Category Archives: Physiology

Elizabeth Co admits that school was definitely not her thing as a kid. She preferred books and daydreaming over paying attention in class.

"There was no subject that really stuck out to me," she said. "I was really not a spectacular student at all."

But when she took her first high school biology class, everything changed. For one, she had a supportive teacher who, for the first time, acted as an academic mentor. But Co said what really attracted her tothe subject was all of the lessons on the human body. She became obsessed with processes like cellular respiration and developed the beginnings of what she called a "crush" on the heart.

"It is just so elegantly structured," said Co. "It's exquisitely simple and yet so very effective."

Like a lot of students who have an interest in biology, Co started college thinking she'd become a doctor. She enrolled at Mount Holyoke College as a pre-med major but quickly realized itwasn't going to be a good fit. She said that moment of clarity came during a meeting with other pre-med students who were talking about why they wanted to be a doctor.

"I was like well, gosh, I really, really don't like sick people at all. So I thought maybe I'll be a pathologist and all of my patients would be dead," she laughed. "But I couldn't quite see myself dealing with snot, for example."

Searching For The Right Career

Co remembered feeling a little lost after that revelation. She tried following other paths, like becoming a high school biology teacher, but nothing felt right. But even though she felt like she was floundering,her passion for the human bodyremained constant.

"I mean, plants are cool, but for me, it was always bodies," she said.

"I just knew that I wanted to tell people about this. And I wanted to explain it. And I wanted to talk about it forever."

She filled her schedule each year with as many related classes as possible from immunology to neurobiology.And then, one day senior year, another moment of clarity.

Co's advanced physiology class took a field trip to a local physiologist's office. He handed her two human hearts:one that came from a person with normal blood pressure and one from a person who had chronic high blood pressure.

"I was looking at this story that had unfolded for these two individuals over time. In my hands," she said.Cocould distinctly see and feelhow the condition had changed one of thehearts:the ventricles were thickened byyears of struggling to pump blood through the body.

"I just knew that I wanted to tell people about this," Co said. "And I wanted to explain it. And I wanted to talk about it forever."

That's when her path to becoming a professor and researcher started to become clear.

Following Passion

Co will emphatically tell you that she has long loved her job. In her early career, she has treasured moments in the lab, before research would be published, when she was the only one who knew the answer to a particular question.

"It's intoxicating," she said.

Today, she's most passionate about teaching.

Holding office hours is a big part of Co's job. Butmany of the questions students ask have nothing to do with classwork. A lot of them come looking for advice on career and life goals.

"They very much think it's about getting that next internship and that next internship," she said. "They're almost putting together the portfolio that leads them to the place, rather than exploring themselves."

Which is where her ownstory becomes a teaching tool. Co saidthe key is following your curiosity.

"As you go through life, sometimes there are these moments," she advised. "Listen to them."

Follow this link:
'I Wanted To Talk About It Forever': Two Hearts And A Moment Of Clarity - WBUR

Physiology

How do men and women store fat differently? Ask the fruit fly. – UBC Faculty of Medicine

January 28, 2020 medical

When it comes to determining how women and men store fat differently, it turns out fruit flies may hold the key.

People and fruit flies are astonishingly alike genetically. In fact, nearly 75 per cent of disease-causing genes in humans can be found in the fly in a similar form.

In a new study, recently published in PLOS Biology, researchers from UBCs faculty of medicine used fruit flies to make a fundamental genetic discovery about differences between how males and females store and metabolize fat.

The studys senior author, Elizabeth Rideout, an assistant professor in the department of cellular and physiological sciences, and graduate student Lianna Wat, explain what this discovery means for the future of treating and managing metabolic diseases, including Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

How is fat storage and metabolism different between men and women?

Lianna Wat (left) and Dr. Elizabeth Rideout

In most animals, females store more fat than males, and break it down more slowly. In humans, we see similar trends between men and women. While this difference in fat metabolism between men and women is partially explained by lifestyle, biological factors, such as sex hormones and sex chromosomes, also play a role.

A lot of research has identified hundreds of fat metabolism genes that are influenced by sex hormones and sex chromosomes, but less is known about which of these genes cause the male-female difference in fat storage.

What is the benefit of studying the fruit fly?

Nearly 75 per cent of human disease-causing genes can be found in the fruit fly in a similar form. Given that female flies also store more fat than males, and metabolize it more slowly, this makes them a perfect animal to enrich our understanding of the genes that affect male-female differences in fundamental cellular processes like fat metabolism.

What did your study find?

We identified a fat metabolism gene that regulates the male-female difference in fat storage. In flies without this gene, the males and females store exactly the same amount of fat. This discovery paves the way for identifying metabolic genes that control male-female differences in other aspects of development and physiology.

What are the implications for people?

Our studies take place at the earliest stage of the discovery process. But we hope that by identifying genes that explain why males and females have different amounts of fat, we will be better able to understand why men and women have differences in the risk of diseases associated with abnormal fat storage, such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.

Knowing which genes affect fat storage and metabolism is also an important first step in developing more precise treatments to tackle metabolic disease. At present, not many drugs are available to treat abnormal fat metabolism, and those that are available often work better in either men or women. By identifying genes that influence fat storage in male and female flies, we will gain vital information on developing new therapies that are tailored to women, and to men, in treating abnormal fat metabolism.

