Category Archives: Physiology

Physiology

Still hesitant to get the shot? 7 COVID vaccine concerns addressed – CU Boulder Today

Image caption:Osvaldo Villagrana, 24, an integrativephysiology major at CUBoulder gets his first dose of the Moderna vaccine.

Nearly a third of the U.S. population is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and 44% have gotten shot one of a two-dose regimen. In Colorado, nearly half of eligible residents have gotten their first jab.

But vaccine efforts have begun to plateau in some areas of the country, with hesitant Coloradans including some college students expressing concerns about the pace of the vaccines development and potential side effects and uncertainty about whether benefits outweigh risks.

Teresa Foley, a teaching professor of distinction in the Department of Integrative Physiology, has heard it all in her classes.

I tell my students, This is a no judgment zone. Ask me any question you want, says Foley, who teaches immunology and epidemiology at CU Boulder. If you are not a science major or dont completely understand how the vaccine works, I can understand how you could be hesitant. Its all about education. To help inform the students, I show data about vaccine safety and efficacy and I explain how vaccines work in lay terms.

Heres a look at the most common reasons she hears for people expressing hesitancy, and what she tells them:

Teresa Foley

A lot of individuals are concerned about how quickly the vaccines were developed. They feel like it was a rushed process, as it typically takes about 73 months to develop a vaccine and this was done in 14 months. I ask them to think about it in terms of a group project. Yes, it may seem it was developed faster than usual. But never before has the entire world been working on the same group project at the same time.

Out of 326 trials and 111 vaccine candidates worldwide, only 14 have been approved by at least one country.That shows the process is working. As a scientist myself, I trust it.

Actually, when you look at the number of people enrolled in previous vaccine trials, those numbers are miniscule compared to the clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccines. For instance, there were 8,884 participants in the clinical trial for the influenza vaccine and 5,803 for the chicken pox (Varicella) vaccine. In contrast, The Moderna trial included 30,000, Pfizer included 43,448, and Johnson & Johnson (which uses a different technology) included more than 44,000.

This is not possible with the mRNA vaccines, as the vaccine does not contain the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The vaccine only contains the instructions for how to make the spike protein on the virus so your body can recognize it and mount an immune response against it.

If someone does test positive for COVID-19 right after getting the vaccine, it may be that they were exposed to the virus before they got the shot or before they were fully protected (which is two weeks after the last dose). It was just a case of bad timing.

This is true, but exceedingly rare. These are called breakthrough cases. For instance, of 21,720 trial participants who got the Pfizer vaccine, eight got infected with COVID-19. In the placebo group, which was about the same size, 162 got infected. That brings the efficacy rate of the COVID-19 vaccine to about 95%. The efficacy of the flu vaccine, by comparison, is about 50% on a good year.

And if you were to get sick after being fully vaccinated for COVID-19, your antibodies would be built up so your symptoms would likely be mild.

Every time you get re-exposed to the same virus, your immune system builds a memory response to the virus, creating antibodies to protect you. If you get the COVID-19 vaccine after having been previously infected, your body will develop a bigger, faster and stronger antibody response to the virus. You may have some immunity against the virus if you already had COVID-19, but the vaccine will give you even more.

College students tend to think they are invincible. But they dont quite think about the idea of herd immunity, in that when we get vaccinated, we are protecting not only ourselves but also others who cant get the vaccine. The more everyone can develop immunity against the virus, the more we can protect the younger, older and immune-compromised population.

For things to return to normal, some research says at least 70% of the population must be vaccinated. If you can get the vaccine, you should.

The side effects are real but typically mild, including pain and swelling at the injection site, fever and chills and in some cases, tiredness and headache. The side effects only last a few days and mean your immune system is mounting a response and the vaccine is working. I ask students to compare this to the potential consequences of actually getting COVID-19, where symptoms can sometimes persist for monthseven in those who had a mild version of the disease.

Learn more about vaccines and how to get them.

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Still hesitant to get the shot? 7 COVID vaccine concerns addressed - CU Boulder Today

Physiology

3-month, 6-month, 9-month, and 12-month respiratory outcomes in patients following COVID-19-related hospitalisation: a prospective study – DocWire…

Lancet Respir Med. 2021 May 5:S2213-2600(21)00174-0. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00174-0. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The consequences of COVID-19 in those who recover from acute infection requiring hospitalisation have yet to be clearly defined. We aimed to describe the temporal trends in respiratory outcomes over 12 months in patients hospitalised for severe COVID-19 and to investigate the associated risk factors.

METHODS: In this prospective, longitudinal, cohort study, patients admitted to hospital for severe COVID-19 who did not require mechanical ventilation were prospectively followed up at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 12 months after discharge from Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. Patients with a history of hypertension; diabetes; cardiovascular disease; cancer; and chronic lung disease, including asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; or a history of smoking documented at time of hospital admission were excluded at time of electronic case-note review. Patients who required intubation and mechanical ventilation were excluded given the potential for the consequences of mechanical ventilation itself to influence the factors under investigation. During the follow-up visits, patients were interviewed and underwent physical examination, routine blood test, pulmonary function tests (ie, diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide [DLCO]; forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of forced vital capacity [FVC]; functional residual capacity; FVC; FEV1; residual volume; total lung capacity; and vital capacity), chest high-resolution CT (HRCT), and 6-min walk distance test, as well as assessment using a modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea scale (mMRC).

