Category Archives: Physiology

Physiology

LI knife-thrower cut path from teacher, preacher and pool hall owner – Newsday

Job jokes fly fast and furiously when youre a professional knife thrower. "He aims to miss!" is the most common zinger.

David Adamovich, 74, a gleaming star of the impalement arts a term for hurling knives near, not at, a human target has heard that one before.

The Great Throwdini, as Adamovich calls himself on stage, has told it, too.

"It goes with the territory," said the Freeport resident who was 50 when he discovered, to his surprise and delight, his near-superpower knack for knives.

By then hed already received a doctorate in education from Teachers College at Columbia University and taught graduate classes in exercise physiology at schools including LIU Post. Hed also pursued emergency medicine management and dipped into theology.

"Its a clich, but David is like an onion," according to Dix Hills magician TJ Tana, 28, who has shared a bill with Throw and become a friend. "He has so many layers."

"People say Im a Renaissance man," said Adamovich, whose onstage banter, like a LinkedIn bio, deftly tells his story.

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Heres his spiel: "My name is Rev. Dr. David Adamovich, a retired professor with a doctorate in exercise physiology, a paramedic, a professionally trained chef, an ordained minister and in my spare time I throw knives. My friends call me Throw."

Adamovich smiled while reciting that on a Sunday afternoon in his backyard overlooking Woodcleft Canal. He chills out here chatting with his eclectic group of friends and fishing for striped bass.

The spacious deck is as colorful as he is. A Wheel of Death, a wooden spinning disk painted red and white thats used in his act, occupies one space.

A life-size cow sculpture bows toward his boat gently bobbing in the canal. Adamovich saw the bovine wonder in a shop in the Hamptons and had to have it; he custom-colorized it in red, gold and black.

Across the way an airy gazebo surrounded by benches that seat 30 is where he performs weddings. "Ive done thousands," he insisted, adding that hed performed one days earlier.

After getting laid off from managing a medical practice in his late 40s, "I did the most logical thing," he said. "I opened a pool hall Docs Billiard Emporium in Bay Shore."

"One night a customer came in with a throwing knife," said Adamovich, who took to it instantly. "Nine months later," he added, "I was winning world championships."

And breaking records now more than a few dozen of them, by his count. "Competitions pay you in bragging rights, not big cash prizes," he said. In the early 2000s, after five years in the national competition circuit, he carved a path into performing.

At Adamovichs request, "Wild West" performer Chris McDaniel, a former East Hampton resident now living in New Orleans, showed him the ropes about putting together a show.

McDaniel shared videotapes of notable names in the impalement arts. "A couple of weeks later, David sent me a videotape of him throwing knives at a knife board with a volunteer standing in front of it," McDaniel told Newsday. "He was doing everything he had seen in the tapes. His skill is incredible.

"Hes very calm, and thats worked well for him," McDaniel said. "I helped him map out the basics of what to say in his act."

For the most part, Throw lets his sharp instruments knives, axes, machetes, tomahawks do the talking. "Chriss advice was to be myself," said Adamovich, whose first performing gig was in 2002. It was a small art space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Hes fuzzy on the name of the place, but he recalls what he wore a black tuxedo, his go-to costume ever since. "Ive worn a tux and tails since my first day of performing," Adamovich said.

He added that years of teaching had prepared him for being in front of an audience, whether in a club, sideshow, a theater or on TV.

On Aug. 5, 2002, after a recommendation by McDaniel, Adamovich debuted at "Monday Night Magic," a long-running off-Broadway production. Since then he has performed in it 85 more times, most recently just before the COVID-19 outbreak.

"Im hopeful hell be back," said Michael Chaut, founding producer of the magic showcase currently set to reopen on Sept. 20 at the Players Theater in Manhattan. "Hes got sheer and amazing skill. Hes also a go-getter."

While Adamovich, whos self-taught in knife-throwing, makes tossing blades that land within inches of a person look easy-peasy, its perilous doings.

"My partner said, Make sure you get a copy of his insurance," recalled Chaut. Adamovich assured that hes covered by required liability insurance.

A memorable appearance came in 2007, when Adamovich made the cut in the early rounds of Season 2 of "Americas Got Talent." Before being eliminated, he was christened a "dangerous creepy reverend" by judge Piers Morgan.

"The judges were trying to make fun of me," said Adamovich. "Thats their style. I took it in stride."

Throwdinis flesh-and-blood targets have taken minor mishaps in stride over the years. "Ive never hit someone in the sense of impaling them, but I have scraped them on the arm or the leg," he said.

Lynn Wheat, 37, confirmed that. "Thereve been scrapes," she said. "The worst is when the knife hits a knot and doesn't actually stick into the board. Thats when it'll bounce down. It can land between my toes."

Wheat recalled meeting Adamovich when she was managing the theater scene shop at Hofstra University. She needed an expert to create a knife illusion for a stage production and sought him out. They became a couple. Wheat, whose work as a technical director for corporate events dried up amid the pandemic, has lived with Adamovich for 10 years. She is also one of his targets.

"Throwdini Centrale" is the nickname for the third floor of their home, where the dcor is best described as Contemporary Knives Out.

Walls here are crammed with photographs from past performances, a poster for "Girl on the Bridge," a film about a knife thrower, plus cherished certificates and awards.

Adamovich has won a Merlin Award, an Oscar in the world of magic, which is among his proudest achievements. He holds a Guinness World Record for the most knives 102 of them thrown in 2007 around a human target in one minute. He later beat that record and threw 144 in 60 seconds, as certified by Record Holders Republic.

Adamovich called hurling knives "a source of intermittent income." Like many performers, he was sidelined by the pandemic for a year and a half. Last November in Los Angeles he shot an episode of "Game of Talents," a TV guessing game that aired on Fox in May.

