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Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology (BPK)
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Dr. Andrew Blaber

Professor
B.Sc. Honours Marine Biology M.Sc. Biophysics (University Guelph)
B.Ed Physics/Biology (University of Western Ontario)
Ph.D. Kinesiology (University of Waterloo)

Phone: (778) 782-3276
Fax: (778) 782-3040
Email: ablaber@sfu.ca

Aerospace Physiology Lab

Aerospace Physiology Laboratory

The Aerospace Physiology Laboratory conducts research related to human physiological responses and adaptations to Terrestrial and Space environments. The Director, Dr. Blaber, has a special interest in modeling cerebral blood flow regulation under various environmental conditions. Located in the Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University the laboratory has cardiovascular, respiratory, blood flow, tilt table, lower body negative pressure, and exercise testing capabilities. The lab specializes in non-invasive measurements of human physiology. The lab has the capability to measure continuous non-invasive heart rate, arterial blood pressure, blood flow (Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound for cerebral and other arterial blood vessels), breath-by-breath respiratory gas exchange, skeletal muscle electromyography (EMG), and postural sway (Forceplate). Recently we conducted experiments to test the relationship between cerebral blood flow regulation and fainting in the elderly; the effect of altitude on orthostatic intolerance; and the effects of chronic exposure to high levels of carbon dioxide on cerebral autoregulation and orthostatic tolerance. Presently we are conducting experiments to investigate: physiological responses and adaptations to altitude; cerebral blood flow during exercise at various altitudes; effects of weightlessness (space flight) and hypergravity (human centrifuge) on cardiovascular reflexes; and, the relationship of cardiovascular and postural controls with aging and with concussion.

Selected Papers:

Some papers are listed with links to download PDF format copies. Be aware that publishers might place restrictions on access to some papers.

