Living history of physiology: Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen

In 2005, The American Physiological Society initiated The Living History of Physiology Project to recognize senior members who have made extraordinary contributions during their career to the advancement of the discipline and profession of physiology. Each physiologist will be interviewed for archival purposes, and the video tape will be available from the American Physiological Society Headquarters. In addition, a biographical profile of the recipient will be published in Advances in Physiology Education.     

Living history: G. Edgar Folk, Jr

In 2005, the American Physiological Society (APS) initiated the Living History Project to recognize senior members who have made significant contributions during their career to the advancement of the discipline and profession of physiology. During 2007, the APS Section of Environmental and Exercise Physiology selected Prof. G. Edgar Folk, Jr., of the University of Iowa to be profiled in Advances in Physiology Education.     

The Physiology undergraduate major in the University of Arizona College of Medicine: past, present, and future

The American Physiological Society (APS) and APS Council encourage the teaching of physiology at the undergraduate, graduate, and medical school levels to support the continued prominence of this area of science. One area identified by the APS Council that is of particular importance for the development of future physiologists (the "physiology pipeline") is the teaching of physiology and physiology-related topics at the undergraduate level. In this article, we describe the historical development and implementation of an undergraduate program offered through the Department of Physiology, a basic science department in the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona, culminating in a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences degree with a major in Physiology. Moreover, we discuss the current Physiology curriculum offered at our institution and explain how this program prepares our students for successful entry into a variety of postbaccalaureate professional programs, including medical school and numerous other programs in health professions, and in graduate study in the Masters and Doctoral programs in biomedical sciences. Finally, we cover the considerable challenges that we have faced, and continue to face, in developing and sustaining a successful physiology undergraduate major in a college of medicine. We hope that the information provided on the Physiology major offered by the Department of Physiology in the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona will be helpful for individuals at other institutions who may be contemplating the development and implementation of an undergraduate program in Physiology.     

Effective use of course management systems to enhance student learning: Experimental Biology 2007

Course management systems are software packages that support teaching and learning by providing web-based tools, services, and resources. Electronic course management can facilitate course organization, teaching delivery, communication, collaboration, and assessment. This article reports on a symposium on the use of course management systems, presented by the Teaching of Physiology Section of the American Physiological Society, at the Experimental Biology Meeting of 2007.     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Ecology of Soil-borne Plant Pathogens. Prelude to Biological Control. Edited by K. F. BAKER and W. C. SNYDER.
Handbook of Physiology, Section 4. 'Adaptation to the environment.' Published by the American Physiological Society. Section editor D. B. DILL.
Plant Nematology, 2nd ed. Edited by J. F. SOUTHEY.
The Wood-Pigeon. New Naturalist Special Volumes. By R. K. MURTON.
Multivariate Statistical Analysis for Biologists. By H. L. SEAL.     

Looking at physiological anthropology from a historical standpoint

As one way of thinking about physiological anthropology, let us survey it from a historical viewpoint. At the beginning of the 19th century, Blumenbach, considered the father of Physical Anthropology, wrote his "Handbook of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology." The subsequent research conducted and papers written by researchers such as Broca and Martin pointed in the direction of physiological anthropology; furthermore, the research carried out by the American researchers Demon and Baker had a physiological anthropology "feel." The courses in Physiological Anthropology taught by Tokizane exerted a major influence on physiological anthropology in Japan. The precursor of the Japan Society of Physiological Anthropology, organized by Sato in 1978, was extremely significant in the effect that it had on the subsequent development of physiological anthropology. The holding of the biennial International Congress of Physiological Anthropology, along with the allocation of the Research sub-field of Physiological Anthropology in the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, would seem to suggest that the field of physiological anthropology is set to increasingly grow and evolve.     

It's difficult to change the way we teach: lessons from the Integrative Themes in Physiology curriculum module project

The Integrative Themes in Physiology (ITIP) project was a National Science Foundation-funded collaboration between the American Physiological Society (APS) and the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society (HAPS). The project goal was to create instructional resources that emphasized active learning in undergraduate anatomy and physiology classrooms. The resources (activity modules and professional development) addressed two factors thought to be limiting science education reform: instructors' knowledge of how to implement active learning instruction and time to design innovative curricula. Volunteer instructors with a strong interest in using active learning in their classrooms were recruited to use the ITIP modules and provide ease-of-use feedback and student assessment data. As the study unfolded, instructor attrition was higher than had been anticipated, with 17 of 36 instructors withdrawing. More surprisingly, instructors remaining with the project failed to use the modules and reported specific obstacles that precluded module use, including lack of support from academic leadership, unplanned class size increases and heavy teaching loads, a union strike, insufficient time to develop a mindset for change, inadequate technology/funding, an adverse human subjects ruling, incompatibility of modules with instructors' established content and expectations, and personal factors. Despite the lack of module use and obstacles, 8 of 19 site testers began independently to introduce new active learning instruction into their classrooms. In the larger picture, however, it is important to note that only 8 of the initial 36 volunteers (22%) actually ended up changing their instruction to include opportunities for student active learning. These findings underscore the difficulty of implementing instructional change in college classrooms.     

