Category Archives: Physiology

Physiology

Asking the Clergy: Why does God allow suffering? – Newsday

From biblical plagues to the COVID-19 pandemic, humankind has been beset by serious illness and the suffering that accompanies it. This weeks clergy discuss how believers can face such afflictions with the patience of Job.

Rabbi Mendy Goldberg

Lubavitch of the East End

Any time any innocent person suffers, we are faced with a conundrum: on the one hand, the belief that God is kind and just, and on the other, how does he allow the suffering of innocent people? Some may prefer the easy way out of this moral tension and throw their hands in the air and say:Either God doesn't exist, or the victims were not innocents and they deserved punishment.

I dont have all the answers, but Jewish thinking tells us to look at it from another angle. Its called faith. We dont accept the theology that God is not responsible. For who is responsible for nature if not God? Faith is a most basic component of human living, of our ability to cope with all that happens around us. We can be disappointed with God. Even the most righteous people in the Bible objected to God's decisions.

We must pray and cry out to God and demand an end to such pain. We dont control the circumstances in our lives, but we do have full control over our response to any given challenge. How to respond to your lifes curveballs? Well, thatonly you can answer. With faith in the one above.

The Rev. Jennifer L. Brower

Education on Long Island is changing. Find out how.

By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy.

Minister for Pastoral Care, Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock

The answer to the question depends entirely upon ones beliefs about the nature of the Holy. The tradition in which I serve, Unitarian Universalism product of the 1961 consolidation of the Universalist and the Unitarian traditions a covenantal and noncreedal tradition, has grown increasingly theologically diverse. This diversity allows for many possible, faithful answers to the question.

Each persons unique theology will dictate her/hisunderstanding of Gods involvement in sickness and suffering. In my view, we humans are complex, organic beings subject to expected and surprising natural physiological change through injury, aging and illness. Sickness or a change in physiology is a natural part of being embodied. Like sickness, suffering is not a punishment meted out by God. Suffering is a natural part of life and takes many forms. It is created by many different factors.

Over our lifetimes, we may suffer in mind, body or spirit as a result of circumstance or as a consequence of our choices. I believe the Holy is available to us throughout it all our sickness and suffering, our wellness and the good fortune that often goes unnoticed.

The Rev. Marjorie Nunes

Senior Pastor, Hicksville United Methodist Church

On July 27, my 17-year-old cousin died of kidney cancer. This young man was a very talented football player, an excellent student and a devoted and loving son and brother. He gallantly fought to live. At his funeral his older brother cried, What kind of kid deserved radiation, chemo and pain?

The issue of sickness and suffering is always a difficult one to deal with. Butbelieving in the sovereignty of God, there is no other option than suffering being something God allows and/or causes. Yet, the key is remembering that Gods ways are higher than our ways. This does not mean sickness is always from God or that God always inflicts us with sickness. We live in a world tainted by sin, sickness, disease and death, all of which always are with us. Some sickness is simply a result of the natural course of things in this world.

But one thing is for sure. Sickness and suffering should not cause us to lose faith in God. When people are suffering, it is our responsibility to minister to them, care for them, pray for them and comfort them. Suffering people need our love and encouragement.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS youd like Newsday to ask the clergy? Email them to LILife@newsday.com.

View post:
Asking the Clergy: Why does God allow suffering? - Newsday

Physiology

College of Health and Human Performance – University of Florida

August 17, 2020

Previous studies showed nitrate was helping muscles by improving use of calcium in the muscle. This finding that its additionally affecting power is significant, especially in the context of COVID-19, because the diaphragm is the primary inspiratory muscle used for breathing and coughing, the latter being relevant for clearing the lungs.

The research team at the University of Florida found that dietary nitrate supplementation elicited a pronounced increase in contractile function (power) of the diaphragm, a respiratory muscle, of old mice.

They made their measurements during maximal activation, so the effects observed seem to be caused by an improvement in the function of contractile proteins rather than calcium handling.

Few short-term interventions have such a profound impact on muscle contractile function, as was observed in this study.

Dietary nitrate is readily available for humans and could be used, under proper supervision, to improve respiratory muscle dysfunction that contributes to shortness of breath and morbidity in the elderly.

