Category Archives: Physiology

Physiology

PhDs, peas and cricket teas; Dr Kevin Pyke’s alumni story – The John Innes Centre

Dr Kevin Pyke completed his PhD on leafless and semi-leafless peas, here at the John Innes Centre in the 1980s.

We recently caught up with Kevin, to talk peas, PhDs, four-colour graphs and the John Innes Cricket team.

I started at John Innes on the same day that HaroldWoolhousebecame Director, back in October 1980. I had arrived to work with Cliff Hedley and Mike Ambrose in Applied Genetics on leafless and semi-leafless peas.

A year or so earlier I had speculatively written eight letters around the country asking about PhDs including one to John Innes where my friend, Peter Lumsden had just done a summer placement.

I been interested in nature from an early age and it was my major interest through my childhood both in growing vegetables, collecting cacti and bird watching and general nature studies.It was clear that I was going to have a life involving biology in some way

I was the only child in my class at primary school to pass the 11-plus in 1969, finding myself atHuishs Grammar school for boys in Taunton where the education was excellent. Being passionate about the subject,I excelled in the sciences, especially biology and chemistry.

At that time Undergraduate sandwich courses were very popular where one did placements in research institutes and industry, giving awell-roundedappreciation of how research and development operates.

Thus,I did the Degree in Applied Biology at the University of Bath starting in 1976.

It was afour-yeardegree, the first two years being general biology and the third and fourth years having a choice of specialisations either animal science, crop science, microbiology or plant science.It was clear that I was bound to choose plant scienceand looking back on this I was very lucky as today no such opportunity exists to get that much experience.

On joining the John Innes, I recall there was quite a gulf though between those doing the new fast developing field of molecular biology and the rest of which I was a part.

I also vividly remember how friendly the people were. I quickly made friends with lots of PhD students, in particular PaulLazzeriwho started his PhD on tissue culture the same day as me with Graham Hussey.

A year later Anil Day started his PhD with Noel Ellis and we became friends. I was greatly inspired by Noel and that led to us doing a Southern blot experiment on rogue pea plastid DNA in late 1983 which made it as a chapter in my thesis.

Other memorable people from those times who I got to know well were Trevor Wang, BrianSnoadand Rod Casey.

The thing I remember most about the social side was the John Innes cricket team of which I was a main member during my time. The main organiser of the team and captain was PaulLinsteadfrom Cell Biology (affectionately known as sleepy hollow in those days).

In the summer we played on the UEA cricket pitches weekly in friendlies against local cricket teams from Norwich and surrounding villages as well as playing away matches.

I was a spin bowler and took lots of wickets and in my last year was captain. This was tremendous fun and there were several memorable people in the team in those days including JimDunwell, who opened the batting, Anil Day andNormanSunderlands son who was a young chap who was rather good and helped us out when we were short. On occasion the new Director HaroldWoolhouseused to wander across to watch sometimes and on a couple of occasions he umpired.

During my time at John Innes science evolved rapidly especially molecular biology and computing. I produced lots of data and wrote lots of papers so by the time I graduated I had my name on seven papers and conference proceedings.

I wrote all my thesis on the VAX main frame computer and Tam, D Roys secretary, typed it up on A4 pages for me costing 1 a page. Computing had just bought the first flat bed graph plotter and I printed out all the graphs in my thesis in four colours. At the time that was a major event.

They were wonderful times and I really enjoyed my PhD work looking at the plant physiology and crop physiology of the leafless and semi-leafless mutant phenotypes of pea.

From the John Innes I went on to doa post doc on leaves and chloroplasts with Professor Rachel Leech in York. I ultimately stayed therefor 11 years before getting a lectureship at Royal Holloway in 1994 andfinallymoving toa lectureship In Plant Sciences atNottingham in 1999.

I have worked at the Sutton Bonington campus ever since, researching chloroplasts, leaves and tomato plastids.Hopefully I have also inspired large number of students in the ways of plants and plant sciences over the years.

I took partial retirement in 2018 on turning 60 but I look back on my career in plants science with great affection,especiallymy time at the John Innes.

Thank you to BridgetGillies from the UEA Archives for the photo.

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PhDs, peas and cricket teas; Dr Kevin Pyke's alumni story - The John Innes Centre

Physiology

People’s bodies now run cooler than ‘normal’ even in the Bolivian Amazon – The Conversation US

Feeling under the weather? Chances are you or your doctor will grab a thermometer, take your temperature and hope for the familiar 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) everyone recognizes as normal.

But what is normal and why does it matter? Despite the fixation on 98.6 F, clinicians recognize that there is no single universal normal body temperature for everyone at all times. Throughout the day, your body temperature can vary by as much as 1 F, at its lowest in the early morning and highest in the late afternoon. It changes when you are sick, goes up during and after exercise, varies across the menstrual cycle and varies between individuals. It also tends to decline with age.

In other words, body temperature is an indicator of whats going on within your body, like a metabolic thermostat.

