Physiology Commons^™

Towards Identifying Fear And Safety Network States Across Sex, Rhonda Kolaric

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a trauma- and stressor-related disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 5-6% in men, and 10-12% in women (National Center for PTSD). Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a highly prevalent anxiety- and depression-related psychiatric disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 1-2% in men, and 3-4% in women (National Institutes of Health). Both of these disorders disproportionately affect women. A hallmark feature of both disorders is the maladaptive generalization of fear, in which defensive responses extend beyond the original traumatic or threatening stimulus to neutral or unrelated cues. This overgeneralization can become debilitating, disrupting cognitive, emotional, and …

Short Lab Report- Presentation, Wroud Saleh, Yevgeniy Grigoryev

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

How To Search For The Engram: Optogenetics And Network Dynamics, Claudia Garcia Jou

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Memories are thought to be encoded by ensembles of neurons called "engram cells", because their artificial activation with optogenetics leads to the behavioral expression of a memory. However, the physiological mechanisms that mediate this process remain unknown. In this thesis, I investigate how optogenetic stimulation of memory-tagged cells changes neuronal firing, spatial coding, and the geometry of neural manifolds. I used an active place avoidance task and a foraging task to label engram cells in the dorsal hippocampus with Channelrhodopsin2 (ChR2). I then recorded the hippocampal activity response to optogenetic stimulation in mice under anesthesia, head-fixed, or freely moving. I …

Advances In Bone And Orthopedics 2025 – 5th Edition, Jean-Philippe Berteau, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet, Hélène Follet, Aurélie Levillain

Publications and Research

This volume brings together selected works from the 2025 Bone and Orthopedics Interdisciplinary Symposium (BONITOS), underscoring our community’s ongoing commitment to advancing research in biomechanics, bone health, and orthopedic science. The symposium unites leading experts from around the world, fostering collaboration and the exchange of ideas across disciplines. Organized in partnership with the French-speaking Society of Biomechanics, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), the University of Lyon, the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York (CUNY), and the American Association of Physical Therapists (APTA) – Brooklyn Staten Island Chapter, BONITOS 2025 represents …

Critical Evaluation Of Falsehoods In Physiology Using Ai, Jean-Philippe Berteau, Michael Mcgee

Open Educational Resources

The document outlines a structured approach for general health sciences students, including both undergraduates and graduates, to critically evaluate falsehoods in physiology using AI tools. Applicable to biology and other life sciences, the exercises are divided into three parts, each designed to enhance critical thinking and evidence-based decision-making. Part 1 focuses on debunking biological myths, such as the idea that muscle turns into fat if you stop exercising, by generating and refining AI responses. Part 2 involves using AI to gather and verify evidence-based information on health science myths, like homeopathy's efficacy in treating low back pain, emphasizing the importance …

Caspases Protect Against Hyperglycemia Induced Necroptosis-Like Cell Death In Brain Endothelial Cells, Aleena S. Mathew

Theses and Dissertations

Acute diabetes characterized by high spikes in blood glucose levels in association with severe hyperglycemia can lead to an increased risk of ischemic stroke in the brain. To better understand high blood glucose levels, hyperglycemia, in the brain we explored its effects on endothelial cells. Endothelial cells line the inner walls of blood vessels and are directly impacted in hyperglycemia. Brain endothelial cells are a major component of the blood brain barrier (BBB) which tightly regulates the brain’s microenvironment. The type of cell death such as apoptosis, caspase dependent, or necroptosis, caspase independent, can exacerbate diabetes associated complications. There is …

Multichannel Modulation Of Depolarizing And Repolarizing Ion Currents Increases The Positive Rate-Dependent Action Potential Prolongation, Candido Cabo

Publications and Research

Prolongation of the action potential duration (APD) could prevent reentrant arrhythmias if prolongation occurs at the fast excitation rates of tachycardia with minimal prolongation at slow excitation rates (i.e., if prolongation is positive rate-dependent). APD prolongation by current anti-arrhythmic agents is either reverse (larger APD prolongation at slow rates than at fast rates) or neutral (similar APD prolongation at slow and fast rates), which may not result in an effective anti-arrhythmic action. In this report we show that, in computer models of the human ventricular action potential, the combined modulation of both depolarizing and repolarizing ion currents results in a …

