Category Archives: Physiology

Physiology

Revealing the Hidden Genome: Unknown DNA Sequences Identified That May Be Critical to Human Health – SciTechDaily

Scientists have developed a new technique to reveal the hidden human genome.

Numerous short RNA sequences that code for microproteins and peptides have been identified, providing new opportunities for the study of diseases and the development of drugs.

Researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School and their collaborators have discovered thousands of previously unknown DNA sequences in the human genome that code for microproteins and peptides that could be critical for human health and disease.

Much of what we understand about the known two per cent of the genome that codes for proteins comes from looking for long strands of protein-coding nucleotide sequences, or long open reading frames, explained computational biologist Dr Sonia Chothani, a research fellow with Duke-NUS Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disorders (CVMD) Programme and first author of the study. Recently, however, scientists have discovered small open reading frames (smORFs) that can also be translated from RNA into small peptides, which have roles in DNA repair, muscle formation and genetic regulation.

Scientists have been seeking to identify smORFs and the tiny peptides they code for since smORF disruption can cause disease. However, the currently available techniques are quite limited.

Much of the current datasets do not provide information that is detailed enough to identify smORFs in RNA, added Dr Chothani. The majority also comes from analyses of immortalised human cells that are propagatedsometimes for decadesto study cell physiology, function and disease. However, these cell lines arent always accurate representations of human physiology.

Chothani and her colleagues from Singapore, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia present an approach they created to address these challenges in a recentstudy published in Molecular Cell. They scoured existing ribosome profiling datasets for short strands of RNA with periodic three-base sections that covered more than 60% of the RNAs length. They then performed their own RNA sequencing and Ribosome profiling to establish a combined data set of six kinds of cells and five types of tissue derived from hundreds of patients.

Analyses of these data identified nearly 8,000 smORFs. Interestingly, they were highly specific to the tissues that they were found in, meaning that these smORFs may perform a function specific to their environment. The team also identified 603 microproteins coded by some of these smORFs.

The genome is littered with smORFs, said Assistant Professor Owen Rackham, senior author of the study from the CVMD Programme. Our comprehensive and spatially resolved map of human smORFs highlights overlooked functional components of the genome, pinpoints new players in health and disease and provides a resource for the scientific community as a platform to accelerate discoveries.

Professor Patrick Casey, Senior Vice-Dean of Research at Duke-NUS, said, With the healthcare system evolving to not only treat diseases but also prevent them, identifying potential new targets for disease research and drug development could open avenues to new solutions. This research by Dr Chothani and her team, published as a resource for the scientific community, brings important insights to the field.

Reference: A high-resolution map of human RNA translation by Sonia P. Chothani, Eleonora Adami, Anissa A. Widjaja, Sarah R. Langley, Sivakumar Viswanathan, Chee Jian Pua, Nevin Tham Zhihao, Nathan Harmston, Giuseppe DAgostino, Nicola Whiffin, Wang Mao, John F. Ouyang, Wei Wen Lim, Shiqi Lim, Cheryl Q.E. Lee, Alexandra Grubman, Joseph Chen, J.P. Kovalik, Karl Tryggvason, Jose M. Polo, Lena Ho, Stuart A. Cook, Owen J.L. Rackham and Sebastian Schafer, 15 July 2022, Molecular Cell.DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2022.06.023

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Revealing the Hidden Genome: Unknown DNA Sequences Identified That May Be Critical to Human Health - SciTechDaily

Physiology

Expert in Engineered Cell-Based Cancer Therapies Appointed USC Viterbi BME Chair – USC Viterbi School of Engineering

New Chair of the USC Viterbi Department of Biomedical Engineering.Peter Yingxiao Wang. Image/David Baillot, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

Research leader in the field of precision medicine, Professor Peter Yingxiao Wang, will join the USC Viterbi School of Engineering on January 1, 2023, as the new chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Wang who has pioneered work on controllable engineered cells to directly target tumors will also be jointly appointed at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He will lead two research laboratories to be housed in the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience on the UPC campus and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center on the USC Health Sciences Campus.

Wang comes to USC Viterbi after ten years as a faculty member at the University of California San Diego, where as professor of bioengineering he pursued leading research into cancer immunotherapy and cell imaging. Most recently, Wang and his collaborators developed a breakthrough therapy harnessing focused ultrasound (FUS) to remotely-control specially engineered immune cells, known as FUS-CAR T-cells, to target and destroy solid tumors with high precision in space and time, while avoiding side effects and toxicity on healthy tissue.