An intriguing study from earlier this year found that normal body temperature is about 97.5 F in Americans at least those in Palo Alto, California, where the researchers took hundreds of thousands of temperature readings. That meant that in the U.S., normal body temperature has been dropping over the past 150 years. People run cooler today than they did two centuries ago.

The 98.6 F standard for normal body temperature was first established by the German physician Carl Wunderlich in 1867 after studying 25,000 people in Leipzig. But anecdotally, lower body temperatures in healthy adults have been widely reported. And a study in 2017 among 35,000 adults in the U.K. observed a lower average body temperature of 97.9 F.

What might cause these subtle but important changes? And are these provocative hints of changes in human physiology occurring only in urban, industrialized settings like the U.S. and U.K.?

One leading hypothesis is that thanks to improved hygiene, sanitation and medical treatment, people today experience fewer of the infections that would trigger higher body temperatures. In our study, we were able to test that idea directly in a unique setting: among Tsimane horticulturalist-foragers of the Bolivian Amazon.

The Tsimane live in a remote area with little access to modern amenities, and we know from firsthand experience that infections are common from the common cold to intestinal worms to tuberculosis. Having worked with the Tsimane studying a variety of topics related to health and aging for two decades, our team had a rich opportunity to observe whether body temperatures were similarly declining in this tropical environment where infections are common.

As part of our ongoing Tsimane Health and Life History Project, a mobile team of Bolivian physicians and researchers has been traveling from village to village monitoring health while treating patients. They record clinical diagnoses and lab measures of infection at each patient visit.

When we first started working in Bolivia back in 2002, Tsimane body temperatures were similar to what was found in Germany and the U.S. two centuries ago: averaging at 98.6 F. But over a relatively short period of 16 years, we observed a rapid decline in average body temperature in this population. The decline is steep: 0.09 F per year. Today Tsimane body temperatures are roughly 97.7 F.

In other words, in less than two decades were seeing about the same level of decline as that observed in the U.S. over approximately two centuries. We can say this with confidence, as our analysis is based on a large sample (about 18,000 observations of almost 5,500 adults), and we statistically control for multiple other factors that might affect body temperature, like ambient temperature and body mass.

More importantly, while having certain ailments, like respiratory or skin infections, was associated with higher body temperature during a medical visit, adjusting for these infections did not account for the steep decline in body temperature over time.

So why have body temperatures decreased over time, both for Americans and Tsimane? Fortunately, we had data available from our long-term research in Bolivia to address some possibilities.

For example, declines might be due to the rise of modern health care and lower rates of lingering mild infections now compared to in the past. But while it may be the case that health has generally improved in Bolivia over the past two decades, infections are still widespread among the Tsimane. Our results suggest that reduced incidence of infection alone cant explain the observed body temperature declines.

It could be that people are in better condition, and so their bodies dont need to work as hard to fight infection. Or more access to antibiotics and other treatments means that duration of infection is lower now than in the past. Its also possible that greater use of certain medications like ibuprofen or aspirin may reduce inflammation and be reflected in the lower temperatures. However, while lab measures of system-wide inflammation were associated with higher body temperature during patient visits, accounting for this in our analyses did not affect our estimate of the amount that body temperature declined per year.

Another possible explanation for the historical declines in body temperature is that bodies now dont need to work as much to regulate internal body temperature because of air conditioners in the summer and heaters in the winter. While Tsimane body temperatures do change with the time of year and weather patterns, the Tsimane dont use any advanced technology to regulate their body temperature. They do, however, have more access to clothes and blankets than they previously did.

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Understanding why body temperatures are declining remains an open question for scientists to explore. Whatever the reason, though, we can confirm that body temperatures are below 98.6 F outside of places like the U.S. and U.K. even in rural and tropical areas with minimal public health infrastructure, where infections are still the major killers.

We hope that our findings inspire more studies about how improved conditions might lower body temperature. As its fast and easy to measure, body temperature might one day prove to be a simple but useful indicator, like life expectancy, that provides new insight into population health.

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People's bodies now run cooler than 'normal' even in the Bolivian Amazon - The Conversation US

Physiology

Technology versus talent the great shoe-volution – Daily Maverick

Brigid Kosgei of Kenya heads to the finish line to win with a women world record time of 02:14:04 in the 2019 Chicago Marathon in Chicago, Illinois, USA, 13 October 2019. EPA-EFE/TANNEN MAURY

First published in Daily Maverick 168

Marathon. Half-marathon, 15km, 10km, 5km on the road. One-hour run, 10,000m and 5,000m on the track. These are some of the world records that have fallen in the past two years. What they have in common is that their conquerors have worn one specific shoe. Never before has a sport so traditionally celebrated as a test of human performance been so overtaken by questions about technology.

If world record lists exist as a type of archaeological record for statisticians to examine, they will one day look at the period between 2017 and 2020 and conclude that a seismic event took place to change distance running, ushering in a new era. That event was the creation of super shoes.