Current topics for teaching skeletal muscle physiology

Contractions of skeletal muscles provide the stability and power for all body movements. Consequently, any impairment in skeletal muscle function results in some degree of instability or immobility. Factors that influence skeletal muscle structure and function are therefore of great interest both scientifically and clinically. Injury, disease, and old age are among the factors that commonly contribute to impairment in skeletal muscle function. The goal of this article is to update current concepts of skeletal muscle physiology. Particular emphasis is placed on mechanisms of injury, repair, and adaptation in skeletal muscle as well as mechanisms underlying the declining skeletal muscle structure and function associated with aging. For additional materials please refer to the "Skeletal Muscle Physiology" presentation located on the American Physiological Society Archive of Teaching Resources Web site (http://www.apsarchive.org).     

Homer Wheelon, M.D., physiologist, artist, and poet: origins of the tailpieces in journals of the American Physiological Society

Since 1953, illustrations have been inserted as "tailpieces" at the ends of articles in The American Journal of Physiology and The Journal of Applied Physiology. The drawings were made by Homer Wheelon, a member of the American Physiological Society from 1919 until his death in 1960. Forty-five years after his death, Wheelon is unknown, but he contributed 32 publications to the medical literature and trained J. Earl Thomas, an important 20th century gastrointestinal physiologist. Wheelon was born into poverty in 1883 to itinerant Methodist preachers, circumstances that guided his education and career choices. Throughout his life, Wheelon exhibited a fondness and talent for art and photography and an unusual breadth of intellectual interests and knowledge. Wheelon received a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington, then studied at the University of Oregon, Northwestern University, and St. Louis University. Earning his M.D. from St. Louis University and assuming a faculty position there, Wheelon and his graduate student, Thomas, conducted widely recognized gastrointestinal research. Returning to Seattle in 1921, Wheelon became a highly respected physician and hospital administrator, but he also found time to indulge his interest in visual art and poetry. In 1933, inspired by observing a rabbit being used in a pregnancy test, Wheelon began to write and illustrate an epic, 322-page poem, Rabbit No. 202, illustrations from which became the journals' tailpieces. The present study traces Wheelon's personal life and scientific career in an attempt to understand this complex man and the origins of his unusual poem and its drawings.     

Design and evaluation of a national set of learning objectives: the medical physiology learning objectives project

In 1998, the American Physiological Society (APS) and the Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology (ACDP) began collaboration on a project to develop a set of physiology learning objectives for medical students. Over the next 2 years, more than 50 physiologists collaborated in the development a comprehensive draft containing its 695 learning objectives. Faculty in 31 medical schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico evaluated these objectives. On the basis of this evaluation, the ACDP recommended deleting 13 of them. The final project, containing 682 objectives, was approved in December 2000 by the ACDP and published on the APS website http://www.the-aps.org/education/MedPhysObj/medcor.htm. The identification of the "content" of medical physiology instruction provides the APS and the ACDP with a tool to introduce emerging topics, such as the physiology of aging and gender differences, at a national level. The medical physiology learning objectives project provides a guide for directing current and future medical physiology instruction in the United States.     

Sex-based differences in physiology: what should we teach in the medical curriculum?

An abundance of recent research indicates that there are multiple differences between males and females both in normal physiology and in the pathophysiology of disease. The Refresher Course on Gender Differences in Physiology, sponsored by the American Physiological Society Education Committee at the 2006 Experimental Biology Meeting in San Franciso, CA, was designed to provide teachers of medical physiology with the background necessary to include the most important aspects of sex-based differences in their curricula. The presentations addressed sex-based differences in the physiology and pathophysiology of the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and immune systems as well as the cellular mechanisms of sex steroid hormone actions on non-reproductive tissues. The slides and audio files for these presentations are available at http://www.the-aps.org/education/refresher/index.htm. This overview highlights the key concepts relevant to the topic of sex-based differences in physiology: why these differences are important, their potential causes, and examples of prominent differences between males and females in normal physiological function for selected organ systems.     

Columbus, the European Physiology Modules Facility and CADMOS

Columbus, the European Space Agency (ESA) orbital facility laboratory will be launched in December 2007 and attached to the International Space Station (ISS). In its launch configuration, Columbus includes 4 multi-user facilities: one of them is the European Physiology Modules Facility, also called EPM. The EPM will be devoted to Human Physiology; it will be collocated in the Columbus module with two other physiology racks, i.e. the HRF-1 and HRF-2 American racks (Human Research Facility). CADMOS is part of the French Space Agency, located in Toulouse; it has been designated by the European Space Agency as the Facility Responsible Centre (FRC) for the EPM. As a User Support and Operations Centre, CADMOS main tasks are to help the scientists to prepare and perform their experiments in Space and to monitor operations on the ISS.     

