Category Archives: Physiology

Physiology

United Against COVID-19 – The UCSB Current

The coronavirus pandemic demands innovative and creating thinking, and UC Santa Barbaras Graduate Division is answering the call with the Multidisciplinary Research on COVID-19 and its Impacts (MRCI) Program.

Launched in May by Graduate Dean Carol Genetti, the program has made 44 new grants to 55 grad students to support their summer research and creative projects on the pandemic. The program provides a $2,000 mini-grant to an individual or team project that explores, analyzes and responds to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 44 funded proposals, six were collaborative team proposals. The awards, running from June 22 through Sept. 22, may also include funding for direct project research costs (up to $500).

The coronavirus pandemic has changed nearly every aspect of human life, from family relationships to schooling, communication, the economy, politics and the arts, Genetti said. This is a dramatic, historic event and todays scholars have a remarkable opportunity to bring wide-ranging perspectives and methods of 21st- century scholarship to study it in real time.

In addition, she continued, some graduate students have had to delay their research due to the pandemic, and some have been impacted financially. MRCI addresses all of these at once, in generating research related to the pandemic, developing new opportunities and partnerships, and providing small stipends. Its a win all around.

Mary Hegarty, who serves as Graduate Division associate dean and leads the MRCI program, says this is a unique opportunity for graduate students to redirect their research.

Students have already received important guidance on proposal writing and will participate in collaborative groups throughout the summer to explore the perspectives of different disciplines on the current pandemic, she said. For some students, MRCI will lead to a new publication; for others, their MRCI project will be included as a chapter in their dissertation or will contribute pilot data for a grant proposal to a federal agency. In general, the projects speak to the resilience of our students in adapting their research and creative activities to provide new insights into the challenges of COVID-19.

Topics that received funding ranged from projects that will use seismic data to analyze the degree of compliance with shut-down orders to an examination of COVID-19 related policies and rhetoric in a variety of contexts.

Suyi Leong, a Ph.D. student in psychological and brain sciences, will be focusing on understanding how different cultural values affect the use of digital contact tracing (DCT).

I hope this project informs policy makers and app developers about peoples concerns for using the tool, and address them so that DCT can be effectively implemented, she said.

In this new world of remote engagement and research, graduate students will also explore the impact and efficacy of telehealth in the context of its greatly expanded use, and how different communities, such as religious institutions, have moved their face-to-face activities into online settings to serve their members.

Anthropology Ph.D. student Lauren Smyth is researching Southern Californian religious communities and their shift to digital and mixed digital/physical ritual sites in response to the pandemics stay-at-home orders and social distancing.

With the MRCI, Im most excited about the diverse range of incredible projects from across the university that I otherwise wouldnt get the chance to learn directly from, and sharing our different expertise to better understand pandemic-related research.

Statistics and applied probability doctoral student Mingzhao Hu will research the effects of COVID-19 on dialysis patients.

My research investigates effects of COVID-19 on dialysis patients via smoothing of longitudinal patient physiology variables and analyzes deviations during the pandemic with mixed effect state-space model based on first-hand recordings from treatment clinics, Hu said. I look forward to the cross-discipline collaboration opportunities offered by MCRI, and the generous funding is essential for me to carry out the research and perform the analysis to the best of my abilities.

Social justice themes also figure widely in the summer research projects, such as the analysis of the pandemics impact on vulnerable populations, indigenous peoples, undocumented, and economically marginalized populations.

Sarah Alami, another Ph.D. student in anthropology, will be modeling the spread of the coronavirus among the Tsimane, an indigenous population living in the Bolivian Amazon, using secondary data collected by the Tsimane Health and Life History Project (THLHP).

I am hoping this project will help assist in ongoing management of COVID-19 among Tsimane by detecting at-risk individuals and hotspots, or areas of elevated disease risk, she said.

Holly Carpenter, who joined the Graduate Division team as Crossroads Program Coordinator right before the March shelter-in-place order, hailed the diversity of topics and research approaches in the proposals was incredible.

It was a wonderful reminder of the passion and creativity that UCSB graduate students bring to their work and the many ways that graduate student research contributes to understanding complex problems and finding solutions.

Carpenter now works with Hegarty and Robby Nadler, the Graduate Divisions academic, professional and technical graduate writing development director, to facilitate multidisciplinary intellectual discourse among program participants.

I was touched by the generous spirit of our students projects, Nadler said. They embraced this opportunity as a way to help others through their expertise, not as a mechanism to pursue their own research agendas. At the end of the day, that is what a UC Santa Barbara education is about.

In addition to working on their research over the summer, students will also participate in the MRCI Research Collaborative, which will include presentations, small and large group discussions, and networking. To foster this community, the MRCI program in collaboration with the Graduate Student Resource Center staff and peers will hold a series of webinars as part of the proposal and research funding process.

