Category Archives: Physiology

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

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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Physiology

5 frontiers of cycling science that could make you faster in 2022 – BikeRadar

This feature was originally published in issue 386 ofCycling Plus magazine.

Science & Cycling is an annual conference that brings together cyclings finest coaches, exercise physiologists and academics to reveal whats happening at the tip of the peloton, while flagging up what lies ahead down the road.

Its usually held for two days in the week prior to the Tour de Frances Grand Depart, but Covid forced a change this year to Leuven, Belgium, just prior to the World Championships.

And, despite the labyrinth of passenger locator forms, PCR tests and general Covid confusion, we were there to find out how you can ride stronger and more comfortably in 2022

The Canadian team struggled with standing starts at track races. Peter Parks / AFP via Getty Images

Kurt Bergin-Taylor is a former student at Loughborough University, has a PhD in exercise physiology and worked on Cycling Canadas Olympic track programme before taking up his current role as trainer at Team DSM.

Hes a man who successfully marries academia and real-life application, and says all roadies can learn from his time in Canada.

We had a relatively disappointing Worlds in Berlin [2020] and what we noticed especially the women was that we were really struggling over the first two laps, recalls Bergin-Taylor.

Our flying starts were comparable with the best, but our standing starts werent. We didnt have the ability to generate force early on and it was costing us. I wanted to understand why.

Key to uncovering the problem was the uniqueness of a track bike and its fixed gear. With no gears to rapidly shift through from stop to start, that makes torque essentially a measure of force acting on the pedals to make the wheels rotate incredibly important.

Bergin-Taylor played around with gym work, but it wasnt muscle-specific enough.

We needed on-the-bike work for a very short period of time, so we designed a protocol via the Tacx Utility app. On there, you have an isokinetic mode, where no matter how much force is exerted, the speed is fixed, so its useful to train at low revolutions per minute (rpm).

You also have the isotonic mode, which helps you to apply constant force through the pedal stroke.

Working on her standing start helped power Kelsey Mitchell to gold in the sprint at Tokyo 2020. Foto Olimpik / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Twice weekly, the Canadian riders strength training was replaced with three sets of four-second maximal effort work, comprising up to 12 repetitions each time, with two minutes of rest between sets.

It was a disgusting session, but it paid off, as 66 per cent of the participants racked up 3km individual-pursuit personal bests, says Bergin-Taylor.

Kelsey Mitchell, who rode in the velodrome for the first time in 2018, even went on to win sprint gold at the delayed Tokyo Olympics.

Bergin-Taylor concedes its much harder to assess your torque generation through the pedal stroke on the road, but it is possible, though requires much cleaning up of data.

Whats clearer is that we can all benefit from increasing torque, whether thats to accelerate from your mates or laying down the hammer uphill. Adapting Bergin-Taylors session, over-gear work and low-cadence intervals all help here.

You should play around with cadence and gear selection, too, Bergin-Taylor insists.

We know certain sprinters assume they reach maximal power at 120rpm, but if we dial down into the data, we see theyre actually sprinting at 100rpm because they shove the gear down into 54/11 every time.

We then start to educate them and say its fine to shift down to 54/13, as youll hit 120rpm and cycle faster.

Dan Bighams (centre) endless search for speed has taken him to some very interesting places. Jorge Luis Alvarez Pupo / Getty Images

Wattshop was created by Dan Bigham, the new British Hour record-holder. Bigham broke Sir Bradley Wiggins record in October 2021, riding 54.723km in Grenchen, Switzerland, a day after his partner Joss Lowden set a new womens hour record.

Bighams known as a disruptor and was spotted at the recent mixed relay time trial at the Worlds with something stuffed down his jersey.

Cycling commentator Michael Hutchinson referred to it as a gigantic monoboob.

It was revealed soon after to be a radio built into a massive padded pocket to improve aerodynamics. But that wasnt the sole aero advantage Bigham was seeking in Flanders.

We supported Dan at the Worlds, explains Kelly Zwarych, co-founder of slipstreaming pioneers AeroLab Technology, specifically on the course reconnaissance.

Zwarych helped to create the water-resistant data logger that sits beneath aerobar extensions, and provides real-time measurements of all the metrics that time triallists are constantly looking to improve for faster times: aerodynamic drag, coefficient of drag area (CdA), coefficient of rolling resistance (Crr), wind speed, wind yaw angle, wind gusts, plus estimations of drivetrain loss.

In short, it provides a next-generation analysis of aero peformance, taking wind-tunnel feedback into the real world.

AeroLab Technologys logger sits beneath the bars and records a tapestry of data. Gert-Jan D'haene

Its all designed to answer peak-performance questions: which equipments best suited for a given race? What tyres and pressure are best for any given set of wheels? Will a disc wheel really be faster? Why was I slower during the second half of my race but my power was higher?

Let me show you an example from Ironman [triathlon] racing to highlight the importance of aero, says Zwarych.

