Raphael, the Virgin Mary, and Holy Matrimony: Recontextualizing Franz Liszt's Sposalizio

Sposalizio, the piece opening the “Italian year” of Franz Liszt's Années de pèlerinage (first published in 1858), is one of the most analyzed and interpreted compositions in this piano cycle. Much attention has been paid to its connection with the painting of the same title by Raphael, which was printed as an internal title page for the piece's first edition at the explicit request of the composer. This connection has inspired many studies on the relationship between image and music, reinforcing the notion of Sposalizio as a musical realization of Raphael's painting as seen by Liszt for the first time in February 1838 at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. Adopting a critical view of the hermeneutical tradition, which has an impact on the interpretation of the piece still today, and assuming that its composition began in Weimar only around 1848, the article proposes an alternative reading of the piece. By connecting pictorial and musical elements, Sposalizio seems to evoke several cultural discourses and practices fundamental to Liszt's artistic and biographical background, such as Raphael's image as a genius, the revival of Marian devotion, and marriage as a sacrament of the Catholic Church

Validation of a General and Sport Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire in Adolescents and Young Adults: GeSNK

Good knowledge of nutrition is widely thought to be an important aspect to maintaining a balanced and healthy diet. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a new reliable tool to measure the general and the sport nutrition knowledge (GeSNK) in people who used to practice sports at different levels. The development of (GeSNK) was carried out in six phases as follows: (1) item development and selection by a panel of experts; (2) pilot study in order to assess item difficulty and item discrimination; (3) measurement of the internal consistency; (4) reliability assessment with a 2-week test-retest analysis; (5) concurrent validity was tested by administering the questionnaire along with other two similar tools; (6) construct validity by administering the questionnaire to three groups of young adults with different general nutrition and sport nutrition knowledge. The final questionnaire, consisted of 62 items of the original 183 questions. It is a consistent, valid, and suitable instrument that can be applied over time, making it a promising tool to look at the relationship between nutrition knowledge, demographic characteristics, and dietary behavior in adolescents and young adults

TrkB and gene expression

The neurotrophins are a family of secreted proteins that potently regulate diverse neuronal responses. Family members include nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and neurotrophin 4/5(NT4/5). Neurotrophins bind the Trks receptor family (TrkA, B, C). NGF is the preferred ligand for TrkA, BDNF and NT4/5 are preferred for TrkB, and NT3 for TrkC, although NT3 also binds with less affinity to TrkA and TrkB. During my PhD I have focused my interest in understanding how neurotrophins regulate gene expression and, in particular, how BDNF does this through its high affinity receptor TrkB during neurogenesis. In order to answer this question, I planned to adopt the following approaches. First, to analyze global changes in gene expression after TrkB/BDNF activation, using microarray technology. Second, once a set of regulated genes was identified, to characterize the regulation of these genes at the promoter level, in order to understand which common elements are important for their regulation. The high-density oligonucleotide array of Affymetrix was performed using mRNAs that were obtained from cortical neurons of wild type mouse embryos (E15.5), and of mouse embryos possessing TrkB receptors mutated at either tyrosine 515 (trkB/shc point signaling mutants), or tyrosine 816 (trkB/plc-g point signaling mutants), or at both sites. In all cases the primary neurons were either unstimulated or stimulated with BDNF. The sensitivity of the Affymetrix system allowed me to identify a set of transcription factors that showed a higher fold induction compared to the others class of genes. This group consisted of: egr1, egr2, c-fos and mGIF/Tieg1. These genes were found to be differentially regulated in the signaling point mutant mice. Although the promoter of mGif/TIEG1 is not yet characterized and also the function of this gene is not completely clear, egr1, egr2 and c-fos are well characterized, and, several data suggest that these genes share cis acting 5’ regulatory elements. To better understand which elements and transcription factors are important for BDNF-dependent gene expression I choose the c-fos promoter as a model. Using luciferase reporter gene constructs transfected in E15.5 cortical neurons isolated from wild-type and signaling point mutant mice, I discovered that the pathways activated through the shc site promoted higher activation of c-fos promoter than pathways activated through the plc-g_site, and the two sites are both required for BDNF-dependent activation of c-fos promoter. Additionally experiments using c-fos promoter constructs, mutated at single or multiple elements, revealed that the c/ebp binding site together with the E-box are fundamental for the activation of c-fos downstream BDNF/TrkB. This result suggested that C/EBPs and bHLH transcription factors might collaborate to induce the activation of the promoter downstream of BDNF. I have demonstrated, both in vivo and in vitro, that Mash1 and NeuroD are the members of bHLH family that bind C/EBP transcription factors at different domains. That interaction is BDNF independent, and the complex is constitutively present on the c-fos promoter. The BDNF regulation of gene expression is through the post-translation modification of that complex. In fact BDNF stimulation induces an increase in C/EBPb phosphorylation on Thr188 (ERK1/2-dependent). The phosphorylation by ERK1/2 could explain the transcriptional activation of the C/EBP-Mash1-NeuroD complex downstream BDNF/TrkB. These studies identify a novel neurotrophins-regulated signaling cascade that mediates the gene expression during neurogenesis

Aporte alto versus bajo de aminoácidos en la nutrición parenteral para recién nacidos.

