Ricerc@Sapienza

Objective: The relationship between the autonomic nervous system (ANS) modulation of the sinus node and heart rate variability has been extensively investigated. The current study sought to evaluate, in an animal experimental model of pacing-induced tachycardia congestive heart failure (CHF), a possible ANS influence on the P wave duration and PR interval oscillations.

Background/aim: Recently, data from temporal dispersion of myocardial repolarization analysis have gained a capital role in the sudden cardiac death risk stratification. Aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of heart rate, autonomic nervous system and controlled breathing on different myocardial repolarization markers in healthy subjects.

laparoscopic surgery accounts for millionsof surgical procedures per year, and it has become the most-used elective procedure among radical prostatectomy surgeries.2, 3 De- spite the fact that the overall mortality from laparoscopic surgery is low 4 and that cardiac and cerebral complications related to laparoscopic prostatectomy are rare,5 head-down positioning and pneumoperitoneum exert their effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. laparoscopic procedures generate hydrostatic and abdominal pressures,6 and in- volve the action of anesthetic drugs.

Understanding the association between autonomic nervous system [ANS] function and brain morphology across the lifespan provides important insights into neurovisceral mechanisms underlying health and disease. Resting-state ANS activity, indexed by measures of heart rate [HR] and its variability [HRV] has been associated with brain morphology, particularly cortical thickness [CT]. While findings have been mixed regarding the anatomical distribution and direction of the associations, these inconsistencies may be due to sex and age differences in HR/HRV and CT.

Given the intrinsic connection between the brain and the heart, a recent body of research emerged with the aim to influence cardiovascular system functioning by non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) methods such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation. Despite the implications of cardiovascular activity modulation for therapeutic purposes, such effects of NIBS have not yet been quantified. The aim of this study was to meta-analyze studies on NIBS effects on blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and its variability (HRV).

Evolutionary pressure produced 2 master regulators of physiological homeostasis: the nervous system and the immune system. The nervous system evolved to integrate physiological functions and control changes in homeostasis. Neural signals establish reflex responses, perceive disturbances in the environment (internal or external), and elicit activation of the afferent arc (ie, the neural circuit that transfers information from the periphery to the brain).

The nervous system and the immune system share the common ability to exert gatekeeper roles at the interfaces between internal and external environment. Although interaction between these 2 evolutionarily highly conserved systems has been recognized for long time, the investigation into the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying their crosstalk has been tackled only in recent decades. Recent work of the past years elucidated how the autonomic nervous system controls the splenic immunity recruited by hypertensive challenges.