Category Archives: Physiology

Physiology

Swedish Researchers Publish High-resolution Single-cell Transcriptomic Map of Human Tissues in Findings That May Advance Diagnostics and Medical…

Teams from multiple Swedish organizations are investigating the relationship of protein-coding genes to antibodies

Scientists in Sweden are discovering new ways to map the expression of genes in cells, tissues, and organs within the human body thanks to advances in molecular profiling. Their study has successfully combined the analysis of single-cell transcriptomics with spatial antibody-based protein profiling to produce a high-resolution, single-cell mapping of human tissues.

The data links protein-coding genes to antibodies, which could help researchers develop clinical laboratory tests that use specific antibodies to identify and target infectious disease. Might this also lead to a new menu of serology tests that could be used by medical laboratories?

This research is another example of how various databases of genetic and proteomic informationdifferent omicsare being combined to produce new understanding of human biology and physiology.

Scientists from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Uppsala University, Karolinska Institute, and the Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden, the Arctic University of Norway, and other institutions, used both RNA sequencing and antibody-based profiling to formulate a publicly-available map of 192 human cell types.

The researchers published their findings in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, titled, A SingleCell Type Transcriptomics Map of Human Tissues. They wrote, the marked improvements in massive parallel sequencing coupled with single-cell sample preparations and data deconvolution have allowed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) to become a powerful approach to characterize the gene expression profile in single cells.

In a Human Protein Atlas (HPA) project press release, Director of the HPA consortium and Professor of Microbiology at Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Mathias Uhln, PhD, said, The [Science Advances] paper describes an important addition to the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) which has become one of the worlds most visited biological databases, harboring millions of web pages with information about all the human protein coding genes.

Distinct Expression Clusters Consistent to Similar Cell Types

To perform their research, the scientists mapped the gene expression profile of all protein-coding genes across different cell types. Their analysis showed that there are distinct expression clusters which are consistent to cell types sharing similar functions within the same organs and between organs of the human body.

The scientists examined data from non-diseased human tissues and organs using three main criteria:

According to the HPA press release, across all analyzed cell types, almost 14,000 genes showed an elevated expression in particular cell types, out of which approximately 2,000 genes were found to be specific for only one of the cell types.

The press release also states, cell types in testis showed the highest numbers of cell type elevated genes, followed by ciliated cells. Interestingly, only 11% of the genes were detected in all analyzed cell types suggesting that the number of essential genes (house-keeping) are surprisingly few.

Omics-based Biomarkers for Accurate Diagnosis of Disease

The goal of this venture is to map all the human proteins in cells, tissues, and organs through various omics technologies. As Dark Daily wrote in Spatial Transcriptomics Provide a New and Innovative Way to Analyze Tissue Biology, May Have Value in Surgical Pathology, omics have the potential to deliver biomarkers which can be used for earlier and more accurate diagnoses of diseases and health conditions. Omics, such as genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, metagenomics, and transcriptomics, are taking greater roles in precision medicine diagnostics as well.

The Human Protein Atlas is the largest and most comprehensive database for spatial distribution of proteins in human tissues and cells. It provides a valuable tool for researchers who study and analyze protein localization and expression in human tissues and cells.

Ongoing improvements in gene sequencing technologies are making research of genes more accurate, faster, and more economical. Advances in gene sequencing also could help medical professionals discover more personalized care for patients leading to improved outcomes. A key goal of precision medicine.

One of the conclusions to be drawn from this work is that clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups will need to be able to handle immense amounts of data, while at the same time having the capabilities to analyze that data and identify useful patterns that can help diagnose patients earlier and more accurately.

It is another example of how and why those medical laboratories that succeed going forward will have robust laboratory information management systems (LIMS). Forward-looking lab leaders may want to make larger investments in their labs health information technology (HIT).

JP Schlingman

Related Information:

A Single Cell Type Map of Human Tissues

A Single-cell Type Transcriptomics Map of Human Tissues

The Human Protein Atlas Press Release A Single Cell Type Map of Human Tissues

The Human Protein Atlas: A Spatial Map of the Human Proteome

Spatial Transcriptomics Provide a New and Innovative Way to Analyze Tissue Biology, May Have Value in Surgical Pathology

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Swedish Researchers Publish High-resolution Single-cell Transcriptomic Map of Human Tissues in Findings That May Advance Diagnostics and Medical...

Physiology

Researchers decipher critical features of a protein behind ALS – American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The Sigma-1 receptor (S1R) is a transmembrane protein with important roles in stabilizing cellular functions in both normal physiology and disease. Especially in neurodegenerative diseases, S1R's activity has been shown to provide neuronal protection by stabilizing the cell environment (based on the movement of calcium ions), improving mitochondrial function and reducing a damaging cellular stress caused by the diseases, called endoplasmic reticulumstress. Drugs are now being developed to try to boost these cell protective S1R activities in several diseases.