The researchers gave sodium nitrate to old mice in their drinking water daily for 14 days. The control group received regular water. Diaphragm muscle contractile function cannot be assessed directly in live animals or humans. Thus, they tested diaphragm function in muscle tissues under controlled conditions for muscle stimulation and oxygenation.

The main limitations are that mouse and human diaphragm have different percentages of fast and slow muscle cells. Mouse diaphragm consists of 90% fast muscle cells; the human diaphragm consists of 25-50% fast muscle cells depending on several factors that include and age and sex.

Dietary nitrate seems to exert a greater impact on the contractile function of fast muscle cells. Thus, the benefits to the human diaphragm may not as pronounced as was observed in mice. They also only tested male mice, and the benefits for females is unknown.

Leonardo Ferreira, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Applied Physiology andKinesiology and senior author on the study said:

Our findings are especially important in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic as they suggest that, if replicated in humans, dietary nitrate is useful to improve respiratory muscle dysfunction that contributes to difficulty in weaning patients from mechanical ventilation.

The article is available at physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com.

Read more HHP News >

Original post:
College of Health and Human Performance - University of Florida

Physiology

Acidic niche within lymph nodes plays integral role in regulating T cell activation – News-Medical.Net

In the fight against cancer, the immune system is the first line of defense. The lymphatic system specifically is essential to protecting the body against foreign invaders. Activation of immune cells in the lymph nodes leads to the production and release of antibodies, and activation of lymphocytes, including T cells, to battle infection.

But little is known about how activation of immune cells in the lymph nodes can occur without enabling effector functions that could also damage the lymphatic system.

In a new article published in Nature Communications, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers describe a novel acidic niche within lymph nodes that plays an integral role in regulating T cell activation.

Acidosis is a potent inhibitor of effector T cell functions. Oxygen levels are reported to be low in lymph nodes and that hypoxic tissue is acidic. We wanted to determine if lymph nodes were also acidic."

Robert Gillies PhD, Chair, Department of Cancer Physiology,H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute

For this study, Moffitt researchers used fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging to identify a naturally occurring acidic niche within lymph nodes. Upon further analysis, they discovered that the T cells were the source of that acidity. They say the results pinpoint localized acidosis as a critical component of the adaptive immune response.

The findings demonstrate the potential role for the lymph node microenvironment in shaping T cell biology. T cells activated by antigen-presenting cells, such as dendritic cells, produce an acidic environment that is balanced by the enhanced capacity to generate lactic acid.

"The low extracellular pH of lymph nodes does not impair the T cell's activation, but it does suppress the cytokine production, which is likely what protects lymph nodes from being attacked by the immune system," said Gillies.

The researchers say this robust physiological mechanism can be exploited by cancers, resulting in evasion of immune surveillance by malignant tissue and tumors. They believe this could be managed by manipulating the acidity in combination with immunotherapies such as T-cell checkpoint blockade therapy. However, more research is needed to confirm.

Source:

Journal reference:

Wu, H., et al. (2020) T-cells produce acidic niches in lymph nodes to suppress their own effector functions. Nature Communications. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17756-7.

Originally posted here:
Acidic niche within lymph nodes plays integral role in regulating T cell activation - News-Medical.Net

Physiology

Headwall Partner Purdue Univ to Help Develop Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture – GlobeNewswire

Headwall Photonics lightweight hyperspectral UAV takes off for a flight above an experimental agricultural field.Photo courtesy geo-konzept GmbH, 2020

Bolton, MA, Aug. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Headwall Photonics, a world leader in hyperspectral imaging systems and solutions, announced today that a close technology partner, Purdue University, has been chosen by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a key member of a new Engineering Research Center (ERC) dedicated to significant improvements in agriculture as a part of ensuring long-term food, energy, and water security.

The NSF ERC for the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag) unites faculty and students from the University of Pennsylvania, Purdue University, the University of California at Merced, and the University of Florida with government and industry partners. Staff will utilize technology such as Headwalls hyperspectral sensors integrated onto unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems to create data-driven models to capture and analyze plant physiology, soil properties, management and environmental variations.