  1. Dehkordi P, Bauer EP, Tavakolian K, Xiao ZG, Blaber AP, Khosrow-Khavar F. Detecting Coronary Artery Disease Using Rest Seismocardiography and Gyrocardiography. Front Physiol. 2021; 12:758727. DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2021.758727. PMID: 34925059; PMCID: PMC8675938.
  2. Goswami N, White O, Blaber A, Evans J, van Loon JWA, Clement G. (2021) Human physiology adaptation to altered gravity environments. Acta Astronautica 189:216-221 https//doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.08.023
  3. Xu D, Tremblay MF, Verma AK, Tavakolian K, Goswami N, Blaber AP. (2020) Cardio-postural interactions and muscle-pump baroreflex are severely impacted by 60-day bedrest immobilization. Sci Rep 10(1):1-13
  4. Laing C, Green DA, Mulder E, Hinghofer‐Szalkay H, Blaber AP, Rittweger J, Goswami N. (2020) Effect of novel short‐arm human centrifugation‐induced gravitational gradients upon cardiovascular responses, cerebral perfusion and g‐tolerance. J Physiol, 598(19):4237-4249.
  5. Zakeri V, Tavakolian K, Blaber AP, Bauer EP, Dehkordi P, Khosrow-khavar F. (2020) The repeatability of estimated systolic time intervals in healthy subjects using seismocardiogram and electrocardiogram. Physiol. Meas. 41 02NT01
  6. Goswami N, van Loon JJWA, Roessler A, Blaber AP, White O (2019). Gravitational physiology, aging and medicine. Front Physiol 10, 1338 DOI=10.3389/fphys.2019.01338
  7. Dehkordi PK, Bauer EP, Tavakolian K, Zakeri V, Blaber A, Khosrow-khavar F. (2019) Identifying patients with coronary artery disease using rest and exercise seismocardiography. Front. Physiol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.01211
  8. Dehkordi PK, Bauer EP, Tavakolian K, Zakeri V, Blaber A, Khosrow-khavar F. (2019) Identifying patients with coronary artery disease using rest and exercise seismocardiography. Front. Physiol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.01211
  9. Verma AK, Xu D, Garg A, Blaber AP, Tavakolian K. (2019) Effect of Aging on Muscle-Pump Baroreflex of Individual Leg Muscles during Standing. Front. Physiol. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00845
  10. Goswami N, Blaber AP, Hinghofer-Szalkay H, Convertino VA. (2019) Lower Body Negative Pressure: Physiological Effects, Applications and Implementation. Physiol Rev. 99(1):807-851. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00006.2018.
  11. Verma AK, Xu D, Bruner M, Garg A, Goswami N, Blaber AP, Tavakolian K. (2018) Comparison of Autonomic Control of Blood Pressure during Standing and Artificial Gravity induced via Short-Arm Human Centrifuge. Front Physiol. 9:712. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.00712.
  12. Moein H, Jhalli R, Blaber AP, Claydon VE, Menon C (2017) Evaluating the efficacy of an active compression brace on orthostatic cardiovascular responses. PLoS ONE 12(11): e0187885. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0187885
  13. Goswami N, Blaber AP, Hinghofer-Szalkay H, Montani J-P. (2017) Orthostatic intolerance in older persons: Etiology and countermeasures. Front Physiol 8:803, Doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2017.00803
  14. Verma AK, Xu D, Garg A, Cote AT, Goswami N, Blaber AP, Tavakolian K. (2017) Non-linear heart rate and blood pressure interaction in response to lower-body negative pressure. Front Physiol 8:767. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2017.00767    
  15. Xu D, Verma AK, Garg A, Bruner M, Fazel-Rezai R, Blaber AP, Tavakolian K. (2017) Significant role of the cardio-postural interaction in blood pressure regulation during standing.  Am J Physiol - Heart and Circulatory Physiology 313(3):H568-H577. Podcast: http://ajpheart.podbean.com/e/cardio-postural-blood-pressure-control/
  16. Rahimi M, Blaber AP, Menon C. (2017) Motorized adaptive compression system for enhancing venous return: A feasibility study on healthy individuals. Med Eng Phys 50:65-74, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medengphy.2017.10.005
  17. Laurin A, Lloyd MG, Hachiya T, Saito M, Claydon VE, Blaber AP. (2017) New indices from microneurography to investigate the arterial baroreflex. Physiological Reports Jun; 5(12): e13220.
  18. Verma AK, Garg A, Xu D, Bruner M, Fazel-Rezai R, Blaber AP, Tavakolian K. (2017). Skeletal muscle pump drives control of cardiovascular and postural systems. Sci. Rep. 7, 45301; doi: 10.1038/srep45301.
  19. Rodriguez J, Blaber AP, Kneihsl M, Goswami N. (2017) Post stroke alterations in heart rate variability during orthostatic challenge. Medicine 96(14):e5989.
  20. Verma A, Garg A, Blaber AP, Tavakolian K. (2016) Causal cardio-postural interaction under orthostatic stress. Journal of Medical Devices 10(2):020932