Wangs role will further fortify USC Viterbis research capacity in precision medicine, while forging stronger collaborations with Keck School of Medicine.

I am thrilled that Peter has decided to join us as the new chair of Biomedical Engineering at USC, said USC Viterbi Dean Yannis C. Yortsos. He will lead a remarkable department the first biomedical engineering department on the West Coast with a history of landmark accomplishments in this critical field, at the intersection of engineering, medicine and the health sciences. We look forward to his leadership and vision.

Wang said he was excited to join the department, noting that USC was positioned at a unique advantage, thanks to the depth of research and teaching excellence in both its engineering and medical schools.

We already have a very strong Department of Biomedical Engineering with multiple rising stars who were recently promoted, combined with the existing strengths from senior faculty, and of course our fabulous students, Wang said. We are really strong in both engineering and medicine, and one thing I would like to push is for more intimate and systematic collaboration between USC Viterbi and Keck School, as well as the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Its a really exciting trend for our departments future, giving us the opportunity to bring our cutting-edge technology directly to patients, where we can really help people.

Wang said that through increased collaboration, he was eager to break down silos and shorten the pipeline from research and discovery toward patient applications of therapies and technologies. He said he was also interested in ensuring the BME department further expanded its considerable strengths in precision medicine.

We have talented faculty working in this area already, like Associate Professor Stacey Finley who works on analysis of immune cell signaling, Associate Professor Megan McCain who is working on stem cell and tissue engineering, Associate Professor Eun Ji Chung, who is looking at how we can deliver the genetic and therapeutic materials more efficiently to different locations in the body, and Associate Professor Keyue Shen who is working on immune-engineering approaches, Wang said. This is in addition to our superior senior faculty, like Professors David DArgenio, Michael Khoo, Vasilis Marmarelis, Francisco Valero-Cuevas, and Ellis Meng on biomedical modeling, machine learning, neuromuscular control and medical devices, and Professors Qifa Zhou and Jesse Yen, who are leaders in ultrasound technology.

We also have a promising and strong group of junior faculty, like Assistant Professors Cristina Zavaleta on molecular imaging, Jennifer Treweek on quantitative histopathology, and Maral Mousavi on biomedical sensors and diagnosis. Together with other leading professors in the department, like Ted Berger, Gerald Leob, Bartlett Mel and Stan Yamashiro, it will offer more opportunity to collaborate, to sharpen our expertise and to make our ultrasound-controllable CAR-T cell system even more powerful and precise, Wang said.

Wang obtained his bachelors and masters degrees from Peking University, Beijing in 1992 and 1996, in mechanics and in fluid mechanics, respectively. He moved to California where he received his Ph.D. degree in Bioengineering from the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering in 2002, before continuing his postdoctoral work there under Bioengineering Professor Shu Chien and Professor Roger Y. Tsien in the Department of Pharmacology.

Before joining the UCSD as faculty in 2012, he was an associate professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Department of Bioengineering, and a full-time faculty member in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois. He was also affiliated at UIUC with the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Neuroscience Program, the Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, and Institute of Genomic Biology.

Wang is a recipient of the competitive Wallace H. Coulter Early Career Award and was also awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and the National Institutes of Health Independent Scientist Award.

He is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES).

Wang will take over the chairs role from Interim Department Chairs David Z. DArgenio, Michael Khoo and Vasilis Marmaralis, who will continue to serve in that capacity until January 2023.

Published on September 16th, 2022

Last updated on September 16th, 2022

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Expert in Engineered Cell-Based Cancer Therapies Appointed USC Viterbi BME Chair - USC Viterbi School of Engineering

Physiology

Rewarding Geophysical Research | The UCSB Current – The UCSB Current

In recognition of their meritorious work and service toward the advancement and promotion of discovery and solution science, three faculty from UC Santa Barbara have been selected for section awards from the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

Debra Perrone, Samantha Stevenson and Anna Trugman are being recognized for their early career achievements by AGU, a nonprofit organization that supports 130,000 experts and enthusiasts worldwide in Earth and space sciences. The union annually recognizes a number of individuals as part of its Honors and Recognition program.

Debra Perrone was chosen for a Hydrologic Sciences Early Career Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to hydrology through research, education, or societal impacts.

