Physiological Sciences Research Articles

The Physiological and Pharmacological Roles of Melatonin and Pregabalin

Melatonin and pregabalin are two important compounds that are broadly used in the fields of physiological and medicinal sciences. Melatonin is a primary hormone mainly secreted by the pineal gland and plays an important role in regulating circadian rhythms, sleep-wake cycles, and neuroimmune processes. Its strong antioxidant anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic properties have protected it against a wide range of diseases, from cancer to neurological disorders. In this study, the synthesis of melatonin will be widely studied, mainly regarding its role in regulating circadian rhythms and sleep, and its possible therapeutic use in treating neurological diseases and inflammation-related disorders. Pregabalin is an analog of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), with anticonvulsant, analgesic, and anxiolytic actions. Clinical practice has widely utilized it because studies indicate that it is useful in treating a variety of conditions: fibromyalgia, epilepsy, neuropathic pain, and generalized anxiety disorder. This article reviews aspects of the pharmacokinetics of pregabalin, its useful functions in pain treatment, and its impact on calcium channel regulation. The review also discusses indications of pregabalin in therapy, along with its possible side effects. This review article aims to consider the molecular processes underlying the activities of melatonin and pregabalin and their therapeutic potential for the management of sleep disorders, inflammation, and neurological diseases to future use of these compounds clinically.

Unraveling the Secrets of Early-Maturity and Short-Duration Bread Wheat in Unpredictable Environments.

In response to the escalating challenges posed by unpredictable environmental conditions, the pursuit of early maturation in bread wheat has emerged as a paramount research endeavor. This comprehensive review delves into the multifaceted landscape of strategies and implications surrounding the unlocking of early maturation in bread wheat varieties. Drawing upon a synthesis of cutting-edge research in genetics, physiology, and environmental science, this review elucidates the intricate mechanisms underlying early maturation and its potential ramifications for wheat cultivation in dynamic environments. By meticulously analyzing the genetic determinants, physiological processes, and environmental interactions shaping early maturation, this review offers valuable insights into the complexities of this trait and its relevance in contemporary wheat breeding programs. Furthermore, this review critically evaluates the trade-offs inherent in pursuing early maturation, navigating the delicate balance between accelerated development and optimal yield potential. Through a meticulous examination of both challenges and opportunities, this review provides a comprehensive framework for researchers, breeders, and agricultural stakeholders to advance our understanding and utilization of early maturation in bread wheat cultivars, ultimately fostering resilience and sustainability in wheat production systems worldwide.

Scientific terms as a part of comparative tropes of modern Russian prose

Modern Russian prose is characterized by the active use of scientific terms from different fields of knowledge, which act as images of comparison for comparative tropes. Such tropes are marked by stylistic emphasis, as they contain new information for the addressee. Comparative tropes are defined as metaphors and similes of various structural types. The purpose of our work is to analyze the use of scientific terms as images of comparison for comparative constructions and determine their functions in the texts of modern Russian prose. The material for the study is the works of E. Vodolazkin, A. Ivanov, A. Ilichevsky, A. Matveeva, V. Pelevin, D. Rubina, A. Salnikova, O. Slavnikova, M. Stepnova, O. Vasyakina and others. The article discusses terms in tropes representing different fields of science: physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, biology, physiology, linguistics, literary criticism, art history, and computer science. The most active in the comparative tropes of modern prose are biological, medical, physical and computer terms. The productivity of these terms is associated with the rapid development of these areas of knowledge and their role in modern society. Regarding parts of speech, most of them are substantives. By metaphorizing, terms are subject to determinologization. In prose texts, terms often have distributors that clarify, specify or modify the image of comparison. In modern prose, scientific terms as part of tropes perform a number of functions: the function of figurative characteristics of a person, object or phenomenon, the evaluative function, the text-forming and conceptualizing functions. Scientific terms as part of metaphors and similes replenish and update the literature language.

