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Neuron With Extensions and Microglia Cells Neuron with extensions (blue) and microglia cells (red) interacting with synapses. Credit: Y. Shi and M. Cui ======================================================================== Long-Term Benzodiazepine Use Attacks Synapses LMU scientists have discovered the means by which the long-term taking of benzodiazepines leads to cognitive impairments. Benzodiazepines are effective and widely used drugs for treating states of anxiety and sleep disorders. While short-term treatments are considered safe, their long-term intake can lead to physical dependence and, particularly in the case of older people, to cognitive impairments. The mechanisms by which benzodiazepines trigger these changes had previously been unknown. Researchers led...

In the long run, the critical question for Democrats may turn out to be not what Party Chairman Howard Dean is doing, but what he isn't doing. The answer to the first question is easy. What he's doing is what he has become know for: shooting from the lip. This is, after all, the man who went from front-runner to also-ran in a matter of weeks, on the strength of a series of mistakes that convinced the most liberal Democratic voters in America that the guy was not ready for primetime. The much-remembered "Dean scream" came after he lost, not...