Thomas P. Olson, Ph.D., M.S.

We are currently enrolling both healthy volunteers and people who have been diagnosed with heart failure to participate in our research study.  The purpose of this study is to better understand the relationship between exercise, breathing, blood flow and blood pressure.  This study includes two study visits if you are a healthy or heart failure volunteer.    All testing will be performed at our testing center at St. Mary’s Hospital located in Rochester, MN. 

On the first study visit, the research activities will be discussed and all questions will be answered. Once written consent is provided and the participant is enrolled, lung function and exercise capacity will be measured.

The second study visit includes two separate breathing muscle workouts (a light and moderate workload) each followed by 10 min of light to moderate cycling exercise. In addition, two breathing tests will also be performed. During this visit, blood is drawn during exercise.

If you are a patient at Mayo Clinic, who is currently enrolled or will be enrolling in a cardiac rehabilitation exercise program, you will have the option to complete four study visits.  Your first two study visits as described above will be completed at the beginning of cardiac rehabilitation and then we will ask you to return to complete those same two study visits following the completion of your cardiac rehabilitation program.

Remuneration and parking reimbursement are provided.

The purpose of this study is to determine how menopause influences blood pressure responses during exercise in women.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate comparisons between a hybrid program of center-based CR which incorporates mHealth remote case management technology (CON+) to a traditional center-based program alone (CON) as well as comparisons between home-based mHealth remote case management alone (HOM+) to a traditional center-based program (CON).

The purpose of this study is to examine PRO-HIIT compared with CON-HIIT on effectiveness for improving locomotor muscle mitochondrial function in heart failure (HF) patients.

The purpose of this study is to identify barriers to engaging in physical activity for patients who have heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction, for the design of exercise training programs that these patients are more likely to follow, to improve clinical outcomes and quality of life.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether people without HFpEF display less visceral adipose tissue (VAT) compared to patients with diagnosed HFpEF.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of non-invasive low intensity venous distension on the activation of locomotor muscle group III afferents on ventilation, gas exchange, blood pressure, and cardiac function responses in healthy individuals.

This study is being done because the investigators are trying to understand how feedback from the muscles can influence your blood pressure and breathing during exercise, and if the investigators can reduce this response in heart failure patients. The investigators are also trying to determine ways to improve tolerance to exercise in heart failure patients.

The goal of this project is to study mechano- and- metaboreceptor function (mechanoreflex and metaboreflex, respectively) associated with exercise in HF. We will measure blood pressure, systemic vascular resistance (SVR), and the slope of the ventilatory equivalent to carbon dioxide output ratio (VE/VCO2) slope responses to stimulation of these pathways. We also aim to determine the influence of changes in blood biochemistry and intra-venous pressure on mechano- and- metaboreflex activation.

The objective of this proposal is to determine the effect of resistance exercise training on locomotor muscle function, exercise capacity, exertional symptoms, and quality of life in HF patients with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

The investigators seek to understand how reflexes from the breathing muscles influence blood pressure during exercise. Furthermore, the investigators are determining if increasing breathing muscle strength (via inspiratory muscle training) influences the respiratory muscle contribution to blood pressure during exercise.

The purpose of this study is to understand how feedback from your breathing muscles influence blood flow and blood pressure during exercise and if we can reduce this response in heart failure patients with breathing muscle training.

The first purpose is to investigate the effect of pedal rate during submaximal exercise activation of locomotor muscle afferents on ventilation, gas exchange, blood pressure, and cardiac hemodynamic responses in healthy individuals compared with HF patients. We will determine the influence of pedal rate on ventilation, gas exchange, blood pressure, and cardiac hemodynamic responses on activation of group III and IV locomotor muscle afferents using a novel application and integration of two separate but related scientific questions to better understand peripheral mechanisms of exercise tolerance in humans. The second purpose is to investigate whether pedal rates during exercise with activation of locomotor muscle afferents influences ventilation, gas exchange, blood pressure, and cardiac hemodynamic responses evoked by post-exercise normal recovery (NR), subsystolic regional circulatory occlusion (RCO), or suprasystolic RCO. The third purpose is to compare ventilation, gas exchange, blood pressure, and cardiac hemodynamic responses across the adult healthy aging spectrum and compared with HF patients.

The first purpose is to determine the influence of pedal rate during constant-load submaximal locomotor exercise on ventilation, gas exchange, blood pressure, and cardiac hemodynamic responses during post-exercise activation of group III and IV locomotor muscle afferents using a novel application and integration of two separate but related scientific questions to better understand peripheral mechanisms of exercise tolerance in humans. The second purpose is to compare ventilation, gas exchange, blood pressure, and cardiac hemodynamic responses across the adult healthy aging spectrum.

The purpose of this study is two-fold. The first purpose is to understand how feedback from your muscles can change ventilation at rest and during exercise in low and high oxygen conditions. The second purpose is to understand how feedback from your muscles can influence muscle fatigue and muscle function in normal and low oxygen conditions. The ventilatory response to exercise and skeletal muscle fatigability in healthy controls and HF patients will advance our understanding of tolerance to exercise in HF patients.