1. Physiology

Category Archives: Physiology

Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor–Rho-kinase …

Posted on by

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor- (PPAR) and Rho-kinase (ROCK) regulate smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation and contribute to vascular remodeling in adult pulmonary hypertension. Whether these pathways interact to contribute to the development of vascular remodeling in persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) remains unknown. We hypothesized that ROCK-PPAR interactions increase SMC proliferation resulting in vascular remodeling in experimental PPHN. Pulmonary artery SMCs (PASMCs) were harvested from fetal sheep after partial ligation of the ductus arteriosus in utero (PPHN) and controls. Cell counts were performed daily for 5 days with or without PPAR agonists and ROCK inhibition. PPAR and ROCK protein expression/activity were measured by Western blot in normal and PPHN PASMCs. We assessed PPAR-ROCK interactions by studying the effect of ROCK activation on PPAR activity and PPAR inhibition (siRNA) on ROCK activity and PASMC proliferation. At baseline, PPHN PASMC cell number was increased by 38% above controls on day 5. ROCK protein expression/activity were increased by 25 and 34% and PPAR protein/activity decreased by 40 and 50% in PPHN PASMC. ROCK inhibition and PPAR activation restored PPHN PASMC growth to normal values. ROCK inhibition increased PPAR activity by 50% in PPHN PASMC, restoring PPAR activity to normal. In normal PASMCs, ROCK activation decreased PPAR activity and PPAR inhibition increased ROCK activity and cell proliferation, resulting in a PPHN hyperproliferative PASMC phenotype. PPAR-ROCK interactions regulate SMC proliferation and contribute to increased PPHN PASMC proliferation and vascular remodeling in PPHN. Restoring normal PPAR-ROCK signaling may prevent vascular remodeling and improve outcomes in PPHN.

View post:
Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor--Rho-kinase ...

Revision to rules for color in dinosaurs suggests connection between color and physiology

Posted on by

2 hours ago The "rules" allowing color reconstruction from the shape of melanin-containing organelles originate with feathered dinosaurs, and are associated with an increase in melanosome diversity. However, fuzzy dinosaurs like T. rex and Sinosauropteryx show a pattern found in other amniotes like lizards and crocodilians in which a limited diversity of shapes doesn't allow color reconstruction. An explosion in the distribution of the shapes of melanin-containing organelles preserved in living taxa and the fossil record may point to a key physiological shift within feathered dinosaurs. Credit: Li et al. (authors).

New research that revises the rules allowing scientists to decipher color in dinosaurs may also provide a tool for understanding the evolutionary emergence of flight and changes in dinosaur physiology prior to its origin.

In a survey comparing the hair, skin, fuzz and feathers of living terrestrial vertebrates and fossil specimens, a research team from The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Akron, the China University of Geosciences and four other Chinese institutions found evidence for evolutionary shifts in the rules that govern the relationship between color and the shape of pigment-containing organelles known as melanosomes, as reported in the Feb. 13 edition of Nature.

At the same time, the team unexpectedly discovered that ancient maniraptoran dinosaurs, paravians, and living mammals and birds uniquely shared the evolutionary development of diverse melanosome shapes and sizes. (Diversity in the shape and size of melanosomes allows scientists to decipher color.) The evolution of diverse melanosomes in these organisms raises the possibility that melanosome shape and size could yield insights into dinosaur physiology.

Melanosomes have been at the center of recent research that has led scientists to suggest the colors of ancient fossil specimens covered in fuzz or feathers.

Melanosomes contain melanin, the most common light-absorbing pigment found in animals. Examining the shape of melanosomes from fossil specimens, scientists have recently suggested the color of several ancient species, including the fuzzy first-discovered feathered dinosaur Sinosauropteryx, and feathered species like Microraptor and Anchiornis.

According to the new research, color-decoding works well for some species, but the color of others may be trickier than thought to reconstruct.

Comparing melanosomes of 181 extant specimens, 13 fossil specimens and all previously published data on melanosome diversity, the researchers found that living turtles, lizards and crocodiles, which are ectothermic (commonly known as cold-blooded), show much less diversity in the shape of melanosomes than birds and mammals, which are endothermic (warm-blooded, with higher metabolic rates).

The limited diversity in melanosome shape among living ectotherms shows little correlation to color. The same holds true for fossil archosaur specimens with fuzzy coverings scientists have described as "protofeathers" or "pycnofibers." In these specimens, melanosome shape is restricted to spherical forms like those in modern reptiles, throwing doubt on the ability to decipher the color of these specimens from fossil melanosomes.

In contrast, in the dinosaur lineage leading to birds, the researchers found an explosion in the diversity of melanosome shape and size that appears to correlate to an explosion of color within these groups. The shift in diversity took place abruptly, near the origin of pinnate feathers in maniraptoran dinosaurs.

Go here to read the rest:
Revision to rules for color in dinosaurs suggests connection between color and physiology

Tri-C develops 3-D simulation to help teach biology students complex physiology of stress

Posted on by

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Students in Cuyahoga Community Colleges hugely popular anatomy and physiology classes will soon have access to a sleek new 3-D teaching tool developed by their own professors and e-learning experts. The program, called the Tri-C 3-D Stress Simulator, is designed to help students learn complex physiology through 3-D simulation.

The teaching tool is the result of a yearlong collaboration between three biology professors and the schools Office of eLearning and Innovation, which funded the project with $80,000 from its annual budget earmarked for interactive learning.

It takes about 12 to 15 hours to complete, and allows students to navigate through simulations of the stress response at the whole body and cellular level at their own pace, while they answer questions on the subject material and watch animations.

