Team sport compensates for estrogen loss

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When women enter menopause, their estrogen levels taper. This increases their risk of cardiovascular disease. New research from University of Copenhagen shows that interval-based team sport can make up for this estrogen loss as it improves their conditions, reduces blood pressure and thereby protects the cardiovascular system.While aging and an array of physical transformations go hand in hand for all, menopause has a significant influence on physical changes in women.Estrogen, the primary female sex hormone, is an important guardian of the female vascular system. Thus, as estrogen levels fall during menopause, the risks of increased blood pressure and development of cardiovascular disease increases.A new study by the University of Copenhagen’s Centre for Team Sport and Health documents and addresses the issue.Changes to the cardiovascular system occur soon after menopause”Results demonstrate that blood pressure among post-menopausal women is 10% higher immediately after menopause than in similarly-aged, pre-menopausal women. They also had higher levels of an early marker for arteriosclerosis,” explains postdoc Michael Nyberg.The new aspect of this study is that researchers have investigated the effects of estrogen in women of the same age, both before and after menopause. Previous studies didn’t look at similarly aged pre- and post-menopausal women. Instead, they investigated women with 15-20 year gaps in age. Therefore, they were unable to determine whether changes were due to age or estrogen loss.Results of the recent study have now been published in the journal, The American Journal of Physiology.Floorball prevents cardiovascular disease among womenIn a bid to prevent increased risk of cardiovascular disease, the study examined the effect of 12-week floorball training among post-menopausal women. The results were clear.”Following just 12 weeks of twice weekly practices, the women’s conditions had improved and their blood pressure was reduced by 4 mmHg, which correlates with a 40% lower risk of stroke,” explains Professor and Centre Director Jens Bangsbo.Continuing, Bangsbo asserts that, “Furthermore, there was a positive development in relation to levels of substances vital to blood vessel function, including a 20% decrease in markers associated with arteriosclerosis.”"The results demonstrate that team sports that include interval exercise are a fantastic opportunity for hormone treatment, in relation to estrogen, because one can avoid an array of undesirable side-effects,” according to postdoc, Michael Nyberg.Team sport — fun as well as healthy”Another advantage of a team sport like floorball is that participants have fun. That’s important, because when a person is engaged in a team sport, they aren’t preoccupied with the otherwise intense exercise in which they are engaged. …


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#Cardiovascular, #Centre, #Director, #Health, #Nyberg, #Physical, #Physiology, #Pregnancy

Zebrafish discovery may shed light on human kidney function

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Researchers say the discovery of how sodium ions pass through the gill of a zebrafish may be a clue to understanding a key function in the human kidney. The findings from a collaboration between Mayo Clinic and the Tokyo Institute of Technology appear in the online issue of the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.The researchers discovered a protein responsible for gas exchanges in the fish gill structure. Specifically they studied and characterized the Na+/H+ (sodium/hydrogen) exchanger named NHE3, responsible for controlling sodium and hydrogen ions across the gill. The researchers also directly demonstrated that NHE3 can function as a Na+/NH4+ (sodium/ammonium) exchanger.”This is significant because the fish tends to mimic the process in humans,” says Michael Romero, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic physiologist who works in nephrology. “This is the true beauty of comparative physiology– a lot of the organs function by very similar processes, down to ionic transfer.”In this case the protein allows the sodium ions to be absorbed from the forming urine while at the same time discarding waste from normally functioning cells, thus keeping the body in balance and serving as an energy saving system. The researchers say the same NHE3 protein performs a similar function in the intestine, pancreas, liver, lungs and reproductive system.The gill is used in the fish as a transport system: sodium ions are nutrients and ammonium carries away waste. It’s a key process allowing zebrafish to extract sodium ions from fresh water. In humans, NHE3 is involved in the acid-waste control system in the kidney, but there hasn’t been a good analysis of that process in humans. Part of this acid-control process in the human kidney is “ammoniagenesis” which requires the initial part of the kidney tubule (proximal tubule) to export ammonia/ammonium. Physiologically, it has been assumed that NHE3 can perform a Na+/NH4+ exchange, but this has never been experimentally demonstrated.Ammoniagenesis and increased renal sodium bicarbonate absorption are partly under the control of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), which means that this work enhances understanding of human hypertension. …


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#Acid, #American, #Cancer, #Case, #Discovery, #Online, #Physiology, #Science, #Species

Eucalypt in Ethiopian highlands: Increasing productivity of important tree

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Researchers at the UPM are collaborating in a eucalypts breeding program in the Ethiopian highlands which will increase this species productivity.This program is developed by the research group of Forest Physiology and Genetics and the cooperative group of Support to Forestry Development of the Universidad Politcnica de Madrid (UPM). Also, it is supported by several national and international institutions that will contribute to satisfy the demand of woody biomass and other financial needs of Ethiopian farmers.For years, these two research groups have been collaborating with Forestry Research Center and the St. Mary’s College and supported by Ence and the Council of Alcorcn. Also, they are working on providing the Ethiopian highlands with tools and knowledge for better forestry management. This could constitute a valuable tool to achieve sustainability when using and supplying natural resources. The main project consists of a eucalypt breeding program that will result in improvements in many areas.The great demand for forest products to use for agriculture by the population of the Ethiopian highlands has resulted in the deforestation of a region with the lowest human development rate in the world. The eucalypt is the species with the highest demand among Ethiopian farmers and has an important environmental and socioeconomic key role in the highlands area. The consumption of eucalypt is been boosted because of its compatibility with the grazing system and its high yields even in marginal agricultural soils of abandoned lands. However, farmers are lacking of start materials and the current techniques make production difficult.Within the improvement program, the researchers established an experimental test with eucalypt plants from Ethiopia and Spain in order to compare their potential productivity in local conditions. The Spanish plant, that had a certain rate of improvement, showed a growth and survival rate between 27% and 35%, a rate higher than the Ethiopian plants. …


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#Current, #Ecology, #Ethiopian, #Health, #Physiology, #Politcnica, #Research, #Result, #Science, #Species, #Universidad