Bollettino della Società italiana di biologia sperimentale, Jan 30, 1982
The effect of a carbohydrate loading diet on the endurance of six male marathon runners have been... more The effect of a carbohydrate loading diet on the endurance of six male marathon runners have been examined. Endurance improved in three runners, remained unchanged in two, and worsened in one. Due to the possibility of negative effects on the performance capability, a runner should experiment his personal reactions to the carbohydrate loading diet before using it regularly for long distance competitions.
The effect of a low-dose treatment (10 mg/day) of stanozolol on the anaerobic threshold (AT) and ... more The effect of a low-dose treatment (10 mg/day) of stanozolol on the anaerobic threshold (AT) and on maximal velocity (Vmax) was studied in ten well-trained runners in a 6-week trial experiment. The serum levels of testosterone (T), interstitial cell-stimulating hormone (ICSH), and of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were determined before, during, and after the steroid administration. No improvements of AT and Vmax were found. No improvement of the competition running times was observed during the experimental period. The ICSH and FSH serum concentrations did not change significantly, while a marked decrease of the T serum concentration was observed. It is concluded that a low-dose treatment of stanozolol, sufficient to depress the testicular function, does not improve athletic performance.
Hematological variables of 40 professional cyclists, all receiving intravenous iron supplementati... more Hematological variables of 40 professional cyclists, all receiving intravenous iron supplementation, were followed during a 15-month period. Mean values for red blood cells (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), and hematocrit (Ht) were significantly lower during the racing season (RS) than during the nonracing periods (NRP) (RBC: RS = 4.53 +/- 0.34 millions/mm3, NRP = 5.09 +/- 0.36 millions/mm3; line 7 of abstract: Hb: RS = 14.2 +/- 0.9 g/dl, MRS = 15.2 +/- 0.9 g/dl; Ht: RS = 40.7 +/- 2.7% NRP = 44.4 +/- 2.9%; P less than 0.001 for all). However, mean values for ferritin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) were significantly higher during the racing season (ferritin: RS = 422 +/- 398 ng/ml, NRP = 311 +/- 321 ng/ml, P less than 0.05; MCH: RS = 31.5 +/- 1.3 pg, NRP = 30.0 +/- 1.4 pg; P less than 0.001). These results suggest that the reductions in RBC, Hb, and Ht found in professional cyclists during the racing season are not the consequence of a diminution of iron stores but rather of reduced erythropoiesis and increased RBC destruction.
An abnormal von Willebrand factor (vWF) gene restriction pattern has been found in a patient with... more An abnormal von Willebrand factor (vWF) gene restriction pattern has been found in a patient with von Willebrand disease. Because this gene alteration is not present in his parents or in 50 normal and 25 affected subjects, and the restriction fragment length polymorphism haplotypes are inherited normally in the…
Bollettino della Società italiana di biologia sperimentale, Jan 31, 1984
5 Azacytidine ribonucleoside (5 Aza CR), greatly enhances erythroid differentiation of the K562(h... more 5 Azacytidine ribonucleoside (5 Aza CR), greatly enhances erythroid differentiation of the K562(h) cell line, with a sharp increase of embryonic and fetal globin gene expression. This phenomenon is correlated with the undermethylation of gamma-globin but not of epsilon-globin, as the epsilon-globin gene is already extensively undermethylated before 5AzaCR induction. By contrast no variations in both DNA methylation and expression are observed in 7SL RNA genes.
The synthesis of α and β‐globin have been determined in normal and thalassemic erythroid cells, i... more The synthesis of α and β‐globin have been determined in normal and thalassemic erythroid cells, incubated at temperatures decreasing from 37 to 10°C.Synthesis of β‐globin by thalassemic reticulocytes decreased with temperature clearly less than α and β‐globin synthesis by normal erythroid cells, and also less than α‐globin synthesis by thalassemic reticulocytes. Consequently the excess of α‐globin synthesis, typical of β‐thalassemia, disappeared when cells where incubated at temperatures of approximately 10°C.The normalization of β‐globin synthesis, obtained in our experimental conditions, clearly suggests that the defect of β‐globin synthesis, characteristic of β‐thalassemia, does not result from a reduction in amount of β‐globin messenger, but rather from a reduction of the rate of β‐globin mBNA translation.
