Effects of voluntary exercise on spontaneous physical activity and food consumption in mice: Results from an artificial selection experiment.

We evaluated the effect of voluntary exercise on spontaneous physical activity (SPA) and food consumption in mice from 4 replicate lines bred for 57 generations for high voluntary wheel running (HR) and from 4 non-selected control (C) lines. Beginning at ~24 days of age, mice were housed in standard cages or in cages with attached wheels. Wheel activity and SPA were monitored in 1-min intervals. Data from the 8th week of the experiment were analyzed because mice were sexually mature and had plateaued in body mass, weekly wheel running distance, SPA, and food consumption. Body mass, length, and masses of the retroperitoneal fat pad, liver, and heart were recorded after the 13th week. SPA of both HR and C mice decreased with wheel access, due to reductions in both duration and average intensity of SPA. However, total activity duration (SPA+wheel running; min/day) was ~1/3 greater when mice were housed with wheels, and food consumption was significantly increased. Overall, food consumption in both HR and C mice was more strongly affected by wheel running than by SPA. Duration of wheel running had a stronger effect than average speed, but the opposite was true for SPA. With body mass as a covariate, chronic wheel access significantly reduced fat pad mass and increased heart mass in both HR and C mice. Given that both HR and C mice housed with wheels had increased food consumption, the energetic cost of wheel running was not fully compensated by concomitant reductions in SPA. The experiment demonstrates that both duration and intensity of both wheel running and SPA were significant predictors of food consumption. This sort of detailed analysis of the effects of different aspects of physical activity on food consumption has not previously been reported for a non-human animal, and it sets the stage for longitudinal examination of energy balance and its components in rodent models

Copes et al. Dryad submission

The zipped folder contains the original Excel spreadsheet with 3D digitized points from ~400 non-human primate skulls. It also contains "cleaned up" versions of the points split into separate files by infraorder (strepsirrhines, catarrhines, platyrrines) and R code for importing the files. Many thanks to Randi Griffin for her assistance in reformatting the original data to make it more useful/accessible for analysis

Effects of voluntary exercise on spontaneous physical activity and food consumption in mice: Results from an artificial selection experiment.

We evaluated the effect of voluntary exercise on spontaneous physical activity (SPA) and food consumption in mice from 4 replicate lines bred for 57 generations for high voluntary wheel running (HR) and from 4 non-selected control (C) lines. Beginning at ~24 days of age, mice were housed in standard cages or in cages with attached wheels. Wheel activity and SPA were monitored in 1-min intervals. Data from the 8th week of the experiment were analyzed because mice were sexually mature and had plateaued in body mass, weekly wheel running distance, SPA, and food consumption. Body mass, length, and masses of the retroperitoneal fat pad, liver, and heart were recorded after the 13th week. SPA of both HR and C mice decreased with wheel access, due to reductions in both duration and average intensity of SPA. However, total activity duration (SPA+wheel running; min/day) was ~1/3 greater when mice were housed with wheels, and food consumption was significantly increased. Overall, food consumption in both HR and C mice was more strongly affected by wheel running than by SPA. Duration of wheel running had a stronger effect than average speed, but the opposite was true for SPA. With body mass as a covariate, chronic wheel access significantly reduced fat pad mass and increased heart mass in both HR and C mice. Given that both HR and C mice housed with wheels had increased food consumption, the energetic cost of wheel running was not fully compensated by concomitant reductions in SPA. The experiment demonstrates that both duration and intensity of both wheel running and SPA were significant predictors of food consumption. This sort of detailed analysis of the effects of different aspects of physical activity on food consumption has not previously been reported for a non-human animal, and it sets the stage for longitudinal examination of energy balance and its components in rodent models

Observations by health care professionals about wound healing in Ghanaian patients who skin-bleach

Skin-bleaching is a common practice globally and is associated with many cutaneous and systemic health risks. Anecdotally, skin-bleaching is linked to impairments in wound healing, but there are little data to support the claim. This cross-sectional survey of health care professionals serving the Greater Accra Region, Ghana region investigates their observations of wound healing in patients who skin-bleach and their methods for screening skin-bleach use in patients. A 25-item self-administered questionnaire using 5-point Likert scale was distributed with convenient sampling to physicians and nurses employed at Ghanaian hospitals. Fifty-seven electronic and 78 paper responses were collected (total�=�135). Most respondents agreed that wounds in skin-bleaching patients heal more slowly (4.22), are more prone to infection (4.11), haemorrhage (3.89), wound dehiscence (3.9), and are more difficult to manage (4.13). No respondent reported universal screening of all patients for skin-bleaching, but most ask about skin-bleaching if there is suspicion of it (42.2%). Our findings support the anecdotes about observable wound healing impairments in patients who skin-bleach. There is also wide variation in skin-bleaching screening practices, suggesting a need for guidelines to properly identify these patients and facilitate early risk prevention.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175207/1/iwj13824_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175207/2/iwj13824.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175207/3/iwj13824-sup-0001-AppendixS1.pd