When host Wayne Brady exclaimed, "David, show us your talent," Throw obliged. Last month, he wowed the crowd at the Coney Island Circus Sideshow. "I was thrilled to do it," said Adamovich, who spent his childhood in Brooklyn and Queens before moving to Long Island as an adult.

In "Throwdini Centrale," reached by climbing a ladder from a second-floor bedroom, Adamovich eyeballed a 6-by-4-foot pine impalement board stippled with gouges from where knives have stuck.

His signature diamond-headed blades, which he maintains to keep sharp and are marked with a telltale "TGT," measure 14 inches long and weigh 12 ounces. Replicas made by Western Trade Props sell for $44 apiece.

Wheat backed up to the board, centered herself, raised an arm Statue of Liberty-style, smiled and froze. Adamovich tossed knives around her. She never flinched. He never paused.

Wheat rotated 90 degrees, then pursed a drinking straw with a frilly end facing out tight between her lips. In a flash, Adamovich chucked a blade and nipped off the frill. His aim was true.

"Im never afraid. Its exciting," Wheat said. "I trust him completely, and he trusts himself."

Adamovichs wish for his 75th birthday in December? Performing as The Great Throwdini.

"Its just a natural skill for me," he said. And thats no joke.

By Joe Dziemianowicz Special to Newsday

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LI knife-thrower cut path from teacher, preacher and pool hall owner - Newsday

Physiology

Rep. Katko Announces Over $600K in Federal Funding for SUNY Upstate Medical University to Support Research on Dementia – Congressman John Katko

SYRACUSE, NY U.S. Rep. John Katko (NY-24)today announced $682,211 in federal funds will be distributed to SUNY Upstate Medical University to support research on one of the leading forms of dementia.

SUNY Upstate Medical University has adedicated team of researchersworking to advance treatments and cures for neurological disorders. The new funds SUNY Upstate received are available through the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a division of the National Institute of Health (NIH), and will allow SUNY Upstate to continue important research on neurological disorders. Since coming to Congress, Rep. Katko has successfully advocated for additional funding for the NIH, and most recently urged the House Appropriations Committee to authorize over $46 billion for the NIH in fiscal year 2022.

Im proud to announce SUNY Upstate Medical University will be receiving over $600,000 in federal funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to support research on one of the leading forms of dementia,said Rep. Katko. Having witnessed my father develop and ultimately pass away from Alzheimers, I understand the physical, financial, and emotional burden dementia can have on those who suffer, their caretakers, and their families. In Congress Ive consistently supported efforts to robustly fund the NIH, which provides critical federal funding to support the development of the next generation of treatment and cures. Im glad this new funding will be used to help the dedicated neurology research team at SUNY Upstate continue their work to prevent, diagnose, and treat neurological disorders.

The new funding for SUNY Upstate will specifically support research by Wei-Dong Yao, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and, Neuroscience and Physiology. Yao is researching frontotemporal dementia (FTD), the leading dementia most prevalent before age 65 and the most common form of dementia after Alzheimers disease.

Yaos study represents the first attempt to investigate the role of a new disease gene in FTD pathogenesis. The proposed studies are fundamentally important and highly significant because they have the potential to uncover novel pathogenic mechanisms and treatment strategies for FTD and related neurodegenerative diseases.

I am grateful for the support of the NIH in funding this important study, said Professor Yao.I also want to thank U.S. Rep. Katko for continuing to push for additional federal funding into treatments for neurological disorders. This additional funding is important to continue important research into diseases of today.

Yao is an Empire Scholar and joined Upstate from Harvard University in 2014 through the SUNYs Empire Innovation Program.

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Rep. Katko Announces Over $600K in Federal Funding for SUNY Upstate Medical University to Support Research on Dementia - Congressman John Katko

Physiology

Study identifies molecule that stimulates muscle-building – University of Illinois News

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. In a randomized control study of 10 healthy young men, researchers compared how consuming the single amino acid leucine or its two-molecule equivalent, dileucine, influenced muscle-building and breakdown. They found that dileucine boosts the metabolic processes that drive muscle growth 42% more than free leucine does.

They report their findings in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

Leucine, isoleucine and valine all are branched-chain amino acids, famous among body builders and health enthusiasts for their purported muscle-enhancing benefits. Like other amino acids, they are the building blocks of proteins. But leucine also acts as a signaling molecule that triggers muscle-building pathways in cells, said University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign kinesiology and community health professor Nicholas Burd, who led the new research with kinesiology graduate student Kevin Paulussen.

Digestion breaks the chemical bonds between the amino acids that make up proteins, resulting in a stew of shorter molecules, including free amino acids and dipeptides. Previous studies have suggested that the small intestine absorbs dipeptides like dileucine more rapidly than their single-molecule counterparts, Burd said.

But few studies have examined whether dileucine in the diet makes it into the blood as a dipeptide or is first broken down into two leucine molecules, he said. And no studies have examined its effects on acute muscle-building and breakdown. Burds laboratory is one of a small number of research facilities set up to study muscle protein metabolism in human participants.

Graphic by Diana Yates

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For the new study, participants came to the lab after a 12-hour fast and were infused with stable isotopes, chemical probes that allow researchers to track the process of muscle protein synthesis and breakdown. Then biopsies of muscle tissue were taken from the upper leg.

After that, we fed them either 2 grams of leucine or 2 grams of dileucine, Burd said. And we studied their muscle-remodeling response for three hours. This was a double-blind study, meaning that the data were coded to prevent participants and researchers from knowing who received leucine or dileucine in the initial phases of the study. Three more muscle biopsies were taken, at 30, 60 and 180 minutes after participants ingested the leucine or dileucine.