In the beginning

It began in 2017, when Nike first put its weight behind the attempt to break the two-hour marathon barrier. A new shoe was part of that, but sceptics had seen and heard this before, and dismissed it as Nike trying to leverage the hype into selling more shoes.

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge scared that two-hour barrier, appropriately on the Formula 1 motor racing circuit of Monza, thanks in part to a series of contrivances that included a bunch of pacemakers relaying in and out of the race to run in a V-formation to shelter him from the wind, a pancake-flat course with no sharp turns to slow him down, and fluids hand-delivered to bypass the inconvenience of veering off course or slowing down to drink. But it was the shoe that would soon emerge as the real star of the show.

First came the promised research. For once, a marketing claim about performance-enhancing shoes proved to have some substance behind it. At the time of its introduction, the shoe was said to have been called the 4% because laboratory studies had found that it improved something called running economy by that amount.

Running economy is the athletes equivalent of fuel economy in a car it is the amount of oxygen used by the athlete to run one kilometre, and what exceptional distance runners have in common is that theyre all extremely economical. That, allied to a high VO2max (the maximum amount of oxygen a person can utilise during intense exercise) and a lactate threshold (think cruising capacity) are the key elements for the worlds greatest marathon runners.

A research study confirmed that what Nike had figured out was a way to reduce the cost of running at a given speed. Through a combination of a new foam material and a curved carbon-fibre plate, a runner could now achieve the same pace, but use less oxygen.

And by extension, the runner would be able to run faster before bumping up against the physiological ceilings that normally exist because of oxygen supply to the muscles. The 4% running economy advantage does not necessarily create a 4% performance advantage, but the estimate, based on laboratory research models, is for an improvement of 2% to 3%, or two to three minutes in a marathon. It would be like running slightly downhill when everyone else is on a flat road. Or like running with a pair of shoes that weighs only 100g when everyone else is weighed down by 400g shoes.

Game changer

Its an advantage that transformed distance running, contributing to what has in effect been a recalibration of running performances. First it emerged that the 2016 Olympic podiums were owned by the shoe, despite it not being commercially available at that time.

The mens marathon world record went to Kipchoge in 2018. Both the mens and womens half-marathon records were broken. In 2018 and 2019, virtually every major city marathon was won by an athlete wearing the shoe, most in new course records. Many athletes whose sponsorship deals were with other brands painted over the shoe upper to hide their disloyalty to their brands, just to have a chance at success.

Then the sub-two-hour barrier did fall to Kipchoge, in Vienna in October 2019; by then he was powered by a prototype of the third iteration of the shoe, the Alphafly Next%. The original 4% shoe, striking for its midsole thickness, was now even taller, with a 39mm stack height providing the scaffolding for the carbon plate, the elastic energy return of the foam, and serving also to lengthen the leg to further enhance running economy and performance.

A day later, the womens marathon world record was toppled. Paula Radcliffes time, unbeaten for 16 years, was the last monument to a previous era; it was not edged but destroyed by Bridget Kosgei in the Chicago Marathon.

The same technology of foam and carbon-fibre plate found its way into the specialist spikes worn by athletes on the track, and 2020 has delivered the results a womens 5,000m world record, and mens world records over 5,000m and 10,000m. The reality was impossible to ignore running had been recalibrated.

The moral problem

That alone is problematic for a sport that relies heavily on times and history for its value. The value of a world record is that it represents a new horizon for human physiology and is celebrated as a barometer of progress.

Usually, that progress is understood to mean the runner. None would dispute that, over many generations, there is a progressive evolution of technology, knowledge and physiology, which makes it foolish to compare Jim Peters, the marathon champion in the 1950s, with Kipchoge and his peers.

However, the pace of this development was sudden. It happened within a generation, it was unprecedented in impact and it is completely independent of the athlete the same runner, two days apart, might produce performances belonging to different eras, thanks to a shoe. That bothered many people.

Even more concerning is whether the shoes undermine the integrity of the result. Its one thing for records to fall, and for times to be recalibrated such that a 2:05 marathon becomes routine rather than exceptional. At least if everyone had the same benefit, it would leave the fundamental premise of running intact. That premise is that the winner is the athlete whose physiology is superior on the day. Refined and optimised by training, running rewards physiology, and creates the perception of something relatively pure.

But super shoes challenge this premise, for two reasons. The first is that the shoes are not available to all. Initially, it was Nike that had the first-mover advantage. Other brands scrambled to make up lost ground, and most now have their own version, but theyve had to negotiate regulations, patent laws and access to material barriers, and there remains no guarantee that they have closed the gap.

A difference of even 2% caused by shoes would be larger than the typical physiological difference between the top 10 athletes in the world, the result being that if you randomised the allocation of shoes among those 10 athletes, you could completely change the result of a race.

It would be analogous to watching Rafael Nadal outplay Novak Djokovic in Paris, knowing that if they were made to swap tennis rackets after two sets, it would be Djokovic sweeping Nadal off the court. It is anathema to running that technology affects the result more than physiology, but that is the implication if a degree of between-brand parity cannot be restored.