I am grateful for the support of my colleagues who nominated me for this award, as well as the hydrologic sciences community, more broadly, for their support of research that integrates multiple disciplines and has a focus on societal impacts, said Perrone, an assistant professor in the Environmental Studies Program.

Perrone focuses on identifying and solving societys water-scarcity challenges, particularly issues concerning groundwater. She takes a broad approach to the task, combining research methods from engineering, physical science and law to inform water sustainability and policy.

AGU conferred an Ocean Sciences Early Career Award to Samantha Stevenson, an assistant professor in the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. The award lauds significant contributions to the ocean sciences from honorees within 10 years of receiving their Ph.D.

As a physical oceanographer, Stevenson studies the physical mechanisms that affect movement of water in the ocean. Shes particularly interested in understanding how interactions between the ocean and atmosphere alter the behavior of El Nio and La Nia events.

Stevenson uses numerical ocean and climate models to investigate how those processes respond to climate change. Some of her work focuses on projections of future 21st century climate change. Shes also considering how to use reconstructions of climatic conditions over the past several hundred years to improve both our knowledge of the past and our estimates of what we may expect in the future.

It has been my dream for a long time to contribute to humanity's knowledge of the oceans in order to help us prepare for the ongoing threat of climate change, Stevenson said. I am tremendously excited that my work has been recognized by the AGU Ocean Sciences section.

I plan to continue doing my best to solve important ocean and climate problems, she added, and also hope this award will help me be a good role model for the younger generation of women in physical oceanography.

Anna Trugman received a Global Environmental Change Early Career Award. The honor cites researchers whove made outstanding contributions in research, educational, or societal impacts in the area of global environmental change [] within 10 years of receiving their Ph.D. or highest terminal degree.

I'm extremely excited to be among Debra and Sam as early career female environmental scientists winning these awards, said Trugman, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography.

Trugman is a plant ecologist interested in the terrestrial carbon cycle. Her lab focuses on how climate change impacts forest resilience as well as carbon, water and energy fluxes from the land surface to the broader Earth system.

Some of her current projects include the ecological, carbon-cycle and economic consequences of wildfire in California. She also aims to understand how the physiology of plants under stress shapes ecosystem resilience and biogeographic patterns in water-limited systems.

AGU will formally recognize this years recipients during the AGU22 Fall Meeting, which convenes Dec. 1216 in Chicago, and online. This celebration is a chance for the unions community to recognize the outstanding work of their colleagues and be inspired by their accomplishments and stories.

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Rewarding Geophysical Research | The UCSB Current - The UCSB Current

Physiology

37th TRW takes over aerospace physiology training program – 37th Training Wing

WRIGHT PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio The 37thTraining Wing took responsibility of the 344thTraining Squadron Detachment 2 Aug. 25, after an official transfer authority from the 711th Human Performance Wing.

Specifically, the 37thTraining Group, headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, will be executing the technical training mission.

Detachment 2 has three missions:

Provide Air Force Specialty Code courses meaning it is a formal technical school for aerospace physiology officers and technicians.

Provide acceleration training for all fighter aircrew.

Provide aerospace physiology initial and refresher training for all aircrew, both enlisted and officers.

The detachment provides training to 68 agencies, 24 states, and 40 countries, averaging about 2,100 students each year. Students include prior and non-prior service, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, Department of Defense civilians, and international students.

The training covers classroom academics and hands-on training with two training altitude chambers, the Department of Defenses only centrifuge, and a reduced oxygen breathing device. The centrifuge serves two purposes to test future fighter aircrews ability to endure high gravitational forces and to research the effect of high gravitational force on human physiology, with the research mission accomplished by the 711th HPW.

It was an outstanding day for the Gateway Wing and the 37thTraining Group because our family of Airmen is growing again, said Col. John Goodson III, 37th TRG commander. The Gateway Wing, led by my boss Col. Lauren Courchaine, is truly a phenomenal and one-of-a-kindwing. We are a training machine and thats why we are a perfect match for Det 2, their fantastic team, and their unique training mission that focuses on the stress that modern aviation places on the human body.

Historically, administrative and operational control of the aerospace physiology career field fell under the Air Force Surgeon General. In the late 1990s, it was determined that aircrew training could not be funded by Defense Health Program funds. Eventually, the funds to execute the training programs were transferred to the Air Force Directorate of Operations. However, the recruitment and development of personnel remained under the AF/SG.

