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In research, scientists found that 40Hz sensory stimulation improved cognition and circuit connectivity and encouraged the growth of new neurons in mice genetically engineered to model Down syndrome. The method, called GENUS (for Gamma Entrainment Using Sensory Stimulation), could provide clinical benefits. In the first set of experiments, the team shows that an hour a day of 40Hz light and sound exposure for three weeks was associated with significant improvements on three standard short-term memory tests—two involving distinguishing novelty from familiarity and one involving spatial navigation. Because these kinds of memory tasks involve a brain region called the hippocampus, the...

Rutgers and collaborating institutions have found that overnutrition leads to insulin resistance and metabolic disorders through increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The study shows that reducing SNS activity can prevent insulin resistance induced by a high-fat diet, suggesting a new understanding of how obesity causes insulin resistance. Obesity causes type 2 diabetes and metabolic diseases primarily by inducing insulin resistance. Impaired cellular insulin signaling is the most understood mechanism, but it does not always accompany impaired insulin action, indicating other factors must be involved. Overnutrition has been known to rapidly increase plasma norepinephrine (NE) levels, indicating overactivation...