Measuring the Toughness of Primate Foods and its Ecological Value

The mechanical properties of plant foods play an important role in the feeding process, being one of many criteria for food acceptance or rejection by primates. One of the simplest justifications for this statement is the general finding that primates tend to avoid foods with high fiber. Although fiber is largely tasteless, odorless, and colorless, it imparts texture, a sensation in the mouth related to the physical properties of foods. All primates encounter such mechanical resistance when they bite into plant food, and studies on humans show that an incisal bite facilitates quick oral assessment of a property called toughness. Thus, it is feasible that primates make similar assessments of quality in this manner. Here, we review methods of measuring the toughness of primate foods, which can be used either for making general surveys of the properties of foods available to primates or for establishing the mechanisms that protect these foods from the evolved form of the dentition.Kuwait Univ, Dept Bioclin Sci, Fac Dent, Safat 13110, KuwaitArizona State Univ, Sch Human Evolut & Social Change, Tempe, AZ 85287 USAColl Sci, Dept Biol Sci, Huntington, WV 25755 USARutgers State Univ, Dept Anthropol, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 USAGeorge Washington Univ, Ctr Adv Study Hominid Paleobiol, Dept Anthropol, Washington, DC 20052 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Ciencias Biol, BR-09972270 Diadema, SP, BrazilPromuriqui Assoc, BR-18230000 Sao Miguel Arcanjo, SP, BrazilGeorge Washington Univ, Sch Engn & Appl Sci, Washington, DC 20052 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Ciencias Biol, BR-09972270 Diadema, SP, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Vertical Integration in the Pediatrics Clerkship: A Case Study

Since the end of the twentieth century, medical educators continue to review and call for changes that will improve how medical students apply their knowledge of basic sciences to the clinical management of their patients. The traditional 2 + 2 curriculum, where basic sciences are taught during the first two years and were followed by clinical clerkships, was challenged with calls to move towards a Z-shaped integrated curriculum, a model which presents bio-medical sciences and clinical cases in parallel or in connection with one another. Faculty at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine developed a vertical integration didactic session that presented an eight-year-old child with an acute asthmatic episode. After a brief introduction, clinical and pre-clinical faculty who teach in Years 1–3 and social work faculty met with medical students placed in small groups to discuss their pertinent field; faculty members rotated among the groups. At the end of the session, the students provided feedback and comments for the continuous quality improvement of the session. The session has been taught four times thus far. A majority of the students expressed satisfaction with the opportunity to review basic science concepts during the clerkship and apply these concepts to develop clinical management skills. Students were also excited to discuss social determinants and the effects of a pediatric chronic illness on the whole family. Combining a review of basic and social science concepts with clinical management, with faculty from pre-clinical and clinical years, was enjoyed by our students, who felt this educational approach expanded their ability to better manage clinical problems. While our case is in pediatrics, we believe the method can be applied to other specialties

The Influence of Subsistence Strategy and Climate on Bony Labyrinth Morphology in recent Homo sapiens

Objectives Intraspecific shape variation in the recent Homo sapiens bony labyrinth has been assessed for association with sexual dimorphism, body size, and genetic differences, but has not been fully assessed for association with extrinsic factors, such as subsistence strategy and climate. While the skull overall is known to vary with these variables, the bony labyrinth develops in utero and exhibits microstructural stability through adulthood. Therefore, labyrinthine morphology may be resistant to the impact of extrinsic variables. Materials and Methods We collected labyrinthine shape data using computed tomography from 262 individuals associated with archaeological or contemporary collections used for dissection in North America, Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia. We assessed the data for observer error and asymmetry. Shape variation is examined between subsistence strategy groups and climate type groups with Principal Components Analyses and Procrustes ANOVA’s, and shape variation was correlated with specific climate data (precipitation, temperature, altitude) with a two-block partial least squares analysis. Results Both inter- and intra-observer error as well as asymmetry minimally affected labyrinthine shape variation. We found that both subsistence strategy and climate each account for a statistically significant 7% of overall shape variation, and that specific climate variables have statistically significant correlation with labyrinthine shape variation (RV 0.52527). Discussion Morphological variation in this sample indicates that the labyrinth is not entirely resistant to extrinsic factors associated with subsistence strategy and climate. Shape change is not localized to specific regions of the labyrinth, but may contribute to the complicated variation seen in recent human evolution and warrants further exploration.Funding for this research came from Leakey Grants to KLB and AH, an NSERC Discovery Grant to MTS, and SSHRC Insight and Connaught New Researcher Grants to B