&to=http://english.pravda.ru/science/ 19/94/377/14228_supernatural.html' target=_blank>Stress makes you forgetful. How many people have gotten home after a blindingly stressful day and realize they've forgotten some important event or errand? People going on stage or taking an exam already know this, of course. Well, now at least there's a scientific explanation.
But a team of researchers has found how it happens, a discovery that they say could point the way to better treatments for such illnesses as &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/09/06/36105.html' target=_blank>schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Stressful situations in which the individual has no control were found to activate an enzyme in the brain called protein kinase C, which impairs the short-term memory and other functions in the prefrontal cortex, the executive-decision part of the brain, says Dr. Amy F.T. Arnsten of Yale Medical School, informs News-Leader.
By affecting that part of the brain, PKC could be a factor in the distractibility, impulsiveness and impaired judgment that occurs in illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The finding indicates that seeking drugs that inhibit PKC is a possible new direction for treatments of these diseases, reports Xinhua.
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