S1R missense mutations are one of the causes of distal hereditary motor neuronopathies and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrigs disease). ALS is the ailment that afflicted renown late physicist Stephen Hawking. Yet, even though S1R has been studied intensively, basic aspects remained controversial, such as S1R topology and whether it reaches the cell membrane.

A new study led by Tel-Aviv University researcher Gerardo Lederkremer from the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research and Sagol School of Neuroscience, together with Nir Ben Tal from the School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, and students in their labs, sheds light on some of these important questions. The study was recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Proteins, much like a bipolar magnet, have two ends carboxy (-COOH group) and amino (-NH2 group)," said Lederkremer. "In one trial, we tagged the carboxy end (C-terminal tagging) and found that the protein is set in a specific orientation on internal membranes of the cell, where the amino end faces the cytoplasm. In another approach, we tagged the amino end and found equal probability for both possible orientations.

These findings provide an explanation for current contradictions in the literature regarding the favored orientation, as the tagging itself affects the receptors topology an act of observation which affects the observed system.Therefore, saidLederkremer, we applied other approaches, called protease protection assayand glycosylation mapping, which showed incontrovertibly that S1R assembles so that the amino end faces the cytoplasm. Moreover, using additional approaches we found that the receptor is retained in the ER and hardly exits to the cell surface. This finding explains how the S1R functions in the ER and reduces the pathogenic ER stress.

Lederkremer said he is optimistic about the new findings: Having deciphered a crucial mechanism in the receptor's function, we have no doubt that our new findings can affect therapeutic approaches based on S1R, and hopefully alleviate the suffering of neurodegenerative patients, especially those with ALS. In this field every small step is a significant advance.

This article was reprinted with permission from Tel Aviv University. Read the original.

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Researchers decipher critical features of a protein behind ALS - American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Physiology

Opening markets and mindsets: What to expect from Indias femtech sector in 2022 and beyond – YourStory

Although healthcare has evolved, it has remained largely biased towards men, with most solutions and diagnosis designed for the standard male body.

In Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, author Caroline Criado Perez highlights how the healthcare system does not account for the differences in womens physiology, cells, and hormones. It is not surprising then that women are more likely to be misdiagnosed than men.

A new crop of entrepreneurs is addressing these blindspots by leveraging technology infrastructure to cater to womens health and wellness needs.

Notably, for most entrepreneurs, working on a femtech startup remains a personal journey more than a commercial pursuit even as it caters to crores of women who make up nearly half of Indias population.

Pioneers like Geetha Manjunath began exploring and innovating artificial intelligence (AI)-based, radiation-free breast cancer screening solutions when two of her close family members discovered they had breast cancer and eventually lost their lives to the disease. Founder and CEO of Bengaluru-based Niramai, she now holds over 17 patents for innovative tech solutions.

Vikas Bagaria, Founder and CEO, Pee Safestarted the women's hygiene and wellness brand with his wife Srijana when she was once diagnosed with UTI, possibly from using public toilets.

With more and more entrepreneurs solving women's health and wellness problems, Herstory caught up with entrepreneurs and investors in the space to uncover trends that will shape the growth of femtech.

Geetha emphasises that entrepreneurs embark on their journey in the healthtech, especially femtech space, if they truly feel for the problem.

But there is nothing like a bankable innovation to win over investors. While not every investors said yes to Niramai in its initial days, the considerable interest they secured was mainly because there was innovation in the way we were solving it (breast cancer diagnosis).

Surabhi Purwar, Senior Investment Associate at Titan Capital says not only are there few startups in the space but innovation has been far and few in between and a lot can be done femtech sector.

Women are also not very comfortable with their (often judgemental) gynaecologist and need someone trustworthy and comfortable to open up and that is where we feel femtech startups can fill a gap, says Surabhi.

Rachana Gupta had pitched Gynovedas idea of combining Ayurveda and technology to solve womens wellness problems to about 25 to 30 investors including institutional investors, family offices, and HNIs in India and US between June and October 2019.

The general feeling was of very high excitement towards femtech as a space, she says. The entrepreneur believes success stories in the west like those of New York-based Maven, the worlds first femtech unicorn is further fuelling the enthusiasm among the investor community in India as well.

Titan Capital which has funded two femtech startups says they are bullish on the sector.