Awardees will also participate in discussions and will share their final research findings with the community with a fall symposium where students will present short overviews of their work and outcomes. The programs organizers also hope the mini-grants will help seed the creation of future grant proposals, articles, works of art, or other scholarly products by graduate students.

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United Against COVID-19 - The UCSB Current

Physiology

How to rid East Africa of locusts? Serve them in a kebab or drive them to cannibalism – WTVB News

Thursday, July 02, 2020 3:04 a.m. EDT by Thomson Reuters

By Ayenat Mersie

NAIROBI, (Reuters) - Eat them, poison them, and use scent to drive them to cannibalism - as a second wave of locusts threatens to devour East Africa's crops, scientists in a Nairobi lab are experimenting with novel ways to kill them.

Swarms are the worst for three generations, encouraged by unseasonably wet weather and dispersed by a record number of cyclones. The destructive pests could cost East Africa and Yemen $8.5 billion this year, the World Bank has said.

Locusts are usually controlled by spraying them with pesticides before they can fly, but the chemicals can damage other insects and the environment.

So scientists at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) are experimenting with biopesticides and the use of locusts as human and animal food as they look for environmentally-friendly extermination methods.

ICIPE researchers were a part of a group that discovered an isolate from a fungus, Metharizium acridum, could kill locusts without harming other creatures. The isolate is now being used across East Africa.

Now researchers are pouring through 500 other fungi and microbes in their bio bank in the hope of discovering another locust poison.

ICIPE scientist Baldwyn Torto's research has mostly focused on locust smells and pheromones.

Before locusts can fly they have a certain chemistry and therefore a unique smell that allows them to remain in a group, he said. That smell changes as locusts mature.

Disseminating the scent of an adult among the young can help destroy swarms.

"They get disoriented, the group breaks into pieces, they cannibalize each other and they become even more susceptible to biopesticides," he said.

A lower-tech, but still environmentally-friendly way of combating locusts is eating them.

ICIPE is developing nets and backpack-vacuums to capture large numbers of locusts. The protein-rich insects can then be cooked or crushed into meal or oil suitable for animal feed or human consumption. ICIPE organizes regular events to normalize the consumption of insects.

Researcher Chrysantus Tanga eats the insects himself. In the ICIPE cafe, the heads, legs and wings have been removed.

"They have to make it presentable for a first-timer," Tanga said motioning towards colourful plates of locust-based meals prepared by ICIPE chefs, ranging from deep fried with tartar sauce, to skewered among vegetables in a kebab.

"For me, I'll eat 100% of it... whatever is crunchy."

(Editing by Katharine Houreld and Alexandra Hudson)

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How to rid East Africa of locusts? Serve them in a kebab or drive them to cannibalism - WTVB News

Physiology

The College of St. Scholastica announces students named to the spring 2020 Dean’s List – Brainerd Dispatch

Spring 2020 Dean's List recipients include the following local students (listed alphabetically):

Laura Anderson of Longville. Anderson is majoring in Organizational Behavior.

Diana Banks of Emily. Banks is majoring in Social Work.

Elizabeth Becker of Little Falls. Becker is majoring in Nursing.

Katelyn Becker of Pierz. Becker is majoring in Music Education.

Taryn Becker of Brainerd. Becker is majoring in Exercise Physiology.

Alexandra Benning of Browerville. Benning is majoring in Social Work.

Izabella Bishop of Hill City. Bishop is majoring in Elementary Education.

Jenna Butler of Bowlus. Butler is majoring in Nursing.

Grace Carlson of Isle. Carlson is majoring in Biochemistry - Intended.

Jonathan Carlson of Motley. Carlson is majoring in Nursing.

Seth Crocker of Little Falls. Crocker is majoring in Psychology.

Kara Crowther of Aitkin. Crowther is majoring in Health Information Management.

Lisa Dailey of Verndale. Dailey is majoring in Nursing.

Jennifer Dolezal of Staples. Dolezal is majoring in Organizational Leadership.

Macy Dotty of Pequot Lakes. Dotty is majoring in Health Information Management.

Ashley Etter of Sebeka. Etter is majoring in Philosophy - Intended.

Josie Fourre of Albany. Fourre is majoring in Nursing.

Melissa Geisenhof of Little Falls. Geisenhof is majoring in Nursing.

Mariah Haukos of Ironton. Haukos is majoring in Nursing.

Kendal Hendrickson of Little Falls. Hendrickson is majoring in Psychology.

Janna Heurung of Little Falls. Heurung is majoring in Nursing.

Nathaniel Hilton of Hill City. Hilton is majoring in Art - Intended.

Sydney Holt of Crosslake. Holt is majoring in Nursing.

Kalie Jeremiason of Pine River. Jeremiason is majoring in Undeclared.

