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Category Archives: Physiology

TIMEZ5 | Muslim Physiology personal experience with Ahmed Kamali – Video

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TIMEZ5 | Muslim Physiology personal experience with Ahmed Kamali
Mastering the art of the physio-spiritual experience: Learn how to overcome common physical challenges that get in the way of our spiritual wellbeing. Muslim Physiology is the science of Muslim...

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TIMEZ5 | Muslim Physiology personal experience with Ahmed Kamali - Video

Fetal alcohol syndrome heart defects may be caused by altered function, not structure

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

30-Dec-2013

Contact: Donna Krupa dkrupa@the-aps.org American Physiological Society

Bethesda, Md. (Dec. 30, 2013)Recent data shows that more than 500,000 women in the U.S. report drinking during pregnancy, with about 20 percent of this population admitting to binge drinking. Even one episode of heavy drinking can lead to the collection of birth defects known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Along with growth retardation, head and face abnormalities, and neurological problems, FAS also causes heart problems in just over half of those with this condition. Though much research has focused on looking for the cause of these alcohol-induced heart defects, they remain largely a mystery.

To investigate this question, Ganga Karunamuni of Case Western University and her colleagues studied heart formation in quail embryos, whose heart development is very similar to that of humans. The researchers used an innovative imaging technique, optical coherence tomography, to compare embryos exposed to a single, large dose of alcohol to those who hadn't received alcohol. They looked both at how alcohol changed the function of the developing hearts as well as their structure. They found that significant changes in heart function appeared to come well before changes in structure that are hallmarks of the well-known FAS heart anomalies. These changes in function, the study authors suggest, might be the cause of the structural problems that arise later by exerting forces on the heart that change its development.

The article is entitled "Ethanol Exposure Alters Early Cardiac Function in the Looping Heart: A Mechanism for Congenital Heart Defects?" It appears in the Articles in Press section of the American Journal of Physiology Heart and Circulatory Physiology, published by the American Physiological Society. The article is available online at http://bit.ly/1hulmNN

Methodology

The researchers studied three sets of quail embryos. In one set of these embryos, the researchers injected a quantity of alcohol into their shells proportional to the amount that would be considered a single episode of binge drinking in a pregnant woman. They purposely chose a time during early development in which embryos are especially vulnerable to the effects of alcohol. In another set of embryos, the researchers injected their shells with saline, a placebo not known to have any harmful effects. The researchers left a third set of embryos to develop without any interventions.

Using an imaging modality called optical coherence tomography, which gives the ability to peer through layers of tissue, the researchers kept an eye on the developing hearts at a particular stage when the primitive heart switches from a tube shape to a loop-shaped circuit. The researchers compared both heart blood flow and anatomy at this stage between the three different sets of embryos. They also compared heart anatomy between the different sets both at this looping stage and at a stage closer to hatching.

Results

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Fetal alcohol syndrome heart defects may be caused by altered function, not structure

Toddler Bedtime Should Coincide With Melatonin Increase

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By Traci Pedersen Associate News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on December 28, 2013

Putting toddlers to bed at a specified time may put them out of sync with their internal body clocks, making it difficult for them to fall asleep, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study.

In a group of 14 toddlers, researchers pinpointed the time when the hormone melatonin spiked in the evening, indicating the start of the biological night. The findings showed that toddlers with later melatonin rise times took longer to fall asleep after being put to bed, said CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Monique LeBourgeois, Ph,D.

There is relatively little research out there on how the physiology of toddlers may contribute to the emergence of sleep problems, said study leader LeBourgeois.

Sleeping at the wrong biological clock time leads to sleep difficulties, like insomnia, in adults.

Although adults can choose when they go to sleep, toddlers rarely have this option, said LeBourgeois.

This study is the first to show that a poor fit between bedtimes selected by the parents of toddlers and the rise in their evening melatonin production increases their likelihood of nighttime settling difficulties, said LeBourgeois.

About 25 percent of young children have difficulty settling down after bedtime, said LeBourgeois. Problems may include having trouble falling asleep, bedtime resistance, tantrums, and episodes known as curtain calls, such as calling out from bed or coming out of the bedroom, often repeatedly, for another story, glass of water or bathroom trip, she said.

Toddlers with longer intervals between the onset of nightly melatonin release and their bedtimes were shown to fall asleep more quickly and had decreased bedtime resistance as reported by their parents, according to the study.

Sleep difficulties in early childhood are predictive of later emotional and behavioral problems, as well as poor cognitive function, that can persist into later childhood and adolescence.And parents of young children with sleep problems often report increased difficulties in their own sleep patterns, which can cause chronic fatigue and even marital discord, she said.

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Toddler Bedtime Should Coincide With Melatonin Increase

Professor is 5th local fire victim in 3 months

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Photo by: John Dixon/The News-Gazette

A former head of the University of Illinois physiology department died Monday night as a result of a fire at his home at 605 W. Michigan Ave., U.

URBANA Former University of Illinois physiology department head William Sleator died after a blaze at his Urbana home early this week. He's the fifth person to die in a Champaign County residential fire in the last three months.

The period from Sept. 23 through today has been anomalous for fire-related deaths, which are typically few and far between in the area.

Mr. Sleator, 96, was pulled from the fire around 10:43 p.m. Monday. He was taken to Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana and pronounced dead later that night.

Nicholas Temperley, Mr. Sleator's brother-in-law, said the former professor moved to Urbana in 1969 to head the physiology department at the UI. Sleator has been incapacitated in recent years, Temperley said, and has been watched over by caretakers.

Mr. Sleator has two surviving sons, Temperley said, and a daughter who preceded him in death. Mr. Sleator was also the father of William Sleator III, a well-known science fiction and children's author who died in 2011.

Firefighters were called to his home at 605 W. Michigan Ave. on Monday night. Initial reports indicate the fire was in the back side of the house. Part of the second floor collapsed onto the first about a half-hour after their arrival, and the fire was spreading to the attic. Urbana firefighters requested mutual-aid assistance from the Savoy Fire Department.

The fire's cause was still under investigation, Urbana Fire Marshal Phil Edwards said.

He reminded people to check on their elderly relatives or friends.

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Professor is 5th local fire victim in 3 months


  1. Physiology