Two of the best Lionel Sanders and Jan Frodeno roughly use the same equipment, weigh the same and generate a similar power output, so as Lionels shorter, youd expect him to be faster.

But Jans often eight minutes faster over the 180km bike [leg of a triathlon]. Looking at Lionels power output, we can estimate his CdA and, if he reduced that by around 0.019, hed be neck-and-neck with Frodeno and fresh for the run.

This shortfall could be as simple as using the wrong tyres, helmet or hand position.

Currently, this assessments focused on the peak of the performance pyramid, with a six-month lease of the product coming in at nearly $3,000.

There are plans for a more affordable Aero-Lite product to hit the market in spring 2022. This will be under $400 (with UK prices to be confirmed).

In the meantime, simple aerodynamic tweaks every recreational rider can make include wearing close-fitting clothing, zipping up your jersey, spending more time on the drops and shaving your legs.

Using a heart rate monitor can provide insight into whether you are overtraining. Tim de Waele / Getty Images

The wonderfully named Ruby Otter is a lecturer in physiology at the University of Groningen, with a particular interest in the physiological repercussions of stress on endurance performance.

In one study, Otter and her team monitored 150 cyclists, triathletes and runners for two years, asking them to complete a questionnaire, as well as logging their training and using the rate of perceived exertion scale [in Otters, 6 is very light; 20 is maximum exertion] to gauge effort.

We chronicled four areas of stress and recovery: everyday stress, general recovery, sports-specific stress and sports-specific recovery, says Otter.

From this, we could calculate a recovery-stress score. We found that as general stress increased, performance suffered. On the other hand, if an athletes happy with training and life, they see a performance increase.

Another study followed a group of runners whod endured a negative life event, though I cant say what because of ethics.

What Otter did reveal was that the groups running performance dropped by an average 3.6 per cent, plus oxygen consumption cranked up despite running at similar speeds. Somehow, stress had altered their coordination.

Why isnt entirely clear, though a rise in cortisol levels is associated with impaired performance. Whats clearer, says Otter, is that training too intensely when life becomes stressful is a path to overreaching, even overtraining. If your performance is plummeting, and youre irritable and recovering slowly, you could already be there.

But if you want empirical evidence, use the sub-maximal test utilised by Otter: the LSCT Test, created by one of the comperes of this years conference, Rob Lambert.

Its a 17-minute sub-maximal effort on an indoor trainer that requires either a heart rate monitor or power meter.

Cycle for six minutes at 60 per cent of your maximum heart rate (HRmax); six minutes at 80 per cent HRmax; and three minutes at 90 per cent HRmax.

Alternatively, this translates to 50 per cent, 72 per cent and 96 per cent of functional threshold power, or FTP, if you train by watts.

Theres a 30-second buffer between stages, leaving you to finish with 90 seconds where you stop cycling and sit up, so you can monitor your heart-rate recovery (HRR).

Its this final minute thats perhaps the most telling indication of whether youre fit to cycle as, if your heart rate struggles to return to normal levels, its a sign youre potentially on the verge of overtraining.

Over time, youll notice what your average heart rates are over the first three active stages, becoming your own affordable cycling coach.

Its a great way to measure stress and impact training workload accordingly.

With his intermediate and slower twitch fibres, Mathieu van der Poel (second right) is a top road and cyclocross rider. Kristof Ramon / Future Publishing via Getty Images

Your little Bert comes to you and wants to take up cycling. But which discipline? A mountain biker? Or hit the track? Or a roadie? Little Bert asks his parents. He asks his friends. They give him different answers.

Wouldnt it be nice for little Bert if he could know exactly which discipline his muscle type was more suited to? Well, now he can

Those were the words of Eline Lievens, a post-doctoral researcher in exercise physiology and sports nutrition at Ghent University.

Lievens has spent the past few years delving deep into athletes anatomy but, thankfully for said athletes, not via the traditional technique of muscle biopsy.

Though its the gold standard, it requires extracting a muscle fibre from the leg via a long needle and can ascertain an athletes muscle typology; in other words, whether theyre a slow-twitcher or fast-twitcher.

My professor [Pro Wim Derave] has invented a non-invasive technique to measure muscle typology by placing an athlete into a scanner and measuring their carnosine levels, says Lievens.

Carnosine, which is a protein building block, is found to be more readily available in fast-twitch fibres. Vis--vis, high carnosine equals a prevalence of powerful fast-twitch fibres; low carnosine equals a prevalence of less powerful but more stamina-packed slow-twitch fibres.

Why is knowing this split important? As little Bert now understands, talent ID is one reason, albeit there are definite ethical arguments around enforcing your child to choose a sport that matches their genetics rather than what their friends are doing.

It can help at an older age, too, as you might not be riding the discipline that youre genetically best at, adds Lievens. We scanned 80 cyclists from road, track, mountain biking and cyclocross, and showed a correlation between disciplines.

Athletes deemed intermediate or fast typology performed well in BMX and track sprinting. Those with an intermediate and slower typology did well on the road and cyclocross. This partly explains the success of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert.

