Physiology News and Research

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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.

Brain regions process concrete and abstract concepts differently

A new review explores the different areas of the brain that process the meaning of concrete and abstract concepts. The article is published ahead of print in the Journal of Neurophysiology.

1 Mar 2019

Extra weekend sleep cannot repair the damage from sleep-deprived work week

Think sleeping in on the weekend can repair the damage from a week of sleepless nights? Not so, according to University of Colorado Boulder research published today in Current Biology.

28 Feb 2019

Stress controllability mitigates the negative effects

In individuals, stress exposure in adolescence increases vulnerability and risk of developing psychopathologies in adulthood, such as drug addiction, mood, anxiety, addiction to gambling, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, etc.

28 Feb 2019

Researchers discover new mechanism of bone growth

In a paper published in the journal Nature, an international research team led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report that bone growth in mice takes place in accordance with the same principles as when new cells are constantly produced in blood, skin and other tissue.

27 Feb 2019

Resistance training as little as once per week improves the health of older adults

According to a recent research, resistance training improves the health of over 65-year-olds, and the benefits occur even when some people train as little as once per week. The benefits show in improvements in blood values, muscle strength and mental well-being.

27 Feb 2019

Study findings can help develop new drugs for ischemia

Russian scientists investigated the role of opioid receptors in protecting the heart from coronary disease: the lack of its blood supply.

25 Feb 2019

Fat cells exhibit circadian rhythms affecting critical metabolic functions, study finds

Fat cells in the human body have their own internal clocks and exhibit circadian rhythms affecting critical metabolic functions, new research in the journal Scientific Reports, finds.

25 Feb 2019

New technology platform digitally counts growth factors in single cells

Whether healthy or diseased, human cells exhibit behaviors and processes that are largely dictated by growth factor molecules, which bind to receptors on the cells. For example, growth factors tell the cells to divide, move, and when to die--a process known as apoptosis.

23 Feb 2019

UVA scientist receives $1 million award to map out submicroscopic world

A scientist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine has received a prestigious three-year, $1 million award from the William M. Keck Foundation to develop a new and better way to map out the submicroscopic world.

22 Feb 2019

Studies explore physiological dangers that climate change will have on animal life

A new review of more than 140 studies explores the physiological dangers that climate change will likely have on animal life, including humans. The review is published in the journal Physiology.

22 Feb 2019

New device allows scientists to reproduce blow effects on the heart in lab

A blow to the chest can have highly contrasting effects. For instance, some baseball players have died after being hit in the chest by a baseball, while patients undergoing fatal cardiac tachyarrhythmias have been saved by an appropriately timed thump to the chest.

22 Feb 2019

Study offers new insights into mechanisms of changes in erythrocytes under stress

Various stress effects make an integral part of modern life, and their minimization is of particular relevance.

22 Feb 2019

A comprehensive, multinational review of peppers around the world

A comprehensive and multinational review of peppers/chilis (Capsicum species) with academic and scientific input from points across the globe, such as Argentina, Brazil, Taiwan, Mexico, Italy, Hungary, Austria, and the United States sets out to explore various aspects of interest concerning this horticulturally important crop.

22 Feb 2019

Evening exercise does not negatively affect sleep, may also reduce hunger

Must cook dinner. Need to pick the kids up from school. Have to catch up on my favorite TV series. Live too far from the gym. Any of these sound familiar? With growing time demands, many middle-aged adults are finding time to engage in exercise increasingly difficult.

21 Feb 2019

Scientists can monitor brain activity to predict epileptic seizures few minutes in advance

Elizabeth Delacruz can't crawl or toddle around like most youngsters nearing their second birthday.

21 Feb 2019

Scientists demonstrate influence of food odors on proteostasis

The smell of food induces a variety of physiological processes in our body. Thus, the production of saliva and digestive enzymes is stimulated before the actual food intake in order to prepare the gastrointestinal tract for the upcoming digestive process.

20 Feb 2019

Researchers design pacemaker powered by energy of heartbeats

Implantable pacemakers have without doubt altered modern medicine, saving countless lives by regulating heart rhythm. But they have one serious shortcoming: Their batteries last only five to 12 years, at which point they have to be replaced surgically.

20 Feb 2019

Researchers find potential therapeutic strategy to treat Alzheimer's

Researchers from the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona (UBNeuro) have identified a potential therapeutic strategy to treat Alzheimer's, according to a study published in Journal of Neuroscience.

20 Feb 2019

Exercise can shift human body clock depending on time when people work out

Exercise can shift the human body clock, with the direction and amount of this effect depending on the time of day or night in which people exercise.

19 Feb 2019

Gene therapy restores hearing in mice with congenital genetic deafness

In collaboration with the universities of Miami, Columbia and San Francisco, scientists from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, CNRS, Collège de France, Sorbonne University and the University of Clermont Auvergne have managed to restore hearing in an adult mouse model of DFNB9 deafness - a hearing disorder that represents one of the most frequent cases of congenital genetic deafness.

19 Feb 2019