Homenaje Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo RELAMI Altura

RELAMI Altura, Octubre 2015.       (English version below)

HOMENAJE GUSTAVO ZUBIETA-CASTILLO

1926-2015


Homenaje “In Memoriam”

altitudeclinic

A la Familia y a su hijo Dr. Gustavo Zubieta Calleja (La Paz – Bolivia) del Ilustre y Honorable Profesor Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo MD (20 mayo 1926 a 17 septiembre 2015, 89 años) médico boliviano, experto en medicina de altitud, fisiólogo, cirujano militar, escritor, pintor, nombrado como el “Gurú de la montaña” en el Colegio Médico de San Juan en Bangalore, India (1).

Ha trabajado en fisiología de alta montaña. Nació a 3800m en Oruro, Bolivia, y después de estudiar medicina en la Universidad Mayor de San Andrés en la ciudad de La Paz, a 3.513 m sobre el nivel del mar, enfoco todo su trabajo a temas de fisiología en alta montaña y más tarde evolucionó al estudio de la patología derivada de la altitud. Propuso nuevos conceptos y la comprensión de lo que se conoce como la Enfermedad Crónica de Montaña. Esta patología objetivada a gran altura, con cifras por encima de los valores normales para tales altitudes, se caracteriza por un aumento del número de glóbulos rojos, cianosis, fracaso ventilatorio y alteraciones respiratorias con hipertensión pulmonar e hipertrofia del ventrículo derecho, que inicialmente se afirmaba que se debía a “la pérdida de la adaptación”. El profesor Gustavo Zubieta Castillo cambió esta interpretación, y el estaba firmemente convencido de que: “Los sistemas orgánicos de los seres humanos y de todas las demás especies tienden a adaptarse a cualquier cambio ambiental y circunstancias en un período óptimo de tiempo, y nunca tienden a la regresión lo que conduciría inevitablemente a la muerte” (2). Este concepto ha cambiado la forma en como se interpretan las enfermedades de gran altitud.

El 9 de julio de 1970, Zubieta-Castillo funda la primera clínica de gran altura en el mundo y que se encuentra en La Paz, Bolivia, denominada “Instituto de Patología en la Altura”. Una de sus teorías es que el hombre tiene la extraordinaria capacidad de adaptación a vivir en un ambiente hipóxico incluso en el punto más alto del planeta Tierra: la cumbre del monte Everest de 8842m (3).

Por tanto; es para nosotros, la América Andina agrupada en la “Red Latinoamericana de Investigación de Medicina Intensiva en la Altura” – RELAMI-Altura, ofrecer este homenaje póstumo a tan ilustre colega y profesor boliviano, mostrar nuestro agradecimiento por haber tenido el honor de compartir momentos de sublime aprendizaje, y por marcar el sendero a seguir en la Medicina en la Altura.

Atentamente

PRIMERA JUNTA DIRECTIVA

Dr. Manuel Jibaja Vega. COORDINADOR GENERAL,

Dr. E. Enrique Maraví Poma.COORDINADOR EUROPA.

Dr. José Antonio Carmona Suazo. COORDINADOR MÉXICO.

Dr. Guillermo Ortiz Ruiz. COORDINADOR COLOMBIA

Dr. Ignacio Vladimir Granda Luna. COORDINADOR ECUADOR.

Dr. Amilcar Tinoco Solórzano. COORDINADOR PERÚ.

Dr. Freddy Sandi Lora. COORDINADOR BOLIVIA.


HOMAGE GUSTAVO ZUBIETA-CASTILLO

1926-2015

IN MEMORIAM

To the family and his son Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja (La Paz, Bolivia) of the Illustrious Honorable Professor Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo MD (May 20 1926 to September 17, 2015, 89 years old) bolivian physician, high altitude medicine expert, physiologist, military surgeon, writer, painter, named the “Mountain Guru” at the Medical College of Saint John’s in Bangalore, India (1).

He worked in high altitude physiology. Born at 3800m in Oruro, Bolivia and after studying medicine in the Universidad Mayor de San Andres in the city of La Paz, at 3513m above sea level, he focused all his work on high altitude physiology and later evolved to the study of pathology resulting from high altitude. He proposed new concepts and the understanding of what is known as Chronic Mountain Sickness. This pathology observed at high altitude, with values above the normal ones for such altitude, is characterized by an increase of the number of red blood cells, cyanosis, ventilatory insufficiency and respiratory alterations with pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular hypertrophy, that was initially considered to “loss of adaptation”. Professor Gustavo Zubieta-CAstillo changed this interpretation and he was firmly convinced that “The organic systems of human beings and all other species, tend to adapt to any environmental change and circumstance in an optimal period of time, and never tend towards regression, which would unavoidably lead to death” (2). This concept has changed the way how disease is interpreted at high altitude.

