On The Trail of Physiology across America: Visiting our Nebraska Family for the Holidays

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The next stop on our journey visiting local chapters of The American Physiological Society is Nebraska. The Nebraska Physiological Society was founded in 1997 and just held their 13th meeting on September 11, 2010 in Omaha. If I only lived in Nebraska I would have been able to listen to Dr. Hannah Carey from the University of Wisconsin speak about hibernation! Dr. Carey is a well-known comparative physiologist who specializes in gastrointestinal physiology and hibernating animals. What a great start to a meeting!

Here are some other highlights from the 13th annual meeting of the Nebraska Physiological Society:

Immunity in Chickens: Dr. Fassbinder-Orth at Creighton University in Omaha has been studying whether or not the innate immune system in Attwater's prairie chickens have contributed to their declining population and endangered status in comparison to their successful relatives, the greater prairie chickens.
Sally Breining, Kevin Thiessen, Francisco Clemente, and Carol Fassbinder-Orth. Ontogeny of Lysozyme Production in the Greater Prairie Chicken and Attwater's Prairie Chicken.

Follicle Formation: Researchers Anindit Mukherjee and Shyamal K. Roy at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha have been studying the role of estrogen in the formation of follicles (or developing eggs) within the ovaries of hamsters.
A Mukherjee and SK Roy. Estrogen Regulation of EBP1 Expression in Perinatal Hamster Ovaries.

Chronic Heart Failure: Dr. Irving Zucker's laboratory from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha made a strong appearance at the meeting with multiple posters on the topic of heart failure and blood pressure homeostasis in rabbits, rats and mice. Among his group's many findings was that oxidative stress many contribute to poor blood flow sometimes observed in the kidneys of patients with heart failure.

Hog-Barn Dust and Lung Disease: Dr. Myron Toews' laboratory at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha has been using cell culture techniques to study the role of calcium in the development of chronic inflammatory lung disease in people who work with swine. Who knew swine could be so dangerous to people?
PR Dodmane, NA Schulte, DJ Romberger, ML Toews. Calcium Mobilization in Human Airway Epithelial Cells by an Airway Disease-Relevant Extract of Hog-barn Dust.

To read more about these research topics and MANY others, visit the Nebraska Physiological Society's website or read their most recent meeting program.

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