Making available scientific information in the third millennium: perspectives for the neuroscientific community

The rules governing the globalised process of sharing scientific information in the research community are rapidly changing. From the 1950s, commercial publishers started owning a large number of scientific journals and consequently the marketable value of a submitted manuscript has become an increasingly important factor in publishing decisions. Recently some publishers have developed the Open Access (OA), a business scheme which may help stopping such tendency. Indeed, in the case of an open-access publication, the marketable value of a manuscript may be not the primary consideration, since access to the research is not being sold. This may push scientists to re-consider the purpose of peer reviewing. However, costs remain a key point in managing scientific journals because OA method does not eliminate peer review process. Thus, OA may not solve the problem of the market pressures on publishing strategies. Furthermore, the OA has another strong point: everyone can read OA papers, including scientist living in poor countries. But, will OA method create new discriminations on who can publish on OA journals? Will it be possible to really exclude or strongly limit the influences of the market from scientific publishing? The example of the non-profit e-print arXiv (http://arXiv.org/), a fully automated electronic archive and distribution server for research papers with no peer review will be discussed. For neuroscientists, the possibility to make available scientific data, even in the case of negative results (usually, very difficult to publish) is an important step to avoid purposeless repetition of costly experiments involving animal subjects. The possibility to arrange internationally or locally peer reviewed papers in institutional repositories (IR) is a necessity. However, access to IR should be regulated, e.g. banning or limiting profit organizations and exploiting internet systems, professional organizations or network groups

NGF, Brain and Behavioral Plasticity

Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) was initially studied for its role as a key player in the regulation of peripheral innervations. However, the successive finding of its release in the bloodstream of male mice following aggressive encounters and its presence in the central nervous system led to the hypothesis that variations in brain NGF levels, caused by psychosocial stressor, and the related alterations in emotionality, could be functional to the development of proper strategies to cope with the stressor itself and thus to survive. Years later this vision is still relevant, and the body of evidence on the role of NGF has been strengthened and expanded from trophic factor playing a role in brain growth and differentiation to a much more complex messenger, involved in psychoneuroendocrine plasticity

Foreword

The investment in space activities may be estimated in hundreds of billion of Euro and involves all G20 and BRIC countries. Why there is such a large interest, and why so many investments are allotted to space programs? Space is definitely an essential driver of economic growth. Aside from the obvious impact onto high-technology industry, many disciplines benefit from the development of space technologies. Climatology, environmental science, various medical sciences as well as telecommunication and—off course—military applications are just few areas that need space technologies and justify the launch of satellites. Nearly a thousand satellites are currently in orbit with the aim of observing the Earth and are used for telecommunications, navigation and positioning in addition to specific scientific research and to space exploration, with missions funded by many space agencies. Man is exploring the solar system by means of satellites in orbit around Mars and Venus, and exploration is now active on the surface of Mars. China, India, Japan, Europe and United States launched spacecrafts in orbit around the Moon and the International Space Station is inhabited ever since 2003. More than 50 nations are participating in this ''colonization'' of space; they all benefit from space technologies and information gathered by satellites. Italy is participating since 1963 with a significant contribution to the activities of the International Space Station (ISS). The Chinese space program accounts for tens of launches with many satellites placed into orbit already. The successful mission of Shenzhou–X has confirmed China advances in space technologies and its ambitions for the future. In the next few years, China will launch its own Space Station, where many challenging scientific experiments in the fields of astronomy, microgravity, medicine and radiobiology will be performed. This contribution is the written, peer-reviewed version of a paper presented at the workshop ''Cosmic Rays and Radiobiology in a SinoItaly Network Strategy: First Bilateral Workshop COSMIC-RAD'' held at Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academic of Science, in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China on September 3–4, 2012

Incidental findings, genetic screening and the challenge of personalisation

Genetic tests frequently produce more information than is initially expected. Several documents have addressed this issue and offer suggestions regarding how this informa-tion should be managed and, in particular, concerning the expedience of revealing (or not revealing) it to the persons concerned. While the approaches to the management of these incidental findings (IFs) vary, it is usually recommended that the information be disclosed if there is confirmed clinical utility and the possibility of treatment or preven-tion. However, this leaves unsolved some fundamental issues such as the different ways of interpreting “clinical utility”, countless sources of uncertainty and varying ways of defining the notion of “incidental”. Guidelines and other reference documents can offer indications to those responsible for managing IFs but should not be allowed to relieve researchers and healthcare professionals of their responsibilities

On transparency in health care guidelines

Accessibility is one of the core requirements for health care guidelines. The present article offers some considerations on the subject and briefly describes the general situation in Canada  following provisions recently adopted by the Supreme Court and, more specifically, developments in Québec (regulations adopted by the Assemblée Nationale du Québec), where the Collège des Médecins du Québec has issued a “Practice Guideline for Medical Aid in Dying” (“Guide d’Exercice sur l’Aide Médicale à Mourir”). Without entering into the merits of the arguments dividing the supporters and opponents of euthanasia, the present article shows how access to the guideline is subject to restrictions that are unjustified from the point of view of medical ethics.

From dissemination to Citizen Science

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Between social and healthcare: a necessary synergy

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On the oligopoly of academic publishers

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Bird populations as sentinels of endocrine disrupting chemicals

Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is a widespread phenomenon in nature. Although the mechanisms of action of EDCs are actively studied, the consequences of endocrine disruption (ED) at the population level and the adaptations evolved to cope with chronic EDC exposure have been overlooked. Birds probably represent the animal taxon most successfully adapted to synanthropic life. Hence, birds share with humans a similar pattern of exposure to xenobiotics. In this article, we review case studies on patterns of behaviour that deviate from the expectation in bird species exposed to EDCs. We provide behavioural and ecological parameters to be used as endpoints of ED; methodological requirements and caveats based on species-specific life-history traits, behavioural repertoires, developmental styles, and possibility of captive breeding; a list of species that could be used as sentinels to assess the quality of man-made environment

Assent, consent and paediatric bioethics

In the ethics of relations between physicians and paediatric patients the question of autonomy and its corollary, consent, is crucial. While the importance attached to autonomy in the clinical setting is not the same as that accorded in research, it nonetheless assumes greater relevance when minors are involved, and a careful case-by-case assessment becomes obligatory