Josep L Ventura

• Medical Doctor at Institut Català de la Salut

Blood lactate concentrations in capillary samples obtained from the ear lobe or from the finger tip are used indistinctly, since they are considered equivalents. The aim of the study reported in this paper was to verify whether that assumption is valid due to the practical implications which any possible differences between these two sampling sites...

Purpose: To compare inter-individual response variability and detraining effects on markers attributed to aerobic and anaerobic performance after short-term standardized aerobic, strength and mixed training programs. Methods: Thirty-six male students were randomly assigned to either an aerobic, strength, mixed, or control program (9 per group). T...

A crucial subject in sports is identifying the inter-individual variation in response to training, which would allow creating individualized pre-training schedules, improving runner’s performance. We aimed to analyze heterogeneity in individual responses to two half-marathon training programs differing in running volume and intensity in middle-aged...

Objective: Our purpose was applying a principal component analysis (PCA) approach to cardiorespiratory exercise testing evaluation and test its sensitivity to workload accumulation. Approach: Twenty-five healthy young adults performed a progressive and maximal cycling test which was divided into two parts: moderate and high workload intensities,...

In recent years, the altitude acclimatization responses elicited by short-term intermittent exposure to hypoxia have been subject to renewed attention. The main goal of short-term intermittent hypobaric hypoxia exposure programs was originally to improve the aerobic capacity of athletes or to accelerate the altitude acclimatization response in alpi...

OBJETIVE: Our purpose was to study the effects of aerobic, resistance, and mixed (aerobic and resistance) training programs on blood pressure, both at rest and during submaximal exercise in healthy people. METHODS: We randomized 39 physically active, healthy participants into aerobic, resistance, and mixed (aerobic and resistance) exercise groups,...

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to study the effects of aerobic, resistance, and mixed (aerobic and resistance) training programs on blood pressure, both at rest and during submaximal exercise in healthy people. METHODS: We randomized 39 physically active, healthy participants into aerobic, resistance, and mixed (aerobic and resistance) exercise groups,...

Increases in cardiorespiratory coordination (CRC) after training with no differences in performance and physiological variables have recently been reported using a principal component analysis approach. However, no research has yet evaluated the short-term effects of exercise on CRC. The aim of this study was to delineate the behavior of CRC under...

Background: Physical exercise can be part of treatment in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), where the aim would be to improve strength and endurance through increasing physical exercise (intensity and time) without aggravating symptomatology. The present study examines the effectiveness of a reconditioning programme (focusing on streng...

BACKGROUND: To determine the clinical risk factors predictive of the 5-year mortality in patients with low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS) after cardiac surgery. In addition, to assess the influence of inflammation and myocardial dysfunction severity, as measured by C-reactive protein (CRP) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) co...

Our purpose was to study the effects of different training modalities and detraining on cardiorespiratory coordination (CRC). Thirty-two young males were randomly assigned to four training groups: aerobic (AT), resistance (RT), aerobic plus resistance (AT + RT), and control (C). They were assessed before training, after training (6 weeks) and after...

Liver cirrhosis has evolved an important risk factor for cardiac surgery due to the higher morbidity and mortality that these patients may suffer compared with general cardiac surgery population. The presence of contributing factors for a poor outcome, such as coagulopathy, a poor nutritional status, an adaptive immune dysfunction, a degree of cirr...

Although hyperlactatemia is common after cardiac surgery, its value as a prognostic marker is unclear. The aim of the present study was to determine whether postoperative serial arterial lactate (AL) measurements after cardiac surgery could predict outcome. Prospective, observational study. Surgical intensive care unit in a tertiary-level universit...

To determine the clinical risk factors predictive of the 5--year mortality in patients with low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS) after cardiac surgery. In addition, to assess the influence of inflammation and myocardial dysfunction severity, as measured by C--reactive protein (CRP) and N--terminal pro--brain natriuretic peptide (NT--proBNP) concentra...

Obesity influences risk stratification in cardiac surgery in everyday practice. However, some studies have reported better outcomes in patients with a high body mass index (BMI): this is known as the obesity paradox. The aim of this study was to quantify the effect of diverse degrees of high BMI on clinical outcomes after cardiac surgery, and to as...

