 Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test. Maximal exercise capacity was determined by means of a maximal progressive cardiopulmonary exercise test SensorMedics - Vmax Analyzes Assembly, Encore 29S on an electromagnetically braked cycle ergometer Ergoline - Via Sprint 150 P, with work-rate constant increment 5 to 20Wmin at 60 to 70 rpm until exhaustion as previously described Ueno et al., 2009. Peak VO2 was defined as the maximum attained VO2 at the end of the exercise period in which the subject could no longer maintain the cycle ergometer velocity at 60 rpm. 