Second, when an item of equipment has the capacity to make such large differences to performance, it will invariably do so in groups of high responders and low responders. The former will see very large benefits if the average advantage from the shoe is 2%, theirs may be 5%.

Others may see no benefit at all. This spread five percentage points in this hypothetical scenario is so large that it is, all by itself, decisive to a race outcome. No longer would the athlete breaking the tape be the best runner, physiologically and psychologically, but rather he or she would represent the best runner/shoe interaction.

Regulatory pushback

Faced with these dilemmas, authorities acted. Sort of. In January, World Athletics hit pause as it introduced regulations that would limit the thickness of the midsole and prevent the excessive, unregulated use of carbon-fibre plates. The controlling bodys upper limit for stack height, conveniently, is exactly the same as the height of the Nike shoes that have rewritten the record books since 2016, and provides enough room for a smart engineer to continue to innovate and explore ways to drive humans ever faster.

The regulations thus leave enough scope for the existing problems to persist, and potentially, for new problems to manifest. A more cautious approach would have been to imitate what swimmings governing body did in 2010, when it banned hi-tech swimsuits after a similar set of outrageous performance leaps and distorted outcomes affected that sport in 2008 and 2009. The policy effectively rewound technology to a point where swimming ability, rather than swimmer/tech interface, would determine the result. World Athletics had the same opportunity, as it could have reduced the maximum allowable thickness of shoes to considerably less than the 40mm currently in place.

It did not, and so the sport moves forward at a pace driven more by engineers integrating super springy foam with carbon-fibre plates than by muscles, hearts, lungs and brains. DM168

Dr Ross Tucker is a sports scientist.

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Technology versus talent the great shoe-volution - Daily Maverick

Physiology

Vanderbilt University anti-inflammatory therapy licensed to Amytrx is now in clinical trials for eczema treatment – Vanderbilt University News

A cell-penetrating, anti-inflammatory peptide developed byJacek Hawiger, Louise B. McGavock Chair and Distinguished Professor of Medicine, and licensed to biopharmaceutical companyAmytrx, has been approved by the FDA for testing as a potential therapeutic for mild to moderate eczema. The peptide, known as AMTX-100, has been in clinical trials since March.

The licensing agreement, facilitated by theCenter for Technology Transfer and Commercialization and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, enables translation of the product of the Hawiger teamsdecades-long academic research from the lab to a clinical setting. The result is the near-term opportunity to improve the health and well-being of people with a wide range of inflammatory and metabolic diseases, including psoriasis, rosacea, acne, herpes type 1 and 2, and shingles.

The research led by Dr.Hawigerhas immense opportunity to address a variety of conditions connected to inflammation, said Vice Provost for Research Padma Raghavan.

AMTX-100 is a peptide, or chain of amino acids, designed to swiftly penetrate the membrane of inflamed cells that were injured by microbial, autoimmune, allergic, metabolic or physical insults. Once inside of cells, AMTX-100 prevents the cells nucleusa command center of inflammationfrom triggering an otherwise unfavorable inflammatory response. Without such intervention that targets nuclear transport checkpoint, cells produce a myriad of chemicals that mediate inflammation and keep affected organs on fire. This peptide has been developed by Hawigersteam to naturally alter the route through which our own proinflammatory proteins cause swelling, redness, fever, pain, and impaired function, without sacrificing the cells ability to grow and carry out its functions. Research has shown that this approach has significantly fewer side effects and safety concerns than many anti-inflammatory drugs addressing the same issue, creating a potentially significant market opportunity.

We are working to safely address a key mechanism of so many diseases and health conditions that make life more difficult than it should be, saidHawiger, also professor of molecular physiology and biophysics. I am very pleased to be at this phase of translational research that reaffirms our vision, shared byAmytrxco-founder and Director Thomas Andrews, to develop this groundbreaking therapeutic approach withAmytrx.

As a co-founder ofAmytrx,Hawigerwill be involved in further study and research on this transformative anti-inflammatory therapy by conducting preclinical studies in experimental models of human disease with high unmet need.

The progression of this work toAmytrxis in no small part thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization team, Raghavan said. They have been incredibly engaged inbringing game-changing innovation from Vanderbilt research labs to the real world.

Dr.Hawigersanti-inflammatory peptide platformis exceptionally promising, said Dr. MattGonda,AmytrxsCEO, president and co-founder. Meaningful researchwith human applicationslike this cannot be kept to academia.There is a need for a commercialization partner to bring it to fruitionin order toreach the public.Amytrxisthrilled to be working togetherto bringscience with such broad implications for unmet medical needs to the bedside, and our therapeuticsa step closer to patientuse.

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Vanderbilt University anti-inflammatory therapy licensed to Amytrx is now in clinical trials for eczema treatment - Vanderbilt University News

Physiology

Staying informed: Michigan Tech Thursday town halls cover wide range of pandemic-related topics – Marquette Mining Journal

By RYAN SPITZA

Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE COVID-19 has impacted millions of people across the globe.