We are excited about our partnership and we look forward to continuing our work with Headwall to maximize the impact and success of IoT4Ags technologies, education, and diversity, equity, and inclusion activities, says Melba Crawford, the Nancy Uridil and Francis Bossu Professor in Civil Engineering, and professor of agronomy and electrical and computer engineering at Purdue.

The ERC will also leverage Purdues commitment to plant science and our focus on digital agriculture. We are excited about the collaboration with our university and industrial partners to advance technology in environmental sensing, robotics, and data science in precision agriculture to help meet the demands for food production in the upcoming decades.

David Bannon, President & CEO of Headwall, is equally enthusiastic: This is one of the more prestigious and impactful partnerships that we have undertaken. A core strength of our company is providing remote-sensing solutions for customers within the agritech community. We also look forward to applying Headwall spectral imaging solutions to important problem areas to drive improved crop yield and enhanced phenotype resiliency."

About the College of Agriculture at Purdue University

Purdue Universitys College of Agriculture is one of the worlds leading colleges of agricultural, food, life, and natural resource sciences. As a land-grant institution, we are committed to preparing our students to make a difference, wherever their careers take them; stretching the frontiers of science to find solutions to some of our most pressing global challenges; and, through Purdue Extension and engagement programs, helping the people of Indiana, the nation and the world improve their lives and livelihoods.

About The NSF ERC IoT4Ag

The NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) program supports convergent research, education, and technology translation at U.S. universities that will lead to strong societal impacts.Each ERC has interacting foundational components that go beyond the research project, including engineering workforce development at all participant stages, a culture of diversity and inclusion where all participants gain mutual benefit, and value creation within an innovation ecosystem that will outlast the lifetime of the ERC. IoT4Ag seeks to ensure food, energy, and water security with new systems to increase crop production while minimizing energy and water use and environmental impacts of agricultural practices.

About Headwall

Based in Massachusetts, Headwall is a leading designer and manufacturer of complete spectral instrumentation solutions for remote sensing, advanced machine vision, and government/defense markets. With a worldwide base of end-user and OEM customers, Headwall enjoys a market leadership position through the design and manufacture of spectral solutions that are customized for application-specific performance. With a worldwide presence, Headwall maintains offices in 3 European locations and an office in Taiwan. For more information, visitwww.headwallphotonics.com.

Originally posted here:
Headwall Partner Purdue Univ to Help Develop Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture - GlobeNewswire

Physiology

Fall 2020 classes begin at Wallace State with in-person, hybrid and online options – Cullman Times Online

The usual first-day nerves were there for some returning and new Wallace State Community College students, but for the most part, most were excited to be on campus and starting classes. While most academic classes will be taught online, technical and health science classes that require hands-on learning for skills welcomed students in hybrid classes to campus on Monday.

Emily Knighten of Falkville said she was excited but nervous to be starting her classes in the Medical Assisting program and was glad to be on campus. Im glad to be able to be here, she said. Knighten completed a short-term certificate for Medical Lab Assistant the previous semester and chose to come back to start the Medical Assistant program at the urging of coworkers at the urgent care facility where she works.

Fellow Medical Assistant student Yeniveth Benitez of Hanceville entered the program after seeing the success her sister Yadira had with it. She had a good job and she only went to school a year and a half and I wanted follow in her footsteps because shes like a mom figure to me, Benitez said. A true freshman who recently graduated from Hanceville High School, she said she was excited to be starting college classes.

Second-year Dental Hygiene student, Madisyn Bedingfield of Madison, prepped for the day by disinfecting all the surfaces of her assigned station.

Im really excited, she said. I cant wait to finish and get my license and finally get to be practicing.

Bedingfield said she appreciated everything faculty and staff did at the end of the spring semester when COVID-19 impacted their classes.

I think the faculty did a wonderful job, she said. Honestly, they had us back as soon as we could and were sending us emails and keeping us updated. Even though we had to be online, the teachers were great and really understanding in helping us as much as they could. Then we had to take our tests online. That was a challenge, but we all worked through it together.