Physiological genomic analysis of the brain renin-angiotensin system

The brain renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has long been considered pivotal in cardiovascular regulation and important in the pathogenesis of hypertension and heart failure. However, despite more than 30 years of study, the brain RAS continues to defy explanation. Our lack of understanding of how the brain RAS is organized at the cellular and regional levels has made it difficult to resolve long-sought questions of how ANG II is produced in the brain and the precise mechanisms by which it exerts its actions. A major reason for this is the difficulty in experimentally dissecting the brain RAS at the regional, cellular, and whole organism levels. Recently, we and others developed a series of molecular tools for selective manipulation of the murine brain RAS, in parallel with technologies for integrative analysis of cardiovascular and volume homeostasis in the conscious mouse. This review, based in part on a lecture given in conjunction with the American Physiological Society Young Investigator Award in Regulatory and Integrative Physiology (Water and Electrolyte Homeostasis Section), outlines the physiological genomics strategy that we have taken in an effort to unravel some of the complexities of this system. It also summarizes the principles, progress, and prospects for a better understanding of the brain RAS in health and disease.     

Active phosphate transport across the urinary bladder of the toad,Bufo marinus

Summary Net transport of inorganic phosphate occurs in the absence of an electrochemical gradient from the mucosal to the serosal bathing solution in the isolated toad urinary bladder. This transport can be inhibited by metabolic inhibitors. The magnitude of this transport can be altered by changes in phosphate concentration or by the addition of parathyroid hormone.This work was presented in part at the Fall Meeting of the American Physiological Society Proceedings, October, 1975; Abstract inThe Physiologist, 1975,18:384.     

I. P. Pavlov--a Full Member (Academician) of Russian Academy of Sciences (100-years anniversary)

I. P. Pavlov, the great Russian physiologist, the founder of a leading scientific school of physiology, first Russian scientist to be awarded the Nobel Prize. Pavlov's work received wide international recognition. He was elected full or honorary member of more than 120 academies, scientific societies and universities. In 1907 he was elected a Full Member (Academician) of Russian Academy of Sciences and headed the Physiological Laboratory of the Academy. In 1925, at his petition, the Laboratory was transformed into the Physiological Institute, remaining his head until 1936, when he had died. Since 1950 this is the Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.     

Charting a global future for education in physiology

The 2005 Claude Bernard Distinguished Lecture was presented at the XXXV International Congress of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) in San Diego, CA, by Ann J. Sefton. Dr. Sefton is an Emeritus Professor of Physiology of the University of Sydney and co-Chair of the IUPS Education Committee. A full profile of Dr. Sefton is included in this issue's The Physiology Teacher.     

Innate immunity of Florida cane toads: how dispersal has affected physiological responses to LPS

Journal of Comparative Physiology B - Physiological tradeoffs occur in organisms coping with their environments, which are likely to increase as populations reach peripheries of established ranges....     

Stress and health Huangshan-style

The Seventh International Congress of the Cell Stress Society International (CSSI) was held as a joint meeting with the newly organized committee of Stress Physiology, the Chinese Association for Physiological Sciences (CAPS). There were over 200 colleagues and their students in attendance from 22 different countries. The topics of the congress were core scientific areas in the field of stress and health. The keynote speakers were Fu-Chu He (China), E.R. (Ron) de Kloet (The Netherlands), and Kazuhiro Nagata (Japan). The CSSI Medallion for Career Achievement in the cell stress and chaperones field was awarded to Kazutoshi Mori (Japan). Twelve student post awards were given in recognition of a very high quality poster session. In the tradition of this series of congresses, cultural events were an important part of the program. In addition, participants became better acquainted during trips to the ancient shopping street, an evening at the Chinese opera, and a lesson in Tai Chi from a master. The first groups of CSSI Fellows and Senior Fellows were presented their rosettes and certificates during the congress.     

Role of epithelial HCO3⁻ transport in mucin secretion: lessons from cystic fibrosis

The invitation to present the 2010 Hans Ussing lecture for the Epithelial Transport Group of the American Physiological Society offered me a unique, special, and very surprising opportunity to join in saluting a man whom I met only once, but whose work was the basis, not only for my career, but also for finding the molecular defect in the inherited disease cystic fibrosis (CF). In this context, I will venture to make the tribute with a new explanation of why a mutation in a single gene that codes for an anion channel can cause devastation of multiple epithelial systems with pathogenic mucus. In so doing, I hope to raise awareness of a new role for that peculiar anion around which so much physiology revolves, HCO(3)(-). I begin by introducing CF pathology as I question the name of the disease as well as the prevalent view of the basis of its pathology by considering: 1) mucus, 2) salt, and 3) HCO(3)(-). I then present recent data showing that HCO(3)(-) is required for normal mucus discharge, and I will close with conjecture as to how HCO(3)(-) may support mucus discharge and why the failure to transport this electrolyte is pathogenic in CF.