Anxiety can help memory

According to  a study from the University of Waterloo, anxiety can help people to remember things. The study of undergraduate students found that manageable levels of anxiety actually aided people in being able to recall the details of events. It also found that when anxiety levels got too high or descended into fear, it could lead to the colouring of memories where people begin to associate otherwise neutral elements of an experience to the negative context.

There is an optimal level of anxiety that is going to benefit memory, high levels of anxiety can cause people to reach a tipping point, which impacts their memories and performance. The study saw 80 undergraduate students from the University of Waterloo (64 females) complete the experiment. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to a deep encoding instruction group while the other half were randomly assigned to a shallow encoding group. All participants completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales.

It was discovered that individuals high in anxiety showed a heightened sensitivity to the influences of emotional context on their memory, with neutral information becoming tainted, or coloured by the emotion with which it was associated during encoding. Thinking about emotional events or about negative events might put the mind in a negative mindset that can change way of perceiving the environment.
           haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Causes of baby brain

Baby brain refers to increased forgetfulness, inattention, and mental "fogginess" reported by four out of five pregnant women. These changes in brain function during pregnancy have long been recognised in midwifery folklore, the new study has confirmed "baby brain"  as a real phenomenon, and also affects several cognitive areas.

Researchers combined data from different studies reporting the relationship between pregnancy and brain changes. They examined the cognitive function of pregnant women and non-pregnant women to explore how pregnancy may affect other cognitive areas beyond memory and to look specifically at how these changes might vary according to pregnancy trimesters.

The result showed that when pregnant women are compared to non-pregnant women, they perform much worse on tasks measuring memory and executive functioning which includes attention, inhibition, decision-making and planning, and the difference most pronounced during the third trimester. Women were tested with tasks such as the digit span test, which involves remembering digits in a line.

When the same women were tested at multiple points during their pregnancies, the decline appeared to start during the first trimester, then stabilise from the middle to the end of the pregnancy. Some pregnant women may notice they don't feel as smart as usual, these effects are realistically not likely to have any dramatic impact on everyday life.

Some women will simply find it seems to take more mental effort to do tasks that were previously routine. These changes might be noticeable to people very close to them such as family or friends, but this is highly dependent on each woman's personal experience of pregnancy. There were reductions in grey matter in the brains of pregnant women in regions known to be closely tied to processing social information, such as decoding infant facial expressions and establishing healthy bonding between mother and child.

Baby brain is an important adaptive phenomenon that might help women prepare for raising their children by allowing their brains to adapt to their new role as mothers. Importantly, this same study showed losses of grey matter in the hippocampus, an area of the brain responsible for memory function, are restored two years after the birth of a child. This supports the idea cognitive declines are not permanent.
           haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Protein-like virus essential for memory

A protein involved in cognition and storing long-term memories looks and acts like a protein from viruses. The protein, called Arc, has properties similar to those that viruses use for infecting host cells, and originated from a chance evolutionary event that occurred hundreds of millions of years ago.

The prospect that virus-like proteins could be the basis for a novel form of cell-to-cell communication in the brain could change our understanding of how memories are made, according to Jason Shepherd, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at University of Utah Health.

Researchers suspected that something was different about Arc when his colleagues captured an image of the protein showing that Arc was assembling into large structures. With a shape that resembles a capsule from a lunar lander, these structures looked a lot like the retrovirus, HIV. Prior work had shown that mice lacking Arc forgot things they had learned a mere 24 hours earlier. Further, their brains lacked plasticity.

 There is a window of time early in life when the brain is like a sponge, easily soaking up new knowledge and skills. Without Arc, the window never opens. Scientists had never considered that mechanisms responsible for acquiring knowledge could stem from foreign origins.  A protein important for cognition and memory named Arc can encapsulates genetic material (polyhedron enveloping the ribbon-like strands) and delivers it to brain cells in a manner similar to the way in which viruses infect host cells.

