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Health and Wealthness is a podcast where your hosts, Emily Weigel and Hanaa Khan discuss pressing and trending topics about health and wealth that everyone should know about. Our first four episodes focus on the opioid crisis. Both the science and healthcare sides. We then go on to talk about burnout and mental health in a conversational episode.
Our current understanding of the mitochondrial genome was revolutionized in 2015 with the discovery of short open reading frames (sORFs) that produced protein products called mitochondrial-derived peptides (MDPs). Interestingly, unlike other proteins produced by the organelle, these MDPs are not directly involved in the electron transport chain but rather serve the role of metabolic regulators. In particular, one of these peptides called MOTS-c has been shown to regulate glucose and fat metabolism in an AMPK-dependent manner. With its capacity to enter the mitochondria and impact gene expression, MOTS-c has also displayed the ability to increase aerobic exercise performance by triggering elevated synthesis of the HO-1 antioxidant. Overall these findings position MOTS-c as a promising treatment for metabolic diseases as well as a potential dietary supplement to boost ATP availability.
Cellular hypertrophy is an anaerobically-based, adaptive process that mammalian skeletal muscle undergoes in response to damage resulting from unaccustomed force generation by the muscle. Hypertrophy allows for the muscle tissue to recover from the immediate injury and also to be rebuilt more capable of withstanding producing the same amount of force without injury, should it happen again. This means the end result of an adapted muscle is an overall more efficient tissue. The ability to regenerate after damage to the structure and function of the muscle tissue is a highly orchestrated event involving multiple steps and key events to occur. Most briefly, a mechanical load is attempted to be lifted but due to demanding a high amount of contractile force to lift, it causes microdamage to the structural and contractile elements of muscle fiber’s sarcomeres. In addition to an inflammatory response, satellite cells, as a part of a myogenic response, are activated to invade the fiber and then permanently reside inside to produce new proteins that will replace the damaged and necrotized proteins. This addition of cellular content, repeated over multiple times, results in the increased diameter of the fibers and manifests in the visual appearance of skeletal muscle hypertrophy. These steps have been listed off devoid of the contexts in which it takes for these to occur and will be addressed within this thesis.
Disclaimer: The initial goal of this project was to present this information as a podcast episode as a part of a series aimed at teaching the general public about human physiological adaptations. Due to the circumstances with COVID-19 we were unable to meet to make a final recording of the podcast episode. A recording of a practice session recorded earlier in the year has been uploaded instead and is therefore only a rough draft.
Disclaimer: Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the final outcomes of this project were impacted and limited. Therefore, the rough draft practice podcast session has been uploaded to accompany the written thesis portion as final recordings could not be recorded at this time.
Superstition is an urban fantasy fiction anthology podcast. Each episode follows a new pair of characters, revealing the supernatural community hidden within the southwest suburb of Superstition. In Superstition, vampires, werewolves and magic have made their home among chain restaurants and malls, neighborhood parks and massive parking lots. In recent weeks, both human and supernatural have gone missing and everyone has a different belief in who and why this is happening. Some simply want life to be as quiet and calm as they remember it to be and other will take matters into their own hands to protect their home. “Thicker than Water” follows two vampire sisters, one of which is in the midst of running for Superstition City Council and the other who has decided to take the future and safety of their community into her own hands in the form of Superstition's first vampire coven. The two disagree about how they should be leading Superstition and reflection on their shared trauma leads to high tensions and questioned trust.