April 1, 2016

Sexual Dimorphism of the Lumbar Vertebrae as a Sex Determination Technique in Humans

Karla Neff '16

There are a few techniques available to determine the sex of an individual’s remains, however these techniques are limited by the sample used to create them. The main techniques used to determine sex use the cranial and pelvic bones. So the lumbar vertebrae could be an important set of bones as they have a specific structure with different features that can be measured. Since the lumbar vertebrae have different features that can be examined, they could be good alternative sex determination bones.

Higher rates of sex in homogenous environments

Jarie Alexander '16

Spatial heterogeneous refers to different species concentration in a specific area. In the case of spatially heterogeneous environments, Branchionus calyciflorus rotifers have the ability to reproduce asexually and sexually depending on resources and signals. Its clear that chemical signals are the cue for sexual reproduction because of quorum sensing, that rotifers under certain circumstances give off. Three study conditions were created: high quality food, low quality food and a mixture of the two, with original test subjects coming from resting eggs. Evidence supports that rotifers under the mixed environment were able to reproduce sexually with the dependent of resources.

Tissue iron deficiency without anemia impairs adaptations in endurance capacity after aerobic training in untrained women

Breanna Kennedy '16

Iron deficiency (ID) is the most common nutrient deficiency disease in the world and affects roughly fifteen percent of the world’s population. Iron is an important factor for carrying oxygen to the body’s tissues as well as to muscles. Insufficient iron has been known to cause fatigue and decrease the body’s immune function. A study by Brownlie et al. previously showed that iron supplementation significantly improved iron status as well as maximal work capacity in untrained women. These women were considered iron-deficient (non-anemic) and had a baseline serum transferrin receptor concentration (sTfR) > 8.0 mg/L. In their current study they are investigating the effect of baseline sTfR receptor status on adaptations in endurance capacity. A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled investigation was conducted on 41 untrained, iron-depleted, non-anemic women. The subjects trained on a cycle ergometers 5days/week for the last 4 weeks of the 6 week study. Endurance capacity for each subject was assessed using a 15-km time trial on the cycle ergometer. There were significant treatment effects found for time to complete the trial and percentage of maximal oxygen uptake in subjects with varying sTfR concentrations. The findings of this study suggest that ID without anemia impairs endurance capacity which can be corrected with iron supplementation.