YourStory data reveals that funding in the femtech sector is increasing, but at a slow pace: there have been a total of 40 funding deals amounting $98 million in the last seven years. The year 2021 saw the highest number of funding deals so far, pegged at 11.

A male-dominated investor community that would not be able to understand products for females is often considered a roadblock. However, Geetha says investors are putting in the effort.

At the end of the day, Geetha affirms investors are happy to support as long as there is good market potential, innovative product idea, and the passion to solve a real problem.

Running a Series A-funded startup, Vikas emphasises now is the right time to invest in the sector because markets and mindsets are opening up and people are getting bolder.

Surabhi has observed more and more startups taking up one chronic disease common among women and building a range of products and services around that.

Weve been actually seeing this trend recently where startups are trying to take one chronic disease at a time and then going full-stack in that, Surabhi says.

Aarti Gill, co-founder of Oziva believes the focus will be especially on preventive healthcare in the coming years. However, the femtech startups will have to educate the customers and solutions need to be customised to individual needs.

With increasing innovation, Vikas says female hygiene and wellness is no longer just restricted to sanitary pads. He credits the Gen Z and millennial population between the ages of 18 and 35 who are more of explorers and researchers and do not shy away from trying out brands and products that are new or leave behind unlike their parents generation.

Not just as consumers but Gen Z and millennial content creators and influencers are comfortably tackling the taboo surrounding womens health on social media which directly impacts how femtech offerings are received. For them, the age of skirting around topics like menstruation, period pain and products, and other womens hygiene concerns is gone.

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Opening markets and mindsets: What to expect from Indias femtech sector in 2022 and beyond - YourStory

Physiology

The body has its own traffic light system, and it’s been stuck on red for too long – The Spinoff

Our in-built survival mode is designed to switch on in times of crisis, but its not helpful or sustainable to live in a heightened state of alert for a long time. Heres how to use your body and mind to return to the green zone.

You wake inside a burning house. This is not a dream or a movie. Your house is on fire. Before you know it, you roll to the floor to escape smoke, shout to wake everyone, crawl to your children, haul them into your arms, run for the best escape route, and get to the street in seconds. Your heart is pounding, youre breathing fast, but youre safe. Youve never done this before and youre surprised at your own speed and strength. Welcome to the red zone.

Everyone is alive and safe. Understandably, you remain on high alert for a while after the house fire. You notice that you jump easily, you worry about the future, its hard to concentrate, youre not laughing much, and little challenges frustrate you. You feel tense. This is the orange zone. Your body is recovering from the red zone activation and starting to return to a calm state.

Insurance paid out quickly, youre in a new house and your family is back at work and school. Youre grateful. Life returns to normal and feels easy. Theres a pervading sense of contentment. Theres very little that rattles you. Challenges are tackled with enthusiasm. You make decisions in a split second. You see the humour in everyday things. You feel relaxed and healthy. Wouldnt it be great to live like this? Well yes, because this is the green zone that were designed to be in most of the time.

Red, orange, green this is the traffic light system of the body. Its run by the nervous system a network of over 80 billion neurons that receives information from the outside world, communicates with the brain to decide what to do, and transmits messages to glands, organs and muscles that need to take action. When our senses see, hear, and smell the house fire, electrochemical signals travel through the nervous system at speeds of up to 360km per hour so that within seconds weve transformed from a relaxed, sleeping human to an alert, strong, fast machine.

This is an impressive ability. Our whole physiology flips to optimise our chances of survival. Stress hormones are released, leading to increased heart rate, breathing pace, thickening of the blood to prepare for injury, greater availability of glucose to fuel our muscles, and sharper vision and hearing. We cannot remain in this fight or flight mode indefinitely. Once the threat is over, we need to return to the green zone because thats the only state in which we can sleep soundly, digest properly, reproduce, fight disease, repair damage and think deeply. Extended time in the red or orange zones ultimately leads to exhaustion, poor health and disease.

If only a pandemic were as simple as a house fire which, although devastating, requires only a short time in the red zone, a transition time in orange, and back to living in the green zone. But no, keeping humanity safe from Covid-19 is proving to be a drawn-out, unpredictable process. The loss of life, sickness, isolation, restrictions, and substantial changes to lives and livelihoods are more than enough to put us into orange or red. It is seriously challenging to deal with. But from a physiological perspective, it is not helpful or sustainable to live in a heightened state of alert for a long time. A little adrenaline is great for motivating us to prepare, get vaccinated and pivot quickly to change routines, look after others, or save our businesses, but we do not need to be in full-blown attack or run-in-fear mode. It is simply not healthy.