Original post:
How do men and women store fat differently? Ask the fruit fly. - UBC Faculty of Medicine

Physiology

The truth about hydration: should you drink eight glasses of water a day? – The Guardian

January 28, 2020 medical

Before you read this article, can I just check youve drunk enough water today? You might want to refill your bottle because, remember, if you wait until you feel thirsty, you may already be dehydrated. No one is sure where this advice came from, but its all over the internet.

Nowadays this is not considered sensible, says Stuart Galloway, an associate professor in physiology, exercise and nutrition at the University of Stirling. As humans, we have this homeostatic system, so when we need water, we feel thirsty. Drinking when you are thirsty, he says, maintains your bodys water level within about 1-2% of its ideal state. For most people, this is absolutely fine. Even for athletes, a loss of around 1% is considered to have negligible impact upon performance. So, although thirst may not kick in until you have lost some body water, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

As we get older, our sense of thirst can get fuzzier and that is when dehydration can become a threat. It is a similar story for children, too. So perhaps the advice to drink water before you feel thirsty was originally aimed at parents and the elderly but now healthy adults are putting away gallons of water in a quest to be their best selves.

There is a dearth of facts when it comes to hydration. Pharmaceutical companies arent interested in researching the benefits of a free resource and dehydration isnt a pressing public health issue requiring government funding. This leaves a profitable grey area for the drinks industry to exploit.

Water is, it would have us believe, a purifying fast-track to glowing skin, bright eyes and bags of energy. Galloway says detoxing with water is a load of rubbish. Your kidneys do a very good job of sorting out what you need to retain and what you need to get rid of.

Will water make your skin better? While dehydration isnt good for your skin, says Bav Shergill, a consultant dermatologist and honorary senior lecturer at the University of Manchester, once you hit a certain level of fluid intake, providing you are healthy, any excess water will be peed out.

That is, unless you drink more than you can pee. Amanda Burls, an emeritus professor of public health at City, University of London, warns that drinking too much water can kill. Water intoxication occurs when the amount of electrolytes in the body becomes imbalanced by excessive water intake, disrupting brain function.

Dehydration is said to be the most common cause of headaches and in 2015, Burls wrote a critical appraisal of the evidence. She concluded: Chronic mild dehydration may trigger headaches. Increased water intake could help. A small trial shows modest benefit; however, a larger, methodologically sound, randomised controlled trial is needed to confirm efficacy. There is that grey area again.

In the US, popular advice is to drink eight, 8-ounce glasses of water about 2 litres a day: the 8x8 rulethat originated from a recommendation by the nutritionist Dr Fredrick J Stare in 1974 (he actually suggested six to eight glasses).

In the UK, the NHS recommends six to eight glasses, or up to 1.2 litres of fluids daily, pointing out that we obtain fluids from food. But it is the 8x8 rule that has become a health-goal meme with the 8x8 challenge.

How much you need to drink is governed by how active you are, the weather and your physiology. Tellingly, if you seek water-consumption advice from a quietly reputable US source such as Harvard Medical School, instead of the 8x8 rule, you get four to six cups a day for healthy adults and all beverages count, even diuretics such as coffee, tea and booze. Dont they make us pee more so we end up dehydrated?

In 2016, Galloway tested the hydrating potential of a range of drinks and found a litre of beer was no less hydrating than a litre of water. Similarly, a litre of instant coffee, containing 212mg of caffeine, was as hydrating as water. Milk was even more hydrating, and effective as a hydration solution for people with diarrhoea. While not a green-light to binge on high-calorie drinks, its good to know that a cup of tea or half a lager still count as water intake.

How many of us are seriously dehydrated? No one knows but Galloway once studied fluid intake among workers in a Cardiff call centre and found that, to keep their ratings up, many would restrict their fluid intake to avoid loo breaks. We imagine similar behaviour with long-distance lorry drivers, he says. If were ingesting enough water, he adds, we should probably be going to the loo somewhere between five and seven times a day.

Physiology

Sessions with Candidates for Anatomy and Physiology Faculty Position – Webster University Newsroom

January 28, 2020 medical

Jan. 27, 2020

The Department of Biological Sciences, in the Webster University College of Arts & Sciences, is hosting candidates for an Anatomy & Physiology faculty position.

Please see the schedule below for teaching and research talks. All are welcome to attend.

Candidates' names have been shared in the identical announcement in the Webster Today feed on Webster's Yammer.

If you have questions, please contact Mary Preuss (marypreuss34@webster.edu).

Schedule of Candidate Talks

Monday, Jan. 27 - 1stCandidate Visit

Thursday, Jan. 30 - 2nd Candidate Visit

Monday, Feb. 3 - 3rd Candidate Visit

Friday, Feb. 7 - 4th Candidate Visit

tags: college of arts and sciences, employee news, faculty, webster today,

Go here to read the rest:
Sessions with Candidates for Anatomy and Physiology Faculty Position - Webster University Newsroom

Physiology

Addressing Disparities Will Advance Genomics, Precision Medicine – HealthITAnalytics.com

January 28, 2020 medical

January 27, 2020 -Advancements in genomics and precision medicine have improved healthcares understanding of human disease, but stakeholders will need to address disparities and increase data sharing in order to leverage the full potential of genomic medicine, according to a study published in Nature.

Over the past two decades, technological advancements, as well as the collection and analysis of genetic and clinical data, have enhanced the use of genomics in healthcare. With these industry-wide changes, genomic medicine is poised to go mainstream, researchers noted.