Seeing Arc's unusual propensity to form virus-like structures prompted researchers to scrutinize the protein sequence with a new set of eyes. They found that regions of the code were similar to that from viral capsids. An essential tool for viral infection, capsids carry virus' genetic information and deliver it from cell to cell in its victim.

Given that Arc looks like a viral protein, Shepherd and his colleagues designed a set of experiments to test whether it also acts like one. They first determined that several copies of Arc self-assemble into hollow virus-like capsids and stash its own genetic material, in this case mRNA, inside them. When the scientists added the capsids to mouse brain cells, or neurons, growing in a dish, Arc transferred its genetic cargo into the cells.

After viruses invade host cells, they emerge ready to infect once again. It appears that Arc works in a similar way. The scientists gathered Arc that had been released from mouse neurons and determined that the proteins and their cargo could be taken up by another set of neurons. Unlike for viruses, activating neurons mobilizes Arc, triggering the release of capsids.

A protein involved in cognition and storing long-term memories looks and acts like a protein from viruses, according to research by scientists at University of Utah Health. The protein, called Arc, has properties similar to those that viruses use for infecting host cells and could be the basis for a novel form of communication in the brain. An ancestor to retroviruses, called retrotransposons, inserted its genetic material into the animals' DNA, the event led to the mammalian. The significance of such an event is hinted at by the fact that it happened more than once.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Exercise improves memory and thinking

Mild cognitive impairment is an intermediate stage between the expected cognitive decline of normal aging and the more serious decline of dementia. Symptoms can involve problems with memory, language, thinking and judgment that are greater than normal age-related changes. Generally, these changes aren't severe enough to significantly interfere with day-to-day life and usual activities.

 A new guideline for medical practitioners says they should recommend twice-weekly exercise to people with mild cognitive impairment to improve memory and thinking. However, mild cognitive impairment may increase the risk of later progressing to dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease or other neurological conditions.

But some people with mild cognitive impairment never get worse, and a few eventually get better. Engaging in aerobic exercise like walking briskly, jogging, whatever you like for more than 100 minutes a week can improve memory. The level of exertion should be enough to work up a bit of a sweat but doesn't need to be so rigorous that you can't hold a conversation. Exercising might slow down the rate at which you would progress from mild cognitive impairment to dementia.
         haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Urea in the brain causes dementia

 The build-up of urea in the brain to toxic levels can cause brain damage - and eventually dementia. Metabolic linkages between Huntington's, other neurodegenerative diseases and type-2 diabetes. Huntington's Disease - one of seven major types of age-related dementia - is directly linked to brain urea levels and metabolic processes. Urea is similarly linked to Alzheimer's disease.

The Huntington's study also showed that the high urea levels occurred before dementia sets in, which could help doctors to one day diagnose and even treat dementia, well in advance of its onset. Urea and ammonia in the brain are metabolic breakdown products of protein. Urea is more commonly known as a compound which is excreted from the body in urine. If urea and ammonia build up in the body because the kidneys are unable to eliminate them, for example, serious symptoms can result.

Alzheimer's and Huntington's are at opposite ends of the dementia spectrum. Dementia results in a progressive and irreversible loss of nerve cells and brain functioning, causing loss of memory and cognitive impairments affecting the ability to learn. Currently, there is no cure.

The team used human brains, donated by families for medical research, using cutting-edge gas chromatography mass spectrometry to measure brain urea levels. For levels to be toxic urea must rise 4-fold or higher than in the normal brain. Treating this metabolic state in the brain may help in the regeneration of tissue that can reverse dementia.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Education reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease

The theory that education protects against Alzheimer's disease has been given further weight by new research. Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia. Building of 'plaques' and 'tangles' of misshapen proteins lead to the gradual death of brain cells. People affected by Alzheimer's experience memory and communication problems, disorientation, changes in behavior and progressive loss of independence.