FINDINGS: Between Feb 1, and March 31, 2020, of 135 eligible patients, 83 (61%) patients participated in this study. The median age of participants was 60 years (IQR 52-66). Temporal improvement in pulmonary physiology and exercise capacity was observed in most patients; however, persistent physiological and radiographic abnormalities remained in some patients with COVID-19 at 12 months after discharge. We found a significant reduction in DLCO over the study period, with a median of 77% of predicted (IQR 67-87) at 3 months, 76% of predicted (68-90) at 6 months, and 88% of predicted (78-101) at 12 months after discharge. At 12 months after discharge, radiological changes persisted in 20 (24%) patients. Multivariate logistic regression showed increasing odds of impaired DLCO associated with female sex (odds ratio 861 [95% CI 283-262; p=00002) and radiological abnormalities were associated with peak HRCT pneumonia scores during hospitalisation (136 [113-162]; p=00009).

INTERPRETATION: In most patients who recovered from severe COVID-19, dyspnoea scores and exercise capacity improved over time; however, in a subgroup of patients at 12 months we found evidence of persistent physiological and radiographic change. A unified pathway for the respiratory follow-up of patients with COVID-19 is required.

FUNDING: National Natural Science Foundation of China, UK Medical Research Council, and National Institute for Health Research Southampton Biomedical Research Centre.

TRANSLATION: For the Chinese translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

PMID:33964245 | DOI:10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00174-0

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Physiology

New grant-funded research could help improve therapies for sepsis – Newswise

Newswise A University of Kentucky College of Medicine professor has been awarded a $1.9 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for his research on the bodys immune response to sepsis, which could potentially help to improve therapies for the common disease.

Xiangan Li, a professor in the Department of Physiology and the Saha Cardiovascular Research Center, received the prestigious R35 grant from the NIHs National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), which will fund sepsis research in his lab over the next five years.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that occurs when an infection triggers a chain reaction throughout the body. Without timely treatment, it can quickly lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that nearly 270,000 Americans die as a result of sepsis every year, and one in three patients who die in a hospital has sepsis.

Li studies how hormones called glucocorticoids regulate the bodys immune system in response to sepsis. Glucocorticoids are released by the adrenal glands and help to reduce certain aspects of immune function such as inflammation. They are often supplemented as a therapy to treat sepsis and other diseases caused by an overactive immune system. However, not all sepsis patients may benefit from additional glucocorticoids, Li says.

Thirty to 60% of sepsis patients have an impaired adrenal stress response and cannot produce enough glucocorticoids, said Li. But for the others, supplementing glucocorticoids may not be necessary or beneficial.

Research conducted in Lis lab provides a proof of concept that it could actually be harmful. Septic mice were treated with glucocorticoids and those with impaired adrenal stress responses had better outcomes, but those with normal adrenal stress responses experienced increased mortality as a result of the therapy.

Li says the findings provide an explanation for why the current glucocorticoid therapy for sepsis is controversial, as the therapy is given to patients without considering the status of adrenal insufficiency. Li proposes that before giving glucocorticoids to septic patients, a precision medicine approach should be taken to identify whether or not they have an adrenal insufficiency.

Research in Lis lab will continue to give scientists a better understanding of the role glucocorticoids play in immune function, which could ultimately lead to improved patient outcomes for sepsis.

The mechanisms behind glucocorticoids and immune regulation may be different than previously understood, Li said. The ongoing research funded by this grant will answer questions that we hope will improve the overall efficacy of sepsis therapy and save many lives.

The NIGMS aims to support basic research that increases the understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnoses and prevention. The NIGMS R35 grant, also called the Maximizing Investigators Research Award (MIRA), increases the efficiency of NIGMS funding by providing researchers with greater stability and flexibility, thereby enhancing scientific productivity and the chances for important breakthroughs.

Research reported in this publication was supported by theNational Institute of General Medical Sciencesof the National Institutes of Healthunder Award NumberR35GM141478. The content is solely the responsibilityof the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes ofHealth.

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New grant-funded research could help improve therapies for sepsis - Newswise

Physiology

Signs in the blood predict when labor will begin – Futurity: Research News

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For the first time, researchers have found a way to predict when a pregnant woman will go into labor by analyzing immune and other biological signals in a blood sample, according to a study.

The findings shed light on how labor begins, a biological process that until now has been a mystery. They also lay the groundwork for a clinical blood test that could tell women with healthy, full-term pregnancies how close they are to delivery.

Current estimates are imprecise, with anything in a five-week windowfrom three weeks before to two weeks after the due dateconsidered a normal delivery time.

If we understand whats regulating labor, we might be able to do a better job of inducing labor.

The researchers expect their findings to yield a test within the next two to three years that doctors can use to predict labor onset in healthy pregnancies. The method narrows the predicted delivery time to a two-week window, and the researchers expect it will become even more precise as the technique is refined.

We found a transition from progressing pregnancy to a pre-labor phase that happens two to four weeks before the mom goes into labor, says lead author Ina Stelzer, a postdoctoral scholar in anesthesiology, perioperative, and pain medicine at Stanford University.

Weve identified a novel way to use the maternal blood to predict when a mother will go into labor. This prediction is independent from the duration of pregnancy.

The shift from ongoing pregnancy to the pre-labor phase was detected both in women who had full-term pregnancies and in women who delivered prematurely. The change to pre-labor maternal biology is characterized by changes in levels of steroid hormones, factors that control blood vessel growth and blood coagulation, and immune regulatory signals, the study shows.