The future of medicine will increasingly focus on delivering care that is tailored to an individual's genetic makeup and patterns, said Judy H. Cho, MD, Dean of Translational Genetics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director of The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, and a co-author of the report.

Applying this knowledge will help us to enhance personalized health and medicine for patients at The Mount Sinai Hospital now and for years to come.

Despite the progress the industry has made in genomic medicine, researchers stated that there are still several barriers to overcome, including deeply entrenched disparities and limited genomic knowledge.

READ MORE: Genetic Variant Reveals Disparities in Heart Failure Diagnosis

The absence of evidence-based guidelines to support healthcare recommendations continues to hinder the clinical applications of genetic data. In some countries, this is compounded by confusion over reimbursement and disparities in testing across society, researchers said.

Many healthcare professionals lack experience in genomic medicine and need education and guidance to practice in the rapidly evolving space of genetic and genomic testing.

In addition, researchers noted that concerns about data sharing and a lack of strong infrastructure are limiting the industrys ability to advance genomic medicine.

There are also concerns about the consequences of unfettered release of genetic data of dubious or inflated clinical relevance, and limited infrastructure to pull these results into mainstream medical systems, the team said.

To overcome these challenges, the group recommended that the industry take proactive measures to address disparities in scientific research, and to identify clinical opportunities that will benefit individuals and societies around the world.

READ MORE: Evaluating the Benefits and Challenges of Genomics in Healthcare

It will be particularly important to include populations historically under-represented in genomic research. As over time, clinically sequenced genomes will outnumber those collected in academia, research and healthcare communities will need to develop a harmonized approach to genomics to transcend historical boundaries, researchers stated.

Progress will be critically dependent on platforms and governance that lower barriers to the integration of genetic and phenotypic data across studies and countries, along with technical standards that are reliable, secure and compatible with the international regulatory landscape.

The industry should also increase data sharing and access in order to develop comprehensive inventories of genomic information across populations and environments.

Research access to functional data, generated at scale, should lower the barriers to mechanistic inference, provide system-wide context, and enable researchers to focus wet-laboratory validation on the most critical experiments, researchers said.

Collectively, these efforts will support compilation of a systematic catalogue of key networks and processes that influence normal physiology and disease development and inform a revised molecular taxonomy of disease.

READ MORE: Over 70% of Orgs Say Precision Medicine Meets or Tops Expectations

Finally, stakeholders will need to transform basic knowledge into fully developed physiological and molecular models of disease development. Researchers will have to apply biological insights to facilitate new treatment and preventive options, the group stated.

Ultimately, barriers to genomic medicine are most directly overcome by demonstrating clinical utility in disease management and therapeutic decision-making, with evidence for improved patient outcomes, the team said.

Given the clinical importance of slowing disease progression, target-discovery efforts will increasingly need to embrace the genetics of disease progression and treatment response, as these may involve processes distinct from those captured by studies of disease onset.

With these recommendations, the researchers believe the industry will be able to leverage the promise of genomics and precision medicine to deliver more personalized, targeted care.

Collectively, these developments can be expected to accelerate personalization of healthcare delivery. Provided costs are sustainable, a more preventative perspective on health could emerge, managed through proactive genomic, clinical and lifestyle surveillance using risk scores, complex biomarkers, liquid biopsies and wearables, researchers concluded.

For the full potential of genomic medicine to be realized, there will need to be sustained collaborative endeavor on several fronts to ensure that the capacity to generate ever more detailed maps of the relationships between sequence variation and biomedical phenotypes delivers a comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms that can be translated into the medicines of tomorrow.

Follow this link:
Addressing Disparities Will Advance Genomics, Precision Medicine - HealthITAnalytics.com

Physiology

Breeding Every Color of the Rainbow – Seed World

January 28, 2020 medical

What started as a hobby turned into a breeding program. Now, Texas A&M AgriLife plant physiologist and breeder Dariusz Malinowski is being recognized for his work in winter-hardy hibiscus.

in the north-central part of Texas, almost as close to Oklahoma as you can get, theres a little town called Vernon. About three hours away from Oklahoma City and Dallas, Vernon, Texas isnt known for being large in the last census, the population of Vernon listed 11,000 people but, it is known for being vibrant for a slew of reasons.

Most recently? Hundreds of winter hardy hibiscuses line Vernons streets as well as businesses. Now, you might expect these winter-hardy hibiscuses to be in the usual colors: white, red and pink. However, Vernon has some special varieties of hibiscuses lining the streets colors ranging from blue to silver and from maroon to lavender.

The Drag, Vernons mainstreet, is usually known for hosting festivals, including the Summers Last Blast, which is a large antique car show for that lasts four to five days, Mayor Doug Jeffrey says. However, theyre working on a new idea.

Were excited to see new varieties come out of the Texas A&M Agrilife Center, Jeffrey says. When you think of tulips, you think of Holland. Well, I want Vernon to be the place people think of when they think of hibiscuses.

These colorful hibiscuses didnt come out of nowhere they were bred with meticulous care, not by a breeder, but by a plant physiologist.

I had the opportunity to come to Texas A&M Agrilife on a postdoctoral position in forage agronomy and physiology, says Dariusz Malinowski, a plant physiologist and breeder at Texas A&M Agrilife. By profession, Im not a plant breeder, but I could use my knowledge in plant physiology in my cool-season forage grass breeding program. Hibiscus breeding was actually something that I started in my backyard.