In this paper we describe an alteration of the c‐myc oncogene present in the white blood cells an... more In this paper we describe an alteration of the c‐myc oncogene present in the white blood cells and normal as well as neoplastic thyroid cells of a subject carrying a thyroid carcinoma. Restriction enzyme mapping and hybridization to human c‐myc probes specific for different regions of this gene demonstrate that this subject carries, in addition to the normal one, a c‐myc oncogene lacking the first exon and part of the first intron. The levels of the c‐myc mRNA in thyroid cells of this subject do not show differences with respect to thyroid cells from other subjects. Taken together, these findings indicate that the deletion of the first exon of the c‐myc oncogene, in itself, does not produce overtranscription of this oncogene nor hematopoietic malignancies.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 1999
The purpose of this study was to update and standardize the test for determining the power output... more The purpose of this study was to update and standardize the test for determining the power output/heart rate (PO/HR) relationship in cycling. The current protocol was developed in the laboratory using a wind-load cycling simulator. Five hundred incremental tests were carried out by 290 male cyclists during a 2-yr period (1995-1997). The subjects' own bicycles, equipped with a standard crankset with a built-in power measuring system, were used for testing. The test protocol consisted of time-based increments in cadence that were uniform up to submaximal speeds and progressively greater in the final phase. The PO/HR relationship obtained was linear at low to submaximal PO and curvilinear from submaximal to maximal PO. A method was developed for the mathematical identification of the point of transition from the linear to the curvilinear phase (deflection point or heart rate break point). In 484 of the 500 tests performed, the deflection was independent of the final acceleration (PO at deflection 318.4 +/- 42.4 W, PO at final acceleration 351.6 +/- 43.2 W, P < 0.001), whereas in 16 tests the deflection and the start of the final acceleration coincided. To evaluate test repeatability and precision, 15 subjects repeated the test twice within a few days. No significant differences were found for the heart rate at deflection, power output at deflection, or slope of the linear part of the PO/HR relationship obtained in the two tests. It is concluded that the deflection point obtained by determining the PO/HR relationship on a wind-load simulator is not an artifact dependent on the incremental test protocol but rather a repeatable physiological phenomenon.
Background: Cardiorespiratory fitness is a strong predictor of all-cause mortality in cardiac pat... more Background: Cardiorespiratory fitness is a strong predictor of all-cause mortality in cardiac patients, but its assessment requires maximal exercise testing which is costly and impractical in most settings. We developed a sub-maximal protocol to predict VO2peak by a moderate perceptually-regulated one-km treadmill walk (1KTWT).The aim of this study is to examine the association of the exercise capacity by 1KTWT with all-cause mortality in a cohort of patients with stable cardiac disease. Methods: 1016 male outpatients, aged 38-83 years, underwent 1KTWT and were followed up for a median of 73 months. Subjects were stratified according to quartiles of predicted VO2peak (ml/kg/min) and walking speed (km/h). Cox proportional hazard regression ratio (HR) and the area under the receiver-operating-curve (AUC) were calculated. Results: There were a total of 103 deaths during the follow-up period resulting in an average annual mortality of 1.6%. Risk of all-cause mortality was inversely rela...