We found that leucine got into the blood more quickly when participants consumed dileucine than if they had just free leucine, Burd said. That means that some of that dileucine is getting hydrolyzed, or cut up, before it gets into the bloodstream. But we also saw that dileucine was getting into the bloodstream intact.

The next question was whether dileucine had any effect on muscle-building processes, he said.

So, we looked at pathways that signal the muscle-building process, including protein breakdown as part of the remodeling process. And we found no difference in protein breakdown between the leucine alone and the dileucine condition, Burd said. But on the protein synthesis side, we saw that dileucine turns up the muscle-building process more than leucine does.

Those who consumed dileucine had 42% more synthesis of new muscle proteins than those who ingested only leucine.

To put that in perspective, exercise alone can cause a 100-150% increase in the muscle-building response, Burd said.

The researchers also showed that animal-based proteins are the best source of dileucine in the diet. But Burd does not think people should start ingesting large amounts of animal protein or taking dileucine supplements to enhance their muscle metabolism. The study is only a first step toward understanding how the body uses dipeptides, and focusing on a single nutrient doesnt provide a perspective on how the overall diet and eating pattern impacts muscle growth, he said.

We dont yet know the mechanism by which dileucine works, Burd said. This is just a first attempt to understand how these types of peptides are playing a role in human physiology.

Ingenious Ingredients, L.P. supported this research.

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Study identifies molecule that stimulates muscle-building - University of Illinois News

Physiology

More than 800 Fall 2021 SRJC classes will be in-person – The Oak Leaf

Santa Rosa Junior College will offer 806 inperson sections this Fall 2021 semester after offering about 100 in spring, according to SRJC President Dr. Frank Chong.

The remaining 1,635 sections will take place online, some with mandatory synchronous Zoom meetings and others independently paced.

Classes begin on Aug. 17. Check the list of important deadlines and the schedule of classes for more information.

SRJC published a detailed plan for safely returning to campus amidst the ongoing pandemic. Most student services will continue to operate remotely or on campus by appointment only.

COVID-19 vaccines are strongly recommended but are not required for students, faculty or staff. Students can make an appointment with the Student Health Center to receive a free vaccine.

Sections with in-person components include classes from health sciences and public safety, which were previously offered on-campus during the pandemic, as well as classes from a wider variety of departments listed in a recent college press release:

Art, history, English, math, career education, agriculture and natural resources, communications, culinary, biological sciences, anatomy, physiology, administration of justice, microbiology, chemistry, music, theatre arts, physics, floristry, horticulture, auto tech, machine tech, welding, counseling, kinesiology/dance, astronomy, anthropology, animal health, business administration and sociology.

Seats are widely available and our faculty are ready to meet students in whatever way best suits their needs, said Dr. Jane Saldaa-Talley, vice president of Academic Affairs, in the press release.

Other COVID-19 safety plans include mandatory indoor masking regardless of vaccination status, daily symptom checks, limited in-person class sizes, frequent disinfection of shared spaces and improved air filtration.

Dr. Chong said about 50 safety monitors, mostly students, will help guide people through new protocols, such as signing in before entering a building for contact tracing and completing symptom checks.

Were trying to create a safe campus and were doing everything the Centers for Disease Control has advised in order to open safely, Dr. Chong said.

People need to realize were over COVID, but COVIDs not over us. We thought the light was at the end of the tunnel; now the tunnel seems like its been a little elongated, he said.

Dr. Chong asks students to be patient with SRJC and encourages everyone to lead with kindness.

Know the people at the JC care deeply about providing educational opportunities, but we cant be so-called COVID-proof. It would be less than honest to say if you come to campus youre not going to get COVID, he said. The best way [to prevent that], based on science, is to get vaccinated.

Students taking classes in-person or online can attend Virtual Welcome Week Aug. 1223 featuring workshops about transferring, financial aid, health services and how to get involved on campus. There will be a free food giveaway featuring Shone Farm produce from 911 a.m. Aug. 23 at the Santa Rosa Campuss Emeritus parking lot.

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More than 800 Fall 2021 SRJC classes will be in-person - The Oak Leaf

Physiology

WVU Today | WVU researcher develops copper-infused mask for hospitality and tourism industry – WVU Today

Adrea Welsh, WVU Hospitality Innovation and Technology Lab student, tests the efficacy of the Hygenmask, developed by Ajay Aluri of the Chambers College of Business and Economics. Karen Woodfork, of the WVU Center for Inhalation Toxicology, oversees the technology. (WVU Photo/Brian Persinger)

Employees manning the frontlines of customer service, whether behind the hotel front desk or the restaurant counter, come face-to-face with folks from all walks of life for hours on end.

With the delta variant on the rise, the lambda variant taking hold and an upswing in COVID-19 cases, the hospitality business is seeing staffing issues as people weigh their personal safety against their employment as the pandemic rages on.

Masking up is one safe precaution. But its also an uncomfortable gesture, as some masks may inflict wear and tear on the face or not provide an adequate level of protection for the worker, explained Ajay Aluri, founding director of the Hospitality Innovation and Technology Lab at West Virginia University.

As a native of India, where copper is king and touted for its antimicrobial properties, Aluri thought, Why not make a safer, more comfortable mask infused with copper when using for a longer period of time?

Copper has a special place in the culture and tradition of India, said Aluri, also associate professor of hospitality and tourism management in the Chambers College of Business and Economics. People wear copper bracelets and use copper utensils for cooking. And theres a notion, from the COVID standpoint, that copper is antimicrobial.

From the HIT Lab was born Hygenmask, a three-layered facemask containing a copper-infused nano-coated fabric, a sustainable bamboo fabric and an ePTFE (a biomaterial) filter. Wearers also dont have to worry about elf ears since the masks lack ear loops. Elastic head loops go over the head and can be tightened for a customized fit.