According to Lt. Col. Christianne Opresko, 344th TRS Detachment 2 commander, in 2007, an Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century Event recognized numerous programmatic disconnects associated with the aerospace physiology enterprise.

Between 2007 and 2017, there was an increase in flight physiological events in various tactical aircraft, Opresko said. In response, Congress directed a look to determine how the Air Force trains aircrew, as well as how the Air Force acquires its aircraft systems for use. This led to the formation of the Air Force Physiological Events Action Team.

The AFPEAT and the aerospace physiology enterprise had three recommendations:

Consolidate the remaining funding of the aerospace physiology program from AF/SG funding to Air Force Directorate of Operations funding, specifically to recruit, access, and develop the people.

Properly align the aerospace physiology enterprise with the requirement owner (Air Force Directorate of Operations).

Increase aerospace physiology aircrew breathing system and aircrew performance knowledge by integration of aerospace physiology personnel in direct weapons system support roles.

On June 17, 2021, acting Secretary of the Air Force John Roth and Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., signed a Program Action Directive with the following objectives:

Consolidate aerospace physiology enterprise under Air Force Directorate of Operations funding.

Re-align the personnel and organization entities with the requirement.

Correct the expertise gap identified by the AFPEAT.

Transition aerospace physiology officer and enlisted personnel to new Line of the Air Force AFSCs.

Additionally, the PAD directed Air Education and Training Command, in conjunction with medical career field managers, to task formal training requirement from the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, 711th HPW, to AETC.

This is the second aerospace physiology training program that falls under AETC, with the other one located at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, under the 12th Operations Support Squadron.

The 37thTraining Group has four geographically separated units which are located at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; Fort Lee, Va.; Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; and Port Hueneme, Calif. The group is responsible for instructing 25officer and enlisted AFSCs and teaching over 130 courses.

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37th TRW takes over aerospace physiology training program - 37th Training Wing

Physiology

Study finds enzyme in the brain is a ‘metastat’ for body weight – Yale News

An enzyme found in the brain acts as a major regulator of body weight, Yale researchers have discovered. In a new study, they found that removing the enzyme from neurons in a part of the brain known as the hypothalamus led mice to gain weight and burn less fat. This finding, they say, suggests that the enzyme could be a target for treating metabolic disease.

The findings were published Aug. 31 in Science Advances.

Dysregulated metabolism is implicated in a host of metabolic disorders, including obesity and diabetes. The hypothalamus region of the brain is essential for metabolic control and the area known as the ventromedial hypothalamus is known to regulate body weight, eating, and glucose balance. How the ventromedial hypothalamus does this, however, is less clear.

For the study, Yale researchers focused on an enzyme called O-linked b-D-N-acetylglucosamine transferase, or OGT. Though researchers have a partial understanding of the enzymes role in other parts of the body such as mediating nutritional and hormonal regulation in different organs and tissues what it does in the brain is largely unknown.

As a first step, researchers observed what happened to OGT in neurons of the ventromedial hypothalamus when food intake was adjusted. They found that when mice consumed less food, OGT levels went up.

This suggested that OGT plays an important role as a nutrient sensor in this neuron population, said Xiaoyong Yang, professor of comparative medicine and of cellular and molecular physiology at Yale School of Medicine and senior author of the study.

To better understand this role, Yang and his colleagues bred mice that lacked OGT in neurons of the ventromedial hypothalamus. They found that the mice gained weight very quickly on a normal diet, becoming much heavier than typical mice even though they were eating the same amount of food and were just as physically active.

A key difference was that the mice without OGT expended less energy than their counterparts.

Just sitting at rest, you burn energy because you need to maintain the vital functions of the body, such as breathing, digestion, and brain activity, said Yang. And though the mice lacking OGT werent less physically active, they burned less energy at this basal level.

They also responded differently to fasting.

When the body has adequate amounts of food, its preferred fuel is glucose. But when you fast, your glucose runs out quickly, explained Yang. The body then taps into its fat stores in order to meet energy demands.

But in the study, mice lacking OGT didnt burn fat as much as other mice when food was restricted.

The problem had to do with glucose-sensing, said the researchers. The ability to sense glucose is essential for keeping it at the level the body needs. If neurons cant sense glucose properly, they wont make necessary metabolic adjustments, like telling the body to burn fat. In the study, neurons without OGT didnt sense glucose as well as those with the enzyme.