Current advances in physiological science. In commemoration of centennial anniversary of the Department of Human and Animal Physiology of Moscow State University

Hereby we briefly review the articles that comprise the special issue of “Lomonosov Biology Journal” (“Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seria 16. Biologia”), which commemorates the centennial anniversary of the Department of Human and Animal Physiology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, founded by prominent Russian physiologist Alexander F. Samoilov. The main stages of the Department’s history are briefly described. The published studies of the leading Russian researchers, including the scientific research group from Department of Human and Animal Physiology, are discussed within the scope of main current challenges of physiological science.

Simultaneous co-assembly of collagen and glycosaminoglycans to build a biomimetic extracellular matrix for bone regeneration

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), also known as shape modules, are considered junctions that help define the shape of collagen matrix and further promote mineralization during osteogenesis. Many attempts have been made to immobilize GAGs on assembled collagen to modify the latter's surface state. However, it remains unclear how GAGs spontaneously identify collagen molecules during fibrillogenesis in vivo. Understanding the relationship between GAGs and collagen from both the bone physiology and materials science perspectives is of fundamental interest. Here, we introduced hyaluronic acid (HA, a main member of GAGs) during collagen self-assembly, in a process called modification cooperating with self-assembly (MCS). The molecular docking and morphological studies revealed that HA can help define collagen monomer deposition and thus promote fibrillogenesis through steric hindrance or by directly forming hydrogen bonds. Meanwhile, HA acts as a templating chaperone (TC) to increase the local mineral concentration within intrafibrillar channels but does not initiate nucleation, thus improving the crystallinity of formed apatite. The scaffolds synthesized through MCS model significantly improved the physicochemical stability and mechanical strength of collagen-based scaffolds. The optimized scaffolds promoted in-situ osteogenesis by stimulating the osteogenic differentiation of bone mesenchymal stem cells, either in an osteogenic medium, or after implantation into critical calvarial defects. This study provides novel insights towards evolving engineering scaffolds from inert supports to functional substitutes.

The early international physiological congresses (1889–1913) as a new form of communication between physiologists

The article reviews the opportunities for scientific communication, provided by the early international physiological congresses and also touches on the history of their organization and conduct. The advancement of physiological science in the 19th century necessitated a new form of communication between physiologists that could promote both the dissemination of achievements in this field and the integration of physiologists from different nations. International physiological congresses the first of which was held in Basel (Switzerland) in 1889 provided a platform for such interaction. Eight more international physiological congresses were held before the outbreak of World War I, the last pre-war congress being held in 1913 in Groningen (the Netherlands). The source base for this study includes articles in the Russian and international periodicals published in the 1880s – 1910s, the researchers’ works reflecting the main events of the congresses as well as their scientific and cultural programs, and the participants’ reminiscences of the first physiological congresses that appeared in the periodicals later on. It is shown that the early international physiological congresses provided their participants an opportunity and a platform for communication within the framework of the events planned by the organizers. It is established that Russian scientists took part in all of the international physiological congresses that took place before World War I. It is concluded that the first international physiological congresses became an effective platform for exchanging knowledge and experiences and establishing scientific links, which enhanced the advancement of physiology as a science.

Joint EASPS-AAPS conference in Tanzania 2023: a beginning of the pragmatic efforts to promote physiology education, research, and practice in East Africa.

The East African Society of Physiological Sciences (EASPS) identified many problems associated with the practice and impact of physiology training and graduates within the region. The EASPS, in conjunction with the African Association of Physiological Sciences (AAPS), resolved to tackle those identified problems in the region by organizing a regional conference in Tanzania between November 29, 2023, and December 1, 2023. The conference was successful with remarkable achievements, including production of Physiology Curriculum for African Universities (PhysioCAFUN); launching of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) African Physiology Mentoring Program; educational workshops on physiology teaching and skills acquisition; plenary sessions on various inspiring scientific topics for advancement of research capacities and current trends in physiological sciences; presentation of abstracts by authors and publishing of the abstracts as edited conference proceedings in the Journal of African Association of Physiological Sciences; presentation of awards to the top 10 abstracts and 7 other key Local Organizing Committee members and partners; first annual general meeting of the EASPS members; networking of participants within and beyond Africa; and recognition of the formation processes of national physiological societies in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The joint East African Society of Physiological Sciences (EASPS)-African Association of Physiological Sciences (AAPS) conference in Tanzania was a successful event where we launched the Physiology Curriculum for African Universities (PhysioCAFUN) and the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) Physiology Mentoring Program in Africa. We also organized educational workshops on physiology functional tests that equipped participants with practical skills. Authors presented their peer-reviewed abstracts, which have now been published in the Journal of African Association of Physiological Sciences. Participants attended from 24 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia, and United States.

