Fig. 1

a, b Solid lines are median values while the shaded areas bordered by dotted lines represent the upper and lower quartiles. c, d Points are median values, with the vertical bars indicating the interquartile range. The symbol (*) indicates a significant difference compared to H0 by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (p < 0.05). M1 = maximum value under esmolol, M2 = last value under esmolol, M3 = first value after esmolol cessation