Without OGT, the body cant sense that less food is coming in, and then it doesnt tell its fat tissues to burn fat, said Yang.

Yang likens OGT to a thermostat, or a metastat, as he calls it, since OGT is crucial for metabolic homeostasis.

You set a thermostat to the temperature youd like a room to be. In the summer, as your room begins to heat up, your air conditioner kicks in to return the room to the temperature youve programmed.

OGT is like a metastat, Yang says, working to keep the bodys weight at its set point. And that set point will be different from individual to individual, he said.

While a persons weight can fluctuate from time to time, the bodys metabolic processes work to keep the weight around its set point. So if you eat a big meal, for example, your body recognizes that and burns more calories to keep your weight at that set point, said Yang. And OGT is critical for setting that weight point.

Because of this, OGT could be a target for treating metabolic diseases, he said. Its possible that, in the future, a drug could be used to target OGT in ventromedial hypothalamus neurons to fine-tune a persons body weight set point, adjusting it if its too high or too low.

Its still a long way off, said Yang, But one day we might be able to reprogram a persons metastat to achieve desired body weight.

Other Yale authors include Qi Wang, Bichen Zhang, Bernardo Stutz, Zhong-Wu Liu, and Tamas Horvath.

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Study finds enzyme in the brain is a 'metastat' for body weight - Yale News

Physiology

In Remembrance of Dr. Peter Bennett | Duke Department of Anesthesiology – Duke University

It is with profound sadness that we inform you about the passing of a beloved member of our Duke Anesthesiology family, Peter Bennett, PhD, DSc, emeritus professor of anesthesiology. He passed away on August 9 at the age of 91. Dr. Bennett will be remembered as a highly respected researcher and entrepreneur who dedicated his life's work to the advancement of diving. A champion of dive safety, he notably founded the Divers Alert Network (DAN) in 1980 - a non-profit organization, which he led for 23 years. DAN is the worlds most recognized and respected dive safety organization that helps divers in need of medical emergency assistance and promotes dive safety through research, education, products, and services.

Dr. Bennett was born in England, where he earned his doctorate and doctor of sciences in physiology and biochemistry at the University of Southampton. He began his career as a scientist investigating the physiology of deep diving, particularly the mechanisms of high-pressure nervous syndrome. In 1972, Dr. Bennett moved to the United States and joined Duke Anesthesiology where he was appointed director of research in the department and co-director of Dukes FG Hall Environmental Laboratory. Dr. Bennett went on to become director of the lab in which he led a team of investigators during performance of a series of human deep dives in the Hall Labs hyperbaric chambers to a world record depth of 2,250 feet of sea water. After retiring as president of DAN in 2003, Dr. Bennett became the executive director for the Underwater Hyperbaric Medical Society until 2014. As a leading authority on the effects of high pressure on human physiology, he published more than 100 scientific papers and nine books, including the signature textbook, Physiology and Medicine of Diving, known as a definitive work in his field. He was also a mentor to many junior scientists around the world.

Dr. Bennett leaves behind his wife, Margaret, and son, Chris. Please join us in extending our sincerest condolences to Dr. Bennett's family, friends and colleagues. Duke flags will be lowered in honor of his life and legacy.

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In Remembrance of Dr. Peter Bennett | Duke Department of Anesthesiology - Duke University

Physiology

New institute will probe biology in the absence of water – University of Wisconsin-Madison

The microscopic, hardy tardigrade. Image courtesy of National Park Service

Theyre microscopic, they have eight legs and they basically resemble tiny, wrinkly bears. Theyre tardigrades, and theyre one of several species that can survive extremely dry conditions for long periods of time.

Theyre also one of the organisms at the heart of a new interdisciplinary virtual research institute called WALII, which stands for the Water and Life Interface Institute and plans to explore how life survives in the absence of water. Led by Carnegie Science, the institute includes researchers from eight other institutions, including the University of WisconsinMadison.

Marisa Otegui

What the WALII team discovers could inform strategies for surviving climate change with minimal impact to the food supply and help identify conditions that could support life on other planets. Some plants, for instance, can reproduce from dried-out pollen grains or seeds.

There are some desert plants and micro-animals, like tardigrades, which can lose up to 90 percent of their water and resume normal biological function within hours of being rehydrated. We want to know how they do it, said Carnegie scientist Sue Rhee in a news release announcing the $12.5 million National Science Foundation grant that will help create the institute.