The problem raised by the authors concerns the cases in which the heart rate deflection is not ev... more The problem raised by the authors concerns the cases in which the heart rate deflection is not evident. In our experience, following the procedure described in the article, the deflection can be found in all subjects tested. The few cases that fail to show the deflection in the first test (<5%) show the deflection when re-tested
Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) exposes to severe disability and high cardiovascular risk. The ... more Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) exposes to severe disability and high cardiovascular risk. The effects of exercise training are well-known (Stewart KJ et al, N Engl J Med 2002), and current programs are usually based on repeated walking sessions at certain levels of pain. We aimed to evaluate possible beneficial cardiovascular effects of a novel aerobic training program (Manfredini F et al, Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg 2004). Thirty patients (20 men,aged 66Ϯ12 ys) with stable PVD and claudication, were studied. Brachial systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), ankle pressure (AP), and ankle-brachial index (ABI) were measured. Pain Threshold Speed (PTS) was determined on treadmill in each patient and the speed/heart rate ratio was used as Efficiency Index (EI). A home-based aerobic program at maximal asymptomatic speed (MAS) prior to onset of claudication was prescribed. After 120 days the final evaluation was preceded by a subdivision of patients into 2 groups according to their compliance: High Quality (HQ:training at MAS) and Low Quality (LQ:markedly below MAS). Main results in total population (TP), LQ(nϭ14) and HQ(nϭ16), from program start (0) to end (120), are shown in Table (°pϽ0.5, † pϽ0.01, § pϽ0.001). Exercise induced significant positive variations of arterial pressure. The increase in PTS with no changes of HR, particularly in HQ group, demonstrated a better cardiac response to exercise, where more meters are walked with less heart beats. In a high-risk population, this novel home-based, lowcost program may induce beneficial cardiovascular adaptations.
Physiological research / Academia Scientiarum Bohemoslovaca, 2005
Recently Ozcelik and Kelestimur (2004) have assessed the validity of the heart rate deflection po... more Recently Ozcelik and Kelestimur (2004) have assessed the validity of the heart rate deflection point in the power output-heart rate relationship (Conconi test) for estimating the anaerobic threshold in different experimental conditions (normoxia and hypoxia). In their study, the tests were performed with an electromagnetically braked cycle ergometer at constant cadence with increments in power output obtained by increasing the pedalling resistance. In cycle ergometry, modifications of the testing protocol give rise to modifications of neurohumoral and gas exchange responses (Gullestad et al. 1997), of power outputs at given respiratory exchange ratios (Amann et al. 2004) and modifications of the relationship between work rate, oxygen uptake and heart rate (Myers and Froelicher 1990). In this letter, we discuss the differences between the testing protocol used by Ozcelik and Kelestimur and the one developed by Conconi et al. (1996) and Grazzi et al. (1999). Three points of the testing procedure used by the authors will be particularly considered.
Bollettino della Società italiana di biologia sperimentale, Jan 30, 1982
The effect of a carbohydrate loading diet on the endurance of six male marathon runners have been... more The effect of a carbohydrate loading diet on the endurance of six male marathon runners have been examined. Endurance improved in three runners, remained unchanged in two, and worsened in one. Due to the possibility of negative effects on the performance capability, a runner should experiment his personal reactions to the carbohydrate loading diet before using it regularly for long distance competitions.
The effect of a low-dose treatment (10 mg/day) of stanozolol on the anaerobic threshold (AT) and ... more The effect of a low-dose treatment (10 mg/day) of stanozolol on the anaerobic threshold (AT) and on maximal velocity (Vmax) was studied in ten well-trained runners in a 6-week trial experiment. The serum levels of testosterone (T), interstitial cell-stimulating hormone (ICSH), and of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were determined before, during, and after the steroid administration. No improvements of AT and Vmax were found. No improvement of the competition running times was observed during the experimental period. The ICSH and FSH serum concentrations did not change significantly, while a marked decrease of the T serum concentration was observed. It is concluded that a low-dose treatment of stanozolol, sufficient to depress the testicular function, does not improve athletic performance.
Hematological variables of 40 professional cyclists, all receiving intravenous iron supplementati... more Hematological variables of 40 professional cyclists, all receiving intravenous iron supplementation, were followed during a 15-month period. Mean values for red blood cells (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), and hematocrit (Ht) were significantly lower during the racing season (RS) than during the nonracing periods (NRP) (RBC: RS = 4.53 +/- 0.34 millions/mm3, NRP = 5.09 +/- 0.36 millions/mm3; line 7 of abstract: Hb: RS = 14.2 +/- 0.9 g/dl, MRS = 15.2 +/- 0.9 g/dl; Ht: RS = 40.7 +/- 2.7% NRP = 44.4 +/- 2.9%; P less than 0.001 for all). However, mean values for ferritin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) were significantly higher during the racing season (ferritin: RS = 422 +/- 398 ng/ml, NRP = 311 +/- 321 ng/ml, P less than 0.05; MCH: RS = 31.5 +/- 1.3 pg, NRP = 30.0 +/- 1.4 pg; P less than 0.001). These results suggest that the reductions in RBC, Hb, and Ht found in professional cyclists during the racing season are not the consequence of a diminution of iron stores but rather of reduced erythropoiesis and increased RBC destruction.