Malinowski says his initial desire to breed hibiscus came from the idea that he wanted some colorful flowers in his backyard. He thought there was potential in making a winter-hardy hibiscus with a color other than red, pink and white.

One of my colleagues, the late Steve Brown who was the former director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Foundation Seed, saw a photo of my flowers in my office, he says. I jokingly said I have very nice flowers, right? Brown thought that my winter-hardy hibiscuses could have huge value as a breeding program.

But this joke led to something bigger than Malinowski had imagined.

From there, Malinowski met with Brown and learned how breeding programs worked in the United States and at Texas A&M Agrilife, and if hed be willing to add hibiscus breeding as a part of his program.

Initially, I expanded the amateur hibiscus breeding to backyards of my friends, Steve Brown and Dr. William Pinchak of Texas AgriLife, he says. It became a part of my program in 2010, and we planted the official plots in Vernon.

Every year since then, we plant about 2,000 hybrid winter hardy hibiscuses, and every fall we pick around 30-40 hybrids.

From there, the hybrids are disclosed to the Texas A&M Office of Technology Commercialization. Malinowski says in 2018, J Berry Nursery of Grand Saline, Texas, commercialized the first eight cultivars under the series trademark name Summer Spice Hibiscus, and theyve found some good success with it. Currently, there are 30-40 lines in evaluation for potential commercialization.

However, Malinowski says getting to this point only seemed easy because of how much access theyve had to the germplasm he created.

In 2010, I wanted to create new colors for winter-hardy hibiscus, he says. My dream was of a blue hibiscus, and within three years, we were able to breed a purple-blue hibiscus. Based on that plant, we were able to develop around 20 blue flowering lines.

He says these flowers range anywhere from silver to blue to dark purple.

Two are on the market as of 2018, Bleu Brulee and Cordon Bleu, and there are plenty of other blue lines in evaluation, Malinowski says. The first blue cultivar we developed was in 2012 called the Blue Angel. It was blue in shade, but in the sunlight, it was more purple-ish.

While working toward this blue color, Malinowski says the first different color they actually hit was a really light purple.

When I first saw Fantasia (a lavender-colored) and Plum Crazy (a plum-colored) winter-hardy hibiscus cultivars on the market, I brought them into the breeding program because I thought we could get into the blue color, he says. Eventually by repeated crossing them with our hybrids, we were able to get the blue color.

Malinowski says it took crossing four winter-hardy hibiscus species to get the first variation, and then he started adding new genetic materials. By adding new genetic materials and getting new variations, the program saw new colors develop.

An easier color they were able to develop was a maroon color perfect for Texas A&M.

We have shades of magenta, silver colors, dark purple colors and any shade of red that you could ever want, he says.

Despite the success Malinowski has found in breeding so many different colors of winter-hardy hibiscus, hes found that color isnt always the biggest things companies look for when marketing winter-hardy hibiscus.

We started working with commercial partners, and eventually, we had to shift our view of how to breed new varieties, he says. We learned that commercial partners dont necessarily care about the new colors we made. Instead, they look for different characteristics like plant growth habit, foliage color, shape and flower petal appearance.

While focusing on color, Malinowski says they had to start considering other characteristics and different traits, such as making the plants dwarf or compact.

Our first hybrids had beautiful novel flower colors, but their shapes and appearances other than the color werent fantastic, he says. We had to shorten the plants about two to three feet to make them compact.

Now, most of the hybrids they produce are compact and able to grow in a pot.

After we adjusted the size, we could introduce the color, Malinowski says.

From there, he learned commercial partners wanted more: new foliage colors and flower petal shapes.

They want to see different leaf color, ranging from purple to red leaves, Malinowski says. Were starting to consider adding that into our program, which means well focus on flower and foliage color.

In the meantime, he says theyve been working hard to come up with new colors and petal shapes.

Were working now on a new series, where the flowers will have different colors, but theyll have serrated edges on the petals, Malinowski says. We dont have those in blue yet, but were working on it.

Besides the serrated petals, theyve been working on a trait to make the winter-hardy hibiscus flowers seem like it has more petals.

The winter-hardy hibiscus flower only has five petals, he says. Tropical hibiscus can have many more petals, but not winter hardy. Were trying to intensify the trait so that there are different levels to the petals. That way, it makes the impression that there are more petals inthe winter-hardy hibiscus flower. So instead, theyll look more like a peony flower.

As the program continues, well start having a hibiscus that looks completely different and new!

As for new colors, Malinowski has his eyes set on orange.

Its not impossible, but its certainly more difficult than developing the blue color, he says. We probably wont ever have a completely orange color, but well get close. After that, wed really like to create a yellow-ish color, which is also difficult to create. Once we get the pigment, we can try to establish it.

At the beginning, it took around three to four years to come close to whatever we wanted, Malinowski says. Its much easier now because we have thousands of hybrids with different traits. We usually have the potential patterns to get a new trait easier, rather than at the beginning when we had nothing. But it depends!

Malinowski says one reason his program comes out with novel colors is because at the beginning of his program, he just worked on creating as many hybrids as he could.

Now, theres a lot of work every year for this, but we arent putting as much work as we had to 10 years ago, he says.

Now, the only restrictor he has: space.

Weve just about used all of our space, Malinowski says. We dont want to slow down and quit producing new hybrids, but were going to start making fewer but more focused crosses every year.

Now, with the excitement of so many new varieties of winter-hardy hibiscus popping out, Vernon wants to celebrate it.