Marisa Otegui, UWMadison botany professor and member of the Center for Quantitative Cell Imaging, is co-principal investigator on the project. Her research focuses on how cells manage the flow of proteins and other specialized substances called metabolites between different cellular compartments.

WALII pronounced Wally will explore the evolutionary history that permitted some organisms from animals, plants and fungi to survive sustained low-water periods, the genetic and physical factors that allow an organism to survive in extremely dry conditions, and how different organisms respond to water during the process of rehydration. Researchers are also interested in features of proteins involved in the ability of organisms to tolerate desiccation.

Otegui and other WALII scientists represent a wide range of fields, from molecular biophysics, computer science, genomics, and cellular and evolutionary biology. They also include plant biologists with expertise in seed physiology, and scientists at all stages of their careers, including graduate and undergraduate students.

Having such diverse backgrounds on our team will allow us to be creative in our approaches, Otegui explains.

Researchers want to understand the molecular, cellular and physiological mechanisms that allow tardigrades and other organisms to accomplish their hardiness.

It will be fascinating to elucidate how molecular complexes and cellular compartments are protected under conditions of extreme dehydration, as well as rapid rehydration, Otegui says.

All raw data and bioinformatics pipelines that WALII researchers produce will be stored in publicly accessible repositories. The initiative will also spearhead outreach and educational activities to raise awareness of drought, water quality impairments and climate change.

Read more about WALII and follow the project on Twitter.

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New institute will probe biology in the absence of water - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Physiology

How much protein should I eat to gain muscle? – Fit and Well

If youve been hitting the gym more recently, you may be wondering: how much protein should I eat to gain muscle? Weve broken down common myths around protein, including the recommended daily amount vs. how much protein you should be consuming if you put your muscles under frequent stress (like when weight lifting).

While most of us know that protein is important for growth and repair, you may not be aware that it is one of the most important components of muscle building, and your results may be dependent on the amount of protein you consume on a daily basis. While we get some protein from our diet, for those with higher protein requirements, a good protein powder may help boost your intake.

If youre looking for an easy way to increase your protein intake, our guide to the best protein powders for weight loss lists the top protein powders to support your efforts to sustainably gain muscle.

Dr. Elena Maria Liaka leads the National Medical Weight Loss Programme available at Vie Aesthetics through her role as an Aesthetic Doctor in both the Essex and Harley Street clinics. Alongside this, Dr. Elena works part-time in the NHS as a Psychiatrist.

Dr. Brian Carson graduated with a first-class honors BSc. in Sports Science and Health from the School of Health and Human Performance at Dublin City University in 2005. Brian subsequently undertook a PhD funded by a scholarship from the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) entitled The regulation of metabolic gene expression in human skeletal muscle by exercise: the influence of exercise intensity and contraction frequency which was awarded in 2010. He then was appointed as a postdoctoral researcher funded by Diabetes UK at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at the University of Liverpool where he spent 18 months investigating the intracellular trafficking and release of the adipokine adipokines. From there, Brian joined the team in the Physical Education and Sport Sciences department at the University of Limerick as a lecturer in Exercise Physiology in January 2011 where he is pursuing research into the role of exercise and nutrition in the regulation of metabolism for performance and health.

The International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism (opens in new tab) found we must have a positive protein balance in order to successfully increase muscle mass. In short, if you are looking to gain muscle, you need to ensure that you are consuming enough protein to support muscle protein synthesis.

We spoke to Dr. Elena Maria Liaka, an NHS psychiatrist and aesthetic doctor at Vie Aesthetics (opens in new tab), a doctor-run Harley Street cosmetic clinic. The amount of protein you should take to gain muscle varies between individuals. Increasing protein intake has been repeatedly and consistently shown to improve muscle mass and retention, she explains. For several years, the bodybuilding conventional wisdom has recommended around 2g of protein per kg of body weight in order to build muscle. The recommended daily allowance of protein, however, is much lower than this, cited as 0.8g per kg of Bodyweight. In reality, the answer is more complicated than a simple, one-size-fits-all number. Those who are active and challenging their muscles on a regular basis will require higher amounts in order to build or maintain their frame; whereas those who are inactive will require fewer calories and less protein to maintain their body weight. Bear in mind, without adequate stimulus to the muscles, in the form of progressive resistance training, the protein we consume will not translate into increased, or even maintained muscle mass.