WVU HIT Lab is a platform for both industry and academia to come together to solve the problems of the hospitality and tourism industry. Before Hygenmask, Aluri and his students created Hygenkey, a copper touch tool with antiviral and antibacterial qualities, in response to the pandemic in 2020.

The mask is ideally for people who are always at the front desk or talking to people six to eight hours at a time, whether in restaurants, resorts, airports, or any hospitality and tourism industry, Aluri said. Some of these masks out there, if you wear them for a long time, it can be really rough on your skin. So we strived to make it more hygienic and sustainable from a fabric standpoint.

One of Aluris partners recommended a sustainable bamboo fabric, which offers a smooth feel but still fits tight around the face, he said.

But you dont have to take his word for it. Aluri reached across campus to ask scientists with the WVU School of Medicines Center for Inhalation Toxicology (iTOX) to test the product. Since the onset of the pandemic, the Center has been at the forefront of testing all sorts of masks from N95 alternatives to WVU gaiters to the Singers Mask to double masks.

The Center found that Aluris mask blocked up to 93% of droplets being respired.

The Hygenmask offers good protection to its users, said Timothy R. Nurkiewicz, director of the Center and E.J. Van Liere Endowed Professor and chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. Combined with physical distancing, good HVAC, limiting time in a crowd and limiting the crowd size, the mask should afford the users some confidence.

Researchers conducted fit testing, which evaluates how well a mask protects the person wearing the mask. A score of 100 is necessary to pass a N95 mask. Gaiters and saggy disposable masks typically score a one.

Aluris mask ranged from six-to -15 on the study participants.

Those numbers are substantially better than what you would find with your average cloth masks, which usually gets a fit factor of two, said Karen Woodfork, a teaching associate professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology who was part of the research team.

People send us all kinds of masks and most of them get ones or twos, Nurkiewicz said. When we saw Ajays mask scoring in that range, that tells you theres a bit of protection there.

Nurkiewiczs lab did not test the copper properties of the mask.

Perhaps theres no better way to test a product than actually using it.

Aluri donned the mask during a 14-hour flight to India.

Im only taking it down when Im eating or drinking, Aluri said. I had no marks on my face and Hygenmask was quite comfortable.

Most of all, Nurkiewicz and his team believe that Aluris mask accomplishes its purpose and will be of benefit to its target audience those who serve the public day-to-day.

The mask sits away from your mouth enough so you can articulate better, Nurkiewicz said. Also, in terms of regular breathing, you will labor more with a mask that sits right on your lips. Theres some space there, making it more comfortable and making the wearer more likely to keep it on for a longer period of time.

-WVU-

js/08/09/21

CONTACT: Heather RichardsonAssistant Dean of Communications, Engagement & Impact|John Chambers College of Business and Economics304-293-9625; hrichard@mail.wvu.edu

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Jake StumpDirectorWVU Research Communications304-293-5507; jake.stump@mail.wvu.edu

Call 1-855-WVU-NEWS for the latest West Virginia University news and information from WVUToday.

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WVU Today | WVU researcher develops copper-infused mask for hospitality and tourism industry - WVU Today

Physiology

Defining Physiologys Upper Limits and Again Winning the Tour de France – CU Anschutz Today

First of all, congratulations on an incredible accomplishment your top cyclist winning his second Tour de France.

It was a great victory. This year we were not the underdog anymore. Its too bad (Primoz) Roglic (last years second-place General Classification finisher) had a bad crash and had to quit the race. It was unfortunate because otherwise it would have been better (duel-wise between the two top-rated Slovenians). He crashed in the first week.

We did all the homework for the Tour de France in Sestriere, which is in the Italian Alps. I told the team the first day of pre-training camp, Guys, lets take this seriously. Lets focus, because we have never been in this situation. We have never had to defend a Tour de France, and since the very last day of last years Tour, everybody has tried to figure out how to beat Tadej. Everybodys guns are loaded to shoot at us this year. Be ready for that.

Our strategy was to try to control the race as best as we could, and that was the most stressful part to put together that block of riders. Out of 29 riders we have on the team, to select that block of seven who could help Tadej do the job. Ineos Grenadiers would be the team to bring the race. They have a very strong roster, and they are signing from other teams their leaders, so its difficult to compete as a block against Ineos. But we were able to put a good block together, and yeah, it worked out.

Yeah, it was a coincidence (laughs). It was the last time trial, and that was when we kind of said, OK, boom, now we won the Tour, and we celebrated. Also, that is an area of the world with some of the best wines some are $3,000 a bottle. Im crazy about wine, so that area was very special because of Tadej, because of the wine and because of my last name (laughs).

He has an amazing recovery capacity. Each stage of the Tour is like (playing) about three soccer games, or five American football games. So, imagine playing five games for 21 days in a row. By day 10, many players would be gone, right? Only the best, the fittest ones, will make it to day seven, 10 and so on. This is how fit these cyclists are. Their (physiologic) machinery is some of the best you will ever find in humans. These athletes and marathon runners, but probably more so cyclists, because they have to recover between stages.

And while everybody might start (a stage) at 100%, some people finish at 60% because they go lower and lower and lower. And maybe Tadej finishes at 80%, so that 20% extra at the end is what makes one of his parameters. Contenders at the Tour all recover well. But at the same time, you also have other physiological capabilities which are the ability to clear lactate, to have very good mitochondrial function. You need to have a very economical and efficient engine, but its both the recovery capacity and the ability to go at a very hard pace without utilizing a lot of energy.

No, we didnt do that this year at the Tour because the logistics have been difficult. We (Angelo DAlessandro, PhD, Travis Nemkov, PhD, and San Milln) are developing the first metabolomics platform in the world of sports. Were very close to the finish line. We learned a lot from last year, but from this year also. We did a training camp and at another race, so we looked at more parameters, and all of it keeps telling us the same story: Tadejs recovery capacity and mitochondrial function are spectacular, at a whole different level. He has an ability to burn fat and use fuels very efficiently.

