Low concentrations of vitamin D have been associated with increased mortality in observational studies in humans, but a cause-and-effect link has been difficult to pin down. This new research published in the British Medical Journal has used a novel approach in which the genetic variants in DHCR7 and CYP2R1 have […]
Across the animal kingdom, muscles adapt to the exercise that they perform. They can do this by changing their intrinsic capacity to generate force as well as changing their actual size, both the cross-sectional area of the muscle and the length of the muscle (e.g. Goldspink, 1985; Lynn & Morgan, […]
The personal health and economic burden of physical inactivity is receiving justifiably growing recognition. This burden may be greatest for the elderly where the gap between recommended levels of physical activity and actual activity is most pronounced. This gap was recently highlighted in a national analysis of Australian health (Australia’s […]
The case for ‘personalized medicine’ is promulgated more and more, but one difficulty is that what the term means is often unclear. To some it means no more than a personal appraisal by your local medical practitioner but to others it means the sequencing of your genome in whole or […]
Inputs from specialised cutaneous and muscle afferents are crucial for tactile manipulation and accurate movement and postural control. Both sets of afferents project to the cerebral cortex and contribute to proprioceptive senses (e.g. Proske & Gandevia, 2012). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the cortical activation produced by cutaneous […]
Obstructive sleep apnoea is a common disorder which is linked to increased incidence of stroke, myocardial infarction and heart failure (for review see Jordan et al 2014). However, the fundamental neuromotor control of the upper airway is poorly understood, perhaps because of its structural and neural complexity. Recently a series […]