While consuming enough dietary protein is vital, you can also use protein powder to lose weight and gain muscle mass. If you dont like the taste, you can always add it to a smoothie or oatmeal rather than eating it as a plain shake.

(Image credit: Getty)

Dr. Liaka gave Fit&Well her best advice for accurate protein intake calculation. In order to estimate protein intake, you need to track what youre eating; this can be done in several ways, and to varying degrees of accuracy, she says. For example, for bodybuilders who are in competition season, every gram of food is weighed for months on end. For the average fitness enthusiast looking to up their protein intake, however, estimating meals and foods on an app, or even just adding a serving of protein throughout the day, may be adequate. My main message would be the more specific the goal, the more specific the method of achieving it needs to be.

We spoke to Dr. Brian Carson, Head of Science and Innovation at Whole Supp (opens in new tab), who explained that weighing your food can be helpful if you want a more accurate idea of how much protein you are consuming. The most effective way to calculate your protein intake is to weigh all your foods and establish the amount of protein per gram (or per 100 grams) as per the nutritional information, he says. With lots of ingredients and the inconvenience of weighing at each meal, this can obviously be quite challenging. One potential solution is to use an app like MyFitnessPal which has the nutritional and protein content for many common food products to track an estimate of your intake.

(Image credit: Getty)

While a lot of us are often worried does protein powder make you gain weight, you should remember that weight gain isnt an inherently bad thing, and that muscle is a denser substance than fat. So while the scales might be trending upwards, this could be as a result of muscle gain, not an increase in body fat, as many of us might suspect when we see a higher number.

Dr. Liaka explains that protein, like all macronutrients, contains calories, and those calories need to be used. What is often forgotten is that protein contains calories; one gram of protein contains four calories. This means that overeating protein (I.e., many grams over the amounts mentioned above) produces diminishing returns in terms of performance and physique, whilst providing more energy in the form of calories, she says. Remember: eating too many calories, whether they come from fat, carbohydrates, or protein, will lead to weight (and likely fat) gain. There are also other individual variances to take into account, for example, health conditions that require limitation of protein, such as renal problems, or vegan diets which may require aiming for higher protein, in order to ensure intake of a complete amino acid profile.

A study in Obesity (opens in new tab) journal found that there is a correlation between protein consumption and the over/underconsumption of other macronutrients, called protein leverage. This is of particular concern in populations with less access to high-quality protein, who will often over consume fat or carbohydrates to make up the calories. The reverse is also true; those who eat high amounts of protein often skimp on other macronutrients.

Dr. Carson tells us that the RDA for protein is increasingly thought to be too low. The current RDA for protein is 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body mass. However, there is a consensus building that this target is too low and a move towards a recommendation of 1.2 grams of protein for every kilogram of body mass is required, he says. The current research suggests there is likely to be no additional benefit for building muscle beyond 2.0 gram of protein per kilogram of your body mass.

An article by Harvard Health (opens in new tab) also indicates that high protein consumption can lead to health problems such as kidney stones. Additionally, if your main source of protein is red or processed meat, you are risking colon cancer, heart disease, and obesity. With this in mind, it is worth swapping out red meat for leaner meats or plant-based protein sources. With various brands of protein powder available, you may be wondering: plant protein vs whey protein: which is better for building muscle?

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How much protein should I eat to gain muscle? - Fit and Well

Physiology

Study shows an improved way to model Type 2 diabetes in mice – University of Alabama at Birmingham

Carbohydrates are directly linked to the development of Type 2 diabetes, but a higher-carb diet is underused in research models.

Robert Sorge, Ph.D.Type 2 diabetes affects the lives of millions of Americans and is estimated to cost $327 billion in health care and productivity lost annually. It is also associated with pain, lower urinary tract or bladder dysfunction, depression and systemic inflammation, affecting quality of life for patients. To investigate that, scientists most commonly utilize animal models mice specifically to explore potential treatments, which may not reflect the complexity of the condition, a study has found.

The University of Alabama at Birminghams Robert Sorge, Ph.D., associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Psychology, along with Asia Wiggins, his doctoral student in the Behavioral Neuroscience Graduate Program, Timothy Kraft, Ph.D., professor in the School of Optometrys Department of Opthalmology and Vision Science, and Anas Alsulami, lab manager, have published a study in the journal Elsevier Physiology and Behavior that shows an improved way to model Type 2 diabetes in mice.

