The role of the anterior thalamic nuclei for properties of episodic memory: what, when, where

Amnesia impairs episodic memory in humans, and can occur following damage to the medial diencephalon. This thesis examines the importance of the anterior thalamic nuclei, a diencephalic structure, for different elements (what, when, where) of episodic memory (or episodic-like memory) in rats. The overall goal was to understand why this region is so critical for normal memory in humans. An initial series of experiments investigated the ability of rats with anterior thalamic lesions to recognise objects and odours with a variety of delays. These experiments found that anterior thalamic lesions spare item recognition (what). This same ability was further explored with the use of the immediate early gene zif268, and the results again indicated that this thalamic nucleus does not have a direct role in recognition. A related series of studies explored the effects of anterior thalamic lesions on temporal order judgments (when) for objects. Two different discrimination procedures were tested, between-block recency and within-block recency. Lesions to the anterior thalamic nuclei selectively impaired performance on within-block recency but spared between-block recency. The ability of rats with anterior thalamic damage to discriminate between two locations (where) in both complex and simple environments was also tested. Anterior thalamic lesions significantly impaired place learning compared with control animals, despite the finding that rats with anterior thalamic lesions could sometimes discriminate between the two locations (i.e., could perform significantly above chance). In addition, the effects of anterior thalamic damage on biconditional learning (what-where conjunction) were examined. The rats were trained on both item-place and item-context associations. Lesions to the anterior thalamic nuclei disrupted acquisition of the former, but not the latter. The results suggest that the contributions of the rodent anterior thalamic nuclei to episodic memory, as part of the extended-hippocampal system, primarily reflect the involvement of these nuclei in allocentric spatial learning

miRNA-dependent target regulation: functional characterization of single-nucleotide polymorphisms identified in genome-wide association studies of Alzheimer’s disease

Other miRNA targeting sites identified by less stringent analysis near rs7143400-C/G, rs2847655-T/C, rs610923-C/A and rs9909-G/C. A summary of the genes, PolymiRTSs, effects of minor alleles, targeting miRNAs and miRNA expression alterations observed in AD (when available; refer to the cited references). The grayed miRNAs were also found in the stringent screening described in Fig. 2a in the main text. (XLS 23 kb

Obstacles à la prise en charge de la douleur induite par les soins chez les personnes âgées en milieu de soins aigus: revue de littérature

les'personnes'âgées'constituent'la'classe'd’âge'la'plus'présente' en' milieu' hospitalier' et' sont' donc' plus' susceptibles' de' subir' des' procédures'douloureuses.'De'plus,'elles'sont'exposées'à'un'grand'nombre'de'comorbidités'et'sont'donc'plus'vulnérables'à'des'douleurs'intenses.'Il'est'inquiétant'de'constater'que'la' prévalence' de' la' douleur' induite' par' les' soins' en'milieu' hospitalier' est' élevée' malgré'l’existence'd’outils'd’évaluation'spécifiques'et'de'protocoles'adaptés

Poitou-Charentes

L’invisibilité de façade des immigrés et le silence qui entoure leur mémoire en Poitou-Charentes pourrait laisser croire que la région n’a pas été concernée – ou très peu – par le fait migratoire. Or, certes moins importants que dans d’autres régions plus industrialisées de France, des flux migratoires ont bien été observés en région, comme l’attestent, notamment, l’importante présence portugaise à Cerizay ou encore, aujourd’hui, l’installation bienvenue, du fait de la chute démographique rurale, des Britanniques dans les cantons du sud de la Vienne, où ils constituent jusqu’à 10 % de la population cantonale

L’éducation des adultes chez les 16 à 18 ans : La volonté de réussir l’école… et la vie!

Comment expliquer l’utilisation quasi automatique des programmes de formation aux adultes par une majorité d’élèves de 16 à 18 ans vus comme étant des élèves handicapés ou en difficulté d’apprentissage ou d’adaptation (EHDAA) au secteur jeunes? Ce passage de l’école des jeunes à celle des adultes est-il lié à des aspirations professionnelles légitimes? Une étude de cas de type microtechnographique (Bogdan et Biklen, 1998) a permis de documenter les raisons qui motivent les jeunes de 16 à 18 ans ayant des difficultés à recourir à l’éducation des adultes. Cette même étude a aussi permis de mieux comprendre l’expérience scolaire de ces jeunes, de même que les fondements derrière leur décision d’arrêter ou de poursuivre leur formation scolaire.How can we explain the almost automatic use of adult education programs by the majority of 16 to 18 year-old students identified as handicapped or with learning or adaptation problems? Is the transition students make from high school to adult education classes linked to legitimate professional goals? A micro-technographic type case study (Bogdan and Biklen, 1998) documented reasons motivating 16 to 18 year-olds who have trouble going on to adult education. This study also provided a better understanding of the scholastic experiences of these students, as well as the reasons behind their decision to abandon or continue their education.¿Cómo explicar la utilización casi automática de los programas de formación para adultos que hace un número importante de alumnos entre 16 y 18 años, identificados como alumnos minusválidos o con dificultades de aprendizaje o de adaptación (EHDAA) en las escuelas públicas? ¿El paso de la escuela hacia la educación para adultos está ligado a aspiraciones profesionales legítimas? Un estudio de caso de tipo microtecnográfico (Bogdan y Biklen, 1998) permitió documentar las razones que motivan a los jóvenes de 16 a 18 años que confrontaban dificultades y que optaron por la educación para adultos. Este mismo estudio también nos ha permitido comprender más cabalmente la experiencia escolar de dichos jóvenes, así como las bases sobre las que se apoya su decisión de cesar o de continuar su escolarización

