NewsMakers
How sleep helps to process emotions
According to the researchers, the coexistence of both mechanisms is beneficial to the stability and survival of the organisms: “This bi-directional mechanism is essential to optimize the discrimination between dangerous and safe signals,” says Mattia Aime from the DBMR, first author of the study.

Researchers at the Department of Neurology of the University of Bern and University Hospital Bern identified how the brain triages emotions during dream sleep to consolidate the storage of positive emotions while dampening the consolidation of negative ones. The work expands the importance of sleep in mental health and opens new ways of therapeutic strategies.
Rapid eye movement (REM or paradoxical) sleep is a unique and mysterious sleep state during which most of the dreams occur together with intense emotional contents. How and why these emotions are reactivated is unclear. The prefrontal cortex integrates many of these emotions during wakefulness but appears paradoxically quiescent during REM sleep.
“Our goal was to understand the underlying mechanism and the functions of such a surprising phenomenon,” says Prof. Antoine Adamantidis from the Department of Biomedical Research (DBMR) at the University of Bern and the Department of Neurology at the Inselspital, University Hospital of Bern.
Processing emotions, particularly distinguishing between danger and safety, is critical for the survival of animals. In humans, excessively negative emotions, such as fear reactions and states of anxiety, lead to pathological states like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD). In Europe, roughly 15% of the population is affected by persistent anxiety and severe mental illness. The research group headed by Antoine Adamantidis is now providing insights into how the brain helps to reinforce positive emotions and weaken strongly negative or traumatic emotions during REM sleep. This study was published in the journal Science.
A dual mechanism
The researchers first conditioned mice to recognize auditory stimuli associated with safety and others associated with danger (aversive stimuli). The activity of neurons in the brain of mice was then recorded during sleep-wake cycles. In this way, the researchers were able to map different areas of a cell and determine how emotional memories are transformed during REM sleep.
Neurons are composed of a cell body (soma) that integrates information coming from the dendrites (inputs) and send signals to other neurons via their axons (outputs). The results obtained showed that cell somas are kept silent while their dendrites are activated. “This means a decoupling of the two cellular compartments, in other words soma wide asleep and dendrites wide awake,” explains Adamantidis.
This decoupling is important because the strong activity of the dendrites allows the encoding of both danger and safety emotions, while the inhibitions of the soma completely block the output of the circuit during REM sleep. In other words, the brain favors the discrimination of safety versus danger in the dendrites, but block the over-reaction to emotion, in particular danger.
A survival advantage
According to the researchers, the coexistence of both mechanisms is beneficial to the stability and survival of the organisms: “This bi-directional mechanism is essential to optimize the discrimination between dangerous and safe signals,” says Mattia Aime from the DBMR, first author of the study.
If this discrimination is missing in humans and excessive fear reactions are generated, this can lead to anxiety disorders. The findings are particularly relevant to pathological conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorders, in which trauma is over-consolidated in the prefrontal cortex, day after day during sleep.
Breakthrough for sleep medicine
These findings pave the way to a better understanding of the processing of emotions during sleep in humans and open new perspectives for therapeutic targets to treat maladaptive processing of traumatic memories, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) and their early sleep-dependent consolidation.
Additional acute or chronic mental health issues that may implicate this somatodendritic decoupling during sleep include acute and chronic stress, anxiety, depression, panic, or even anhedonia, the inability to feel pleasure. Sleep research and sleep medicine have long been a research focus of the University of Bern and the Inselspital, Bern University Hospital. “We hope that our findings will not only be of interest to the patients, but also to the broad public”, says Adamantidis.
NewsMakers
McDonald’s Philippines poised for growth after strong 2022 finish
From its first store opening in Morayta, Manila in 1981, McDonald’s Philippines continues to uphold global food safety and quality standards in the preparation and service of its food whether through dine-in, take-out, Drive-Thru, or McDelivery.

McDonald’s Philippines achieved record-breaking sales in 2022, surpassing its pre-pandemic (2019) sales performance.
Owned and operated by its Chairman and Owner Dr. George T. Yang and President and CEO Kenneth Yang— the quick service restaurant (QSR) giant attributes its performance not just to strong consumer mobility and post-pandemic behavior but to its continuous commitment to providing value for money, exciting limited-time menu offers, and an elevated omnichannel customer experience.
