16 posts · 11,278 views
Grad student in ecophysiology blogs about science and grad school life. Also probably other things, like tea and hamsters.
EcoPhysioMichelle
16 posts
Sort by: Latest Post, Most Popular
View by: Condensed, Full
- May 3, 2011
- 09:30 AM
- 914 views
Total calorie intake is most influential in regulating adiponectin
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
Today I have a guest post over at the LabSpaces guest blog Dangerous Experiments. In that post I discuss a recent paper that examines the relative influence of total caloric intake, relative amount of dietary fat, and existing body fat on the circulating levels of an endocrine called adiponectin. Adiponectin is involved in energy homeostasis, specifically glucose uptake and the breakdown of fat, among other things. Hypoadiponectinemia (having too little adiponectin) is a risk factor for a lot of........ Read more »
Liping Qiao, Bonggi Lee, Brice Kinney, Hyung sun Yoo, and Jianhua Shao. (2011) Energy intake and adiponectin gene expression. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. info:/10.1152/ajpendo.00004.2011
- August 7, 2010
- 10:20 PM
- 767 views
On detecting stress endocrines in hamster poop
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
There is some evidence to show that hamsters use cortisol as a primary stress endocrine, similar to humans, which would make them a better model for studying stress responses that can be extrapolated onto humans, as opposed to rats and mice, which primarily use corticosterone. There is some debate about the extent to which hamsters use coristol, and both cortisol and corticosterone are present in hamsters, so researchers are currently duking that issue out. In any case, corticosterone is a precu........ Read more »
Chelini, M., Otta, E., Yamakita, C., & Palme, R. (2010) Sex differences in the excretion of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites in the Syrian hamster. Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 180(6), 919-925. DOI: 10.1007/s00360-010-0467-9
- July 27, 2010
- 07:00 AM
- 747 views
Caloric restriction as a treatment for malignant brain tumors
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
Caloric restriction (CR), which is significantly limiting the intake of food, has been known to increase lifespan and have a reducing effect on non-invasive tumors. CR limits blood glucose levels and forces the body to dip into its fat reserves for energy. These fat deposits are broken down into ketones, which provide an alternate source of fuel for the electron transport chain in the mitochondria. [...]... Read more »
Shelton, L., Huysentruyt, L., Mukherjee, P., & Seyfried, T. (2010) Calorie restriction as an anti-invasive therapy for malignant brain cancer in the VM mouse. ASN NEURO, 2(3), 171-177. DOI: 10.1042/AN20100002
- July 26, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 669 views
Stress endocrine pathway may have preceded vertebrate evolution.
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
Steroid endocrines are all derivatives of cholesterol, and are responsible for metabolism, homeostasis, growth, and reproduction. Some steroid endocrines include the sex endocrines that are responsible for reproduction and the development of secondary sex characteristics, and aldosterone which is important in ion homeostasis. Corticosteroids are also steroid hormones. I’ve blogged about the importance of corticosteroids [...]... Read more »
Close, D., Yun, S., McCormick, S., Wildbill, A., & Li, W. (2010) 11-Deoxycortisol is a corticosteroid hormone in the lamprey. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0914026107
- July 23, 2010
- 11:13 AM
- 685 views
Methods Fail: Testing the pre-menopausal cougar hypothesis.
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
ScienceDaily has an article from earlier this month, Ticking Biological Clock Increases Women's Libido, New Research Shows, that claims that women who are approaching menopause become "more willing to engage in a variety of sexual activities to capitalize on their remaining childbearing years" and that they are more prone to one night stands and "adventurous bedroom behavior" than their younger counterparts.... Read more »
Easton, J., Confer, J., Goetz, C., & Buss, D. (2010) Reproduction expediting: Sexual motivations, fantasies, and the ticking biological clock. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(5), 516-520. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.05.018
- July 22, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 571 views
Menopause as an evolutionary strategy.
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
Okay, this blog is going to get to the core of a topic I find insanely interesting, which is the fact that humans generally live a long, loooong time past their reproductive years. I mean yeah, men can keep churning out the sperm in their old age, but women can sometimes live twice as long [...]... Read more »
Rashidi, A., & Shanley, D. (2009) Evolution of the menopause: life histories and mechanisms. Menopause International, 15(1), 26-30. DOI: 10.1258/mi.2009.009005
- July 20, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 746 views
Determining the phylogeny of Panthera palaeosinensis.
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
The feline subfamily Pantherinae is comprised of the so-called “big cats” and includes the four extant species of the Panthera genus (tigers, lions, jaguars, and leopards), which are set apart by their unique ability to roar, and also the two species of clouded leopards and the snow leopard. There is some debate as to whether [...]... Read more »
MAZÁK, J. (2010) What is Panthera palaeosinensis? . Mammal Review, 40(1), 90-102. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2907.2009.00151.x
- July 19, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 576 views
The continued increase in human longevity
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
I have a raging science crush on Tom Kirkwood, the director of the Institute for Ageing and Health at Newcastle University. I was lucky enough to read one of his manuscripts in the review stage several years ago, and ever since then I’ve been absolutely hooked on his work on human aging. In undergrad I [...]... Read more »
Kirkwood, T. (2008) A systematic look at an old problem. Nature, 451(7179), 644-647. DOI: 10.1038/451644a
- July 17, 2010
- 09:00 AM
- 669 views
Rodent Saturday!
