Hypocretin neuron hyperexcitability in the hypothalamus: a newly discovered culprit in aging-related sleep impairment

Hypothalamic circuits and aging: keeping the circadian clock updated

Over the past century, age-related diseases, such as cancer, type-2 diabetes, obesity, and mental illness, have shown a significant increase, negatively impacting overall quality of life. Studies on aged animal models have unveiled a progressive discoordination at multiple regulatory levels, including transcriptional, translational, and post-translational processes, resulting from cellular stress and circadian derangements. The circadian clock emerges as a key regulator, sustaining physiological homeostasis and promoting healthy aging through timely molecular coordination of pivotal cellular processes, such as stem-cell function, cellular stress responses, and inter-tissue communication, which become disrupted during aging. Given the crucial role of hypothalamic circuits in regulating organismal physiology, metabolic control, sleep homeostasis, and circadian rhythms, and their dependence on these processes, strategies aimed at enhancing hypothalamic and circadian function, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches, offer systemic benefits for healthy aging. Intranasal brain-directed drug administration represents a promising avenue for effectively targeting specific brain regions, like the hypothalamus, while reducing side effects associated with systemic drug delivery, thereby presenting new therapeutic possibilities for diverse age-related conditions.

Linking the cerebellum to Parkinson disease: an update

Parkinson disease (PD) is characterized by heterogeneous motor and non-motor symptoms, resulting from neurodegeneration involving various parts of the central nervous system. Although PD pathology predominantly involves the nigral-striatal system, growing evidence suggests that pathological changes extend beyond the basal ganglia into other parts of the brain, including the cerebellum. In addition to a primary involvement in motor control, the cerebellum is now known to also have an important role in cognitive, sleep and affective processes. Over the past decade, an accumulating body of research has provided clinical, pathological, neurophysiological, structural and functional neuroimaging findings that clearly establish a link between the cerebellum and PD. This Review presents an overview and update on the involvement of the cerebellum in the clinical features and pathogenesis of PD, which could provide a novel framework for a better understanding the heterogeneity of the disease.

Association of Sleep Patterns with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study Based on Latent Class Analysis

Sleep duration, sleep quality and circadian rhythm disruption indicated by sleep chronotype are associated with type 2 diabetes. Sleep involves multiple dimensions that are closely interrelated. However, the sleep patterns of the population, and whether these sleep patterns are significantly associated with type 2 diabetes, are unknown when considering more sleep dimensions. Our objective was to explore the latent classes of sleep patterns in the population and identify sleep patterns associated with type 2 diabetes. Latent class analysis was used to explore the best latent classes of sleep patterns based on eleven sleep dimensions of the study population. Logistic regression was used to identify sleep patterns associated with type 2 diabetes. A total of 1200 participants were included in the study. There were three classes of sleep patterns in the study population: "circadian disruption with daytime dysfunction" (class 1), "poor sleep status with daytime sleepiness" (class 2), and "favorable sleep status" (class 3). After controlling for all confounding factors, people in class 2 have significantly higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes than those in class 3 (OR: 2.24, 95% CI 1.26-4.00). Sleep problems have aggregated characteristics. People with sleep patterns involving more or worse sleep problems have higher significantly prevalence of T2DM.