Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Gujarat
Puducherry
|
November 28, 2009 | New discovery may help beat jet lag | London: Scientists from University of Manchester have discovered
special cells in the body that appear to regulate a person's body clock. This
finding, they hope, would provide vital clues to help combat jet lag. It was believed
that these cells remain inactive during the day, however, the new study has found
the contrary. According to Professor Hugh Piggins, lead researcher and an expert
in neuroscience at the university, the research will allow a new approach to help
tune our daily clock. Researchers believe that the brain regulates body clock
by firing more cells during daylight and very few during the night. "The traditional
model said the clock and the brain communicated to the rest of the brain via the
number of electrical impulses that the brain cells were producing," The BBC News
quoted Piggins saying. "These impulses would travel around the brain, telling
it what time of day it is. "What we've found is in fact that there are at least
two types of cells in this part of the brain," he added. These brain cells contain
a key gene called per1 that allows them to sustain unusually high levels of "excitability".
The cells becoming so "excited" that they seem quiet or even dead; but then later
they calm down, recover and become normally active again. It is this activity,
which tells the human body when to be awake. "There's a lot of interest in the
pharmaceutical industry, obviously, to try to develop chemical treatments to reset
your daily clock to help counteract things like jetlag," said Piggins. "Or, perhaps
more importantly, different kind of sleep disorders for which dysfunctions in
this clock are often involved," he added. |
More Travel News Headlines
|
|
|
|
|