From China, to Europe, the United States, Michigan and right down to the Upper Peninsula, the coronavirus is present and has shown no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Thats why Michigan Technological University is working to inform U.P. residents about the virus through the U.P. COVID-19 Community Town Hall Series, a virtual 12-week program organized by MTUs Health Research Institute and Center for Educational Outreach.

The series started with the first town hall on Sept. 3. The town halls take place Thursday evenings from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Each town hall focuses on a different aspect of COVID-19 and the public is encouraged to tune in via Zoom, Facebook Live and Keweenaw-area radio station 97.7 The Wolf.

The goal of the town hall series is to increase awareness about COVID-19 and how it impacts health and society, Dr. Steven Elmer, associate professor in MTUs Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology, said in a news release. Viewers from across the Upper Peninsula have tuned in. Some of the weekly topics discussed so far include the role of public health in protecting the community, virus transmission, testing, tracing and vaccines, and acute care of hospitalization of COVID-19.

Elmer is one of the moderators for each of the town halls, along with Dr. Kelly Kamm, assistant professor of kinesiology and integrative physiology at MTU.

Elmer and Kamm are joined by clinicians, public health officials, researchers and community experts each week to discuss a range of COVID-19 topics and answer any questions the public may have.

Last weeks town hall was titled How to Stay Physically Active during the Pandemic, and guests on the panel included University of Michigan family and sports medicine physician Dr. Keri Denay, U.P. Health System-Portage health and fitness manager Angela Luskin and Steve Short, physical therapist for the Denver Nuggets.

An important message was to find simple ways to move more and sit less because exercise is one of the best forms of medicine to promote good health, prevent disease and bolster immune function, organizers said in the release. Additionally, the audience was encouraged to follow the four Ws, wear a mask, wash hands, watch your distance and walk to stay active.

MTU graduate student Jamie Phillips also joined last weeks panel to introduce UP and Moving, a program Phillips and his colleagues created which aims to help U.P. and northern Wisconsin residents stay active throughout the pandemic through a free virtual exercise series.

The next town hall is scheduled for today at 7 p.m. and will cover the Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health.

Joining the panel this week will be Leslie Griffith, outpatient program director for Copper Country Community Mental Health, MTU director of student health and well-being Dr. Amber Bennett, MTU assistant professor in cognitive and learning science Dr. Kevin Trewartha and one additional community guest.

Other upcoming topics include Teaching and Learning on Oct. 29, How to Work Safely and Productively on Nov. 5, Michigan Tech Response to COVID-19 and Student Involvement on Nov. 12, COVID-19 Impact on Economics on Nov. 19 and COVID-19 Exacerbation of Health Disparities on Dec. 3.

To download and view previous town halls, a schedule of the remaining town halls and links to view or listen to the remaining town halls, visit http://www.mtu.edu/health-research/covid19townhall/.

Ryan Spitza can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. His email address is rspitza@miningjournal.net.

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Staying informed: Michigan Tech Thursday town halls cover wide range of pandemic-related topics - Marquette Mining Journal

Physiology

Global Preclinical Software for Physiology Data Assessment and Animal Supervision Market (2020 to 2024) – Featuring Thermo Fisher Scientific, TSE…

The "Global Preclinical Software for Physiology Data Assessment and Animal Supervision Market 2020-2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The preclinical software for physiology data assessment and animal supervision market is poised to grow by $ 2.97 million during 2020-2024 progressing at a CAGR of 5% during the forecast period.

The report on preclinical software for physiology data assessment and animal supervision market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors.

The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by the emerging roles of bioinformatics tools and software, importance of physiological monitoring in preclinical research, and increasing use of animals in preclinical studies.

The preclinical software for physiology data assessment and animal supervision market analysis includes end-user segment and geographical landscapes. This study identifies the rising digitalization in preclinical research as one of the prime reasons driving the preclinical software for physiology data assessment and animal supervision market growth during the next few years. Also, increasing outsourcing of preclinical research, and increased demand for SEND submission software for preclinical data will lead to sizable demand in the market.

The report presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters.

Companies Mentioned

The preclinical software for physiology data assessment and animal supervision market covers the following areas:

The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to an analysis of the key vendors.

The report presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters such as profit, pricing, competition, and promotions. It presents various market facets by identifying the key industry influences. The data presented is comprehensive, reliable, and a result of extensive research - both primary and secondary.

This market research report provides a complete competitive landscape and an in-depth vendor selection methodology and analysis using qualitative and quantitative research to forecast an accurate market growth.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. Market Landscape

3. Market Sizing

4. Five Forces Analysis

5. Market Segmentation by End-user

6. Customer Landscape

7. Geographic Landscape

8. Vendor Landscape

9. Vendor Analysis

10. Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/937rho

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201021005487/en/

Contacts

ResearchAndMarkets.comLaura Wood, Senior Press Managerpress@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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Global Preclinical Software for Physiology Data Assessment and Animal Supervision Market (2020 to 2024) - Featuring Thermo Fisher Scientific, TSE...