On July 9th, 1970, he created the first high altitude clinic in the world, that is found in the city of La Paz, Bolivia with the name ” Instituto de Patología en la Altura” (‘High Altitude Pulmonary and Pathology Institute”). One of his theories is that man has the extraordinary capacity to adapt to live in a hypoxic environment even in the highest point on planet earth, the summit of Mt. Everest 8842m (3).

Consequently, it is for us, the Andean America gathered int the ‘Red Latinoamericana de Investigación de Medicina Intensiva, en la Altura” – RELAMI-Altura, (“Latin-American Network of High Altitude Intensive Care Research”) to offer this posthumous homage to such an illustrious Bolivian colleague and professor, showing our gratitude for having had the honor of sharing the sublime learning and for showing us the road to follow in High Altitude Medicine.

Referencias,

1. http://altitudeclinic.com/blog/2010/01/the-mountain-guru/

2. http://altitudeclinic.com/blog/2010/07/forever-loss-of-adaptation-does-not-exist/

3. Zubieta-Castillo G, Zubieta-Calleja GR, Zubieta-Calleja L, Zubieta-Castillo N (2008). “Facts that Prove that Adaptation to life at Extreme Altitude (8842m) is possible”. In Adaptation Biology and Medicine, Suppl 5: 348–355. Editors: L. Lukyanova, N. Takeda and P.K. Singal. Copyright © 2008 Narosa Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India. 26.

Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo’s last breath in his beloved high altitude La Paz, Bolivia

“Spending the 90s”, as he used to affirm, Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo,

