Neuropsychiatric disturbances in atypical Parkinsonian disorders

Multiple system atrophy (MSA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and corticobasal degeneration (CBD) are the most common atypical parkinsonisms. These disorders are characterized by varying combinations of autonomic, cerebellar and pyramidal system, and cognitive dysfunctions. In this paper, we reviewed the evidence available on the presence and type of neuropsychiatric disturbances in MSA, PSP, and CBD. A MedLine, Excerpta Medica, PsycLit, PsycInfo, and Index Medicus search was performed to identify all articles published on this topic between 1965 and 2018. Neuropsychiatric disturbances including depression, anxiety, agitation, and behavioral abnormalities have been frequently described in these disorders, with depression as the most frequent disturbance. MSA patients show a higher frequency of depressive disorders when compared to healthy controls. An increased frequency of anxiety disorders has also been reported in some patients, and no studies have investigated apathy. PSP patients may have depression, apathy, disinhibition, and to a lesser extent, anxiety and agitation. In CBD, neuropsychiatric disorders are similar to those present in PSP. Hallucinations and delusions are rarely reported in these disorders. Neuropsychiatric symptoms in MSA, PSP, and CBD do not appear to be related to the severity of motor dysfunction and are one of the main factors that determine a low quality of life. The results suggest that neuropsychiatric disturbances should always be assessed in patients with atypical parkinsonisms

Nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs) do not change nectar palatability but enhance learning and memory in honey bees

Floral nectar is a pivotal element of the intimate relationship between plants and pollinators. Nectars are composed of a plethora of nutritionally valuable compounds but also hundreds of secondary metabolites (SMs) whose function remains elusive. Here we performed a set of behavioural experiments to study whether five ubiquitous nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs: β-alanine, GABA, citrulline, ornithine and taurine) interact with gustation, feeding preference, and learning and memory in Apis mellifera. We showed that foragers were unable to discriminate NPAAs from water when only accessing antennal chemo-tactile information and that freely moving bees did not exhibit innate feeding preferences for NPAAs. Also, NPAAs did not alter food consumption or longevity in caged bees over 10 days. Taken together our data suggest that natural concentrations of NPAAs did not alter nectar palatability to bees. Olfactory conditioning assays showed that honey bees were more likely to learn a scent when it signalled a sucrose reward containing either β-alanine or GABA, and that GABA enhanced specific memory retention. Conversely, when ingested two hours prior to conditioning, GABA, β-alanine, and taurine weakened bees’ acquisition performances but not specific memory retention, which was enhanced in the case of β-alanine and taurine. Neither citrulline nor ornithine affected learning and memory. NPAAs in nectars may represent a cooperative strategy adopted by plants to attract beneficial pollinators

PROPAGATE: a seed propagation framework to compute Distance-based metrics on Very Large Graphs

We propose PROPAGATE, a fast approximation framework to estimate distance-based metrics on very large graphs such as the (effective) diameter, the (effective) radius, or the average distance within a small error. The framework assigns seeds to nodes and propagates them in a BFS-like fashion, computing the neighbors set until we obtain either the whole vertex set (the diameter) or a given percentage (the effective diameter). At each iteration, we derive compressed Boolean representations of the neighborhood sets discovered so far. The PROPAGATE framework yields two algorithms: PROPAGATE-P, which propagates all the $s$ seeds in parallel, and PROPAGATE-s which propagates the seeds sequentially. For each node, the compressed representation of the PROPAGATE-P algorithm requires $s$ bits while that of PROPAGATE-S only $1$ bit. Both algorithms compute the average distance, the effective diameter, the diameter, and the connectivity rate within a small error with high probability: for any $\varepsilon>0$ and using $s=\Theta\left(\frac{\log n}{\varepsilon^2}\right)$ sample nodes, the error for the average distance is bounded by $\xi = \frac{\varepsilon \Delta}{\alpha}$, the error for the effective diameter and the diameter are bounded by $\xi = \frac{\varepsilon}{\alpha}$, and the error for the connectivity rate is bounded by $\varepsilon$ where $\Delta$ is the diameter and $\alpha$ is a measure of connectivity of the graph. The time complexity is $\mathcal{O}\left(m\Delta \frac{\log n}{\varepsilon^2}\right)$, where $m$ is the number of edges of the graph. The experimental results show that the PROPAGATE framework improves the current state of the art both in accuracy and speed. Moreover, we experimentally show that PROPAGATE-S is also very efficient for solving the All Pair Shortest Path problem in very large graphs