Determining the Speed Reaction Time to the Lower Limbs in a Women’ a Volleyball Team (CSU Medicina Tg. Mures)

Speed reaction is an important concept in various fields like physiology, psychology and sports science. It refers to the time it takes to respond to a specific stimulus visual, auditory, tactile. Reaction speed is an important and fundamental measure in the study of human performance and cognitive processes. Methods. The testing was conducted on the female volleyball players, members of the CSU Medicine Târgu Mureș team. This testing took place at the beginning of the 2023-2024 competitive season. Objective. The objectives of this study are to identify the reaction time values obtained during the testing of the CSU Medicine Târgu Mureș team. Results. The analysis of the results was conducted after downloading the data from the Optojump software as follows: Test 1 Range: 0.532 - 0.393 = 0.139 seconds, test 2. Range: 0.531 - 0.425 = 0.106 seconds Test 3 Range: 0.750 - 0.597 = 0.153 seconds Conclusion. This statement suggests that, based on the data collected from the three tests, there is consistency in the performance of individual subjects. Some subjects consistently have low reaction speed values across all three tests, while others consistently have high reaction speed values. Keywords: Volleyball, Optojump, Speed Reaction

The use of animals in physiological science: the past, the presence, and the future.

Physiology is a scientific discipline of how people's and animals' bodies function that requires traditionally suitable experimental models that often rely on animals. However, at the end of the 50th of the last century, researchers themselves addressed concerns about the use of animals for biomedical science and physiology in particular. At that time, the so-called 3R strategy was implicated where the three "R" stand for replacement, reduction, and refinement. When addressing these concerns, researchers nevertheless realized that a critical dispute about experimental models in the light of the 3R initiative may require further attention to other points such as robustness, registration, reporting, reproducibility, and rigor of the work. The question that has to be addressed now is first whether the use of animals in physiology changed in the post-3R period, whether it led to a replacement, reduction, or refinement of animal handling, and most importantly, how this affected the scientific progress in (patho)physiology. In order to address open questions concerning the relationship between the use of animals and physiological research, complete volumes of the Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology were analyzed every 10 years starting in 1950 and ending in 2020 and compared to volumes of the Journal of Physiology. It analyzed how scientists organize their projects published in the journal and what kind of models they used. The results show that physiological science has dramatically changed in the last 70 years. Replacement, reduction, and refinement were achieved to a certain level. However, during the last years, no further achievement could be seen. It seems that a certain level of animal testing is required for biomedical science and physiology in particular. Physiological studies in the present time are dominated by investigation of the physiological function of small rodents mainly mice and rats with only a few exceptions. The analysis also shows that in the future, researchers must have a critical look at further requirements of their research such as data robustness, improvement of reproducibility of data, and generation of rigor data as a prerequisite to improve our physiological view on life.

A swallowing and breastfeeding intervention programme for small and sick neonates embedded in kangaroo mother care.

Available evidence of oral sensorimotor interventions for small neonates is not strong. Evidence of interventions for sick term neonates is largely lacking. Studies are limited by risk of bias and inconsistency. Evidence of interventions relying on a single stimulation technique only appears to be low to very low. Ongoing research is required.Contribution:We describe a five-component neonatal swallowing and breastfeeding intervention programme embedded in the practice of kangaroo mother care (KMC). Drawing on oropharyngeal physiology, neonatology, neurodevelopmental care, breastfeeding- and KMC science, the programme is the product of collaboration between a speech-language therapist and a medical doctor, and their team. Its implementation is dependent on coaching mothers and the neonatal care team. Researchers are invited to determine outcomes of the programme.

