Acclaimed trainer explains the significant impact of hormones on female physiology

Champaign, IL--While a man's hormonal system remains relatively stable, a female's hormonal system is constantly changing. According to Jason Karp, PhD, an exercise physiologist and 2011 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, hormonal fluctuations can affect how women will respond and adapt to training. "The phase of the menstrual cycle significantly affects a female runner's hormonal environment and therefore her physiology," Karp explains. "Any physiological changes resulting from menstrual cycle-induced fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone are exacerbated during exercise, especially if it's intense."

In the book Running for Women (Human Kinetics, 2012), Karp and coauthor Carolyn Smith, MD, explain how various aspects of physiology are affected by the phase of the menstrual cycle, including oxygen consumption, body temperature, and metabolism.

Oxygen Consumption

"Progesterone stimulates ventilation independent of the intensity of the run, which can increase the perception of effort since runners typically link their perception of effort to how much they're breathing," Karp explains. "Breathing is greater during the luteal phase, when progesterone concentration is highest, making women feel more winded during luteal-phase workouts compared to follicular-phase workouts." The increased breathing during the luteal phase may also increase the oxygen demand of breathing since the muscles responsible for breathing need oxygen to work just like leg muscles do. More oxygen being used by breathing muscles means less oxygen is available for the leg muscles to aid with running.

Body Temperature

Body temperature changes rhythmically throughout the menstrual cycle, peaking during the luteal phase in response to the surge in progesterone. "A higher body temperature during the luteal phase makes it harder to run in the heat, because you don't begin sweating to dissipate heat until you have reached a higher body temperature," Karp says. "Women also have a decreased ability to dilate the small blood vessels under the skin, which compromises their ability to release heat to the environment." Thus, long, intense workouts and races in the heat, such as half marathons and marathons, can be more difficult during the luteal phase of the cycle.

Metabolism

"Menstrual phase variations in running performance may largely be a consequence of changes to exercise metabolism stimulated by the fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone concentrations," Karp says. "The magnitude of increase in these hormones between menstrual phases and the ratio of estrogen to progesterone concentration appear to be important factors determining an effect on metabolism." Research suggests that estrogen may improve endurance performance by altering carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism, and progesterone often acts antagonistically to estrogen. Estrogen promotes both the availability of glucose and uptake of glucose into slow-twitch muscle fibers, providing the fuel during short-duration exercise.

According to Karp, a woman's responsiveness to strength training can also be influenced by the menstrual cycle. "One study found that weight training every second day during the follicular phase and once per week during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle increased maximal quadriceps strength by 32.6 percent compared to just 13.1 percent by training once every third day over the whole menstrual cycle," Karp says.

Read more:
Athletics: Does a woman's menstrual cycle affect her running performance?

While Todd Hagobians research through the years has been published in several journals, none of them had an impact like his latest, initially published in the Journal of Applied Physiology and written about in The New York Times.

That study conducted through the Cal Poly kinesiology department focused on the impact exercise has on appetites.

That one article in The New York Times had more readers than all of my publications in all these peer review journals, he said.

Hagobian, who grew up in Fresno, has been an assistant professor at Cal Polys kinesiology department since 2009. Before that, he was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

An avid bicyclist, Hagobian lives in San Luis Obispo with his wife, Nicole who also teaches kinesiology at Cal Poly and their two children.

We spoke to him at his Cal Poly office about exercise and his latest research.

Q: What got you into this field?

A: Like anyone in this field, I probably started exercising a lot and wanted to learn more about it. And then I realized the field is much bigger than performance. So I moved away from performance and more toward obesity management treatment and chronic disease.

Q: I see where you rode like five hours at a time in college.

A: It was really after college when I started doing it. And it wasnt really five hours a day. On the weekends it was up to five to six hours. And in the week it was anywhere from one to two or three hours.

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Q&A with Todd Hagobian: Exercise and the battle of the bulge

At some point in Jessica Turner's anatomy and physiology class at Birmingham Groves, lights flashed and sirens blared.

"Through that class I really discovered a passion for medicine," she said. "I think right now that is what I'm going to pursue in college."

Helping her pursue that passion is Turner's amazing memory that played a part in her earning a 4.522 grade-point average and a 35 on the ACT.

But there is so much more to Turner than her incredible memory.

"A good memory doesn't really help you write a paper of your own ingenuity," she said. "I can study a bunch of terms for my anatomy class, but then I like thinking abstractly about things. I'm happy I have the study tools to kind of lock down the basics and leave time for me to think about things and to question things."

Turner also is an all-state golfer and a standout in basketball and softball, which made her learn how to spend time wisely.

Search our database: 2012 Michigan High School Scholar Athletes

"I think I've had to kind of perfect my studying from playing sports all this time," she said. "I've had to cram everything into a couple of hours after practice. I think I study very efficiently, which I'm very proud of. I'm really happy that in no way do I think that I haven't worked hard enough to feel like I've earned all my successes."

Playing a part in her academic success has been Turner's voracity for reading, which has helped her excel in every class.

