Our cells need constant fuel and oxygen for the body to work properly and maintain cellular function. In high altitudes tissue oxygen levels fall and the body must work against this hypoxic challenge to maintain energetics and limit oxidative stress. Mammals living at high altitudes are challenged to sustain thermogenesis and aerobic exercise despite reduced amounts of available oxygen. Enhancements in oxidative capacity and oxygen diffusion capacity of skeletal muscle may be necessary to compensate for insufficient oxygen supply in tissues. Hypoxic conditions can cause a switch from aerobic metabolism to anaerobic metabolism. Due to previous research of Graham Scott and colleagues on “Adaptive Modifications of Muscle Phenotype in High-Altitude Deer Mice” and the SMack Lab at Arizona State University, the question of how low atmospheric oxygen levels affects the enzymatic activity in the gastrocnemius muscle of Gelada Monkeys compared to Rhesus Macaque Monkeys was researched. Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) activity was measured in the gastrocnemius tissue of 6 Gelada Monkeys (highland) and 6 Rhesus Macaque monkeys (lowland). LDH was expected to be greater in Gelada tissue samples due to heightened anaerobic metabolism in the presence of limited available oxygen in high altitude environments. Results showed higher LDH in Rhesus Macaque samples compared to Gelada samples, but this difference was not statistically significant. Despite nonsignificant data, this experiment is insightful into the effects of Hypoxic adaptation in skeletal muscle enzymatic activity in primates.

In 1861, William John Little published, “On The Influence of Abnormal Parturition, Difficult Labors, Premature Birth, and Asphyxia Neonatorum, on the Mental and Physical Condition of the Child, Especially in Relation to Deformities,” hereafter “Abnormal Parturition,” in the Transactions of the Obstetrical Society of London. In the article, Little discussed the causes and types of what he refers to as abnormal births, and theorized how those births affect an infant’s likelihood of exhibiting a deformity. Little defined abnormal births as those involving an atypical maternal or fetal presentation, such as a slow birthing process or a fetus exiting the birth canal feet first rather than head first. In his article, Little published one of the first definitional frameworks to describe a condition causing rigidity and stiffness in the limbs that is often associated with birth-related trauma, which was then called Little’s disease, but is modernly known as spastic Cerebral Palsy.