Validating A New In Vivo Model To Study Als, Izabela J. Cimachowska

Student Theses and Dissertations

Buildup of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction are well known characteristics of both sporadic and hereditary amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). While both forms of the disease seem to arise from common cellular dysfunction, the genetic disease is studied to a much greater extent. Engineering novel animal models of the sporadic form of the disease is crucial for development of druggable targets to treat ALS and understand the underlying mechanisms. Interestingly, accumulation of oxidative stress by exacerbated emission of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from presynaptic mitochondria is a hallmark of both hereditary and sporadic ALS. Previous work by our laboratory showed …

Introduction To Human Biology, Sharon S. Ellerton, Christopher Roblodowski

Open Educational Resources

This OER is intended as a textbook for a one semester introductory course in Human Anatomy and Physiology for non-science majors. It covers the major topics typically covered in A&P, but in a simplified, easier to understand manner. This textbook aims to educate students interested in lower-level health careers and non-science majors without the intimidating detail found in current textbooks. Text and images were created to be more accessible for these student populations.

Sit Less, Move More: A National Study Of Physical-Activity Behavior And Cancer, Stella O. Nwogugu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Physical activity is associated with lower risks of cancer, the second leading cause of death among Americans. Yet, sedentary behavior is the prevailing lifestyle for about 80% of American adults. Additionally, cancer survivors remain significantly inactive, even though physical activity has been shown to decrease risk of cancer and cancer recurrence, improve tolerance of cancer therapy, and reduce mortality. This research explores the relative impact of personal agency, social support, and key demographic variables on physical-activity behavior for a national sample of adults as well as how these relationships differ for cancer survivors and their counterparts.

Methods: Using the …

Positive Rate-Dependent Action Potential Prolongation By Modulating Potassium Ion Channels, Candido Cabo

Publications and Research

Pharmacological agents that prolong action potential duration (APD) to a larger extent at slow rates than at the fast excitation rates typical of ventricular tachycardia exhibit reverse rate dependence. Reverse rate dependence has been linked to the lack of efficacy of class III agents at preventing arrhythmias because the doses required to have an anti-arrhythmic effect at fast rates may have pro-arrhythmic effects at slow rates due to an excessive APD prolongation. In this report we show that, in computer models of the ventricular action potential, APD prolongation by accelerating phase 2 repolarization (by increasing I_Ks) and decelerating …

Effects Of Chronic Stress On Safety Processing And Physiology In The Medial Prefrontal-Amygdala-Basal Forebrain Circuit, Itamar S. Grunfeld

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Chronic stress increases generalization of fear to non-threatening cues, a key symptom in numerous psychiatric mood disorders. However, the mechanisms through which stress impacts safety learning remain poorly understood. To probe the relationship between stress and safety learning, this dissertation employed multiple behaviors, in conjunction with in-vivo multisite physiology during explicit safety and fear discrimination learning. In Chapter 1, I outline the role of chronic stress in driving neurological adaptations that result in generalized fear and highlight how this occurs because of impaired safety cue encoding. In Chapter 2, I show that chronic stress in the form of social defeat …

Reducing Fear Overgeneralization With Safety Learning: Attention Bias As A Moderator, Boyang Fan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health condition and affect one out of nine individuals around the world. Fear generalization is a neurocognitive mechanism thought to maintain and exacerbate anxiety, and thus is an important target of therapeutic interventions. Yet, intervention research and practice place relatively little emphasis on its importance. Given that a significant proportion of individuals do not respond to extant treatments of anxiety disorders, a strengthened focus on fear generalization may inform the development and personalization of new treatment approaches. Recent notions have linked fear generalization to failures in distinguishing between signals that predict the occurrence …

Cryo-Em Structure Of Transmembrane Aaa+ Protease Ftsh In The Adp State, Wu Liu, Martien Schoonen, Tong Wang, Sean Mcsweeney, Qun Liu

Advanced Science Research Center

AAA+ proteases regulate numerous physiological and cellular processes through tightly regulated proteolytic cleavage of protein substrates driven by ATP hydrolysis. FtsH is the only known family of membrane-anchored AAA+ proteases essential for membrane protein quality control. Although a spiral staircase rotation mechanism for substrate translocation across the FtsH pore has been proposed, the detailed conformational changes among various states have not been clear due to absence of FtsH structures in these states. We report here the cryo-EM structure for Thermotoga maritima FtsH (TmFtsH) in a fully ADP-bound symmetric state. Comparisons of the ADP-state structure with its apo-state and a substrate-engaged …

Threshold Concentration And Random Collision Determine The Growth Of The Huntingtin Inclusion From A Stable Core, Sen Pei, Theresa C. Swayne, Jeffrey F. Morris, Lesley Emtage

