It's common knowledge that exercise is good for our muscles. Regular workouts help tone the muscle we have and build more muscle on top of that.

But the heart is a muscle too. When you exercise, your heart "remodels" to accommodate the body's increased demand for more oxygen-rich blood to feed those muscles. 

But does this remodeling affect Olympic athletes differently?

In a society that values gender equality, it's important to remember that there are differences between the sexes that directly impact health.

One area in critical need of further study is cardiovascular health. For the past four years, two junior faculty at the University of Kentucky have invested their efforts to host a symposium where outstanding scientists from UK and universities across the country present new scientific advances in women's heart health and explore translational cardiovascular research areas that merit further study.

In its ongoing efforts to offer Kentuckians the latest, most innovative cancer treatments available, the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center recently launched the Precision Medicine Clinic, a new space dedicated to providing patients with increased access to phase I and phase II clinical trials. Before a new drug can be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for widespread use, it must first be proven safe and effective in clinical trials. When patients are enrolled in phase I trials, they are often among the first people to receive a promising new drug or treatment.

Every four years, people around the world gather around the television and spend two weeks watching a lifetimes worth of work play out. For the hundreds of athletes that comprise Team USA, the result of their blood, sweat and tears makes us feel pride, in our country and in our fellow countrymen. While the athletes take center stage there’s a team of people in the shadows treating pain, nursing illnesses and in some cases consoling athletes.

The Markey Cancer Foundation invites you to take an active role in furthering life-changing cancer research at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center through the Markey Women Strong program.

Markey Cancer Center Research Day is a single-day event showcasing current cancer research projects throughout all disciplines at the University of Kentucky. For the ninth consecutive year, the event is being held at the UK Singletary Center for the Arts.

On May 9, 2018, UK researchers – students, post-doctoral fellows, faculty and staff – have the opportunity to share their work in an atmosphere of learning and collaboration through several avenues such as:

Surgeons aren't often chosen to participate in the John N. Insall Traveling Fellowship the first time they apply for consideration, but that wasn't the case for Dr. Stephen Duncan, assistant professor of orthpaedic surgery. Beginning in October, Duncan will travel to 11 centers, in 10 cities, across two countries to learn more about orthpaedic surgery and research.

One undergraduate psychology course changed William Stoops' life.

Originally Stoops planned to major in French, but after taking more psychology classes and getting involved in intensive, hands-on research, he decided in his senior year to devote his professional life to the study of the behavioral effects of drugs.

The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship(VACE), part of the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics, announced that one of its Fall 2017 Bootcamp teams, OptiMol Enzymes, has been accepted into the Clean Energy Trust Competition in Chicago, on F

According to a paper recently published in Cell Reports, labs from Case Western Reserve and the University of Kentucky's Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) were able to demonstrate the existence of a parallel neural network that could potentially restore diaphragm function after spinal cord injury.

This ghost network operates entirely separate from the brain, which has long been considered the only organ capable of directing respiratory function, and appears able to instruct the diaphragm to contract when properly activated. 

The American Heart Association has awarded a University of Kentucky and Baylor University research partnership $3.7 million to study aortic disease.

UK and Baylor were one of four teams nationwide to receive the honor, which coincides with the establishment of the American Heart Association's Vascular Research Disease Network.

Abstracts and mentor nominations are now being accepted for the 13th Annual Spring Conference of the University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Abstracts are due Monday, March 5, and mentor nominations are due Monday, Feb. 26.

The conference will be held Friday, April 13, 2018, at the Lexington Convention Center. The theme is “Opioids: Addressing the Public Health Crisis through Translational Science.” More details are available here.

Abstracts

The opening of a new ophthalmology clinic at the student-run University of Kentucky College of Medicine Salvation Army Clinic was "a culmination of people saying we can do this," said Dr. Julia Stevens, associate professor of ophthalmology and pediatrics, and liaison to the students working to bring the clinic to life.

More than 7,000 University of Kentucky employees, retirees and spouses have purchased a Fitbit through UK's recent promotion. It is just one way the university is helping the community improve their well-being. The promotion continues through Jan. 31.

"Walking more is an attainable goal," said Allison Walters, a UK employee for almost 20 years. "The Fitbit is a true benefit to my health because it keeps me in tune with how I'm doing."

Registration is now open for the third annual International Society of Neurogastronomy symposium, which will be held at the University of Kentucky on March 2-3, 2018.

 Both day's events offer continuing education credit.

This year's symposium will explore the connection between brain and behavior in the context of food.

Alzheimer's disease wreaks emotional havoc on patients who are robbed of their memories, their dignity and their lives. It’s financially devastating as well: care for Alzheimer's patients is predicted to top $1 trillion by the time children born today are having children of their own.

The combination of a new clinical trial and a tissue bank is innovating stroke care and research at the University of Kentucky. Led by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians and scientists, the studies aim to develop new treatments using existing therapies that protect brain tissue after a stroke, and to learn more about the physiology of the event.

Seth S. Himelhoch, MD, MPH, will be the College of Medicine’s chair of psychiatry beginning Jan. 1, 2018. He will play a vital role in the college’s mission to impact the standards and delivery of care related to mental health and substance use disorders in the commonwealth.

When Alex Helman began her search for a doctoral program that would allow her to further her knowledge of neuroscience and conduct research on Alzheimer’s disease, she was surprised to add the University of Kentucky to her list.

Kentucky is among the states most ravaged by opioid abuse and drug addiction.

But the University of Kentucky — with researchers and clinicians working across a number of colleges and disciplines — is on the front lines of finding solutions.

Leaders from UK Research and UK HealthCare — along with some of the institution’s most prolific researchers — took their stories of hope and challenge to Washington, D.C., recently to make the case with some of the country’s top elected officials about the need to continue federal funding to address drug addiction and abuse.