Imágenes integradas 1
has left this physical world on Sep17, 2015 leaving behind: everything he used, personally created, his thoughts, his questioning attitude, his severe criticism of what he considered wrong or misleading, his inquisitive mind, his courage and tenacity, his kind and generous attitude, his extraordinary teaching abilities, his visionary inteliigence, his defense of life at high altitude, his poems, his capturing literary production, his paintings in oleo, his discipline, his tolerance with arrogance, and even his own organism.
A member of the Bolivian Academy of Sciences, Bolivian Literature Academy, yet simple and friendly. He was the organizer of the First World Congress on High Altitude Medicine and Physiology that started in La Paz, Bolivia and moved on to Cusco, Peru – Matsumoto, Japan – Arica, Chile, Barcelona, Spain, Xining, China & Lhasa, Tibet and many other cities – countries that we lost track of.
Inline image 1
In Bangalore, India he was named with the generous sponsor of Dr. Thuppil Venkatesh, the “lead man of India” at the Saint John’s University the Parvatha Guru (Mountain Guru) a unique distinction that he was proud of.
Image result for chacaltaya pyramid
We constructed the Chacaltaya Pyramid (glass) Laboratory at 5300m (the highest in the world).
Natalia Zubieta, his granddaughter created and founded the High Altitude Museum in Oct 20, 2010 (the first in the world). He strongly supported it and felt very proud of her being the director.
He was the leader that crystallized the highest soccer (football) game played on the summit of Mount Sajama (6542m) proving that sports at that high altitude was possible, denoting the extraordinary capacity of the Aymaras, thereby defending Bolivia to play the world cups in its own grounds in La Paz (3600m).
Inline image 3
His original and unique views on what was called Chronic Mountain Sickness, a term he proposed be discarded and be rather expressed as PolyErythroCythemia (as a more precise symptomatic description of multiple pathologies in the hypoxic environment of high altitude, was a subject of controversy but of his absolute certainty based on his over 50 years of physician at high altitude. He opposed the obsolete concept of reducing the red blood cells with archaic treatments such as phlebotomy or the use of toxic drugs such as Phenylhydrazine, an OMS proscribed drug. He interrupted its use saving thousands of Polycythemia patients from a guaranteed fatal outcome. He often considered this his most outstanding feat.
He created the “Triple Hypoxia Syndrome” an essential description to explain momentary decrease of PaO2 in Polyerythrocythemic patients.
His concepts of hypoxia gave rise to the formulation of the High Altitude Adaptation Formula.
Upon arrival to La Paz, from a sea level trip, in spite of the fatigue, he would insist that tests be performed on ourselves to observe adaptation. This gave rise to the paper “Adaptation to high altitude through hematocrit changes”.
As a young professor of physiology at Universidad Mayor de San Andres, in La Paz, he performed isolated heart perfusions in dogs and proved that heart surgery could be successfully carried out at high altitude.
Isolated dog heart perfusion at high altitude by Zubieta-Castillo
He also affirmed back in 1964 that the hearts at high altitude were more resistant than at sea level. This visionary observation is currently subject of innumerable papers of the favorable effects of hypoxic exposure on heart function.
Pub1964
Following the observation of the low levels of PaO2 in patients with PolyErythrocythemia at high altitude, the soccer game on Mount Sajama (6542m), the fetal PaO2, he formulated the theory that man can adapt to live at the summit of Mount Everest. His last conference on this was given this February 2015 at the Conference Internacional de Medicina de Altura (CIMA) in Puno, Peru in a joint effort of the Peruvian Medical and  Bolivian Medical Colleges. He was awarded distinctions that he much enjoyed. Thank you to all those that recognized his talents.
El uso instintivo de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra de la curva normal de Gauss
El uso instintivo de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra de la curva normal de Gauss
He wrote a unique article entitled “The mathematics in the structure of Literature”, showing how Miguel De Cervantes description of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza were extremes in a Gauss curve. Several of his books on essays are a delight to read (in Spanish).
We jointly created the First High Altitude Pathology course in La Paz, Bolivia. We then went on to create the Congress on the Effect of Hypoxia on Diseases at high altitude that later evolved to be, held every two years, uo to the V Chronic Hypoxia Symposium. We then went on to create the International Society of Chronic Hypoxia (ISCH) with several colleagues attending the II Chronic Hypoxia Symposium. The Wilderness and Environmental Medicine Journal kindly published our abstracts, for which we are most profoundly grateful.
One of the most interesting achievements, was his concept that in regards to Chronic Mountain Sickness, it was unacceptable to talk about loss of adaptation. He strongly affirmed: “there is no loss of adaptation!!”.
Consequently he wrote:
” The organic systems of human beings and all other species tend to adapt to any environmental change and circumstance within an optimal period of time, and  never tend towards regression which would inevitably lead to death”.
In fact we had a dissenting point of view in the International Consensus for the Definition of High Altitude Diseases, that eventually stopped the use of the term “loss of adaptation”.
We created the “Science, Honor and Truth” award and a medal which says “defeating hypoxia”. The most distinguished scientists that truly follow these forgotten concepts are awarded every two years
.
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We wrote the first book published in English in Bolivia called “High Altitude Pathology at 12000 ft”. It was dedicated to: “Those of short breath at high altitude”.
Our research and publications, never received one sole grant (being them nonexistent in Bolivia), and all science was produced with our own funds acquired at the High Altitude Pulmonary and Pathology Institute (the first altitude clinic in the world, founded 45 years ago), from treating our patients. This became his contribution to the well-being of the residents of high altitude. In order to carry out such feats, we constructed our own equipment using very basic and inexpensive materials, writing our own software, and giving all our time and effort with satisfaction thereby having “the Joy of seeing the light” as our dear friend and outstanding physiologist Poul-Erik Paulev affirmed. We jointly created the Poul-Erik High Altitude Diving Laboratory in his honor and we developed high altitude diving tables.
His publications are cited in many papers around the globe and have recently shot up in the number of downloads and views are available at ResearchGate. Don’t miss them, they are historic.
See part of his lifetime achievements at:
He had an absolute certainty that after he left, he would receive recognition for his work and for his theories of which he never doubted. That is left to be seen if he was right!
Thank you father, mentor, professor, wise mountain Guru for having left us a legacy, and a school of thought that Natalia, Rafaela, (my two daughters), Lucrecia my wife, Nancy. Luis and Rosayda (my brother and sisters), Clotilde (my mother, his attentive and unconditional supporter and lifetime companion), Joyce, Andrei, Gustavo, Katia, Luis Andres and Sebastian, (his other grandchildren) and even his first grandson Thomas Andrew Jenkins will spread and continue.
Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja
High Altitude Pulmonary and Pathology Institute IPPA

www.Altitudeclinic.com

Rio Soqueri 55
Final Av.Saavedra,Prologanciòn Av. Copacabana

La Paz, Bolivia

Gratitude

GRATITUDE

Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo

dedicated to: James Muldrey, Professor of biochemistry, Tulane Medical School, USA.

