Showing papers by "Tomi Laitinen published in 2006"

Pregnancy-related hyperlipidemia and endothelial function in healthy women.

Abstract: Background The purpose of the present study was to investigate pregnancy-related changes in the maternal serum lipid profile and endothelial function. Methods and Results As part of the population-based, prospective cohort Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study conducted in Finland, 57 pregnant Finnish women and 62 control women matched for age and smoking were examined throughout gestation. Serum triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were determined and concomitantly endothelium-dependent brachial artery flow mediated dilation (FMD) was measured by ultrasound. During pregnancy serum TC, LDL-C, HDL-C, TG and very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased significantly when compared with the non-pregnant state (p<0.001 for each) and towards the end of pregnancy (p<0.001, p<0.001, p=0.007, p<0.001, p<0.001). FMD increased towards the end of pregnancy and there was a statistically significant direct correlation between gestational age and FMD% (r=0.345, p=0.010). Brachial artery diameter at rest and FMD% were negatively correlated in pregnant (r=-0.280, p=0.035) and non-pregnant women (r=-0.360, p<0.004). The univariate correlation analysis showed a direct correlation between maternal serum TC (r=0.333, p=0.012) and TG (r=0.366, p=0.006) and FMD%, whereas a negative non-significant correlation was found in non-pregnant women. In a multivariate model, vessel size (β=-0.436, p=0.001) and TG (β=0.502, p<0.001) were the most powerful predictors for FMD% in pregnancy, the influence of other lipids was non-significant. Conclusions In healthy pregnant women increased gestational age is associated with improved endothelium-dependent vasodilation responses regardless of concurrently appearing lipid changes. (Circ J 2006; 70: 768 - 772)

Sedation, topical pharyngeal anesthesia and cardiorespiratory safety during gastroscopy.

Abstract: Goals In a prospective, double-blind study, we examined the effects of routine sedation and pharyngeal anesthesia on cardiorespiratory parameters during gastroscopy. Background Intravenous sedation and topical pharyngeal anesthesia are used to alleviate the discomfort during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Cardiorespiratory changes during gastroscopy are common. Study Two hundred fifty two consecutive outpatients undergoing gastroscopy were assigned into 4 groups: (1) sedation with intravenous midazolam and placebo throat spray (midazolam group), (2) placebo sedation and pharyngeal anesthesia with lidocaine throat spray (lidocaine group), (3) placebo sedation and placebo throat spray (placebo group), and (4) no intravenous cannula nor throat spray (control group). Arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2), systolic and diastolic blood pressure and continuous electrocardiogram were recorded before, during, and after the endoscopic procedure. Results Gastroscopy increased heart rate in all study groups. Premedication with intravenous midazolam or lidocaine spray alleviated this rise (P Conclusions Premedication with midazolam alleviated the rise in heart rate and systolic blood pressure but induced a statistically significant decrease in arterial oxygen saturation. However, gastroscopy proved to be a safe procedure both with and without sedation.

Controlling reactive aggression through cognitive evaluation of proactive aggression cues

Abstract: The authors investigated how the relationship between the acts of proactive and reactive aggression was moderated by the individual differences in cognitive regulation of emotion. An aggression paradigm, a electrocardiogram recording, a cognitive assessment battery, and a short form IQ test were completed by 109 children, aged 8 to 13 years (Juujarvi, Kaartinen, Laitinen, Vanninen, & Pulkkinen, 2006; Juujarvi, Kooistra, Kaartinen, & Pulkkinen, 2001; Lehto, Juujarvi, Kooistra, & Pulkkinen, 2003). The less the children subdued the intensity of their defence to the attacks in the aggression paradigm, the poorer they performed in the cognitive assessment battery tasks measuring Working memory capacity and in the task assessing crystallised intelligence. The mean cardiovascular reactivity during the aggression paradigm was neither associated with the performances in either the cognitive assessment battery nor the intelligence tasks. Both information processing and knowledge dimensions of cognition contributed ...

Effects of physical provocations on heart rate reactivity and reactive aggression in children

Abstract: This article presents complementary data on the relationship between the intensity of offensive and defensive aggression that was investigated by means of the computerised Pulkkinen Aggression Machine (PAM) paradigm [Juujarvi et al., 2001; Aggr Behav 27:430-445]. The recording of the electrocardiogram was conducted in a sample of 109 children (61 boys and 48 girls) while they completed the PAM. Across the conditions of controlled aggression, the simulated attack and defence evoked a mean increase of HR by 2.7 beats per minute (bpm), but the variation between children was substantial (-10.9 to +11.4 bpm). Children who showed a strong HR increase, moderate HR increase, or HR decrease were compared on heart rate variability (HRV) and intensity of (defensive) reactive aggression. Variation of mean HR reactivity was generally related to changes in parasympathetic activity since the power of HRV changed in the high (0.15-0.40 Hz) rather than the low (0.04-0.15 Hz) frequency band. The correspondence between the intensity of offensive and defensive aggression was weakest among those children who displayed either a strong increase or a decrease of HR as compared to those children who exhibited only moderate increase of mean HR. The stronger the children displayed an increase of HR during the PAM, the lower they were rated on the teacher rating scales for depressive symptoms, social anxiety, and aggression. Together, these results suggest that the relationship between the intensity of physical provocations and reactive aggression was moderated by dispositional negative emotionality and its regulation. Language: en

Noise sensitivity of a principal component regression based RT interval variability estimation method.

Abstract: Ventricular repolarization duration (VRD) is controlled by neural regulatory system same way as heart rate and, thus, also VRD varies in time. Traditionally, VRD variability is assessed by determining the time differences between successive R and T-waves, i.e. RT intervals. We have recently proposed a method based on principal component regression (PCR) for quantifying RT variability. The main benefit of the method is that it does not necessitate T-wave detection. In this paper, the noise sensitivity of the PCR based method is evaluated by examining the effect of simulated Gaussian noise on the spectral characteristics of the estimated RT variability series.