Beryllium abundance in turn-off stars of NGC 6752

Accepted for publication by Astronomy & AstrophysicsAims: To measure the beryllium abundance in two TO stars of the Globular Cluster NGC 6752, one oxygen rich and sodium poor, the other presumably oxygen poor and sodium rich. Be abundances in these stars are used to put on firmer grounds the hypothesis of Be as cosmochronometer and to investigate the formation of Globular Clusters. Method:We present near UV spectra with resolution R$\sim 45000$ obtained with the UVES spectrograph on the 8.2m VLT Kueyen telescope, analysed with spectrum synthesis based on plane parallel LTE model atmospheres. Results:Be is detected in the O rich star with log(Be/H)=-12.04 $\pm$0.15, while Be is not detected in the other star for which we obtain the upper limit log(Be/H)$<$-12.2. A large difference in nitrogen abundance (1.6 dex) is found between the two stars. Conclusions:The Be measurement is compatible with what found in field stars with the same [Fe/H] and [O/H]. The 'Be age' of the cluster is found to be 13.3 Gyrs, in excellent agreement with the results from main sequence fitting and stellar evolution. The presence of Be confirms the results previously obtained for the cluster NGC~6397 and supports the hypothesis that Be can be used as a clock for the early formation of the Galaxy. Since only an upper limit is found for the star with low oxygen abundance, we cannot decide between competing scenarios of Globular Cluster formation, but we can exclude that 'polluted' stars are substantially younger than 'unpolluted' ones. We stress that the Be test might be the only measurement capable of distinguishing between these scenarios

Endoscopic transsphenoidal approach as a promising surgical option in the treatment of craniopharyngioma

10.1530/endoabs.32.P85

Ultrafast Charge Carrier Dynamics in Vanadium-Modified TiO2 Thin Films and Its Relation to Their Photoelectrocatalytic Efficiency for Water Splitting

Light absorption and charge transport in oxide semiconductors can be tuned by the introduction, during deposition, of a small quantity of foreign elements, leading to the improvement of the photoelectrocatalytic performance. In this work, both unmodified and vanadium-modified TiO2 thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering are investigated as photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Following a structural characterization by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoelectrocatalysis is discussed based on ultrafast transient absorbance spectroscopy measurements. In particular, three different pump wavelengths from UV to the visible range are used (300, 390, and 530 nm) in order to cover the relevant photoactive spectral range of modified TiO2. Incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency spectra show that incorporation of vanadium in TiO2 extends water splitting in the visible range up to approximate to 530 nm, a significant improvement compared to unmodified TiO2 that is active only in the UV range less than or similar to 390 nm. However, transient absorbance spectroscopy clearly reveals that vanadium accelerates electron-hole recombination upon UV irradiation, resulting in a lower photon-to-current conversion efficiency in the UV spectral range with respect to unmodified TiO2. The new photoelectrocatalytic activity in the visible range is attributed to a V-induced introduction of intragap levels at approximate to 2.2 eV below the bottom of the conduction band. This is confirmed by long-living transient signals due to electrons photoexcited into the conduction band after visible light (530 nm) pulses. The remaining holes migrate to the semiconductor-electrolyte interface where they are captured by long-lived traps and eventually promote water oxidation under visible light

Structural basis for the magnesium-dependent activation of transketolase from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Background In photosynthetic organisms, transketolase (TK) is involved in the Calvin-Benson cycle and participates to the regeneration of ribulose-5-phosphate. Previous studies demonstrated that TK catalysis is strictly dependent on thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) and divalent ions such as Mg2 +. Methods TK from the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (CrTK) was recombinantly produced and purified to homogeneity. Biochemical properties of the CrTK enzyme were delineated by activity assays and its structural features determined by CD analysis and X-ray crystallography. Results CrTK is homodimeric and its catalysis depends on the reconstitution of the holo-enzyme in the presence of both TPP and Mg2 +. Activity measurements and CD analysis revealed that the formation of fully active holo-CrTK is Mg2 +-dependent and proceeds with a slow kinetics. The 3Dâstructure of CrTK without cofactors (CrTKapo) shows that two portions of the active site are flexible and disordered while they adopt an ordered conformation in the holo-form. Oxidative treatments revealed that Mg2 +participates in the redox control of CrTK by changing its propensity to be inactivated by oxidation. Indeed, the activity of holo-form is unaffected by oxidation whereas CrTK in the apo-form or reconstituted with the sole TPP show a strong sensitivity to oxidative inactivation. Conclusion These evidences indicate that Mg2 +is fundamental to allow gradual conformational arrangements suited for optimal catalysis. Moreover, Mg2 +is involved in the control of redox sensitivity of CrTK. General significance The importance of Mg2 +in the functionality and redox sensitivity of CrTK is correlated to light-dependent fluctuations of Mg2 +in chloroplasts

A new methodology for the multi-risk assessment of existing road tunnels

The optimal management of infrastructural assets is a key aspect to guarantee the adequate competitiveness of a country from the economic point of view and a good level of quality from the social one. In this framework, particular attention shall be paid to the critical elements of the infrastructure network, such as bridges and tunnels, which often strongly influence the resilience of the network itself, as highlighted both by what happened immediately after the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa and by the situation that was created following the several construction sites implemented to reduce the structural risk in the tunnels of Ligurian territory. Indeed, on one hand these critical elements are often characterized by lower structural safety levels than those required by the regulations for similar newly built structures but, on the other hand, the presence of construction sites determines a reduction in the performance of the infrastructure with a significant increase of the road accident and traffic risk. This paper proposes an operational methodology for assessing the risk associated to existing road tunnels. The research is carried out in collaboration with SINA SpA and ASPI, Autostrade per l'Italia, and has the main objective of providing practical tools that can help the road managers to evaluate the global risk variation when temporary interventions are carried out in tunnels and to give indications regarding the optimal construction site organization

