To examine the effect of moderate and fatiguing exercise on the simple reaction times of recreational athletes, 12 subjects took a simple reaction-time test while at rest and while cycling on a Monark cycle ergometer at 70% and 100% of maximum workload. To estimate 70% and 100% of maximum workload the subjects underwent a standard incremental test until exhaustion, defined as subjects being unable to maintain the required pedal rate of 70 rpm. Simple reaction time during maximal exercise was significantly slower than in the other two conditions which did not differ significantly from one another. Heart rate and rate of perceived exertion differed significantly for all three conditions.

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Zinc iodide-osmium (ZIO) impregnation of rat dorsal root ganglia differentially stained various elements in the neuronal cells, particularly their Golgi bodies. On the basis of this differential ZIO staining dorsal root ganglion neurones have been classified into seven types. The ultrastructure of these is described and the numbers of each type in the L4 dorsal root ganglion have been determined. Prolonged nerve stimulation did not change the relative numbers of the different cell types suggesting that none of the differences between cell types represents differences in their state of activity. The possibility is discussed that differences in morphology may reflect differences in neurotransmitter function.

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This study was designed to examine the effect of dietary supplementation with essential fatty acids (evening primrose oil--5% weight:weight added to the diet) on acute neurophysiological and neurochemical defects in streptozotocin-diabetic rats. Diabetic rats, which were not given evening primrose oil, showed highly significant elevations of nerve sorbitol and fructose combined with a depletion of nerve myo-inositol. In those animals there was also a 40% reduction (p less than 0.02) in the accumulation of axonally transported substance P-like immunoreactivity proximal to a 12 h sciatic nerve ligature together with reduced motor nerve conduction velocity (13% [p less than 0.001] and 20% [p less than 0.001] in two separate experiments). Treatment of other diabetic rats with evening primrose oil prevented completely the development of the motor nerve conduction velocity deficit without affecting sorbitol, fructose or myo-inositol levels or the deficit in axonal transport of substance P. In a second experiment, treatment of diabetic rats with evening primrose oil was associated with significant attenuation of the conduction velocity deficit, but not complete prevention.

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