The causes of Alzheimer's are largely unknown, and attempts to develop drug treatments to stop or reverse its effects have been disappointing. This has led to increasing interest in whether it is possible to reduce the number of cases of Alzheimer's disease by tackling common risk factors that can be modified.

Many studies have shown that the more years spent in full time education, the lower the risk of Alzheimer's. But it is difficult to unravel whether this is an effect of education improving brain function, or whether it's the case that people who are more educated tend to come from more wealthy backgrounds and therefore have a reduction in other risk factors that cause Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers examined looking DNA and compared genes associated with environmental risk factors – for example, genes linked to educational attainment or to smoking – and seeing which of these genes are also associated with Alzheimer's disease. If a gene is associated with both, then it provides strong evidence that this risk factor really does cause the disease. Researchers studied genetic variants that increase the risk of a variety of different environmental risk factors to see if these were more common in patients with Alzheimer's disease. They found the strongest association with genetic variants that predict higher educational attainment.

This provides further strong evidence that education is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, improving education could have a significant effect on reducing the number of people who suffer from this devastating disease. Exactly how education might reduce the risk of Alzheimer's is uncertain.

Previous studies have shown that the same amount of damage in the brain is associated with less severe and less frequent Alzheimer's in people who have received more education. One possible explanation is the idea of 'cognitive reserve' – the ability to recruit alternative brain networks or to use brain structures or networks not normally used to compensate for brain ageing. Evidence suggests that education helps improve brain wiring and networks and hence could increase this reserve.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

HIV treatment prevents cognitive decline

HIV-positive patients have the same risk of dementia as any other person if they take viral-suppressing medication and live a healthy lifestyle. One of the most debilitating effects of HIV is the neurocognitive decline, which can range from memory and language issues to dementia. Until now, research suggested that even those who take anti-retroviral therapy, the viral suppressing drug, had a higher risk of brain disorders than the general population.

Those who successfully suppress their viral load and live healthily have the same lifetime risk of dementia and other brain disorders as any other person. Older patients' brains may already have been ravaged by the disease, and medication couldn't reverse the damage, which would typically trigger symptoms within three or four years.

Researchers examined adults with HIV treated with cART with good viral suppression as well as those who did not have HIV for comparison. Both groups were about half women, with an average age of around 48 for the HIV-positive adults and 51 for the HIV-negative adults. Over the course of two years, the researchers assessed their brain changes using MRI scans.

They focused on the cortical thickness and subcortical volumes. They also assessed their cognitive performance using neuropsychological assessments. Those with HIV had poorer cognition and reduced brain thickness and volume than adults without HIV. However, by the end of the study, there were barely any differences between the two groups.
         haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Links between sleep, cognition and schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is associated with wide range of symptoms including visual and auditory hallucinations, cognitive problems and motivational issues.
People with the disease have trouble with learning and memory, cognition and a compound called kynurenine.
Kynurenic acid is a neuroactive metabolite of kynurenine that is formed in the brain. People with schizophrenia have higher than normal levels of kynurenic acid in their brains.

These higher levels might be connected with a range of symptoms seen in the disease like problems with learning and memory. The mechanisms underlying the cognitive impairments in patients is not clear. An interplay between higher kynurenic acid and sleep could be responsible. There is a lot of evidence in both humans and animals that sleep dysfunction leads to problems with learning and memory. People with schizophrenia often have problems with sleep.

Researchers examined rat, they made comparisons in the behavior of rats with increased kynurenic acid in their brains to animals with normal levels of the compound. They connected the animals' brains to a device that measured the amount and quality of sleep, and found that the animals with higher levels of kynurenic acid had significantly less rapid eye movement.

This is the sleep phase in which dreams occur, and it is thought to be critical for the consolidation of previous learning.
The researchers found that the group with high kynurenic acid also had problems with learning. To test this, they place rats in a box and shine light into the box. On one side of the box there is an opening into a darker area.

