Month: October 2015

Faculty and Students Attend Society for Neuroscience Conference

Several faculty and KIP students attended the 2015 Society for Neuroscience conference in Chicago last week.

Dr. Tejin Yoon and graduate student Andrea Lee were among the group that attended.  Andrea presented on “Muscle Fatigability from Repeated Lengthening Contractions in Young Men and Women”.

Dr. Kevin Trewartha presented a research project aimed at elucidating the role of working memory resources, supported by dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), in motor learning. This research used a sensorimotor adaptation task in which participants learned to adapt to mechanical perturbations imposed by a robotic device. To test whether dlPFC contributes to our ability to learn this novel skill I used a “virtual lesion” method called continuous theta-burst stimulation which temporarily disrupts targeted brain areas prior to performance of the task. The results demonstrated that learning was impaired following dlPFC stimulation, indicating that working memory resources are important during the acquisition of novel motor skills.

The conference brings together scientists and clinicians from all over the world, and from a broad range of disciplines, who are generally interested in the function of the nervous system. As such, the conference was an excellent opportunity to present these findings to the neuroscience community and receive feedback from other experts in the field.

Students Selected for Research Internship Program

Congratulations to the following undergraduate students for being selected to participate in the Undergraduate Research Internship Program. This program is supported by the Portage Health Foundation and Pavlis Honors College. Briefly, the program consists of a 20-week research internship (October – March) as well as professional development activities centered in academic research and scholarship.

Claire Eischer – Exercise Science (Dr. Yoon’s Lab)
Tessa Sprague – Exercise Science (Dr. Trewartha’s Lab)
Ashley VanSumeren – Exercise Science (Dr. Elmer’s Lab)
Olivia Ingram – Biology (Dr. Trewartha’s Lab)

This a great achievement and we are excited for these students!

New Publications

PhD Candidate Ida Fonkoue and Dr. Jason C​arter recently published a paper titled “Sympathetic Neural Reactivity to Mental Stress in Humans: Test-Retest Reproducibility” in the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology.

The present study is the first to examine the reproducibility of MSNA (muscle sympathetic nerve activity) responsiveness to mental stress.  Our finding of reporducible MSNA reactivity to mental stress is an important step in providing a foundation for future research that might elucidate whether MSNA reactivity might have similar, or perhaps even superior, predictive value for hypertention compared with the CVR (cardiovascular reactivity) hypothesis.

To read the full abstract, follow this link:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26400186

KIP Offering Spring Courses in Exercise Pharmacology and Physical Therapy

Exercise Pharmacology  (EH 4990-01)
This course will bridge between basic sciences and human health.  The course focuses on understanding the 1) fundamental concept of exercise pharmacology and 2) pharmacological treatment of diseases of various systems including cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, neuronal, hormonal and renal systems.

Credits: 2.0
Semesters Offered: Spring
Pre-Requisite(s): BL2020 and BL2021 

Exercise Pharmacology_EH 4990

Exercise Pharmacology_EH 4990

 

Physical Therapy Seminar (EH 4700)
Seminar for students who are interested in physical therapy profession. Course will include self-directed learning and group work. Topics may include evidence based medicine, literature review writing and evaluation, healthcare reimbursement, clincal decision making, health screenings, and other current topics. 


Credits: 1.0 
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-1-0)
Semesters Offered: Spring – Offered alternate years beginning with the 2014-2015 academic year 
Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore 
Pre-Requisite(s): BL 2020 and BL 2021

Physical Therapy Seminar_EH 4700

Physical Therapy Seminar_EH 4700