Publications and Research

The processes underlying formation and growth of unfolded protein inclusions are relevant to neurodegenerative diseases but poorly characterized in living cells. In S. cerevisiae, inclusions formed by mutant huntingtin (mHtt) have some characteristics of biomolecular condensates but the physical nature and growth mechanisms of inclusion bodies remain unclear. We have probed the relationship between concentration and inclusion growth in vivo and find that growth of mHtt inclusions in living cells is triggered at a cytoplasmic threshold concentration, while reduction in cytoplasmic mHtt causes inclusions to shrink. The growth rate is consistent with incorporation of new material through collision and coalescence. …

Anatomy And Physiology Preparatory Course Textbook (2nd Edition), Carlos Liachovitzky

Open Educational Resources

The goal of this preparatory textbook is to give students a chance to become familiar with some terms and some basic concepts they will find later on in the Anatomy and Physiology course, especially during the first few weeks of the course.

Organization and functioning of the human organism are generally presented starting from the simplest building blocks, and then moving into levels of increasing complexity. This textbook follows the same presentation. It begins introducing the concept of homeostasis, then covers the chemical level, and later on a basic introduction to cellular level, organ level, and organ system level. This …

A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis On The Efficacy Of Stem Cell Therapy On Bone Brittleness In Mouse Models Of Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Lauren Battle, Shoshana Yakar, Alessandra Carriero

Publications and Research

There is no cure for osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), and current treatments can only partially correct the bone phenotype. Stem cell therapy holds potential to improve bone quality and quantity in OI. Here, we conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies to investigate the efficacy of stem cell therapy to rescue bone brittleness in mouse models of OI. Identified studies included bone marrow, mesenchymal stem cells, and human fetal stem cells. Effect size of fracture incidence, maximum load, stiffness, cortical thickness, bone volume fraction, and raw engraftment rates were pooled in a random-effects meta-analysis. Cell type, cell number, injection …

Notch Signaling Represses Cone Photoreceptor Formation Through The Regulation Of Retinal Progenitor Cell States, Xueqing Chen, Mark M. Emerson

Publications and Research

Notch signaling is required to repress the formation of vertebrate cone photoreceptors and to maintain the proliferative potential of multipotent retinal progenitor cells. However, the mechanism by which Notch signaling controls these processes is unknown. Recently, restricted retinal progenitor cells with limited proliferation capacity and that preferentially generate cone photoreceptors have been identified. Thus, there are several potential steps during cone genesis that Notch signaling could act. Here we use cell type specific cis-regulatory elements to localize the primary role of Notch signaling in cone genesis to the formation of restricted retinal progenitor cells from multipotent retinal progenitor cells. Localized …

The Effect Of Fluid Flow Shear Stress And Substrate Stiffness On Yes-Associated Protein (Yap) Activity And Osteogenesis In Murine Osteosarcoma Cells, Thomas R. Coughlin, Ali Sana, Kevin Voss, Abhilash Gadi, Upal Basu-Roy, Caroline M. Curtin, Alka Mansukhani, Oran D. Kennedy

Publications and Research

Osteosarcoma (OS) is an aggressive bone cancer originating in the mesenchymal lineage. Prognosis for metastatic disease is poor, with a mortality rate of approximately 40%; OS is an aggressive disease for which new treatments are needed. All bone cells are sensitive to their mechanical/ physical surroundings and changes in these surroundings can affect their behavior. However, it is not well understood how OS cells specifically respond to fluid movement, or substrate stiffness—two stimuli of relevance in the tumor microenvironment. We used cells from spontaneous OS tumors in a mouse engineered to have a bone-specific knockout of pRb-1 and p53 in …

Lighting The Way: Recent Insights Into The Structure And Regulation Of Phototropin Blue Light Receptors, Jaynee E. Hart, Kevin H. Gardner

Publications and Research

The phototropins (phots) are light-activated kinases that are critical for plant physiology and the many diverse optogenetic tools that they have inspired. Phototropins combine two bluelight- sensing Light–Oxygen–Voltage (LOV) domains (LOV1 and LOV2) and a C-terminal serine/threonine kinase domain, using the LOV domains to control the catalytic activity of the kinase. While much is known about the structure and photochemistry of the light-perceiving LOV domains, particularly in how activation of the LOV2 domain triggers the unfolding of alpha helices that communicate the light signal to the kinase domain, many questions about phot structure and mechanism remain. Recent studies have made …

