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April 24, 2024, 12:53:05 AM

News:

There is also the shroud of turin, which verifies Jesus in a new way than other evidences.

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Science / Re: "Just One Word: Microplast...

Last post by Dark Lightning - Today at 12:51:39 AM

Plastic Man

Science / Re: "Just One Word: Microplast...

Last post by Icarus - Today at 12:06:23 AM

Some current research indicates that we are ingesting plastic particles that have found their way into foods. Micro and nano particles appear in vegetables and many types of meat. Whether the accumulation of plastic particles in our bodies will kill us is yet to be determined.

Science / Re: All things brain...

Last post by Recusant - April 23, 2024, 11:37:08 PM

I'll probably remember this item, damage be damned. Featuring the hippocampus again.

"Every New Memory You Make Causes Damage to Your Brain Cells" | Science Alert

QuoteNew research reveals that the process of remembering something long-term comes at a cost – specifically, inflammation in the brain and DNA damage in nerve cells, as the memories get 'fused' into neurons and stored.

The international team of researchers suggests that memory formation is not unlike making an omelet by breaking a few eggs: some careful destruction is required before a new memory pattern can form.

Based on tests on mice carried out for the study, this happens inside the hippocampus, a part of the brain already known to be the primary storage locker for our memories and crucial to the process of remembering.

"Inflammation of brain neurons is usually considered to be a bad thing, since it can lead to neurological problems such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease," says neuroscientist Jelena Radulovic from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

"But our findings suggest that inflammation in certain neurons in the brain's hippocampal region is essential for making long-lasting memories."

The team triggered episodic memory in mice with brief, mild electric shocks. Close analysis of hippocampal neurons revealed the activation of genes in the Toll-Like Receptor 9 (TLR9) pathway, important for inflammatory signaling. What's more, this pathway was only activated in clusters of neurons, which also showed DNA damage.

While breaks in DNA in the brain happen often, they're usually repaired very quickly. Here, the changes seemed more significant, with biological processes usually linked to cell division apparently being used to organize neurons into memory-forming clusters without dividing the cells.

The inflammatory editing mechanisms in the mice lasted a week, after which the memory-storing neurons were found to be more resistant to outside forces. This suggests that memories are then locked in for good and protected from external interference. Something similar likely happens in the human brain, too.

"This is noteworthy because we're constantly flooded by information, and the neurons that encode memories need to preserve the information they've already acquired and not be distracted by new inputs," says Radulovic.

When the same TLR9 inflammatory pathway was blocked in the mice, they could no longer be trained to remember the electric shocks. The absence of TLR9 also led to more severe DNA damage, not unlike that seen in neurodegenerative disorders.

Blocking the TLR9 pathway has been proposed to treat or prevent long-term COVID-19, but this study suggests that the idea may need rethinking. Most of all, though, it's an intriguing new insight into how memories are stored in the brain.

[Continues . . .]

The paper is open access:

"Formation of memory assemblies through the DNA-sensing TLR9 pathway" | Nature

QuoteAbstract:

As hippocampal neurons respond to diverse types of information, a subset assembles into microcircuits representing a memory. Those neurons typically undergo energy-intensive molecular adaptations, occasionally resulting in transient DNA damage.

Here we found discrete clusters of excitatory hippocampal CA1 neurons with persistent double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) breaks, nuclear envelope ruptures and perinuclear release of histone and dsDNA fragments hours after learning. Following these early events, some neurons acquired an inflammatory phenotype involving activation of TLR9 signalling and accumulation of centrosomal DNA damage repair complexes. Neuron-specific knockdown of Tlr9 impaired memory while blunting contextual fear conditioning-induced changes of gene expression in specific clusters of excitatory CA1 neurons. Notably, TLR9 had an essential role in centrosome function, including DNA damage repair, ciliogenesis and build-up of perineuronal nets.

We demonstrate a novel cascade of learning-induced molecular events in discrete neuronal clusters undergoing dsDNA damage and TLR9-mediated repair, resulting in their recruitment to memory circuits. With compromised TLR9 function, this fundamental memory mechanism becomes a gateway to genomic instability and cognitive impairments implicated in accelerated senescence, psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative disorders. Maintaining the integrity of TLR9 inflammatory signalling thus emerges as a promising preventive strategy for neurocognitive deficits.

Laid Back Lounge / Re: Game: The Next Person... (...

Last post by Tank - April 23, 2024, 07:52:27 PM

True where I can which means most things. Going to need the guttering doing soon but I won't be doing that.

TNP is looking forward to Christmas?

Current Events / Re: Israeli-Hamas war

Last post by Tank - April 23, 2024, 07:44:16 PM

I once took a street preacher to task in Leeds city centre. The police took me aside and explained that the preacher had a permit and that if I continued I could be arrested for causing a 'potential' public order offence.

This is exactly what the copper was saying the the chap in the video.

Laid Back Lounge / Re: Jokes Thread (Was named An...

Last post by Tank - April 23, 2024, 07:41:23 PM

Laid Back Lounge / Re: What's on your mind today?

Last post by Tank - April 23, 2024, 07:40:13 PM

Quote from: Asmodean on April 22, 2024, 08:37:29 AMThe availability of The Asmo is slightly reduced these days. He has become project lead on a very cool, yet very time-consuming project, so for now, He basically lives at, for and by work until the first stage is completed - probably in a couple of weeks.

Good luck!

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