Stephen Gholson of Springville was taking his first classes on the Hanceville campus, having previously taken classes at the Oneonta campus. Transferring from Jacksonville State University where he was a business major, Gholson is taking prerequisite courses at Wallace State to transfer to UAB to get a masters in Nursing.

So far its been a fairly easy process to get started, he said. I was able to apply and register in a total of like five days.

Collision Repair student Mario Ralius of Blountsville was returning for his third semester at Wallace State. I really enjoy the Collision Repair program, he said. Its a lot of fun. I have learned a lot and especially a lot about welding on vehicles.

Natural Science Department Chair Beth Williams was pleased with her first class of the day. Most of her Anatomy and Physiology students logged on to take part in their class and were active in asking questions through the online format, she said.

Registration is continuing for the Fall 2020 semester for Regular and Mini Term I, as well as for Flex Start Courses and Mini Term II. Registration for Flex Start I courses will be from Aug. 24-28 and from Aug. 31-Sept. 4 for Flex Start II courses. Students who register for the Flex Start courses complete those online through the end of the regular term on Dec. 16. Mini Term II courses will be held from Oct. 14 to Dec. 16.

The campus remains open for students who need to come to meet instructors, or use student services such as Lion Central, library, tutoring lab, etc. Masks and self-screening are required by all who come to campus. Support is also available virtually via http://www.wallacestate.edu/virtual-student-services.

Learn more and view a video message from Wallace State President Vicki Karolewics at wallacestate.edu/coronavirus.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

See the rest here:
Fall 2020 classes begin at Wallace State with in-person, hybrid and online options - Cullman Times Online

Physiology

The New Home of Sports Neuroscience: An Interview With Dr Jaime Tartar – Technology Networks

Jaime Tartar, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Nova Southeastern University and president of the Society for NeuroSports, an academic society dedicated to the interdisciplinary collaboration between the fields of exercise science and neuroscience. Dr. Tartar completed postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, where she studied the neurobiology of sleep. She is widely published in many areas of neuroscience on topics ranging from basic cell physiology to neurological impairments. Her research interests are focused on the mechanisms and consequences of acute and chronic stress in humans and the impact of normal sleep and sleep deprivation on emotion processing and physiological functioning. We spoke to Dr. Tartar about the need for sports neuroscience, and how this young field is rapidly advancing.As an academic society, how does the Society for NeuroSports hope to impact the world of sports neuroscience?Jamie Tartar (JT): We aim to be able to provide an academic home to researchers working across fields. For example, those working in neuroscience, exercise science, psychology or physical therapy who are looking at brain-exercise relationships. We would also like to be able to provide those working in the applied fields a place where they can interact with academics in the field to share information and strengthen their practice.A lot of people are currently doing work in the field of sports neuroscience, but because it doesn't have an established academic organization, I don't think that researchers right now identify themselves as sport neuroscientists, even though that's what they're doing.

Initially, our goal was to hold academic conferences and we had the first one in November 2019. This conference was exactly what we hoped it would be there were researchers across disciplines sharing information and learning from each other. In fact, new and interesting collaborations also came from this conference! We would like to see this happen more at future conferences as the field and the society grows.A secondary goal for us was to create and establish the first journal in the field of sports neuroscience. We have recently done that with the launch of the Journal of the Society for NeuroSports. We are very pleased to offer this as an open access journal that does not have submission fees. We were able to do this by partnering closely with our university library that runs the journal through a special program that they have.Because sports neuroscience often involves working across disciplines, we also offer a certification in the field of sports neuroscience. This allows academics and practitioners to share their knowledge across disciplines. People like me, for example I am a neuroscientist who is working closely in the field of exercise science.If money was no object, what subsets of sports neuroscience research deserve to see the light of the day the most?JT: I think that's a difficult question to answer. Most researchers would certainly pick their area because we love what we do!There has been a lot of attention given recently to the impact of exercise and physical activity on brain health. This is a hot and growing area in science. I'm not sure how much the general public is aware of the recent findings on just how powerful exercise can be as a way of keeping your brain healthy. If anything, I think that information needs to be translated better to the public.

