Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle

Sponsored by the American Physiological Society

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Adapting (or not) to increasing temperatures

Birds are not the only animals experiencing massive declines in populations. Rising temperatures and heat waves, in particular, have been blamed for killing humans and animals. In fact, a new review article published in Physiology mentioned that globally, heat is “a significant natural killer of humans, with the first decade of the 21st Century seeing a 23-fold increase in human casualties from heat waves compared with the 1990s.” If current predictions hold true, […]

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New research on how treefrogs protect their cells during freezing

  Brian Stogsdill, Jim Frisbee and Dr. David Goldstein at Wright State University discussed their research at the 34th annual Ohio Physiological Society meeting on special water channels in the red blood cells of freeze-tolerant Cope’s gray treefrogs. These channels can shuttle both water and glycerol in and out of the cells to protect them from damage during freezing. Check out this video showing a treefrog waking up from a […]

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On the path to understanding the effects of white-nose syndrome

Molly Simonis and colleagues from Wright State University and Ohio University presented interesting research at the 34th annual Ohio Physiological Society conference on their work looking at the physiological effects of exposure to white-nose syndrome. White-nose syndrome is caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans and has been blamed for killing millions of bats in North America. This new study seeks to examine whether pregnant female Eptesicus fuscus bats, a species less susceptible to […]

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Antarctic icefish do not tolerate rising temperatures

Antarctic finfishes may be facing rising ocean temperatures. This is of particular concern to icefishes, as they are not very tolerant of increasing temperatures. Prior studies have shown that this lack of tolerance may be due to an inability for their hearts to beat normally and actually collapse at higher temperatures. In a study presented at the 34th annual Ohio Physiological meeting at Wright State University today, researchers Evans et al., (working […]

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Ohio talks about physiology and disease

Researchers from around the state of Ohio met today at the 34th annual Ohio Physiological Society meeting to discuss their research. Although many of the presentations were not on comparative physiology topics, I found some particularly interesting and thought I would share them with you anyway. Here goes: Dr. Katherine Vest and her research team (Kierra Ware, Yu Zhang, Thomas Whitlow) from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine presented their research on […]

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Mice run better with SOCCs?

The Ohio Physiological Society is holding their 34th annual meeting at Wright State University September 20th-21st! The Keynote Address of the meeting will be given by Dr. Robert T. Dirksen, Professor and Chair at the University of Rochester. Dr. Dirksen’s research focuses on how muscular dystrophy and heart disease develop as well as potential treatments for these conditions. His talk is titled, “Why do mice run better with SOCCs?” No, […]

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