This year, Mayor Jeffrey is working to put together a festival similar to their Summers Last Blast festival; however, this one is specifically only around the winter-hardy hibiscus.

If you think about a diamond in the rough, these winter-hardy hibiscuses are ours, he says.

Mayor Jeffrey uses an analogy of a farmer whos not making any headway on a farm and decides to sell it to find other solutions. But, the next farmer who buys it finds a diamond.

Thats the hibiscus, he says. We have something that was born and bred in Vernon, and it kind of represents a person from Vernon in a way. We often have droughts here, and were used to a tough climate. All those things make people tough, and you cant get more Texan than that. The hibiscus is tough and its able to stand a harsher climate If it can grow here, it can grow anywhere.

Were excited that Vernon is promoting itself as the hibiscus capital of the world, Malinowski says. The rose capital of the world is in Tyler, Texas, and Vernon wants to do something similar.

Malinowski says Texas A&M AgriLife gave them around 600 seedlings of the hibiscus this past spring, that were extra plants from the growing season.

Its so fun getting flower donations from Texas A&M Agrilife, because its a mystery, Mayor Jeffery says. You never know what color youre going to get.

Vernon planted them in parks, museums, churches, outside of businesses and all along the Drag, Malinowski says. We had so many visitors over the summer to see the plants blooming, it was so intense, but its good to meet a different audience.

One reason Malinowski believes people gravitate to the hibiscus is because they see the fields blooming in the summer, and they want to know what it is that looks so good.

Once established, the winter-hardy hibiscus grows great, he says. I have some at my house that I planted between 2008-2009 that I dont water because theyre outside my fenced area, but theyre still surviving and prospering. Theyre really good at growing in drought.

As the festival, Mayor Jeffrey is excited.

During Summers Last Blast, we shut down the Drag, and all of our hotels and restaurants are full, he says. We shoot from a population of 11,000 to a population of 30,000 during those days. I want to take that model and build a hibiscus festival around it.

Mayor Jeffrey says to think about a fun festival right before school starts back.

I dont think itll start as large as Summers Last Blast, but I want to build it up, he says. Im thinking it would be great to have a parade with a winter-hardy hibiscus queen and king.

Agritourism speaks to people, Mayor Jeffrey says. A lot of rural communities are shriveling up, and if you dont have anything to highlight a town, itll disappear. I think the hardy hibiscus can do so much for us.

Physiology

Life in the Balance – HSC Newsbeat

January 28, 2020 medical

Harshini Mukundan, PhD, juggles a dizzying number of responsibilities while somehow making it all look effortless.

As an administrator in the Chemistry Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, she serves as Deputy Group Leader for Physical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy and Team Leader in Chemistry for Biomedical Applications. The 2003 graduate from UNM's Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program is also a teacher, as well as a devoted parent and spouse, who, in her spare time, participates in traditional Indian dance.

But in her role as a research scientist, Mukundan is laser-focused on finding solutions to some of the most urgent health concerns facing humanity. At LANL she has developed diagnostic assays for tuberculosis and helped create technology to detect breast cancer and influenza. Her current highly ambitious research agenda centers on finding a universal method for identifying infectious disease.

Munkundans lab has unraveled some of the common methods by which disease-causing organisms interact with a human host in hopes of creating a mechanism to mimic what the body already does naturally.

All pathogens support or secrete biomarkers that are recognized by our innate immune system, she says, adding that many of these molecules are highly conserved. The body recognizes conserved signatures. It looks at the commonality and uses that to mount a response.

These molecules are not easily detected in the bloodstream, but they are carried throughout the body by hitchhiking on HDL and LDL cholesterol proteins (My buzzword for them is the biological taxi service, she says).

Mukundan and her collaborators are working on sensor technology that can liberate these biomarkers from their cholesterol hosts and measure them, providing a rapid readout of what type of infection theyre signaling.

While the labs work has national defense applications, it also has obvious relevance in clinical health care and is already being assessed for its use in diagnosing disease in the field. It has been tested in South Korea, Uganda and Kenya, Mukundan says, and could provide a quick way to distinguish a bacterial from a viral infection.

Mukundans path to a leadership role at the nations premier national laboratory started in a small town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where her father was in banking and her mother was a teacher.

She earned her undergraduate degree in microbiology from the University of Delhi in 1995. It seemed cool, she says. I liked biology and I always wanted to do medicine or biology. She went on to complete a masters in microbiology at Barkatullah University in Bhopal, with her thesis research conducted at Indias National Institute of Immunology.

Her lab work there centered on drug-resistant cancer cell lines. There were pretty awesome researchers working at NII, Mukundan says. I got to meet a lot of really cool people. Essentially, it was just the exposure, and then I decided I wanted to do a PhD.

She and her husband, LANL staff scientist Rangachary Mukundan, came to the U.S. for their doctoral work. He earned his PhD in materials science at the University of Pennsylvania and joined LANL as a postdoctoral fellow in 1997.

Harshini initially was accepted at Penn for her PhD, but transferred to The University of New Mexico when her husband got his job at Los Alamos. As a late arrival in UNMs Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, she started by rotating through several labs, where she met Nancy Kanagy, PhD, now chair of the Department of Cell Biology & Physiology.

I really liked Nancy, Mukundan says. I liked her work ethic and approach to balance. She has this way of making you feel very welcome.