Its like the 23andMe or the DNA test kits you can buy in the supermarket and do yourself and send through the mail to a laboratory. In a few days you get the whole report. This (platform) would be for metabolomics, which is more precise than genetics. Genetics is the science of probability, and metabolomics is the science of reality.

Genetics is the science of probability, and metabolomics is the science of reality. Inigo San Millan

In genetic testing, especially for sports, the accuracy might be less than 20%. A few years ago, athletes would get these genetic tests and they showed, Oh, youre not a good sprinter or Youre not a good climber or You dont have much strength or power. Thats only because a few genes showed that, but you can improve the signal, the expression, of those genes through training, through nutrition, through recovery, through the right psychology. This is where you can transform a normal athlete into a very good athlete. And this is what we capture through metabolomics.

Genes are transcribed into proteins, and proteins into multiple biological actions. So, the genes are the very first step of the journey, but by no means do they mean an athlete is going to become something. Thats why the accuracy is less than 20%, whereas in metabolomics its, Hey, this is who you are right now, and now we know how you can improve.

This is what were developing. Its a platform where someone can send a blood sample put on a small card before and after exercise, and we can then give them those metabolomic parameters.

Yes, exactly, so we know the upper levels of human physiology and metabolic health.

It was really bad. And 10 or 15 kilometers later, there was another bad crash, and I forget in which of them Tadej received a minor cut. It didnt affect him much.

We have patterns or signatures at the research level we call them signatures and this is what we see as who you are now. With this, we can help athletes to improve. At the same time and this is our ultimate goal we want to take this into the fitness, wellness and even the clinical space. Because with the lessons we have learned from these athletes, we can understand the many pathologies people are having at the metabolic level, as athletes are the absolute gold standard of metabolic health.

For example, people with Type 2 diabetes are at the opposite metabolic pole of someone like Pogaar. They dont burn fat very well at all, they dont burn glucose. They have very poor mitochondrial function, and they have inflammation, whereas Pogaar is completely the opposite. This is something Ive been pushing at the university for years, since I arrived, using elite athletes as the gold standard.

I think some people are finally understanding this concept that, yes, you cannot understand imperfection if you dont first understand perfection. In my modest opinion, the best way to understand a faulty metabolism, like people with Type 2 diabetes, is to in the first place understand how does a perfect metabolism work? And who do you go to to understand that? You dont go to the sedentary people who, until recently, have been the gold standard. Thats not the best population to go to (for study). You need to go to the elite athletes.

To our advantage we have access to these populations which most scientists dont have access to. So, we are very lucky to have this unique population to be able to understand what perfection is. And now we know better how to get there and how bad imperfection is. So, we can use all of these technologies for diagnoses and also therapeutics down the road for people with chronic diseases.

Absolutely. For someone his age, hes amazing. It seems like youre dealing with a 30-plus-year-old professional athlete who has been a professional for 10 or 15 years. Its unbelievable. And also, how calm he is. He doesnt feel so much the stress of the competition as others. Some great athletes have amazing physiological capabilities, but they cant sleep well the day before an event, or they have anxiety and are nervous the day of the competition, and they cant give their 100%. Its not uncommon at all and its too bad, because some of them could have been incredible athletes. But I guess thats what it takes to be a big, big champion to have all these qualities together.

So far, nobody in (cycling) history has done what Tadej has done at this age. The best rider ever is Eddy Merckx and Tadej has done more than what Merckx had done at his age. So this is the unusual and special thing about Tadej.

From the Tour he went to Tokyo for the Summer Olympics where took the bronze medal in the road race, and he was the one who broke the entire race. Also, we have an American from the UAE team at the Olympics, too, Brandon McNulty, who I also personally coach. He was in the Tour with Tadej. Brandon can be one of the best time trialists in the world. He placed sixth in the road race in Tokyo and was the best finish of an American cyclist since 2012.

Regarding Tadej, absolutely, a third Tour win in a row is the goal. You always want to win and keep breaking records. We are already thinking about next year, how we can keep improving. We still have some margin for improvement, but the other (teams) do, too. As were speaking, theyre trying to figure out how to do things better for next year. This is why next year it will be harder than this year for sure. We better be prepared and not sleep on our laurels.

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Defining Physiologys Upper Limits and Again Winning the Tour de France - CU Anschutz Today

Physiology

Microphysiological Systems: Approaches, Applications and Opportunities – Technology Networks

Microphysiological systems (MPS), also commonly referred to as organ-on-a-chip or body-on-a-chip technologies, have gained considerable attention in recent years. They provide a more physiologically relevant setting compared to static two-dimensional cell culture assays or animal models, as they more closely recapitulate human physiology and the downstream effects of drugs on multiple tissues. The development of MPS technologies has been driven by advances in several areas 3D cell culture techniques, microfluidics, tissue engineering and bioprinting enabling the creation of various key components. In this article, we highlight advances in the field that have been instrumental to the development of MPS, as well as key applications and future opportunities.

However, building a device that encompasses several tissue constructs to produce an interconnected multi-organ environment is no easy feat, as Dokmeci explains, Finding a universal media that satisfies the needs of multiple cells or organs is one of the main challenges.

Also, being able to control the fluid flow between different systems sometimes requires microvalves, which enables automation but complicates the design and manufacturing of the system. Overall, adding more components complicates the design, he adds.

In recent years, there have been efforts to improve the in vitro models used in preclinical drug development and disease research. In particular the use of microphysiological systems (MPS), also sometimes referred to as organ-on-a-chip (OOC) technologies, has become more widespread. Download this app note to discover a gut MPS that has physiologically relevant morphology, reduced barrier integrity and mucus expression. It can also be used to predict drug permeability across an intestinal barrier.