Jaime Tartar, Ph.D. Credit: NOVA

Most people exercise for the physical benefits, but maybe more people would exercise for the brain benefits. Another area where we could use a lot of work is in brain injury in sports. Right now, the neurodegenerative disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) that can develop as a result of impact sports is not well understood. CTE cannot be diagnosed currently until after death. It would be very helpful to have better translation or research in this area. Better understanding of one neurodegenerative disease can help the understanding of all of them so understanding more about CTE can also help with our understanding of Alzheimer's disease.In your presentation last year at the 16th Annual Conference of the International Society of Sports Nutrition in Las Vegas, you spoke at length about the deleterious effects insufficient sleep has on sports performance. Is sleep monitoring a part of the solution?JT: Sleep monitoring can definitely help in sports performance. Athletes spend a lot of time training for performance and eating the right nutrition to perform better. Improving sleep is also critical to performance, but many athletes are not aware of just how much of an impact poor sleep has on sports performance. Many people, not just athletes, restrict their sleep in order to increase their daytime waking activities, but for athletes studies have demonstrated very clearly that when they sleep better they perform better. Athletes and non-athletes alike need to give themselves permission to get better sleep and think of sleep as a basic hygiene, just like eating well and exercising. It's difficult to gauge ones sleep properly so monitoring this can be very helpful towards this goal.In your presentation on How to manage the misbehaving brain, you pointed out that in hunter-gatherer times, a drop in temperature was a reliable predictor of sleep onset, perhaps even more so than light. Would you expect this still to be the case today?JT: Not only would I expect this to be true today, but a good number ofstudies have demonstrated this to be the case. In general, sleep in humans and non-human animals is associated with a decrease in core body temperature. It has been clearly demonstrated that a decrease in core body temperature before sleep onset relates to faster sleep onset and better-quality sleep.Youve studied the role of acute and chronic stress, a topic of great interest in sports performance circles. Historically, most research was centeredaround cortisol and alpha amylase activity, however the latest advances in genotyping have allowed researchers to look at how genetic difference in dopamine levels affect athletic performance.In one of your recent studies, you investigated how a functional single-nucleotide polymorphism in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene relates to catecholamine levels and allele types considered the warrior and the worrier genotypes. How does COMT allele status affect the athletes performance under stressful conditions? What about its impact on emotional processing?JT: People who carry 2 G nucleotide alleles for the COMT gene have less of a breakdown of dopamine in the brain and especially in the prefrontal cortex. We previously demonstrated that women who carry at least one copy of the "A" allele (who therefore have less dopamine breakdown/ more circulating dopamine in the prefrontal cortex) have better psychological health at baseline.However, with the onset of stress, dopamine levels rise so for people who carry the GG alleles this rise puts their dopamine levels at the sweet spot for performance whereas people who have higher baseline dopamine levels (people who carry at least one A allele) this pushes their dopamine levels too high to the point where they're not performing well. People with two G alleles are sometimes known as warrior allele carriers because they seem to be able to perform better under stress. In agreement with this idea, we recently published a paper showing that professional MMA fighters are more likely to carry the GG allele than would be expected based on population data.

Go here to read the rest:
The New Home of Sports Neuroscience: An Interview With Dr Jaime Tartar - Technology Networks

Physiology

Stomach SIDT1 mediates dietary microRNA absorption: ending of the 10-year debate – Science Codex

In a new study published in Cell Research, Chen-Yu Zhang's group at Nanjing University School of Life Sciences, China, reports that SIDT1 in the mammalian stomach mediates host uptake of dietary and orally administered microRNAs (miRNAs), thus exerting biological functions in the host.

In previous studies, Chen-Yu Zhang's group has demonstrated that intact plant miRNA in foods can be absorbed through the mammalian digestive system and mediate cross-kingdom gene regulation. The discoveries also provide new insight into the oral administration of RNA therapeutic drugs. Although accumulated evidences showing the existence of intact dietary miRNAs within mammalian host, the absorption of dietary miRNAs in animal gastrointestinal tract has been frequently questioned, mainly due to the unknown mechanism of absorption.

