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Tone Change (tone + change)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

Task-to-Task Vagal Regulation: Relations With Language and Play in 20-Month-Old Children

INFANCY, Issue 3 2000
Patricia E. Suess
In this article we report patterns of task-to-task vagal tone change across multiple language and play tasks as well as associations between these patterns of task-to-task vagal tone change and language and play performance in 20-month-old girls and boys. Although initially different in vagal tone suppression during solitary play, girls and boys exhibited similar group patterns of vagal reengagement during successive language and play tasks with their mothers and with an experimenter. In terms of individual differences, vagal suppression during solitary play and vagal reengagement during social interactive tasks predicted language and play performance. Gender differences emerged in patterns of predictive relations: Task-to-task vagal changes predicted primarily play performance in girls and language performance in boys. These findings expose the effects of social context on directional changes in task-to-task vagal tone and speak to the functional role of appropriate vagal regulation in young children's language and play performance. [source]

Vagal tone as an indicator of treatment response in major depression

PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 6 2002
Andrea S. Chambers
Increased vagal tone has been associated with treatment success using pharmacological agents and cognitive-behavioral treatment in major depression, but not using electroconvulsive therapy. The present study investigated whether increases in vagal tone would be associated with favorable treatment response with nonpharmacological treatment. At baseline and following treatment, 16 subjects were administered the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) followed by electrocardiographic recording. Those with little change in vagal tone from before to after treatment showed minimal reduction in HRSD score (,4.8); those with larger vagal tone change showed a large decrease in HRSD score (,14.8). Changes in vagal tone are thus related to favorable treatment response in depression, and do not represent anticholinergic pharmacological effects. Future work manipulating vagal tone might prove informative in teasing apart the causal role of vagal tone and depression. [source]

Association of components of the metabolic syndrome with the appearance of aggregated red blood cells in the peripheral blood.

DIABETES/METABOLISM: RESEARCH AND REVIEWS, Issue 2 2005
An unfavorable hemorheological finding
Abstract Background Components of the metabolic syndrome are associated with low-grade inflammation. This can be accompanied by the synthesis of sticky proteins and erythrocyte aggregation. Methods The degree of erythrocyte aggregation was evaluated by a simple slide test and image analysis along with other markers of the acute-phase response, including the white blood cell count (WBCC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), fibrinogen and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) concentrations. Patients were categorized in four groups according to the absence or presence of 1, 2 and 3 or more components of the metabolic syndrome. Results We examined a total of 1447 individuals (576 women and 871 men) who gave their informed consent for participation. A significant cardiovascular risk factors, age and hemoglobin adjusted correlation was noted between the degree of erythrocyte aggregation and the number of components of the metabolic syndrome (r = 0.17, p < 0.0005). This correlation was better than that observed for clottable fibrinogen (r = 0.13 p < 0.0005), for ESR (r = 0.11 p < 0.0005) or WBCC (r = 0.13 p < 0.0005). A somewhat better correlation was noted for hs-CRP (r = 0.26 p < 0.0005). Conclusions The multiplicity of components of the metabolic syndrome is associated with enhanced erythrocyte aggregation, probably related to the presence of multiple adhesive macromolecules in the peripheral blood. The enhanced aggregation might contribute to capillary slow flow, tissue deoxygenation as well as vasomotor tone changes in the presence of multiple components of this syndrome. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Changes in renal artery resistance after meal-induced splanchnic vasodilatation in cirrhotic patients

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ULTRASOUND, Issue 9 2001
Pascal Perney MD
Abstract Purpose A relationship between vasomotor tone changes in mesenteric and renal vessels in cirrhotic patients has been suspected but remains controversial. The aim of this study was to assess by duplex Doppler sonography the changes in the circulatory resistance of the renal arteries and superior mesenteric artery (SMA) following meal-induced splanchnic vasodilatation. Methods Twenty-seven cirrhotic patients and 15 healthy volunteers with no hepatic or renal dysfunction were prospectively included in the study. The resistance index (RI) of the SMA and of the right and left renal arteries was measured by duplex Doppler sonography before and 30 minutes after ingestion of a standard 400-kcal balanced liquid meal. Values in controls and patients and values before and after the meal were compared, and correlations between RIs, Child-Pugh class (liver function), and creatinine clearance were assessed in cirrhotic patients. Results The fasting renal artery RI was greater in cirrhotic patients than in controls (p < 0.0001), but there was no difference in fasting SMA RIs. After the meal, there was a significant decrease in the SMA RI in controls (0.85 ± 0.04 before versus 0.74 ± 0.03 after meal, p = 0.0001) and in cirrhotic patients (0.85 ± 0.04 before versus 0.77 ± 0.04 after, p = 0.0001) and a significant increase in the renal artery RI (0.57 ± 0.06 before versus 0.62 ± 0.05 after in controls, p = 0.001; 0.68 ± 0.07 before versus 0.70 ± 0.07 after in cirrhotic patients, p = 0.001). No correlation was found in cirrhotic patients between the changes in renal artery RI and the postprandial SMA RI decrease, the Child-Pugh class, or the creatinine clearance. Conclusions Meal-induced SMA vasodilatation (RI decrease) is associated with a marked increase in the renal artery RI, worsening the renal vasoconstriction in cirrhotic patients. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 29:506,512, 2001. [source]