RD201904

10 MINUTES OF EXERCISE

CAN IMPROVE MEMORY

Can’t find your keys? Go for a quick walk

or do a few yoga poses. In a recent study,

brain imaging of 36 healthy young adults

who had just exercised for ten minutes

showed improved connectivity between

the parts of the brain thought to help lay

down new memories and the parts involved

in detailed memory processing. The partici-

pants also improved their performance

on a recall test. The researchers now plan

to run studies in older adults to understand

whether regular light exercise alters the

brain’s structure and function over time.

Could a Failed

Arthritis Drug Help

Opioid Addicts?

In 2013, researchers

were disappointed to

find that a drug called

LY2828360 did little for

osteoarthritis pain.

Still, it showed some

promise as a general

pain reliever, and be-

cause it was safe for

humans, researchers

kept testing it. Now

they may have found

the drug’s key use. In a

new study, researchers

added a low dose of

LY2828360 to morphine,

a common opioid pain

treatment, and gave

both drugs to mice with

chemotherapy-induced

pain. Morphine toler-

ance can raise the risk

for addiction; the mice

receiving the drug

combination did not

become tolerant.

Another finding: The

mice that were given

LY2828360 experienced

milder morphine with-

drawal. If the drug

works the same way in

humans, it could one

day help fight opioid

addiction.

44 april 2019 Photograph by The Voorhes

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