An abnormal von Willebrand factor (vWF) gene restriction pattern has been found in a patient with... more An abnormal von Willebrand factor (vWF) gene restriction pattern has been found in a patient with von Willebrand disease. Because this gene alteration is not present in his parents or in 50 normal and 25 affected subjects, and the restriction fragment length polymorphism haplotypes are inherited normally in the…
Bollettino della Società italiana di biologia sperimentale, Jan 31, 1984
5 Azacytidine ribonucleoside (5 Aza CR), greatly enhances erythroid differentiation of the K562(h... more 5 Azacytidine ribonucleoside (5 Aza CR), greatly enhances erythroid differentiation of the K562(h) cell line, with a sharp increase of embryonic and fetal globin gene expression. This phenomenon is correlated with the undermethylation of gamma-globin but not of epsilon-globin, as the epsilon-globin gene is already extensively undermethylated before 5AzaCR induction. By contrast no variations in both DNA methylation and expression are observed in 7SL RNA genes.
The synthesis of α and β‐globin have been determined in normal and thalassemic erythroid cells, i... more The synthesis of α and β‐globin have been determined in normal and thalassemic erythroid cells, incubated at temperatures decreasing from 37 to 10°C.Synthesis of β‐globin by thalassemic reticulocytes decreased with temperature clearly less than α and β‐globin synthesis by normal erythroid cells, and also less than α‐globin synthesis by thalassemic reticulocytes. Consequently the excess of α‐globin synthesis, typical of β‐thalassemia, disappeared when cells where incubated at temperatures of approximately 10°C.The normalization of β‐globin synthesis, obtained in our experimental conditions, clearly suggests that the defect of β‐globin synthesis, characteristic of β‐thalassemia, does not result from a reduction in amount of β‐globin messenger, but rather from a reduction of the rate of β‐globin mBNA translation.
In this paper we describe an alteration of the c‐myc oncogene present in the white blood cells an... more In this paper we describe an alteration of the c‐myc oncogene present in the white blood cells and normal as well as neoplastic thyroid cells of a subject carrying a thyroid carcinoma. Restriction enzyme mapping and hybridization to human c‐myc probes specific for different regions of this gene demonstrate that this subject carries, in addition to the normal one, a c‐myc oncogene lacking the first exon and part of the first intron. The levels of the c‐myc mRNA in thyroid cells of this subject do not show differences with respect to thyroid cells from other subjects. Taken together, these findings indicate that the deletion of the first exon of the c‐myc oncogene, in itself, does not produce overtranscription of this oncogene nor hematopoietic malignancies.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 1999
The purpose of this study was to update and standardize the test for determining the power output... more The purpose of this study was to update and standardize the test for determining the power output/heart rate (PO/HR) relationship in cycling. The current protocol was developed in the laboratory using a wind-load cycling simulator. Five hundred incremental tests were carried out by 290 male cyclists during a 2-yr period (1995-1997). The subjects&#39; own bicycles, equipped with a standard crankset with a built-in power measuring system, were used for testing. The test protocol consisted of time-based increments in cadence that were uniform up to submaximal speeds and progressively greater in the final phase. The PO/HR relationship obtained was linear at low to submaximal PO and curvilinear from submaximal to maximal PO. A method was developed for the mathematical identification of the point of transition from the linear to the curvilinear phase (deflection point or heart rate break point). In 484 of the 500 tests performed, the deflection was independent of the final acceleration (PO at deflection 318.4 +/- 42.4 W, PO at final acceleration 351.6 +/- 43.2 W, P &lt; 0.001), whereas in 16 tests the deflection and the start of the final acceleration coincided. To evaluate test repeatability and precision, 15 subjects repeated the test twice within a few days. No significant differences were found for the heart rate at deflection, power output at deflection, or slope of the linear part of the PO/HR relationship obtained in the two tests. It is concluded that the deflection point obtained by determining the PO/HR relationship on a wind-load simulator is not an artifact dependent on the incremental test protocol but rather a repeatable physiological phenomenon.