The moms body and physiology start to change about three weeks before the actual onset of labor, says coauthor Virginia Winn, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology. Its not a single switch; theres this preparation that the body has to go through.

Currently, to estimate a womans due date, clinicians count 40 weeks from the first day of her last menstrual period, taking into account ultrasound data about the babys size.

Clinicians are good at estimating gestational age, which measures the development of the fetus. But there is a disconnect between this timing and when labor starts, because whether the baby is ready is only one factor in the onset of labor, says senior author Brice Gaudilliere, associate professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine. The other part of the equation is the mother.

Although women deliver around 40 weeks of pregnancy on average, going into labor anywhere from 37 to 42 weeks gestational age is considered normal. More precise prediction of when the baby will arrive could be helpful, for both planning and medical reasons. For instance, being able to test whether a woman with preterm contractions is in the pre-labor phase could help doctors decide whether to administer steroids, which mature the fetuss lungs before birth.

The study followed 63 women through the last 100 days of their pregnancies. They gave blood samples for analysis two to three times before delivery. All of them went into labor spontaneously, meaning none were artificially induced.

Researchers analyzed each blood sample for 7,142 metabolic, protein, and single-cell immune features. They then plotted the data against the number of days before labor that each blood sample had been taken, ensuring that the analysis would be sensitive to signals of impending labor, as opposed to signals tied primarily to pregnancy duration or the babys growth. The researchers identified, via mathematical modeling, which features in the blood best predicted labor onset.

Fifty-eight of the women gave birth after full-term pregnancies, meaning the baby did not arrive more than three weeks before the due date, and five gave birth after spontaneous preterm labor.

As they moved into the pre-labor phase, the womens blood showed surges in steroid hormones such as progesterone and cortisol, confirming prior findings about the biology of late pregnancy. The blood also showed decreasing levels of factors that help blood-vessel formation, likely a first step toward weakening the connection between the placenta and uterus, as well as increasing levels of factors needed for blood coagulation, which help prevent blood loss after delivery. Some placental proteins surged as well.

The study also found a fine-tuning of immune responses in the shift to labor preparation. The top predictive feature in the model was a regulatory immune protein, IL-1R4, that inhibits an inflammatory molecule called IL-33, the researchers say.

We were really interested in and excited about the finding that IL-33 seems to play a role in pregnancy and impending labor, Stelzer says. Near the end of pregnancy, placental material and fetal cells reach the moms blood, potentially causing an immune response. The body needs to carefully tailor the amount of inflammation that will occur during labor, Stelzer says.

The hypothesis has been that labor is an inflammatory reaction, and yes, there are signs of that, but we also found that aspects of this inflammation are toned down before labor starts, which we think may prepare the mothers immune system for the next phase, when the baby is born and healing and immune resolution begins, Gaudilliere says. It needs to be a regulated process.

The next steps in the research are to validate the findings in more pregnant women and to narrow the number of biological markers needed to predict labor onset, Stelzer says, adding that the team has already made progress on the latter.

The findings could have other important clinical implications, Winn says. If we understand whats regulating labor, we might be able to do a better job of inducing labor, she says.

The study appears in Science Translational Medicine.

Funding came from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the German Research Foundation, the Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute, the Prematurity Research Fund, the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Center for Human Systems Immunology, the Charles B. and Ann L. Johnson Research fund, the Christopher Hess Research Fund, the Providence Foundation Research Fund, the Roberts Foundation Research Fund, the Charles and Mary Robertson Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute Harmon Faculty Scholar Award, the H&H Evergreen Faculty Scholar Award, and the Stanford Metabolic Health Center.

Source: Stanford University

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Signs in the blood predict when labor will begin - Futurity: Research News

Physiology

Nobel Laureate, Leading Physiologists to Give Distinguished Award Lectures at Experimental Biology – Newswise

Newswise Rockville, Md. (April 20, 2021)Four esteemed researchers will present the American Physiological Societys (APS) most distinguished award lectures at the APS annual meeting at Experimental Biology (EB) 2021. The meeting will be held virtually April 2730. APS is pleased to recognize this years remarkable honorees, who will present their lectures throughout the EB meeting, culminating with the APS Nobel Prize Award Lecture on Friday, April 30.

Virginia Miller, PhD, FAPS, of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, will give the 2021 Physiology in Perspective: The Walter B. Cannon Award Lecture. This lectureship is the most prestigious award that APS bestows and recognizes the lifetime achievement of an outstanding physiological scientist and APS member. Miller will present Physiology of the 70 kg (Wo)man on Tuesday, April 27, at 10 a.m.

Eric Belin de Chantemle, PhD, of Augusta University in Georgia, is this years recipient of the Henry Pickering Bowditch Award Lectureship for early-career achievement. The Bowditch award recognizes original and outstanding accomplishments in the field of physiology and is given to an APS member younger than 42 or who is fewer than eight years from the start of the first faculty or staff research scientist position beyond postdoctoral training. Belin de Chantemles lecture, Obesity-associated Cardiovascular Disease: The Exposed Secret of the Sexes, will be on Wednesday, April 28, at 10 a.m.

Scott K. Powers, EdD, PhD, FAPS, of the University of Florida in Gainesville, is the 2021 winner of the Bodil M. Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist Award. This award honors an APS member who has made outstanding contributions to physiological research and demonstrated dedication and commitment to mentorship. Powers will share his thoughts on mentoring in his lecture, The Process of Becoming a Good Mentor, on Thursday, April 29, in an on-demand virtual session.