Age And Sex Differences In Load-Induced Tibial Cortical Bone Surface Strain Maps, Alessandra Carriero, Behzad Javaheri, Neda Bassir Kazeruni, Andrew A. Pitsillides, Sandra J. Shefelbine

Publications and Research

Bone adapts its architecture to the applied load; however, it is still unclear how bone mechano-adaptation is coordinated and why potential for adaptation adjusts during the life course. Previous animal models have suggested strain as the mechanical stimulus for bone adaptation, but yet it is unknown how mouse cortical bone load-related strains vary with age and sex. In this study, full-field strain maps (at 1 N increments up to 12 N) on the bone surface were measured in young, adult, and old (aged 10, 22 weeks, and 20 months, respectively), male and female C57BL/6J mice with load applied using a …

Extracellular Vesicles Released By Human Retinal Pigment Epithelium Mediate Increased Polarised Secretion Of Drusen Proteins In Response To Amd Stressors, Miguel Flores-Bellver, Jason Mighty, Silvia Aparicio-Domingo, Kang V. Li, Cui Shi, Jing Zhou, Hannah Cobb, Patrick Mcgrath, German Michelis, Patricia Lenhart, Ganna Bilousova, Søren Heissel, Michael J. Rudy, Christina Coughlan, Andrew E. Goodspeed, S. Patricia Becerra, Stephen Redenti, M. Valeria Canto-Soler

Publications and Research

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Drusen are key contributors to the etiology of AMD and the ability to modulate drusen biogenesis could lead to therapeutic strategies to slow or halt AMD progression. The mechanisms underlying drusen biogenesis, however, remain mostly unknown. Here we demonstrate that under homeostatic conditions extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells are enriched in proteins associated with mechanisms involved in AMD pathophysiology, including oxidative stress, immune response, inflammation, complement system and drusen composition. Furthermore, we provide first evidence that drusen-associated proteins are released as cargo of extracellular …

Human Retinal Organoids Release Extracellular Vesicles That Regulate Gene Expression In Target Human Retinal Progenitor Cells, Jing Zhou, Miguel Flores‑Bellver, Jianbo Pan, Alberto Benito‑Martin, Cui Shi, Onyekwere Onwumere, Jason Mighty, Jiang Qian, Xiufeng Zhong, Tasmim Hogue, Baffour Amponsah‑Antwi, Linda Einbond, Rajendra Gharbaran, Hao Wu, Bo‑Juen Chen, Zhiliang Zheng, Tatyana Tchaikovskaya, Xusheng Zhang, Hector Peinado, Maria Valeria Canto‑Soler, Stephen Redenti

Publications and Research

The mechanisms underlying retinal development have not been completely elucidated. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are novel essential mediators of cell‑to‑cell communication with emerging roles in developmental processes. Nevertheless, the identification of EVs in human retinal tissue, characterization of their cargo, and analysis of their potential role in retina development has not been accomplished. Three‑dimensional retinal tissue derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) provide an ideal developmental system to achieve this goal. Here we report that hiPSC‑derived retinal organoids release exosomes and microvesicles with small noncoding RNA cargo. EV miRNA cargo‑predicted targetome correlates with Gene Ontology (GO) pathways involved in …

Vulnerable And Resilient Phenotypes In A Mouse Model Of Anorexia Nervosa, Jeff A. Beeler, Devry Mourra, Roseanna M. Zanca, Abigail Kalmbach, Celia Gellman, Benjamin Y. Klein, Rebecca Ravenelle, Peter Serrano, Holly Moore, Stephen Rayport, Susana Mingote, Nesha Burghard

Advanced Science Research Center

Background

Increased physical activity is a common feature of anorexia nervosa (AN). Although high activity levels are associated with greater risk of developing AN, particularly when combined with dieting, most individuals who diet and exercise maintain a healthy body weight. It is unclear why some individuals develop AN while most do not. A rodent model of resilience and vulnerability to AN would be valuable to research. Dopamine, which is believed to play a crucial role in AN, regulates both reward and activity and may modulate vulnerability.

