Publications by authors named "Sierra Hill"

In this Perspective review, we highlight some of the less explored aspects of lateral habenula (LHb) function in contextual memory, sleep, and behavioral flexibility. We provide evidence that LHb is well-situated to integrate different internal state and multimodal sensory information from memory-, stress-, motivational-, and reward-related circuits essential for both survival and decision making. We further discuss the impact of early life stress (ELS) on LHb function as an example of stress-induced hyperactivity and dysregulation of neuromodulatory systems within the LHb that promote anhedonia and motivational deficits following ELS.

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Cellular senescence is emerging as a key mechanism of age-related vascular endothelial dysfunction, but evidence in healthy humans is lacking. Moreover, the influence of lifestyle factors such as habitual exercise on endothelial cell (EC) senescence is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that EC senescence increases with sedentary, but not physically active, aging and is associated with vascular endothelial dysfunction.

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We hypothesized that supplementation with trehalose, a disaccharide that reverses arterial aging in mice, would improve vascular function in middle-aged and older (MA/O) men and women. Thirty-two healthy adults aged 50-77 years consumed 100 g/day of trehalose (n=15) or maltose (n=17, isocaloric control) for 12 weeks (randomized, double-blind). In subjects with Δbody mass less than 2.

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Respiratory system cooling occurs via convective and evaporative heat loss, so right-to-left shunted blood flow through a patent foramen ovale (PFO) would not be cooled. Accordingly, we hypothesized that PFO+ subjects would have a higher core temperature than PFO- subjects due, in part, to absence of respiratory system cooling of the shunted blood and that this effect would be dependent upon the estimated PFO size and inspired air temperature. Subjects were screened for the presence and size of a PFO using saline contrast echocardiography.

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