pulmonary hypertension
dr. dolittle | August 18, 2016I was checking out the award-winning American Physiological Society's I Spy Physiology blog and came across a couple of really interesting posts about animals:
"If Only Birds Could Compete in the Summer Games"
Photo of a frigatebird in the study. Credit: Max Planck Institute.
This post reported a study of how frigatebirds manage to sleep during flights out at sea that can last for weeks. By measuring brain activity, the research team found that the birds were capable of actual sleep, during which time both sides of the brain showed sleep patterns for seconds at a time. In addition, they…
tsmith | April 29, 2010Student guest post Dayna Groskreutz
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) refers to a condition in which there is high blood pressure in the vessels carrying blood from the heart to the lungs. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a subset of PH referring specifically to an increase in the pressure within the pulmonary arteries (rather than the pulmonary veins or capillaries). The high blood pressure in the vessels causes thickening of these arteries, making it hard for the heart to pump blood to the lungs. Pressure builds up and backs up. Over time, stress on the heart causes it to enlarge, and it…