Jaren Johnson of Aitkin. Johnson is majoring in Health Humanities Intended.

Bethany Kinzer of Aitkin. Kinzer is majoring in Educational Studies.

Thomas Kunkel of Little Falls. Kunkel is majoring in Exercise Physiology - Intended.

Addison Lintner of Little Falls. Lintner is majoring in Nursing - Intended.

Bailey Lochner of Pierz. Lochner is majoring in Exercise Physiology - Intended.

Morgan Lohmiller of Crosslake. Lohmiller is majoring in Nursing.

Sannah Lohmiller of Crosslake. Lohmiller is majoring in Psychology.

Sophia Magnuson of Aitkin. Magnuson is majoring in Elementary Education.

Kate Miller of Randall. Miller is majoring in English.

Maria Moe of Royalton. Moe is majoring in Biology - Intended.

Ramsey Moe of Aitkin. Moe is majoring in Business Management.

Abigail Mokhtary of Flensburg. Mokhtary is majoring in Nursing.

Nicole Nelson of Akeley. Nelson is majoring in Nursing - Intended.

Oscar Norgren of Little Falls. Norgren is majoring in Nursing - Intended.

Elizabeth Olmscheid of Breezy Point. Olmscheid is majoring in Nursing - Intended.

Rainy Orazem of Isle. Orazem is majoring in Nursing - Intended.

Danielle Overman of Albany. Overman is majoring in Exercise Physiology - Intended.

Amy Pasket of Nisswa. Pasket is majoring in Psychology.

Carson Passer of McGregor. Passer is majoring in Finance.

Abby Pohlkamp of Baxter. Pohlkamp is majoring in Accounting.

Gabriel Raguse of Brainerd. Raguse is majoring in Exercise Physiology.

Benjamin Renner of Brainerd. Renner is majoring in Exercise Physiology - Intended.

Dan Roach of Merrifield. Roach is majoring in Business Management.

Mara Roberts of Brainerd. Roberts is majoring in Elementary Education.

Morgan Rohloff of Brainerd. Rohloff is majoring in Psychology.

Brock Ronnebaum of Baxter. Ronnebaum is majoring in Social Science Secondary Edu.

Noah Ross of Wadena. Ross is majoring in Biology - Intended.

Christina Sabrowsky of Albany. Sabrowsky is majoring in Nursing.

Patricia Samuelson of Baxter. Samuelson is majoring in Social Work.

Nancy Schroeder of Pequot Lakes. Schroeder is majoring in Social Work.

Alyvia Seibert of Deer River. Seibert is majoring in Biology - Intended.

Jack Silgen of Deerwood. Silgen is majoring in Business Management.

Zachary Sjoblad of Nisswa. Sjoblad is majoring in Health Information Management.

Connor Skeesick of Little Falls. Skeesick is majoring in Biology - Intended.

Karli Skog of Crosslake. Skog is majoring in Accounting.

Madison Slette of Aitkin. Slette is majoring in Nursing - Intended.

Grace Stockard of Fort Ripley. Stockard is majoring in Nursing - Intended.

Evan Storbakken of Brainerd. Storbakken is majoring in Psychology.

Nicholas Trelstad of Mc Grath. Trelstad is majoring in English Sec. Ed.

Tyler Weiss of Browerville. Weiss is majoring in Nursing.

Samantha Welle of Royalton. Welle is majoring in Nursing.

Hannah Wiedewitsch of Jenkins. Wiedewitsch is majoring in Biology.

Claudina Williams of Pequot Lakes. Williams is majoring in Psychology.

Evan Wohlert of Baxter. Wohlert is majoring in Exercise Physiology.

Cheryl Zimmerman of Bowlus. Zimmerman is majoring in Hlth Info Mgt - Intended.

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The College of St. Scholastica announces students named to the spring 2020 Dean's List - Brainerd Dispatch

Physiology

Higgins announces $2.2 million grant to UB to support Parkinson’s research – UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff – University at Buffalo…

Rep. Brian Higgins has announced that UB has received a five-year, $2,224,925 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a method to diagnose Parkinsons disease (PD) before clinical symptoms are present.

The funding was awarded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the NIH. Principal investigator is Jian Feng, professor of physiology and biophysics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

Parkinsons is a motor system disorder resulting from the loss of dopamine-producing cells in the brain. It currently is diagnosed by neurologists observing and rating clinical symptoms based on a standard criteria. To even exhibit the onset of clinical symptoms of PD, one must experience many decades of cellular deterioration.