"I think I kind of read a little bit of everything," she said. "I don't think I had a specific genre. In high school we've read some Virginia Wolff, which I really liked. She's just a really fascinating person as well as author, so I'd say she's my favorite author."

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Free Press Scholar Athletes: Jessica Turner, Birmingham Groves

A remarkable new project is capable of magnifying tiny movements in human physiology, like heartbeats, blood flow, and breathing.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

It's like a magnifying glass for video: a special image processing filter designed by MIT researchers that lets you see body functions the human eye is too weak to pick up.

From monitoring a baby's breathing to detecting a person's pulse through their skin, the new technology could have far-reaching applications. It's called Eulerian Video Magnification, and it's incredible, reports Talking Points Memo's Carl Franzen:

The system works by selectively amplifying color variation between pixels in the video footage. It can also be applied to a still camera if the images are taken shortly after one another, on "burst" mode.

[...]

"After getting it to work for visualizing the human pulse, we then realized we could also amplify motion signals using a very similar technique," the researchers explained. "We noticed motion amplifications in our amplified human pulse signal, so we went back to understand that, and then figured out how to control and exploit it."

The MIT project has a grant from the Pentagon and also enjoys support from the computer graphics giant, Nvidia.

Watch:

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Video: This Amazing Image Filter Lets Doctors See Under Your Skin

Public release date: 6-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Garth Hogan ghogan@asmusa.org American Society for Microbiology

Washington, DCJune 6, 2012 Anthony R. Richardson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of North Carolina Hill School of Medicine, has been honored with one of two 2012 Merck Irving S. Sigal Memorial Awards. These awards, given annually to two young scientists to recognize and award excellence in basic research in medical microbiology and infectious diseases, are presented in memory of Irving S. Sigal, an instrumental figure in the early discovery of therapies to treat HIV/AIDS. "Richardson is a remarkably imaginative scientist whose work bridges microbial physiology, metabolism, and pathogenesis," states his nominator, William Goldman from the University of North Carolina. "His approach is interdisciplinary and mechanistic, and his work has profound implications for understanding the evolution and emergence of highly virulent pathogens."

Richardson received his B.S. in genetic and bioengineering from Purdue University, and his Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular genetics from Emory University. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in bacterial physiology and pathogenesis at the University of Washington, where he worked in the laboratory of Ferric Fang, who described Richardson as "extremely curious, interactive, and remarkably well readan exceedingly bright and creative scientist who is poised to make major contributions to the field of bacterial pathogenesis."

Richardson's research has always been focused on the role of basic bacterial physiology in the virulence of important human pathogens. As a graduate student, he investigated the role of DNA repair in modulating immune avoidance in epidemic meningococcal meningitis. His findings showed that the rapid host-to-host spread of Neisseria meningitidis in sub-Saharan Africa during seasonal epidemics selected for strains lacking certain aspects of DNA repair. Given the nature of N. menigitidis, this resulted in bacterial populations with extremely diversified surface immunogenicity facilitating rapid adaptation to new hosts.

As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Richardson continued studying bacterial metabolism in the context of its interaction with host innate immunity. He showed that host-production of nitric oxide (NO), a broad-spectrum immune effector, targeted multiple metabolic enzymes inhibiting the growth of pathogenic bacteria. In contrast, he found that the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, unlike all other tested bacteria including coagulase negative staphylococci, was able to resist the cytotoxic effects of host NO and thrive in its presence. S. aureus NO-resistance was shown to be essential for full virulence and hinged on the ability of the bacterium to evoke a metabolic state inherently resistant to the effects of this immune radical.

In 2008, Dr. Richardson established his laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, focusing on the metabolic adaptations of S. aureus to host immunitywork that was soon featured as a Science cover article. Richardson's research studies how the availability of host arginine affects the outcomes of S. aureus infections. While the host converts free arginine to NO in response to inflammatory stimuli, arginine can also be converted to a class of compounds known as polyamines under similar conditions. S. aureus can resist the effects of NO, but for unknown reasons certain species of polyamines are lethal to the pathogen. Dr. Richardson's laboratory studies the battle between the host and S. aureus over the fate of free arginine. Mark Smeltzer, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, calls his work "both insightful and scientifically compelling, without exception."

Richardson's late graduate mentor, Igor Stojilijkovic, summarized Richardson to Fang: "He has a big brain, but his heart is even bigger. He is one of those rare individuals who you know will make it in any endeavor he chooses to follow."

###

To view Dr. Richardson's biosketch, please visit: http://www.asm.org/index.php/awards-grants/current-merck-irving-s-sigal-memorial-award-laureate-b.html

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The American Society for Microbiology honors Susan Sharp

Public release date: 6-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Garth Hogan ghogan@asmusa.org American Society for Microbiology

Washington, DCJune 6, 2012 Anthony R. Richardson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of North Carolina Hill School of Medicine, has been honored with one of two 2012 Merck Irving S. Sigal Memorial Awards. These awards, given annually to two young scientists to recognize and award excellence in basic research in medical microbiology and infectious diseases, are presented in memory of Irving S. Sigal, an instrumental figure in the early discovery of therapies to treat HIV/AIDS. "Richardson is a remarkably imaginative scientist whose work bridges microbial physiology, metabolism, and pathogenesis," states his nominator, William Goldman from the University of North Carolina. "His approach is interdisciplinary and mechanistic, and his work has profound implications for understanding the evolution and emergence of highly virulent pathogens."