The Cardio-Respiratory Mechanisms Involved in the Diving Response Adaptation and Breath-Hold Training Effects in Freedivers

This review aims to explore the cardiovascular and respiratory mechanisms involved in the training effects of the diving response adaptation and to determine the adaptive changes during apnoea and breath-hold training in breath-hold divers. A sounder theoretical knowledge of these critical aspects is necessary to be able to understand the oxygen-conserving mechanism of the diving response, and the apnoea-induced cardiorespiratory adjustments involved in enriching the science of respiratory physiology and the development of breath-hold training and ability. These insights may contribute to understanding the pathophysiology of respiratory abnormalities and dysfunctional breathing in humans. Furthermore, it may facilitate the development of efficacious interventions to increase breath-holding ability, and sports performance, as well as assist with the management and treatment of various physiological and psychological conditions. This review will be presented in four separate sections. Section one will describe the diving response and its physiology. Section two will explore the cardio-respiratory mechanisms of the diving response. Section three will discuss the adaptive changes associated with breath-hold training and/or apnoea training, as well as the associated cardio-respiratory adaptions. Section four will explore the clinical applications and implications of the diving response.

An early Prussian study on the composition of milk from 1871

Connections between the 2 scientific fields of physiology and dairy science have existed for a very long time-since the 19th century. One possible explanation for this circumstance could have been the necessity for financial support, which might have played a significant role for many theoretical physiologists to conduct studies on dairy products. This study discusses a correspondence written by the physiologist R. Gscheidlen to J. A. Winter, the main editor of the German (previously Saxon) journal "Schmidt's Yearbooks on the Entire Field of Domestic and Foreign Medicine" ("Schmids Jahrbücher der in-und ausländischen gesammten Medicin"). Gscheidlen submitted a review manuscript on the composition of milk to Winter's journal. In that work, which was published later as the first issue's very first article of the first volume (of in total 4 quarterly volumes) in 1871, Gscheidlen mainly refers to Eduard Kemmerich, who later became a pioneer of cattle breeding in Argentine. Therefore, studies on dairy products and on dairy science, although regularly not very significant from a theoretical and physiological point of view, obviously had concrete implications for practical purposes. Furthermore, other parts of Winter's journal, volume 1871, indicate that Gscheidlen tried to connect these studies with his early theoretical works on physiological metabolism. These theoretical studies included experiments that already explored basic principles of the urea cycle from today's point of view. Of course, these works, which were partly carried out on animals, must have been extravagant and expensive. For that reason, it is possible to assume that early dairy science and other scientific fields in Germany around 1870, which were linked to the developing food industry, had a very significant influence on the advances in theoretical metabolism physiology.

A possible physiological role of sclerostin in aging-associated skeletal muscle atrophy

Sarcopenia has a significant impact on quality of life by inhibiting the ability of daily living. Further, sarcopenia is a well-known risk factor for fall-associated fracture and frailty. Therefore, prevention of sarcopenia is an important issue for healthy life. Recently, it has been revealed that sclerostin (Sost) is a novel target for the treatment of aging-associated bone weakness, so-called osteoporosis, However, the physiological role of Sost in skeletal muscle is unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Sost for skeletal muscle mass. In order to investigate the effect of Sost on myogenic differentiation, we carried out cell culture experiment using mouse myoblast-derived cell line C2C12 cells. During differentiation, Sost (0, 10, 100, 1000 ng/ml) was administrated to the cell culture medium. Effects of anti-sclerostin antibody romosozumab (0, 2, 20, 200 μg/ml) on myotube formation of C2C12 was also investigated. Myotube diameter and the fusion index (FI) and evaluated. Furthermore, we also investigated the expression level of Sost in skeletal muscles of young (10-week old) and aged (100-week old) male mice (C57BL/6J). The effects of hindlimb unloading on the expression level of Sost in skeletal muscle was also investigated. All animal experimental procedures were carried out in accordance with the Guiding Principles for the Care and Use of Animals in the Field of Physiological Sciences by Japan Physiological Society, and approved by the Animal Use Committee of Toyohashi SOZO University. Soleus muscle (SOL) and plantaris muscle (PLA) were dissected before and after 2 weeks of hindlimb suspension. Expression level of Sost was evaluated by Western blotting. The relationship between Sost expression level in each muscle and muscle wet weight was analyzed using Pearson correlation coeffcient. The differences between groups were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05. Sost suppressed myogenic differentiation of C2C12 cells in a dose-dependent manner. On the other hand, romosozumab stimulated C2C12 differentiation in a dose-dependent manner. Expression level of Sost in SOL and PLA of aged mice was significantly higher than that in young animals. In SOL and PLA, a negative correlation was observed between the expression level of Sost and muscle weight was observed. Unloading-associated up-regulation of Sost was observed in PLA of aged mice. We demonstrated aging-associated up-regulation of Sost in mouse slow and fast skeletal muscles. Further, skeletal muscle weight was negatively correlated with the expression level of Sost in skeletal muscle. Therefore, it is suggested that skeletal muscle-derived Sost may play a role in aging-associated skeletal muscle atrophy. Sost may be a novel therapeutic target for sarcopenia. This work was supported by KAKENHI (18H03160, K.G.; 19K22825, K.G.; 19KK0254, K.G.;22H03474, K.G.; 22K19722, K.G.; 22H03319, K.G.; 22K18413, K.G.; 20K11221, T.K) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and a grant from DAIKO FOUNDATION (K.G.), Graduate School of Health Science, Toyohashi SOZO University (K.G.), and a research grant from Toyohashi SOZO university (K.G.). This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