Physiology

FDA invites comment on nutrition labeling of sugars that are metabolized differently than traditional sugars – FoodNavigator-USA.com

In a request for comment, the agency notes that, Some sugars (e.g., allulose, D-tagatose, isomaltulose) do not have all of the same effects in the body as traditional sugars.

"Because of that, we have received multiple requests from industry to treat these sugars that are metabolized differently than traditional sugars as distinct from traditional sugars for purposes of nutrition labeling.

We are interested in learning more about the kinds of sugars that are metabolized differently than traditional sugars and that are used in foods, any distinct physiological effects in the body caused by those sugars, and how we should treat those sugars for purposes of food labeling."

Factors that might be relevant include the pH of dental plaque after consumption, caloric value, and glycemic and insulinemic response, adds the agency.

Anke Sentko is VP regulatory affairs & nutrition communication at BENEO, which makes isomaltulose (which it sells under the brand name Palatinose).

A disaccharide manufactured by the enzymatic rearrangement of sucrose from beets, Palatinose has 4 calories per gram like regular sugar, but does not have the same impact on insulin and blood sugar, so has a lower glycemic index and is digested more slowly.

Welcoming the FDA's request for comments, Sentko told FoodNavigator-USA: "Due to todays public health policy direction, all mono- and disaccharides (sugars) are regarded as 'bad for you' and thus should be reduced and replaced. All oligo- and polysaccharides are regarded as good for human nutrition.This classification based on food chemistry is not justified as not all sugars are the same in their physiological effects, and it is physiology that counts if health should be supported...

She added: "Its the physiological carbohydrate quality that matters. A carbohydrate that is available to the body and is digested slowly, leading to a low blood glucose response and low insulin response and allows for fat oxidation in energy management is a carbohydrate of good physiological quality, no matter if it is a monosaccharide, disaccharide, oligosaccharide or polysaccharide.

"If on top it is not used as substrate by oral microorganisms, confirmed by an FDA approved health claim, this sugar has a quality bonus on top. BENEO is addressing its disaccharide isomaltulose here.

"In a food labelling system that singles out sugars from total carbohydrates and stipulates sugars as bad, those sugars that are not bad need to be excluded from the 'total sugars' and 'added sugars' definition and counted as neutral carbohydrates."

Read more HERE. Stakeholders have 60 days to provide comments.

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FDA invites comment on nutrition labeling of sugars that are metabolized differently than traditional sugars - FoodNavigator-USA.com

Physiology

Intermittent Fasting Re-Examined – New Research by Lumen Suggests Over-Fasting May Result in Potential Weight Gain – PRNewswire

NEW YORK, Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Lumen, a health tech company at the forefront of metabolic tracking, has uncovered data that changes industry assumptions on intermittent fasting.

Lumen is the world's first handheld metabolism tracker, which works by measuring your body's carbon dioxide concentration in just one breath. By using Lumen, you can understand if you're burning fats or carbs for fuel on a daily basis.

According to polls, 24% of US adults have tried intermittent fasting for weight loss, but Lumen data engineers are now seeing that an overwhelming number of their users are experiencing what they call a stress response to fasting too many hours.

"People can reach great results by using fasting as a tool for weight loss and achieving a healthy metabolism, however, optimizing your fasting routine is crucial since each one of us has a different metabolism. Therefore, some will need longer fasting windows than others in order to optimize the result of their fast," says Barak Alon, Head of Data at Lumen.

With over 1 million monthly metabolism measurements made by Lumen users, the Lumen data team found insights to help users optimize their fasting and avoid a counteractive stress response.

While the ideal is to be in a constant fat burning state during a fast, over 27% of Lumen users that fasted more than 10 hours experienced a carb burn state even though their morning measurements indicated they were burning fat, which can be described as a stress response.

This happens when your body has overextended its fat burning state and the opposite result is triggered, as carbs are used rather than fat as fuel.

However, the data still supports the benefits of intermittent fasting. According to data experts at Lumen, users that fasted progressively in an optimized and measured framework were able to successfully achieve fat burn.

Lumen encourages intermittent fasting, but with a personalised and optimized approach that keeps metabolic health in mind. Extreme hunger pangs, restlessness, and agitation are physiological indicators of a stress response. Therefore, taking a post-fast metabolic measurement is a recommended solution to avoid cancelling the many benefits of fasting. Just by creating more awareness of physiological symptoms, intermittent fasters can safely optimize their fat burn.

About LumenLumen helps people improve their health and fitness through technology on the forefront of personalized nutrition and metabolism. Conceived and designed by twin sisters, physiology PhDs and Ironman winners, Lumen harnesses the power of our breath to measure metabolism, which is closely linked to weight, fitness and metabolic health. The Lumen device measures metabolism in a single breath, in less than a minute, which previously was only possible through an hour-long lab test. Available at Lumen.me, Lumen devices ship globally, with the app available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Lumen is headquartered in Israel, with offices in the United States.