Richardson received his B.S. in genetic and bioengineering from Purdue University, and his Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular genetics from Emory University. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in bacterial physiology and pathogenesis at the University of Washington, where he worked in the laboratory of Ferric Fang, who described Richardson as "extremely curious, interactive, and remarkably well readan exceedingly bright and creative scientist who is poised to make major contributions to the field of bacterial pathogenesis."

Richardson's research has always been focused on the role of basic bacterial physiology in the virulence of important human pathogens. As a graduate student, he investigated the role of DNA repair in modulating immune avoidance in epidemic meningococcal meningitis. His findings showed that the rapid host-to-host spread of Neisseria meningitidis in sub-Saharan Africa during seasonal epidemics selected for strains lacking certain aspects of DNA repair. Given the nature of N. menigitidis, this resulted in bacterial populations with extremely diversified surface immunogenicity facilitating rapid adaptation to new hosts.

As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Richardson continued studying bacterial metabolism in the context of its interaction with host innate immunity. He showed that host-production of nitric oxide (NO), a broad-spectrum immune effector, targeted multiple metabolic enzymes inhibiting the growth of pathogenic bacteria. In contrast, he found that the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, unlike all other tested bacteria including coagulase negative staphylococci, was able to resist the cytotoxic effects of host NO and thrive in its presence. S. aureus NO-resistance was shown to be essential for full virulence and hinged on the ability of the bacterium to evoke a metabolic state inherently resistant to the effects of this immune radical.

In 2008, Dr. Richardson established his laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, focusing on the metabolic adaptations of S. aureus to host immunitywork that was soon featured as a Science cover article. Richardson's research studies how the availability of host arginine affects the outcomes of S. aureus infections. While the host converts free arginine to NO in response to inflammatory stimuli, arginine can also be converted to a class of compounds known as polyamines under similar conditions. S. aureus can resist the effects of NO, but for unknown reasons certain species of polyamines are lethal to the pathogen. Dr. Richardson's laboratory studies the battle between the host and S. aureus over the fate of free arginine. Mark Smeltzer, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, calls his work "both insightful and scientifically compelling, without exception."

Richardson's late graduate mentor, Igor Stojilijkovic, summarized Richardson to Fang: "He has a big brain, but his heart is even bigger. He is one of those rare individuals who you know will make it in any endeavor he chooses to follow."

###

To view Dr. Richardson's biosketch, please visit: http://www.asm.org/index.php/awards-grants/current-merck-irving-s-sigal-memorial-award-laureate-b.html

Original post:
The American Society for Microbiology honors Anthony R. Richardson

Birmingham, AL -- The Valdosta State spring sports represented VSU at its best with a Gulf South Conference high 11 student-athletes named to the GSCs All-Academic Team. Thirty-four VSU student-athletes earned a high enough grade point average to be listed on the GSC Academic Honor Roll.

Valdosta State softball led the way with five players earning All-Academic Team honors. Marti Littlefield earned her third consecutive Academic All-GSC award while Natalia Morozova was a unanimous selection this season. Littlefield earned a 3.29 in exercise physiology while Morozova earned a 3.63 GPA in international business.

Another VSU senior infielder to make the list was April Hutchens. She finished with a 3.36 in deaf education. Outside of the softball seniors, two underclassmen made the list with junior outfielder Morgan Johnson earning a 3.66 in nursing while sophomore pitcher and Elite 89 Award winner Brianna Hancock notched a 3.95 in business administration.

Womens tennis placed three on the squad with Juliana Boehm, Michelle Fischer and Alina Nagel. All three were All-GSC selections this season but still managed strong GPAs. Boehm earned a 3.34 in exercise physiology. Fischer notched a 3.82 in psychology and Nagel earned a 3.76 in business administration.

Each of the mens sports placed one student-athlete on the squad. Mens tennis player Konstantin Kutschenko was a unanimous selection with a 3.71 GPA in psychology for his second honor on the All-Academic GSC squad. Representing baseball was Chaz Bagwell, another unanimous selection making his second team. He earned a 3.53 in marketing. Rounding out the VSU representatives on the All-Academic GSC squad was Austin Graham. The sophomore earned a 3.37 in finance.

In addition to leading the conference in All-Academic GSC selections, Valdosta State also led the GSC in softball and womens tennis Academic Honor Roll honorees.