UBsresearch aims to transform Parkinsons research and therapeutic development with the ability to diagnose PD earlier, allowing for the possibility of proactively preventing or delaying severe neuron decay. The research, titled Molecular Segregation of Parkinsons Disease by Patient derived Neurons will also aim to identify and separate two major subtypes of PD those who experience tremors and those who do not to be able to better treat specific types of PD.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that up to 1 million people in the United States may have Parkinsons disease. Thats 1 million Americans with a difficult, progressive condition without a cure who must wait until their clinical symptoms are serious enough to be diagnosed, Higgins said. This federal investment to assist our Western New York researchers hopes to provide a path to earlier detection of Parkinsons to attempt treatment as quick as possible.

When we generated induced pluripotent stem cells from a group of Parkinsons disease patients and a group of normal subjects, we found that there were many significant differences in the expression levels of genes controlling the production, utilization and degradation of dopamine, Feng said. Thus, we want to investigate this further with the goal of developing a method for the objective diagnosis of Parkinsons disease. It might also allow us to predict years in advance who may develop Parkinsons.

Higgins has been an advocate for measures that advance Parkinsons research and treatment.Following meetings with the Michael J. Fox Foundation,the Parkinsons Foundation of WNY and local advocate and former congressman Jack Quinn, Higgins sent a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services last January urging that access to boxing therapy in the treatment of Parkinsons be expanded, as well as more research be conducted to document the efficacy of the program.In February, he drafted a bipartisan letter supporting funding for a surveillance database at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to collect vital demographic information on people living with neurological diseases,a measure supported by the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

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Higgins announces $2.2 million grant to UB to support Parkinson's research - UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff - University at Buffalo...

Physiology

The Benefits of Heat Training, Reconsidered | Outside Online – Outside

This is the time of year when fitness journalists write articles about how the miserable heat thats ruining your workouts is actually doing you a big favor. Youre lucky to be dripping buckets of sweat and chafing up a storm, because heat is the poor mans altitude, ramping up the physiological demands of your workout and triggering a series of adaptations that enhance your endurance.

Heres the version of that story that I wrote two summers ago, and Im sticking to it. But I may need to update the rationale for why heat is so great, based on a new study in Experimental Physiology. According to a research team led by Carsten Lundby and Bent Rnnestad at Inland University of Applied Sciences in Norway, heat boosts levels of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin in your blood, just like altitude trainingbut its not a quick fix.

One of the key determinants of endurance performance is how quickly you can ferry oxygen from your lungs to your muscles via your blood. Specifically, its the hemoglobin in your red blood cells that grabs the oxygen. Spend a few weeks at high altitude, where the air is thin, and your body responds by generating more hemoglobin. Thats why the vast majority of elite endurance athletes do altitude training.

Heat training works differently. The most notable change, after just a few days, is a dramatic increaseof up to 20 percentin the volume of plasma coursing through your veins. Thats the part of the blood that doesnt include hemoglobin-rich red blood cells, so its not immediately obvious whethermore plasma will enhance your endurance under moderate weather conditions. In fact, theres an ongoing debate among scientists on precisely that question. One theory, for example, is that the extra plasma dilutes the accumulation of lactate during hard exercise. (But theres no doubt that it boosts performance in hot conditions: the extra plasma volume helps shunt excess heat to your skin, among other things.)

When The Journal of Physiology hosted a debate a few years ago on whether heat training boosts performance in moderate conditions, the coauthor of the paper arguing against the proposition was none other than Carsten Lundby. He doesnt buy the claim that more plasma is useful on its own.

But for the past few years, Lundby and his colleagues have been considering another possibility. The extra plasma volume has the effect of diluting the concentration of red blood cells in your blood, a quantity known as your hematocrit. If your total blood is made up of 45 percent red blood cells by volume, your hematocrit is 45. If heat training causes your plasma volume to increase, that will lower your hematocrit.

Lundbys hypothesis is based on the idea that your kidneys are constantly monitoring hematocrit, trying to keep it in a normal range. If your hematocrit has a sustained decrease, the kidney responds by producing EPO to trigger the production of more hemoglobin-rich red blood cells. Unlike the rapid increase in plasma volume, this is a slower process. Lundby and his colleagues figure it could take about five weeks.

He and his colleagues published some initial results back in November in Frontiers in Physiology. After five and a halfweeks, 12 trained cyclists doing an hour of heat training five days a week (incorporated into their regular training) did indeed show a small hemoglobin increase compared to a matched group of nine cyclists doing the same training in cooler conditions. But there was a lot of individual variation in the results, possibly because the subjects werent all at the same level of fitness.

For the new study, they recruited truly elite cyclists with an average VO2 max of 76.2 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. They were training about tenhours a week during the five-week study, and into that regimen, they incorporated five afternoon sessions of 50 minutes of light exercise on a stationary bike. The 11 cyclists in the heat group did those sessions in about 100 degrees and 65 percent humidity; the 12 cyclists in the control group did the same sessions at 60 degrees and 25 percent humidity, aiming for the same subjective effort level. During the heat sessions, the cyclists were limited to half a liter of water to ensure mild dehydration, which is thought to be one of the triggers for plasma volume expansion.

