Jessica Cardin, M.S.Skeletal muscle has a high degree of plasticity that allows the tissue to respond to environmental cues (exercise, disuse, starvation, etc.). The majority of research has focused on the building of muscle. However, atrophy has vast implications across many disease states (cancer cachexia, renal failure, COPD, and Type II Diabetes). The understanding of how atrophy occurs as an "unpacking" process of the muscle fiber is limited. Pioneering research is important as it...

Andrew Jagim, Ph.D, CSCSIt makes sense right? It’s the day after a tough workout, you’re sore, it hurts to move but you have to move because you have another session with your trainer in two hours. So, what do you do? You pop some non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) to take the edge off and get back out there for round 2! The question is: Is this doing more damage than good? It seems as though there has always been some controversy regarding the administration of NSAIDs. Are t...

Nina Laidlaw Rumler, B.A.You might not have heard of sarcopenia, but it touches everyone – everyone who lives long enough to undergo this normal physiological process. A lessening of muscle mass and function, its cumulative effect is becoming a significant public health concern. Two factors contribute: lessened physical activity and increased longevity, eventually resulting in frailty in the elder years. The word means "poverty of flesh," a pitiful image. Age-related, it is ...