Below are all VSU student-athletes to be named to the GSC Academic Honor Roll:

Baseball Junior Chaz Bagwell 3.53 in Marketing Junior Zack John 3.50 in Graphic Design Sophomore Brent Nelson 3.65 in Marketing Junior Ben Watson 3.50 in Business Management

Softball Freshman Courtney Albritton 4.00 in Middle Grades Education Sophomore April Collins 3.04 in Physical Education Senior Julia Fink 3.82 in Biology Sophomore Brianna Hancock 3.95 in Business Administration Senior April Hutchens 3.36 in Deaf Education Freshman Fran Johnson 4.00 in Chemistry Junior Morgan Johnson 3.66 in Nursing Senior Marti Littlefield 3.29 in Exercise Physiology Senior Natalia Morozova 3.63 in International Business Freshman Angela OConnor 3.58 in Interior Design Junior Ashley Steinhilber 3.55 in Biology Sophomore Erika Trojan 3.46 in Psychology Junior Sarah Vaughn 3.07 in Exercise Physiology Senior Clare Wamsley 3.20 in Early Childhood Special Ed

Mens Tennis Freshman Tammo Haake 3.25 in International Business Senior Christian Hansen 3.04 in Business Management Freshman Sebastian Jasyk 3.29 in International Business Junior Konstantin Kutschenko 3.71 in Psychology

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Eleven Named to GSC’s All-Academic Team

Sir Andrew Huxley, the British researcher who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries of how nerve impulses are transmitted through cells, died May 30. He was 94.

His death was announced by the University of Cambridge's Trinity College, where he served as master from 1984 to 1990, but no details were released.

Biologists had known since the 1771 experiments of Italian physicist Luigi Galvani that giving a frog leg an electrical shock would cause it to contract, suggesting that muscle activity was electrically regulated. But it was not clear how the tissues could generate such an electrical stimulus and how it could be transmitted through cells.

Huxley and Hodgkin approached the problem by studying a squid nerve cell known as the giant axon. The giant axon, which can be up to 1 millimeter (0.04 inches) in diameter, stretches the length of the squid's body to control ejection of water for propulsion, and nerve impulses travel especially rapidly through it.

By placing tiny electrodes in the axon at various locations, they were able to measure the electrical potential inside the nerve as it transmitted an electrical current. They concluded that the current was carried by electrically charged atoms called ions. When the current reaches each cell, it causes a channel known as a sodium gate to open, allowing sodium ions to flow into the cell.

Once enough sodium is in the cell, that triggers a second set of gates on the opposite end that allow potassium ions to escape. Those ions cause the process to repeat at the next cell.

The gates themselves could not be visualized with the technology available at the time, but Huxley, working on a very primitive computer, used the laws of physics to calculate the electrical potentials that should be obtained if their model was correct. The calculated values were very close to those that were observed, confirming their hypothesis. Only much later were the ion channels actually imaged.

Huxley and Hodgkin shared their Nobel with Sir John Eccles of Australia, who explained how signals were transmitted between cells. Both Britons were knighted for their work in 1974.

Huxley later worked to explain how muscle fibers contract. For that work, he devised and built a microtome to make very thin slices of tissue for study in the electron microscope and a micromanipulator.

Andrew Fielding Huxley was born Nov. 22, 1917, in London to a celebrated family. His grandfather was biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, an early supporter of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. His father, Leonard, was a writer who, among other things, compiled a history of Thomas Huxley. Andrew's older half-brothers were the author Aldous Huxley and biologist Julian Sorel Huxley.

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Sir Andrew Huxley dies at 94; Nobel-winning physiologist

Prof. Sir Andrew Huxley, widely regarded as one of Britain's most eminent scientists and great university administrators, the former master of Trinity College, Cambridge, shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963 with Sir Alan Hodgkin, a lifelong friend and collaborator, and with Australian scientist Sir John Eccles, who was cited for research on synapses. They received the prize for unravelling the biophysical mechanism of nerve impulses which control muscle action.

Huxley and Hodgkin began collaborating on the nature of nerve impulses in August 1939, when Hodgkin invited him down to the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, following his return from America. While there, he had successfully demonstrated the mechanism by which electrical impulses activate the next segment of a nerve fibre, and had begun to work with the recently discovered nerve fibre of the giant squid. At the time, there was controversy about the way in which neural signals were generated and transmitted along fibres and across synapses the connecting junctions where there are gaps between the ends of one fibre and the beginning of the next.

The scientists began experiments on the very large nerve fibres (diameter about 0.5mm) possessed by squids. Their first task was to measure the viscosity of the interior of the fibre by suspending it vertically and dropping droplets of mercury down it. This failed because the mercury droplets stopped as they entered the fibre, showing that its interior was a solid, not a viscous liquid as supposed. Instead, they pushed an electrode down inside, in order to measure directly the potential difference between inside and outside and obtained a direct recording of the voltages across the nerve membrane, the first time that this had been done.

The consensus of the time was that the interior of a fibre at rest was up to one-tenth of a volt negative relative to the external solution, but rose to equality with the external potential at the peak of a nerve impulse. The pair confirmed this as regards the resting state, but the internal potential at the peak of the impulse was substantially positive. They published a short paper in the journal Nature, announcing their achievement of recording action potentials from inside a nerve fibre.

