heresacorrection

heresacorrection t1_jas3i1z wrote

Does being sick reduce your ability to form memories and remember? Yes https://www.jwatch.org/jp199906010000009/1999/06/01/does-fever-affect-memory

Confirmed in rats: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2630971/

Is amnesia (completing forgetting events) associated with being sick? I would say very rarely - since the only documented cases I could find were mainly in the elderly where the infections cause significant brain damage. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14589627/

EDIT: found a case in a younger person - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3766455/ so yes it could happen but is clearly so rare that doctors can publish a paper when it occurs

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heresacorrection t1_ivgtoop wrote

On average we expect an individual to have millions of variants that differ from the reference. Most of which are inconsequential (i.e. not malignant).

https://www.genome.gov/news/news-release/Genomics-daunting-challenge-Identifying-variants-that-matter#:~:text=Scientists%20estimate%20that%20each%20person's,specific%20changes%20in%20DNA%20sequence.

In addition, relative to the reference, the variability is dependent on your origin.

"Consistent with the out-of-Africa model of human origin, the number of variant sites per genome is highest among Africans (∼5 million variants) compared with individuals of East Asian, European, or South Asian ancestry (∼4.0–4.2 million variants) "

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6075021/

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heresacorrection t1_ivgriyw wrote

This is factually untrue. The reference genome is constructed in a way that does not necessarily include the most common variant at a given position. The telomere-to-telomere (T2T) assembly is a single female individual (excluding the Y-chromosome).

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heresacorrection t1_iuhwtp3 wrote

I did a brief literature review:

White blood cells The core cause of the fever starts with white-blood cells (specifically mononuclear phagocytes) that produce endogenous pyrogenic cytokines when they encounter a foreign agent (e.g. bacteria, virus, etc...) that is/produces pyrogen(s) TL;DR: Immune cells release a signal

Through unknown mechanisms they communicate to the brain which increases production of additional factors (likely prostaglandin E2) that then act on thermoregulatory neurons. TL;DR The signal communicates with the brain telling it to allow an increase in temperature (think of it as the brain telling the rest of the body the normal temperature is now 100 degrees).

The major changes are thought to be derived from:

  • Neurons expressing PGE2 receptor 3 (EP3) trigger the sympathetic nervous system to trigger norepinephrine release (works with adrenaline as part of your fight or flight response), which elevates body temperature by increasing thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue as well as by inducing vasoconstriction to prevent passive heat loss.
  • Acetylcholine contributes to fever by stimulating muscle myocytes to induce shivering.

TL;DR: Mainly the heat is from an increased metabolism in brown adipose tissue

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4786079/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/223485/

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