In this class you will learn how our bodies work. You will be learning this through standard methods (participating in lecture, and from reading) and you will also learn by doing (lab exercises and hands-on experimental research projects). I can understand how it may be daunting to think of doing a research project during the course of a semester… especially if you are also required to have anatomy labs and other exercises. In order to “make room” for the physiology lab learning and research projects, we have scaled back much of the time that was devoted to the anatomy-only labs. Accordingly, some of the depth/extent of our anatomy studies (and my expectations) have been scaled back with this in mind. Furthermore, I want you to pick/design simple and small projects so that they ARE, in fact, doable within the course of the semester.

Research Project Rationale:

Doing a research project will help you to develop some of the essential skills needed to be an effective scientist… these important skills include:
1) effective literature searches (there is no use re-building the wheel!)
2) experimental design
3) hypothesis testing
4) number crunching, data display (graphing), and statistical analysis
5) data interpretation
6) making conclusions and broader implications based on experimental data
7) presentation (posters, talks)
8) scientific writing
9) discovering the excitement of research

Furthermore, you never know if the project your team does will lead to follow-up studies and/or publication!

How original does it have to be?

Although it would be wonderful to test a completely novel hypothesis, I do not expect everyone to develop completely original projects (with no aspect of the hypothesis being previously tested). To use an example, if someone has already published a paper on the effects of yoga on resting heart rate, this does not mean that you can't do a project on the effects of yoga on heart rate... The reason for this is that there might be a perfectly good justification for studying it further or in a different way. For instance, if there is only one single published paper on the effect of yoga on heart rate, and the journal is not peer-reviewed or if they only had a sample size of 2 (or they only studied men and you think the response in women may be different), or if there was a flaw in their experimental methods or design (e.g. they didn't use a control group or they used a un-reliable measurement technique), or if there are two papers with conflicting results... then by all means, do the project!   At the opposite end of the scale, if there were 50 papers on the effects of yoga on heart rate last year, and they use all of the methods that you would use, and there is no controversy (all of the findings in all of the papers agree), then there might not be a justification for doing the 51st paper on the effects of yoga on heart rate.

How big does it have to be?

If you are only doing one easy experimental measure and comparing two groups, then your sample size should be close to 8. If you are doing multiple measurements and/or multiple time-points, then a sample size of 3 should suffice.

METHODS for doing a research project:

I) Picking a research topic
II) Putting together a research team
III) Designing your experiments
IV) Presenting your results
V) Writing-up your results
VI) Doing all of the above on time

Things you can measure:
Heart rate variability/maximum/minimum/etc (w/ heart rate monitor OR ecg/ekg), Resting metabolic rate (w/ expired gas analysis OR heart rate monitor OR bio impedance), blood pressure, neuromuscular activity, galvanic skin response, nerve conduction velocity, strength of skeletal muscular contraction, intestinal motility, blood profile (HDL & total cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose), urine composition (glucose, other), kidney function (filtration rate, clearance), cardiac function (intraventricular pressure in animals, stroke volume/fractional shortening/ejection fraction/heart size/wall thickness with ultrasound), vascular function/blood flow measurements (reactive forearm blood flow or carotid flow with Doppler ultrasound, or isolated vessel prep), reflexes, exercise performance/cardiovascular fitness, body composition (% body fat, etc), flexibility testing, arterial oxygen saturation, pulmonary function/volumes, etc…. whatever you can dream of!

Possible topics:
Can a true minimum heart rate be measured in an awake individual? Measure heart rate with recording HR monitor over night to get true minimum, then attempt to obtain minimum HR while awake (i.e. supine? Sitting? Meditating? In the dark?)…