To prevent loss of the drug compounds, the team chose to assemble their MPS using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) rather than polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). While PDMS has been widely used to build microfluidic chips until now, it can cause small molecules to be absorbed into the walls of the chip, reducing the free concentration of drug within the circulated medium, affecting drug bioavailability.

Atala explains that to create the MPS they employed strategies like those used to implant engineered tissues in patients. We first determine the major cell types present in the specific organ, and we use normal cells in the same proportions as present in humans. We also use the tissue-specific glue that holds cells together, the extracellular matrix, he says. The team then combined the different organoids of interest into a single system by immobilizing them in hydrogels within individual chambers.

Atala elaborates, We can therefore test many parameters, such as the effects of one drug on a specific organ, and how the drug gets metabolized and processed, or its bystander effects on other organs. The system, depending on how many tissues it uses, can be designed to fit an area about the size of a matchbox.

This is one of the main promises of the organ-on-a-chip field being able to borrow cells from patients and test the drugs on individual patients beforehand, explains Dokmeci.

The invention of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has helped to expedite research in this field, he adds. Personalized MPS can be created using blood samples, primary human tissue and cells derived from iPSCs, as Dokmeci emphasized above.

There are efforts by different groups in this area, explains Prof. Nureddin Ashammakhi, ex-associate director of the Center for Minimally Invasive Therapeutics, UCLA. Ashammakhis research is focused on 3D bioprinting and the development of organ-on-a-chip models for regenerative and personalized medicine.

In a recent study, published in Bio-Design and Manufacturing, Ashammakhi and colleagues reviewed the development of lung MPS to model the pathology of COVID-19. According to Ashammakhi, when designing a lung MPS it is important to mirror the organs unique organization and function.

This is achieved by designing a chip with one chamber for air, representing alveolus and one chamber lined with endothelial cells, representing the blood vessel. The two chambers are separated by a porous membrane that allows the movement of molecules between the two sides, says Ashammakhi.

It is even possible to emulate the motion of in vivo breathing by applying a vacuum to chambers surrounding the epithelialcapillary membrane, causing it to stretch. This is an important element as stress has been shown to influence permeability of the membrane and the release of reactive oxygen species, as well as other molecules.

COVID-19 pathology can be organized into the following stages: SARS-CoV-2 viral entry by the ACE2 receptor; inflammation or malfunction of the innate immune response; coagulopathy or clotting dysregulation; edema or swelling and fluid accumulation; and fibrosis or scarring through the buildup of fibrotic connective tissue, explains Ashammakhi.

While there are surely benefits to assessing COVID-19 using a single lung-on-a-chip device, as Ashammakhi eludes above, the systemic nature of the disease means that a multi-organ MPS would be needed to reflect secondary and systemic effects of the drugs being tested. The inclusion of other cell types such as immune cells is also of utmost importance in developing relevant models especially for infection-related studies, he stresses.

AI is very important in this sense, it can make the big data obtained from multiple MPS chips, for a multitude of variables comprehendible relations [can be] identified and conclusions can be drawn, says Ashammakhi.

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Microphysiological Systems: Approaches, Applications and Opportunities - Technology Networks

Physiology

A blood test for your body clock? It’s on the horizon – CU Boulder Today

What time is your body clock set on?

The answer, mounting research suggests, can influence everything from your predisposition to diabetes, heart disease and depression to the optimal time for you to take medication. But unlike routine blood tests for cholesterol and hormone levels, theres no easy way to precisely measure a persons individual circadian rhythm.

At least not yet.

New CU Boulder research, published in the Journal of Biological Rhythms, suggests that day could come in the not-too-distant future. The study found its possible to determine the timing of a persons internal circadian or biological clock by analyzing a combination of molecules in a single blood draw.

If we can understand each individual persons circadian clock, we can potentially prescribe the optimal time of day for them to be eating or exercising or taking medication, said senior author Christopher Depner, who conducted the study while an assistant professor of integrative physiology at CU Boulder. From a personalized medicine perspective, it could be groundbreaking.

For decades, researchers have known that a central master clock in a region of the brain called the hypothalamus helps to regulate the bodys 24-hour cycle, including when we naturally feel sleepy at night and have the urge to wake up in the morning.

More recently, studies reveal that nearly every tissue or organ in the body also has an internal timing device, synced with that master clock, dictating when we secrete certain hormones, how our heart and lungs function throughout the day, the cadence of our metabolism of fats and sugars, and more.

As many as 82% of protein-coding genes that are drug targets show 24-hour time-of-day patterns, suggesting many medications could work better and yield fewer side effects if administration was timed appropriately.

And when our internal rhythm is at odds with our sleep-wake cycle, that can boost risk of an array of diseases, said study co-author Ken Wright, a professor of integrative physiology and director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at CU Boulder.

If we want to be able to fix the timing of a persons circadian rhythm, we need to know what that timing is, he said. Right now, we do not have an easy way to do that.

Even among healthy people, sleep-wake cycles can vary by four to six hours.

Simply asking someone, are you a morning lark, a night owl or somewhere in-between? can provide hints to what a persons circadian cycle is.

But the only way to precisely gauge the timing of an individuals circadian clock (including where the peaks and troughs of their daily rhythm) is to perform a dim-light melatonin assessment. This involves keeping the person in dim light and drawing blood or saliva hourly for up to 24 hours to measure melatoninthe hormone that naturally increases in the body to signal bedtime and wanes to help wake us up.

In pursuit of a more precise and practical test, Wright and Depner brought 16 volunteers to live in a sleep lab on the CU Anschutz Medical campus in Aurora for 14 days under tightly controlled conditions.