“McDonald’s Philippines’ strong performance in 2022 wouldn’t have been possible if not for the trust and continuous support of our customers all over the country. As we aim to consistently improve how we serve McDonald’s favorites to every Filipino, we are equally committed to providing feel-good experiences to our people [crew and managers] who make it all happen in our stores, and in communities where we operate for many years to come,” said Kenneth Yang, President and CEO of McDonald’s Philippines.
Feeling good, feeling safe
From its first store opening in Morayta, Manila in 1981, McDonald’s Philippines continues to uphold global food safety and quality standards in the preparation and service of its food whether through dine-in, take-out, Drive-Thru, or McDelivery.
This was further strengthened during the pandemic as part of its M Safe program, introduced in 2020.
The company doubledowned on food safety and quality efforts through continuous monitoring, and crew and manager training, which contributed to its thirdparty food safety audit results and customer perception scores on safety and trust.
Since the launch of M Safe, the company’s findings on ‘brand trust’ increased by 5.4% which contributed to increased dine-in guest count, lifting market share for McDonald’s in 2022.
Setting the standard for doing good
McDonald’s takes pride in its global learning and development programs from Crew Training to Restaurant Leadership courses to its Digital Academy. As one of the biggest employers in the country, McDonald’s Philippines believes that everyone has the opportunity to grow and succeed in the company which starts by first having job security. McDonald’s is the first quick-service restaurant in the country to practice a direct hiring policy, providing regular employment to all its crew members. In 2022, McDonald’s Philippines hired more than 17,000 new employees in support of its new store openings—employing working students regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
To date, the company has close to 60,000 employees in over 700 stores across the Philippines— with over 47,000 employees in Luzon, close to 6,000 employees in Visayas, and 5,000 employees in Mindanao.
Serving meals with kindness
McDonald’s also prioritizes its commitment to the communities where it operates. To serve meals to underserved families without access to food, McDonald’s Philippines launched the Kindness Kitchen, a flagship program of its charity of choice, Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC).
In December 2022, Kindness Kitchen has served over 800,000 meals, a 33% increase from 600,000 meals served in May. The initiative aims to serve 1 million meals by the end of 2023.
By continuously improving the quality of food, providing growth opportunities to its people, and creating a positive impact in communities, McDonald’s exemplifies always being a step ahead in upholding its commitment to world-class excellence.
Yang reiterates, “It is these customers we serve, the people working in our restaurants and communities that we help that inspire and motivate us to be and do better. As many Filipinos continue to face challenges and recover from the pandemic, we want to be a place where they can experience feel-good moments. We want to be a company that Filipinos today and the future can trust.”
NewsMakers
Shinagawa links partnership with Fujifilm Philippines Inc.
Shinagawa Diagnostic & Preventive Care Center takes this a step further and encourages preventive healthcare by offering more thorough and advanced examinations with the support of Fujifilm Philippines Inc.

Early detection of diseases can aid in saving lives, giving patients more time to seek effective treatments that help lessen and possibly cure their symptoms. Shinagawa Diagnostic & Preventive Care Center takes this a step further and encourages preventive healthcare by offering more thorough and advanced examinations with the support of Fujifilm Philippines Inc.
Committed to upholding high standard medical services, Shinagawa announces its partnership with Fujifilm Philippines Inc, an expert in prevention and diagnostics technology, in a signing ceremony today at Shangri-La The Fort. Through the collaboration, Shinagawa’s Diagnostic & Preventive Care Center acquires Fujifilm’s endoscopy equipment to conduct advanced testing for the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which includes the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine. This helps identify emerging diseases, such as stomach ulcers, gastrointestinal disorders, lung problems, and possibly tumors. The technology eases the detection process as it can spot even the smallest abnormality using endoscopes that place minimal stress on the patient.
“It is of utmost importance to conduct detailed examinations regularly to find diseases at an early stage, leading to preventive care. In particular, Fujifilm’s endoscopy equipment enables early detection of diseases that could not be found in advance by general medical checkups in the Philippines, and we believe this will lead to preventive medicine,” said Masako Uemori, President of Shinagawa LASIK and Aesthetics, Philippines.
Fujifilm Philippines Inc guarantees the prime condition and maintenance of equipment to ensure that all examinations produce in-depth results for more accurate diagnosis. The diagnostics technology company will also be conducting a series of training sessions for Shinagawa doctors and staff to fully regulate the use of the machines, assuring safe and accurate examinations. Through the synergy of Shinagawa’s Japanese-standard medical services and Fujifilm’s innovative healthcare equipment, improved quality of life, diagnosis, and prevention are now made more accessible.