• Measure the effect of yoga (or thai chi or music or mental stress, or whatever you are interested in) on health- as reflected by resting/minimum heart rate (or blood pressure or blood lipids or resting metabolic rate, or whatever is a good measure & something you want to do). The hypothesis to be tested is that yoga (or whatever) will significantly decrease resting heart rate acutely or chronically (is the effect lasting throughout the day, or is it limited to the actual class?).
• Measure the effects of “herbal”/dietary supplements on vascular reactivity (or cardiac function or capillary blood flow or nerve conduction velocity) in rats or frogs or lobsters or crayfish, or on sympathetic activity (GSR).
• Measure the effect of caffeine (or whatever else) on GFR, urine formation and % body hydration (i.e. does increased urine output really result in a significant/measurable total body dehydration?).
•  Measure the effect of ultra-slow weight lift training (relative to standard sets/reps) on muscle mass (chronically, i.e. over weeks) and blood pressure/heart rate (acutely & chronically).
•  Measure the differences between students ‘on the meal plan’ with those fending for themselves in terms of plasma lipids or blood pressure or body composition (obviously they would have to be matched for activity levels).
• Measure anaerobic fitness and endurance fitness in two different groups (soccer or volleyball players versus cross-country team).

• Good team work!!!!
• A clearly defined hypothesis
• Safe/humane measurement techniques
• all research teams must submit either a human subjects form, or an animal welfare form PRIOR to doing any experiments
• Reasonable & efficient experimental design
• Although all experiments need “controls”, it may be possible to use data from individual subjects at different time points, such as before yoga (or before caffeine, etc) as the control for a % change study… this may help to decrease the number of subjects you need to ‘recruit’. The number of subjects need not approach Framingham Heart Study proportions, but there should be enough subjects or measures so that you can do statistical analysis on your data. If you have a very efficient experimental design, and if there isn’t too much variability/noise in the measurement you choose, then you can get away with fewer subjects (less work).

Poster:
A poster session is a time for you to display your findings and discuss your research with your peers.  To prepare you poster, you will need to present figures (graphs, and/or tables, and/or images & drawings, and/or representative raw data recordings) and statistical analyses that illustrate important points from your research (methods, results & conclusions/implications). In order to generate figures, you will need to input your data in an Excel (or Prizm) spread sheet (in addition to your lab notebook). When all of your experimental data is recorded and placed in spread sheets, raw values OR means should be graphed in an easy to interpret way. Means & raw data can be plugged into a statistics program for analysis.
 
On the actual day of the poster session, you & your team will guide your classmates/peers through your poster and answer any questions they might have. Your peers will offer suggestions/critiques of your experiments, your figures, your analyses, your conclusions and the implications of your findings (for credit).

As soon as your poster session is over, you will use comments and suggestions from your peers as a guide for adjusting your figures and for help with your conclusions… and then write it all up at a formal science paper.

All posters should contain the following essential components:
1) Abstract of your project.

An abstract is a single page (roughly) of concise writing detailing the 4 essential components of your project:

intro/background [1-2 sentences] followed by a statement of the hypothesis tested [1 sentence];
methods [1-2 sentences];
results summary [1-2 sentences];
conclusions & implications [1-2 sentences].

An abstract is an encapsulation of your entire project. It should answer the questions: what did you study & why, what did you find out, did your results shed light on your hypothesis, and what is the big-picture meaning of your findings.

2) Introduction/Background.
Following the abstract should be a sheet of paper (or two, with font large enough to be read from 4 feet away… >20 pt) that establishes the logic/justification for you spending time doing your project (i.e. What interesting question has not been addressed, is unanswered or is controversial in the scientific literature?).
General/hypothetical examples of justification may include the following….
Did someone publish a paper describing a phenomenon that occurs in kangaroos, but you have reason to believe that the response of humans or rats will be different? Did someone publish a result in one organ system, and you have reason to believe that it will also be true in a different organ? Did someone publish findings using one technique, and you think that a different technique can be justified by showing the same thing (or that the authors were mislead by their technique and you have reason to believe that your technique will be better & show a different finding?
In other words, what is the setting for the question you are asking?

A fabricated example:

- Yoga has been shown to improves aerobic fitness, as measured by resting and exercise heart rates (X, Y and Z, American Journal of Anecdotal Findings).

- Most physiologic studies of yoga have used “rest” or “no activity” for comparison.

- It remains unclear to what extent the cardiovascular fitness benefits of yogic exercise are comparable to other forms of aerobic exercise.
 

