Search

Unlabelled: The coagulation cascade plays a critical role in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Elevated plasma prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 (F1 + 2) and factor VIII antigen (FVIII:Ag) levels have been associated with a hypercoagulable state, enhancing the risk for vascular thrombotic events. Aerobic training is known to reduce CVD risk, and an improved coagulation profile may contribute to this reduction., Purpose: To analyze the effect of 6 months of standardized aerobic exercise training on resting F1 + 2 and FVIII:Ag levels in men and postmenopausal women aged 50-75 while accounting for several possibly confounding factors., Materials and Methods: Sedentary men (N=16) and women (N=31) underwent supervised aerobic training 3 d x wk(-1) for 6 months while maintaining the American Heart Association step 1 diet. Baseline and final testing included measurement of F1 + 2, FVIII:Ag, plasma lipoprotein-lipid levels, body composition, and VO2max., Results: When adjusted for baseline values and changes in diastolic blood pressure with training, F1 + 2 was found to decrease significantly with exercise training from 1.493 +/- 0.058 to 1.422 +/- 0.059 nM (P=0.014). FVIII:Ag levels were found to increase significantly with training when adjusted for baseline values, from 152.5 +/- 6.7% of standard at baseline to 156.0 +/- 6.1% of standard at final testing (P=0.005). Training-induced changes in coagulation markers were independent of changes in blood lipids, aerobic capacity, and body composition., Conclusions: : These results indicate that endurance training has a significant impact on the coagulation cascade, reducing coagulation activity in the common pathway and thrombin formation at rest while increasing the activation potential of the intrinsic pathway.

A 1967 report described the first known case of congenital factor XIII (FXIII) deficiency in the United States in a male patient with a severe hemorrhagic disorder. The patient's family presented no symptoms of the disorder, but the members were found to have half the normal FXIII activity. Although the molecular basis of the disorder could not be evaluated at the time, the results suggested an autosomal recessive inherited disorder. We sequenced all of the exons and the flanking regions in the genes for the FXIII A and B subunits of the patient, his family, and 18 unrelated individuals. We report the novel combination of an Arg-to-Cys mutation at codon 78 and a G-to-C mutation at the intron 5/exon 6 splice junction in the patient's FXIIIA gene. The missense-splice junction mutation combination appears to have caused the patient's FXIIIA deficiency, because the remaining family members, who present no symptoms and have no clinical diagnoses of FXIII deficiency, have one or the other of the 2 mutations but not both. Additionally, the 18 unrelated individuals are homozygous wild type at these loci. The molecular consequences of these mutations appear to be an abnormality in protein conformation or folding and/or a reduced production of messenger RNA transcripts of varying length that likely result in a nonfunctional, unstable FXIII protein.

We began this series in 2000 with the aim of making available in an easily accessible format all the advances on the genetic basis of a large family of exercise-related traits. The current review presents the 2004 update of the human gene map for physical performance and health-related fitness phenotypes. It is based on peer-reviewed papers published by the end of 2004. The genes and markers with evidence of association or linkage with a performance or fitness phenotype in sedentary or active people, in adaptation to acute exercise, or for training-induced changes are positioned on the genetic map of all autosomes and the X chromosome. Negative studies are reviewed but a gene or locus must be supported by at least one positive study before being inserted on the map. One new feature is that we have incorporated the genes whose sequence variants have been associated with either the level of physical activity or indicators of sedentarism. By the end of 2000, in the early version of the gene map, 29 loci were depicted. In contrast, the 2004 human gene map for physical performance and health-related phenotypes includes 140 autosomal gene entries and quantitative trait loci, plus four on the X chromosome. Moreover, there are 16 mitochondrial genes in which sequence variants have been shown to influence relevant fitness and performance phenotypes. Thus, the map is growing in complexity and progress is being made. The number of laboratories and scientists concerned by the role of genes and sequence variations in exercise-related traits is rising. But exercise science and sports medicine is generally lagging behind in terms of utilizing the advances in genetic and genomic technologies.