With the introduction of the traffic light system for managing Covid-19 in Aotearoa, the opening of Aucklands border, and the arrival of the omicron strain, there is more uncertainty on the way. If this is a daunting prospect, its worth remembering to look after the traffic light system we have a little more control over.

From another time of crisis comes the wisdom that humans can influence our internal settings regardless of external circumstances. Neurologist and holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl put it like this: Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms to choose ones attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose ones own way. We all share a human physiology. We have the ability to return to the calm, relaxed, flexible state of the green zone amid crisis this may require effort and asking for help.

Given our internal traffic light system is automatic and run by the subconscious brain, how can we control what zone were in? Research from the fields of neuroscience, psychology and physiology shows there are myriad ways we can influence our nervous system. The interconnected workings of our body, mind and soul mean we can approach a reset from multiple angles.

To start with the body: we all know what it wants most is for us to take it outside and move it! And to fuel it with nutritious food. But more specifically, many health practitioners agree that the fastest way out of the red zone is deep belly breathing. As physiotherapist Tania Clifton-Smith explains in her new book, The breath acts as a switch with the ability to transition between the green and red zones. Consciously breathing through your nose, slowly and deeply, making your tummy move instead of your chest, is a pathway via the body to show the brain you are safe. There is no way you would be breathing like this if you were in imminent danger.

The mind can be our greatest asset or an absolute hindrance. Ensure your mind is an asset by recognising that, via thoughts, it plays a powerful role in balancing and integrating the different jobs of the brain. When our thoughts frequently come from a place of fear and worry what if I dont meet the deadline, say something stupid, cant pay my bills, catch Covid our body will start responding as though theres an immediate threat. And yet, for these hypothetical concerns, theres nothing to fight or run from so we dont need to mount a full physiological response. Our senses and subconscious brain do a good job of detecting immediate threat to life. We dont need the thinking mind to get involved.

Using the mind to keep you in the green zone is as simple as purposely making good use of your thoughts. Talk to yourself like a supportive coach, a funny friend, or a trusted kaumtua. Think things that make you feel good. Just picturing yourself at your favourite holiday spot with all the sights and sounds and smells of the place can calm your nervous system and put you back into rest and digest mode. And neuroplasticity tells us that if we practise this enough, we actually change the brain to make it easier to remain in the green zone.

The soul may be a shining, slippery, amorphous presence but it can still be guided. It doesnt need taming, it needs encouraging, and it needs a purpose. In his advice for teenagers, psychologist Ben Sedley says, Figure out what you care about and then care about it. And from the perspective of being in the green zone during challenging times, its very helpful to have a positive goal to focus our attention on.

Some days our purpose might be to cook a delicious meal thats enough. Other days we might have the capacity to solve climate change. And theres the bigger picture purpose of this self-care when we get ourselves in a good place, we can help others more effectively and make the world a better place.

Finding the green zone isnt all hard work. Random outbursts of laughter, hugging, singing, dancing and gratitude do a heap of good. I feel glad to be alive Im glad Im not dead! sometimes bursts out of me when the weather is perfect, wrote Oliver Sacks in his book Gratitude. But if this sounds too hard right now, seek professional help.

The traffic light system is here and we will witness many government-imposed red lights before were through, so its time to choose your inner green light as often as possible. Give yourself a ticket to the green zone. Permission to seriously relax! Consciously and consistently put yourself into calm waters, green pastures, a tree-hut hideaway, under your maunga, beside your awa or whatever metaphorical form your inner peace takes. This is not a luxury your health depends on it.

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The body has its own traffic light system, and it's been stuck on red for too long - The Spinoff

Physiology

Cornell Professors Explain Nobel-Winning Physiology and Physics – Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun

Physiology

The latest hype surrounding hot peppers is not some form of an internet challenge, but the latest Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

This year, the award was bestowed to Prof. David Julius, physiology, University of California, San Francisco, and Prof. Ardem Patapoutian, neuroscience, Scripps Research Institute, for their discovery of the receptors for temperature and touch. They came to this discovery by determining which of the proteins in DNA reacted to the ingredients capsaicin and menthol which are found in peppers and mint, respectively. These discoveries are instrumental to our understanding of physiology and may lead to the development of new treatments for pain disorders here at Cornell.

Prof. Simon Schuering, physiology and biophysics, notes that mammalian species have always needed to regulate body temperature to survive. But to do so, they must be able to sense and perceive the temperature of their environment. Scientists have long understood how to sense stimuli through sight and hearing, but the understanding of temperature and touch was a mystery until the discovery of transient receptor potential protein channels by Julius and Papatoution.

