Category: Lab

Our lab recently published a paper that demonstrated a relationship between more hot flashes and worsening vascular endothelial function in perimenopausal women. While this relationship has been shown by others, our data additionally showed that this relationship did not exist in people who participated in greater amounts of moderate to vigorous physical activity. 

Michelle Flesaker, a junior at Smith College, had her manuscript titled “The role of cardiorespiratory fitness on quality of life in midlife women” accepted in the journal Menopause, of the North American Menopause Society. This is an extraordinary achievement for Michelle! 

Midlife is a challenge to women due to what is known as the “squeeze” where many women in this age range are working to advance their careers, taking care of children, caring for aging parents, while experiencing the physiological effects of menopause and health declines due to aging. These midlife experiences may impact a woman’s quality of life.  Therefore, midlife may be a critical window of opportunity to improve quality of life in women. 

Improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) or aerobic exercise capacity, is well known to reduce the risk of disease. Michelle was interested in whether CRF was related to the self-reported perception of quality of life (QOL). Healthy women aged 40-65 completed the Utian Quality of Life questionnaire, a treadmill stress test to measure CRF, a self-reported physical activity questionnaire, and more. Michelle determined that CRF was a significant predictor of women’s overall QOL. Michelle’s paper highlights the importance of CRF for midlife women. The results suggest that healthcare practitioners would benefit from targeting CRF as an important health indicator beyond its ability to predict and reduce disease risk.

Join us in congratulating Michelle on her amazing work!

Sarah Seron, a pre-health student and Ada Comstock Scholar at Smith College, was awarded the NEACSM (New England regional chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine) 2020 Undergraduate Research Experience Grant. The grant is awarded to highlight professional and academic excellence in undergraduate students attending non-R1 institutions in the New England states.

Cardiovascular Disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States. The health of the inside of the blood vessels can provide important information about CVD risk. Endothelial Microparticles (EMPs) are fragments of the inside of the blood vessel wall that may help us identify women who may be at higher risk, or how various therapies may reduce CVD risk in women (see figure below).

Sarah’s research involves improving the evaluation of EMPs with Imaging Flow Cytometry, a method of analysis that may provide a better way to measure EMP compared with traditional flow cytometry. Sarah’s aims are to develop the protocol for EMP evaluation with Imaging Flow Cytometry and compare the two methods. 

Sarah’s work with this grant will facilitate our lab’s research on midlife women’s health. Midlife is a time for women where the risk for CVD increases dramatically. The ability to monitor blood vessel health during this time will help us understand the best ways to mitigate the increase in CVD risk for women.  Her research is paving the way toward a greater understanding of EMPs by creating an improved technique for looking at these fascinating microparticles. 

We are very proud of Sarah’s accomplishment. Congratulations! 

Abigail Edwards, a major in Race, Health and Society and Jacqueline Urdang, a major in Biology, successfully graduated from Smith!  Abigail will begin an internship at the NCAA in June and Jacqueline is headed for a career in medicine!  Congratulations to two dedicated lab members!

Menopausal hot flashes have traditionally been considered a bothersome quality of life issue for women. However, hot flashes are now recognized to be a potential marker of disease risk. Increased frequency and severity of hot flashes have been positively associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, subclinical CVD markers, clinical cardiovascular events, and CVD mortality. Recent data showed that a higher frequency of hot flashes (e.g. number per day) was associated with lower vascular endothelial function in women early in the menopausal transition.

Habitual physical activity and high cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with many health benefits. However, the effectiveness of exercise to reduce hot flashes is equivocal, in part due to lack of objective assessments of hot flashes and physical activity.  Further, surprisingly, the majority of the literature does not demonstrate a protective role of exercise training, habitual physical activity, or fitness on the reduction of endothelial dysfunction with menopause. These studies have not considered factors particular to midlife women, such as hot flashes, that may be associated with their vascular responsiveness to exercise. Therefore, the overall goal of this project is to determine whether habitual physical activity and exercise influence hot flash experience and whether habitual activity and hot flashes influence vascular function in peri-menopausal women.

If you are interested in learning more about this study, please email, molecularcardiolab@gmail.com.

Second year lab member, Michelle Flesaker presented her research entitled, “Menopause-Associated Psychological Symptoms and Physical Activity in Midlife Women” at the 2019 New England American College of Sports Medicine conference in Providence, RI.

Her analysis of self-reported data revealed that higher levels of physical activity were related to fewer negative psychological and fewer vasomotor symptoms in our population. The preliminary data suggest that habitual physical activity may aid in the management of physiological and psychological symptoms of menopause.

Hot flashes are experienced by about 80% of women around menopause.  There is still much to learn about hot flashes and whether they are related to CVD risk.

Check out this video from the North American Menopause Society: “Advances in Our Understanding of the Etiology/Mechanisms of Hot Flashes“.

The New England American College of Sports Medicine Conference will be November 7-8, 2019 at the Rhode Island Convention Center!  The title of the conference is, “Enhancing Health and Human Performance: Science to Practice”. 

Check it out: https://www.neacsm.org/fall