The key outcome measure: total hemoglobin mass increased 893 to 935 grams in the heat group, a significant 4.7 percent increase. In the control group, hemoglobin mass stayed essentially unchanged, edging up by just 0.5 percent. Heres how the individual results looked:

(Illustration: Experimental Physiology)

The study also included a bunch of physiology and performance tests, including VO2 max, lactate threshold, and a 15-minute time trial. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups, but several of the outcomes did show small to intermediate effect sizes favoring the heat group. For example, the heat group increased power output at lactate threshold by 2.8 percent, while the control group decreased by 0.4 percent. Also, the heat group increased average power during the 15-minute trial by 6.9 percent, while the control group improved by 3.4 percent.

All in all, the results are cautiously encouraging. They dont prove that Lundbys hypothesis about diluted blood stimulating more EPO is what caused the changes, but they suggest that something good seems to happen after about five weeks.

Thats good news, but its also a problem, in a way. One of the reasons that heat training has garnered so much attention over the past few years is that its relatively practical and accessible. Only a tiny fraction of the worlds athletes can spend a month in the Alps before every major race. But lots of people can go heat-training just by stepping out the front dooror even, according to some studies, by lounging in the hot tub or sauna after workouts.

Committing to five long weeks of miserable, sticky heat training is a bigger ask, though. Lundby and his colleagues acknowledge this limitation, noting that this type of training may only serve little relevance in amateur sport. Still, for those looking for every possible edge, the results will undoubtedly attract attention. And for those living in places like Texas (or even supposedly cooler parts of the continent, like Toronto, where I live, which has started the summer with an oppressive streak of heat warnings), its much needed consolation. You may not have chosen to undergo week after week of heat training, but at least you might get some hemoglobin out of it.

For more Sweat Science, join me on Twitter and Facebook, sign up for the email newsletter, and check out my book Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance.

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The Benefits of Heat Training, Reconsidered | Outside Online - Outside

Physiology

Sea lice prevention better than the cure – Feedstuffs

Sea lice management is a stressful task for salmon and salmon farmers. In a new article titled "Prevention Not Cure: A Review of Methods to Avoid Sea Lice Infestations in Salmon Aquaculture," researchers from the University of Melbourne, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research and Nofima argue that methods to prevent sea louse infestations have some key advantages over other strategies, and they identify the most promising preventative methods, according to an announcement from Nofima, a Norway-based institute focused on fisheries, aquaculture and foods research.

Currently, salmon farmers have options to manage lice by preventing infestations, continuously controlling infestations to keep lice at low levels or waiting until infestations reach "trigger" levels and then carrying out immediate delousing, Nofima said.

The report authors explained that effectively preventing infestations before they occur causes less stress for the salmon and fewer production losses, as farmers avoid the need for delousing treatments.

The major delousing methods subject the salmon and the lice to the same unpleasant experience. They work because the salmon usually survive the experience, and the sea lice do not. Preventative methods avoid this situation by targeting lice before they attach to the host or by helping salmon fight off lice larvae at the moment of attachment, said lead author Dr. Luke Barrett from the University of Melbourne in Australia.

What are the most effective methods to prevent sea louse infestations?

The researchers trawled through the data from all published tests of sea lice prevention and identified the most effective methods, Nofima said, reporting that the best approach is to keep lice out of sea cages using mesh or tarpaulin barriers: Lice skirts prevented 55% of infestations, while snorkel cages prevented 76%. These methods can make the job of controlling lice much more manageable, while fully enclosing cages is more difficult but can be up to 100% effective.

However, lice barriers are not suitable at all locations, Nofima said, such as where there are strong currents or low oxygen levels. In such cases, other more widespread preventative methods are worth trying, such as encouraging salmon to swim below the most common depth for sea lice, improving the immunity of salmon using breeding or functional feed additives and using repellents or masking scents to stop lice from being attracted to salmon.

Most preventative methods leverage our knowledge of the natural behaviors and physiology of salmon and lice, such as their preferred swimming depths, to reduce the likelihood of salmon encountering lice and becoming infected, said co-author Tim Dempster from the University of Melbourne.

What does the future hold?

Fish farming companies, especially in Norway, are beginning to invest more heavily into preventive methods such as skirts and snorkel cages as well as continuous control methods to avoid having to delouse. The authors said they expect this trend to continue.

Crucially, susceptibility to sea lice is a genetic trait that is passed on to offspring, Nofima said. Accordingly, some researchers and farming companies have also made progress on breeding more lice-resistant salmon while work on a cost-effective vaccine continues.