The TRP receptors, according to Prof. Daniel Gardner, physiology and biophysics, mediate some taste sensations, including those of chili peppers and mint. Those sensations, respectively burning and a cool minty feeling in the mouth, allowed Julius and Papatoution to determine the role of TRP receptors in detecting bodily sensations using capsaicin and menthol.

Capsaicin is a chemical responsible for the fiery sensation felt when eating a spicy chili pepper. In some cases, a hot enough chili pepper will be strong enough to bring tears to the eyes, yet, until the discovery of the TRPV1 channel protein by Julius, it was unclear what exactly was the cause. To feel that hot and painful sensation, a certain protein has to react to that chemical. By testing the reactiveness of various proteins to capsaicin, Julius was able to determine what protein causes us to sense those feelings: the TRPV1 channel protein.

The discovery of the TRPV1 channel proteins role in heat and pain detection by Julius and his colleagues later proved to be instrumental in identifying the other channel proteins responsible for sensing temperature. According to Prof. Esther Gardner, neuroscience and physiology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, Julius discovery later allowed him and Ardem Patapoutian to independently discover other TRP receptors such as TRPM8. TRPM8 is the receptor for menthol responsible for sensing the cold. Ultimately, Julius and Patapoutian had identified the roles of TRP receptors in the senses of pain and thermal event which was a critical point in their research.

In addition to discovering the temperature-sensing TRP receptors, Patapoutian and his colleagues discovered the receptors responsible for touch named Piezo1 and Piezo2 by putting pressure on cells with a pipette.

Schuering suggests that theres significant interest in studying the TRP channels in regards to pain and inflammation treatment at Weill Cornell Medicine. Its likely in the future that this research will expand into translational research and clinical applications that will allow us to better understand our physiology.

Physics

This years Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to researchers in two fields of science. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded one half of the award to theoretical physicist Giorgio Parisi, Professor of Quantum Theories at the Sapienza University of Rome, for his discoveries of hidden patterns in disordered complex materials.

Parisis work describing equations that govern random physical phenomena, such as the physical patterns exhibited by a rapidly cooled gas, has been revolutionary for understanding complex systems.

According to Prof. James Sethna, physics, Parisi developed an amazing solution to an outstanding problem the equilibrium behavior of a spin glass, a metal alloy where magnetic atoms, or spins, are placed randomly among an array of nonmagnetic atoms and individually struggle to determine which ways to orient due to conflicting magnetic interactions.

This solution has had implications for the field of physics, with Parisi now leading a huge collaboration to work on the applications of this solution in glasses, neural networks and other kinds of complex systems, according to Sethna. His approaches to complex problems can even be applied to explain environmental variation, like the hundred-millenium cycle of glacial formation and collapse, occurring during ice ages, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The methods developed by Parisi and his many collaborators are a truly new, revealing approach to the dynamics and properties of many materials, algorithms, machine learning methods all central to our technology, Sethna said. They are also solving outstanding open questions in science.

Earth and atmospheric scientists were also excited this year to learn that the Nobel Prize in Physics had been awarded to climate scientists Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann for their contributions to our understanding of the impact of humanity on our climate, especially factors causing climate change. Manabe currently serves as senior meteorologist at Princeton University, and Hasselmann is a professor emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology.

According to Prof. Natalie Mahowald, earth and atmospheric sciences, Manabe did some of the most important work to create climate models that could be used for understanding and projecting climate change. Hasselmann created a model that linked weather and climate, answering the pressing question of why climate models are reliable and yet weather models are not.

Prof. Flavio Lehner, earth and atmospheric sciences, elaborated on Hasselmanns prescient contributions to the field of detection and attribution, which focuses on detecting and attributing changes in the climate to driving factors, like carbon dioxides effect on global warming. Being able to attribute climate change to greenhouse gas emissions has proven critical to understanding the need to reduce emissions.

Although Hasselmann was recognized for linking weather and climate and attributing climate change to factors like CO2, Lehner said he had mixed feelings about the fact that recognition for climate science advances had been given to just two people.

Im not a fan of awards given to individuals in a field that, at least today, is being moved forward very much by teams, Lehner said. Hasselmann himself said he would rather have no global warming and no Nobel Prize.

While a Nobel Prize cannot honor all the people involved in solving such a complex and difficult problem, it may at least bring more attention to the problem. Hopefully this Nobel Prize will invigorate efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly by 2030, Mahowald said. Perhaps with this level of recognition more resources and brilliant minds will be invested in this field.

It is great and overdue that climate science is recognized by the physics community and the world in general as a field of maturity and important breakthroughs and contributions to the human endeavor, Lehner said.

