Reproductive plasticity of a Procambarus clarkii population living 10\ub0C below its thermal optimum

In this study the annual reproductive biology of a Procambarus clarkii (Girard, 1852) population living in an atypical habitat with cold spring waters is investigated by monitoring Gonado-Somatic and Hepato-Somatic Indexes (GSI and HSI) and by performing cytology on ovaries. Despite its known preference for habitats with water temperature from 21 to 30 \ub0C, our results clearly confirm the adaptation of this population to the atypical thermal habitat, characterised by an annual mean water temperature value of 13.32 \ub10.08 \ub0C. Maximum gonadal development was reached in August, with maximum GSI median value of 0.64 (instead of reported values even 10 times higher for other populations), and ovigerous females were found in autumn, with mean realized fecundity of 35 \ub17 compared to 285\u2013995 reported from other habitats. Histological analysis was consistent with other studies and allowed us to follow ovarian development at cytological level. The importance of all these results is not to be underestimated: to our knowledge these findings are the first report of the coolest habitat successfully colonized by this species at the present time and so they have to be taken as a warning about the possible range expansion of P. clarkii also to northern and colder habitats that have few things in common with the native habitat of the species and, up to now, were considered \u201csafe\u201d from the invasion of the red swamp crayfish

Differences Between Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid p-tau181 and p-tau231 in Early Alzheimer's Disease

Plasma phosphorylated tau species have been recently proposed as peripheral markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. In this cross-sectional study including 91 subjects, plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) p-tau181 and p-tau231 levels were elevated in the early symptomatic stages of AD. Plasma p-tau231 and p-tau181 were strongly related to CSF phosphorylated tau, total tau and amyloid and exhibited a high accuracy-close to CSF p-tau231 and p-tau181-to identify AD already in the early stage of the disease. The findings might support the use as diagnostic and prognostic peripheral AD biomarkers in both research and clinical settings

Silencing two main isoforms of crustacean hyperglycemic hormone (CHH) induces compensatory expression of two CHH-like transcripts in the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii

RNA interference has frequently been applied to modulate gene function in organisms. With the aim of creating new autocidal methods based on neuro-endocrine disruptors for invasive populations of Procambarus clarkii, we silenced the Crustacean Hyperglycemic Hormone (CHH) by injecting the corresponding dsRNA. CHH is a pleiotropic hormone that primarily regulates the mobilization of energy reserves and plays a pivotal role in stress responses. Here, we describe two experiments aimed at testing whether CHH silencing significantly alters important physiological aspects. The first experiment investigates the effects of CHH silencing at the glycemic and transcriptomic level in the eyestalk. The second experiment explores the long-term effects of CHH silencing and the effects on mortality and moulting rates. Osmotic deficits and mortality were recorded in specimens injected with CHH dsRNA, whilst controls were injected with GFP dsRNA. After 20 days, despite still silenced for CHH, individuals that survived recovered a strong hyperglycemic response after serotonin injection due to the compensatory effect of two peptides belonging to the crustacean neurohormone CHH protein family

Silencing two main isoforms of crustacean hyperglycemic hormone (CHH) induces compensatory expression of two CHH-like transcripts in the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii

RNA interference has frequently been applied to modulate gene function in organisms. With the aim of creating new autocidal methods based on neuro-endocrine disruptors for invasive populations of Procambarus clarkii, we silenced the Crustacean Hyperglycemic Hormone (CHH) by injecting the corresponding dsRNA. CHH is a pleiotropic hormone that primarily regulates the mobilization of energy reserves and plays a pivotal role in stress responses. Here, we describe two experiments aimed at testing whether CHH silencing significantly alters important physiological aspects. The first experiment investigates the effects of CHH silencing at the glycemic and transcriptomic level in the eyestalk. The second experiment explores the long-term effects of CHH silencing and the effects on mortality and moulting rates. Osmotic deficits and mortality were recorded in specimens injected with CHH dsRNA, whilst controls were injected with GFP dsRNA. After 20 days, despite still silenced for CHH, individuals that survived recovered a strong hyperglycemic response after serotonin injection due to the compensatory effect of two peptides belonging to the crustacean neurohormone CHH protein family