SCS 6th Annual Meeting-EEVFA-11th International Congress of Biochemistry and Physiology of Exercise, Athens, Greece, 2023.

On behalf of the Strength and Conditioning Society (SCS) and the Hellenic Society of Biochemistry and Exercise Physiology (EEVFA), we are pleased to present the abstracts of the SCS 6th Annual Meeting and EEVFA-11th International Congress of Biochemistry and Physiology of Exercise. The event was held at the Hellenic Olympic Committee headquarters in Athens, Greece, on 19-22 October 2023, and comprised several invited sessions from international and national speakers on a variety of topics related to biochemistry and exercise physiology, strength and conditioning practices and their application to health, injury prevention and sports performance. These included strength training in high-performance sports, sport science and training-competition load management in elite environments, biochemistry and exercise physiology and prescription, nutrition and biomechanics, among others. The conference also included different practical workshops conducted by renowned academics and practitioners on eccentric training, change of direction ability and strength and power training in professional team-sports, and ergospirometry and exercise prescription in specific populations. Finally, the event disseminated up-to-date strength and conditioning research by providing practitioners and researchers with the opportunity to present their most recent findings. In this regard, all abstracts of the communications presented at the SCS 6th Annual Meeting-EEVFA-11th International Congress of Biochemistry and Physiology of Exercise can be found in this Conference Report.

Mediating sequential turn-on and turn-off fluorescence signals for discriminative detection of Ag+ and Hg2+ via readily available CdSe quantum dots

Realizing the accurate recognition and quantification of heavy metal ions is pivotal but challenging in the environmental, biological, and physiological science fields. In this work, orange fluorescence emitting quantum dots (OQDs) have been facilely synthesized by one-step method. The participation of silver ion (Ag+) can evoke the unique aggregation-induced emission (AIE) of OQDs, resulting in prominent fluorescence enhancement, which is scarcely reported previously. Moreover, the Ag+-triggered turn-on fluorescence can be continuously shut down by mercury ion (Hg2+). This intriguing sequential fluorescence variation exhibits great sensing potency for discrimination and quantification of Ag+ and Hg2+. Meanwhile, our OQDs also exhibit good selectivity, sensitivity, and rapid response toward Ag+ and Hg2+ detection. Due to their high performance, OQDs have been applied to the determination of Ag+ and Hg2+ levels in daily necessities and water samples with satisfactory results. Moreover, a portable smartphone-assisted sensing platform based on chromatic change has been constructed, facilitating the real-time and naked-eye visualization in the resource-confined scene. We anticipate that the discovery of these OQDs would be advantageous for exploring novel QDs materials for fluorescence detection.

