17 research outputs found

    Microgliosis: a double-edged sword in the control of food intake

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    Maintaining energy balance is essential for survival and health. This physiological function is controlled by the brain, which adapts food intake to energy needs. Indeed, the brain constantly receives a multitude of biological signals that are derived from digested foods or that originate from the gastrointestinal tract, energy stores (liver and adipose tissues) and other metabolically active organs (muscles). These signals, which include circulating nutrients, hormones and neuronal inputs from the periphery, collectively provide information on the overall energy status of the body. In the brain, several neuronal populations can specifically detect these signals. Nutrient-sensing neurons are found in discrete brain areas and are highly enriched in the hypothalamus. In turn, specialized brain circuits coordinate homeostatic responses acting mainly on appetite, peripheral metabolism, activity and arousal. Accumulating evidence shows that hypothalamic microglial cells located at the vicinity of these circuits can influence the brain control of energy balance. However, microglial cells could have opposite effects on energy balance, that is homeostatic or detrimental, and the conditions for this shift are not totally understood yet. One hypothesis relies on the extent of microglial activation, and nutritional lipids can considerably change it

    Postprandial hyperglycemia stimulates neuroglial plasticity in hypothalamic POMC neurons after a balanced meal

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    Mechanistic studies in rodents evidenced synaptic remodeling in neuronal circuits that control food intake. However, the physiological relevance of this process is not well defined. Here, we show that the firing activity of anorexigenic POMC neurons located in the hypothalamus is increased after a standard meal. Postprandial hyperactivity of POMC neurons relies on synaptic plasticity that engages pre-synaptic mechanisms, which does not involve structural remodeling of synapses but retraction of glial coverage. These functional and morphological neuroglial changes are triggered by postprandial hyperglycemia. Chemogenetically induced glial retraction on POMC neurons is sufficient to increase POMC activity and modify meal patterns. These findings indicate that synaptic plasticity within the melanocortin system happens at the timescale of meals and likely contributes to short-term control of food intake. Interestingly, these effects are lost with a high-fat meal, suggesting that neuroglial plasticity of POMC neurons is involved in the satietogenic properties of foods.Contrôle nerveux de la prise alimentaire et du métabolisme par une molécule neurale d'adhésion cellulaireISITE " BFCRéseau d'Innovation sur les Voies de Signalisation en Sciences de la Vi

    Is it possible to improve radiotherapy team members’ communication skills. A randomized study assessing the efficacy of a 38h communications skills training program

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    Background and purpose: Optimizing communication between radiotherapy team members and patients and between colleagues requires training. This study applies a randomized controlled design to assess the efficacy of a 38-h communication skills training program. Material and methods: Four radiotherapy teams were randomly assigned either to a training program or to a waiting list. Team members’ communication skills and their self-efficacy to communicate in the context of an encounter with a simulated patient were the primary endpoints. These encounters were scheduled at the baseline and after training for the training group, and at the baseline and four months later for the waiting list group. Encounters were audiotaped and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed with content analysis software (LaComm) and by an independent rater. Results: Eighty team members were included in the study. Compared to untrained team members, trained team members used more turns of speech with content oriented toward available resources in the team (relative rate [RR] = 1.38; p = 0.023), more assessment utterances (RR = 1.69; p < 0.001), more empathy (RR = 4.05; p = 0.037), more negotiation (RR = 2.34; p = 0.021) and more emotional words (RR = 1.32; p = 0.030), and their self-efficacy to communicate increased (p = 0.024 and p = 0.008, respectively). Conclusions: The training program was effective in improving team members’ communication skills and their self-efficacy to communicate in the context of an encounter with a simulated patient. Future study should assess the effect of this training program on communication with actual patients and their satisfaction. Moreover a cost-benefit analysis is needed, before implementing such an intensive training program on a broader scale

    Detection of recoil ion in the beta decay of laser oriented trapped radioactive isotopes for the MORA Project

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    International audienceThe Matter’s Origin from RAdioActivity (mora) project focuses on ion manipulation in traps and laser orientation methods for the searches of New Physics (np) in nuclear beta decay by precisely measuring the D correlation parameter. We predominantly have focussed here on the detection configuration of mora and alongside talked in detail about the Recoil Ion DEtection system (ride) and its characterization focusing mainly on the methods applied to achieve high order position correction
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