Generally, despite the evidence that carbohydrates are an underlying cause for Type 2 diabetes and the first-line treatments are aimed at reducing carbohydrates, preclinical studies utilize high-fat diets almost exclusively. Sorges study examined whether the common symptoms of Type 2 diabetes were better modeled with the standard high-fat diet or a higher-carbohydrate diet that he developed, called the Standard American Diet.

The researchers fed several diets to mice over the course of 35 weeks and found that the common symptoms of glucose intolerance, slower wound recovery, changes in retinal responses to light and retinal thickness were modeled by their SAD, but not the HFD. Interestingly, the HFD resulted in obesity, but that was not related to the other symptoms.

The goals of the study were to determine whether we could develop and validate an improved model of Type 2 diabetes in mice that replicated more of the constellation of problematic symptoms seen in clinical populations, Sorge said. We were able to demonstrate that our diets resulted in a Type 2 diabetes-related phenotype and that obesity was not necessary for symptom development.

Sorge believes preclinical models of Type 2 diabetes should focus on human-relevant diets that aid in the development of a host of disorder-specific conditions. Better models may produce better data and allow for early detection strategies to be developed and tested, he said.

Building on the findings of this study, Sorge will continue to examine more symptoms related to Type 2 diabetes and investigate the time course of symptom development. That could determine whether specific biological changes can signal the future development of Type 2 diabetes, to aid in detection and prevention.

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Study shows an improved way to model Type 2 diabetes in mice - University of Alabama at Birmingham

Physiology

Letters to the editor: School start times and constraints on housing growth – The Almanac Online

School start times are only one factor in sleep deprivation

Pushing back school start times seems to be a solution to a symptom sleep deprivation rather than a solution to a problem, not going to sleep early enough the night before.

Researchers have found the hours of sleep we get before midnight make up the most powerful phase of sleep. During this first phase of sleep the body is replenished and rejuvenated, information we take in during the day gets reorganized, and adrenaline levels and stress are reduced. It is the qualities of our sleep during this early phase that is most important and not necessarily the quantity of sleep.

Why is this an issue now? The physiology of kids hasn't changed, has it? Sure, there are the occasional night owls, but a whole generation of night owls? No, that doesn't seem right. The root cause given in the Almanac article (the Aug. 12 issue story on school start times) is a phenomenon called circadian phase delay. The Mayo clinic defines circadian phase delay as a sleep disorder. Are we concluding that a whole generation has a sleep disorder? No, that doesn't seem right either. By definition, disorders are not common.

If a whole generation is finding it hard to fall asleep at a decent hour, there must be a ubiquitous cause. Are parents too permissive and not enforcing "bedtime?" Are kids on screens well into the night? Are today's kids not tired because they are generally less active than previous generations? Are kids being given too much homework to do at night? Any or all these causes could lead to sleep deprivation.

Increasing the length of kids' sleep by a few minutes in the morning may provide incremental benefits, but they are no substitute for all the benefits that would come from increasing the quality of their sleep by making lifestyle changes allowing kids to go to bed earlier.

Geoff Brosseau

Encina Avenue, Menlo Park

How much housing is too much?

Getting away from Bob Dickinson principal arguments about the Menlo Balance initiative (in his Aug. 12 guest opinion of The Almanac), which seem to be compelling on their face, I have questions: when is appropriate to seriously limit growth? When we need to drastically ration water? When we cannot move about our neighborhoods because of all the added traffic and congestion? When police and fire responders cannot arrive in a timely fashion? When the very reasons why we moved here cease to exist?

I was born in Glendale 81 years ago. To get to the beaches in Southern California then, you drove on roads that wound through orange grooves as there were no freeways. We have lost the reasons why my parents and others moved here, why I remain here, to massive development, to sprawling planned communities which have eliminated farmlands, to commute times which now are measured in hours; more of the same is not the answer.

We should be encouraging businesses to migrate to more remote rural areas, we should remove the tax incentives for homeownership and subsidize other forms of housing, and we must create criteria to be met before we allow more well-intentioned but thoughtless plans for new housing. For every new resident, two must be asked nicely to leave.

Jeff Colflesh

North Fair Oaks

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Letters to the editor: School start times and constraints on housing growth - The Almanac Online