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Cornell Professors Explain Nobel-Winning Physiology and Physics - Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun

Physiology

How to calm a stressed kid? A one-minute video can help, according to Stanford researchers – Stanford University News

Designing a realistic field experiment

Mindfulness practices that incorporate deep breathing, such as yoga and meditation, have found their way into the classroom at many schools. But prior to this study, research had not clearly shown whether slow-paced breathing itself could significantly alter a young childs physiological stress response, the researchers said.

They set out to isolate the activity of breathing and investigate its impact taking practical considerations into account, including the likelihood that young children might not have the capacity for even a couple of minutes of deep breathing, and that they would need help learning how to do it.

When you ask young children to take a deep breath, many dont really know how to slowly pace their inhale and exhale, if they havent had any training, Obradovi said. Its not intuitive for young kids. They are more successful in taking several deep breaths if they have a visual guide.

To help elementary schoolers learn the technique, the researchers worked with a team of artists at RogueMark Studios, based in Berkeley, Calif., to produce a one-minute video. The animated video shows young children how to slowly inhale by pretending to smell a flower and to exhale by pretending to blow out a candle.

From a pragmatic point of view, Obradovi said, we thought a very short sequence, four breaths, seemed doable for this age group.

For their randomized field experiment, the Stanford researchers recruited 342 young children 7 years old, on average with their parents permission, at a childrens museum, a public playground and three full-day summer camps in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Roughly half of the children were assigned to a group to watch the animated video with the deep breathing guidance. The rest watched an informational video that featured similar animated images but did not involve the breathing exercise.

All of the children were shown their assigned video in small groups, at tables set up adjacent to the site from where they were recruited, to maintain a natural setting for the study. Also in keeping with the real-life approach to the study design, the researchers did not monitor children or provide extra encouragement to implement the deep breathing instruction.

This intention-to-treat approach analyzing all subjects, whether or not they engaged with the intervention is widely considered to provide more insight into the potential effectiveness of the intervention once it is applied in everyday group settings, like classrooms, where not everyone is likely to take part, Obradovi said.

Measuring the bodys response to everyday challenges

Researchers measured two biomarkers in all of their recruits: heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), which refers to the changing pace of the heartbeat when a person inhales and exhales.

RSA plays an important role in influencing heart rate, Obradovi said, and it has been linked to childrens ability to regulate their emotions, focus their attention and engage in tasks.

When it comes to measuring the effects of deep breathing on stress physiology, RSA seems to be the most appropriate biomarker, said Obradovi. RSA is the only pure measure of the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, the system weve evolved to help us deal with everyday challenges the kinds of challenges that dont require a flight-or-flight response.

The change in the measures was profound: RSA increased and heart rate decreased only in response to the deep-breathing video, and the effects were greater during the second half of the video, which included most of the deep breathing practice. The children in the control group showed no change in either measure.

Our findings showed that guiding a group of children through one minute of a slow-paced breathing exercise in an everyday setting can, in the moment, significantly lower the average level of physiological arousal, Obradovi said.

Further research should examine the effect of deep breathing in this age group after a stressful or challenging experience, she said. But the fact that children of this age can downregulate their stress physiology even when theyre relatively calm offers promise that the technique will be even more effective when theyre frustrated or upset.

Access thefull version of the video,with an introduction to deep breathing, or a shorter video with the deep breathing practice only.

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How to calm a stressed kid? A one-minute video can help, according to Stanford researchers - Stanford University News

Physiology

Mahjoub wins grant to study therapy for kidney disease – The Source – Washington University Record

Mohamed Mahjoub, associate professor of medicine and of cell biology and physiology at the School of Medicine, received a three-year $1.8 million grant from U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity for research titled Targeting centrosome clustering as a noveltherapy for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

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Mahjoub wins grant to study therapy for kidney disease - The Source - Washington University Record

Physiology

WVU Medicine experts: Tips to safely exercising in the cold – WBOY.com

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. Many West Virginia residents love the outdoors and the outdoor activities the state has to offer. But the Mountain State does experience all four seasons, meaning that some activities are done in the cold, such as skiing, sledding, and your classic running and biking.

So, how do you keep yourself safe in those chilly outdoor conditions?

Brian Leary, Assistant Professor of Exercise Physiology at WVUs School of Medicine, said the first thing to do to warm up is to make sure you dont get cold in the first place.

The best thing you can do to kind of warm yourself up is to not let yourself get too cold, to begin with, said Leary. So, starting your exercise with the appropriate type of clothing on, making sure your head, your hands, and your body are covered and trying to dress in layers.

The layers are very important, according to George Kelley, a professor with WVUs Epidemiology and Biostatics.