HYPOTHESIS

We tested the hypothesis that yogic exercise will result in aerobic conditioning similar to low level bicycle ergometry.

3) Methods.
Summarize with words (and or images) your research methods. Crucial information in a methods section includes: 1) Experimental subjects (species, characteristics (age, weight, gender, etc)), 2) Measured variable(s) & general technique for these measurements, 3) Experimental conditions/design

 A fabricated Example:

Experimental Subjects
       -  Experiments were carried out on male (n=3) and female (n=3) humans.
       -  Average age was 20 ± 1, and Body Mass Index (BMI) was 20 ± 3 kg/m2.
       -  All subjects were healthy and none had previously practiced yoga.
       -  None of the subjects were on athletic teams or participating in any fitness programs during the study period.
       -  All subjects were volunteers with signed informed consent forms.

Experimental Measures
    Heart Rate Measurement:
        -   Heart rate (HR) was measured by a portable HR monitor (Polar S-810), and data was recorded every 30 seconds during rest & exercise periods. HR data was downloaded to PC and analyzed off-line.
        -   Resting heart rate (HRmin) was the lowest repeatable (3 time repeat minimum) heart rate value that was recorded during each phase (supine and sitting).
        -   Maximal Heart Rate (HRmax) was the highest repeatable (3 time repeat minimum) heart rate value recorded during the exercise test.
    Maximal Exercise Test
        -   A graded maximal exercise test was performed on a treadmill (Naughton Protocol).

Experimental Design
        -   Prior to group assignment, heart rate was measured at rest (supine & sitting) and during maximal exercise test.
        -   Subjects for the Control and Yoga groups were matched according to BMI, resting heart rate and max heart rates
        -   Control Subjects (C) bicycled at 50% of their calculated HRmax for 50 minutes, 2 days/week for 4 weeks.  Yoga Subjects (Y) attended a 50 minute yoga class 2 days/week for 4 weeks.
        -   Resting and maximal heart rate measures were repeated following the 4 week experimental protocol.

4) Results.
Display your findings as figures. Each figure should have it’s own legend describing what is shown in the figure. Any one walking by your poster should be able to figure out what you measured, what each axis and symbol represent without your verbal cues (i.e. it should be self-explanatory). The figures in the results section are often followed by a single paged results summary.

   A fabricated Example:

(insert graph w/ legend here!)
 
 

SUMMARY

        -   HRmin decreased equally in both control and yoga groups.

        -   Both groups demonstrated reductions in exercise HR at 80% of baseline maximum exercise work. This training effect only reached significance in the control group.

        -   There was a trend towards increased maximal exercise capacity in the control group, but not the yoga group.

4) Conclusions.
Relate your results back to your hypothesis… Did your data prove or disprove your stated hypothesis? If so, state this!  What do your findings mean in the ‘big picture’? take your results & conclusions, and say something interesting. Follow with a “Future Directions” page for things to measure in a follow-up study.  ****sometimes it is helpful to have a bibliography page at the end of a poster*****

   A fabricated Example:

Both yogic exercise and moderate bicycle training resulted in lower resting heart rates, however, maximal and submaximal exercise benefits were greater with bicycling than yoga. These findings are consistent with cardiovascular fitness benefits from both yoga and bicycling, but that more benefit was obtained through moderate bicycle exercise.

Although previous studies have suggested that yogic exercise has dramatic fitness benefits, these benefits were in comparison to physical inactivity. Our data confirm that yoga results in fitness benefits, but that these benefits may not be as dramatic when compared with other forms of exercise.

V) Writing-up your results: the research paper
 Take your poster, and turn it into a paper by filling in the blanks- using data from the literature, your team’s knowledge of physiology, and your own writing abilities. Make it a readable paper. Writing quality counts!!!!!!!!!
 The scientific paper follows the same format and order as the poster. The abstract should be essentially the same as the poster abstract. The intro, methods, results & conclusions sections of your poster will all need a little more development: just make the words & logic flow in standard sentence & paragraph structure.