News - Health News
Texas volunteers test altitude fitness in Colorado
Posted: Oct 9, 2011 12:40 PM by Dr. Anya Winslow
BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. (AP) - Two dozens volunteers from Texas are running and hiking in the Colorado high country this weekend to help the University of Colorado develop a test that can identify soldiers who are vulnerable to the headaches, nausea and fatigue of altitude sickness.
The Summit Daily newspaper in Breckenridge reports the volunteers worked out at elevations as high as 10,500 feet above seal level while being monitored for altitude sickness symptoms.
Researchers will take blood samples and look for genes that might predict who gets sick.
The University of Colorado medical school's Altitude Research Center is conducting the study with Pentagon funding. The school is also studying mechanisms that help human cells adjust to high altitude, which could lead to medications that mimic that process, allowing people to acclimate faster.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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