In the current study, they show that SID-1 transmembrane family member 1 (SIDT1), mammalian homolog of SID-1 expressed on gastric pit cells in the stomach is required for the absorption of dietary miRNAs. SIDT1-deficient mice show reduced basal levels and impaired dynamic absorption of dietary miRNAs. Notably, they identified the stomach as the primary site for dietary miRNA absorption, which is dramatically attenuated in the stomachs of SIDT1-deficient mice. Mechanistic analyses revealed that the uptake of exogenous miRNAs by gastric pit cells is SIDT1 and low-pH dependent. Furthermore, oral administration of plant-derived miR2911 retards liver fibrosis, and the protective effect was abolished in SIDT1-deficient mice. This study not only reveals the major mechanism of dietary miRNA absorption, uncovers a novel physiological function of the mammalian stomach, but also shed light on orally delivered small-RNA therapeutics.

This work is important for the following reasons:

1.In this study, they demonstrated the molecular mechanism of mammalian dietary miRNA absorption, which is one of the most groundbreaking as well as most controversial discoveries in the field of extracellular RNA research in the last decade. Identification of the absorption mechanism provides strong evidence of the physiological existence and functionality of mammalian dietary miRNA absorption, thus ending the 10-year debate on this topic.2.This work also newly found that the stomach not only absorbs water and alcohol, as is broadly known in classic physiology, but also senses and takes up functional dietary miRNAs. This provides a unique new understanding of digestion physiology.3.A low-pH condition is required for efficient exogenous miRNA uptake via SIDT1. This finding reveals an evolutionary explanation for functional dietary miRNA absorption, in which the stability of dietary miRNAs is granted in stomach, where RNase activity is largely absent in this low-physiological-pH gastric environment.4.By oral administration, plant-derived miR2911 can be absorbed via SIDT1 and can subsequently alleviate liver fibrosis in mice, providing a new therapeutic strategy for small-RNA-based treatment. This natural mammalian absorption pathway of dietary miRNA will be easily harnessed for the oral delivery of therapeutic miRNAs, which could be a potential direction in for the development of RNA-based medicine.

See the rest here:
Stomach SIDT1 mediates dietary microRNA absorption: ending of the 10-year debate - Science Codex

Physiology

Unique high-tech track waiting for competition at Baldwin Wallace University – cleveland.com

BEREA, Ohio - Anyone watching track and field sees athletes who lace up the spikes, stretch, and take off. Practice and training shaves tenths of seconds off times. But at Baldwin Wallace University, a new track aims to give an added edge to competitive runners.

A lot of science, dedicated research, a keen understanding of physiology and a tree indigenous to the rainforest have contributed to the quarter-mile track at George Finnie Stadium.

We're a far cry from the days when runners traversed grass, dirt, cinder and asphalt surfaces in competition.

Synthetic material began to be developed in the 1950s and '60s, which makes Roger Bannister's 1954 vanguard achievement of becoming the first person to break the 4-minute mile all that impressive.

Some surfaces used to be poured to form a track, buckets of "goop" squeegeed out, said Joe Eby, who coaches B-W's men's and women's teams. It yielded an imperfect, uneven oval.

Technological advancements have resulted in surfaces like the Mondo Super X 720. It sounds like a video game, but it's a state-of-the-art-track.

"We're the only (college) track in the state of Ohio to have a Mondo surface," Eby said. "This is like the Cadillac of track surfaces."

The biggest challenge for Eby is the litany of coronavirus restrictions the Ohio Athletic Conference and other conferences are facing. So the school of just more than 3,000 students has a pristine track with no formal competitions scheduled.

The latex-based track is about half an inch thick and laid over the school's previous track, which was installed in 2008 and lies atop asphalt and a French drain. Workers in May began the installation process, laying it down from 49-foot rolls and assembling it with glue between seams. It took about a week or two, Eby said, and another week to paint the lines.

Mondo Super X 720 has a hexagon shape designed for "the way people move," said Phil Rickaby, regional sales manager for Kiefer USA, which distributes the line of tracks.

But as Eby strode on the surface recently, he sees a simple yet important necessity: "These tracks are built for competition."