Walter Unglaub, Dean, Tulane Medical School, USA

Rafael Rubio, Professor, Instituto de Cardiologia de Mexico

and many that remain in my memory

.

Life grants one favors

of different nature and magnitude

that can change the course of our existence.

Favors, that can only be paid with gratitude,

because they are priceless.

Gratitude is a virtue of recognition.

debts” that one acquires

that would have to be “reimbursed”.

.

It is most unfortunate that in this state,

of favors received occasionally,

one looses the chance to reciprocate.

Because, human beings, over time, disappear;

And gratitude remains only in one’s memory

as a moral and personal quality.

Gratitude is a virtue of such magnitude,

that sentences to describe it

will always fall short.

.

We should not search for fault in people

that circumstantially crossed our paths

and impinged damage upon us,

because they eventually will suffer bitterness

for their flawed existence and wrong behavior.

Some may become prominent,

and would wish for one’s disappearance,

from the environment in which they operate

in order to erase bad memories,

because one was a witness of their past anonymousness.

It’s funny how on such extraordinary behavioral subject

we focus so briefly.

.

Human development

is a constant adaptation

based on experience and knowledge

for the conservation of a pleasant life existence

and a harmonious relationship with our neighbors.

.

 jefeTranslation by Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja (Jr).

 

V Chronic Hypoxia Symposium news

Dear colleagues and hypoxia friends:

We will be hosting the V Chronic Hypoxia Symposium in Bolivia this October 6-11, 2014. Several outstanding scientists from around the globe will join us to discuss tolerance to hypoxia, and other aspects of hypoxia.  Among them we have Jan Marino Ramirez, Robert Naejle, Frantisek Kolar, S.V Srikrishna, Wolfgang Jelkmann, Thuppil Venkatesh, Praveen Sharma, Jain Neera, and several other outstanding scientists.   The setting is an itinerant symposium where we will carry out the conferences at different altitudes. If interested, please let us know. Our philosophy is that everyone can participate openly. Some months prior to the meeting we will post some questions regarding our themes  at ResearchGate.net  in order to carry out and develop a virtual discussion that will end at the meeting itself. All participants will be invited to post questions here (if they wish), prior to their presentation here in La Paz. This will certainly focus all of us on our subjects of interest in a dynamic way.
http://www/zuniv.net/symposium5

 

so, come join us!

V Chronic Hypoxia Symposium

Dear friends and colleagues around the world!


We are, once more, proud to announce the:

V Chronic Hypoxia Symposium

                October 6-11, 2014Mark your calendar!
Uyuni Salt Lake 3

click here to go to the Symposium website


Colleagues from many countries in the world are enthused and lined up to honor us with their presence.

It will once more be an itinerant symposium, where talks are given in different altitude sites. We will visit and have conferences at:La Paz 3510 m
Titicaca Lake, 3800 m
Tiahuanacu ruins 4000 m
Chacaltaya at 5230 m
and the Salt Lakes 3656 m


You will learn of “life at high altitude” in different environments.
And this time we are going to visit the famous Salt Lakes at 3656 m in the South of Bolivia (shown above).
Click here to read more about the Uyuni Salt lakes.
You will be completely impressed by the beauty of Bolivia and the hypoxic environment that is our “normal” everyday life.

click here to read about it.


During the V Chronic Hypoxia Symposium, we will have a meeting of the

International Society of Chronic Hypoxia.

It was created during the II Chronic Hypoxia Symposium


We will discuss about Life in Extreme Hypoxia and the

Tolerance to Hypoxia Formula.

Is it true that the paradox of going higher renders more tolerance to hypoxia?

Great scientists will join us in the analysis of these and other fascinating topics, so don’t loose the chance
by clicking here.



We are going to celebrate 44 years of scientific production in high altitude research..

Please read of our latest events and activities at:
http://altitudeclinic.com/blog/

All the best from Bolivia!!

Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja    and     Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo (Sr)….. still active

High Altitude Pulmonary and Pathology Institute
43 years of high altitude medicine
Web: AltitudeClinic.com
Email: zubieta@altitudeclinic.com
Phone: (591-2) 224-5394

Tolerance to Hypoxia

Abstract People living at sea level have poor tolerance to hypoxia. In striking contrast, humans experiencing hypoxia at high altitude live very well. How is it possible for man to tolerate extreme hypoxia at high altitude? In this article we propose a hypothesis that potentially explains the tolerance to hypoxia at high altitude. Close examination of values of hemoglobin and PaCO2 for an altitude of 3510 m  demonstrate that an increase in hemoglobin (Hb) and a decrease in arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) are two essential changes that occur on high altitude exposure. We propose a formula :

Tolerance to hypoxia = Hb/PaCO2 * 3.01

We present evidence that the relationship between Hb and PaCO2 explains the tolerance to hypoxia at high altitude.