Magnesium (Mg) is an important intracellular ion with electrophysiological properties. It is essential for optimal metabolic cell function. Serum Mg is a poor predictor of body stores, as less than 1 % of total body Mg is found in serum. Ionized Mg assessment, the active portion of Mg, may be a more useful indicator than total serum Mg assessment....

Circulating progenitor cells (CPC) are bone marrow-derived cells that are mobilized into the circulation. While exercise is a powerful mediator of hematopoiesis, CPC levels increase, and reports of their activation after different types of exercise are contradictory. Moreover, few studies have compared the possible effects of different training pro...

Background: Circulating progenitor cells (CPC) treatments may have great potential for the recovery of neurons and brain function. Objective: To increase and maintain CPC with a program of exercise, muscle electro-stimulation (ME) and/or intermittent-hypobaric-hypoxia (IHH), and also to study the possible improvement in physical or psychological...

Niño O, Javierre C, Blasi J, Miguel M, Esteve F, Alamo J, Corral L, Ventura J. Circulating CD34+ Progenitor Cells in the Days Following a 100 Km Walking Race. JEPonline 2014;17(5):65-72. The purpose of this study was to observe the changes in the number of circulating CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells (CPC) in 6 subjects the days after a 100 km...

The arterial partial pressure of O2 and the fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) ratio is widely used in ICUs as an indicator of oxygenation status. Although cardiac surgery and ICU scores can predict mortality, during the first hours after cardiac surgery few instruments are available to assess outcome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the...

Background Our goal was to test whether short-term intermittent hypobaric hypoxia (IHH) at a level well tolerated by healthy humans could, in combination with muscle electro-stimulation (ME), mobilize circulating progenitor cells (CPC) and increase their concentration in peripheral circulation. Methods Nine healthy male subjects were subjected, as...

Aim: Little is known regarding the long-term outcome in cirrhotic patients undergoing cardiac surgery. The objective of this study was to identify preoperative and postoperative mortality risk factors and to determine the best predictors of long-term outcome. Methods: Fifty-eight consecutive cirrhotic patients requiring cardiac surgery between J...

The development of acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with poor outcome. The modified RIFLE (risk, injury, failure, loss of kidney function, and end-stage renal failure) classification for AKI, which classifies patients with renal replacement therapy needs according to RIFLE failure class, improves the predictive value of AKI in patients under...

Hypomagnesemia has been linked with increased morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients. Since the condition is common after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, the objective of this study was to determine whether magnesium supplementation in the immediate postoperative period may improve outcomes of patients undergoing cardiac surgery with ca...

OBJECTIVES Cirrhosis represents a serious risk in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Several preoperative factors identify cirrhotic patients as high risk for cardiac surgery; however, a patient's preoperative status may be modified by surgical intervention and, as yet, no independent postoperative mortality risk factors have been identified in t...

Objective: To study the differences in respiratory responses to exercise in environmental conditions similar to the practice of winter sports among physically active and healthy men with and without spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods: 24 healthy, physically active volunteers, 12 with SCI and the other 12 without SCI. Each subject performed three max...

Peripheral blood is an easily accessed source for stem cell production; however, the number of cells produced is relatively low. We hypothesized that ischemic preconditioning may serve as a safe method to increase the number of CD34+ cells that can be harvested and cultured in a short period. This study was conducted to test this hypothesis by exam...

We investigate age and sex differences in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) after cardiac surgery in a prospective study of 2038 consecutive patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. An age of ≥70 years implied changes in the type of AMI from the ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to non-ST-segment elevation m...

Introduction Non-neurological complications in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) are frequent, worsening the prognosis, but the pathophysiology of systemic complications after TBI is unclear. The purpose of this study was to analyze non-neurological complications in patients with severe TBI admitted to the ICU, the impact of these c...

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is an illness of unknown aetiology that has been associated with abnormalities in essential fatty acid metabolism, however this still remains unclear. We have compared the fatty acid profile in plasma and red blood cells and their dietary intake between a group of 20 patients diagnosed with CFS (18 women and 2 men) and 20 a...

Little has been reported regarding the effects of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) on the partner. The purpose of this study was to determine and quantify the existence of a relationship between the patient's functional capacity and psychological aspects of the partner. The sample consisted of 32 female CFS patients and their partners. Psychological...

