Different patterns of white matter and immunological alterations in the various phases of bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a prevalent recurrent and chronic mental disease, clinically characterized by the occurrence of active phases of illness, mania and depression, alternated to asymptomatic periods of euthymia. Considering the complex clinical presentation of BD, our work aimed to investigate the neurobiological underpinning of the various phases of BD separately in order to detect their specific abnormalities, thus helping clarifying the pathophysiology of this disorder. Firstly, we investigated potential abnormalities of brain white matter (WM) in BD by using the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) technique. By using a tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) voxel-wise approach, we found a widespread alteration in WM microstructure (as evidenced by a decrease in fractional anisotropy (FA) and increase in mean diffusivity (MD) and radial diffusivity (RD) parameters) in BD, showing distinct patterns of changes in the different phases of illness. In particular, such WM abnormalities were larger in the active phases of illness (i.e., depression and mania) with respect to euthymia. Then, by using a probabilistic tractography, we coherently detected a reduction in the structural connectivity of the cingulum in mania. Secondly, we explored potential factors associated with the observed pattern of WM alterations of BD, by conducting a combined immunological-DTI study on an independent BD sample. By using a TBSS approach, we found a widespread combined FA-RD alteration mainly in the manic phase, with relatively specific involvement of the body of corpus callosum (BCC) and superior corona radiata (SCR). Then, by using flow cytometry, we detected peripheral immunological alterations in the manic phase, mainly characterized by an increase in CD4+ T cells as well as a decrease in total CD8+ T cells and their subpopulations effector memory (CD8+CD28-CD45RA-), terminal effector memory (CD8+CD28-CD45RA+) and CD8+IFN\u3b3+. Finally, an association between WM and immunological alterations was found in the whole cohort, and a correlation of FA-RD alterations in the BCC and SCR with reduced CD8+ terminal effector memory and CD8+IFN\u3b3+ T cells was detected in mania. Finally, we conducted a longitudinal study, collecting both DTI and bio-humoral follow-up data of our sample and investigating WM and immunological alterations in BD patients across their different phases of illness. The results preliminarily confirmed our previous findings in a longitudinal perspective, by showing increased FA/decreased RD in midline structures complemented by an increase in the circulating activated CD8+ T cell subsets, in BD patients passing from active phases to euthymia. Collectively, these findings suggest a new pathophysiological model of mania. Accordingly, an acute immune response may occur in mania, sustained by early generated CD4+ T cell compartment (likely with T helper function), leading to activation of CD8+ effector T cell subpopulations that leave the circulation to migrate into the brain, where exert their cytotoxic action, finally leading to WM damage. Our model thus supports a relationship between BD and immune-inflammatory neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Moreover, our results suggest a prominent role of mania in BD and, interestingly, seem to be in accordance with the \u201cprimacy of mania\u201d hypothesis, where mania is described as the fire of BD and seen as the core of the pathophysiology of the illness. Finally, our data suggest a potential role for immunotherapy as an important future aid in the treatment of BD

I Prefetti delle flotte di Miseno e di Ravenna nella testimonianza dei diplomi militari: novità e messe a punto

La documentazione sui prefetti delle flotte pretorie, dal I alla metà del III secolo d.C., si è notevolmente accresciuta negli ultimi decenni ed è sempre in aumento. Lo rivela già il confronto tra i fasti delle Carrières procuratoriennes (1961) e del Supplément (1982) diH.-G. Pflaum, che offrono un punto di riferimento fondamentale, e altri pubblicati in seguito: da M. Reddé nel 1986, da W. Eck e H. Lieb nel 1993, con aggiornamenti dell'Eck e di M.M. Roxan nel 1995 e, infine, da E. Paunov nel 2005 (solo per la Misenense). I nuovi documenti, non ancora noti al Pflaum, solo in pochi casi sono rappresentati da epigrafi onorarie. Più numerosi, invece, sono i diplomi militari. Infatti, se consideriamo solo quelli di attribuzione sicura o, in alcuni casi, molto probabile, alla Ravennas o alla Misenensis, siamo passati, rispettivamente, dai 5 e 13 testi, raccolti nel CIL XVI e citati dallo studioso, a 25 e 47. Scopo della presente indagine, dunque, è mettere in evidenza i contributi che i nuovi diplomi offrono alla conoscenza dei prefetti delle due flotte