However, their work was suspended with the outbreak of the Second World War, during which time Huxley was involved in a number of projects. Initially a clinical student in London, due to the Blitz teaching was suspended, and Huxley spent the rest of the war on operational research in gunnery, first for Anti-Aircraft Command and later for the Admiralty, working in a team under Patrick (later Lord) Blackett. Hodgkin worked in radar research with the Air Ministry.

In spite of the war and their involvement in widely separated and often secret activities, the two men remained in touch and even swapped advice on particular problems. One such occasion saw Huxley design and produce, using a lathe, a new type of gun sight during the development of airborne radar.

Soon after the war, in 1946, they returned to neurological research at Cambridge. Their work necessitated the development of specialist equipment which in many cases was not only designed by Huxley, but also built by him. They began discussing how the squid membrane becomes specifically permeable to sodium ions. These are about ten times more concentrated in the external solution than inside the fibre, so they diffuse inwards, carrying their positive charge.

Within six years, Huxley and Hodgkin had laid the detailed foundations of the modern understanding of the transmission of nerve impulses. Their model, which was developed well before the advent of electron microscopes or computer simulations, was able to give scientists a basic understanding of how nerve cells work without having a detailed understanding of how the membrane of a nerve cell looked.

They demonstrated that these travel, not along the core of the fibre, but along the outer membrane as a product of successive cascades of two types of ion. The finding and the detailed mathematical theory that accompanied the work, completed in 1952 in a series of five papers, was groundbreaking and resulted in their share of the Nobel Prize.

Born in Hampstead in 1917, Andrew Fielding Huxley came from a celebrated family. His grandfather was Thomas Huxley, the 19th century biologist and staunch supporter of Charles Darwin; his two half-brothers were Julian Huxley, also a biologist, and Aldous Huxley, author of the novel Brave New World.

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Sir Andrew Huxley: Eminent scientist whose pioneering work earned him a Nobel Prize in 1963

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

According to a new study published in the Journal of Physiology (http://jp.physoc.org/content/early/2012/03/31/jphysiol.2012.230078.abstract), the American diet is laden with staggering amounts of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Between soft drinks, candies, desserts, and processed foods the average Americans consumption of high fructose corn syrup amounts to roughly 35 pounds in a year, with cane sugar totaling another 47 pounds. Volumes of published research has shown a direct connection between these sugars and metabolic conditions such as obesity, elevated triglycerides and diabetes, however there is no data on such high sugar intake and its impact on mental health.

Over a five-day period, researchers Fernando Gomez-Pinilla and Rahul Agrawal, from the University of California at Los Angeles, trained two groups of rats, twice a day, to navigate a maze. Then, for a subsequent six-week period, the rats were fed a fructose solution in place of drinking water, while the second group was also given the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and flaxseed oil (a rich source of omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid, which mammals convert less efficiently to DHA). Considering brain tissue is roughly 40% DHA, researchers observed that the chemical connections between brain cells effecting learning and memory might be protected from the perceived dumbing effects of fructose by the omega-3 fatty acids.

After six weeks, the researchers tested the rats in their ability to recall landmarks that enabled them to navigate the maze and escape. The omega-3 fed group was able to recall the exit route and escape the maze faster than the group receiving only sugar. The brains of the rats were later examined. The rats fed only fructose had brains exhibiting signs of declined synaptic activity, as well as signs of insulin resistance, which regulates synaptic function and controls blood sugar. The scientists concluded that diets high in sugar and high fructose corn syrup disrupt memory and learning, however omega-3 fatty acids can help, at least partly, offset the disruption.

According to researcher Gomez-Pinilla, one gram per day of Omega-3 fatty acids can protect the brain from fructoses dumbing effects. Its like saving money in the bank, he said in a statement. You want to build a reserve for your brain to tap when it requires extra fuel to fight off future diseases.

Omega XL is a bestselling super Omega 3 supplement that contains the patented stabilized marine lipid extract PCSO-524 derived only from the New Zealand green-lipped mussel with 30 healthy fatty acids including DHA and EPA. Omega XL, manufactured exclusively by Great HealthWorks Inc., is the most widely available omega-3 fish oil supplement containing the potent PCSO-524 marine lipid extract. To find more information about Omega XL and PCSO-524 visit http://www.OmegaXL.com.

Source: Journal of Physiology

Metabolic Syndrome in the brain: Deficiency in omega-3 fatty acid exacerbates dysfunctions in insulin receptor signaling and cognition

http://jp.physoc.org/content/early/2012/03/31/jphysiol.2012.230078.abstract

Fernando Gomez-Pinilla and Rahul Agrawal

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Omega XL Announces New Study: High Sugar Diet Sabotages Memory, Omega-3’s Can Offset Damage

James Vandenberg is a starting quarterback in the Big Ten. He is studying human physiology at the University of Iowa. He is taking summer school classes. And this season he is adjusting to a new offensive system with new coordinator Greg Davis.

The senior deserves a chance to relax.

Vandenberg, a Keokuk High School graduate, recently got away from it all, and brought back a monstrous reminder of his trip.