At the time, Kanagy was working on alpha adrenergic receptors and their role in cardiovascular disease, which Mukundan found interesting. Mukundan started by exploring a hypothesis involving the movement of calcium ions in cells that soon turned out to be incorrect.

I definitely proved that the hypothesis was wrong, she says. We got a paper out of it, but that research was at a dead end. We had to make a project change.

With Kanagy and fellow Cell Biology professor Thomas Resta, Mukundan devised a new project. It was looking at gender differences in hypertension and the role of estrogen in erythropoietin regulation, she says.

In putting together the research proposal that would lead to her dissertation on how estrogen regulates of erythropoietin gene expression during hypoxia. Nan and Tom were heavily involved and helped a lot, obviously, and we got it, she says, adding that the setback taught her a valuable lesson.

It looks like a big bummer when your original project doesnt work, but in retrospect, I learned how to write, she says. It made me altogether much more confident. Sometimes you have what appears to be a big tragedy but it actually works out for the better.

Mukundan says she experienced some reactions when she first came to the U.S. that were a little bit racist, she sometimes felt she was treated differently because she was a woman. But at UNM she felt supported.

In Nan and Toms team I found acceptance, Mukundan says. Kanagy, who was starting a family, became a friend and mentor. I think it kind of subconsciously does teach you that women can be great scientists, good mothers and perpetually tired.

Mukundan and her husband lived in Santa Fe while she was doing her lab research, requiring a daily commute to the UNM campus in Albuquerque. She stayed at my house, Kanagy recalls. Sometimes it was really late to drive back to Santa Fe.

Mukundan showed an aptitude for research, Kanagy says. Harshini was unafraid of challenges, she recalls. Early on, she was not daunted by having a hard problem to solve and taking this on. She used very creative approaches.

Mukundan was unflappable in the face of the failure of her first research project, Kanagy says. Courageous might be the right word or at least unintimidated by difficulty, she says. When we she had to switch gears she was very resilient. She developed a whole bunch of new methods to answer this question.

Kanagy also appreciates her friends ability to keep the many commitments in her life in balance.

Shes very human and cared very deeply about her family and cared about my family, she says. Even then, she was doing traditional Indian dance while commuting an hour each way. When I think of Harshini, she has a great smile and she just invites people in shes just a pleasure to have around.

When Mukundan defended her dissertation in 2002, soon after having her first child, Kanagy urged her to pursue postdoctoral research at another university, but Mukundan instead took a job at QTL Biosystems, Santa Fe a biotech startup, where she worked for two years on biosensor technology.

In 2006 Mukundan won a postdoctoral position at LANL in the lab of Dr. Basil Swanson, where she wrote a National Institutes of Health grant for research on developing a diagnostic tool for tuberculosis. We got that proposal and I still work on TB today, she says. Thats how we got started.

After graduating to become a full member of the LANL faculty, Mukundan has become a mentor in her own right. Earlier this year, she was recognized as one of 125 IF/THEN Ambassadors by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her support of young women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) at LANL.

IF/THEN is a national initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies that seeks to further women in STEM fields by recognizing innovators and inspiring the next generation of researchers.

Although scientific careers can be incredibly demanding, Mukundan says she learned from her UNM colleagues you can have a good career and have a family and have work-life balance. That makes people want to go into science.

See the rest here:
Life in the Balance - HSC Newsbeat

Physiology

The psychology and physiology of propaganda: A study of the radicalization of women – University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

January 26, 2020 medical

With the help of a $716,065 grant from the National Institute of Justice in 2016, professors from the University in collaboration with those at other colleges and the Federal Bureau of Investigation combined theory with science in their study of the radicalization of women by ISIL.

During a two-part project, Janet Warren, professor in the department of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences, aided by Gregory Saathoff, professor in the departments of public health science and emergency medicine and the FBIs conflict resolution specialist, developed a framework to describe this phenomenon based on accounts of western women who devoted their lives to committing acts of terrorism.

To test their model, Warren and Saathoff turned to founding director of the School of Data Science Donald Brown for help with gathering and analyzing relevant data. Mojtaba Heidarysafa, a doctoral candidate in the department of systems and information engineering, also joined the research project during the data collection phase, in which the team enrolled women ages 18 to 35 from the University and wider Charlottesville communities who volunteered for the study and were compensated for their involvement. Participants attended one of two sessions in which researchers recorded their emotional and physiological responses to propaganda.

As a result, a general pattern emerged regarding womens reactions to certain types of violent visual stimuli, confirming the possibility that a model could be created to show how women become radicalized. The researchers hope these findings could assist in preventing women from being recruited into terrorism.

Each woman completed a consent form reviewed by the University Institutional Review Board. Researchers provided women with the ability to discontinue their involvement in the study at any point and reimbursed them regardless of whether or not they completed the study. Furthermore, each participant had access to a tamer set of images, of which two women took advantage, as well as guidance after the study if she felt deeply affected.

Warren noted that similar studies often focus on men. But her consultant work with the FBIs counterterrorism efforts inspired her to consider the ramifications for women, Warren immediately considered the ramifications for women.

I thought it would be really interesting, as we were all together in these meetings talking about risk assessment and terrorism, for the first time to start a study on women, Warren said. Most research done on very violent crime is done on men I have often followed these huge areas of research and asked, How does this apply to women?

Saathoff collaborated with Warren to understand the overall trajectory of womens conversion to terrorism. He stressed the need to characterize the process not only as a means of pursuing criminals but also as a means to provide insights and strategies that could protect women from plots to recruit them.

