Muscle strength in overwintering bears

Black Bears in the Wild Retain Muscle Strength During Hibernation

Hibernating bears conserve muscle strength and maintain fatigue resistance.

Black bears spend several months each winter confined to a small space within their den without food or water. In nonhibernating mammals, these conditions typically result in severe muscle atrophy, causing a loss of strength and endurance. However, an initial study indicated that bears appeared to conserve strength while denning. We conducted an in vivo, nonsubjective measurement of strength, r...

Quadriceps muscle strength in scoliosis.

Quadriceps muscle weakness is an important component of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We hypothesised that quadriceps weakness would also be a feature of restrictive lung disease due to scoliosis. We studied 10 patients with severe scoliosis (median (interquartile range (IQR)) forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1))() 35.3 (11)% predicted), 10 patients with severe COPD (FEV(1) ...

Inspiratory muscle strength in asthma.

Augmentation of inspiratory muscle strength (Pimax) represents an adaptive response to airway obstruction. We explore the possibility that respiratory muscle weakness may herald hospital admission during acute bronchospasm. The Pimax measured 81 +/- 25 percent of a predicted value in 20 patients with acute bronchospasm (forced expiratory volume in one second, 36 +/- 17 percent predicted). Pimax...

Overwintering in Tegu Lizards

The tegu, Tupinambis merianae, is a large South American teiid lizard, which is active only during part of the year (hot summer months), spending the cold winter months sheltered in burrows in the ground. This pattern of activity is accompanied by seasonal changes in preferred body temperature, metabolism, and cardiorespiratory function. In the summer months these changes are quite large, but d...