Rats are nocturnal animals, and prefer the dark, so the animals typically run to the dark area. Once in this area, they receive a small electric shock. When the experiment is repeated the next day, normal animals do not run to the dark location because of the electric shock. By comparison, animals with increased levels of high kynurenic acid, and impaired sleep, do not remember the shock and run into the dark area.

Kynurenic acid disrupts sleep, which then disrupts cognition. However, disruptions in sleep may cause increased kynurenic acid, which then leads to cognitive problems. Reducing kynurenic acid could reduce problems with sleep and cognition in patients with schizophrenia. High levels of kynurenic acid are a crucial aspect of schizophrenia.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Benznidazole drug for treating American trypanosomiasis

Benznidazole belongs to a group of medicines called antiprotozoals. It is used to treat an infection called American trypanosomiasis.
Benznidazole works by killing the protozoa.

Take the medicine with meals, after breakfast and after supper, to decrease the chance of stomach upset. If you get an upset stomach (diarrhea, nausea, stomach pain, or vomiting) and it continues, check with your doctor.

Although rare, Benznidazole can lower the number of white blood cells in the blood, increasing the chance of getting an infection. It can also lower the number of platelets, which are necessary for proper blood clotting.

Common side effects of this drug are-
Convulsions (seizures); numbness, tingling pain, or weakness in hands or feet; reddish discoloration of skin,
fever or chills; pinpoint red spots on skin; skin rash; sore throat; unusual bleeding or bruising.

Other side effects are- abdominal or stomach pain; diarrhea; nausea; vomiting, confusion; dizziness; headache; restlessness; temporary loss of memory; trouble in sleeping; difficulty concentrating; unusual tiredness and fatigue.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Brain stimulation may help people suffering from schizophrenia

Brain stimulation therapies involve activating or inhibiting the brain directly with electricity. It could be used to treat cognitive deficits frequently associated with schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder characterised by abnormal social behavior. This can make it difficult for affected people to plan, focus, pay attention and remember information.

Problems in short-term memory and decision making, which are often severely impaired in people with schizophrenia can be corrected by brain stimulation.

Researchers used neuromodulation - transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) - to check if they could correct some of these cognitive deficit in people with schizophrenia.

The researchers applied tDCS with tasks which specifically tapped into 'working memory' and ' executive functioning ': the principle was that 'training' the brain in regions that are typically poorly performing in schizophrenia would be enhanced by the brain stimulation technique.

An improvement in cognitive performance was discovered in those who had tDCS brain stimulation after 24 hours. This shows that changes in the
brain cells induced by neuromodulation may take some time to occur.

The researchers also ran brain imaging analyses to determine what was happening in the brain as these changes occurred. They discovered that tDCS was linked with changes in brain activity in regions associated with working memory and cerebellum.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Regular physical exercise prevents dementia

Regular physical exercise prevents cognitive impairment, boosts brain metabolism and dementia in old age. Physical exercise enhances general body fitness and also has a positive impact on brain metabolism and memory.

Researchers examined older people that engaged in regular physical activities with magnetic resonance tomography MRT and magnetic resonance spectroscopy MRS.

They discovered that physical activity had improved their brain metabolism by preventing an increase in choline, it enhanced stable cerebral choline concentrations.

Regular physical exercise prevents an increase in choline- a macronutrient that is important for liver function, normal brain development, nerve function, muscle movement, supporting energy levels and maintaining a healthy metabolism.

High concentration of this metabolite often rises as a result of the increased loss of nerve cells, which typically occurs in the case of Alzheimer’s disease.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Carpolobia lutea plant may be effective for treating Alzheimer’s disease

Carpolobia lutea is a small shrub found in Central and West Africa. Scientific studies have shown that Carpolobia lutea plant has antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties.

The plant was effective in preventing the breakdown of acetylcholine when tested. At higher concentrations, its extract prevents acetylcholine breakdown than Ezerine drug, lowers free radicals and harmful molecules that damage brain cells.

