Our results show that PCOS is associated with alterations in the autonomic modulation of heart rate, possibly due to the influence of weight gain.

Objective: To evaluate and compare the autonomic heart rate (HR) modulation, under resting conditions in relation to body posture, in sedentary young adults. Methods: Twenty young healthy and sedentary men aged 22.6 ± 2.5 years participated in the study. The HR and R-R intervals (in ms) of the electrocardiogram (EKG) were obtained in real time using the modified DII derivation, with the volunteers at rest in the supine and sitting positions, for 15 minutes. The R-R data were analyzed in the time domain, by means of the RMSSD, RMSM and pNN50 (%) indices; and in the frequency domain, by means of spectral analysis and fast Fourier transforms (FFT), using low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) bands expressed as normalized units and as the LF/HF ratio. The statistical analysis consisted of the Spearman test for correlation analyses and the Wilcoxon test for paired samples, with significance of α= 5%. Results: In the time domain, the RMSSD and pNN50 indices demonstrated statistically significant differences between the supine and sitting positions (p< 0.05). The RMSM index did not showed any statistically significant difference between the positions (p> 0.05). In the frequency domain, the LF and HF bands and the LF/HF ratio demonstrated statistically significant differences between the supine and sitting positions (p< 0.05). Conclusions: The results demonstrated that, by changing the posture, autonomic adjustments were produced to the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems with regard to HR control. This can be attributed to the integrity of the neurocardiac system.

No abstract

It is hypothesized that estradiol levels, as well as aging, influence cardiac autonomic function in women. The main aim of this study was to test the correlations between heart rate recovery (HRR) dynamics, as a proxy of cardiac autonomic function, with estradiol levels and age in women. This cross-sectional study involved 44 healthy women. Heart rate (HR) data were obtained beat-by-beat during the entire experiment. Maximal incremental exercise testing (IET) on a cycle ergometer was performed followed by 6 min of recovery. During the IET recovery period, the overall HRR dynamics were evaluated by exponential data modeling (time constant “τ”) where shorter τ indicates faster HRR adjustment. Considering the cardiac autonomic complexity, HRR dynamics were also evaluated by delta (Δ) analysis considering different HR data intervals. The relationship between HRR dynamics, estradiol levels and age was tested by Pearson product-moment correlation. The overall HRR dynamics (i.e., τ) were statistically correlated with age (r = 0.58, p < 0.001) and estradiol levels (r = -0.37, p = 0.01). The Δ analysis showed that the slower overall HRR associated with aging was a consequence of slower dynamics occurring within the 45–210 s interval, indicating slower sympathetic withdrawal. In conclusion, aging effects on HRR in women seems to be correlated with a slower sympathetic withdrawal. In addition, the cardioprotective effect previously associated with estradiol seems not to influence the autonomic modulation during exercise recovery periods in women.

A proposta deste estudo foi analisar o efeito de um programa de treinamento de membros superiores baseado nas técnicas de facilitação neuromuscular proprioceptiva (FNP) sobre a mobilidade torácica. Foram estudadas 24 voluntárias sedentárias, idade 22,9 ± 2,9 anos, divididas em grupo controle (GC), que não participou do treinamento, e grupo treinado (GT). O protocolo de treinamento físico foi constituído por um programa de exercícios de FNP, realizado três vezes por semana, durante quatro semanas. Os dois grupos foram submetidos à avaliação da mobilidade torácica por meio de cirtometria, antes e após o período de treinamento. Os dados colhidos foram analisados estatisticamente, com nível de significância α = 5%. Os valores da cirtometria axilar e xifoideana do GC antes e após o período de intervenção não apresentaram alterações significativas (p>0,05). No GT os valores das variáveis foram significantemente maiores após a intervenção (p<0,05). Em conclusão, o protocolo de FNP utilizado parece ser um programa de exercícios eficiente, por promover aumento na cirtometria em um curto período de tempo, sugerindo que pode ser utilizado como recurso fisioterapêutico para o desenvolvimento da mobilidade torácica.