Were basically flying through the material trying to get everything in thats required by the curriculum, said Christopher Caprette, assistant professor of biology at Tri-C and one of the developers of the simulation. What weve learned is that every student has their own learning style, every faculty member has their own teaching style, and these dont always match. So any additional way of presenting the material is a good thing.

The anatomy and physiology (A & P) classes were targeted because they are the highest enrollment classes at Tri-C, with about 1,500 students per term signed up for two levels of courses. The classes are pre-requisites for many of the health and medicine career tracks the college offers, including nursing, physician assistant, occupational therapy and others.

A poll of students in December of 2012 also revealed that A & P was one area where students felt they could use the most extra help, said Cynthia Conaway-Mavroidis, assistant professor of biology at Tri-C and co-developer of the simulation. Assistant professor Anne Marie Yunker also helped develop the program.

Three of the schools A & P classes are currently using the simulation during a pilot of the software, Conaway-Mavroidis said. One course used it in the fall in both campus-based and online courses.

The team chose to model the bodys stress response because it involves several body systems interacting simultaneously, Caprette said.

They can then see how things sort of integrate into a whole system, he said. Thats something thats pretty hard to get across.

I think the one overwhelming comment was that [the simulation] really helped them understand the topic better, Conaway-Mavroidis said. Several of my students have said it would be helpful to use a little of this after every topic covered in class.

See the article here:
Tri-C develops 3-D simulation to help teach biology students complex physiology of stress

Webinar: Climate and Desert Amphibian Physiology: A Resource for Planning Adaptation Strategies – Video

Posted on by


Webinar: Climate and Desert Amphibian Physiology: A Resource for Planning Adaptation Strategies
Webinar: Climate and Desert Amphibian Physiology: A Resource for Planning Adaptation Strategies Presenter: Dr. Kerry Griffis-Kyle, Assistant Professor. Depar...

By: DesertLCC

Read more from the original source:
Webinar: Climate and Desert Amphibian Physiology: A Resource for Planning Adaptation Strategies - Video

Saturday Morning Organic connections Dr. Huber 2012 Agronomic Part 1.mp4 – Video

Posted on by


Saturday Morning Organic connections Dr. Huber 2012 Agronomic Part 1.mp4
To view part 2 http://youtu.be/ZTBgP6ZiKYs Agronomic Opportunities For Organic Agriculture on the Prairies DR DONALD M. HUBER, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology, Purdue University Dr....

By: Organic Connections

Originally posted here:
Saturday Morning Organic connections Dr. Huber 2012 Agronomic Part 1.mp4 - Video

Digital Health: Changing Medical Schools Forever

Posted on by

YouTube Videos Tweets Comments

Anatomy, physiology and introduction to clinical medicine, move over!

This year, medical futurist Bertalan Mesko, MD launches a new course, Disruptive Technologies in Medicine with Professor Maria Judit Molnar, the scientific Vice Rector of Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary. His goal is to prepare medical students for those future technologies they will face by the time they start actually practicing medicine. Dr. Mesko wants to persuade them that the relation between the human touch and technologies can work together to advance clinical science and care.

The curriculum touches on many of the digital health hot buttons found in the conversations of todayand, if Mesko has his way, these topics will find their way to the conversations at bedside too.

International students will access materials online as well. They will learn and compete against each other by answering questions about the future of medicine using the course social media page on Facebook. Further, new global collaborations with the students in digital health medical classes will be fostered, including courses byKim Solez, Professor of Anatomical Physiology at the University of Alberta. More collaborations are planned.

The role of digital health is taking root. From investments byGoogle, Apple and other large voices in the marketplace to a true global presence, its only a matter of time until medical education catches up with this powerful trend.

Keep Critical! Follow me onTwitter,LinkedInandGoogle+!

Source: Forbes

Go here to see the original:
Digital Health: Changing Medical Schools Forever

Animal physiologist Ari van Tienhoven dies at 91

Posted on by

Feb. 6, 2014

Ari van Tienhoven, emeritus professor of animal physiology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, died Jan. 31. He was 91.

Born April 22, 1922, in The Hague, Netherlands, van Tienhoven came to the United States in 1947, joined the poultry and avian sciences faculty in 1955 and became a U.S. citizen in 1959.

An internationally recognized authority on animal physiology and particularly animal reproduction, van Tienhoven compiled with others an extensive revision of Sydney A. Asdells widely used reference, Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction.

In 1970 he aroused controversy by advocating that humans limit their reproduction to forestall overpopulation. He taught an AIDS and Society class from 1989 to 1992.

Librarians remember him as an avid user of Mann Library, coming in every morning of the work week to read the paper and current journals and do research. He donated extensively to the library. He established in the name of his wife the Ans van Tienhoven Award, a $1,000 stipend presented annually to a Mann librarian for travel and professional development, as well as other endowments in her name.

His wife predeceased him in 2005. They had three children and several grandchildren.

Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations to the van Tienhoven travel fund can be sent to Cornell Library, Alumni Affairs and Development, 130 E. Seneca St., Ithaca, NY 14850.Donors should indicate the Ans van Tienhoven Endowment Fund at Mann Library.

Read this article:
Animal physiologist Ari van Tienhoven dies at 91

Biomechanics & physiology tests by Portugal Rowing Team w/ K4b2 @ Porto Biomechanics Laboratory – Video

Posted on by


Biomechanics physiology tests by Portugal Rowing Team w/ K4b2 @ Porto Biomechanics Laboratory
Source: Porto Biomechanics Laboratory (LABIOMEP) http://www.labiomep.up.pt Check COSMED website: http://www.cosmed.com/en/products/cardio-pulmonary-exercise-testing...

By: COSMED Cardiopulmonary Diagnostics

See original here:
Biomechanics & physiology tests by Portugal Rowing Team w/ K4b2 @ Porto Biomechanics Laboratory - Video


  1. Physiology