“…3), in agreement with the longer infrarenal in situ axial stretch measured. The deformation ranges were also different for specimens in circumferential and longitudinal directions, which is a direct consequence of their physiological role that demands a higher extensibility in the longitudinal direction in order to bear stretches resulting from breath and accidental loads, such as the Valsalva manoeuvre (see, e.g., Sykes et al, 1995). Intra-individual dispersion presented an average CV of 0.29 and 0.32 [-] in longitudinal and circumferential directions, respectively (Schulze-Bauer et al, 2003;Gusic et al, 2005), whereas average CV values of 0.75 and 0.35 [-] were obtained for inter-individual comparisons.…”