Mario R. Capecchi, PhD, of the University of Utah School of Medicine, will give the 2021 APS Nobel Prize Award Lecture. Capecchi won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on targeted gene modification (creating knockout mice). He will present his lecture, The Making of a ScientistAn Unlikely Journey, on Friday, April 30, at 2 p.m.

Read more about these and other recipients of 2021 distinguished lectureships on the APS website.

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: To schedule an interview with a member of the research team, please contact the APS Communications Office or call 301.634.7314. Find more research highlights in the APS Newsroom.

About Experimental Biology 2021

Experimental Biology is the annual meeting of five societies that explores the latest research in physiology, anatomy, biochemistry and molecular biology, investigative pathology and pharmacology. With a mission to share the newest scientific concepts and research findings shaping clinical advances, the meeting offers an unparalleled opportunity for global exchange among scientists who represent dozens of scientific areas, from laboratory to translational to clinical research.

About the American Physiological Society

Physiology is a broad area of scientific inquiry that focuses on how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function in health and disease. The American Physiological Society connects a global, multidisciplinary community of more than 10,000 biomedical scientists and educators as part of its mission to advance scientific discovery, understand life and improve health. The Society drives collaboration and spotlights scientific discoveries through its 16 scholarly journals and programming that support researchers and educators in their work.

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Nobel Laureate, Leading Physiologists to Give Distinguished Award Lectures at Experimental Biology - Newswise

Physiology

Neuroscience research identifies a new target for the treatment of alcohol-withdrawal induced depression – PsyPost

Maintaining abstinence from alcohol can be exceptionally challenging. A main goal of addiction research has been to find out exactly why its tough to give up the drink. InFrontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience,a team of researchers investigating how alcohol withdrawal leads to changes in the brain have now identified a possible new target for the treatment of depression related to alcohol withdrawal a key predictor of relapse.

Somatostatin neurons are inhibitory brake type neurons that are capable of silencing other neurons. They have recently emerged as a strong candidate for treatments of psychiatric disorders. Lead author of the study,Nigel Dao, of Pennsylvania State University in the USA, stated that little work has focused on somatostatin neurons role in addiction and we were excited to explore this uncharted territory and bring forth discoveries of new therapeutic options.

The researchers randomly assigned mice to alcohol drinking or non-alcohol drinking groups. After 6 weeks, all mice then underwent forced abstinence where they had access to water only. The mice were then tested for anxiety and depression like behaviors using the elevated plus maze, open field test, sucrose preference test and the forced swim test. The brains were then analyzed using fluorescence immunochistochemistry and electrophysiology.

The results showed that withdrawal from alcohol resulted in emotional disturbances that mimic some of the symptoms of depression seen in people, including a lack of interest in rewarding things, as well as a heightened response to stressful events.

When studying the brains of the mice, the researchers found that alcohol withdrawal produced divergent effects on the physiology of somatostatin neurons in the prefrontal cortex and ventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Both brain regions are well known for their role in emotional processing and addiction.

Dao states that the effects of alcohol withdrawal appeared more pronounced in females, underscoring the complex relationship between addiction and emotional disorders seen in men and women.

The study is limited as it was conducted in mice; it therefore remains to be determined if these results can be replicated in human patients. Furthermore, the results of the study only revealed what alcohol withdrawal combined with stress exposure could do to the physiology of somatostatin neurons. Senior author of the study,Dr. Nicole Crowleyof Pennsylvania State University in the USA, stated that there is much more to do uncover how it brings about these changes on a synaptic and molecular level, adding that she wants to understand how to activate or silence these neurons as a potential treatment.

The results of this research shed light on the possibility that targeting the somatostatin neurons in the brain, might be a viable candidate for treating depression particularly related to alcohol withdrawal.

Crowley adds that if we can help people cope with the negative emotions that they feel during alcohol withdrawal, both short term and long term, we can help them maintain their abstinence.

This work was funded by the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD Young Investigator Award), The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R21AA028008) and Pennsylvania State Universitys Social Science Research Institute (all awards to Crowley).

The study, Forced Abstinence From Alcohol Induces Sex-Specific Depression-Like Behavioral and Neural Adaptations in Somatostatin Neurons in Cortical and Amygdalar Regions, was authored by Nigel C. Dao, Malini Suresh Nair, Sarah N. Magee, J. Brody Moyer, Veronica Sendao, Dakota F. Brockway, and Nicole A. Crowley.

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Neuroscience research identifies a new target for the treatment of alcohol-withdrawal induced depression - PsyPost

Physiology

Hospital-Level Variation in Death for Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 – DocWire News

This article was originally published here

Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021 Apr 23. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202012-4547OC. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

RATIONALE: Variation in hospital mortality has been described for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the factors that explain these differences remain unclear.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to utilize a large, nationally representative dataset of critically ill adults with COVID-19 to determine which factors explain mortality variability.