In society we often learn through media anecdotes, and that is one way to become aware of these issues, but to truly understand the situation, its important to understand how this occurs in a large number of cases, Saathoff said.

First, Warren, Saathoff and their partners constructed a risk assessment model to outline the radicalization process. To successfully summarize and explain that transformation, the team hoped to find 300 women with sufficiently detailed court and investigation records but doubted the feasibility of that goal. When they uncovered almost five times as many women, researchers chose to analyze the 300 with the most robust court and investigative reports.

Over the next couple of years, Warren, Saathoff and their research team produced a risk assessment model that identifies not only aspects of a persons life that could increase the likelihood of her radicalization, but also preventative measures to proactively impede radicalization efforts. The hope was to generate a cohesive framework for analysis of potentially dangerous individuals for use in government agencies.

We were trying to do something that integrated what people in different countries were talking about, what we thought was interesting, what was in our academic research and make something that was more translational and international in terms of its broadness, Warren said.

The model incorporates the theory that risk and protective factors can be viewed as two ends of a spectrum. The factors in and of themselves are not diametrically opposed aspects of a persons life. Rather, their intensity and outlets determine someones likelihood to adhere to extremist beliefs.

Warrens three-stage framework pinpointed these elements. Beginning with the propensity for radicalization, individuals can transition to mobilization and eventually action and capacity for terrorist exploits. Key factors that dictate progression from state to state include morality, self-regulation, setting, physical activity and perception of alternatives.

Many women we have found who embrace this new identity are doing that because of unhappiness with their current situation, Saathoff said. Travel to another country is sometimes an escape, and its facilitated by those who would specifically tailor the message to the individual person Its remarkable how compelling and powerful that seduction can be.

Second, the team looked to Donald Brown, founding director of the School of Data Science, for help with gathering concrete evidence to support their theory, specifically as it relates to propaganda. Warren cited propaganda as a powerful recruitment tool that can persuade people to completely change their outlook. Though many studies dissecting the conscious reactions to materials disseminated by extremist organizations exist, Warren emphasized the lack of research on physiological indicators of emotional responses.

We actually know what people are thinking consciously, but weve got to try and grab some data about how theyre reacting unconsciously and see whats more powerful, or were never going to get a handle on [propaganda], Warren said.

According to Mojtaba Heidarysafa, doctoral candidate in the department of systems and information engineering who joined the research team for data collection, the initial phase of the data collection portion of the project consisted of 45 women probing the internet for content they believed could contribute to radicalization campaigns.

With the permission of the University Information Security Department and the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology, researchers enabled women to investigate the dark web, a conglomeration of networks with restricted access that facilitate anonymous, illicit interactions. The U.S. National Security Agency reports that terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda utilize the dark web to maintain communication across their global network, as well as recruit new individuals to their cause.

We were also able to [connect] women and allow them to go into the dark web if that was something they were interested in doing, Warren said. The University was fantastic in giving us the freedom we needed to pursue this.

An additional 45 women who identified themselves as Muslim, non-Muslim conservative and non-Muslim liberal attended four sessions in which they viewed a series of images depicting extremist activities. During these sessions, researchers monitored eye gaze, pupil dilation, heart rate and galvanic skin response which tracks sweat gland activity to determine the arousal level and emotional state of participants.

While the first session contained neutral pictures of everyday objects to create a baseline for participant responses, subsequent sessions depicted white nationalist campaign posters and violent acts by jihadist, alt-right and alt-left groups.

We showed them all of these pictures, Heidarysafa said. When looking at hangings or beheadings, all of them had a non-neutral arousal response What we found was that no matter the background, there was a reaction.

In fact, Warren, Heidarysafa and Brown contributed to a pending publication that suggests pupil dilation and the aspects of images that attracted womens gaze were largely consistent across participants, regardless of their religious or political affiliations. In other words, the pictures play a larger role in individuals emotional response than certain major components of their identity. The authors of the study claim the commonalities point to patterns applicable to multiple cases of radicalization.

As this preliminary research project draws to a close, with a portion of the final papers and the results published in 2018 and 2019 and more to come in 2020, Warren said she and her colleagues already applied for an additional grant to expand their efforts and replicate the study with men. In doing so, Warren aims to take full advantage of the resources at the University to create materials useful for the FBIs observations of and interventions for at-risk individuals.

Usually academic researchers dont work with the FBI, and the FBI doesnt necessarily want to work with academic researchers, Warren said. The most important thing is the relationships exist so that we could do this research.

More here:
The psychology and physiology of propaganda: A study of the radicalization of women - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Physiology

UB researcher receives grant for project to test art and exercise program for seniors – UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff – University…

January 26, 2020 medical

Nikhil Satchidanand, research assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, has been awarded a grant from the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York to continue his work with vulnerable older adults.

Satchidanand, an exercise physiologist with expertise in motor development and aging, will use the $71,690 grant for a project called The Movers and Makers Club: A Community-based Recreation Program to Improve Cognition and Motor Function in Older Adults.

The project will develop and test the impact of a community-based art-making and thinking-while-moving (dual-task) exercise intervention on cognition and motor function in adults age 65 and older.

As a faculty member with UBs Center for Successful Aging, Satchidanand has partnered with the Ken-Ton Family YMCA, which runs several fitness programs and special events for older adults, and Fine Art Miracles, a non-profit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of community members through fine arts education and hands-on art making.