Background: Cardiorespiratory fitness is a strong predictor of all-cause mortality in cardiac pat... more Background: Cardiorespiratory fitness is a strong predictor of all-cause mortality in cardiac patients, but its assessment requires maximal exercise testing which is costly and impractical in most settings. We developed a sub-maximal protocol to predict VO2peak by a moderate perceptually-regulated one-km treadmill walk (1KTWT).The aim of this study is to examine the association of the exercise capacity by 1KTWT with all-cause mortality in a cohort of patients with stable cardiac disease. Methods: 1016 male outpatients, aged 38-83 years, underwent 1KTWT and were followed up for a median of 73 months. Subjects were stratified according to quartiles of predicted VO2peak (ml/kg/min) and walking speed (km/h). Cox proportional hazard regression ratio (HR) and the area under the receiver-operating-curve (AUC) were calculated. Results: There were a total of 103 deaths during the follow-up period resulting in an average annual mortality of 1.6%. Risk of all-cause mortality was inversely rela...
The problem raised by the authors concerns the cases in which the heart rate deflection is not ev... more The problem raised by the authors concerns the cases in which the heart rate deflection is not evident. In our experience, following the procedure described in the article, the deflection can be found in all subjects tested. The few cases that fail to show the deflection in the first test (<5%) show the deflection when re-tested
Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) exposes to severe disability and high cardiovascular risk. The ... more Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) exposes to severe disability and high cardiovascular risk. The effects of exercise training are well-known (Stewart KJ et al, N Engl J Med 2002), and current programs are usually based on repeated walking sessions at certain levels of pain. We aimed to evaluate possible beneficial cardiovascular effects of a novel aerobic training program (Manfredini F et al, Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg 2004). Thirty patients (20 men,aged 66Ϯ12 ys) with stable PVD and claudication, were studied. Brachial systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), ankle pressure (AP), and ankle-brachial index (ABI) were measured. Pain Threshold Speed (PTS) was determined on treadmill in each patient and the speed/heart rate ratio was used as Efficiency Index (EI). A home-based aerobic program at maximal asymptomatic speed (MAS) prior to onset of claudication was prescribed. After 120 days the final evaluation was preceded by a subdivision of patients into 2 groups according to their compliance: High Quality (HQ:training at MAS) and Low Quality (LQ:markedly below MAS). Main results in total population (TP), LQ(nϭ14) and HQ(nϭ16), from program start (0) to end (120), are shown in Table (°pϽ0.5, † pϽ0.01, § pϽ0.001). Exercise induced significant positive variations of arterial pressure. The increase in PTS with no changes of HR, particularly in HQ group, demonstrated a better cardiac response to exercise, where more meters are walked with less heart beats. In a high-risk population, this novel home-based, lowcost program may induce beneficial cardiovascular adaptations.
Physiological research / Academia Scientiarum Bohemoslovaca, 2005
Recently Ozcelik and Kelestimur (2004) have assessed the validity of the heart rate deflection po... more Recently Ozcelik and Kelestimur (2004) have assessed the validity of the heart rate deflection point in the power output-heart rate relationship (Conconi test) for estimating the anaerobic threshold in different experimental conditions (normoxia and hypoxia). In their study, the tests were performed with an electromagnetically braked cycle ergometer at constant cadence with increments in power output obtained by increasing the pedalling resistance. In cycle ergometry, modifications of the testing protocol give rise to modifications of neurohumoral and gas exchange responses (Gullestad et al. 1997), of power outputs at given respiratory exchange ratios (Amann et al. 2004) and modifications of the relationship between work rate, oxygen uptake and heart rate (Myers and Froelicher 1990). In this letter, we discuss the differences between the testing protocol used by Ozcelik and Kelestimur and the one developed by Conconi et al. (1996) and Grazzi et al. (1999). Three points of the testing procedure used by the authors will be particularly considered.
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