Students at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) that are enrolled in a Physiology laboratory course measured a series of cardiovascular and respiratory variables for students during the experiment outlined below. Before participating in the experiment, students provided personal information such as exercise and smoking habits. This data was then compiled into a database, which was made available to the current class. From this data, I selected 4 variables (RQ, SV, ⩒O2, and MAP) to analyze in relation to 2 populations (10 male smokers versus 10 male non-smokers). I averaged the data from each population, then performed 4 unpaired t-tests to determine if there was a relationship between smoking and each individual variable. In the experiment, students rested for approximately 5 minutes to establish baseline resting values, then had their blood pressure …show more content…
Afterward, each student was fitted with a mask that carried exhaled air through a spirometer. This configuration enabled LabQuest2 to record respiratory values such as air volume and percentage of oxygen, which I later used to calculate ⩒O2 and RQ. ⩒O2 was calculated using ⩒O2 = (1.1)(VE)(F-Io2 – F-Eo2), where VE = minute ventilation, F-Io2 = fraction of inspired oxygen, and F-Eo2 = fraction of expired oxygen. RQ was calculated using RQ = ⩒CO2 / ⩒O2, where ⩒CO2 = carbon dioxide production and ⩒O2 = oxygen consumption. Students then pedaled at 80 revolutions per minute (rpm) on a bicycle ergometer at various levels (i.e., level 0, level 1, level 2, and so on) for 2 minutes, or until they reached exhaustion. Cardiovascular variables were measured at the end of each 2-minute interval: heart rate was recorded using