Vandenberg went on a hunting trip to northern Saskatchewan, a graduation trip for his sister, Olivia, who graduated from Iowa in May.

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"It was a fun trip," said Toby Vandenberg. "We went five-for-five. James got the biggest."

Hunting runs in the Vandenberg's blood.

James Vandenberg's great grandfather, Lewis James, killed a bear in the 1940s. He became famous for the feat as he was asked to speak about it by organizations throughout the area, earning the nickname 'Bear.' The elk mounted at the Elks Club in Burlington was killed by "Bear" Vandenberg, Toby said.

James and Olivia are not even the first of their siblings to come home with a bear. Brother Elliott killed a bear in another part of Saskatchewan when he was in middle school.

Like his great grandfather after whom he was named - Vandenberg's full name is James Lewis - Vandenberg has earned some notoriety for his hunting prowess.

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Vandenberg is smarter than the average bear

Some sweat, others glisten either way it can happen at the most inopportune times. But the bottom line, according to dailyglow.com, is sweating is actually an essential part of every person's physiology. Read on to find out why its good for, and how to tell if you sweat too much.

What is sweat? Mostly water and salt, with small amounts of other substances, including minerals and electrolytes.

Does sweat detox the body? Nope, detoxing is the livers job.

Where does sweat come from? From the the 2 million and 4 million sweat glands spread over the entire body. While armpits have one of the highest concentrations, the glands are actually everywhere including the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands. Two types of sweat glands are involved in perspiring. Eccrine glands, which respond to heat, are located just about everywhere on the body; they release an essentially odorless sweat directly onto the skin to cool the body. Apocrine glands develop in hair follicles - on the scalp and in armpits, for example - and they respond to heightened emotions as well as to heat. They release a fatty sweat thats broken down by bacteria on the skin, in a process that produces a stink.

Why do we sweat? Sweat glands are activated when the body gets hot or a person is experiencing stress. The sweat glands are under the control of the nervous system, says Dr. Cameron Rokhsar, who is also the medical director of the New York Cosmetic, Skin and Laser Surgery Center. So you can sweat when youre in a flight-or-fight situation and become upset or angry, just as you do when you become hot, such as when youre exercising.

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Healthy Minute: Got sweat questions, here’s answers

East Central Community College in Decatur will offer two, four-week summer terms as well as a 10-week summer evening schedule, announced David Case, dean of admissions, records and research. Courses include:

SUMMER SESSION I The first four-week, four-day (Monday Thursday) term on the Decatur campus begins Monday, June 4 and ends Thursday, June 28.

Course offerings include General Biology I and Lab, General Biology II and Lab, Human Anatomy and Physiology I and Lab, Human Anatomy and Physiology II and Lab, Computer Concepts, Computer Applications I, Beginning English, English Composition I, English Composition II, American (U.S.) History I, American History II, Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra, Spanish I, Spanish II, Music Appreciation, Physical Science Survey II and Lab, Intermediate Reading and Public Speaking I. The deadline to register for the first four-week term is Tuesday, June 5.

SUMMER SESSION II The second four-week, four-day (Monday Thursday) term on the Decatur campus begins Monday, July 9 and ends Thursday, August 2.

Classes scheduled include General Biology I and Lab, General Biology II and Lab, Human Anatomy and Physiology I and Lab, Human Anatomy and Physiology II and Lab, Keyboarding, Computer Concepts, Intermediate English, English Composition I, English Composition II, Football Theory, Baseball Theory, Coaching Major Sports I, American (U.S.) History I, American History II, Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra, Guitar for Music Education Major I, Music Appreciation and Intermediate Reading.

The deadline to register for the second four-week term is Tuesday, July 10.

SUMMER SCHEDULE Evening classes are offered throughout the Colleges five-county district and begin Tuesday, May 29 and conclude Monday, August 6 at all locations. The last day to register is Monday, June 4.

LOUISVILLE CAREER ADVANCEMENT CENTER Evening classes offered at the Louisville Career Advancement Center include Computer Concepts and Trigonometry.

WINSTON/LOUISVILLE Evening classes offered at the Winston/Louisville Career-Technical Complex include Human Growth and Development, English Composition I, Personal and Community Health, Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra and Public Speaking I.

DECATUR Classes included in the campus evening schedule are Human Anatomy and Physiology I and Lab, Word Processing Applications, Computer Applications I, Guiding Social and Emotional Behavior, Atypical Child Development, Social Studies/Math/Science for Young Children, Administration of Preschool Program, Principles of Macroeconomics, English Composition I, English Composition II, American Literature I, Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra and Public Speaking I.

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ECCC Summer class schedule announced

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Dublin - Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/6c8w7q/biophysics_a_phys) has announced the addition of the "Biophysics. A Physiological Approach" report to their offering.

Specifically tailored to life science students, this textbook explains quantitative aspects of human biophysics with examples drawn from contemporary physiology, genetics and nanobiology.

It outlines important physical ideas, equations and examples at the heart of contemporary physiology, along with the organization necessary to understand that knowledge.