Methods

Adolescent and young adult female C57BL/6N mice were tested in the activity-based anorexia …

To Flex Or Rest: Does Adding No-Load Isometric Actions To The Inter-Set Rest Period In Resistance Training Enhance Muscular Adaptations? A Randomized-Controlled Trial, Brad J. Schoenfeld, Jozo Grgic, Bret Contreras, Kenneth Delcastillo, Andrew Alto, Cody Haun, Eduardo O. De Souza, Andrew D. Vigotsky

Publications and Research

We aimed to investigate the effects of resistance training (RT) combined with no-load isometric actions (iso-holds) during the inter-set recovery period versus RT that involves passive inter-set rest on muscular strength, muscular hypertrophy, and muscular endurance in resistance-trained men. Twenty-seven resistance-trained male volunteers were randomly assigned to either a traditional group (TRAD) that performed a hypertrophy-oriented RT routine with the rest intervals spent passively (n = 13) or to a group that supplemented traditional RT with iso-holds (ISO) for the working muscle group between each set (n = 14). Training for both routines consisted of three weekly sessions performed for …

A Tale Of Winglets: Evolution Of Flight Morphology In Stick Insects, Yu Zeng, Connor O'Malley, Sonal Singhal, Faszly Rahim, Sehoon Park, Xin Chen, Robert Dudley

Publications and Research

The evolutionary transition between winglessness and a full-winged morphology requires selective advantage for intermediate forms. Conversely, repeated secondary wing reductions among the pterygotes indicates relaxation of such selection. However, evolutionary trajectories of such transitions are not well-characterized. The stick insects (Phasmatodea) exhibit diverse wing sizes at both interspecific and intersexual levels, and thus provide a system for examining how selection on flight capability, along with other selective forces, drives the evolution of flight-related morphology. Here, we examine variation in relevant morphology for stick insects using data from 1,100+ individuals representing 765 species. Although wing size varies along a continuous spectrum, …

Combinatorial Discovery And Validation Of Heptapeptides With Utp Binding Induced Structure, Daniela Kroiss, James Aramini, Sangitaa Ragoonath, Rein V. Ulijn, Tell Tuttle

Advanced Science Research Center

In biology, supramolecular recognition typically involves an ‘induced-fit’ mechanism, where structures rearrange upon complexation to accommodate binding ligands. Designing minimalistic compounds with such adaptability is challenging as they involve subtle conformational changes that are energetically similar. Here, we demonstrate the integration of combinatorial screening with molecular modelling to identify heptapeptides that form a stable loop upon recognition of uridine triphosphate (UTP). Peptide sequences selected using phage display were refined computationally and correlated with experimental KD values. This combined approach may serve as a method for the de novo selection and subsequent rationalization of the compositional and organizational principles that dictate …

Inhibition Of Mitochondrial Permeability Transition By Deletion Of The Ant Family And Cypd, Jason Karch, Michael J. Bround, Hadi Khalil, Michelle A. Sargent, Nadina Latchman, Naohiro Terada, Pablo M. Peixoto, Jeffery D. Molkentin

Publications and Research

The mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) has resisted molecular identification. The original model of the MPTP that proposed the adenine nucleotide translocator (ANT) as the inner membrane pore-forming component was challenged when mitochondria from Ant1/2 double null mouse liver still had MPTP activity. Because mice express three Ant genes, we reinvestigated whether the ANTs comprise the MPTP. Liver mitochondria from Ant1, Ant2, and Ant4 deficient mice were highly refractory to Ca2+-induced MPTP formation, and when also given cyclosporine A (CsA), the MPTP was completely inhibited. Moreover, liver mitochondria from mice with quadruple deletion of Ant1, Ant2, Ant4, and Ppif (cyclophilin …

Histology Atlas: Basic Mammalian Tissue Types (Biol 105), Joshua Barnes, Daniel J. Yakubov, Corinna Singleman, Nathalia G. Holtzman

Open Educational Resources

This book is a guide to the basic histology lab conducted as a part of the Queens College, CUNY Biology Department Bio105 General Biology: Physiology and Cell Biology course. This course is the first half our two-part series for biology majors. The actives are designed to be conducted over a single 3-hour lab periods which focus on the relationship of form and function of the cellular and organ level anatomy and physiology. Step by step instructions for each slide set are provided for all the key organs.

In addition to the full text of the book, we also provide a …

Fetal Pig Dissection Manual (Biol 105), Nathalia G. Holtzman, Daniel J. Yakubov

Open Educational Resources

This book is a guide to the basic fetal pig dissection conducted as a part of the Queens College, CUNY Biology Department Bio105 General Biology: Physiology and Cell Biology course. This course is the first half our two-part series for biology majors. The actives are designed to be conducted over a three- 3-hour lab periods which focus on the relationship of form and function of the pig anatomy and physiology. Step by step instructions for the dissection are provided along with some microscopy tasks to look at the histology of key organs.

In addition to the full text of the …