IntroductionThe aim of the study was to evaluate the cardiorespiratory parameters at rest and and as the response to very low intensity physical exercise in women with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Physical exercise is often terminated not due to muscle fatigue but because of inadequate neural drive in the serotonergic system. Modifications in activity levels of the serotonergic system, induced by variations in the availability of L-tryptophan (a serotonin precursor) may alter neural drive. We examined the effect of L-tryptophan supplementati...

Rebut el 30 de desembre de 2009; acceptat el 12 de gener de 2010 PARAuLEs CLAu Síndrome de fatiga crònica; Exercici; Resposta fisiològica Resumen Introducció: L'objectiu de l'estudi va ser avaluar els paràmetres cardiorespiratoris en condicions de repòs i la resposta durant exercici físic a molt baixa intensitat en dones amb síndrome de fatiga cròn...

Introduction: The aim of the study was to evaluate the cardiorespiratory parameters at rest and as the response to very low intensity physical exercise in women with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Material and methods: A group of 141 women suffering from CFS were compared with a control group (C) of 20 women while at rest and during 4 minutes of c...

Our goal was to determine whether short-term intermittent hypoxia exposure, at a level well tolerated by healthy humans and previously shown by our group to increase EPO and erythropoiesis, could mobilize hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and increase their presence in peripheral circulation. Four healthy male subjects were subjected to three differen...

GV and CJ during HME protocol. The intensity of muscle electrostimulation can be observed in this short movie.

CHEx-1 Hypobaric chamber. The hypobaric chamber into BioPol facility at University of Barcelona Campus Bellvitge.

To determine whether there are sex-based differences in serum troponin I (TnI) after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Prospective, observational, cohort study. Tertiary cardiac surgery intensive care unit (ICU) at a university hospital. None. Serum TnI was measured in samples obtained at ICU admission and 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours later....

To identify associations among haemoglobin (Hb) concentrations, blood transfusions, and clinical outcomes in patients after cardiac surgery, especially in those who undergo valve replacement or bypass surgery. Prospective observational trial. Surgical intensive care unit in a tertiary-level university hospital. 1216 Consecutive patients. Haemoglobi...

The purpose of this study was to determine the possible correlation between inflammatory activation after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass, measured by postoperative C-reactive protein concentrations, and immediate intensive care unit outcome. A prospective, clinical cohort study. A 10-bed surgical intensive care unit at a tertiary unive...

Viscor, Gines Javierre, Casimiro Pages, Teresa Ventura, Josep-Lluis Ricart, Antoni Martin-Henao, Gregorio Azqueta, Carmen Segura, Ramon

A 66-year-old man with a history of arterial hypertension underwent emergency cardiac surgery for aortic dissection type A, diagnosed by a computed tomographic scan ( Panel A ) after abdominal pain and syncope. The lesion was repaired with a Dacron tubular prosthesis. In the postoperative period, he improved his condition slowly under mechanical …

The difference between genders has generated increasing interest in recent years. It is well known that women and men show differences in their respiratory system: different red blood cell counts, haemoglobin and 2,3-diphosphoglycerate plasma concentrations. Recently, further differences have been found in the ventilatory response to hypoxia and ex...

Heart transplantation (HT) due to valvular cardiomyopathy is rare, namely, about 3% of cases in the Registry of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT). Usually, these patients present some risk factors such as previous valvular operations and pulmonary hypertension. Since there are few studies in the literature, we ret...

It was believed that amiodarone-related adverse respiratory effects were found only when receiving amiodarone on a long-term basis, but several reports seem to contradict this hypothesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate, in an intensive care unit (ICU), the possibility of acute respiratory toxicity induced by short-term amiodarone administrat...

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a relatively common procedure in cardiac surgery. At the end, the heart is electrically defibrillated if not already beating. External and internal cardioversion by specific catheters do not raise plasma troponin concentration, but the possible repercussion on troponin of the direct cardioversion of the heart has not...

Aim. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent cardiac arrhythmia and radiofrequency modified maze III procedure in patients with AF undergoing elective concomitant cardiac surgery offers an alternative to the complex surgical maze procedure and has been proved an effective technique to eliminate AF in the long-term. Significant troponin increa...

Introduction and objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate differences in plasma cortisol concentration in response to an intercalating aerobic-anaerobic exercise test in a group of physically active young people. Methods: Fourteen healthy young male volunteers performed a 40-minute exercise test at 50% of individual peak oxygen upta...

