A new study has shown an unprecedented degree of connectivity reorganization in newly-generated hippocampal neurons in response to experience, suggesting their direct contribution to the processing of complex information in the adult brain.

The hippocampus is an anatomical area of the brain classically involved in memory formation and modulation of emotional behavior. It is also one of the very few regions in the adult brain where resident neural stem cells generate new neurons life-long, thus providing the hippocampal circuitry with an almost unique renewal mechanism important for information processing and mood regulation.

Bariatric surgery improves life expectancy for many obese diabetic patients, but it may cut life expectancy for patients who are super obese with very high body mass indexes, according to a University of Cincinnati researcher.

"For most patients with diabetes and a BMI (body mass index) greater than 35, bariatric surgery increases life expectancy," says Daniel Schauer, MD, assistant professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at UC. "However, the benefit of surgery decreases as BMI increases. The patients with a BMI over 62 likely don't gain any life expectancy with surgery."

The findings were published recently online in the Annals of Surgery.

Resveratrol found in common foods such as red grapes and peanuts may help prevent age-related decline in memory, according to a new paper.

Ashok K. Shetty, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine and Director of Neurosciences at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, has been studying the potential benefits of resveratrol, a controversial antioxidant that is found in the skin of red grapes, as well as in red wine, peanuts and some berries. Resveratrol has been promoted for its potential to prevent heart disease, but Shetty and colleagues believe it also has positive effects on the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is critical to functions such as memory, learning and mood.

With snow comes shoveling, and with shoveling can come heart attacks. Shutterstock

By Jack Goodman, Professor, Kinesiology and Physical Education, Adjunct Scientist, Division of Cardiology, Mt. Sinai Hospital at University of Toronto

Men on lower incomes are more likely to help their partners with housework than higher-earners, although women are still by far doing the most around the home, no matter how many hours they work or how much they are paid.

While the burden of keeping the home clean is starting to be shared more equally between couples, signs of a class divide are beginning to emerge, a researcher from the University of Warwick has found.

"There's a stark difference in couples' attitudes towards gender equality depending on how much they are earning," explained Dr Clare Lyonette, from the Institute for Employment Research, who led the study.

One of the ways to study longevity has been engineering fruit flies whose genes can be turned on and off by a synthetic hormone, allowing detailed studies of the effects of single genes on life span. They do that because many of the genes have close relatives in humans.

Unfortunately, the hormone used to perform the studies turns out to be anything but neutral, according to a new study.  If so, it means studies on the genetic roots of aging will need a second look, because a common lab chemical can extend the life span of female fruit flies by 68 percent.