METHODS: In this multicenter cohort study, we examined adults hospitalized in intensive care units with COVID-19 at 70 United States hospitals between March and June 2020. The primary outcome was 28-day mortality. We examined patient-level and hospital-level variables. Mixed-effects logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with interhospital variation. The median odds ratio (OR) was calculated to compare outcomes in higher- vs. lower-mortality hospitals. A gradient boosted machine algorithm was developed for individual-level mortality models.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A total of 4,019 patients were included, 1537 (38%) of whom died by 28 days. Mortality varied considerably across hospitals (0-82%). After adjustment for patient- and hospital-level domains, interhospital variation was attenuated (OR decline from 2.06 [95% CI, 1.73-2.37] to 1.22 [95% CI, 1.00-1.38]), with the greatest changes occurring with adjustment for acute physiology, socioeconomic status, and strain. For individual patients, the relative contribution of each domain to mortality risk was: acute physiology (49%), demographics and comorbidities (20%), socioeconomic status (12%), strain (9%), hospital quality (8%), and treatments (3%).

CONCLUSION: There is considerable interhospital variation in mortality for critically ill patients with COVID-19, which is mostly explained by hospital-level socioeconomic status, strain, and acute physiologic differences. Individual mortality is driven mostly by patient-level factors. This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

PMID:33891529 | DOI:10.1164/rccm.202012-4547OC

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Hospital-Level Variation in Death for Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 - DocWire News

Physiology

Newest American Academy of Arts and Sciences members – Stanford Today – Stanford University News

Ten Stanford faculty members are among the 252 new members elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which honors exceptional scholars, leaders, artists and innovators engaged in advancing the public good.

From left to right starting from the top: Axel Brunger, Tirin Moore, Chang-rae Lee, Robert Byer, Fei-Fei Li, John Etchemendy, Zhenan Bao, Yakov Eliashberg, Teresa Meng and James Mattis. (Image credit: Andrew Brodhead)

The new Stanford members to join the Class of 2021 are as follows:

Zhenan Bao, the K.K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering, is the department chair of Chemical Engineering. She is also a member of Stanford Bio-X and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, senior fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy, a fellow at Stanford ChEM-H, an affiliate of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and a principal investigator with the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Research areas in the Bao Group include synthesis of functional organic and polymer materials, organic electronic device design and fabrication and applications development for organic electronics.

Axel Brunger is a professor of molecular and cellular physiology and of neurology in the Stanford School of Medicine and professor of photon science at Stanford and SLAC. He is also a member of Stanford Bio-X and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Brungers research focuses on studying the molecular mechanisms of neurotransmitter release and how these mechanisms relate to physiological function.

Robert Byer, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor, is a professor of photon science at Stanford and SLAC and of applied physics in the School of Humanities and Sciences. He is also a member of Stanford Bio-X. Byer has conducted research and taught classes in lasers and nonlinear optics at Stanford since 1969. His current research includes precision laser measurements in support of the detection of gravitational waves and laser accelerator on a chip technology.

Yakov Eliashberg, the Herald L. and Caroline L. Ritch Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, is a professor of mathematics. He is one of the founders of symplectic and contact topology, a field that arose in part from the study of various classical phenomena in physics that involve the evolution of mechanical systems, such as springs and planetary systems.

John Etchemendy is the Denning Co-Director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and the Patrick Suppes Family Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences. As a philosopher, Etchemendys scholarship research interests include logic, semantics and the philosophy of language. Etchemendy also served as Stanfords 12th provost.

Chang-rae Lee, the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor in the Department of English, is the author of six novels. His most recent book, My Year Abroad (Riverhead Books) was published earlier this year and has received much critical acclaim. Lees novels have won numerous awards and citations, including the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, the American Book Award and the American Library Association Notable Book of the Year Award. He has also written stories and articles for the New Yorker, the New York Times, Time (Asia), Conde Nast Traveler and many other publications.

Fei-Fei Li is the Sequoia Capital Professor in the Department of Computer Science and co-director of the Stanford Institute For Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). She is also a member of Stanford Bio-X and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Her current research interests include cognitively inspired AI, machine learning, deep learning, computer vision and the intersection of AI and healthcare. In the past, Li has also worked on cognitive and computational neuroscience.

General Jim Mattis, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), is the Davies Family Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution, after having served as the nations 26th Secretary of Defense. His expertise is in national security, military history, military strategy, Iran and the Middle East. At Hoover, he is a participant in two research teams: Military History/Contemporary Conflict Working Group and the National Security Task Force.

Teresa Meng is the Reid Weaver Dennis Professor of Electrical Engineering, emerita, and a member of Stanford Bio-X. Her research has focused on low-power circuit and system design, video signal processing, wireless communications, and applying signal processing and integrated circuit design to biomedical engineering. Meng retired from Stanford in 2013.

Tirin Moore, a professor of neurobiology in the Stanford School of Medicine, is also a member of Bio-X, the Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. The Moore lab studies the activity of single neurons and populations of neurons in areas of the brain that relate to visual and motor functions. They explore the consequences of changes in that activity and aim to develop innovative approaches to fundamental problems in systems and circuit-level neuroscience.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences serves the nation as a champion of scholarship, civil dialogue and useful knowledge. The academy is committed to interdisciplinary, nonpartisan research that provides pragmatic solutions for complex challenges.

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Newest American Academy of Arts and Sciences members - Stanford Today - Stanford University News

Physiology

Health Academy in this month’s spotlight | News, Sports, Jobs – The Review – The Review

The ongoing pandemic has impacted the way schools in the county proceed with their normal daily activities. This means that it is uncertain when schools will be able to welcome visitors back into their buildings. We have partnered with The Columbiana County Career and Technical Center to showcase the career and technical programs that they offer so that incoming juniors can make an informed decision for enrollment in a program that will interest them. Programs will be spotlighted each month of the school year. Students who are interested in enrolling in a program for the 2021-22 school year are invited to do so by visiting the CCCTCs webpage (https://www.ccctc.k12.oh.us) and completing the enrollment application which is available now. Any questions about the programs or the requirements for enrollment should be directed to Sue Allison, guidance administrator, at (330) 424-9561 ext. 118 or sue.allison@ccctc.k12.oh.us.