La ciencia en la escuela pública: Extensión universitaria para la inclusión

Fil: Formica, S. M. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Formica, S. M. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra; Argentina.Fil: Bordón, D. L. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Daniele, M. L. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Daniele, M. L. IPEM Nº 360; Argentina.Fil: Arellano, J. IPEM Nº 360; Argentina.Fil: Masullo, M. S. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: García Loyola, V. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Aimar, M. L. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Pasquini, A. I. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Pasquini, A. I. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra; Argentina.La comunidad de Villa El Libertador es una populosa zona de la ciudad de Córdoba cuyos habitantes presentan características sociales y económicas que hacen que se considere como vulnerable desde varios aspectos, en este trabajo abordamos el aspecto educativo. Si bien el abandono de los estudios en la escuela media es alarmante, lo es más cuando se consideran estas zonas desfavorecidas; que condicionan las posibilidades de estos jóvenes para transitar exitosamente los estudios preparatorios. En este escenario algunas de las consecuencias, desde una mirada psico-social, están relacionadas a la pérdida de posibilidades para un futuro proyecto de vida, restringiéndose el abanico de elecciones a trabajos poco calificados, dependencia económica de planes sociales, maternidad y paternidad precoz. Con el propósito de incentivar y favorecer la permanencia en una escuela insertada en ese contexto, docentes del área de Ciencias Naturales del IPEM 360 de Villa El Libertador y docentes de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (F.C.E.F.yN.) de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, participaron en un proyecto de extensión subsidiado por la Secretaria de Extensión Universitaria. A través de un tema de alto impacto como es la calidad y disponibilidad del agua de consumo, se propusieron a los alumnos del 5º año, espacios de interacción y reflexión que incluyeron a los habitantes de un asentamiento marginal, colindante al establecimiento educativo, en el que se promovieron y potenciaron competencias de pensamiento científico y estrategias comunicativas, necesarias para la formación de futuros ciudadanos, críticos, solidarios e independientes. Los aprendizajes realizados por los alumnos a lo largo del ciclo lectivo les permitieron la construcción de encuestas, la elaboración de informes parciales y finales que fueron presentados en Ferias de Ciencias. Además, se potenció el uso de las netbook como herramienta para: el análisis de los datos obtenidos empleando planillas de cálculo y gráficos, confección y presentaciones en power point para sociabilizar los resultados con los vecinos. Como parte de la experiencia extensionista, los alumnos visitaron la FCEFyN para interiorizarse sobre las distintas carreras de Ingeniería y fueron informados sobre la diversidad de apoyos económicos a los que pueden acceder. Este proyecto sirvió además como puente para conducir las miradas de los alumnos hacia otros escenarios posibles como los estudios universitarios.http://www.oei.es/congreso2014/memoriactei/319.pdfFil: Formica, S. M. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Formica, S. M. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra; Argentina.Fil: Bordón, D. L. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Daniele, M. L. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Daniele, M. L. IPEM Nº 360; Argentina.Fil: Arellano, J. IPEM Nº 360; Argentina.Fil: Masullo, M. S. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: García Loyola, V. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Aimar, M. L. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Pasquini, A. I. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil: Pasquini, A. I. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra; Argentina.Educación General (incluye capacitación, pedagogía y didáctica

Multiple non-species-specific pathogens possibly triggered the mass mortality in Pinna nobilis

The fan mussel, Pinna nobilis, represents the largest bivalve endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Since 2016, dramatic mass mortality of this species has been observed in several areas. The first surveys suggested that Haplosporidium pinnae (currently considered species-specific) was the main etiological agent, but recent studies have indicated that a multifactorial disease may be responsible for this phenomenon. In this study, we performed molecular diagnostic analyses on P. nobilis, P. rudis, and bivalve heterologous host species from the island of Sardinia to shed further light on the pathogens involved in the mass mortality. The results support the occurrence of a multifactorial disease and that Mycobacterium spp. and H. pinnae are not necessarily associated with the illness. Indeed, our analyses revealed that H. pinnae is not species-specific for P. nobilis, as it was present in other bivalves at least three years before the mass mortality began, and species of Mycobacterium were also found in healthy individuals of P. nobilis and P. rudis. We also detected the species Rhodococcus erythropolis, representing the first report in fan mussels of a bacterium other than Mycobacterium spp. and Vibrio spp. These results depict a complicated scenario, further demonstrating how the P. nobilis mass mortality event is far from being fully understoo