Contact:Kyla Blumenfeld+972548161939[emailprotected]

SOURCE Lumen

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Intermittent Fasting Re-Examined - New Research by Lumen Suggests Over-Fasting May Result in Potential Weight Gain - PRNewswire

Physiology

Best way to detect deepfake videos? Check for the pulse – Binghamton University

By Chris Kocher

October 21, 2020

With video editing software becoming increasingly sophisticated, its sometimes difficult to believe our own eyes. Did that actor really appear in that movie? Did that politician really say that offensive thing?

Some so-called deepfakes are harmless fun, but others are made with a more sinister purpose. But how do we know when a video has been manipulated?

Researchers from Binghamton Universitys Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science have teamed up with Intel Corp. to develop a tool called FakeCatcher, which boasts an accuracy rate above 90%.

Lijun Yin is a professor in Watson Colleges Department of Computer Science. Image Credit: Jonathan Cohen.

FakeCatcher works by analyzing the subtle differences in skin color caused by the human heartbeat. Photoplethysmography (abbreviated as PPG) is the same technique used for a pulse oximeter put on the tip of your finger at a doctors office, as well as Apple Watches and wearable fitness tracking devices that measure your heartbeat during exercise.

We extract several PPG signals from different parts of the face and look at the spatial and temporal consistency of those signals, said Ilke Demir, a senior research scientist at Intel. In deepfakes, there is no consistency for heartbeats and there is no pulse information. For real videos, the blood flow in someones left cheek and right cheek to oversimplify it agree that they have the same pulse.

Working with Demir on the project is Umur A. Ciftci, a PhD student at Watson Colleges Department of Computer Science, under Professor Lijun Yins supervision at the Graphics and Image Computing Laboratory, part of the Seymour Kunis Media Core funded by donor Gary Kunis 73, LHD 02 It builds on Yins 15 years of work creating multiple 3D databases of human faces and emotional expressions. Hollywood filmmakers, video game creators and others have utilized the databases for their creative projects.

At Yins lab in the Innovative Technologies Complex, Ciftci has helped to build what may be the most advanced physiological capture setup setup in the United States, with its 18 cameras as well as in infrared. A device also is strapped around a subjects chest that monitors breathing and heartrate. So much data is acquired in a 30-minute session that it requires 12 hours of computer processing to render it.

Umur has done a lot of physiology data analysis, and signal processing research started with our first multimodal database, Yin said. We capture data not just with 2D and 3D visible images but also thermal cameras and physiology sensors. The idea of using the physiology as another signature to see if it is consistent with previous data is very helpful for detection.

Umur Ciftci, a PhD student in computer science, poses for a 3D scan in Professor Lijun Yins lab at the Innovative Technologies Complex. Ciftcis doctoral thesis will focus on detecting deepfake videos. Image Credit: Jonathan Cohen.

Deepfakes found in the wild are many steps below the kind of quality that Yins lab generates, but it means that manipulated videos can be much easier to spot.

Considering that we work with 3D using our own capture setup, we generate some of our own composites, which are basically fake videos, Ciftci said. The big difference is that we scan real people and use it, while deepfakes take data from other people and use it. Its not that different if you think about it that way.

Its like the police knowing what all the criminals do and how they do it. You understand how these deepfakes are being done. We learn the tricks and even use some of them in our own data creation.

Since the FakeCatcher findings were published, 27 researchers around the world have been using the algorithm and the dataset in their own analyses. Whenever these kinds of studies are made public, though, there are concerns about telling malicious deepfake makers how their videos have been shown to be false, allowing them to modify their work to be undetectable in the future.

Ciftci is not too worried about that, however: Its not going to be easy for someone who doesnt know much about the science behind it. They cant just use whats out there to make this happen without significant software changes.

Intels involvement in the FakeCatcher research is connected to its interests in volumetric capture and augmented/virtual reality experiences. Intel Studios operates what Demir calls the worlds largest volumetric capture stage: 100 cameras in a 10,000-square-foot geodesic dome that can handle about 30 people simultaneously even a few horses once.

Future plans include volumetric-capture technology to be included in mainstream television shows, sports and augmented-reality applications, where the audience can immerse in any scene. Films in 3D and VR also are in the works, with two VR projects recently premiering at the Venice Film Festival.

By compiling the FakeCatcher data and reverse-engineering it, Intel Studios hopes to make more realistic renderings that incorporate the kind of biological markers that humans with real heartbeats have.

Intels vision is changing from a chip-first company to putting AI, edge computing and data first, Demir said. We are making a transformation to AI-specific approaches in any way we can.

(Interesting to note: Intels CEO is Bob Swan, MBA 85, who last year told the School of Management magazine Reaching Higher that intellectual curiosity is a wonderful and powerful thing to help you grow and develop and evolve over time.)

