Dylan Holly, M.Ed.Skeletal muscle is a complex tissue and while its primary job is to assist in movement, this is not its sole purpose. Muscle is also a major storehouse for energy in the form of amino acids and metabolic machinery responsible for much of our daily energy expenditure. The energy cost of muscle comes with a price. When subjected to an unloaded state such as bed-rest, immobilization, or microgravity, the muscle atrophies. In other words, the cross-sectional area diminishes and wit...

Song Yi Shin, M.S.How can you improve your vascular health? You would undoubtedly answer that it is the exercise, and it is true. Your arteries deliver blood and oxygen to organs and skeletal muscle. When you start to exercise, your legs would need more blood to match the metabolic demands. At rest, a majority of your blood volume is in your veins. But during exercise, blood flow through tissues change dramatically, with 85% of blood going to your active muscles through arteries in hea...

Rihana Bokhari, B.S.You have probably heard before that exercise is good for you. You know that doctors recommend people in disease states exercise, for instance in diabetes and heart disease. But did you know that exercise can do far more than help you look good and feel great? Exercise may be able to protect you if you are exposed to radiation. Radiation is well known to have negative effects on the body and lead to illness and loss of life. In this study we seek to understand how exercise, an...

Evelyn Yuen, M.S.In the condition known as osteoporosis, bones become weak and susceptible to fractures. This vulnerability results from low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue. Although it primarily afflicts the elderly, it can develop at any age. Osteoporosis is a growing public health threat that affects 55 percent of people 50 years of age and older; approximately one in two women and one in four men over 50 years old will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their rema...

Majid Koozehchian, M.S. In our bodies, oxygen constantly produces toxic substances called reactive oxygen species (ROS), also known as oxidants. Antioxidants, biomolecules that combat oxidant damage, are produced by the body and can also be taken in supplement form. Disruption of normal cellular function by ROS is termed oxidative stress, and can be considered an imbalance between ROS production and the body’s production of antioxidants, weighted on the oxidant side (Fig.1). Low level...