A portrait of self-reported health and distress in parents whose child died of cancer

Grieving a child following cancer is a substantially difficult task. The objectives of this research were: 1) to describe current quality of life (QoL), psychological distress and symptoms of grief of bereaved parents, and 2) to explore the role of possible contributors of QoL and psychological distress. Forty-six parents (32 mothers) of children who died of cancer were surveyed on their QoL, distress, and complicated grief. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression. Parents had a high frequency of grieving symptoms (58%). Mothers reported more retrospective grief symptoms than fathers when describing the year after child death. Current lower mental well-being was associated with experiencing higher retrospective grief symptoms, a shorter period since child death, and being a father. Hence, parents experienced disturbances even long after child death. Mothers and fathers may present specificities that should be considered when developing supportive activities for this vulnerable population

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of flavanol-containing tea, cocoa and apple products on body composition and blood lipids: exploring the factors responsible for variability in their efficacy

Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses support the benefits of flavanols on cardiometabolic health, but the factors affecting variability in the responses to these compounds have not been properly assessed. The objectives of this meta-analysis were to systematically collect the RCTs-based-evidence of the effects of flavanol-containing tea, cocoa and apple products on selected biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk and to explore the influence of various factors on the variability in the responses to the consumption of these products. A total of 120 RCTs were selected. Despite a high heterogeneity, the intake of the flavanol-containing products was associated using a random model with changes (reported as standardized difference in means (SDM)) in body mass index (−0.15, p < 0.001), waist circumference (−0.29, p < 0.001), total-cholesterol (−0.21, p < 0.001), LDL-cholesterol (−0.23, p < 0.001), and triacylglycerides (−0.11, p = 0.027), and with an increase of HDL-cholesterol (0.15, p = 0.005). Through subgroup analyses, we showed the influence of baseline-BMI, sex, source/form of administration, medication and country of investigation on some of the outcome measures and suggest that flavanols may be more effective in specific subgroups such as those with a BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2, non-medicated individuals or by specifically using tea products. This meta-analysis provides the first robust evidence of the effects induced by the consumption of flavanol-containing tea, cocoa and apple products on weight and lipid biomarkers and shows the influence of various factors that can affect their bioefficacy in humans. Of note, some of these effects are quantitatively comparable to those produced by drugs, life-style changes or other natural products. Further, RCTs in well-characterized populations are required to fully comprehend the factors affecting inter-individual responses to flavanol and thereby improve flavanols efficacy in the prevention of cardiometabolic disorders

Selective importance of the rat anterior thalamic nuclei for configural learning involving distal spatial cues

To test potential parallels between hippocampal and anterior thalamic function, rats with anterior thalamic lesions were trained on a series of biconditional learning tasks. The anterior thalamic lesions did not disrupt learning two biconditional associations in operant chambers where a specific auditory stimulus (tone or click) had a differential outcome depending on whether it was paired with a particular visual context (spot or checkered wall-paper) or a particular thermal context (warm or cool). Likewise, rats with anterior thalamic lesions successfully learnt a biconditional task when they were reinforced for digging in one of two distinct cups (containing either beads or shredded paper), depending on the particular appearance of the local context on which the cup was placed (one of two textured floors). In contrast, the same rats were severely impaired at learning the biconditional rule to select a specific cup when in a particular location within the test room. Place learning was then tested with a series of go/no-go discriminations. Rats with anterior thalamic nuclei lesions could learn to discriminate between two locations when they were approached from a constant direction. They could not, however, use this acquired location information to solve a subsequent spatial biconditional task where those same places dictated the correct choice of digging cup. Anterior thalamic lesions produced a selective, but severe, biconditional learning deficit when the task incorporated distal spatial cues. This deficit mirrors that seen in rats with hippocampal lesions, so extending potential interdependencies between the two sites