  21. Laurin A, Khorsow F, Blaber AP, and Tavakolian K. (2016) Accurate and consistent automatic seismocardiogram annotation without concurrent ECG. Physiol. Meas. 37(9):1588-1604
  22. Goswami N, Evans J, Schneider S, von der Wiesche M, Mulder E, Rössler A, Hinghofer-Szalkay H, Blaber AP. (2015) Effects of Individualized Centrifugation Training on Orthostatic Tolerance in Men and Women. PLOS One. May 28, 2015. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0125780
  23. Goswami N, Bruner N, Xu D, Bareille M-P, Beck A, Hinghofer-Szalkay H, Blaber AP. (2015) Short-arm human centrifugation with 0.4G at eye and 0.75G at heart level provides similar cerebrovascular and cardiovascular responses to standing. Europ J Appl Physiol, 115(7):1569-1575
  24. Khosrow-khavar F, Tavakolian K, Blaber AP, Zanetti JM, Fazel-Rezia R, Menon C. (2014) Automatic Annotation of Seismocardiogram with High Frequency Precordial Accelerations. IEEE J Biomed Health Inform: 19(4):1428-1434.
  25. Garg A, Xu D, Laurin A, and Blaber AP (2014). Physiological interdependence of the cardiovascular and postural control systems under orthostatic stress. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, 307: H259–H264, 2014. PMID: 24858845
  26. Tavakolian K, Dumond G, Houlton G, Blaber AP.  (2014) Precordial vibrations provide noninvasive detection of early-stage hemorrhage. Shock: 41:91-96. (editor’s choice)
  27. Garg A, Xu D, Blaber AP. (2013) Statistical validation of wavelet transform coherence method to assess the transfer of calf muscle activation to blood pressure during quiet standing. BioMedical Engineering OnLine 12:132.
  28. Blaber A, Zuj K, Goswami N. (2013) Space Physiology III: Cerebrovascular Autoregulation: Lessons Learned from Space Flight Research. Eur J Appl Physiol 113(8):1909-17 PMID: 23132388
  29. Xu D, Shoemaker JK, Blaber AP, Arbeille P, Fraser K, Hughson RL. (2013) Reduced heart rate variability during sleep in long-duration spaceflight. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 305(2):R164-70 PMID 23637139
  30. Goswami N, Batzel JJ, Clément G, Stein TP, Hargens AR, Sharp MK, Blaber AP, Roma PG, Hinghofer-Szalkay HG. (2013) Maximizing information from space data resources: a case for expanding integration across research disciplines. Eur J Appl Physiol. 113(7):1645-54. PMID: 23073848
  31. Tavakolian K, Khosrow-Khavar F, Marzencki M, Kajbafzadeh B, Blaber AP, Kaminska B, Menon C. (2013) Precordial acceleration signals improve the performance of diastolic timed vibrations. Med Eng Phys. 35(8):1133-40 PMID 23291107
  32. Blaber AP, Goswami N, Hinghofer-Szalkay H. (2013) Blood volume redistribution during hypovolemia. Aviat Space Environ Med  84(1):59-64. PMID 23305001
  33. Goswami, N, Roma, PG, De Boever, P, Clément PG, Hargens, AR, Loeppky, JA, Evans, JA, T. Stein, P, Blaber, AP, Van Loon, JWA, Mano, T, Iwase, S, Reitz, G, Hinghofer-Szalkay, HG. (2012) Using the moon as a high-fidelity environment to study biological and behavioural effects of long-duration space exploration. Planetary & Space Science 74:111-120.
  34. Hachiya, T, Aizawa S, Blaber, A.P., and Saito, M. (2012) Muscle sympathetic nerve activity during intermittent handgrip exercise. J Sports Medicine Phys Fitn. 52(6):665-673 PMID 23187331
  35. Gurev, V., Tavakolian, K., Constantino, J., Kaminska, B., Blaber, A.P., Trayanova, N.A. (2012) Mechanisms Underlying the Isovolumic and Ejection Peaks in Seismocardiogram Morphology. J.Med. Biol. Eng. 32(2):103-110 PMID 23105942
  36. Fraser KS, Greaves DK, Shoemaker JK, Blaber AP, Hughson RL (2012) Heart rate and daily physical activity with long-duration habitation of the international space station. Aviat Space Environ Med, 83(6):577-584. PMID 22764612
  37. Hachiya, T, Hashimoto I, Saito, M., and Blaber, A.P. (2012) Peripheral vascular responses of men and women to LBNP. Aviat Space Environ Med. 83(2):118-24. PMID 22303590
  38. Zuj KA, Arbeille P, Shoemaker JK, Blaber AP, Greaves DK, Xu D, Hughson RL (2012) Impaired cerebrovascular autoregulation and reduced CO2 reactivity after long duration spaceflight. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 302(12): H2592-H2598. (AJP Highlighted article) PMID 22492717
  39. Hughson RL, Shoemaker JK, Blaber AP, Arbeille P, Greaves DK, Pereira-Junior PP, Xu D. (2012) Cardiovascular regulation during long-duration spaceflights to the International Space Station. J Appl Physiol  112(5):719-727, 2012 PMID 22134699
  40. Blaber, A.P., Goswami, N., Bondar R.L., Kassam, M.S. (2011) Impairment of cerebral blood flow regulation in astronauts with post-flight orthostatic intolerance.  Stroke. 2011 42:1844-1850. PMID 20651224
  41. Hachiya T, Walsh ML, Saito M, Blaber AP. (2010) Delayed vasoconstrictor response to venous pooling in the calf is associated with high orthostatic tolerance to LBNP. J Appl Physiol. 109(4):996-1001. PMID 20651224