Typically, the recommendation is that you dress in three layers, said Kelley. One of the things you want to do for all of these is to avoid cotton because its not very good at breathing. When we talk about dressing in three layers, an inner layer, in other words, closest to the body that consists of lightweight polyester, or some type of polypropylene. A middle layer that consists of the same type of material. And importantly, an outer layer that allows moisture to actually transfer to the air.

Sometimes though, the layers arent enough, especially when you have to spend some more time outside than expected.

There are some risks you take when staying outside for too long, according to Lori Sherlock, an associate professor of exercise physiology at WVUs School of Medicine.

So, hypothermia is when your body dips down under your normal body temperature and you can have some pretty adverse reactions to that. So, just be mindful of staying warm enough, said Sherlock.

Outside of hypothermia, the other risk we have to consider when were exercising in the cold is things like frostbite, said Leary. Rarely are we really out there long enough in our normal exercise for frostbite to become a real risk, but there are surfaces of our body that are at increased risk. And a lot of that is going to be in the face and our hands while were exercising.

These two issues dont come out of anywhere, as there are warning signs. But, sometimes, we ignore them.

We shouldve experienced painfulness, numbing, tingling in our fingers far before that takes place, said Leary.

It can be something as simple as starting to lose our ability to have that level of coordination in our hands, in our lips, in our speech, said Sherlock. You may find that you are a little bit confused. So, theres a mental fog associated with hypothermia, as well as slowed reactions, cold feet and hands. That simple symptom of hey, Im getting cold.

If you think youre experiencing hypothermia or frostbite, theres one simple solution to the problem: move inside where theres warmth.

What we try to do is move the person inside, said Kelley. If possible, try to avoid jarring movements because it can actually trigger dangerous irregular heartbeats.

Kelley also recommends swapping out any wet clothing with dry, warm clothes.

There are other dangers to exercising outdoors as well, such as asthma attacks, slipping on ice, and getting lost.

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WVU Medicine experts: Tips to safely exercising in the cold - WBOY.com

Physiology

HealthSnap offers continuous care for patients with chronic illnesses – University of Miami

Assistant professor Wes Smith developed software that resulted in the creation of an integrated virtual care platform, which delivers remote, proactive treatment to people with persistent diseases.

When Wesley Wes Smith was working as a lifeguard in Ocean City, Maryland, he noticed that whenever a shore breakdangerous, violent waves crashing into shallow waterswould hit the beach, many swimmers were the victims of severe spinal injuries.

One day, there had been five neck injuries before noon from the shore break and I said: enough, he declared. I pulled everyone out of the water and explained the dangers.

There were zero injuries after that, he said.

I learned the importance of education as a form of prevention, he added. That realization led Smith, assistant professor of professional practice at the University of Miami School of Education and Human Development, to create software that eventually morphed into a remote monitoring systemHealthSnapfor patients with chronic diseases. Since its inception in 2018, the business is serving thousands of patients and has generated millions of dollars in revenue.

It all began in 2008 when Smith wanted to provide his pre-med exercise physiology and nutrition students with internship opportunities. Working with many health care providers that he knew and the Healthy Canes clinics, he placed his students in medical offices to use the software he had created to conduct assessments of patients and provide lifestyle recommendations to complement their care. This integrative system and technological platform was called the Guardrails Initiative.

Smith shared that his work was inspired by Dr. Denis Burkitt, a British surgeon and medical researcher, who once said that If people are constantly falling off a cliff, you could place ambulances under the cliff or build a fence on the top of the cliff. We are placing all too many ambulances under the cliff.

So, in building his fence to offer preventative health care, Smith began using evidence-based algorithms. He designed several ways to monitor key indicators in the health of patients.

There were about 50 things we monitored and looked at, including cardiovascular fitness, blood pressure, caloric intake and expenditure, nutrition, and even posture, he said.

Dan Morhaim, a double University alumnus with a bachelors degree in exercise physiology and a masters degree in nutrition for health and human performance, began working with Guardrails as a sophomore. He would meet patients in a clinic and, if they agreed, perform a health assessment.

The patients would do a short questionnaire about their health, and I would also ask them about their healthhow much do you eat, how much do you sleep, he said. It was a shotgun approach.

The assessment took 15 to 30 minutes and the patient left the medical facility with a report giving them a comprehensive assessment of their health as well as recommendations to improve their condition. These included hydration guidelines, nutritional tips, and even strength and stretch exercises to suit their needs and prevent disease. The system also allowed the doctor to enter the patients information into an online portal.

Morhaim said that once the patients received their health assessment reports he would go over all the numbers on the charts and explain what they meant and which areas needed improvement.

