A study has shown that severe stress lasting weeks or months can damage cell communications in the brain’s memory areas. Recently, researchers from University of California, Irvine, have provided the first evidence that short-term stress lasting for a few hours has the same effect.

“Stress does exist in our lives and cannot be avoided,” said Dr. Baram, leader of the UC Irvine School. “Our findings can play an important role in the present development of medicine that might prevent these undesirable effects and offer understanding of why some people are forgetful or have difficulty keeping the memories.”

In their study, Baram and her UC Irvine colleagues identified a novel process in which stress caused these effects. They found that, severe stress activated(激活) Corticotropin Releasing Hormones(CRH), which prevented the brain from keeping memory.

Memory takes place at synapses, where there are connections through which brain cells communicate. These synapses lie on dendritic spines(神经元). In rat and mouse studies, Baram’s group saw that the release(释放) of CRH in the brain’s primary memory center led to the rapid breakup of these dendritic spines, which in turn limited the ability of synapses to collect and store memories.

In addition, the researchers reproduced the effects of stress on dendritic spines by keeping low levels of CRH, and watching how the spines ruptured over minutes. “Fortunately, once we removed the CRH, the spines seemed to grow back again, ” Baram said. “And this study can play a role in the creation of treatments to address stress-related memory loss.”

Childhood is a happy time, right? Not necessarily. Consider these facts.

Depression(抑郁症) may occur in as many as 1 in 33 children.

Once a child has an episode of depression, he or she has a 50 percent chance of experiencing another episode in the next 5 years.

Suicide(自杀) is the 6th leading cause of death for 5-to-15-year-olds.

If your child experiences 5 or more of these signs or symptoms for at least 2 weeks, he or she may be experiencing depression or mental illness.

Sometimes, a child who causes problems at school or at home may actually be depressed, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

If you think your child may be depressed, it’s important to have your child treated. Discuss your child’s problems with his or her doctor. The doctor may suggest a referral to a children’s psychologist or psychiatrist.

Pang Hui placed a few more pairs of chopsticks on the table for a family dinner, though she did not expect her big family of seven would use them as serving chopsticks.

Surprisingly, her 75-year-old father, who used to shrug off the idea of serving chopsticks, became a firm supporter this time, said Pang, 40, from Beihai, a coastal city of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Chinese people often share dishes, and diners use their own chopsticks to serve themselves food from the shared dishes, a tradition now being challenged by the outbreak of COVID-19.

Local governments are helping to encourage a shift, too. On Feb. 13, 2020, local authorities of Beihai started a campaign promoting serving chopsticks and spoons, which will avoid cross infection caused by the use of personal chopsticks.

Similar measures were also adopted in other cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Taizhou city in East China's Jiangsu Province even standardized the colours of serving chopsticks and spoons to help diners differentiate (区分) them from personal ones.

The practice of eating wild animals has been targeted by the government, which remains present in certain areas.

China stopped the illegal trading and transportation of wild animals shortly after the outbreak. The move became a permanent ban on Feb. 24, 2020, when the country made a decision on thoroughly prohibiting (禁止) the illegal trading of   wildlife and the consumption of wild animals.

Li Bo, with the Hainan International Center for wildlife Protection, said wild animal consumption could lead to the faster extinction of particular species, damage the ecological balance and harm people's health.

" The epidemic(流行病) could become a turning point to eliminate the bad habit, " Li said.