The Full published article PDF can be found here

Original citation: Gustavo R. Zubieta-Calleja, Gustavo Ardaya, Natalia Zubieta-De Urioste, Poul-Erik Paulev and Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo, http://altitudeclinic.com/blog/2013/04/tolerance-to-hypoxia/, April 10, 2013.

Formula originally published at: http://altitudeclinic.com/blog/2012/08/the-tolerance-to-hypoxia-formula/

Originally presented at LEH hypoxia symposium

at: http://altitudeclinic.com/blog/2012/09/the-lung-at-high-altitude/

The Lung at High Altitude

The Lung at High Altitude: From cellular acclimatization to clinical disease

August 3-7, 2012
Leh, Ladakh, J&K, India

Prior to the Global Hypoxia Summit and 4th International Conference on Chronic Hypoxia held in India, the Leh Symposium was carried out under the direction of Dr. Qadar Pasha, the organizing secretary that efficiently carried this meeting. We were invited speakers thanks to Dr. QadarPasha and substantially Prof. Thuppil Venkatesh.

Opening ceremony Leh Symposium. From Left Ghazwan Butrous, Max Gassman, Sheila G. Haworth, Rajesh S. Gokhale, P. Tsering, Ghulam Mohammad

It was an atmosphere of science and friendship, with pleasant discussions on the many aspects motivating the search for knowledge in hypoxia. Leh is located at 3500 m of altitude quite similar to La Paz. It is over an hour flight from Dehli. I understand there are 27 flights per day so it is a very popular tourist destination.

And of course, where you experience hypoxia. The Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute (PVRI) also participated as coorganizer. Likewise, the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology under the direction of Dr. Rajesh S. Gokhale, based in Dehli and the Sonam Narboo Memorial Hospital in Leh, J&K, India with Dr. Ghulam Mohammad. He kindly had us visit the hospital premises.

Dr. Qadar Pasha Organizing Secretary during the Opening Ceremony

Several members of the PVRI were present including Ghazwan Butrous who recorded the conferences live and these will be available for the Fellows of the PVRI on their website. We again met Prof. Dr. Max Gassmann of the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He presented his work on Erythropoietin’ impact on exercise performance. Noteworthy was the presence of Dr. Sheila G. Haworth of the UK. She gave an intersting talk about surviving birht ath any altitude, Hypoxaemia to Normoxaemia. Prof. Thuppil Venkatesh, proposed a novel idea of gene mixing to improve human performance.

Zahara Ali, Venkatesh Thuppil, Donald A. McClain, Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo

Robert Naejle from Universite libre de Bruxelles, was very inquisite and critical about the presentations, which gave it a stimulating touch, that we personally greatly enjoyed! He talked about pulmonary disffusion  and exercise physiology. Jose Lopez-Barneo, from Spain gave an interesting talk about about the effects of chronic hypoxia on peripheral and central neurogenic centers. We also enjoyed the comments of Rubin Tuder from Denver Colorado. He talked about pulmonary vasculature and hypoxia signaling.  Hari S. Sharma gave a brief talk on Angiogenensis and tissue remodeling. Dr. Gabriel Diaz from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, in Bogota, talked about the hyperreactivity of the pulmonary vascular tree. Anita Saxena from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences talked about the Eisenmenger syndrome.

Prof. Thuppil Venkatesh

We also made good friends with Uttam Patti, from the Nehru University who was presenting interesting work on hypoxia in cancer cells. And we also were plesantly surprised by the presence of our bolivina colleague Alexandra Heath from Kardiocentrum in La Paz, Bolivia. Her work on neonatal pulmonary circulation at high altitude was also very novel. We also heard some talks on CMS from Dr. Prakash, Negi, Dr. Norboo Angchuk and Dr. Tsering Norboo.

A relaxed moment between professors and students at a Buddist Temple.

Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo (Sr) gave a talk on Adaptation to life at the summit of Mt. Everest, adding new information to his hypopthesis. Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja (Jr), gave a conference on a complete novel concept: The Tolerance to Hypoxia Formula, affirming that the higher one goes, the more tolerance to hypoxia there is.