Premorbid vulnerability and disease severity impact on Long-COVID cognitive impairment

Background Cognitive deficits have been increasingly reported as possible long-term manifestations after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Aims In this study we aimed at evaluating the factors associated with cognitive deficits 6 months after hospitalization for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods One hundred and six patients, discharged from a pneumology COVID-19 unit between March 1 and May 30 2020, accepted to be evaluated at 6 months according to an extensive neurological protocol, including the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Results Abnormal MoCA scores at 6 months follow-up were associated with higher pre-hospitalization National Health System (NHS) score (Duca et al. in Emerg Med Pract 22:1-2, 2020) (OR 1.27; 95% CI 1.05-1.6; p = 0.029) and more severe pulmonary disease expressed by the Brescia-COVID Respiratory Severity Scale (Duca et al. in Emerg Med Pract 22:1-2, 2020) (BCRSS > 1OR 4.73; 95% CI 1.53-14.63; p = 0.003) during the acute phase of the disease. Discussion This longitudinal study showed that the severity of COVID-19, indicated by BCRSS, and a complex score given by age and premorbid medical conditions, expressed by NHS, play a major role in modulating the long-term cognitive consequences of COVID-19 disease. Conclusions These findings indicate that the association of age and premorbid factors might identify people at risk for long-term neurological consequences of COVID-19 disease, thus deserving longer and proper follow-up

Can peptides be orally-delivered in crustaceans? The case study of the Crustacean Hyperglycaemic Hormone in Procambarus clarkii

The oral administration of substances in crustaceans is a growing field of research, and is considered the most effective way to convey elements in their body instead injections or other invasive techniques. It presents huge potentialities, in fact the production of emulsions that preserves the substance to be conveyed until it reaches the target organ finds application in the development of new vaccines, in the convey of substances for aquaculture purposes and in the administration of stressors to contrast the spreading of invasive crustacean species. The red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii, Girard 1852) is one of the most spread invasive species worldwide, but it is also considered among the most economically important freshwater crustacean species. For these reasons it is considered as a paradigmatic species.The chemical synthesis of the D-Crustacean Hyperglycemic Hormone isoform (D-Phe-CHH) from P. clarkii is here presented, with its species-specificity, verified through the injection of D-Phe-CHH in both the red swamp crayfish and the threatened European species Austropotamobius italicus (Faxon, 1984). The D-Phe-CHH has been successfully oral-delivered in P. clarkii by using a water/oil/water microemulsion entrapped in a jellified matrix. After the administration of CHH, the glycaemia levels significantly increased in eyestalk-less animals at hour 6, and in intact crayfish at hour 5, from the ingestion.These encouraging findings pave the way for the use of the double emulsion method to oral administer different peptides to both handle physiological aspects of P. clarkii life cycle for aquaculture purposes and to create species-specific peptides-based mix to hamper the spreading of invasive crayfish populations

Is amyloid involved in acute neuroinflammation? A CSF analysis in encephalitis

INTRODUCTION: Several investigations have argued for a strong relationship between neuroinflammation and amyloid metabolism but it is still unclear whether inflammation exerts a pro-amyloidogenic effect, amplifies the neurotoxic effect of amyloid, or is protective. METHODS: Forty-two patients with acute encephalitis (ENC) and 18 controls underwent an extended cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) panel of inflammatory, amyloid (Aβ40, 42, and 38, sAPP-α, sAPP-β), glial, and neuronal biomarkers. Linear and non-linear correlations between CSF biomarkers were evaluated studying conditional independence relationships. RESULTS: CSF levels of inflammatory cytokines and neuronal/glial markers were higher in ENC compared to controls, whereas the levels of amyloid-related markers did not differ. Inflammatory markers were not associated with amyloid markers but exhibited a correlation with glial and neuronal markers in conditional independence analysis. DISCUSSION: By an extensive CSF biomarkers analysis, this study showed that an acute neuroinflammation state, which is associated with glial activation and neuronal damage, does not influence amyloid homeostasis