In addition to testing their blood for melatonin hourly, they also used a method called metabolomicsassessing levels of about 4,000 different metabolites (things like amino acids, vitamins and fatty acids that are byproducts of metabolism) in the blood.

They used a machine learning algorithm to determine which collection of metabolites were associated with the circadian clockcreating a sort of molecular fingerprint for individual circadian phases.

When they tried to predict circadian phase based on this fingerprint from a single blood draw, their findings were surprisingly similar to those using the more arduous melatonin test.

It was within about one hour of the gold standard of taking blood every hour around the clock, said Depner, now an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Utah.

He noted the test was significantly more accurate when people were well rested and hadnt eaten recentlya requirement that could make the test challenging outside of a laboratory setting. And to be feasible and affordable, a commercial test would likely have to narrow down the number of metabolites its looking for (their test narrowed it down to 65).

But the study is a critical first step, said Wright.

We are at the very beginning stages of developing these biomarkers for circadian rhythm, but this promising study shows it can be done.

Other research, including some from Wrights lab, is exploring proteomics (looking for proteins in blood) or transcriptomics (measuring the presence of ribonucleic acid, or RNA) to assess circadian phase.

Ultimately, the researchers imagine a day when people can, during a routine physical, get a blood test to precisely determine their circadian phaseso doctors can prescribe not only what to do, but when.

This is an important step forward in paving the way for circadian medicinefor providing the right treatment to the right individual at the right time of day, said Depner.

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A blood test for your body clock? It's on the horizon - CU Boulder Today

Physiology

Adapting Roots to a Hotter Climate Could Reduce Pressure on Food Supply – Technology Networks

The shoots of plants get all of the glory, with their fruit and flowers and visible structure. But it's the portion that lies below the soil the branching, reaching arms of roots and hairs pulling up water and nutrients that interests plant physiologist and computer scientist, Alexander Bucksch, associate professor of Plant Biology at the University of Georgia.

The health and growth of the root system has deep implications for our future.

Our ability to grow enough food to support the population despite a changing climate, and to fix carbon from the atmosphere in the soil are critical to our, and other species', survival. The solutions, Bucksch believes, lie in the qualities of roots.

"When there is a problem in the world, humans can move. But what does the plant do?" he asked. "It says, Let's alter our genome to survive.' It evolves."

Until recently, farmers and plant breeders didn't have a good way to gather information about the root system of plants, or make decisions about the optimal seeds to grow deep roots.

In a paper published this month in Plant Physiology, Bucksch and colleagues introduce DIRT/3D (Digital Imaging of Root Traits), an image-based 3D root phenotyping platform that can measure 18 architecture traits from mature field-grown maize root crowns excavated using the Shovelomics technique.

In their experiments, the system reliably computed all traits, including the distance between whorls and the number, angles, and diameters of nodal roots for 12 contrasting maize genotypes with 84 percent agreement with manual measurements. The research is supported by the ROOTS program of the Advanced Research Projects AgencyEnergy (ARPA-E) and a CAREER award from National Science Foundation (NSF).

"This technology will make it easier to analyze and understand what roots are doing in real field environments, and therefore will make it easier to breed future crops to meet human needs " said Jonathan Lynch, Distinguished Professor of Plant Science and co-author, whose research focuses on understanding the basis of plant adaptation to drought and low soil fertility.

DIRT/3D uses a motorized camera set-up that takes 2,000 images per root from every perspective. It uses a cluster of 10 Raspberry Pi micro-computers to synchronize the image capture from 10 cameras and then transfers the data to the CyVerse Data Store the national cyberinfrastructure for academic researchers for 3D reconstruction.

The system generates a 3D point cloud that represents every root node and whorl "a digital twin of the root system," according to Bucksch, that can be studied, stored, and compared.

The data collection takes only a few minutes, which is comparable to an MRI or X-Ray machine. But the rig only costs a few thousand dollars to build, as opposed to half a million, making the technology scalable to perform high-throughput measurements of thousands of specimens, which is needed to develop new crop plants for farmers. Yet, the 3D scanner is also enabling basic science and addresses the problem of pre-selection bias because of sample limitations in plant biology.

"Biologists primarily look at the one root structure that is most common what we call the dominant root phenotype," Bucksch explained. "But people forgot about all of the other phenotypes. They might have a function and a role to fulfill. But we just call it noise," Bucksch said. "Our system will look into that noise in 3D and see what functions these roots might have."

Individuals who use DIRT/3D to image roots will soon be able to upload their data to a service called PlantIT that can perform the same analyses that Bucksch and his collaborators describe in their recent paper, providing information on a wide range of traits from young nodal root length to root system eccentricity. This data lets researchers and breeders compare the root systems of plants from the same or different seeds.

The framework is made possible by massive number-crunching capabilities behind the scenes. These are provided by the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) which receives massive amounts of data from the CyVerse Cyberinfrastructure for computing.

Though it takes only five minutes to image a root crown, the data processing to create the point cloud and quantify the features takes several hours and requires many processors computing in parallel. Bucksch uses the NSF-funded Stampede2 supercomputer at TACC through an allocation from the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) to enable his research and power the public DIRT/2D and DIRT/3D servers.

DIRT/3D is an evolution on a previous 2D version of the software that can derive information about roots using only a mobile phone camera. Since it launched in 2016, DIRT/2D has proven to be a useful tool for the field. Hundreds of plant scientists worldwide use it, including researchers at leading agribusinesses.

The project is part of ARPA-E's ROOTS program, which is working to develop new technologies that increase carbon storage within the soil and root systems of plants.

"The DIRT/3D platform enables researchers to identify novel root traits in crops, and breed plants with deeper, more extensive roots," said ARPA-E ROOTS Program Director Dr. David Babson. "The development of these kind of technologies will help promote climate change mitigation and resilience while also giving farmers the tools to lower costs and increase crop productivity. We're excited to see the progress that the team at PSU and UGA has made over the course of their award."