The Shinagawa Diagnostic & Preventive Care will have its grand opening this April. Those who are interested in the center may check out Shinagawa’s official Facebook page @ShinagawaDiagnostic or the official website at www.shinagawa-healthcare.ph to book an appointment. Shinagawa Diagnostic & Preventive Care Center is located at Ore Central Tower, BGC.
NewsMakers
Training breathing muscles could have longer lasting benefits than previously thought
The strength gains to the muscles from five weeks of inspiratory muscle training (a form of weight training to strengthen the muscles used to breathe) persist for five weeks after the training has stopped.

Training the breathing muscles (primarily the diaphragm which plays a vital role in breathing) could have longer lasting benefits than previously thought. The strength gains to the muscles from five weeks of inspiratory muscle training (a form of weight training to strengthen the muscles used to breathe) persist for five weeks after the training has stopped, according to new research published in Experimental Physiology.
Stronger breathing muscles may improve the distribution of blood flow during exercise, which allows a person to undergo physical activity for longer periods before tiring and becoming less breathless. Enhancing breathing muscle function can potentially help people manage and slow down the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a group of lung conditions including emphysema and bronchitis. The disease is the third leading cause of death worldwide1 but is helped with pulmonary rehabilitation which can include inspiratory muscle training. Healthcare needs and the frequency of hospital visits depends on a person’s symptoms and how regularly they worsen. For people with weak breathing muscles, the training may help relieve the symptoms.
Muscles can lose function or weaken over time with disuse, particularly the respiratory muscles which may weaken faster than the other muscles in the body. The researchers from University of Waterloo, Canada foundthat the breathing muscles remain stronger after an equal amount of time without training, in this case five weeks. By observing similar muscle gains between weight training of the breathing muscles with that of the tibialis anterior (the muscle that runs down the front of the shin) indicates that the respiratory muscles can be trained like other skeletal muscles.
Paolo Dominelli, University of Waterloo, Canada, a researcher on the study, said, “Inspiratory muscle training can be beneficial to people with breathing difficulties and can be part of pulmonary rehabilitation. Knowing the time frame before muscle function loss occurs could help inform treatment programs, determining how frequently an individual would need to train and the length of the programme.”
Inspiratory muscle training also caused a positive change to the respiratory muscle metaboreflex, a process where the body restricts the blood flow to the limbs when the breathing muscles tire. Typically during exercise when the limb muscles are working hard, the respiratory metaboreflex prioritises blood flow to the breathing muscles to ensure breathing is maintained. As a result, heart rate and blood pressure rise. However, inspiratory muscle training reduces the metaboreflex, which lowers the heart rate and blood pressure. Reducing the metaboreflex may improves a person’s endurance during exercise, meaning they can workout for longer before reaching exhaustion. The researchers found that the effects on the metaboreflex were preserved after five weeks in the absence of training.
Paolo Dominelli said, “By showing that the strength of the breathing muscles persisted, along with the retained reductions in the respiratory metaboreflex after five weeks without training suggests that the training itself may not need to be continuous. We would need to carry out subsequent clinical trails to test the appropriate frequency and length of training required to evaluate how long the health benefits persist.”
A group of 16 young healthy adults were randomly assigned into either the control group (seven male, one female) or the experimental group (six male, two female). Over 10-weeks their respiratory muscle strength and muscle strength of their lower leg (via the ability to flex the ankle upwards) were tested in a laboratory, and their blood pressure and heart rate were measured at pre-training (zero weeks), post-training (five weeks) and post-detraining (10 weeks) while their respiratory muscles were working hard to elicit the metaboreflex.
Over five weeks the experimental group performed inspiratory muscle training twice a day for five days a week. This was then followed by five weeks of undergoing normal physical activity but no inspiratory muscle training (post-detraining). The control group did not take part in inspiratory muscle training. All participants engaged in regularly physical activity (approximately three days per week) throughout the 10-week study period.
Paolo Dominelli cautions, “Firstly, our study was done in young healthy individuals who are not limited by their respiratory muscles. Follow-up studies needs to be completed in those with lung disease such as COPD. Secondly, the main limitation of the study was the duration of the detraining (no training) period. It was only for five weeks, the same amount of time as the training, where we did not see any decreases in breathing muscle strength. Further studies should extend the detraining phase to see if the reduction in the metaboreflex still persists with decreases in muscle strength.”
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