One session of remote ischemic preconditioning does not improve vascular function in acute normobaric and chronic hypobaric hypoxia

Application of repeated short duration bouts of ischemia to the limbs, termed remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC), is a novel technique that may have protective effects on vascular function during hypoxic exposures. In separate parallel-design studies, at sea-level (SL; n=16), and after 8-12 days at high-altitude (HA; n=12; White Mountain, 3800m), participants underwent either a sham protocol or one session of 4x5 minutes of dual-thigh cuff occlusion with 5-minutes recovery. Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD; ultrasound), pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP; echocardiography), and internal carotid artery flow (ICA; ultrasound) were measured at SL in normoxia and isocapnic hypoxia [end-tidal PO (PETO ) maintained to 50mmHg], and during normal breathing at HA. The hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) was measured at each location. All measures at SL and HA were obtained at baseline (BL), 1 hour, 24 hours, and 48 hours post-RIPC or sham. At SL, RIPC produced no changes in FMD, PASP, ICA flow, end-tidal gases or HVR in normoxia or hypoxia. At HA, although HVR increased 24 hours post RIPC compared to BL (2.05{plus minus}1.4 vs. 3.21{plus minus}1.2 L•min-1•%SaO2-1, p<0.01), there were no significant differences in FMD, PASP, ICA flow, resting end-tidal gases. Accordingly, a single session of RIPC is insufficient to evoke changes in peripheral, pulmonary, and cerebral vascular function in healthy adults. Although chemosensitivity may increase following RIPC at HA, this did not confer any vascular changes. The utility of a single RIPC session seems unremarkable during acute and chronic hypoxia

Scientific discovery and its role in sports science

Scientific discovery is about a search for the Truth, for the consistent and predictable in how the universe works. Using a particular method of inquiry, the scientific method, and with acknowledgement of the inherently self-correcting nature of science, scientific inquiry moves forward incrementally to ever closer approximations of the Truth. This paper reviews the history of scientific inquiry, the methodology of the scientific method, including the necessity for hypothesis testing and development of the probability that a particular answer is a closer approximation of the Truth than previous answers have been. It also discusses some of the pitfalls of scientific inquiry, and areas in which the search for Truth may be corrupted.1113-FF28-6C5F | Carlos Eduardo Barros Gonçalvesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The 2018 Lake Louise Acute Mountain Sickness Score

The Lake Louise Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) scoring system has been a useful research tool since first published in 1991. Recent studies have shown that disturbed sleep at altitude, one of the five symptoms scored for AMS, is more likely due to altitude hypoxia per se, and is not closely related to AMS. To address this issue, and also to evaluate the Lake Louise AMS score in light of decades of experience, experts in high altitude research undertook to revise the score. We here present an international consensus statement resulting from online discussions and meetings at the International Society of Mountain Medicine World Congress in Bolzano, Italy, in May 2014 and at the International Hypoxia Symposium in Lake Louise, Canada, in February 2015. The consensus group has revised the score to eliminate disturbed sleep as a questionnaire item, and has updated instructions for use of the score