Alzheimer’s patients experienced reduction in neurotransmitter acetylcholine leading to problems with memory and attention.

Carpolobia lutea plant could protect chemical messengers in the brain, reduces levels of free radicals and harmful molecules that destroy brain cells. It's extract could be used to produce new drugs for treating Alzheimer’s disease because of its anti-inflammatory properties.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Extra-virgin olive oil prevents cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease

Extra-virgin olive oil protects memory and learning ability and reduces the formation of amyloid-beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain.

The oil reduces brain inflammation and activates autophagy. Autophagy is the process of cells breakdown and removing of intracellular toxins like amyloid plaques and tau tangles.

Brain cells from mice fed with diets enriched in extra-virgin olive oil had higher levels of autophagy and reduced levels of amyloid plaques and phosphorylated tau. Phosphorylated tau causes neurofibrillary tangles that leads to nerve cell dysfunction in the brain that causes Alzheimer disease.

 Transgenic mouse model was used by researchers to investigate the links between extra-virgin olive oil and dementia, Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers divided the animals into two groups, one that received a diet enriched with extra-virgin olive oil and one that received the regular diet without the oil.

The olive oil was introduced into the diet when the mice were six months old, before symptoms of Alzheimer's disease begin to emerge in the animal model.

 There was no difference between the two groups of animals. However, at age 9 months and 12 months, mice on the extra virgin olive oil diet performed significantly better on tests designed to evaluate working memory, spatial memory, and learning abilities.

Studies of brain tissue from both groups of mice showed dramatic differences in nerve cell appearance and function.
The integrity of the connections between neurons, known as synapses, were preserved in animals on the extra-virgin olive oil diet.

Brain cells from animals in the olive oil group showed a dramatic increase in nerve cell autophagy activation, which was solely responsible for the reduction in levels of amyloid plaques and phosphorylated tau.

        haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Anesthesia may damage babies' memory

According to new research, giving babies anesthetics may damage their memory in later life. Exposing newborn
monkeys to an anesthetic commonly given to humans reduced their memory one year later.

Anaesthetics drugs trigger memory-loss receptors in the brain, which remain activated even after the treatment. The researchers believe this will cause similar memory impairment in three to six-year-old humans.

Researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York exposed 10 monkeys to a commonly-used anesthetic called sevoflurane for four hours.

They were given the anesthetic at seven days old, and again two and four weeks later. Research then evaluated the
monkeys' visual recognition memory when they were six to 10 months, 12 to 18 months and 24 to 30-months-old.

Memory was measured via a test that assessed the monkeys' preference for looking at a new image over a previously viewed one.

Anesthesia-exposed monkeys demonstrated no memory impairment at six to 10 months, but significant memory loss after one year.
The researchers believe this will cause similar memory loss in humans at around three to six years of age.

haleplushearty.blogspot.com

How poor sleep affect learning ability

Researchers look at the brain's ability to change and adapt in response to the stimuli that it receives from the environment, or neuroplasticity, in the motor cortex and how it is affected by deep sleep.

The motor cortex in the brain is responsible for developing and controlling motor skills, and the deep sleep boosts memory formation and processing.

This study involved six women and seven men who were asked to perform motoric tasks during the day after a night of unperturbed sleep, and after a night during which their deep sleep had been disturbed.

The tasks involved learning a series of finger movements, and the researchers were able to locate precisely the brain area responsible for learning movement.

Using an electroencephalogram, the researchers monitored the brain activity of the participants while they were sleeping.

On the first day of the experiment, the participants were able to sleep without disturbance.
On the second night, however, the researchers manipulated the participants' sleep quality. They were able to focus on the motor cortex and disrupt their deep sleep.

The participants did not know that their deep sleep phase had been tampered with. To them, the quality of their sleep was roughly the same on both occasions.