The CCCTC program being featured in April is Health Academy.While the Health Academy is one program, it is unique in that there are two instructors and the program can accept 50 students as opposed to the 25 students that can be accepted into the other programs at the CCCTC. This is because in the health academy program, during the junior year students will focus on learning the basics needed (medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, and nurse aid certification) for any health-related career. During their senior year, students will make a choice to focus on preparing to follow a path for a career in patient centered care or in the emergency health care field.

Benefits of Being a

Student in the Program

Benefits of the program for students following the patient centered care path include being able to earn college credit while attending high school and increased knowledge and experience in health career fields. The CCCTC Health Academy provides high school students the opportunity to explore careers in health-related fields, learn skills, and earn certifications necessary to work and/or to continue their education in healthcare. Students enrolled in Health Academy have the opportunity to complete clinicals during their school day which provides them with experiences they would encounter when they enter the workforce in patient care facilities and hospital settings. The need for highly qualified healthcare workers is increasing which means when students complete the health academy program, they have many opportunities awaiting them in the field. Most CCCTC health academy students are already working as State Tested Nursing Assistants, Childcare Providers, or Patient Care Technicians before they graduate high school and are earning on average $10.00 -$15.00 per hour. Area Long Term Care Facilities and Healthcare Agencies recruit regularly from the Health Academy program at the CCCTC.

For those who choose to follow the emergency health care path, the focus is on learning basic emergency health care. The path that a student could follow in the emergency health care industry is starting at the entry level position of EMT which allows the students to work in the field as they prepare to become a Paramedic, Flight Medic, RN, or Firefighter. Enrollment in this program includes training students to respond to prehospital emergencies as well as providing interfacility transports.In addition, CCCTC students are given the opportunity to garner real-life experience by completing clinical rotations at several private EMS agencies, fire departments, and at East Liverpool CityHospital. The great thing about enrolling in the Health Academy program is that students who choose the focus of emergency health care during their senior year have the opportunity to become certified as Emergency Medical Technicians and work for an emergency medical response company or a fire department upon graduation and passing the required test.

Credentials and

Articulation

Agreements for

the Program

Students in the health academy earn credentials and certifications during both junior and senior year. During the junior year, students can earn STNA certification through the Ohio Department of Health. They also can earn their CPR/ First Aid through AHA. During the senior year, students again take a CPR and first aid class to become certified as healthcare providers. They also can earn additional certifications. The first is the Patient Care Technician certification (CPCT/A)through the National Healthcareer Association. A second certification they can earn is the Phlebotomy Technician (CPT) certification also through the National Healthcareer Association. Finally, seniors also become certified as Childcare Providers through the Ohio Department of Job and Family services. In addition, those following the emergency health care path can earn their EMT certification.

The Health Academy also boasts some amazing articulation agreements that can help students further their career in the health care field at a fraction of the cost. Those who choose to enroll in the adult education program at the Columbiana County Career and Technical Center are eligible to receive a $4,000 scholarship to the Practical Nursing Program which is a 12 month program that prepares students to sit for the NCLEX and then practice as a Practical Nurse. There are also articulation agreements with Youngstown State University, Ohio Valley College of Technology, and Eastern Gateway Community College. Upon meeting the requirements of the agreements, students can earn 6 credit hours toward various degrees (AAS; BSAS; BSN; BSRC) at Youngstown State University, 7 credits toward an Associate of Applied Business degree at Ohio Valley College of Technology, and 5+ credits toward an Associates of Applied Science- Laboratory Technician degree or 10 credits toward various degrees at Eastern Gateway Community College.

Student Spotlights

Since the Health Academy program is unique in that it has two instructors with two different career paths and a capacity of 50 students, each of the instructors chose an exemplary student to highlight.

Exemplary Student for Health Academy-

Patient Centered Care

Brooklyn Funari is the exemplary student for the Patient Centered Care path of Health Academy. Brooklyn is a senior from Columbiana High School. Brooklyn has already earned several certifications including CPR and First Aid certification as well as Child Care Certification. She earned her State Tested Nurse Aide certification earlierthis school year and is currently working through the CCCTC work placement program as an STNA in a long-term care facility. Soon, Brooklyn will be taking the exam to become a Patient Care Technician through the National HealthCareer Association. She is also enrolled in the Phlebotomy Certification Program and is expected to become a certified phlebotomist by the end of the school year. Brooklyn has been accepted into the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Kent State University main campus and will begin her nursingclasses this coming fall. Mrs. Dawson states, Brooklyn is an excellent student, is very mindful of her work and is helpful to all of the other students in the class. She is also the class president for the Health Academy CTSO organization. Brooklyn has demonstrated her leadership abilities by taking charge of sophomore visits and CTSO meetings. She isalso a member of the SkillsUSA Health Knowledge Bowl team that qualified for state competition. I am very proud of everything that Brooklyn has accomplished this year. I am confident that she will do well in the nursing program as well as in life. At the CCCTC, Brooklyn is a member of National Technical Honor Society where she holds the office of Vice President. She is also a member of the career and technical student organization SkillsUSA where she serves as the President.