A global physical evaluation was performed in 21 males with spinal cord injury (SCI), at the beginning and at three and six months of omega-3 fatty acid (FA) supplementation. A significant increase in the proportion of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexanoic acid in plasma was observed in response to the supplementation (p<0.05). After six months...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common after cardiac surgery, but prophylaxis for patients especially prone to developing this arrhythmia has not been studied to date. We investigated amiodarone as prophylaxis for AF in selected patients after open-heart surgery. In the first stage we studied a group of 204 consecutive cardiac surgery patients and devi...

The case we report is that of a 81 year-old- male with severe degenerative mitral regurgitation who underwent major cardiac surgery. Surgical procedure involved a quadrangular resection of P2-P3 and a Jostra-Puig annuloplasty reduced to 29 mm. He was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for cardiogenic shock immediately after the surgery and a...

Purpose To compare the response to physical exercise between subjects with spinal cord injury (SCI) and able-bodied (AB) subjects with the objective of developing a new formula for the indirect calculation of oxygen consumption (VO 2 ). Subjects 20 individuals with paraplegia below Th 6 and 22 AB subjects have participated in the study. Measures...

Creatine is an ergogenic aid used in individual and team sports. The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of monohydrate creatine supplementation on physical performance during 6 consecutive maximal speed 60 meter races, and the changes induced in some characteristic biochemical and ventilatory parameters. The study was carried out on ninetee...

During recent decades altitude training has been used to improve athletic performance. In practice, the hypoxic stimulus can be attained by several means: 1) environmental or altitude (hypobaric) hypoxia occurs upon ascent to moderate to high altitude (mountains or flights) as barometric pressure decreases with altitude; 2) simulated altitude gener...

Various experimental designs and protocols of short-term intermittent exposure to hypoxia in a hypobaric chamber which simulates an altitude of 4,000 to 5,500 m elicited EPO secretion and adaptative hematological responses. These procedures also induced acclimation to altitude and an improvement in aerobic endurance in healthy subjects. Increased e...

The target of this study is to assess the changes, in both the aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms, provoked by a short length program training. Five (male) volunteers worked out daily during two weeks in a cycloergometer.These sessions consisted of 15-second series of maximum effort with a 12-minute rest.The number of series increased gradually up t...

There is a disparity in the information about the heritability of the response of muscle anaerobic metabolism to exercise and the use of explosive power, as well as a lack of information concerning the genetic determinants of this form of work, as measured using different specific physical tests. We applied a battery of some of the commonly employe...

Abstract

The effect of acute hypoxia on blood concentration of ammonia ([NH3]b) and lactate (la-]b) was studied during incremental exercise(IE), and two-step constant workload exercises (CE). Fourteen endurance-trained subjects performed incremental exercise on a cycle ergometer under normoxic (21% O2) and hypoxic (10.4% O2) conditions. Eight endurance-trai...

This study aimed to determine whether brief hypoxic stimuli in a hypobaric chamber are able to elicit erythropoietin (EPO) secretion, and to effectively stimulate erythropoiesis in the short term. In two different experiments, a set of haematological, biochemical, haemorheological, aerobic performance, and medical tests were performed in two groups...

The objective of this study was to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of three protocols of intermittent exposure to simulated altitude (hypobaric hypoxia). This was done in order to determine the shortest protocol in which hematological changes were induced. In addition to having some potential therapeutic applications, these protocols have al...

With the ultimate goal of finding a straightforward protocol for acclimatization at simulated altitude, we evaluated the early effects of repeated short-term exposure to hypobaric hypoxia on the respiratory response to exercise in hypoxia. Nine subjects were exposed to a simulated altitude of 5000 m for 2 hours a day for 14 days. Arterial oxygen sa...

The physiological responses to short-term intermittent exposure to hypoxia in a hypobaric chamber were evaluated. The exposure to hypoxia was compatible with normal daily activity. The ability of the hypoxia program to induce hematological and ventilatory adaptations leading to altitude acclimation and to improve physical performance capacity was t...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in aerobic and anaerobic metabolism produced by a newly devised short training programme. Five young male volunteers trained daily for 2 weeks on a cycle ergometer. Sessions consisted of 15-s all-out repetitions with 45-s rest periods, plus 30-s all-out repetitions with 12-min rest periods. The numb...

