The Italian fund for Alzheimer's and other dementias: strategies and objectives to face the dementia challenge

The Italian Fund for Alzheimer's and other dementias was approved and signed in December 2021. The Fund is financed with 15 million euros in three years. The main goal is to provide new strategies in the field of dementia with a Public Health perspective. The Fund includes eight main activities that will be monitored and supervised by the Italian National Institute of Health: 1) development of a guideline for the assessment, management and support for people with dementia and their families/carers; 2) updating of the Dementia National Plan (DNP); 3) implementation of the documents of the DNP; 4) conducting surveys dedicated to the Italian Dementia Services; 5) promotion of dementia prevention strategies; 6) training strategies for healthcare professionals, families and caregivers; 7) creation of a National Electronic Record for Dementia; 8) evaluation and monitoring of activities promoted by Regions and Autonomous Provinces in the field of dementia, together with the dementia National Permanent Table. These activities are outlined in detail in the present paper

A critical period in the sensitivity of basal forebrain cholinergic neurones to NGF deprivation

Cholinergic neurones of basal forebrain (BF) express receptors for nerve growth factor (NGF) and are sensitive to NGF. In many CNS structures, including the BF region, the expression of NGF and its receptors is developmentally regulated. To test whether BF neurones depend on NGF during restricted time windows of postnatal development, we antagonized endogenous NGF by implanting, in the lateral ventricle of the rat, hybridoma cells producing blocking antibodies specific for NGF. Implants were performed at postnatal day 2 (P2), P8 and P15. BF cholinergic neurones were drastically reduced in number only when endogenous NGF was antagonized during the first postnatal week. We conclude that BF cholinergic neurones are sensitive to NGF deprivation only during early postnatal development

Prion depletion and preservation of biological activity by preparative chaotrope ultracentrifugation

Prions are characterized by unusual physicochemical properties, such as insolubility and resistance to proteases, and maintain infectivity after contact with disinfectants and decontamination procedures active against conventional pathogens. To date, most methods for prion inactivation are either incomplete or unacceptably harsh for the purification of fragile biotherapeutics. Here we describe a simple prion removal procedure that takes advantage of differential sedimentation and denaturation of prions. Prion-spiked fluids were layered onto an intermediate sucrose cushion and an 8M urea solution, and subjected to single-step ultracentrifugation. Due to their insolubility, prions rapidly traveled through the sucrose cushion into the urea solution. Prion infectivity in the upper phase was reduced by at least 3.2 logs, or up to 6 logs or more. Very little soluble protein was lost from the input sample and a proof-of-principle experiment demonstrated only marginally reduced biological activity of spiked enzyme after ultracentrifugation. This procedure is likely to synergize with nanofiltration and other prion removal steps in the treatment of batches of raw and semifinal biopharmaceutical materials

Pentose-phosphate shunt activity and red blood cell malonyldialdehyde levels in haemodialysis and in CAPD patients.

The baseline concentrations of MDA in the RBC membranes and the MDA production in the erythrocytes following stimulation with ascorbate and cyanide are compared in a group of uraemic patients on chronic haemodialysis and in one treated with CAPD. Lower baseline concentrations and smaller production of MDA following in vitro stimulation, point to a better function of the pentose-phosphate shunt in CAPD patients than in haemodialysis