Discovering your muscle typology can also help with pacing strategy, says Lievens, as a slow typology might be best suited to even pacing, while a fast typology should start slow and finish fast.

Thats because athletes with a fast typology fatigue quicker, meaning their training volume and frequency should be lower than the slow group, too.

Their recovery duration between intense sessions should also be longer, says Lievens.

As should their recovery duration between intense exercises within training sessions. And their taper longer.

This is all well and good, but this machines currently stationed in Belgium. Back in Britain, you can find a university that offers muscle-biopsy analysis. Or you can go for the more parochial, albeit non-invasive and pretty accurate methods of physical tests.

These include a 60-second jump test, where you jump continuously for 60 seconds and see how your vertical distance tails off. A dramatic height and then drop-off suggests youre a fast-twitcher; slow-twitchers are more of a plateau.

Victor Scholler (right) works with Groupama-FDJ. Sebastien Bozon / AFP via Getty Images

Victor Scholler holds a PhD in sport science and currently works with the French WorldTour team Groupama-FDJ. He also knows how to make a cyclist comfortable on the bike.

Through our research, its clear that a dynamic bike fit is better than a static alternative, says Scholler.

A dynamic bike fit is like those delivered by Retl. In general, theyll involve a comprehensive physiotherapy assessment off the bike before analysing your riding technique on a jig via motion-capture technology. The data is then analysed by the practitioner. But, says Scholler, not all professional bike fits are equal.

3D motion capture is superior to the 2D system, as its a more realistic interpretation of your pedal stroke. But arguably even more important than that is the quality of the person undertaking your bike fitting.

Training and communication are key, so that you leave your fit sessions with things to work on when implementing any changes. Choose wisely, however, and its worth the outlay.

Dynamic assessment is better than static because it takes into account your actual pedal stroke. Riders vary greatly in how much they flex their ankles.

This alters your knee angle, which is the main focus when it comes to saddle height because you want your quadriceps to function at their optimal length to deliver power.

Victor Schollers research has shown that dynamic bike fits are superior to static ones. Andy Saunders / Immediate Media

A dynamic fit takes into account factors like hip rocking, too, plus leg differences.

Scholler supports his advice with research, suggesting knee injuries in the professional ranks are down from 28 per cent to 6 per cent, most likely due to the improvements in bike fitting.

That said, Scholler suggests static fitting still has a place. For a lot of people, especially if youre new to cycling, its probably good enough.

How you calculate yours is simply measuring your in-seam. Your saddle height should be around 106 to 109 per cent of this figure.

To do this, stand barefoot against a wall with a thick book between your legs. Pull the book upwards so it feels almost uncomfortable.

Spin around and mark the top of the book on the wall. This is your in-seam. Now measure this distance to the floor, multiply by 1.06 and you have your saddle height, which you can play around with when out riding. Its an old-school solution that still has its place in the modern world.

If youre interested in other techniques for determining the correct saddle height for you, check out our full in-depth guide.

This was the seventh edition of the Science & Cycling Conference, which was first held prior to the 2014 Tour de France in Leeds, Yorkshire.

Its a meeting place for experts in the field of cycling to share their latest research and for companies to give demonstrations of their products. Dates for the 2022 edition have yet to be confirmed.

Originally posted here:
5 frontiers of cycling science that could make you faster in 2022 - BikeRadar

Physiology

UF researchers receive federal funding to fight citrus greening – Wink News

IMMOKALEE

University of Florida researchers have received federal funding to combat citrus greening. This disease is devastating to citrus growers. Now, WINK News is showing you the research that is already underway to fight this disease.

Just as people are dealing with the pandemic, the citrus industry is dealing with a pandemic of its own citrus greening. Ron Mahan is the CFO and vice president of Tamiami Citrus. As a state, the industry was producing 200 to 240 million boxes, 90-pound boxes a year of oranges, most of that going into juice, although some sold fresh as well, but today, were now producing at less than 50 million boxes, said Mahan.

Thanks to more than $2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, UF researchers are working to combat citrus greening. Ute Albrecht and Ozgur Batuman gave WINK News a glimpse into how the money will help them.

Ute Albrecht is an Assistant Professor of plant physiology. By just simply spraying the tree with a new therapy, it doesnt get into the plant. Albrecht went on to say, the method that I will be involved in is through trunk injection.

Like how humans get shots at doctors offices, one of Albrechts projects involves exploring different chemical compounds to inject in citrus trunks to fight greening.

Batuman works with a team to graft greening-resistant Australian finger limes to sweet orange trees to boost resilience. Think of it like an organ transplant or a blood transfusion, but for plants.

As if you are taking my arm and attaching to you, and you are taking some of the useful genes from me to yourself. Very straightforward and can be done instantly, Batuman said.

Growers are putting the pieces together and keeping citrus on the table.

Researchers in Immokalee also use mesh covers to protect trees from the specific insect responsible for transmitting citrus greening bacteria.

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UF researchers receive federal funding to fight citrus greening - Wink News