Future research will seek to improve and refine the FakeCatcher technology, drilling further down into the data to determine how the deepfakes are made. That capability has many implications, including cybersecurity and telemedicine, and Yin also hopes for further collaborations with Intel.

Were still in the brainstorming stage, he said. We want to have an impact not only in academia but also to see if our research would have a role in industry.

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Best way to detect deepfake videos? Check for the pulse - Binghamton University

Physiology

The lens of fear: partnering with families – Guest columns – McKnight’s Long Term Care News

I remember sitting with her, holding her hand, telling her the same information over and over again. Finally, she lifted her head and said, I hear what you are saying. Within five minutes, she asked me the same question again.

You would assume the scene I am describing is one of tragedy. It is not. It is about an interaction in a health care setting and it is about the ability of a human being to hear and process information when stressed.

Fight or flight, or the acute stress syndrome, is a common happening when a human being perceives a threat. I am sure to my Anatomy and Physiology professors dismay the following would make them cringe. I like to envision little people running around pulling the levers to activate the systems of moving blood to our muscles, away from the brain. With the chemical reaction within the body the brains functionality becomes limited. Some researchers have shown that this physiological state gives human beings in essence the brain of a lizard. That is right: When we are stressed, we think with the brain of a lizard. Learn from me, your significant other does not appreciate you pointing out that they have a lizard brain during a spirited discussion.

Having consciousness that the acute stress syndrome reaction is an influencer when talking with families is the first step in awareness of the filters that families might be hearing the information you are trying to share with them. The second filter is fear. You could argue that fear causes the reaction of fight or flight and you would be correct. Fear is the trigger; the reaction is what you must deal with first.

In a familys mind are a million whirling thoughts when they are concerned about the one they love. They are looking for clues that will either support their fears, or alleviate them. It really is that simple.

The game-changer

Early in my career, when I would meet with families, I was professional and factual. I would give them the clear clinical picture and what the team thought would be the course direction with always the qualifier of potentials. I was puzzled that they would not remember what I said, except for the parts that supported their fears. One burly rancher put it into perspective for me one day. He said, Why dont you ask me what I am worried about instead of telling me what you think I need to know?

From that day forward, I changed how I spoke with families. I now work on how to be present to them, actively listening instead of actively talking. I put aside my phone, pager or other device so I am able to be all theirs for the moment. I take deep breaths to clear my lizard mind from the day. I remind myself of their loved ones story. If I do not know it, I ask them to tell me about their loved one. Knowing the story opens up the ability to be empathetic. Furthermore, talking about the loved one brings a centering and grounding that creates a mutual connection. It sets the stage to ask the most important question that can be asked, Tell me what you want to know first. What are you worried about?

Tell me what you want to know first? What are you worried about ? Most families will let out their breath and a flood of thoughts, worries and questions flow out. Some families will ask, what are you worried about? I have learned when they ask that of the provider, they are looking for validation of their worries. I usually say something like, most likely the same things you are thinking about. Lets talk about them together.

I then answer them as openly and with transparency of the information or knowledge that I know as of this moment. What I have learned is that in the absence of asking the question of what they are worried about, the worries grow larger and the fear becomes stronger. That then triggers further the acute stress syndrome, or the fight or flight reaction.

In follow-up conversations I have with families, I bring the questions back around early on in the conversation: 1. Tell me what you want to know. 2. What are you worrying about for your loved one? By discussing together, the worries or fear, it allows a partnership to develop and dialogue on the best course of care with everyone working together for their loved one.

I recently experienced being on the family side. I was the designated care support for my elderly father as only one family member could be present due to COVID restrictions. I was isolated and alone. My stress level was over the top. One provider brought me off the ledge by asking, What are you worrying about for your father? I took a breath and said everything. He laughed and then we talked together about everything.

We are, as one recent political figure said, in the halftime of COVID. People are tired, frustrated and wanting this pandemic to be over. Add to that the restrictions for prevention and containment that have been put into place potentially fosters worries to become stronger and turn into fears. Healthcare, and especially long-term care, have been working hard to communicate in new ways with those they serve and support.

Yet, I find the question, What are you worrying about for your loved one? remarkably absent in conversations. Many conflicts, family dissatisfaction and difficult issues can be worked through by open dialogue and authentic answers. We must use courageous leadership and be willing to ask the question repeatedly to assure we are listening with both head and heart to those we serve. It is going to be critical as we face COVID, part two, during these coming months.

Martie L. Moore, MAOM, RN, CPHQ, has been an executive healthcare leader for more than 20 years. She has served on advisory boards for the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel and the American Nurses Association, and she currently serves on the Deans Advisory Board at the University of Central Florida College of Nursing and Sigma. She recently was honored by Saints Martins University with an honorary doctorate degree for her service and accomplishments in advancing healthcare.

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The lens of fear: partnering with families - Guest columns - McKnight's Long Term Care News