Human physiology is the science of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of humans in good health, their organs, and the cells of which they are composed. The principal level of focus of physiology is at the level of organs and systems. Most aspects of human physiology are closely homologous to corresponding aspects of animal physiology, and animal experimentation has provided much of the foundation of physiological knowledge. Anatomy and physiology are closely related fields of study: anatomy, the study of form, and physiology, the study of function, are intrinsically tied and are studied in tandem as part of a medical curriculum.
Cannabis is often used as a stress reliever, but a new study suggests that some of the body's stress response systems don't get the message.
Bedfont® Scientific Limited, a world leader in breath analysis with 50 years of industry experience, is pleased to attend this year’s United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Week in Barcelona to showcase the innovative Gastrolyzer® range of devices.
Engaging core muscles - through movement, exercise, or even coughing - may be a key regulator of blood flow in the brain.
As we age, some of the cells in our body enter a state of senescence, in which they stop dividing but do not die. Those senescent cells can contribute to age-related disorders such as cancer, tissue degeneration, and inflammatory diseases.
Muscle strain injuries are a common problem in sports, and injuries to the triceps surae, the calf muscle group that includes the gastrocnemius and soleus, can significantly affect athletic performance and return to play.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), now known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), is a common condition that causes excess fat to build up in the liver, affecting about one-quarter of adults worldwide.
A review in Nutrients examined how bioactive compounds in Asparagus racemosus (Shatavari) may influence cognitive health through the microbiota-gut-brain axis, estrogen-related signaling, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and neurotransmitter regulation. Evidence from computational, cellular, animal, and limited human studies suggests several plausible biological pathways, but key questions remain about bioavailability, brain exposure, dosing, and clinical efficacy.
A Molecular Psychiatry review examined evidence linking cold exposure with mood and mental health outcomes, alongside proposed roles for catecholamines, the HPA axis, and immune-inflammatory pathways. Early studies report short-term mood improvements and physiological changes, but clinical evidence remains limited, and the proposed mechanisms have not been established as drivers of lasting psychiatric benefits.
Interacting with animals can make people feel calmer and less lonely and anxious. A new study from the University of California, Davis, shows that animals play an active role in shaping these interactions and their outcomes.
Researchers found that a standardized 30-second voice recording could predict chronological age with mean absolute errors of 3.95 years in females and 4.41 years in males. The resulting Voice Age measure also captured physiological information partly distinct from molecular, imaging, sleep, and lifestyle-based aging clocks, supporting its potential as a functional aging biomarker.
For over 60 years, scientists have debated a basic structural question about cone photoreceptors, the cells that let vertebrates see color: are their light-sensing disk membranes closed off inside the cell, or are they open to the extracellular space? In non-mammalian species, the answer is clear - cone disk membranes typically stay continuous with the surrounding plasma membrane and are therefore open.
Gut microbiota composition explained more variation than chronological age in nearly all inflammatory cytokines and most physiological measures examined, with specific microbial profiles linked to markedly different patterns of inflammation across adulthood. People with the Bacteroides 2 enterotype showed an inflammaging-like profile decades earlier than other groups and had a higher risk of subsequent disease, while a high-diversity microbiota profile was associated with lower inflammation and reduced disease incidence.
A new study led by UCLA Health researchers has identified a specific type of brain cell and a tiny structure on its surface that changes when the body is under stress, which may help explain why stress can lead to anxiety and depression.
A UNIGE team has succeeded in restoring the defective respiratory protective barrier in people with this rare genetic disease.
Late-life semaglutide treatment slowed age-related physiological decline, attenuated multiple molecular hallmarks of aging, and extended median lifespan from 742 to 834 days in aged female mice. The drug reproduced many effects of calorie restriction while providing additional benefits in exploratory behavior, spatial memory, and glucose control, suggesting that some effects extend beyond reduced calorie intake alone.
Scientists have found that targeting a particular group of proteins in the uterus muscle (myometrium) can suppress human uterine contractions in laboratory studies and delay preterm birth in a preclinical model.
By teaching an AI system to connect raw heart signals with the clinical insights contained in cardiologists’ reports, researchers tested whether routine ECGs could reveal more with far fewer labeled examples.
Columbia University will award the 2026 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize to Adrian Bird and Huda Zoghbi for their pioneering work on epigenetic regulation in the nervous system and its role in human neurological disease, particularly Rett syndrome.
Clinicians often use a medical test called a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) to diagnose heart problems, which uses electrodes placed on the chest and limbs to record the heart's electrical activity.
Jessica Thaxton, PhD, MsCR, associate professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology at the UNC School of Medicine and co-leader of the Cancer Cell Biology Research Program at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been awarded a prestigious $700,000 grant from the Mathers Foundation to support research into the role of the endoplasmic reticulum in T-cell metabolism and cancer development.
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