Poor sleep keeps synapses excited, blocks the brain's ability to learn. Researchers evaluated the participants' ability to learn new movements. In the morning, the subjects' learning performance was at its highest, as expected.

However, as the day progressed, they continued to make more and more mistakes because of poor sleep.





haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Polyunsaturated fats preserve memory

Fats found in fish, nuts and olive oil can preserve memory and problem-solving abilities as you age.

Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids found in these food groups protect the areas of the brain that are most affected by ageing.

The fatty acids preserve the frontoparietal cortex - a brain network responsible for problem solving, aid maintenance of the fornix, which is a small brain region that has previously been linked to memory and Alzheimer's disease.

Polyunsaturated fats are found in salmon, nuts, seeds and olive oil. These fats enhance fluid intelligence that make you to solve problems you have not encountered before.

haleplushearty.blogspot.com

How to enjoy deep sleep without sleeping pills

Deep sleep is slow wave sleep, it is crucial for memory, physical renewal and hormonal regulation. It decreases with age and this can leads to memory loss.

New research says pink noise stimulation during sleep like water fall can boost memory and ability to remember past events.

Pink noise is like white noise, it is audible to humans, and it’s a type of sound in which every octave carries the same frequency.

Deep sleep is an innovative, simple and safe non-medication approach that may help improve brain health.

The degree to which slow-wave sleep improved correlated with the degree of improvement to memory, showing that deep sleep remains important even in older age.

Researchers matched gentle sound stimulation with an adult
brain waves, and timed it to enhance synchronisation of neutron activity.

The researchers believe pink-noise stimulation could be easily recreated at home. According to the National
Institutes of Health, older adults need seven to nine hours of sleep per night.

Researchers examined adults over 65 years and discovered 13 per cent of men adults, 36 per cent of women take more than 30 minutes to fall asleep. Good sleep can improve quality of life, sticking to a sleep schedule can help.

Rosemary aroma can boost children's memory

Exposure to the aroma of rosemary essential oil can enhance mental function and working memory in children.

 Dr Mark Moss and Victoria Earle of Northumbria University at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference in Brighton examined the effects of Rosemary oil on children.

A total of 40 children aged 10 to 11 took part in a class based test on different mental tasks. Children were randomly assigned to a room that had either rosemary oil diffused in it for ten minutes or a room with no scent.
The children were tested individually on memory games.

The children in the aroma room performed better than the children in non-scented room. The test to recall words demonstrated the greatest different in scores. It could be that aromas boost activity in the brain.

Poor working memory is related to poor academic performance and these findings offers effective and simple intervention to improve academic performance in children.

Effects of sleep deprivation on memory formation

Nicolette Ognjanovski of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology at Michigan and colleagues discovered that sleep deprivation interfere with the rhythm of neuronal firing in hippocampus part of the brain that is responsible for formation of long-term memories.

National Sleep Foundation recommend 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night for sound health.  Sleep deprivation prevents memory formation because it prevents brain from converting short-term memory to long-term memory.

The researchers examined the hippocampal of mice and discovered that those that had sufficient sleep displayed better sleep-related oscillations than sleep-deprived mice.

This discovery shows that memories are not stored in one cell, but distributed through the network. The dominant oscillatory activities for learning is being controlled by cells in hippocampus.

Father's lifestyle and diet affect the cognitive skills of his offspring

Scientists at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease have shown that if male rodents eat foods rich in vitamin B12, methionine and folic acid, their offspring will not perform well in memory test.

Child development is also affected by father's diet and lifestyle: if male rodents eat food rich in fats, their offspring may become diabetic.

Another group of rodents was given balanced diet, mated with female mice, their offspring was examined and their is clear difference between rodents that were fed with balanced diet and those fed with methyl donor-rich diet.

This shows that mother's diet is not the only cause of abnormality in offspring, paternal diet can affect learning skills in offspring.