  42. Blaber AP, Landrock CK and Souvestre PA (2009) Cardio-postural deconditioning: a model for post flight orthostatic intolerance. Resp Physiol Neurobiol. 169(Suppl 1):S21-S25 PMID 19048097
  43. Souvestre, P.A., Landrock, C.K., and Blaber, A.P. (2008) Reducing incapacitating symptoms during space flight: is postural deficiency syndrome an applicable model? Hippokratia 2008, 12 (Suppl 1): 41-48. PMID 19048092
  44. Souvestre, P.A., Landrock, C.K., and Blaber, A.P. (2008) New paradigm for understanding in-flight decision making errors: a neurophysiological model leveraging human factors. Hippokratia 2008, 12 (Suppl 1): 78-83. PMID 19048097
  45. Souvestre, P.A., Landrock, C.K., and Blaber, A.P. (2008) Space motion sickness: the sensory motor controls and cardiovascular correlation. Acta Astronautica 63, 745-757.
  46. Hachiya T., Blaber A.P., Aizawa S., and Saito M.  (2008) Heart rate responses at onset of contraction. Int J Sports Med 29:646-651.  PMID 18080950
  47. Hachiya, T., Blaber, A.P., and Saito, M.  (2008) Near-infrared spectroscopy provides an index of blood flow and vasoconstriction during LBNP. Acta Physiologica 193, 117–127. PMID 18162057
  48. Seedhouse, E.L.O., Walsh, M.L. and Blaber, A.P. (2006) Heart rate, blood pressure, and pulmonary function changes associated with an ultra-endurance triathlon.  Wilderness Environ. Med.  17:240–245. PMID 17219787
  49. Seedhouse, E.L.O. and Blaber, A.P. (2005) Physiological responses of ultraendurance athletes and nonathletes during an attempt to summit Denali.  Wilderness Environ. Med. 16:198-203. PMID 16366200
  50. Hachiya, T., Blaber, A.P., and Saito, M. (2004). Changes in thigh superficial blood distribution during LBNP assessed by NIRS. Aviat. Space Environ. Med. 75:118-122. PMID 14960046
  51. Blaber AP, Bondar RL, KAssam MS. (2004) Heart rate variability and short duration spaceflight: relationship to post-flight orthostatic intolerance. BMC Physiol. 2004; 4: 6. PMID 15113425
  52. Blaber, A.P., Walsh, M.L., Carter, J.B., Seedhouse, E.L.O., and Walker, V. (2004) Cardiopulmonary physiology and responses of ultra-marathon athletes to prolonged exercise. Can. J. Appl. Physiol. 29:544-563. PMID 15507692
  53. Blaber, A.P., Hartley, T., and Pretorius, P.J. (2003). Effect of acute exposure to 3,660 m altitude on orthostatic responses and tolerance. J. Appl. Physiol. 95:591-601. PMID 12716872
  54. Carter, J.B., Banister, E.W., and Blaber, A.P. (2003). The effect of age and gender on heart rate variability following endurance training. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 35:1333-1340. PMID 12900687
  55. Carter, J.B., Banister, E.W. and Blaber, A.P. (2003). Effect of endurance exercise on autonomic control of heart rate. J. Sports Med. 33:33-46. PMID 12477376
  56. Blaber, A.P., Bondar, R.L., Moradshahi, P., Serrador, J.M., and Hughson, R.L. (2001). Inspiratory CO2 increases orthostatic tolerance during repeated tilt. Aviat. Space Environ. Med. 72:985-991. PMID 11718518
  57. Blaber, A.P., Bondar R.L., Stein F., Dunphy P.T., Moradshahi P., Freeman R. (1997) Complexity of Middle Cerebral Artery Blood Flow Velocity:  Effects of Tilt and Autonomic Failure.  Am.J.Physiol. 273:H2209-H2216. PMID 9374755
  58. Blaber, A.P., Bondar R.L., Stein F., Dunphy P.T., Moradshahi P., Kassam, M.S. Freeman R. (1997) Transfer function analysis of cerebral autoregulation dynamics in autonomic failure patients.  Stroke 28(9):1686-1692. PMID 9303010
  59. Bondar, R.L., Dunphy P.T., Kassam M.S., Moradshahi P., Blaber A.P., Stein F., Freeman R. (1997) Cerebrovascular and cardiovascular response to graded tilt in patients with autonomic failure.  Stroke 28(9):1677-1685. PMID 9303009
  60. Blaber A.P. & Hughson R.L. (1996) Cardiorespiratory interactions during fixed pace resistive breathing. J.Appl.Physiol. 80:1618-1626. PMID 8727548
  61. Blaber A.P., Bondar R.L. & Freeman R. (1996) Coarse grained spectral analysis of HR and BP variability in patients with autonomic failure. Am.J.Physiol. 271:H1555-H1564. PMID 8897952
  62. Blaber A.P., Yamamoto Y. & Hughson R.L. (1995) Change in phase relationship between systolic BP and RR-interval during lower body negative pressure. Am.J.Physiol. 268, H1688-H1693. PMID 7733371
  63. Blaber A.P., Yamamoto Y. & Hughson R.L. (1995) Methodology of spontaneous baroreflex relationship assessed by surrogate data analysis. Am.J.Physiol. 268, H1682-H1687. PMID 7733372
  64. Hughson R.L., Yamamoto Y., Blaber A.P., Maillet A., Fortrat J.O., Pavy-LeTroan A., Marine J.F., Güell A., Gharib C. (1994). Effect of 28 day continuous head down bedrest with countermeasures on heart rate variability during LBNP. Aviat. Space Environ. Med., 65:293-300. PMID 8002908

 

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