Ischemic preconditioning improves maximal performance in humans

Repeated episodes of ischemia followed by reperfusion, commonly referred to as ischemic preconditioning (IPC), represent an endogenous protective mechanism that delays cell injury. IPC also increases blood flow and improves endothelial function. We hypothesize that IPC will improve physical exercise performance and maximal oxygen consumption. The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of ischemic preconditioning in leg skeletal muscles on cycling exercise performance in healthy individuals. Fifteen healthy, well-trained subjects performed two incremental maximal exercise tests on a bicycle ergometer. Power output, oxygen consumption, ventilation, respiratory quotient, and heart rate were measured continuously. Blood pressure and blood lactate were measured before and after the test. One exercise test was performed after the application of ischemic preconditioning, using a protocol of three series of 5-min ischemia at both legs with resting periods of 5 min in between. The other maximal cycling test served as a control. Tests were conducted in counterbalanced order, at least 1 week apart, at the same time of the day. The repeated ischemic periods significantly increased maximal oxygen consumption from 56.8 to 58.4 ml/min per kg (P = 0.003). Maximal power output increased significantly from 366 to 372 W (P = 0.05). Ischemic preconditioning had no effect on ventilation, respiratory quotient, maximal heart rate, blood pressure or on blood lactate. Repeated short-term leg ischemia prior to an incremental bicycle exercise test improves maximal oxygen consumption by 3% and power output by 1.6%. This protocol, which is suggested to mimic the effects of ischemic preconditioning, may have important implications for exercise performance

Principles of Hand Fracture Management

The hand is essential in humans for physical manipulation of their surrounding environment. Allowing the ability to grasp, and differentiated from other animals by an opposing thumb, the main functions include both fine and gross motor skills as well as being a key tool for sensing and understanding the immediate surroundings of their owner

Post-synthetic Ti Exchanged UiO-66 Metal-Organic Frameworks that Deliver Exceptional Gas Permeability in Mixed Matrix Membranes

Gas separation membranes are one of the lowest energy technologies available for the separation of carbon dioxide from flue gas. Key to handling the immense scale of this separation is maximised membrane permeability at sufficient selectivity for CO2 over N2. For the first time it is revealed that metals can be post-synthetically exchanged in MOFs to drastically enhance gas transport performance in membranes. Ti-exchanged UiO-66 MOFs have been found to triple the gas permeability without a loss in selectivity due to several effects that include increased affinity for CO2 and stronger interactions between the polymer matrix and the Ti-MOFs. As a result, it is also shown that MOFs optimized in previous works for batch-wise adsorption applications can be applied to membranes, which have lower demands on material quantities. These membranes exhibit exceptional CO2 permeability enhancement of as much as 153% when compared to the non-exchanged UiO-66 mixed-matrix controls, which places them well above the Robeson upper bound at just a 5 wt.% loading. The fact that maximum permeability enhancement occurs at such low loadings, significantly less than the optimum for other MMMs, is a major advantage in large-scale application due to the more attainable quantities of MOF needed

Regulatory immune cells in transplantation

Immune regulation is fundamental to any immune response to ensure that it is appropriate for the perceived threat to the host. Following cell and organ transplantation, it is essential to control both the innate immune response triggered by the injured tissue and the adaptive immune response stimulated by mismatched donor and recipient histocompatibility antigens to enable the transplant to survive and function. Here, we discuss the leukocyte populations that can promote immune tolerance after cell or solid-organ transplantation. Such populations include regulatory T cells, B cells and macrophages, as well as myeloid-derived suppressor cells, dendritic cells and mesenchymal stromal cells. We consider the potential of these regulatory immune cells to develop and function in transplant recipients and their potential use as cellular therapies to promote long-term graft function

The complementary roles of deletion and regulation in transplantation tolerance

Neonatal tolerance of alloantigens was described in mice nearly half a century ago, but unfortunately, the translation of these early findings into the clinical arena proved to be much more challenging than was first anticipated. However, the past decade has seen considerable progress in our understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to transplantation tolerance in experimental models. This review outlines our current understanding of the mechanisms of allograft tolerance, emphasizing the complementary roles of deletion and regulation of alloreactive T cells