Category Biology/Biotechnology

Sleep Resets Neurons for new Memories the Next Day, Study Finds

neuron
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

While everyone knows that a good night’s sleep restores energy, a new Cornell University study finds it resets another vital function: memory.

Learning or experiencing new things activates neurons in the hippocampus, a region of the brain vital for memory. Later, while we sleep, those same neurons repeat the same pattern of activity, which is how the brain consolidates those memories that are then stored in a large area called the cortex. But how is it that we can keep learning new things for a lifetime without using up all of our neurons?

A study, “A Hippocampal Circuit Mechanism to Balance Memory Reactivation During Sleep,” published in Science, finds at certain times during deep sleep, certain parts of the hippocampus go silent, allowing those...

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New Clue into the Curious Case of our Aging Immune System

Pictured are the cells that form clusters in the thymus with age. On the left, the thymus from a two-month-old mouse has few age-associated (in blue) clusters. On the right, the thymus from a 24-month-old mouse shows many clusters. Researchers have found these clusters form ‘scars’ in the thymus which prevent the organ from restoring itself after damage.

A WEHI study could help solve a long-standing mystery into why a key immune organ in our bodies shrinks and loses its function as we get older.

The thymus is an organ essential for good health due to its ability to produce special immune cells that are responsible for fighting infections and cancer.

In a world-first, researchers have uncovered new cells that drive this ageing process in the thymus — significant findings that could unlock a way to restore function in the thymus and prevent our immunity from waning as we age.

At a glance

The thymus is an organ essential for our immune defence but it shrinks and weakens as we get older. The reason for this loss remains a long-standing mystery.

A new study has been able to visualise, for the first time, how two cell types d...

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Significant Link found between Heme Iron, found in Red Meat and other Animal Products, and Type 2 Diabetes Risk

Study Overview: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-024-01109-5

Higher intake of heme iron, the type found in red meat and other animal products — as opposed to non-heme iron, found mostly in plant-based foods — was associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) in a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. While the link between heme iron and T2D has been reported previously, the study’s findings more clearly establish and explain the link.

“Compared to prior studies that relied solely on epidemiological data, we integrated multiple layers of information, including epidemiological data, conventional metabolic biomarkers, and cutting-edge metabolomics,” said lead author Fenglei Wang, research associate in the Department of Nutr...

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Serotonin Changes how People Learn and Respond to Negative Information

Fig. 1
Selective serotonin releasing agent is not negated by 5-HT1A supersensitivity, resulting in a rapid onset of pro-serotonergic activity.

Increasing serotonin can change how people learn from negative information, as well as improving how they respond to it, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications.

The study by scientists at the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry and the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) Oxford Health Biomedical Research Center (OH BRC) found people with increased serotonin levels had reduced sensitivity to punishing outcomes (for example, losing money in a game) without significantly affecting sensitivity to rewarding ones (winning money).

The study involved 26 participants who were given the drug t...

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