Blood lactate concentrations in capillary samples obtained from the ear lobe or from the finger tip are used indistinctly, since they are considered equivalents. The aim of the study reported in this paper was to verify whether that assumption is valid due to the practical implications which any possible differences between these two sampling sites...

L'exposition prolongée en altitude est utilisée depuis plusieurs décennies dans la préparation des athlètes. A partir de trois semaines, elle entraîne des modifications physiologiques (acclimatation) comme l'augmentation de la masse érythrocytaire, d'où l'amélioration des performances au niveau de la mer. Mais la difficulté de maintenir un entraîne...

L'exposition prolongée en altitude est utilisée depuis plusieurs décennies dans la préparation des athlètes. A partir de trois semaines, elle entraîne des modifications physiologiques (acclimatation) comme l'augmentation de la masse érythrocytaire, d'où l'amélioration des performances au niveau de la mer. Mais la difficulté de maintenir un entraîne...

A single short exposure to acute hypobaric hypoxia (90 min at a simulated altitude of 5,000 m) stimulated EPO secretion. Short-term intermittent hypobaric hypoxia (9 sessions·90 min at 4,000-5,500 m) produced a substantial increase in all red cell mass indicators (PCV, RCB, [Hb], reticulocytes), and improved arterial blood saturation in hypoxia, fr...

Se describe el caso de un varón que ha alcanzado altitudes superiores a 6.000 m y 5.000 m poco antes y después de practicársele una angioplastia sobre uno de los vasos principales coronarios. Pese a que casos similares son excepcionales, se cuestiona la altitud de 2.000 m como el límite absoluto de seguridad ante toda cardiopatía isquémica.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of a very short intermittent exposure to moderate hypoxia in a hypobaric chamber on aerobic performance capacity at sea level and the erythropoietic response. The effects of hypobaric hypoxia alone and combined with low-intensity exercise were also compared. Seventeen members of three high-altitude...

Respiratory failure (RF) requiring mechanical ventilation (MV) is a frequent, critical complication of bone marrow transplantation. RF has a global survival rate at 6 months of between 2 and 5%, depending on the patient group. Recently, a type of RF associated with hemoperipheric recovery has been described. This is known as engraftment syndrome. W...

The differences in ventilatory response to exercise of some highland ethnic communities is a controversial issue. We have evaluated the differences in ventilatory response to exercise at sea level between two groups of elite climbers, four Himalayan Sherpas (S) and four Caucasian lowlanders (C), after descent from extreme altitude. All of them perf...

Running economy (RE), defined as the steady-state of oxygen uptake (V˙O2) for a given running velocity, is a factor of sports performance the genetic component of which has seldom been reported to date. We studied this component using a heritability index (HI) in a group of 32 male twins, 8 monozygotic (MZ) and 8 dizygotic (DZ) pairs, all sportsmen...

Antecedentes : La flexibilidad (FL) definida como el rango de amplitud de movimiento de una o varias articulaciones es un factor del rendimiento deportivo que viene determinado por la edad, el sexo, el entrenamiento, por características antropométricas y por fectores genéticos de los que se ha estudiado muy poco. MÉTODO: Para averiguar la importanc...

Objective: To test the hypothesis that saliva lactate concentrations may reflect those present in blood and that saliva lactate can be used as a very convenient and useful variable in the study of anaerobic metabolism. Methods: Parallel determinations were made of lactate in saliva and in capillary blood samples, obtained at 3 min intervals from...

Creatine supplementation has been shown by several authors to improve physical performance in very high intensity, intermittent, exercises. The effect on performance, as well as in plasma creatine and lactate concentrations has been studied in a group of twelve sprinters of national class when running a distance of 150 m on two occasions, before an...

Creatine supplementation has been shown by several authors to improve physical performance in very high intensity, intermittent, exercises. The effect on performance, as well as in plasma creatine and lactate concentrations has been studied in a group of twelve sprinters of national class when running a distance of 150 m on two occasions, before an...

Creatine supplementation has been shown by several authors to improve physical performance in very high intensity, intermittent, exercises. The effect on performance, as well as in plasma creatine and lactate concentrations has been studied in a group of twelve sprinters of national class when running a distance of 150 m on two occasions, before an...