Background: During atherosclerotic plaque development, vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) undergo dedifferentiation, resulting in a synthetic, less contractile progenitor state. This transition is marked by changes in mitochondrial respiration and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. These changes in bioenergetics play a critical role in atherogenesis via facilitation of VSMC migration towards the intima. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate t...

Background: Cellular senescence, cell growth cycle arrest, is a marker of cellular aging. Obesity is considered a disease of accelerated aging as it shares several co-morbidities with aging, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Objective: To determine regional differences in markers of cellular senescence and how these compare in obese individuals with and without T2DM. Methods: Pre-menopausal females undergoing bariatric surgery were categorized as obese-metabolically healthy...

Introduction: Right to left asymmetries in body composition has been examined across many sports, suggesting possible implications for lower back pain (LBP) and decreased level performance. However, we are not aware of any study that has examined the presence and implications of morphological asymmetries in ice hockey players. The purpose of this study was to 1) investigate body composition asymmetries in female and male university level ice hockey players and 2) examine whether the degree of...