The wide range of biophysical topics covered include energetics, bond formation and dissociation, diffusion and directed transport, muscle and connective tissue physics, fluid flow, membrane structure, electrical properties and transport, pharmacokinetics and system dynamics and stability.

Enabling students to understand the uses of quantitation in modern biology, equations are presented in the context of their application, rather than derivation. They are each directed toward the understanding of a biological principle, with a particular emphasis on human biology.

Key Topics Covered:

1. The energy around us

2. Molecular contacts

3. Diffusion and directed transport

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Research and Markets: Biophysics: A Physiological Approach

New research in the Journal of Physiology suggests that fructose disrupts learning and memory, but omega-3 fatty acids can help.

PROBLEM: The average American consumes roughly 47 pounds of cane sugar and 35 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per year, mostly through processed foods like soft drinks, condiments, and desserts. Though previous studies have shown how these sweeteners harm the body through its role in diabetes, obesity, and fatty liver, it was unclear if they had impact on mental processes.

METHODOLOGY: University of California, Los Angeles, researchers Rahul Agrawal and Fernando Gomez-Pinilla trained two groups of rats on a maze twice daily for five days before serving them a fructose solution as drinking water for six weeks. The second group also received omega-3 fatty acids, which protect against damage to the synapses or the chemical connections between brain cells that enable memory and learning. After this experimental diet period, the researchers tested the rats' ability to recall the visual landmarks the scientists installed to help them escape the maze.

RESULTS: The second group of rats remembered the correct route and were able to exit much faster than the rats that did not receive omega-3 fatty acids in the form of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and flaxseed oil. A closer look at the brains of the DHA-deprived mammals showed a decline in synaptic activity and signs of resistance to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar and regulates synaptic function.

CONCLUSION: A high-fructose diet sabotages learning and memory, but omega-3 fatty acids can partially offset the damage.

IMPLICATION: Gomez-Pinilla says consuming one gram of DHA per day through foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids like salmon, walnuts, and flaxseeds can protect the brain against fructose's dumbing effects. "It's like saving money in the bank," he says in a statement. "You want to build a reserve for your brain to tap when it requires extra fuel to fight off future diseases."

SOURCE: The full study, "Metabolic Syndrome' in the Brain: Deficiency in Omega-3 Fatty Acid Exacerbates Dysfunctions in Insulin Receptor Signalling and Cognition," is published in the Journal of Physiology.

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Study of the Day: A Diet Loaded With Sugar Makes Rats Dumber

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/zjfbn4/critical_care_mana) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new book "Critical Care Management of the Obese Patient" to their offering.

This book provides health professionals with sound clinical advice on management of the obese patient admitted into hospital. It addresses all aspects of the patient's care, as well as serving as a resource to facilitate the management of services, use of clinical information, and negotiation of ethical issues that occur in intensive care. As the number of obese patients in intensive care continues to grow, this book will serve as a comprehensive clinical resource for everyday use by both obesity specialists and emergency medicine physicians.

Key Topics Covered:

Part I Physiology and Consequences of Obesity

- Cardiovascular Physiology in Obesity,

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- Renal Physiology in the Critically Ill Obese Patient,

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Research and Markets: Critical Care Management of the Obese Patient

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Senior Andrew Root, 18, prepares to dissect a cat in his anatomy/physiology class at Dartmouth High School.Peter Pereira

By JENNIFER LADE

May 22, 2012 12:00 AM

"It's cat dissection season!"

Only a science teacher could deliver that announcement with such excitement. Yet Peter Bangs, science chairman at Dartmouth High School, was genuinely eager for the high school's anatomy and physiology students to get going on one of the most anticipated projects of the semester.

Bangs is not alone in his enthusiasm. Science teachers and curriculum directors at local high schools said even in a high tech age of virtual everythings, dissection remains a part of the curriculum and is approached with seriousness by the students.

"I think the kids take it much more seriously and really get into it, and for us, motivation's everything," said Craig Berriault, a biology, zoology and anatomy and physiology teacher at Wareham High School.

Zoology students usually do a frog dissection, while anatomy and physiology students dissect cow eyes and hearts and culminate with a rat dissection at the end of the year, he said. Whether a dissection is undertaken in biology is up to the teacher.

Anne Oliveira, director of science and technology for New Bedford Public Schools, was a classroom science teacher until she took her current position six years ago. She said it was the hands-on learning that had the greatest impact on her students.

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Cutting up in the classroom: dissections still hands-on, not virtual

This post was originally published on April 09, 2006.

This April 09, 2006 post places another paper from my old lab (Reference #17) within a broader context of physiology, behavior, ecology and evolution. The paper was a result of a communal experiment in the lab, i.e., it was not included in anyones Thesis. My advisor designed it and started the experiment with the first couple of birds. When I joined the lab, I did the experiment in an additional number of animals. When Chris Steele joined the lab, he took over the project and did the rest of the lab work, including bringing in the idea for an additional experiment that was included, and some of the analysis. We all talked about it in our lab meetings for a long time. In the end, the boss did most of the analysis and all of the writing, so the order of authors faithfully reflects the relative contributions to the work.