Selective breeding against sea lice is a long-term strategy that will likely bring significant benefits in the future, said co-author Dr. Nick Robinson, a senior researcher at Nofima.

The research was published in Reviews in Aquaculture.

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Sea lice prevention better than the cure - Feedstuffs

Physiology

These judges have opened a can of worms – The Herald

To the editor:

Recently, Justice Kavanaugh and Chief Justice Roberts betrayed their duty as originalists jurists by reinterpreting sex in the Title VII Civil Rights Act, acting as legislators. These judges have opened a can of worms.

Women and girl athletes will face cheating on the tracks and fields having to compete with men's superior physiology. Bakers and photographers will be forced to violate their beliefs and forced out of business, as will educators and others. These are the people who the judges betrayed.

When the protests were ramping up in New York City, pro-life advocates Bevelyn Beatty and Edmee Chavannes, co-founders of At the Well Ministries, were arrested standing in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic for violating Governor Como and the Communist mayors social distancing policies. At this time, the George Floyd protesters and the looters were taking advantage of the chaos. They were packed in like sardines.

During the lockdown, we couldnt go to church for fellowship, but mothers could kill their babies. People could go to the liquor stores and visit pot dispensaries which were deemed as essential businesses, not churches, however. Worshiping God was verboten.

All Christians and other believers must pray to God for an end to the madness thats all around us. Pray for sanity. Pray for Christians and church leaders across the country to hold firm to the immovable, never-changing Word of God. Let us keep in mind the command the Lord gave to Isaiah in a time of national distress for Israel: Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. (Isaiah 8:12-13).

We also must act in the political sphere. Register to vote. Vote for Conservative religious candidates who will amend the Constitution to ban abortions in all cases but for saving the life of the mother. Vote for candidates who will amend the Title VII Civil Rights Act to declare sex means the traditional definition of sex. Vote for candidates in the Senate who will confirm justices who are originalists. To do this, you must do your homework to find out who those candidates are. Pray and act.

Michael LewinskiDubois

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These judges have opened a can of worms - The Herald

Physiology

Mezzion Announces Submission of New Drug Application for its Orphan Drug Udenafil to Treat Patients who have undergone the Fontan Operation for Single…

SEOUL, South Korea, June 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Mezzion Pharma Co. Ltd. (140410.KQ), announced today that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to theU.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) for the approval of udenafil toimprove the physiology of patients 12 years of age and older with single ventricle heart disease (SVHD) who have undergone the Fontan operation. Udenafil is a long acting highly selective phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor that is orally administered. The NDA includes a request for Priority Review, which, if granted, may shorten the FDA's review of the NDA to six months from the time of filing, versus a standard review timeline of 10 months from filing.

The NDA submission, which totals nearly 100,000 pages, is supported by data from more than 700 documents including more than 200 studies that Mezzion has completed during the last 2 decades since its founding in 2002. The NDA package includes a pivotal Phase 3 clinical study conducted globally in close collaboration with the Pediatric Heart Network (PHN), which is funded by a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). This was the largest pharmacotherapeutic study ever to be conducted in those with a congenital heart condition and involved the recruitment and treatment of 400 male and female adolescents from 30 PHN and auxiliary sites throughout the U.S.A., Canada, and the Republic of Korea. The results of this study, the Fontan Udenafil Exercise Longitudinal (FUEL) trial, were published in Circulation (December 2019) abstract #20942 . https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.044352

The American Heart Association (AHA) recognized Mezzion's FUEL trial as the biggest victory in congenital heart disease (CHD) advancement for 2019. Dr. Stephen Paridon, the principal investigator of the FUEL trial had the following comment, "The unique collaboration between Mezzion and the PHN allowed for the successful completion of the FUEL trial, a study that demonstrated an important effect of udenafil on exercise performance and heart function in those born with SVHD."

The results of the landmark FUEL trial demonstrated statistically significant improvements in multiple measures of exercise performance and cardiac function in patients treated with udenafil who had undergone the Fontan operation. The improvements in exercise were most pronounced at moderate levels of activity while the improvement in cardiac function was determined using the myocardial performance index, a standard echocardiographic measurement technique.

Dr. James Yeager, Chief Operating Officer of Mezzion Pharmaceuticals Inc., commented,"This large-scale Phase 3 study for an orphan disease indication using a drug designated for a rare pediatric disease took five years to complete and was challenging to execute. We owe a major debt of gratitude to all of the patients who participated in the study, their parents and the clinical investigators who led the study. Our thanks also go out to the PHN and the NHLBI along with a countless number of consultants, contract research and manufacturing organization partners. We now look forward to the potential approval and launch of udenafil over the next year. If approved, udenafil would provide the first and only approved therapy for this underserved population of patients."