Third Pan American Congress of Physiological Sciences (PanAm 2023), Puerto Varas, Chile, November 27-30, 2023.

Third Pan American Congress of Physiological Sciences (PanAm 2023), Puerto Varas, Chile, November 27-30, 2023.

Nature of the evidence base and approaches to guide nutrition interventions for individuals: a position paper from the Academy of Nutrition Sciences.

This Position Paper from the Academy of Nutrition Sciences is the third in a series which describe the nature of the scientific evidence and frameworks that underpin nutrition recommendations for health. This paper focuses on evidence which guides the application of dietary recommendations for individuals. In some situations, modified nutrient intake becomes essential to prevent deficiency, optimise development and health, or manage symptoms and disease progression. Disease and its treatment can also affect taste, appetite and ability to access and prepare foods, with associated financial impacts. Therefore, the practice of nutrition and dietetics must integrate and apply the sciences of food, nutrition, biology, physiology, behaviour, management, communication and society to achieve and maintain human health. Thus, there is huge complexity in delivering evidence-based nutrition interventions to individuals. This paper examines available frameworks for appraising the quality and certainty of nutrition research evidence, the development nutrition practice guidelines to support evidence implementation in practice and the influence of other sources of nutrition information and misinformation. The paper also considers major challenges in applying research evidence to an individual and suggests consensus recommendations to begin to address these challenges in the future. Our recommendations target three groups; those who deliver nutrition interventions to individuals, those funding, commissioning or undertaking research aimed at delivering evidence-based nutrition practice, and those disseminating nutritional information to individuals.

Comparison of Quantile Regression and Gaussian (Z-scores) Percentiles to BSA in Growth Charts With a Pakistani Population.

Introduction: In the current study, we construct growth charts of body surface area (BSA) for adults using the quantile regression (QR) approach and growth charts of different Gaussian Percentiles (Z-scores) against age. Methods: A cross-sectional data consisting of 3,473 individuals aged 5 or more, both males and females were taken from Multan city. Quantile regression (QR) was used to construct BSA growth charts. Growth charts for different Z-scores were also constructed. Results: For our data set, the mean BSA is 0.48750. The BSA percentiles show a trending higher after the age of 5 until the age of 22, then decrease between age 22 and 35, and then finally increase after age 35. The Z-score curve increases slightly after age 5 and then proceeds higher until age 22. After age 22 and before 35 it plateaus and then increases slightly after age 35. Conclusion: Since the use of empirical BSA percentiles and Z-scores with grouped age provides a discrete approximation for the population percentiles and Z-scores, it is more accurate to use continuous BSA percentile and Z-score, curves against given ages while using quantile regression and Z-score approach. Furthermore, this approach can also be adopted to construct many other growth charts for physiological and medical sciences.

Abstracts of the 1st East African Society of Physiological Sciences (EASPS) and Special African Association of Physiological Sciences (AAPS) Conference that was held from 29th November to 1st December, 2023 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

No Abstract

A Prompt Study on Recent Advances in the Development Of Colorimetric and Fluorescent Chemosensors for "Nanomolar Detection" of Biologically Important Analytes.

Fluorescent and colorimetric chemosensors for selective detection of various biologically important analytes have been widely applied in different areas such as biology, physiology, pharmacology, and environmental sciences. The research area based on fluorescent chemosensors has been in existence for about 150years with the development of large number of fluorescent chemosensors for selective detection of cations as metal ions, anions, reactive species, neutral molecules and different gases etc. Despite the progress made in this field, several problems and challenges still exist. The most important part of sensing is limit of detection (LOD) which is the lowest concentration that can be measured (detected) with statistical significance by means of a given analytical procedure. Although there are so many reports available for detection of millimolar to micromolar range but the development of chemosensors for the detection of analytes in nanomolar range is still a challenging task. Therefore, in our current review we have focused the history and a general overview of the development in the research of fluorescent sensors for selective detection of various analytes at nanomolar level only. The basic principles involved in the design of chemosensors for specific analytes, binding mode, photophysical properties and various directions are also covered here. Summary of physiochemical properties, mechanistic view and type of different chemosensors has been demonstrated concisely in the tabular forms.