Exemplary Student for Health Academy-

Emergency Health Care

Kaylee Colkitt was chosen as the exemplary student for the Health Academy- Emergency Health Care path. She is a junior from Leetonia High School. Mr. Burns describes Kaylee as an excellent student, with great attendance and displays respect for those around her. She has earned the American Heart Association Heartsaver First Aid CPR certification and is currently working on obtaining a State Tested Nurse Aide certification. Kaylees goal is to earn her STNA, EMT, and Phlebotomy certifications by the time she graduates next year. Upon graduation, Kaylee wants to attend the LPN and RN adult education programs offered by the CCCTC with a long-term goal of becoming an OB/GYN nurse. An excellent student, Kaylee has maintained a 4.0 gpa for many years. In addition, she has been active in sports and activities during her high school career. At Leetonia, Kaylee was a member of the Spanish Club. She also participated as a member of several sports teams including cross country, track, and basketball. At the CCCTC, she is a member of SkillsUSA and will be inducted into the National Technical Honor Society in May. In her free time, she likes to volunteer at the Columbiana County Dog Poundand do peoples hair. In addition to attending post-secondary schooling, Kaylee plans to travel after graduation.

Instructor Spotlights

Health Academy-

Patient Centered

Care

Pamela Dawson is the Health Academy-Patient Centered Care instructor. A lifelong resident of East Liverpool, she graduated from East Liverpool High School and only left the area for the four years that she lived in Columbus while attending the Ohio State University. Mrs. Dawson has a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the Ohio State University and a Masters degree in Career and Technical Education from Kent State University. A registered nurse for 34 years, Mrs. Dawson worked in long-term care and critical care for part of her career prior to becoming a teacher. The last 23 years have been spent in the classroom teaching high school health academy. She holds many certifications including nurse aide instructor through the Ohio Department of Health, Phlebotomy instructor, and a Patient Care Technician instructor through the National HealthCareer Association. She also dedicates her time to ensure that students are learning what they are tested on by being an item writer for Webxams for the Health Sciences Career Cluster in conjunction with OSU and ODE. In addition to teaching high school health academy, she is employed as a Nurse Aide evaluator through D and S Technologies. Mrs. Dawson is responsible for teaching the Nurse Aide Certification program and Patient Centered Care.

Health Academy-

Emergency Health Care

Bill Burns, instructor of the Emergency Health Care path of Health Academy, brings a wealth of experience from his years in the field to his classroom. His teaching career spans 14 years, but his experience goes back much further. He began working in emergency services in 1977 as a volunteer firefighter and part time Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Eventually, he secured a position as a firefighter at the East Liverpool Fire Dept and as a Paramedic at Lifeteam EMS prior to taking a teaching position. Mr. Burns earned his career tech teaching license from Kent State University. Like his counterpart in the Patient Centered Care path, Mr. Burns holds many certifications including Firefighter II, Emergency Medical Technician, Hazardous Materials Technician, Fire Instructor, and EMS instructor. Mr. Burns is responsible for teaching Anatomy & Physiology, Medical Terminology, and Emergency Medical Technician.

CCCTCs Health

Academy Program

Benefits Local

Businesses

The Health Academy program is a tremendous benefit to local businesses. There is a great demand for trained, skilled professionals in the health care field. The Health Academy program allows local businesses to immediately fill available jobs with qualified individuals right out of high school. Many of the available jobs are ones students might not even realize are a possibility for them. The Health Academy at the CCCTC provides a terrific opportunity to research some of these careers and gain a foothold in the industry. Healthcare occupations are projected to add more jobs in the next ten years than any of the other occupational groups which means local businesses will be constantly looking for qualified employees. Hiring students from the CCCTC means that local healthcare providers have a continuous pool of employees that graduate each year. Anyone thinking about going into a career in healthcare, whether straight out of high school, entering the military, or attending college, would benefit by coming to the Health Academy at the CCCTC because local businesses rely on our students to fill essential roles in the healthcare industry.

Any student who is interested in enrolling in the Health Academy Program should complete the online application now. Every program is limited in capacity, so do not hesitate to enroll to ensure you get into the program of your choice. Any questions about the programs can be directed to Sue Allison at extension 118 (sue.allison@ccctc.k12.oh.us) or Michelle Fitzsimmons at extension 158 (michelle.fitzsimmons@ccctc.k12.oh.us) at the Columbiana County Career and Technical Center.

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Physiology

The New Science of Fatigue Resistance | Outside Online – Outside

When the lab data from Nikes Breaking2 marathon project was finally published last fall, the most interesting insights were of the dog that didnt bark in the night variety. Among a group of some of the greatest distance runners in history, none of the standard physiological measurementsVO2 max, lactate threshold, running economyproduced any seriously eye-popping values. To understand why these runners were so good, the researchers suggested, we might need another variable: fatigue resistance, which they defined as the extent of the deterioration of the three [other variables] over time.

Interestingly, that same new variable pops up in a new analysis of power data from pro cyclists. An international research team led by Peter Leo, a doctoral student at the University of Innsbruck, and James Spragg, a British cycling coach, crunched the numbers from a group of elite and near-elite professional cyclists in a five-day race called the Tour of the Alps. The best predictor of race performance, competitive level, and event specialty wasnt the raw power or heart-rate datait was, once again, fatigue resistance.