Jodi Smith, Esq., Program Director for Mended Hearts and Mended Little Hearts, a USA-based advocacy group for patients with heart disease and their families, states, "As a parent of a child with Fontan palliation who had participated in this study, I am encouraged to see the results that show improvement in day-to-day life activities. I have seen this improvement firsthand in my son. I am also glad to see that the clinical data seem to show improvement in numbers that impact heart function and decrease heart failure. All of this, together, can improve the quality of life for single-ventricle patients like my son."

Mezzion looks forward to the FDA review process and to bringing a novel pharmacotherapeutic option to this unique patient population. Dr. David Goldberg, co-Principal Investigator summed it up nicely. "After years of borrowing medical therapies from the adult heart failure experience, we finally have a drug that specifically targets the unique physiology of SVHD after Fontan palliation."

About the Fontan Procedure and Subsequent Expectations

The Fontan procedure is a surgical intervention that allows for the survival of children born with congenital heart disease characterized by only a single functional pumping chamber. This procedure consists of re-configuring the circulation to allow the single ventricle to pump blood to the body while connecting the great veins directly to the arteries that bring blood to the lungs. In this "Fontan circulation" the blood returning from the body bypasses the heart and travels to the lungs without the presence of a right ventricle pumping chamber. The goal of the Fontan procedure is to separate the systemic and pulmonary circulations and to improve oxygen levels by redirecting venous blood directly to the lungs.

While the Fontan procedure creates a stable circulation, the risk of hospitalization and cardiac death rises significantly in the second and third decades after Fontan completion, a risk that is associated with a decline in exercise capacity. The Fontan circulation is also associated with non-cardiac complications such as protein-losing enteropathy, plastic bronchitis, and liver failure, all of which can be attributed to a chronic elevation in central venous pressure and a chronically reduced cardiac output. For all of these reasons, a 35 year-old patient who has gone through Fontan palliation has the approximate life expectancy of a 75 year old with normal cardiac physiology.

Mezzion Pharma Co., Ltd.

Mezzion Pharma Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Korea. Mezzion and its wholly owned subsidiary, Mezzion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., have administrative offices in Deerfield, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. Mezzion Pharma is an innovation-driven pharmaceutical company that is focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel therapeutics in the field of rare pediatric diseases. Mezzion Pharma is a publicly-listed pharmaceutical company in Korea on the Korean stock exchange under (140410:KOSDAQ).

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: Mezzion Pharma's expectations regarding the potential benefits of udenafil; Mezzion Pharma's expectations regarding the anticipated timing of any future clinical trials; Mezzion Pharma's expectations on regulatory submissions for marketing approval of udenafil for the treatment of patients that have undergone the Fontan operation, to improve exercise capacity in the United States, including the timing of these submissions; and Mezzion Pharma's expectations regarding the potential commercial launch of udenafil, including the timing of a potential approval of udenafil. Risks and uncertainties that contribute to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking statements include: the expectation that Mezzion Pharma will need additional funds to finance its operations; Mezzion Pharma's or any of its collaborative partners' ability to initiate and/or complete clinical trials; the unpredictability of the regulatory process; the possibility that Mezzion Pharma's or any of its clinical trials will not be successful; Mezzion Pharma's dependence on the success of udenafil; Mezzion Pharma's reliance on third parties for the manufacture of Mezzion Pharma's udenafil and udenafil tablets; possible regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries; and Mezzion Pharma's ability to attract and retain senior management personnel.

These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in Mezzion Pharma's most recent filings with the Statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act: with the exception of the historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties that may individually or mutually impact the matters herein described, including but not limited to FDA review and approval, product development and acceptance, manufacturing, competition, and/or other factors, which are outside the control of Mezzion Pharma. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made. Mezzion undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

Contact:Dr. James Yeager, Deerfield, Illinois, USA, Tel: +1-847-2122679 Email:[emailprotected]Mr. YT Song, Seoul, Korea, Tel: +82 2 560 8011Email:[emailprotected]

SOURCE Mezzion Pharma Co. Ltd.

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Mezzion Announces Submission of New Drug Application for its Orphan Drug Udenafil to Treat Patients who have undergone the Fontan Operation for Single...

Physiology

Lifestyle, Age, and Sex Affect Several Biophysical Properties of the Skin – Dermatology Advisor

Diet, sleeping habits, age, and sex may predict the nature of the skins sebum content, subcutaneous hydration, and pH. This is according to study data published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology.

The study enrolled 300 volunteers between the ages of 20 and 69 years. Trained resident doctors administered a standardized questionnaire that asked participants about their dietary intake, whether or not they stayed up late, and time spent using electronics (eg, mobile phones and computers). A multifunctional skin physiology monitor was used to measure 3 skin biophysical properties on the dorsal hand and the forehead. A Sebumeter measured skin sebum, a Corneometer measured stratum corneum hydration, and a pH meter measured skin surface pH. Dermatologists performed all measurements a total of 3 times each to obtain an average value.

