Dependency Structures in Differentially Coded Cardiovascular Time Series

Objectives. This paper analyses temporal dependency in the time series recorded from aging rats, the healthy ones and those with early developed hypertension. The aim is to explore effects of age and hypertension on mutual sample relationship along the time axis. Methods. A copula method is applied to raw and to differentially coded signals. The latter ones were additionally binary encoded for a joint conditional entropy application. The signals were recorded from freely moving male Wistar rats and from spontaneous hypertensive rats, aged 3 months and 12 months. Results. The highest level of comonotonic behavior of pulse interval with respect to systolic blood pressure is observed at time lags τ=0, 3, and 4, while a strong counter-monotonic behavior occurs at time lags τ=1 and 2. Conclusion. Dynamic range of aging rats is considerably reduced in hypertensive groups. Conditional entropy of systolic blood pressure signal, compared to unconditional, shows an increased level of discrepancy, except for a time lag 1, where the equality is preserved in spite of the memory of differential coder. The antiparallel streams play an important role at single beat time lag

Nausea: Current knowledge of mechanisms, measurement and clinical impact

AbstractNausea is a subjective sensation, which often acts as a signal that emesis is imminent. It is a widespread problem that occurs as a clinical sign of disease or as an adverse effect of a drug therapy or surgical procedure. The mechanisms of nausea are complex and the neural pathways are currently poorly understood. This review summarises the current knowledge of nausea mechanisms, the available animal models for nausea research and the anti-nausea properties of commercially available anti-emetic drugs. The review also presents subjective assessment and scoring of nausea. A better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of nausea might reveal potential clinically useful biomarkers for objective measurement of nausea in species of veterinary interest

On Consistency of Cross-Approximate Entropy in Cardiovascular and Artificial Environments

Cross-approximate entropy (XApEn) quantifies the mutual orderliness of simultaneously recorded time series. Despite being derived from the firmly established solitary entropies, it has never reached their reputation and deployment. The aim of this study is to identify the problems that preclude wider XApEn implementation and to develop a set of solutions. Exact expressions for XApEn and its constitutive parts are derived and compared to values estimated from artificial data. This comparison revealed vast regions within the parameter space that do not guarantee reliable probability estimation, making XApEn estimates inconsistent. A simple correction to one of the XApEn procedural steps is proposed. Three sets of formulae for joint parameter selection are derived. The first one is intended to maximize threshold profile. The remaining ones minimize XApEn instability according to the strong and weak criteria. The derived expressions are verified using cardiovascular signals recorded from rats (long signals) and healthy volunteers (short clinical signals), proposing a change of traditional parameter guidelines

Blockade of central vasopressin receptors reduces the cardiovascular response to acute stress in freely moving rats

To investigate the contribution of central vasopressin receptors to blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) response to stress we injected non-peptide selective V-1a (SR49059), V-1b (SSR 149415), V-2 (SR 121463) receptor antagonists, diazepam or vehicle in the lateral cerebral ventricle of conscious freely moving rats stressed by blowing air on their heads for 2 min. Cardiovascular effects of stress were evaluated by analyzing maximum increase of BP and HR (MAX), latency of maximum response (LAT), integral under BP and HR curve (integral), duration of their recovery and spectral parameters of BP and HR indicative of increased sympathetic outflow (LFBP and LF/HFHR). Moreover, the increase of serum corticosterone was measured. Exposure to air-jet stress induced simultaneous increase in BP and HR followed by gradual decline during recovery while LFBP oscillation remained increased as well as serum corticosterone level. Rats pre-treated with vasopressin receptor antagonists were not sedated while diazepam induced sedation that persisted during exposure to stress. V-1a, V-1b and V-2, receptor antagonists applied separately did not modify basal values of cardiovascular parameters but prevented the increase in integral(BP). In addition, V-1b and V-2 receptor antagonists reduced BPMAX whereas V-1a, V-1b antagonist and diazepam reduced HRMAX induced by exposure to air-jet stress. All drugs shortened the recovery period, prevented the increase of LFBP without affecting the increase in serum corticosterone levels. Results indicate that vasopressin receptors located within the central nervous system mediate, in part, the cardiovascular response to air-jet stress without affecting either the neuroendocrine component or inducing sedation. They support the view that the V-1b receptor antagonist may be of potential therapeutic value in reducing arterial pressure induced by stress-related disorders