Zubieta-Castillo (Sr), Zubieta-Calleja (Jr) and Ghazman Butrous

The Global Hypoxia Summit & 4th International Conference on Chronic Hypoxia

At the High Altitude Pulmonary and Pathology Institute (IPPA) we had three previous successful meetings of Chronic Hypoxia in La Paz: http://zuniv.net/symposium/follow-up.html http://zuniv.net/symposium2/follow-up http://zuniv.net/symposium3/ During the second symposium the International Society of Chronic Hypoxia (ISCH), was created. Thanks to the coordination of Prof. Thuppil Venkatesh from St. John’s University in Bangalore, we have carried out under the direction of Prof. Shashi Bala Singh, Director of Defense Institute of physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), in New Dehli, India 9-12 August,2012, the GLOBAL HYPOXIA SUMMIT & 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHRONIC HYPOXIA.

____, Air Marshal DP Joshi, Director General Armed Forces Medical Services, Dr. Vidyasagar Casikar, Neurosurgeon Australia, MM Pallam Raju, Minister of State for Defence, Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo IPPA, Prof. Shashi Bala Singh, Director DIPAS, Prof. Thuppil Venkatesh St.John’s University Bangalore, Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja (Jr) IPPA.

This has been a conference of interesting, stimulating and excellent presentations and discussions in a most friendly manner and at the highest level in search for “Promoting Quality of Health in Hypoxia”. Noteworthy was the presence of his excellency the Minister of State for Defense – Government of India M.M. Pallam Raju, who personally attended the opening ceremony and impressed us with his know-how as he is an Engineer keenly interested in scientific matters. The video of Dr. Zubieta’s speech is here Dr. Shashi Bala Singh Director of Dipas, focused on 4 types of approach: Physiological, Nutritional, Herbal and Technological. A unique blend in search of excellence.

Opening Ceremony lighting the candles, Dr. W. Selvamurthy, Minister of Sate for Defence M.M> Pallam Raju, Prof. Peter Barstch, Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo, Air Marshall DP Joshi, Dr. Lilly Ganju.

We, the Zubietas, had the pleasure of finding old friends such as Peter Bartsch, with whom we had spent wonderful moments, many years back during high altitude meetings and particularly one in Odessa, Ukraine when invited by a most disntinguished friend and colleague, Dr. Tatiana Serebrovskaya. We also met our dear friend Dr. Vidyasagar Casikar, We also had the please of establishing close friendship with Jan-Marino Ramirez, Nanduri R. Prabhakar, Benedito H. Machado. We also interacted with  Hari S. Sharma, Akpay Sarybaev, Uttam Pati, Zahid Ashraf, T. Norboo, Col G. Himashree, Anju Bansal, Nazan Dolu, Praveen Vats, AK Salhan, and many others with distinguished scientific presentations.

Opening ceremony. Cnl. G. Himashree, Dr. Shashi Bala Singh, Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo Sr.,Dr. W. Selvamurthy, Mr. MM Pallam Raju, Air Marshal DP Joshi, Dr. Peter Bartsch

The students also impressed us most favorably for the quality of their work, and we foresee an even greater scientific future for India. The scientific program can be found here. In the opening ceremony, Dr. W. Selvamurthy gave a most interesting work , with a resume of the scientific strategies used, based on research of the Indian Armed forces that perform operations at very high apoints including 6000m of altitude. He exclaimed “DRDO stands tall as a beacon for research in stressful environments in order to enhance the quality of life of the Man behind the Machine at high altitude”, a very stimulating and essential concept.

Receiving a scultured glass of remebrance from Prof. Kaushal K Sravastava and Prof. Akpay SArybaev after Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo’s (Sr) conference on Adaptation to Mt. Everest.

Dr. Shasi Bala Singh, in turn, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Defense Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, in such an outstanding ocassion, expressed ” DIPAS has been working in the field of military physiology for the past fifty years with the primary mandate of promoting human performance in extreme performance”. From our point of view, this trip to India was extraordinary. The science, the friends, the philosophy, were all just great.

Analyzing high altitude aspects.

We would like to announce that the 5th Chronic Hypoxia International Conference will be held again in La Paz, Bolivia in October 2014. Please stay in touch for updates and development. Also, there will be a course on High Altitude Medicine, Physiology and Pathology on Feb-April 2013. Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja (Jr) and Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo (Sr)

Dr. Kamal from Nepal, Gustavo Sr., Gustavo Jr. and Prof. Nanhundiaha Shashidhara

High Altitude Medicine News