Approximately 65% of the volunteers said they go to bed after 11 pm, and up to half of respondents said they go to bed after 1 am. Only 6% of participants said they spend <3 hours a day on electronic products. More than 70% of study volunteers said they eat spicy food >3 times a week and greasy food >2 times per week. Almost half of participants reported that they eat sweets 2 times a week.

Participants between the ages of 25 and 29 years had significantly higher sebum content on the forehead compared with those between the ages of 20 and 24 years and >40 years. The sebum content on the forehead was also higher for those between the ages of 30 and 39 years than those between the ages of 40 and 49 years. Forehead sebum content was also significantly lower in women than it was in men.

The sebum content on the forehead significantly increased in relation to the increased number of times participants reported eating oily and spicy foods. Eating sweets twice a week was associated with the highest sebum content on the forehead compared with not eating sweets or eating sweets only 1 time per week and somewhat higher than eating sweets 3 times per week.

In addition, forehead sebum content was higher in the group of respondents who went to bed after 1 am compared with those who went to bed before 11 pm. Lower sebum content on the forehead was also associated with the use of electronic products for only 3 to 6 hours per day.

Subcutaneous hydration of the dorsal hand was highest in people who reported eating more sweet and oily foods. Also, subcutaneous hydration on the forehead was highest in participants who said they ate more sweet food and went to bed before 11 pm compared with after 1 am. An increased skin surface pH on the forehead and dorsal hand was associated with age, and more women than men had a higher skin surface pH. In contrast, the use of electronic products for >6 hours a day and staying up until 1 am were associated with reduced forehead pH levels.

Limitations of the study included its relatively small sample size as well as the reliance on lifestyle information that was obtained from questionnaires.

The researchers of the study wrote that the observed skin-related differences in lifestyles, ages, and sex may be related to the individual susceptibility to skin diseases, and the findings may have important reference value for people to improve their skin by changing their daily behavior habits.

Reference

Zhao C, Wang X, Mao Y, et al. Variation of biophysical parameters of the skin with age, gender, and lifestyles [published online April 25, 2020]. J Cosmet Dermatol. doi: 10.1111/jocd.13453

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Lifestyle, Age, and Sex Affect Several Biophysical Properties of the Skin - Dermatology Advisor

Physiology

UW researchers publish on the decline of the Western bumblebee – Oil City News

Christy Bell, a Ph.D. student in the UW Department of Zoology and Physiology, observes a Western bumblebee. Bell and Lusha Tronstad, lead invertebrate zoologist with the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, are co-authors of a paper about Western bumblebees. (Christy Bell)

CASPER, Wyo A University of Wyoming (UW) researcher and her Ph.D. student have spent the last three years studying the decline of the Western bumblebee. Their paper, titledWestern Bumble Bee: Declines in the United States and Range-Wide Information Gaps,was published online June 26 inEcosphere, according to a UW release Monday. The journal publishes papers from all subdisciplines of ecological science.

Lusha Tronstad, lead invertebrate zoologist with the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database (WYNDD), and Christy Bell, her Ph.D. student in the Department of Zoology and Physiology, have been working with a group of bumblebee experts to fill in gaps of missing information from previous data collected in the western United States. Their goal is to provide information on the Western bumblebee to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service while it considers listing this species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the university release said.

Tronstad and Bell are members of the Western Bumble Bee Working Group, a group of experts on the species which came together to pool knowledge on the species, Tronstad said. The paper highlights knowledge gaps, specifically the lack of sampling data in Alaska, northwestern Canada and the southwestern United States.

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The data we assembled will be used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to inform its decision on whether or not to protect the Western bumblebee under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, Tronstad said.At WYNDD our mission is to provide the most up-to-date data on which management decisions can be based.

The decline of the Western bumblebee is likely not limited to one culprit but, instead, due to several factors that interact such as pesticides, pathogens, climate change and habitat loss, said Tronstad. Western bumblebees were once the most abundant bumblebees on the West Coast of the U.S., but they are much less frequently observed there now. Pathogens (or parasites) are thought to be a major reason for their decline.

Tronstad said there are several things that homeowners or landowners can do to help this species of bumblebee survive and thrive.These include:

Tronstad said Bells research will continue this summer.

Read the full UW release here.

Other contributors to the paper are from the U.S. Geological Survey; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Canadian Wildlife Service; Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation in Portland, Ore.; British Columbia Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy; University of Hawaii-Hilo; U.S. Department of Agriculture; The Institute for Bird Populations; University of Vermont; Utah State University; Ohio State University; Denali National Park and Preserve; and the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.

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UW researchers publish on the decline of the Western bumblebee - Oil City News