Vascular endothelial function is a strong marker of cardiovascular health and it refers to the ability of the body to maintain the homeostasis of vascular tone. The endothelial cells react to mechanical and chemical stimuli modulating the smooth muscle cells relaxation. The extent of the induced vasodilation depends on the magnitude of the stimulus. During exercise, the peripheral circulation is mostly controlled by the endothelial cells response that increases the peripheral blood flow in body districts involved but also not involved with exercise. However, whether vascular adaptations occur also in the brachial artery as a result of isolated leg extension muscles (KE) training is still an open question. Repetitive changes in blood flow occurring during exercise may act as vascular training for vessels supplying the active muscle bed as well as for the vessels of body districts not directly involved with exercise. This study sought to evaluate whether small muscle mass (KE) training would induce improvements in endothelial function not only in the vasculature of the lower limb (measured at the femoral artery level in the limb directly involved with training), but also in the upper limb (measured at the brachial artery level in the limb not directly involved with training) as an effect of repetitive increments in the peripheral blood flow during training sessions. Ten young healthy participants (five females, and five males; age: 23 ± 3 years; stature: 1.70 ± 0.11 m; body mass: 66 ± 11 kg; BMI: 23 ± 1 kg ⋅ m -2 ) underwent an 8-week KE training study. Maximum work rate (MWR), vascular function and peripheral blood flow were assessed pre- and post-KE training by KE ergometer, flow mediated dilatation (FMD) in the brachial artery (non-trained limb), and by passive limb movement (PLM) in femoral artery (trained limb), respectively. After 8 weeks of KE training, MWR and PLM increased by 44% ( p = 0.015) and 153% ( p = 0.003), respectively. Despite acute increase in brachial artery blood flow during exercise occurred (+25%; p < 0.001), endothelial function did not change after training. Eight weeks of KE training improved endothelial cells response only in the lower limb (measured at the femoral artery level) directly involved with training, likely without affecting the endothelial response of the upper limb (measured at the brachial artery level) not involved with training.

This study is designed to evaluate the prevalence of waterpipe tobacco smoking and its related factors among Iranian adults. This is a cross-sectional study carried out during 2013/14 in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, among 1830 citizens aged over 15 years. Sampling was through Stratified multistage cluster sampling with proportional allocation within strata. Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) questionnaire for waterpipe consumption was used for data gathering. Data were statistically analyzed by SPSS software. The prevalence of current waterpipe tobacco smoking was 17.6% .Waterpipe use prevalence in men was significantly more than women (24.2% vs. 11.3%). Multivariate analysis showed that age, sex, cigarette consumption, waterpipe consumption at home and ignorance of safety issues significantly influenced current waterpipe smoking (P = 0.001). Thus, prevalence of waterpipe smoking in Iranian adults is high and significant. Tackling waterpipe smoking should be considered in tobacco control programmes. However, further studies in this field are needed. La technique utilisée était celle de l'échantillonnage en grappe stratifié à plusieurs niveaux avec allocation proportionnelle dans les strates. Le questionnaire de l'enquête mondiale sur le tabagisme chez les adultes pour la consommation de tabac par pipe à eau a été utilisé afin de collecter les données. Celles-ci ont été analysées sur le plan statistique à l'aide du logiciel SPSS. La prévalence de la consommation de tabac par pipe à eau au moment de l'étude était de 17,6 %, et était plus importante chez les hommes que chez les femmes (24,2 % contre 11,3 %). L'analyse multivariée a montré que l'âge, le sexe, la consommation de cigarettes, la consommation de pipe à eau à la maison et l'ignorance des questions de sécurité influençaient de façon significative la consommation de tabac par pipe à eau (p = 0,001). Par conséquent, la prévalence de la consommation de tabac par pipe à eau est élevée et significative parmi les adultes iraniens. La question de la consommation de tabac par pipe à eau devrait être traitée dans le cadre des programmes de lutte antitabac. Néanmoins, d'autres études dans ce domaine sont requises. ‫اإلسالمية‬ ‫إيران‬ ‫مجهورية‬ ‫املتوسط‬ ‫لرشق‬ ‫الصحية‬ ‫املجلة‬ ‫العرشون‬ ‫و‬ ‫الثالث‬ ‫املجلد‬ ‫الثاين‬ ‫العدد‬ 95

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Background Recent studies show that gender may have a significant impact on brain functions. However, the reports of sex effects on spatial ability and synaptic plasticity in rodents are divergent and controversial. Here spatial learning and memory was measured in male and female rats by using Morris water maze (MWM) task. Moreover, to assess sex difference in hippocampal synaptic plasticity we examined hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) at perforant pathway-dentate gyrus (PP-DG) synapses. Results In MWM task, male rats outperformed female rats, as they had significantly shorter swim distance and escape latency to find the hidden platform during training days. During spatial reference memory test, female rats spent less time and traveled less distance in the target zone. Male rats also had larger LTP at PP-DG synapses, which was evident in the high magnitude of population spike (PS) potentiation and the field excitatory post synaptic potentials (fEPSP) slope. Conclusions Taken together, our results suggest that sex differences in the LTP at PP-DG synapses, possibly contribute to the observed sex difference in spatial learning and memory.