The tool has led to the discovery of several genes responsible for root traits. Bucksch cites a recent study of Striga hermanthica resistance in sorghum as the kind of outcome he hopes for users of DIRT/3D. Striga, a parasitic weed, regularly destroys sorghum harvests in huge areas of Africa.

The lead researcher, Dorota Kawa, a post-doc at UC Davis, found that there are some forms of sorghum with Striga-resistant roots. She derived traits from these roots using DIRT/2D, and then mapped the traits to genes that regulate the release of chemicals in the roots that triggers Striga germination in plants.

DIRT3D improves the quality of the root characterizations done with DIRT/2D and captures features that are only accessible when scanned in 3D.

The challenges facing farmers are expected to rise in coming years, with more draughts, higher temperatures, low-soil fertility, and the need to grow food in less greenhouse-gas producing ways. Roots that are adapted to these future conditions will help ease pressure on the food supply.

"The potential, with DIRT/3D, is helping us live on a hotter planet and managing to have enough food," Bucksch said. "That is always the elephant in the room. There could be a point where this planet can't produce enough food for everybody anymore, and I hope we, as a science community, can avoid this point by developing better drought adapted and CO2 sequestering plants."

Reference:Liu S, Barrow CS, Hanlon M, Lynch JP, Bucksch A. DIRT/3D: 3D root phenotyping for field-grown maize (Zea mays). Plant Physiol. 2021;(kiab311). doi:10.1093/plphys/kiab311

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Adapting Roots to a Hotter Climate Could Reduce Pressure on Food Supply - Technology Networks

Physiology

In the hot seat: U of T expert on Tokyo’s weather and how athletes can beat the heat – News@UofT

This week, Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa was forced to retire from the quarter final at Tokyo 2020 due to heatstroke, using a wheelchair to leave the court. Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev have also complained about the heat and scheduling of matches during the day.

As a result, International Tennis Federation officials decided to schedule Olympic tennis matches later in the afternoon, starting at 3 p.m. local time.

Ira Jacobs, a professor of exercise physiology in the University of Toronto's Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, spoke to U of T's Jelena Damjanovicabout the temperatures in Tokyo and what athletes can do to prepare for the heat.

How do heat and humidity affect athlete performance?

The healthy human body is very sensitive to changes in both internal body temperature as well as air temperature. For example, we have neurons sensitive to temperature changes throughout our bodies, many located close to the skin surface. They act as temperature sensors resulting in many physiological changes. One of the most rapid changes that occurs within seconds of the sensing of warm air is the vasodilation, or expansion of the diameter of blood vessels, particularly the smaller ones closer to the skin surface. That enables more blood to be shunted to the skin surface, facilitating a more rapid and effective transfer of heat from the blood to the skin surface and away from the body to the surrounding environment.

When it comes to physical performance and sports there is a downside to that shunting of blood to the skin surface. Because our bodies give a higher priority to trying to maintain body temperature within a critical range, the heart has to work all that much harder to both continue to shunt blood to the skin surface while also trying to provide oxygenated blood flow to the exercising muscles. The end result is that the cardiovascular strain during intense exercise is much higher when its hot. Therefore, that intensity cannot be sustained for as long as when its done at a comfortable temperature.

Another example of how our bodies try to regulate internal body temperature is sweating. The evaporation of sweat from the skin surface is one of the most important avenues of heat transfer out of human bodies when we are exercising. Anything that impedes sweat secretion or evaporation will have a negative effect on exercise or physical performance. How much and how quickly sweat can be evaporated is dramatically affected by air humidity. The higher the humidity, the lower is the capacity of that air to accept more moisture which means that less sweat will be evaporated. More sweat simply drips off our bodies without being evaporated, and without removing as much heat from our bodies.

Recent research has also suggested that there is a central nervous system component to the regulation of body temperature that senses and predicts the rate of body temperature increase, and will cause us to involuntarily reduce our internal heat production by making us feel more fatigued. One of the underlying theories is that this a protective mechanism whereby the fatigue will cause us to slow down and thereby reduce the rate of increase of body temperatures to critical levels associated with serious damage to vital organs.

What can athletes do to adapt to extreme heat?

Fortunately, healthy humans can quickly improve their ability to cope with exercise in the heat. A period of 10 to14 days of daily exposure to a combination of heat stress and exercise will significantly improve the ability to exercise in the heat. Sweat rate increases, the volume of blood pumped by the heart per heart beat increases, heart rate decreases, blood plasma volume increases, the perception of how hard exercise feels decreases.These are but a few of the adaptations that help to preserve and increase exercise performance in the heat after a period of adaptation to heat stress.

So, Olympic athletes hopefully either went through a heat acclimation process a couple of weeks before their competitions in Japan, or they moved to Japan in sufficient time to give them a couple of weeks of natural acclimatization to Japans heat and humidity.

Is there something the International Tennis Federation (ITF) can do to protect players' health? Perhaps schedule matcheswhen it's cooler?

Frankly, I was surprised to learn that the scheduling of outdoor events like tennis at the Olympics did not start off with matches being scheduled to times that corresponded with reduced environmental heat stress. I read that they have now done so.

Many industrial, military and sporting organizations have standards whereby no hard work, training or competitions can take place when the heat index (an index of the combined effects of air temperature and air humidity) exceeds certain limits.

Longer rest intervals between sets; a longer break when changing courts within a set; cooling stations courtside where players could insert the arms and hands into cold water while on a break these are all examples of simple strategies that are employed in many other occupational and sport settings to reduce the health risks of high intensity physical exertion in the heat.

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In the hot seat: U of T expert on Tokyo's weather and how athletes can beat the heat - News@UofT