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
Now, for my contribution to Saturday’s rodent blog, I will tell you about a new mouse species of the South American Akodon genus that was described earlier this year by Braun and colleagues in New species of Akodon (Rodentia: Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) from central Argentina.... Read more »
Braun, J., Mares, M., Coyner, B., & Van Den Bussche, R. (2010) New species of Akodon (Rodentia: Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) from central Argentina. Journal of Mammalogy, 91(2), 387-400. DOI: 10.1644/09-MAMM-A-048.1
- July 15, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 912 views
Not exactly breaking news: sex reduces anxiety!
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
Despite causing elevated levels of corticosteroids, physical activity results in an increase in mental health and brain function for most people. This phenomenon has recently been linked to the idea that exercise is mentally linked to personal reward.... Read more »
Leuner, B., Glasper, E., & Gould, E. (2010) Sexual Experience Promotes Adult Neurogenesis in the Hippocampus Despite an Initial Elevation in Stress Hormones. PLoS ONE, 5(7). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011597
- July 14, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 634 views
Uncinate processes link birds and dinosaurs
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
I read a lovely paper last night that took to task the findings of an older paper by one of my closest collaborators. I think both papers are very strong papers and I would love to discuss my thoughts on the issue here, but I feel as though the topic might be a little too [...]... Read more »
Codd, J. (2010) Uncinate processes in birds: Morphology, physiology and function☆. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular , 156(3), 303-308. DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2009.12.005
- July 13, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 710 views
Socioeconomic gradients in autism cases may not be self-selected
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
Throughout my life, I’ve often been told (usually by way of consolation) that autistic children are born to intelligent families. One of my two younger brothers has severe autism. I was very young when he was diagnosed, and for a while he was treated as though he had a speech and language disorder. If I [...]... Read more »
Durkin, M., Maenner, M., Meaney, F., Levy, S., DiGuiseppi, C., Nicholas, J., Kirby, R., Pinto-Martin, J., & Schieve, L. (2010) Socioeconomic Inequality in the Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from a U.S. Cross-Sectional Study. PLoS ONE, 5(7). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011551
- July 12, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 816 views
Point-Counterpoint: the use of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ in physiological studies
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
I recently read a very interesting point/counterpoint on the use of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ in physiological research from last month’s AJP:RICP. In Point: a call for proper usage of “gender” and “sex” in biomedical publications, King points out that sex and gender are often used interchangeably when the variable involved is very clearly sex and [...]... Read more »
King, B. (2010) Point: a call for proper usage of "gender" and "sex" in biomedical publications. AJP: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 298(6). DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00694.2009
Geary, N. (2010) Counterpoint: physiologists should not distinguish "sex" and "gender". AJP: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 298(6). DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00113.2010
- July 11, 2010
- 03:25 PM
- 622 views
Mediating burn-induced gastric impairment with insulin treatment
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
I’m trying to think my way through some of the results in Mechanisms of burn-induced impairment in gastric slow waves and emptying in rats by Sallam et al. This article (like almost all of the articles I talk about on this blog) is outside of my subfield in physiology, so I’m trying to apply the [...]... Read more »
Sallam, H., Oliveira, H., Liu, S., & Chen, J. (2010) Mechanisms of Burn-induced Impairment in Gastric Slow Waves and Emptying in Rats. AJP: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00135.2010
- July 9, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 642 views
I also dig their clever use of the word ‘sinister’.
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
It is my understanding that FIFA is reluctant to bring in more technology because they do not want areas of the world that are too poor to afford that technology to be at a disadvantage. If this is the case, then perhaps we can think of ways to eliminate error without the use of additional technology that would sully the ‘humanity’ of the sport. To this effect, Kranjec and colleagues devised an experiment to test whether subconscious visual bias associated with left-to-right reading ........ Read more »
Alexander Kranjec, Matthew Lehet, Bianca Bromberger, Anjan Chatterjee. (2010) A Sinister Bias for Calling Fouls in Soccer. PLoS ONE, 5(7). info:/doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011667
- July 8, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 598 views
I’m not doing a very good job at convincing you that I’m not a renal physiologist. I promise I’m not.
by EcoPhysioMichelle in C6-H12-O6 (old)
One article I did take the time to read, though, is Race, Sex and the Regulation of Urine Osmolality-Observations Made During Water Deprivation by Hancock et al. Hancock and colleagues got an almost equal mix of white and black men and women to agree to 24 hours of water deprivation, during which time they measured urine and plasma osmolality, vasopressin levels, urine volume, and a few other things. I read it, and it had me thinking some thinky thoughts, so I figured I’d write down my thi........ Read more »
Michael L. Hancock, II, Daniel Georges Bichet, George J. Eckert, Lise Bankir, Mary Anne Wagner, and J. Howard Pratt. (2010) Race, Sex and the Regulation of Urine Osmolality-Observations Made During Water Deprivation. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. info:/
topics
join us!
Do you write about peer-reviewed research in your blog? Use ResearchBlogging.org to make it easy for your readers — and others from around the world — to find your serious posts about academic research.
If you don't have a blog, you can still use our site to learn about fascinating developments in cutting-edge research from around the world.