Microstructural white-matter abnormalities and their relationship with cognitive dysfunction in obsessive-compulsive disorder

open5Background: In recent years, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have detected subtle microstructural abnormalities of white matter (WM) in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, findings have been inconsistent, and it is unclear whether WM abnormalities are related to cognitive processes. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship of WM alterations with cognitive variables in OCD in order to investigate the structural correlates of behaviorally relevant features of the disorder. Methods: We compared DTI-derived fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), and radial diffusivity (RD) measures between OCD patients (n = 16) and healthy controls (n = 18) using a whole-brain tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) approach. We also explored the correlations of WM alterations with clinical and cognitive variables. Results: Patients with OCD demonstrated increases in MD in the bilateral posterior corona radiata; left anterior corona radiata; bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus; genu, body, and splenium of the corpus callosum; and left posterior limb of the internal capsule. An increase in RD values was also found in some of the same tracts (right posterior corona radiata, right superior longitudinal fasciculus, left anterior corona radiata, and corpus callosum). Furthermore, increased MD value in the internal capsule was correlated with the percentage of errors made during a target detection task, which was greater in the OCD group overall. Conclusions: These findings indicate that OCD patients show greater diffusivity in several white-matter regions. The correlation between cognitive performance and diffusivity in the internal capsule suggests that microstructural WM alternations may have functional consequences for the disorder.openMagioncalda, P; Martino, M; Ely, B.A.; Inglese, M; Stern, E. R.Magioncalda, P; Martino, M; Ely, B. A.; Inglese, M; Stern, E. R

Community Ownership of local Assets: conditions for sustainable success

Paper given to British sociological Association conference,12/04/2018. Rates of asset transfer from local authority to community control have increased in recent years. This trend raises important questions around the impact of transfers on local communities, and how they manage these new responsibilities. This research project sought to answer two questions: how do local communities define what constitutes a community asset; and, once transferred to community ownership, what are the conditions and resources required for sustainable and successful community assets? Two districts in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, were selected as examples where local authority assets have been transferred into community control. Community asset maps were produced for each district using GIS mapping technology and qualitative case studies were developed based on interviews and questionnaires in each area. Our findings suggest that community stakeholders define community assets as buildings, open spaces or amenities. Such physical locations will provide a facilitative role in relation to 'social infrastructure' that can connect various parts of the community. Such assets, however, must, be open and available to the whole community in order to be regarded as legitimate community assets. Where assets transfers had taken place, there was an increase in community use and, often, the range of activities available. In order for asset transfers to have sustainable success, it was found that that a pool of capital -human, social, physical, and financial - was available to that community

Synchronization and variability imbalance underlie cognitive impairment in primary-progressive multiple sclerosis.

We aimed to investigate functional connectivity and variability across multiple frequency bands in brain networks underlying cognitive deficits in primary-progressive multiple sclerosis (PP-MS) and to explore how they are affected by the presence of cortical lesions (CLs). We analyzed functional connectivity and variability (measured as the standard deviation of BOLD signal amplitude) in resting state networks (RSNs) associated with cognitive deficits in different frequency bands in 25 PP-MS patients (12 M, mean age 50.9 ± 10.5 years) and 20 healthy subjects (9 M, mean age 51.0 ± 9.8 years). We confirmed the presence of a widespread cognitive deterioration in PP-MS patients, with main involvement of visuo-spatial and executive domains. Cognitively impaired patients showed increased variability, reduced synchronicity between networks involved in the control of cognitive macro-domains and hyper-synchronicity limited to the connections between networks functionally more segregated. CL volume was higher in patients with cognitive impairment and was correlated with functional connectivity and variability. We demonstrate, for the first time, that a functional reorganization characterized by hypo-synchronicity of functionally-related/hyper-synchronicity of functionally-segregated large scale networks and an abnormal pattern of neural activity underlie cognitive dysfunction in PP-MS, and that CLs possibly play a role in variability and functional connectivity abnormalities

New Integrated High-Resolution Dinoflagellate Cyst Stratigraphy and Litho- and Chemostratigraphy from the Paris and Dieppe–Hampshire Basins for the “Sparnacian”

The Paris Basin represents an historical cradle of Palaeogene stratigraphy, where during the nineteenth century the Palaeocene Series and the “Sparnacian Stage” were established. As highlighted by Aubry et al. (2005), whereas the chronostratigraphic connotation of the “Sparnacian Stage” has been controversial since its definition, modern studies of the late Palaeocene–early Eocene interval have revealed that the so-called “Sparnacian” deposits encompass a remarkable and short (~170 kyr) episode of the Cenozoic, the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ~55.8–55.6 Ma). Dinoflagellate assemblages from the “Sparnacian” of the Dieppe–Hampshire and Paris basins do not contain the key species Apectodinium augustum, whereas it is present in the northern Belgian Basin Tienen Formation and is coeval there with the CIE and the Apectodinium acme interval. However, our calibration of the Apectodinium acme to the CIE in the Dieppe–Hampshire and Paris basins suggests its attribution to the A. augustum zone. The absence of species A. augustum in the Anglo–Paris Basin may be explained by its restriction to more offshore conditions