The project is divided into three phases. Phase 1, which began in October and runs through February, is focused on developing the intervention program with input from key stakeholders. Phase 2, running from February through December 2020, involves testing the intervention methods in a community-based, randomized controlled trial among adults 65 years or older. Phase 3, running from January through March 2021, allows time to refine the intervention methods, disseminate key findings and prepare for larger-scale implementation in other community-based sites in the region.

The development of this project involves creation of an art-making curriculum that utilizes a wide variety of media, techniques and content, Satchidanand says. Direct, ongoing feedback from community stakeholders through a series of focus groups will help us create a curriculum that is appealing and appropriate for participants. Trained instructors will work with our community members to create a highly immersive and engaging experience that promotes success, self-efficacy and a sense of accomplishment.

At the same time, a group of older adults will work with the team to develop the dual-task training program using the SMARTfit Cognitive-Motor Training System, an innovative, multisensory, exergaming platform that engages the brain and body using game technology. Participants interact with touch-sensitive targets to play cognitively stimulating games while moving, managing footwork, maintaining balance and building body awareness.

These two complementary therapies have been brought together in this project with a focus on engaging the brain and body, promoting social support and creating an enjoyable experience for participants, Satchidanand says.

Project participants will engage in weekly art-making and dual-task exercise training, instructed by trained professionals from Fine Art Miracles and the YMCA.We hypothesize that weekly art-making and dual-task exercise training will improve executive functions, visual-spatial abilities and motor function, he says.

Equally as important, we believe that participation in Movers and Makers will be associated with improved self-efficacy, social support and quality of life. The results of our study will help us refine and adapt the intervention to be delivered in other community organizations.

Satchidanand received a previous Health Foundation grant for his Falls Prevention Needs Assessment in Primary Care project. His experiences working on that project partly inspired the new project, he explains.

The Movers and Makers project was made possible by a team that continues to demonstrate their passion and commitment to promoting successful aging, Satchidanand says.I am very excited to deepen my work with the foundation and to continue my collaboration with this exceptional team.

Our intervention has the potential to improve functional outcomes and help maintain independence in aging, while promoting social support and enjoyment.I am eager to realize the potential of the Movers and Makers program, and ensure our older adult community members live healthier, happier lives, he says.

Satchidanand earned an MS in motor development and a PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Pittsburgh. He completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in clinical research in health disparities and was a UB Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) KL2 Mentored Career Development Award Scholar from 2016-18.

Physiology

Cold With, Falling Iguanas: Why Iguanas Fall From Trees in Florida When it is Below 40 Degrees – The National Interest Online

January 26, 2020 medical

As temperatures were dipping this week, the National Weather Service issued freeze warnings for much of Florida and Georgia, adding a warning in South Florida for falling iguanas. University of Florida wildlife ecologist Frank Mazzotti explains the physiology of cold iguanas and why many people in Florida arent shedding tears for the iguana-cicles lying around the region.

What happens to iguanas when temps drop?

When temperatures fall into the 40s and 30s, green iguanas become cold-stunned. They enter whats called a state of torpor. Their breathing slows down and so does their metabolism.

Used to more balmy conditions, this is how tropical reptiles protect themselves from cold temperatures. Torpor is an involuntary response, and the animals trade torpors benefit of conserving heat in cold conditions for an increased risk of being snagged by a predator.

Torpor causes green iguanas to lose muscle control, and since they live in trees, they fall out of trees. A several pound iguana falling on your head would definitely get your attention.

What should you do if you see a dazed iguana?

If you witness falling iguanas, your best course of action is to do nothing. If the animal warms up quickly, it will recover on its own. If cold temperatures are prolonged, the iguana may die.

But please do not try to rescue any iguanas. Native to Mexico, Central and South America and some Caribbean islands, green iguanas are an invasive species in the southern United States and you cannot legally set them free here. The iguanas you spot in South Florida are descendants of animals brought here to be sold as pets.

If you want to get involved when you see a fallen iguana, a better course of action is to eat it. In their native range they are prized as delicious food items and are called chicken of the trees or bamboo chicken.

Why are some officials in Florida happy to see fewer iguanas?

Officials believe green iguanas are rapidly increasing in numbers and expanding in range, though there are no concrete counts for how many live in Florida today.

For a long time, green iguanas flew below the radar of management agencies. Unlike Burmese pythons, for example, which eat mammals and birds, green iguanas did not pose an obvious threat to ecological resources. Any damage they did was confined to backyards where they readily consume landscape plants, burrow into seawalls and sidewalks and poop prodigiously.

But with more green iguanas on the loose, they are now commonly found on water management structures such as levees and pump stations where they actively burrow, especially nesting females. These infrastructure facilities control water levels in South Florida and keep neighborhoods dry while providing a water supply for both agriculture and residences.

Iguana-caused damage is not minor. For example, the City of West Palm Beach recently paid US$1.8 million to repair a weir that was partially damaged by burrowing iguanas and to armor the low dam against further damage.

Removing invasive iguanas is now necessary to protect Floridas ability to manage its water. So a cold snap that eliminates some of the iguana population might actually be good news in some quarters.

This article by Frank Mazzotti first appeared in 2019 in The Conversation via Creative Commons License.

Image: Wikimedia.

Go here to see the original:
Cold With, Falling Iguanas: Why Iguanas Fall From Trees in Florida When it is Below 40 Degrees - The National Interest Online