Echocardiographic evaluation of left ventricular morphology and function in young male football players and runners

Background: Long-term physical exercise leads to left ventricular morphological adaptations, which vary with the kind of sport and the intensity and extent of the training. Although the echocardiographic changes related to exercise in athletes participating in various sports have been well described, changes associated with football players have been less well documented. The aim of this study was to investigate the morphological adaptations of the heart to athletic training and to compare by means of echocardiography the left ventricular dimensions, masses and systolic functions of runners and football players. Methods: A total of 40 male football players, 18 male long and middle-distance runners and 25 sedentary males were enrolled to the study and M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiograms with Doppler analysis were performed in all subjects. Results: The runners and football players were shown to have significantly greater left ventricular end-diastolic internal dimensions, left ventricular mass (corrected for body mass, height and body surface area), end-diastolic interventricular septum thicknesses and ejection fraction values than a control group. The present results show no significant difference between the left ventricular adaptations of runners and football players except when the left ventricular mass is indexed with body mass, the runners being thinner. Conclusions: The present results show that the echocardiographic findings of left ventricular adaptations in runners and football players are quite similar and lead to physiological enlargement of the heart. (Cardiol J 2007; 14: 37–43

Echokardiograficzna ocena morfologii oraz funkcji lewej komory u młodych piłkarzy i wyczynowych biegaczy

Wstęp: Długotrwały wysiłek fizyczny powoduje zmiany adaptacyjne w budowie i funkcji mięśnia lewej komory, zależne od rodzaju i intensywności uprawianego sportu. Choć przeprowadzono wiele badań opisujących echokardiograficzne odmienności serc sportowców, w dostępnym piśmiennictwie brakuje szczegółowej analizy zmian dotyczących zawodowego trenowania piłki nożnej. Celem przedstawionego badania była ocena morfologicznych zmian związanych z wyczynowym uprawianiem sportu oraz porównanie zmierzonych echokardiograficznie wymiarów, masy i funkcji skurczowej lewej komory u biegaczy i piłkarzy. Metody: Badaniami objęto 40 piłkarzy, 18 biegaczy długo- i średniodystansowych oraz 25 mężczyzn prowadzących siedzący tryb życia (grupa kontrolna). U wszystkich wykonano badanie echokardiograficzne z oceną wymiarów lewej komory w prezentacji jedno- (M-mode) i dwuwymiarowej (2-D) oraz analizę przepływów za pomocą techniki fali doplerowskiej. Wyniki: U osób uprawiających sport, w porównaniu z grupą kontrolną, stwierdzono statystycznie istotne zwiększenie wymiaru końcoworozkurczowego lewej komory, masy lewej komory (również po korekcji względem wzrostu, masy i powierzchni ciała), grubości przegrody międzykomorowej oraz frakcji wyrzutowej. Nie wykazano istotnych różnic w wartościach parametrów echochokardiograficznych (z wyjątkiem wskaźnika masy lewej komory) między biegaczami a piłkarzami. Wnioski: Przedstawione wyniki sugerują, że zwiększenie wymiarów lewej komory, podobne w obu grupach, stanowi fizjologiczną adaptację serca do wykonywanego wysiłku fizycznego

Short-term effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on sleep bruxism:a pilot study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on patients with sleep bruxism (SB). Twelve patients with SB were included in an open, single-intervention pilot study. rTMS at 1 Hz and an intensity of 80% of the active motor threshold was applied to the ‘hot spot' of the masseter muscle representation at the primary motor cortex bilaterally for 20 min per side each day for 5 consecutive days. The jaw-closing muscle electromyographic (EMG) activity during sleep was recorded with a portable EMG recorder at baseline, during rTMS treatment and at follow-up for 5 days. In addition, patients scored their jaw-closing muscle soreness on a 0–10 numerical rating scale (NRS). Data were analysed with analysis of variance. The intensity of the EMG activity was suppressed during and after rTMS compared to the baseline (P = 0.04; P = 0.02, respectively). The NRS score of soreness decreased significantly during and after rTMS compared with baseline (P < 0.01). These findings indicated a significant inhibition of jaw-closing muscle activity during sleep along with a decrease of muscle soreness. This pilot study raises the possibility of therapeutic benefits from rTMS in patients with bruxism and calls for further and more controlled studies

The effect of prolonged incubation and temperature on oocyte activator phospholipase C-zeta activity of sperm | Uzun süreli inkübasyonun ve sıcaklığın oosit aktivatörü fosfolipaz C-zeta aktivitesine etkisi

Objective: Fertilization capacity of capacitated sperm decreases exponentially over time, but the reason is still under investigation. The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of prolonged incubation and temperature on sperm fertilization capacity with motility and staining parameters of phospholipase C-zeta (PLCZ), which is considered to be the oocyte activation factor

First successful pregnancy in a globozoospermic patient having homozygous mutation in SPATA16

Objective: To report the first case of a successful pregnancy obtained with an infertile 29-year-old man with a homozygous mutation in the spermatogenesis-specific gene SPATA16 after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)

Prevalence of asthma and other allergic diseases in children born after in vitro fertilisation

Background: Children born after in vitro fertilisation (IVF) are under greater risk of development of some health problems than those children born after spontaneous conception Yet it is not exactly known what the prevalence of asthma and other allergic diseases among these children is