Using What Academics Really Think to Develop Our Teaching Offer: Mapping the Learner Journey at the University of Worcester

Developing students’ academic skills is central to the higher education experience, but what assumptions do course teams make about the skills students have at the start of their course? What expectations do they have about how these skills should develop throughout the degree programme, and how are these articulated to students? These were just some of the questions we posed to academic staff at the University of Worcester as part of a pedagogic research project to refresh our teaching offer. Our initial aim had been to develop a menu of options that helped staff understand what we could deliver and how it might fit into their curricula. It quickly became apparent that such a tool needed to be underpinned by academic understanding of students’ skills and development, in a much broader sense than ‘just’ information literacy. Thus the learner journey project was born. Academic Liaison Librarians were tasked with conducting informal interviews with staff, often over a coffee, with a few prompt questions to ask where needed. Consciously avoiding the term ‘information literacy’, they questioned staff about the broad skill base that students bring with them and develop at university, mapping their view of the student learner journey from pre-entry to graduation. Although starting out as a small-scale project, it soon piqued the interest of senior management at the university, and grew into a much larger piece of work. Through focusing on broader skills’ development, we have developed a body of evidence and data that has wide interest and application for both academic Institutes and other professional services (e.g. Disability & Dyslexia). Alongside highlighting themes, the data has demonstrated inconsistencies across the university and even within departments, with disparate staff attitudes towards such topics as progression, student confidence, and learner independence. These results have been shared widely across the university, for course teams to discuss, all of which has served to raise Library Services’ teaching and pedagogic profile

Super-heavy fermion material as metallic refrigerant for adiabatic demagnetization cooling

Low-temperature refrigeration is of crucial importance in fundamental research of condensed matter physics, as the investigations of fascinating quantum phenomena, such as superconductivity, superfluidity and quantum criticality, often require refrigeration down to very low temperatures. Currently, cryogenic refrigerators with $^3$He gas are widely used for cooling below 1 Kelvin. However, usage of the gas is being increasingly difficult due to the current world-wide shortage. Therefore, it is important to consider alternative methods of refrigeration. Here, we show that a new type of refrigerant, super-heavy electron metal, YbCo$_2$Zn$_{20}$, can be used for adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration, which does not require 3He gas. A number of advantages includes much better metallic thermal conductivity compared to the conventional insulating refrigerants. We also demonstrate that the cooling performance is optimized in Yb$_{1-x}$Sc$_x$Co$_2$Zn$_{20}$ by partial Sc substitution with $x\sim$0.19. The substitution induces chemical pressure which drives the materials close to a zero-field quantum critical point. This leads to an additional enhancement of the magnetocaloric effect in low fields and low temperatures enabling final temperatures well below 100 mK. Such performance has up to now been restricted to insulators. Since nearly a century the same principle of using local magnetic moments has been applied for adiabatic demagnetization cooling. This study opens new possibilities of using itinerant magnetic moments for the cryogen-free refrigeration

Limbic-thalamo-cortical projections and reward-related circuitry integrity affects eating behavior: A longitudinal DTI study in adolescents with restrictive eating disorders.

Few studies have used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate the micro-structural alterations of WM in patients with restrictive eating disorders (rED), and longitudinal data are lacking. Twelve patients with rED were scanned at diagnosis and after one year of family-based treatment, and compared to twenty-four healthy controls (HCs) through DTI analysis. A tract-based spatial statistics procedure was used to investigate diffusivity parameters: fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean, radial and axial diffusivities (MD, RD and AD, respectively). Reduced FA and increased RD were found in patients at baseline in the corpus callosum, corona radiata and posterior thalamic radiation compared with controls. However, no differences were found between follow-up patients and controls, suggesting a partial normalization of the diffusivity parameters. In patients, trends for a negative correlation were found between the baseline FA of the right anterior corona radiata and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire total score, while a positive trend was found between the baseline FA in the splenium of corpus callosum and the weight loss occurred between maximal documented weight and time of admission. A positive trend for correlation was also found between baseline FA in the right anterior corona radiata and the decrease in the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory Revised total score over time. Our results suggest that the integrity of the limbic-thalamo-cortical projections and the reward-related circuitry are important for cognitive control processes and reward responsiveness in regulating eating behavior