conclusions cannot be made because of inconsistent reports, possibly stemming from imprecise measurement of sympathetic activity and/or failure to equate the stress stimuli between genders. The present study tested the hypothesis that males exhibit heightened sympathetic reactivity that is associated with heightened cardiovascular and plasma catecholamine responses. In 37 healthy adults (20 males, 17 females: age = 20-42 yr), direct recordings of skeletal muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), plasma catecholamines, heart rate, blood pressure, and perceived stress were measured before and during three laboratory stressors (isometric handgrip, cold pressor, and mental arithmetic). MSNA, catecholamine, and cardiovascular reactivity (defined as change from rest) were not consistently different between genders. For the isometric handgrip, when expressed as absolute unit changes, males had larger MSNA responses (P < 0.01), which were partially explained by greater contraction force; they did not differ in terms of percent change from baseline or in perceived stress. The responses to the cold pressor and mental arithmetic tasks were similar between genders. These findings indicate that stress-evoked vasoconstrictor neural excitation and the associated increases in blood pressure are not consistently influenced by gender.

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