Eby - who grew up in Silver Lake and went to Walsh Jesuit High School and ran for the University of Mount Union - has been coaching at Baldwin Wallace since 2015. He knows about competition. In 2016, the B-W women were national indoor champs and runner-up outdoors.

"This was always one of my favorite places to run," he said. "I've run multiple PRs (personal best times) at this facility on this surface. It's always been known as the fastest track in the area."

But behind the speed is a lot of science.

Baldwin Wallace University track coach Joe Eby checks out the new Mondo track.

It's a "dual durometer" surface, meaning it's a two-layered product. The top layer serves primarily for durability, energy return and traction. The bottom strip is a performance layer for shock absorption and energy return.

The track holds a "three-dimensional component of the way people move," said Rickaby, who competed for and coached at Kent State.

Down a straightaway, runners need that "forward and backward horizontal-type movement."

When taking off in a jumping event - like hurdles and pole vault, for instance - "you want that vertical energy return and also that shock absorption as you take off the ground and when you hit back down."

Then there are curves in the 400 or 800 meters, distance events and high jump. "You want that energy return," Rickaby said.

It all comes from the track's hexagon shape that allows for consistent energy return - athlete to athlete, lane to lane, event to event.

Rickaby puts the science into layman's terms:

"If you imagine a bow string, when energy is stored in a particular product, that energy return is very important to an athlete. If you have a track that is too soft - consider sand. It's a good shock absorber, but it has no energy return. You want to have a very fine balance of having a product that stores that energy with the force that an athlete applies to the ground but is able to return that energy without that energy disbursing through that surface."

Mondo, an Italian company, has had years to study tracks. The company has been around for about 70 years, starting with toy and bike-tire production, Rickaby said.

Its first Olympic track was for the 1976 Games in Montreal, and recently the company finished work for the 2020/2021 Games slated for Tokyo. To date, Mondo has installed tracks in 170 countries, with dozens throughout the United States, as well as flooring for recreation centers, weight rooms and multi-purpose gyms.

And it all starts with a tree.

All the product is extracted from the Hevea tree, much like latex is, he said. So its a latex-based product from a rubber tree where they take the product from the tree and then they harvest the raw material and turn it into a running track. Its a product of nature.

The sustainable effort is like tapping a tree for maple syrup. Bark is cut, latex is extracted. That liquid will harden and undergo vulcanization. The resulting surface is anti-bacterial and anti-microbial, decreasing staph infections, Rickaby said.

Surfaces have come a long way since Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile on May 6, 1954. AP

The physiology of the foot is the basis for much of the research.

"As the athlete hits the ground, they don't hit flat-footed; they actually roll from the first out to the fifth metatarsal. As the pressure is put onto the foot, it moves effectively from one toe out to the next toe. The track allows the energy to be stored, and as the pressure is applied and then released that energy also is released back to the foot as it lifts off the track."

The metatarsal bones are one to five, middle joints numbered from big toe on out.

The track minimizes contact time, allowing more energy to be returned. It helps reduce injuries because the track allows athletes to apply less force to take another step, Rickaby said.

Over time, those steps add up. The track's lifespan ranges with use. Some of the Mondo tracks in indoor facilities have lasted 29 years, Rickaby said. Outdoor surfaces can go about 15 years, and the tracks come in multiple colors.

Prices are based on square footage, from half a million dollars on up. B-W's was paid for mostly through donors, Eby said. Indoor hydraulic systems, creating banked curves resembling a NASCAR track for athletes to stay within the curve, "can run upwards of $3 million," Rickaby said.

This is B-W's third iteration of a Mondo track, and its newness compares to the football field turf, which is a year old.

All the technology can improve performance, but it cannot conquer coronavirus and its ever-changing restrictions. For now, the OAC has postponed all sports until Jan. 1, 2021, Eby said.

I feel so bad for the kids, he said. We had our spring season taken away, and all summer theyve been training and training and training, and now fall season is taken away. So a lot of them are Whats the point? Eventually were going to get back to it. Its hard to just train with no light at the end of the tunnel.

When they do get back, having a high-tech track can lead to a "wow factor" for recruiting, Eby said.