What is not mentioned in the post below is an additional observation that return of the food after the fasting period induced a phase-shift of the circadian system, so we also generated a Phase-Response Curve, suggesting that food-entrainable pacemaker in quail is, unlike in mammals, not separate from the light-entrainable system.

Finally, at the end of the post, I show some unpublished data a rare event in science blogging.

If you know what Chossats Effect is, I guess you are a) a physiologist, b) expert in thermoregulation, and c) old. This is term that got expunged from the scientific lexicon a few decades ago, in an effort correct me if I am wrong on this spearheaded by the U.S. textbook companies, to replace scientific terminology named after the discoverers (and sometimes even Latin and Greek terms) with bland English neologisms.

But I love Schwanns Cells, Fallopian Tubes (or Mullerian Ducts), Purkinje Fibers, Broccas Area and the amazing Bundle of His! Those terms are memorable, make it easy to sneak in some historical context into teaching science, and have an emotional effect of bringing forth images of ancient scientists working under candlelight, sacrificing their eyesight and health, their social standing and sometimes even their lives, in the feverish hunger for knowledge.

So, what is Chossats Effect? It comes from a 19th century French scientist who was studying the physiology of starvation [1]. The modern term for this effect is fasting-induced nocturnal hypothermia (doesnt that sound like something that would prompt the students in the classroom to immediatelly stop paying attention to the teacher and instead pick-up their cell-phones and start text-messaging their friends?).

Actually, this is a very interesting area of research that is very tightly connected to circadian biology. This post is likely to be long, so feel free to skim and just focus on the first part if you are into birds, second part if you are interested in mammals, and the last part if you are into humans.

Birds

All warm-blooded animals (and yes, that includes at least some reptiles, not to mention a few heat-producing plants like stink-cabbage) exhibit a daily rhythm of body temperature. If an animal is active during the day (diurnal) and sleeps during the night, reducing the metabolic rate during the night is a good way to save energy.

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Chossat's Effect in humans and other animals

May 16, 2012

Dentists have long warned that too much sugar can rot a persons teeth, but scientists at UCLA have discovered evidence that too much soda and candy could also rot a persons brain.

The study, which was published Tuesday in the Journal of Physiology, discovered how a diet that is steadily high in fructose can slow down the function of the brain, impairing memory and learning ability, the Los Angeles-based university said in a May 15 press release. Those adverse effects, they say, can emerge in as little as six weeks time, but can be counteracted to some degree by adding omega-3 fatty acids to ones diet.

Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think, Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, one of the authors of the study and a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA said in a statement. Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brains ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage.

Were not talking about naturally occurring fructose in fruits, which also contain important antioxidants, Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science as well as a member of UCLAs Brain Research Institute and Brain Injury Research Center, added. Were concerned about high-fructose corn syrup that is added to manufactured food products as a sweetener and preservative.

Gomez-Pinilla and co-author Rahul Agrawal, a visiting postdoctoral fellow, studied two groups of rats that were given a solution that contained high-fructose corn syrup as drinking water for a six-week period, according to AFP reports. One of the groups was also given flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), both omega-3 fatty acids, while the other was not.

Prior to the start of the experiment, both groups of rats completed a five-day training session on how to navigate a complex maze. Following six weeks of the corn syrup treatment, they were re-entered into the maze, and the researchers observed their performance. Gomez-Pinilla told AFP that the rodents that did not receive DHA and flaxseed oil were slower and demonstrated a decline in synaptic activity.

They also showed signs of insulin-resistance, according to the UCLA press release.

Because insulin can penetrate the bloodbrain barrier, the hormone may signal neurons to trigger reactions that disrupt learning and cause memory loss, Gomez-Pinilla said. Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning. Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new.

Our findings suggest that consuming DHA regularly protects the brain against fructoses harmful effects, he added. Its like saving money in the bank. You want to build a reserve for your brain to tap when it requires extra fuel to fight off future diseases.

See more here:
Can Too Much Sugar Make You Stupid?

Ukrainian Premier Mykola Azarov has met with winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine Erwin Neher to discuss the current state of affairs, funding and research development in the spheres of biomedicine and physiology in Ukraine. http://www.kmu.gov.ua Nobel Prize laureate: Ukraine working on development of biomedicine, oncology Yesterday at 16:53 | Interfax-UkraineUkrainian Premier Mykola Azarov has met with winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine Erwin Neher to discuss the current state of affairs, funding and research development in the spheres of biomedicine and physiology in Ukraine.

"When three years ago I was in Ukraine, I saw that science was suffering a lack of funding and equipment. Today I can see that changes have taken place and specific efforts have been made for the development of biomedicine, physiology and oncology research in Ukraine," Neher said.

In turn, Azarov said the Ukrainian authorities are working hard for the development of medicine in the country, and allocate funding to buy the most up-to-date equipment.

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Nobel Prize laureate: Ukraine working on development of biomedicine, oncology