Effects of post-exercise cooling on heart rate recovery in normotensive and hypertensive men

Background: Post-exercise heart rate recovery (HRR) is determined by cardiac autonomic restoration after exercise and is reduced in hypertension. Post-exercise cooling accelerates HRR in healthy subjects, but its effects in a population with cardiac autonomic dysfunction, such as hypertensives (HT), may be blunted. This study assessed and compared the effects of post-exercise cooling on HRR and cardiac autonomic regulation in HT and normotensive (NT) subjects. Methods: Twenty-three never-treated HT (43±8 ys) and 25 NT (45±8 ys) men randomly underwent two exercise sessions (30 min of cycling at 70%VO2peak) followed by 15 min of recovery. In one randomly allocated session, a fan was turned on in front of the subject during the recovery (cooling), while in the other session, no cooling was performed (control). HRR was assessed by heart rate reductions after 60 (HRR60s) and 300s (HRR300s) of recovery, short-term time constant of HRR (T30), and the time constant of the HRR after exponential fitting (HRRτ). HRV was assessed using time- and frequency-domain indices. Results: HRR and HRV responses in the cooling and control sessions were similar between the HT and NT. Thus, in both groups, post-exercise cooling equally accelerated HRR (HRR300s = 39±12 vs. 36±10 bpm, p≤0.05) and increased post44 exercise HRV (lnRMSSD = 1.8±0.7 vs. 1.6±0.7 ms, p≤0.05). Conclusion: Differently from the hypothesis, post-exercise cooling produced similar improvements in HRR in HT and NT men, likely by an acceleration of cardiac parasympathetic reactivation and sympathetic withdrawal. These results suggest that post-exercise cooling equally accelerates HRR in hypertensive and normotensive subjects

Replacement of soybean meal with maize steep liquor in the diets of feedlot lambs

It was hypothesized that maize steep liquor, which is high in crude protein, could replace soybean meal in supplementation strategies in lamb production systems. Therefore, the effects of replacing soybean meal with maize steep liquor at 0%, 33%, 66% and 100% on a dry matter (DM) basis on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and carcass characteristics were assessed in feedlot lambs. Thirty-two Santa Inês intact male lambs, with an average initial weight of 21.0 ± 2.3 kg, were assigned to a completely randomized block design with four treatments and eight replicates. Intake of DM, organic matter, ether extract, neutral detergent fibre and total digestible nutrients were not affected by the diets. However, the intake of crude protein (CP) was reduced by 0.2 g/day for each 1% increase in the replacement level of soybean meal with maize steep liquor. Replacement of soybean meal with maize steep liquor in the diets did not affect the apparent digestibility of nutrients with the exception of CP, which decreased by 14.1 g/kg DM for each 1% increase in the replacement level of soybean meal. Similar trends were observed for average daily gain, hot carcass weight, cold carcass weight, hot carcass yield and cold carcass yield. From these results, soybean meal could be replaced by up to 100% with maize steep liquor in finishing diets for feedlot lambs.Keywords: Alternative feed, by-product, digestibility, intake, performanc

A vivência de mães de bebês com malformação La vivencia de madres de bebés con mala formación The experience of mothers of babies with malformation

O objetivo do estudo foi conhecer e compreender a vivência de mães diante do diagnóstico e nascimento de bebês com malformação. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritivo-exploratória, de natureza qualitativa, desenvolvida em Maringá- PR, com sete mães. Os dados foram coletados em abril de 2009, por meio de entrevista semiestruturada, e analisados mediante a análise de conteúdo. Os dados mostraram que os diferentes momentos do ciclo gravídico-puerperal apresentam fatos e emoções distintos, mas completamente interligados, destacando-se momentos como a constatação da malformação, geralmente durante a gravidez, a sua confirmação ao nascimento e a vivência com o bebê após o nascimento. Conclui-se que a descoberta e confirmação da malformação produz crise e negação das expectativas na mãe e em todos os membros da família, desencadeando mudanças em seu modo de viver; porém, aos poucos, a mãe demonstra superação e aprende maneiras para enfrentar o problema e os preconceitos ligados à malformação.<br>El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo conocer y comprender la vivencia de madres delante del diagnóstico y nacimiento de bebés con mala formación. Se trata de una investigación descriptiva y exploratoria, de naturaleza cualitativa, desarrollada en Maringá (PR), con siete madres. Los datos fueron recogidos en abril de 2009, por medio de entrevista seme estructurada y analizados mediante el análisis de contenido. Los datos mostraron que los diferentes momentos del ciclo, del embarazo al nacimiento, presentan hechos y emociones distintos, pero, completamente interconectados, destacándose momentos como la constatación de la mala formación, generalmente durante el embarazo, su confirmación al nacimiento y la vivencia con el bebé después del nacimiento. Se concluye que la descubierta y confirmación de la mala formación produce crisis y negación de las expectativas en la madre y en todos los miembros de la familia, desencadenando cambios en su modo de vivir, pero a los pocos la madre demuestra superación y aprende maneras para enfrentar el problema y los prejuicios relacionados a la mala formación.<br>The objective of the present study was to discover and understand the experience of mothers faced with the diagnosis and birth of babies with malformation. It was a descriptive-exploratory qualitative research study, performed with seven mothers in Maringá-PR, Brazil. Data were collected in April 2009 through previously scheduled semi-structured interviews, and analyzed using content analysis. The data showed that the different moments of the pregnancy-puerperium cycle involve various facts and emotions, which are nevertheless interconnected, including confirmation of malformation (usually during pregnancy), confirmed diagnosis at birth, and life with the baby after birth. It is concluded that the discovery and confirmation of malformation leads to crisis and denial of expectations in the mother and all family members, resulting in changes in their way of life. However, the mother gradually overcomes and learns ways to cope with the problem and prejudices associated with malformation