The subjects in the new study, which was published in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, came from three European cycling teams: Tirol KTM, Bora Hansgrohe, and Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec. The 14 participants from Tirol KTM were all under-23 riders competing in the developmental Continental tier of cycling competition; the ten participants from the other two teams were pros. There are lots of ways of comparing the two groups of riders, from simple observations (the pros were shorter and lighter than the U23 riders) to complex analyses of their power profile (the highest power sustained for various durations ranging from five seconds to 30 minutes over the course of the five-day race).

The power profile can tell you lots of useful things about your strengths and weaknesses as a rider. If youre really good at sustaining sky-high power output for five-second bursts, that bodes well for your ability to win sprint finishes and cover sudden mid-race moves. If your 30-minute power is unusually good, that suggests you might be a climber or a time trialist. Overall, the power profiles turned out to predict almost perfectly what order the riders finished in and how far behind the leaders they were.

There was a surprise in the power profile data, though, somewhat reminiscent of the VO2 max data from Breaking2. When they compared the U23 riders to pros, there were no significant differences in the power profiles of the two groupswith the minor exception of the five-second power, which was actually higher in the U23s. Similarly, when they compared different types of cyclists like climbers and all-rounders, there werent major differences in the power profiles.

The default power profile was constructed by searching through each riders data for the entire five-day race to find, say, the five-second window with the highest average power. Same thing for ten seconds, 15 seconds, and so on up to 1,800 seconds (i.e. 30 minutes). But you can do a similar analysis while limiting your search to the highest five-second power produced after youve already done, say, 1,000 kilojoules of cycling during that days stage. According to Leo, a typical pro cyclist might accumulate 800 to 900 kilojoules of work during an hour of training, and up to 1,500 kilojoules per hour during a race.

So the researchers repeated that process to construct separate power profiles for the riders after 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,500, and 3,000 kilojoules of work. Heres how the resulting power profiles looked for the professionals versus the under-23 riders:

(Illustrations: International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance)

As youd expect, the max powers are highest for the short bursts (on the left side of each graph) and lowest for the longer durations (on the right side). For the pros, the lines are mostly bunched together on top of each other. That means that even if theyve been riding fairly hard for a few hours, they can still surge for a minute or two almost as quickly as they could when fresh. Its only at the highest level of fatigue, after 3,000 kilojoules of work, that their sprint performance starts to drop off noticeably.

In contrast, the power profiles for the U23 riders are much more spread out. Even after just 1,500 kilojoules of work, their ability to sustain high-intensity efforts is noticeably impaired. In other words, its fatigue resistance that differentiates pros from U23s.

You see something similar when you compare different styles of rider. The way they divided the riders up is a bit complicated. First they used height, weight, and body surface area to divide them into climbers (small, light cyclists ideally suited to pedaling up Alps) and all-rounders (bigger, more versatile cyclists who can sprint and time trial well in addition to climbing). Then they divided the climbers into GC (general classification) riders, who placed in the top ten of the overall race standings, and domestiques, who placed outside the top ten. Heres what their power profiles looked like:

(Illustrations: International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance)

The difference here is even starker. The GC ridersthe ones who hope to actually win multi-stage raceshave virtually no difference in their power profile even after 3,000 kilojoules. The less accomplished domestiques show a much greater effect of fatigue. And the all-rounders have the most pronounced drop in performance, which is presumably why theyre not given the assignment of trying to win the overall race. You cant win a multi-stage tour unless your fatigue resistance is exceptional.

There are a number of nuances to consider. One is that this data was collected during a real-world race, which means that the power data reflects the particular tactics used by each team and how each stage played out. In a stage with an early breakaway, maybe no one really needed to max out their five-second power. And each riders role affects the resulting power profiles: the differences between GC rider and all-rounder profiles may be partly a result of the jobs theyre assigned.

Also, quantifying fatigue by the number of kilojoules expended is a very blunt measure. Cruising along at a steady 250 watts for an hour burns up 900 kilojoules; but so does cruising along at 230 watts with a couple of one-minute surges at 600 watts. The latter is likely to trash your legs far more than the former, and professional stage racing is full of sudden shifts between low and high intensities.

That complexity makes it hard to zero in on why some riders have better fatigue resistance than others. Fatigue, after all, has many different components: metabolic disturbances in your muscles, altered signals from your brain and through your spinal cord, depleted motivation and cognitive resources. The precise mix of these components at any given point during a five-day race will vary widely, so its not clear exactly what superpower the GC riders possess that enables them to shrug off a few hours of hard riding.

Still, when I asked Leo how to develop fatigue resistance, he did have a few practical suggestions. One is that running low on carbohydrates seems to make fatigue resistance worsean observation that dovetails with other data from the Breaking2 project, which found that taking in 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour improved fatigue resistance. In training, Leo and his colleagues hypothesize that the volume of training you do is more important than the intensity for developing fatigue resistance. And you might try including intervals or sprints toward the end of a longer ride, he suggested: four x 8:00 hard with 4:00 recovery after three to four hours of lower-intensity riding, for example.

For now, there are more questions thananswers about fatigue resistance. But I suspect well see a lot more research about it in the years to come. In longer endurance events, Leo points out, its all about how you can perform in a fatigued state, rather than a fresh state.

For more Sweat Science, join me on Twitter and Facebook, sign up for the email newsletter, and check out my book Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance.

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The New Science of Fatigue Resistance | Outside Online - Outside