Examining delay of gratification in healthy aging

Delay of gratification (DofG) refers to the capacity to forego an immediate reward in order to receive a more desirable reward later. As a core executive function, it might be expected that DofG would follow the standard pattern of age-related decline observed in older adults for other executive tasks. However, there actually have been few studies of aging and DofG, and even these have shown mixed results, suggesting the need for further investigation and new approaches. The present study tested a novel reward-based decision-making paradigm enabling examination of age-related DofG effects in adult humans. Results showed that older adults earned fewer overall rewards than young adults, both before and after instruction regarding the optimal DofG strategy. Prior to instruction, learning this strategy was challenging for all participants, regardless of age. The finding of age-related impairments even after strategy instruction indicated that these impairments were not due to a failure to understand the task or follow the optimal strategy, but instead were related to self-reported difficulty in waiting for delayed rewards. These results suggest the presence of age-related changes in DofG capacity and highlight the advantages of this new experimental paradigm for use in future investigations, including both behavioral and neuroimaging studies

Cognitive reserve modulates mental health in adulthood

Cognitive Reserve (CR) reflects acquired knowledge, skills, and abilities throughout life, and it is known for modulating cognitive efficiency in healthy and clinical populations. CR, which was initially proposed to explain individual differences in the clinical presentation of dementia, has subsequently been extended to healthy ageing, showing its role in cognitive efficiency also during middle age. Recently, CR has been linked to affective processes in psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, major depressive and anxiety symptoms, and psychological distress, suggesting its potential role in emotional expression and regulation. Whether the role of CR in mental health extends to non-pathological adults, and whether this is only relevant in older age is not yet clear. The aim of this work was therefore to explore the relationship between CR and mental health in healthy adults, with a focus on middle adulthood (40–60). In a sample of 96 participants, we found a positive association between CR and mental health outcomes, such that a higher cognitive reserve index corresponded to fewer mental health reported symptoms. Specifically, a higher CR reflecting professional activities was associated with lower stress levels, especially in middle agers. Taken together, these data therefore suggest that engaging occupations may help maintain a robust mental health, especially by reducing stress symptoms during middle age. These results broaden previous findings suggesting that CR relates to affective components of mental health in middle aged and older adults

First-principle theory of correlated transport through nano-junctions

We report the inclusion of electron-electron correlation in the calculation of transport properties within an ab initio scheme. A key step is the reformulation of Landauer's approach in terms of an effective transmittance for the interacting electron system. We apply this framework to analyze the effect of shortrange interactions on Pt atomic wires and discuss the coherent and incoherent correction to the mean-field approach

Role of the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Groups in 13 European countries in the decision-making process on vaccine recommendations

: In Europe, National Immunisation Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) were established in most countries to promote evidence-informed decision-making in introducing new or improved vaccines or changing recommendations for existing ones. Still, the role, activities and outcomes of NITAGs have not been optimally implemented across Europe. Within the European Joint Action on Vaccination (EU-JAV), we conducted a survey to collect information on decision-making process including the main criteria for the introduction of new vaccines or changes to recommendations on their use. Between December 2021 and January 2022, 13 of the 28 European countries invited participated in an online survey. The criteria ranked as most relevant were disease burden and availability of financial resources. Only one country specified that the NITAG recommendations were binding for the government or the health authority. Vaccinations more often reported for introduction or recommendation changes were those against herpes zoster, influenza, human papillomavirus infection, pneumococcal and meningococcal disease. The planned changes will mainly address children and adolescents (2-18 years) and adults (≥ 45-65 years). Our findings show potential overlaps in the activities of NITAGs between countries; and therefore, collaboration between NITAGs may lead to optimisation of the workload and better use of resources

The two-way relationship between food systems and the COVID19 pandemic: causes and consequences

[EN] CONTEXT: The COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the most pressing challenges for humanity. The pandemic is affecting all aspects of human lives and livelihoods, including food. In this context, new research shows the nexus between agri-food systems and the spread of emergent infectious diseases (EID) such as the coronavirus disease while at the same time, shows how the COVID-19 pandemics has heavily impacted food systems. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work is to shed light and draw, through the case of COVID-19, the network of direct and indirect links and feedback loops between the globalised food system and pandemics. METHODS: We conducted a literature review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: As with climate change, food systems have a double relation with EID in general, and in particular with the present world health crisis linked to COVID-19. On the one hand, global agri-food systems, as currently organised, are a necessary step in the development of EID, through their impacts in land use changes, habitat fragmentation, biodiversity loss and climate change. On the other hand, COVID-19 has had and is having impacts on all food systems at all scales. The review shows that all activities of the food system (from production to consumption) as well as all pillars of food security (availability, access, use, stability) have been affected. The impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on food systems can be divided between direct impacts of the virus outbreak, and indirect impacts derived from the containment measures (e.g. lockdowns, mobility restrictions, shops closure) adopted at different levels (from local to global). While all food systems across the globe have been affected by the pandemic, it is argued that vulnerability is different for different types of food systems. Long food supply chains have been particularly affected by COVID-19 crisis, however, it is important to avoid universalization of impacts and responses as agri-food systems are characterised by a huge diversity and heterogeneity. The review concludes by pointing out that while the pandemic represents a challenge for the global food systems, this 'stress test' can be also seized as an opportunity to highlight vulnerabilities to be urgently addressed during the recovery period and speed up the transformation towards more sustainable and resilient food systems. SIGNIFICANCE: A food systems approach is essential to have a broader picture of the relationship of agri-food systems with zoonosis and their centrality in the pandemics and the derived socio-economic consequences.Elisa OterosRozas was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (IJCI201734334) . Marina di Masso was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (IJCI-2016-30769) Federica Ravera was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RYC2018025958I) .Rivera-Ferre, MG.; Lopez-I-Gelats, F.; Ravera, F.; Oteros-Rozas, E.; Di Masso, M.; Binimelis, R.; El Bilali, H. (2021). The two-way relationship between food systems and the COVID19 pandemic: causes and consequences. Agricultural Systems. 191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.10313419

Biomolecular electronic devices based on self-organized deoxyguanosine nanocrystals.

We report on a new class of hybrid electronic devices based on a DNA nucleoside (deoxyguanosine lipophilic derivative) whose assembled polymeric ribbons interconnect a submicron metallic gate. The device exhibits large conductivity at room temperature, rectifying behavior and strong current-voltage hysteresis. The transport mechanism through the molecules is investigated by comparing films with different self-assembling morphology. We found that the main transport mechanism is connected to pi-pi interactions between guanosine molecules and to the formation of a strong dipole along ribbons, consistently with the results of our first-principles calculations

Solid state molecular rectifier based on self organized metalloproteins

Recently, great attention has been paid to the possibility of implementing hybrid electronic devices exploiting the self-assembling properties of single molecules. Impressive progress has been done in this field by using organic molecules and macromolecules. However, the use of biomolecules is of great interest because of their larger size (few nanometers) and of their intrinsic functional properties. Here, we show that electron-transfer proteins, such as the blue copper protein azurin (Az), can be used to fabricate biomolecular electronic devices exploiting their intrinsic redox properties, self assembly capability and surface charge distribution. The device implementation follows a bottom-up approach in which the self assembled protein layer interconnects nanoscale electrodes fabricated by electron beam lithography, and leads to efficient rectifying behavior at room temperature.Comment: 13 pages including two figures. Accepted for publication in Advanced Material