"We've got a brand new facility at this point," he said. "I'm glad we got it in when we did."

I am on cleveland.coms life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. If you want to see my stories, heres a directory on cleveland.com.

Go here to see the original:
Unique high-tech track waiting for competition at Baldwin Wallace University - cleveland.com

Physiology

Gregory Carter, MD, MS, Honored With Ernest Johnson Outstanding Educator Award – Newswise

Newswise The American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) is honoring Gregory Carter, MD, MS, with the Ernest Johnson Outstanding Educator Award for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR). This award honors a PMR AANEM member for significant contributions related to neuromuscular (NM) and electrodiagnostic (EDX) medicine.

"Teaching, like the practice of medicine and research endeavors, is a challenging intellectual task," said Dr. Carter. "It is one of the most important things we can do in the course of our careers. Even in this age of nearly instantaneous information transfer, the most important aspects of clinical medicine cannot be learned off of a smartphone, website, or even a YouTube video. It is the hands-on, personal interactions with our trainees that passes on the knowledge that ensures the future of our field."

Dr. Carter's contributions to the AANEM Annual Meeting were a determining factor in his receiving the award. He has presented at over 20 sessions and was always a popular speaker. He is adamant about the value of being an AANEM member.

"The AANEM is an outstanding organization and has the highest quality training and educational materials, including an excellent journal in Muscle and Nerve. The meetings are always top-notch, and bring in a mix of educational and research topics, said Dr. Carter.

Dr. Carter graduated from Loyola University of Chicagos Stritch School of Medicine. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine. He completed a residency for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and a research fellowship for neuromuscular disease at the University of California, Davis. He also earned a Masters degree in physiology there, before accepting a MayDay pain fellowship at the University of Washington. He holds faculty appointments at both University of Washington and Washington State University medical schools. He currently serves as chief medical officer for St Lukes Rehabilitation Institute in Spokane, Washington. He is now in the process of starting a new PM&R residency program. Dr. Carter served on the AANEM Board from 2013-2016 and served on the Muscle & Nerve Editorial Board as Senior Associate Editor. He also was a member of the following AANEM Committees: Research, Podcasting Editorial Board, and the NM Update Course Committee.

About the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM)

Based in Rochester, Minnesota, the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) is the premier nonprofit membership association dedicated to the advancement of neuromuscular (NM), musculoskeletal and electrodiagnostic (EDX) medicine. The organization and its members work to improve the quality of patient care and advance the science of NM diseases and EDX medicine by serving physicians and allied health professionals who care for those with muscle and nerve disorders.

Read the original:
Gregory Carter, MD, MS, Honored With Ernest Johnson Outstanding Educator Award - Newswise

Physiology

Free Webinar: Multi-Year Contraception for Wild Horses & Deer – Patch.com

FREE WEBINAR ADDRESSES MULTI-YEAR REVERSIBLE CONTRACEPTION FOR WILD HORSES AND DEER

The Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control (BIWFC) will host a free webinar addressing the development, assessment and application of PZP-22 controlled-release vaccine as a wildlife management tool, with a focus on wild horses and deer. "PZP-22: Multi-Year Reversible Contraception for Wild Horses and Deer" is scheduled for Tuesday, August 18 at 1:00 PM (EDT).

The management of wildlife in the face of robust reproduction and changing habitats is a major issue for both the present and future. The development and testing of contraceptive vaccines for this purpose began with a porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP)-adjuvant emulsion, which proved highly effective in preventing fertilization. This vaccine remains in use, but eventually the practical benefits of reducing the need to access animals repeatedly for treatment led to the development of PZP-22 as a single-injection, multi-year vaccine.

This webinar will be presented by John Turner, Jr. PhD, Professor of Physiology engaged in teaching and research at the University of Toledo College of Medicine (UTCOM) and Allen Rutberg, PhD, Director, Tufts Center for Animals and Public Policy and Research Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

For more information or to register visit wwwwildlifefertilitycontrol.org/pzp22/.

Link:
Free Webinar: Multi-Year Contraception for Wild Horses & Deer - Patch.com