I think one of the best things about this program is that it allows patients to kind of look at their health in a bigger picture kind of way, he said. There are so many things that influence your health, such as exercise and what you eat and how active you are. It can be overwhelming.

Morhaim now works full time for HealthSnap as a care navigator.

Eventually, to streamline the system, the researchers looked to integrate home devices and wearable technology into the health monitoring system to provide this service remotely. Norma Kenyon, vice provost for innovation and chief innovation officer for the Miller School of Medicine, was one of the first people to see that the health monitoring system had a big future.

[Former School of Education and Human Development] dean Isaac Prilleltensky and I had been discussing innovative projects and he invited me to his office for a presentation by Dr. Smith, said Kenyon. As a diabetes researcher, I had seen many health-focused platforms for type 1 diabetes. I was impressed with Guardrailsit was more comprehensive, user friendly, and interesting than other technologies that I had seen.

Kenyon told Smith that the platform could be the basis for a business.

He gave me a look that suggested he thought I was out there, she said. It took some persuading, but Wes came around, worked with the Office of Technology Transfer and the result is HealthSnap.

Now servicing thousands of patients nationwide, HealthSnap clients include the Montefiore Hospital System in New York, the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, and University trustee Phillip Frosts company, OPKO Health.

The fact that HealthSnap is a remote patient monitoring system that offers telehealth service came in very handy during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Smith.

It was a serendipitous event that we had a remote-monitoring system to keep patients from hospitals. And what the pandemic required was to keep patients from hospitals, said Smith. We were ready to answer that need, especially for the immune-compromised patients.

Right now, HealthSnap uses nurses to do the intake and monitoring of patients. Smith hopes that in the future the business will provide more opportunities for graduates from kinesiology programs to assist those patients. So that they can integrate the lifestyle data that is essential to optimize patient health alongside conventional treatment.

We hope that HealthSnap will be the first of many to provide students in our field job opportunities in health care, said Smith, who serves as the companys chief science officer.

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Physiology

Cardiac Holter Monitor Market: Growing Technology Implementation to Propel the Market – BioSpace

A recent report by Transparency Market Research states that the global cardiac holter monitor market is projected to grow substantially in the duration of 2016 to 2024. According to the report the globalcardiac holter monitor marketshall witness a robust 6.6% CAGR during the tenure. The growth of the market is attributed to the rising standards of healthcare industry in several countries across the globe. Moreover, the rising number of government initiatives to educate the people about the benefits of cardiac monitors. These initiative allow the businesses to develop new and innovative solutions that can easily identify the malfunctioning of their heart. With the help of these developments, the global cardiac holter monitor market is projected to reach to the value of US$ 518.9 mn by the end of 2024.

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Growing Danger of Cardiac Diseases to Drive the Growth

Change in the eating regimen of individuals that is set apart with the utilization of different unfortunate nourishment things, unreasonable liquor admission, and smoking have for the most part affected the development of infections and helplessness to those sicknesses. Stationary way of life decisions like nonappearance of activity in their every day life have likewise added to the wavering state of strength of various individuals, especially relating to the turmoil and ailments of the heart. Accordingly, the expanding pervasiveness of cardiovascular maladies has reinforced significant interest for cardiovascular holter screen and it is a mobile ECG checking gadget that is utilized to record the electrical exercises of human heart. Notwithstanding that, the rising number of heart patients together with rising mechanical progressions is determined to fuel the growth of global cardiac holter monitor market.

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Growing Technology Implementation to Propel the Market

The expanding interest for an all encompassing, multi-information, and patient-driven gadget that considers the unpredictable physiology of a patient has prompted the development of a wearable heart screen fueled by man-made brainpower. U.K. based startup Cambridge Heartware has declared the dispatch of a wearable heart screen fueled by man-made reasoning, in mid 2019 that remotely streams any information that the gadget picks to the cloud, where versatile AI calculations distinguish clinically significant unpredictable rhythms. This is also a major factor that is boosting the growth of global cardiac holter monitor market from 2016 to 2024.

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North America to Hold Lions Share in the Market

North America holds a lot of the world market for cardiac holter in the year 2015, attributable to expanding inclination of patients towards insignificantly obtrusive indicative devices and better subsidizing from government for the treatment of cardiovascular issue. North America is foreseen to proceed with its strength in the market for heart holter monitor, which is ascribed to the speculations that is being made by the noteworthy market players in the business of restorative gadgets, and consistent ascent in frequencies of cardiovascular issue in the area of North America. This allows North America to dominate the global cardiac holter monitor market from 2016 to 2024.

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Cardiac Holter Monitor Market: Growing Technology Implementation to Propel the Market - BioSpace