PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  Taking short breaks may help our brains learn new skills Scientists discover that the resting brain repeatedly replays compressed memories of what was just practiced In a study of healthy volunteers, National Institutes of Health researchers have mapped out the brain activity that flows when we learn a new skill, such as playing a new song on the piano, and discovering why taking short breaks from practice is a key learning. The researchers found that the volunteers' brains rapidly and repeatedly replayed faster versions of the activity seen while they practiced typing a code during rest. The more a volunteer replayed the activity, the better they performed during subsequent practice sessions, suggesting rest strengthened memories. "Our results support the idea that wakeful rest plays just as important a role as practice in learning a new skill. It appears to be the period when our brains compress and consolidate memories of what we just practiced," said Leonardo G. Coh...

  Cholesterol metabolite induces the production of cancer-promoting vesicles. Scientists working to understand the cellular processes linking high cholesterol to breast cancer recurrence and metastasis report that a byproduct of cholesterol metabolism causes some cells to send out cancer-promoting signals to other cells. These signals are packaged in membrane-bound compartments called extracellular vesicles. As reported in the journal  Endocrinology , the discovery could lead to new anti-cancer therapies, researchers say. "Extracellular vesicles play an important role in normal physiology, but they also have been implicated before in cancer biology," said study lead Erik Nelson, a molecular and integrative physiology professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. "These particles carry cargo from one cell to another. This cargo is important because it's diverse and acts as a communication network. But very little is known about what regulates the vesicles....

  New research may explain why some people derive more benefits from exercise than others. Although everyone can benefit from exercise, the mechanistic links between physical fitness and overall health are not fully understood, nor are the reasons why the same exercise can affect different people. Now a study published in  Nature Metabolism  led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) provides insights related to these unanswered questions. The results could help determine the specific types of exercise most likely to benefit a particular individual and identify new therapeutic targets for diseases related to metabolism. " While groups as a whole benefit from exercise, the variability in responses between any two individuals undergoing the very same exercise regimen is actually quite striking. For example, some may experience improved endurance while others will see improved blood sugar levels," said senior corresponding author Robert E. Gerszten,...

  Amazon indigenous group's lifestyle may hold the key to slowing down aging Tsimane people are unique for their healthy brains that age more slowly A team of international researchers has found that the Tsimane indigenous people of the Bolivian Amazon experience less brain atrophy than their American and European peers. The decrease in their brain volumes with age is 70% lower than in Western populations. Accelerated brain volume loss can be a sign of dementia. The study was published May 26, 2021, in  Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences . Although people in industrialized nations have access to modern medical care, they are more sedentary and eat a diet high in saturated fats. In contrast, the Tsimane have little or no access to health care but are extremely physically active and consume a high-fiber diet that includes vegetables, fish, and lean meat. "The Tsimane have provided us with an amazing natural experiment on the potentially detrimental e...

  The causal mechanism of link between cancer and obesity A review study led by Maria D. Sanchez-Pino, Ph.D., an assistant research professor in Interdisciplinary Oncology and Genetics at LSU Health New Orleans' School of Medicine and Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, advances knowledge about the connection between obesity-associated inflammation and cancer. The researchers suggest that inflammatory cells with immunosuppressive properties may be critical biological links between obesity and cancer risk, progression, and metastasis. The paper is published in the June 2021 issue of  Obesity , available here. Despite evidence showing that obesity increases the risk of cancer progression, efforts are needed to identify the causal relationship between immunosuppressive cells and the response of immunotherapy in patients with obesity. The function of myeloid cells is shaped by the metabolic microenvironment. Along with macrophages, myeloid cells with immunosuppressive properties calle...

  Waking just one hour earlier cuts depression risk by double digits, study finds Waking up just one hour earlier could reduce a person's risk of major depression by 23%, suggests a sweeping new genetic study published May 26 in the journal  JAMA Psychiatry . The study of 840,000 people by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard represents some of the strongest evidence yet that chronotype -- a person's propensity to sleep at a certain time -- influences depression risk. It's also among the first studies to quantify just how much, or little, change is required to influence mental health. As people emerge, post-pandemic, from working and attending school remotely -- a trend that has led many to shift to a later sleep schedule -- the findings could have important implications. "We have known for some time that there is a relationship between sleep timing and mood, but a question we often hear from clinicians is: How mu...

  Western diet may increase the risk of gut inflammation, infection Diet rich in sugar, fat damages immune cells in the digestive tracts of mice According to a study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Cleveland Clinic, eating a Western diet impairs the immune system in the gut in ways that could increase the risk of infection and inflammatory bowel disease. In mice and people, the study showed that a diet high in sugar and fat causes damage to Paneth cells, immune cells in the gut that help keep inflammation in check. When Paneth cells aren't functioning properly, the gut immune system is excessively prone to inflammation, putting people at risk of inflammatory bowel disease and undermining effective control of disease-causing microbes. The findings, published May 18 in  Cell Host & Microbe , open up new approaches to regulating gut immunity by restoring normal Paneth cell function. "Inflammatory bowel disease has historically bee...