Do you know? Your brain is more active at night than during the day

Logically, you would think that all the moving around, complicated calculations and tasks and general interaction we do on a daily basis during our working hours would take a lot more brain energy than as compared to lying in bed. Turns out, the opposite is true. When you physically turn off the brain turns on.
Scientists don’t yet know why this is but you can thank the hard work of your brain while you sleep for all those pleasant dreams. Sleep even better with the intake of Melatonin, which helps regulate our body's natural wake and sleep cycles. It also combats jetlag.
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Temporary blindness 'boosts hearing'

 Fictional superhero Daredevil gained heightened senses after going blind

Temporary blindness heightens hearing and has potential as a therapy for some deaf people, animal research suggests.

A study, published in the journal Neuron, showed keeping mice in the dark for a week changed their brains and enhanced hearing.
The effect lasted for several weeks after they were returned to the light.
Experts said it was a "fascinating" finding, but making more permanent brain alterations would be key to any new treatments for hearing loss.
The US team at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland compared the hearing of mice that had been kept in complete darkness for a week with that of others getting natural light.
Those kept in the dark could hear softer sounds and there were changes in the structure of the auditory cortex in the brain.
"It was quite a surprise to us," said Dr Patrick Kanold, from Maryland.
One thought was that part of the brain being used for vision was being repurposed, but it seemed the sections dedicated to hearing were being beefed-up.

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There is a burgeoning science in auditory training and developing ways to learn to listen better, it's a real hot topic.”

Dr Michael Akeroyd MRC Institute of Hearing Research

Dr Kanold told the BBC's Inside Science Programme: "We are not growing any new neurons we are simply strengthening existing connections in the auditory cortex."

"This really give us hope that there might be some potential to apply this in humans, the nice thing is we don't need drugs, so it's relatively straightforward to test.
"This might have implications in deaf people, there's a variety of people that receive cochlear implants as an adult and it might be the case that this enhances the success of these cochlear implants."
It is not certain if the same brain changes would take place in people or if they could reverse the declines associated with old age.
Dr Michael Akeroyd, from the Medical Research Council's Institute of Hearing Research, in Glasgow, told the BBC: "I thought, 'Ooh this is interesting.' I don't know if it's practical, but it's got potential."
He said putting old people with hearing loss into dark rooms for a week or more was unlikely to happen, but that the study added to a growing awareness that there was more to hearing than just the ear.
"Some of most exciting research is that hearing is not just hearing it's listening, there is a burgeoning science in auditory training and developing ways to learn to listen better, it's a real hot topic," he said.
"I would suggest looking for permanent changes next, if you can make it permanent then you're onto a winner."
Dr Ralph Holme, the head of biomedical research at the charity Action on Hearing Loss, said: "This is a fascinating study that tells us more about how our sensory systems interact, in this case how blindness can enhance hearing.
"It is important research because once the mechanisms involved are understood it may be possible to develop training or even pharmacological approaches to boosting these processes to help people with hearing loss.
"More research is now needed to establish if similar findings can be observed in humans and whether or not these changes actually lead to better hearing in the real world."

 FROM:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26046229

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Men and women differ in height due to X chromosome much stronger in women.

Investigating the reasons why certain physical traits between men and women differ, researchers at the University of Helsinki in Finland turned their attention to the sex chromosome shared by men and women - chromosome X - and how it might influence height.
Chromosomes are DNA-carrying structures in the nuclei of human cells. The sex chromosomes - X and Y - determine whether an embryo becomes male or female.
The mother contributes an X chromosome to the child, and it is the chromosome from the father - which can be an X or a Y - that determines whether the child is a girl or a boy.
In each human cell, men have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome, while women have two X chromosomes. The X chromosome includes about 155 million DNA building blocks and represents 5% of the total DNA in cells.
"Studying the X chromosome has some particular challenges," admits study author Dr. Taru Tukiainen.
"The fact that women have two copies of this chromosome and men only one has to be taken into account in the analysis. We nevertheless wanted to take up the challenge since we had a strong belief that opening 'the X files' for research would reveal new, interesting biological insights," she adds.

'Silent' X chromosomes

A genetic variant with a role in cartridge development is more common among people who are shorter than average. This gene is much stronger in women.

Dr. Tukiainen and colleagues found that a genetic variant with a role in cartridge development is more common among people who are shorter than average. The researchers also found that the effect of this gene was much stronger in women.
But why was this gene - which is associated with a gene called "ITM2A" - more powerful in women? Here's where the X chromosome comes in.
ITM2A is a chromosome X gene. Normally, one of the X chromosomes in female cells is randomly and permanently inactivated - except in egg cells. But the researchers found that ITM2A could escape this "silencing" of one of the X chromosomes.
This means that two copies of the gene could remain active in each cell in women - unlike men, who, with just one X chromosome, would only have one copy of the gene per cell.
Co-author Prof. Samuli Ripatti explains:

"We were particularly excited. Because both copies of ITM2A remain active, the gene is expressed in higher levels in women. Identifying associations in regions like this where X-chromosomal gene doses are not balanced between men and women can be particularly valuable in helping us to understand why some characteristics differ between sexes."

"Based on our calculations," he adds, "this variant accounts for a significant, though small proportion, 1-2% of the current difference in mean height between men and women in the Finnish population."
Because the X chromosome is such an important source of DNA, the researchers hope that their work, which is published in the journal PLOS Genetics, provides motivation for future researchers to further examine this chromosome and how it influences other biological differences between men and women.
They think that such research will give scientists a better understanding of why some diseases are more prevalent in one sex than the other.
Last year, Medical News Today reported on a study that found the female version of the X chromosome has evolved to play a role in sperm production.
Written by David McNamee

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