Verità, falso e frode sportiva

Per la plausibile rilevanza penale di talune condotte arbitrali tenute nel corso dei campionati sportivi

Evolution of brain injury and neurological dysfunction after cardiac arrest in the rat - A multimodal and comprehensive model

Cardiac arrest (CA) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Due to hypoxic ischemic brain injury, CA survivors may experience variable degrees of neurological dysfunction. This study, for the first time, describes the progression of CA-induced neuropathology in the rat. CA rats displayed neurological and exploratory deficits. Brain MRI revealed cortical and striatal edema at 3 days (d), white matter (WM) damage in corpus callosum (CC), external capsule (EC), internal capsule (IC) at d7 and d14. At d3 a brain edema significantly correlated with neurological score. Parallel neuropathological studies showed neurodegeneration, reduced neuronal density in CA1 and hilus of hippocampus at d7 and d14, with cells dying at d3 in hilus. Microgliosis increased in cortex (Cx), caudate putamen (Cpu), CA1, CC, and EC up to d14. Astrogliosis increased earlier (d3 to d7) in Cx, Cpu, CC and EC compared to CA1 (d7 to d14). Plasma levels of neurofilament light (NfL) increased at d3 and remained elevated up to d14. NfL levels at d7 correlated with WM damage. The study shows the consequences up to 14d after CA in rats, introducing clinically relevant parameters such as advanced neuroimaging and blood biomarker useful to test therapeutic interventions in this model

Gamma-hydroxybutyrate does not maintain self-administration but induces conditioned place preference when injected in the ventral tegmental area

Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) is an endogenous brain substance that has diverse neuropharmacological actions, including rewarding properties in different animal species and in humans. As other drugs of abuse, GHB affects the firing of ventral tegmental neurons (VTA) in anaesthetized animals and hyperpolarizes dopaminergic neurons in VTA slices. However, no direct behavioural data on the effects of GHB applied in the VTA or in the target regions of its dopaminergic neurons, e.g. the nucleus accumbens (NAc), are available. Here, we investigated the effects of various doses of intravenous GHB in maintaining self-administration (from 0.001 to 10 mg/kg per infusion), and its ability to induce conditioned place preference (CPP) in rats when given orally (175-350 mg/kg) or injected directly either in the VTA or NAc (from 10 to 300 microg/0.5 microl per side). Our results indicate that while only 0.01 mg/kg per infusion GHB maintained self-administration, although not on every test day, 350 mg/kg GHB given orally induced CPP. CPP was also observed when GHB was injected in the VTA (30-100 microg/0.5 microl per side) but not in the NAc. Together with recent in-vitro findings, these results suggest that the rewarding properties of GHB mainly occur via disinhibition of VTA dopaminergic neurons

Stroke territory and atherosclerosis in ischemic stroke patients with a history of migraine with aura

IntroductionThe mechanisms subtending the increased stroke risk in migraine with aura (MA) are not fully understood. Our study aims to evaluate if the clinical profile in stroke patients with MA differentiates from those without MA.MethodsWe retrieved the prospective registered electronic clinical dossiers of adult patients younger than 60 years with acute ischemic stroke admitted in four hospitals between January 2016 and June 2022. Patients were classified by the history of MA (MA+ and MA–).ResultsWe identified 851 stroke patients (59 MA+, 6.9%). Compared to MA−, MA+ patients were characterized by younger age (44.0 ± 10.6 vs 50.1 ± 8.2 years), female sex (59.3% vs 29.0%), and affected by cryptogenic (OR 2.594 95% CI 1.483–4.537), and cerebellar stroke (OR 3.218 95% CI 1.657–6.250; p ≤ 0.001 for all comparisons). After adjusting for age and sex, MA+ patients presented less frequently hypertension (OR 0.349 95% CI 0.167–0.470; p=0.005) and dyslipidemia (OR 0.523 95% CI 0.280–0.974; p = 0.041). After adjusting also for risk factors, the MA+ group had less frequently symptomatic large vessel stenosis (OR 0.126 95% CI 0.017–0,924; p = 0.042) and clinical atherosclerosis (OR 0.103 95% CI 0.014–0.761; p = 0.026), while intima–media thickness did not differ (p = 0.395).DiscussionCryptogenic and cerebellar stroke and fewer vascular risk factors and clinical atherosclerosis seem to characterize stroke patients with MA

Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map

We summarise the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space and research funding agencies

Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map

We summarise the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space and research funding agencies.publishedVersio

Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map

We summarise the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space and research funding agencies

Examining the generalizability of research findings from archival data

This initiative examined systematically the extent to which a large set of archival research findings generalizes across contexts. We repeated the key analyses for 29 original strategic management effects in the same context (direct reproduction) as well as in 52 novel time periods and geographies; 45% of the reproductions returned results matching the original reports together with 55% of tests in different spans of years and 40% of tests in novel geographies. Some original findings were associated with multiple new tests. Reproducibility was the best predictor of generalizability—for the findings that proved directly reproducible, 84% emerged in other available time periods and 57% emerged in other geographies. Overall, only limited empirical evidence emerged for context sensitivity. In a forecasting survey, independent scientists were able to anticipate which effects would find support in tests in new samples

Chronic n-acetylcysteine treatment promotes extinction of conditioned cue-induced nicotine-seeking behavior in the rat

Tobacco smoking is a chronic relapsing disorder and resumption is recurrent after abstinence. Although some pharmacological and psychosocial support can help smokers to quit, the high relapse rates indicate a need for more efficacious treatments. A large body of evidence indicate that the cysteine pro-drug N-acetylcysteine (N-AC) may have beneficial therapeutic effects in the treatment of drug addiction. In humans, pilot studies have shown that N-AC decreases drug cues-induced craving for cocaine, number of cigarettes smoked, and marijuana use and craving. Pre-clinically N-AC reduced conditioned cues-induced cocaine- and heroin-seeking by restoring cystine-glutamate exchange, which normalize extracellular glutamate (Glu), restoring tone on pre-synaptic inhibitory mGluR2/3 auto-receptors in the nucleus accumbens, thus blunting the increased Glu release associated with drug cues-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking. Although nicotine-cues reinstate drug-seeking and increase extracellular Glu in the nucleus accumbens, it is still unclear whether N-AC would inhibit cue-induced reinstatement in abstinent rats after nicotine self-administration. Moreover, it is unknown whether restoring Glu homeostasis by chronic N-AC treatment would enhance the outcome of cue-exposure therapy for smoking cessation. To gain such information, we used an animal model of cue-induced robust and lasting nicotine-seeking in abstinent rats. We found that a single dose of N-AC (100 mg/kg) increased Glu extracellular release in the nucleus accumbens and induced a short-term reduction of cues-induced nicotine-seeking without altering cues-induced saccharin-seeking and rats\u2019 locomotor activity. Pre-treatment with LY341495 (1 mg/kg), a selective mGluR2/3 antagonist, completely prevented N-AC from reducing cues-induced nicotine-seeking behavior. When N-AC (100 mg/kg) was given chronically before daily lever-presses extinction, during abstinence or in combination with nicotine-associated cues induced reinstatement, it was found that only in the latter condition N-AC not only showed efficacy when biologically available during testing, but also produced a long-lasting anti-relapse activity that was still present 2 weeks later. These results suggest that N-AC might offer a therapeutic opportunity in promoting extinction of nicotine-cue conditioned responding