The distinction between left ventricular (LV) dilation with mildly reduced LV ejection fraction (EF) in response to regular endurance exercise training and an early cardiomyopathy is a frequently encountered and difficult clinical conundrum. We hypothesized that exercise rather than resting measures would provide better discrimination between physiological and pathological LV remodelling and th...

Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) are produced endogenously and also enter the body during the consumption of AGEs present in heat-processed food. It is unknown whether AGEs of dietary origin accumulate within the body of healthy individuals. AGEs can deposit within skin tissue long-term by crosslinking extracellular matrix proteins. The fluorescent nature of many AGEs enables their detecti...

Regular exercise training results in structural and electrical cardiac adaptations which are reflected in the resting 12-lead electrocardiograph (ECG), thus an athlete's ECG can be quite different to that of a sedentary person of the same age, gender and ethnicity. This has been recognised as an issue in the setting of pre-participation ECG screening of athletes in whom false positive findings ...

Performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) confound much of what is considered great about sport. Sport is generally associated with excellent health outcomes that can be challenged by the direct toxicities of PEDs and the indirect effects of enabling the body to push beyond normal physiological reserves, thereby potentiating the risk of some exercise-associated conditions such as atrial fibrillation. ...

The field of sports cardiology has advanced significantly over recent times. It has incorporated clinical and research advances in cardiac imaging, electrophysiology and exercise physiology to enable better diagnostic and therapeutic management of our patients. One important endeavour has been to try and better differentiate athletic cardiac remodelling from inherited cardiomyopathies and other...

The following four cases are typical of the dilemmas faced by sports cardiologists on a regular basis. These are real-life cases and, for each, in addition to a focussed evaluation, the authors openly discuss the clinical predicament and give their personal viewpoints. The cases are designed to be engaging and informative, demonstrating the benefits of expertise in sports cardiology when confro...

In 1975, Morganroth and colleagues reported that the increased left ventricular (LV) mass in highly trained endurance athletes versus nonathletes was primarily due to increased end-diastolic volume while the increased LV mass in resistance trained athletes was solely due to an increased LV wall thickness. Based on the divergent remodelling patterns observed, Morganroth and colleagues hypothesis...

To quantify the mediating role of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and five dietary behaviours on educational differences in 13-year body mass index (BMI) gain across adulthood.Participants from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (4791 women; 3103 men) who maintained or gained BMI over 1990-1994 to 2003-2007 and met our inclusion criteria were selected. Education, potential mediators...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between type 2 diabetes and disability in Mauritius and to assess the extent to which the effect of diabetes is explained by diabetes risk factors and concomitant complications.Data from a national survey in the multiethnic nation of Mauritius, which comprises South Asians and African Creoles, were analyzed. Disability was measured using the...

The posterior tibial nerve, located behind the medial malleolus of the ankle, supplies the intrinsic muscles of the foot and most of the skin of the sole. We describe a novel approach for recording from this nerve via a percutaneously inserted tungsten microelectrode and provide examples of recordings from presumed muscle spindle endings recorded in freely standing human subjects. The fact that...

The aim of this study was to investigate socioeconomic inequalities in frailty among older adults in six low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and to examine to what extent chronic diseases account for these inequalities.Data were used from the Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) wave 1 (2007-2010). Nationally representative samples of adults aged 50+ years from China, Ghana, Ind...

In the cancer survivorship context, physical activity and sedentary behavior have been measured using different methods.To conduct a narrative review of published research in cancer survivor populations to summarize the quality and identify gaps in reporting on accelerometer data collection, data processing, and outcome measures in cancer survivors.An initial PubMed® search of articles publishe...

Are any microRNAs (miRNAs) that target the placental renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in the human placenta suppressed in early gestation?Overall, 21 miRNAs with predicted RAS mRNA targets were less abundant in early versus term placentae and nine were more highly expressed.Regulation of human placental RAS expression could alter placental development and therefore normal pregnancy outcome. The e...

The role of autophagy in the kidney and many nephrological diseases has gained prominence in recent years. Much of this research has been focused on markers of autophagy that are static and reveal little about the state of this dynamic pathway. Other mechanistic investigations are limited to in vitro studies, that often provide circumstantial evidence of autophagic flux. Here we describe a meth...

Modern Western lifestyles are characterized by consumption of approximately 45% of total daily energy intake at the evening meal, followed by prolonged sitting while watching television (TV), which may deleteriously impact glycemic control. After a high-energy evening meal (dinner), we examined whether regular, brief activity bouts during TV commercial breaks could acutely lower postprandial gl...

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)-identified late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), representing regional fibrosis, is often used to predict ventricular arrhythmia risk in nonischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM). However, LGE is more closely correlated with sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (SMVT) than ventricular fibrillation (VF). We characterized CMR findings of ventricular LGE in VF surviv...

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy thickens heart muscles, reducing functionality and increasing risk of cardiac disease and morbidity. Genetic factors are involved, but their contribution is poorly understood. We used the hypertrophic heart rat (HHR), a unique normotensive polygenic model of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure, to investigate the role of genes associated with monogenic human cardio...

Culturally-specific services are central to efforts to improve the health of Aboriginal Australians. Few empirical studies have demonstrated the value of such services relative to mainstream alternatives.To assess the preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) of participants for attending a class and the relative importance of transport, cost and cultural-appropriateness in the choices made by p...

HIV and antiretroviral therapy (ART) have been associated with increased cardiovascular disease and important changes in lipid metabolism. Advances in mass-spectrometry technology allow for the detailed assessment of individual lipid species which may illuminate the mechanisms underlying increased cardiovascular risk. We describe the change in plasma lipidome with initiation of antiretroviral t...