ARTÍCULO PUBLICADO EN REVISTA EXTERNA. RESÚMEN DE ARTÍCULO CIENTÍFICO. Esta revisión permite conocer la evidencia científica actual sobre los aportes de aminoácidos (AA) por nutrición parenteral (NP), sus beneficios y complicaciones, en los recién nacidos (RN) internados. En estos pacientes críticos, la administración de AA es valorada por el equipo que integra la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos Neonatales y constituye un factor de debate a la hora de seleccionar dosis altas o bajas para el aporte parenteral. Iniciar la búsqueda, así como arribar a consensos y elaborar protocolos en el manejo de este nutriente, resulta indispensable para mejorar la calidad de la atención de los RN. Los lactantes enfermos y prematuros, con frecuencia, no son capaces de alimentarse por vía enteral y requieren aportes parenterales. Los posibles efectos beneficiosos del aporte parenteral con altas dosis de AA, como la mejoría del equilibrio de nitrógeno, el crecimiento y la salud del lactante, serían más relevantes que la capacidad del RN de utilizar el aporte parenteral alto de AA, especialmente en los primeros días de vida. Durante las primeras semanas de vida, los RN prematuros tienen un mayor riesgo de desarrollar deficiencias nutricionales. Estos desequilibrios pueden ocasionar déficit de energía y proteínas en comparación con la recomendación diaria sugerida. Proporcionar proteínas o AA a los RN prematuros durante el período posnatal temprano es crítico para el crecimiento y el desarrollo neurológico. La NP es central para el cuidado de niños muy inmaduros. Las recomendaciones internacionales están a favor del aporte de altas cantidades de AA y el uso de emulsiones lipídicas a base de aceite de pescado. El control de la desnutrición posnatal se asocia con resultados de neurodesarrollo favorable a largo plazo. La suplementación con AA mejora el equilibrio de proteínas mediante un aumento de su síntesis, mejora las defensas antioxidantes, previene el estado catabólico y el retraso del crecimiento neonatal. Sin embargo, no hay consenso aún respecto a las dosis apropiadas ni a cuándo iniciar la suplementación. Como resultado de ello, la práctica diaria varía entre las distintas Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos Neonatales

mid to long term results of radiocapitellar arthroplasty of the elbow a prospective study

n/

Mechanism of TrkB-Mediated Hippocampal Long-Term Potentiation

n/

Neurotrophin/Trk receptor signaling mediates C/EBPα, -β and NeuroD recruitment to immediate-early gene promoters in neuronal cells and requires C/EBPs to induce immediate-early gene transcription

BACKGROUND: Extracellular signaling through receptors for neurotrophins mediates diverse neuronal functions, including survival, migration and differentiation in the central nervous system, but the transcriptional targets and regulators that mediate these diverse neurotrophin functions are not well understood. RESULTS: We have identified the immediate-early (IE) genes Fos, Egr1 and Egr2 as transcriptional targets of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)/TrkB signaling in primary cortical neurons, and show that the Fos serum response element area responds to BDNF/TrkB in a manner dependent on a combined C/EBP-Ebox element. The Egr1 and Egr2 promoters contain homologous regulatory elements. We found that C/EBPα/β and NeuroD formed complexes in vitro and in vivo, and were recruited to all three homologous promoter regions. C/EBPα and NeuroD co-operatively activated the Fos promoter in transfection assays. Genetic depletion of Trk receptors led to impaired recruitment of C/EBPs and NeuroD in vivo, and elimination of Cebpa and Cebpb alleles reduced BDNF induction of Fos, Egr1 and Egr2 in primary neurons. Finally, defective differentiation of cortical dendrites, as measured by MAP2 staining, was observed in both compound Cebp and Ntrk knockout mice. CONCLUSION: We here identify three IE genes as targets for BDNF/TrkB signaling, show that C/EBPα and -β are recruited along with NeuroD to target promoters, and that C/EBPs are essential mediators of Trk signaling in cortical neurons. We show also that C/EBPs and Trks are required for cortical dendrite differentiation, consistent with Trks regulating dendritic differentiation via a C/EBP-dependent mechanism. Finally, this study indicates that BDNF induction of IE genes important for neuronal function depends on transcription factors (C/EBP, NeuroD) up-regulated during neuronal development, thereby coupling the functional competence of the neuronal cells to their differentiation