Economic Impact of Rural Development Plan 2007 2013 in Tuscany

In 2007 in every European Union region, involved in the planning of Rural Development Plan (RDP), an independent evaluator should asses the impact of the plan in term of value added and productivity. Each region has adopted different methodologies but few of them have followed the indications of Common and Monitoring Evaluation Framework (CMEF) to evaluate the net value deriving by direct and indirect effect. IRPET, the Independent evaluator of Tuscany, utilising REMI-IRPET model has assed the impact of RDP on the main economic variables until 2020. Among 30 different measures it has been chosen only 5 of them that cover more than 54% of total amount of public and private investments. The economic impacts are also evaluated at provincial level.evaluation, regional model, rural development, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Observing without acting: a balance of excitation and suppression in the human corticospinal pathway

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies of human primary motor cortex (M1) indicate an increase corticospinal excitability during the observation of another's action. This appears to be somewhat at odds with recordings of pyramidal tract neurons in primate M1 showing that there is a balance of increased and decreased activity across the population. TMS is known to recruit a mixed population of cortical neurons, and so one explanation for previous results is that TMS tends to recruit those excitatory output neurons whose activity is increased during action observation. Here we took advantage of the directional sensitivity of TMS to recruit different subsets of M1 neurons and probed whether they responded differentially to action observation in a manner consistent with the balanced change in activity in primates. At the group level we did not observe the expected increase in corticospinal excitability for either TMS current direction during the observation of a precision grip movement. Instead, we observed substantial inter-individual variability ranging from strong facilitation to strong suppression of corticospinal excitability that was similar across both current directions. Thus, we found no evidence of any differential changes in the excitability of distinct M1 neuronal populations during action observation. The most notable change in corticospinal excitability at the group level was a general increase, across muscles and current directions, when participants went from a baseline state outside the task to a baseline state within the actual observation task. We attribute this to arousal- or attention-related processes, which appear to have a similar effect on the different corticospinal pathways targeted by different TMS current directions. Finally, this rather non-specific increase in corticospinal excitability suggests care should be taken when selecting a "baseline" state against which to compare changes during action observation

Humerus shaft fracture complicated by radial nerve palsy: Is surgical exploration necessary?

Fractures of the humerus shaft often are complicated by radial nerve palsy. Controversy still exists in the treatment that includes clinical observation and eventually late surgical exploration or early surgical exploration. Algorithms have been proposed to provide recommendations with regard to management of the injuries. However, advantages and disadvantages are associated with each of these algorithms. The aim of this study was to analyze the indications of each treatment options and facilitate the surgeon in choosing the conduct for each lesion, proposing our own algorithm

Premovement suppression of corticospinal excitability may be a necessary part of movement preparation

In a warned reaction time (RT) task, corticospinal excitability (CSE) decreases in task-related muscles at the time of the imperative signal (preparatory inhibition). Because RT tasks emphasise speed of response, it is impossible to distinguish whether preparatory inhibition reflects a mechanism preventing premature reactions, or whether it is an inherent part of movement preparation. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to study CSE changes preceding RT movements and movements that were either self-paced (SP) or performed at predictable times to coincide with an external event (PT). Results show that CSE changes over a similar temporal profile in all cases, suggesting that preparatory inhibition is a necessary state in planned movements allowing the transition between rest and movement. Additionally, TMS given shortly before the times to move speeded the onset of movements in both RT and SP contexts, suggesting that their initiation depends on a form of trigger that can be conditioned by external signals. On the contrary, PT movements do not show this effect, suggesting the use of a mechanistically different triggering strategy. This relative immunity of PT tasks to be biased by external events may reflect a mechanism that ensures priority of internal predictive signals to trigger movement onset

Controllable pulse parameter TMS and TMS-EEG as novel approaches to improve neural targeting with rTMS in human cerebral cortex

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can produce after-effects on the excitability and function of the stimulated cortical site that outlasts the period of stimulation for several minutes or hours (Hamada et al., 2008; Huang et al., 2005; Ridding and Ziemann, 2010; Sommer et al., 2013). These are thought to involve early phases of long term potentiation/depression at cortical synapses. Depending on the area stimulated, the after-effects can influence performance of a variety of cognitive and motor tasks, as well as learning (Parkin et al., 2015; Censor and Cohen, 2011). Reports of beneficial effects on behaviour in healthy populations have led to widespread interest in applying rTMS therapeutically, for example in patients with neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders (George et al., 2013; Lefaucheur et al., 2014; Ridding and Rothwell, 2007). A major issue with rTMS protocols is that the effects vary considerably within and between individuals (Hamada et al., 2013; Lopez-Alonso et al., 2014; Simeoni et al., 2016; Hinder et al., 2014; Vallence et al., 2015; Vernet et al., 2013; Goldsworthy et al., 2014; Maeda et al., 2000), which causes problems in replication of results in a research setting (Heroux et al., 2015), and is an obstacle to using rTMS in a therapeutic setting. A separate, but related, issue is that rTMS over a given cortical area is often assumed to affect all neuronal populations equally and thus affect all behaviours involving that area similarly, but this may not be true. Here we argue that advanced technologies and methodologies, such as controllable pulse parameter TMS (cTMS; (Peterchev et al., 2014)) and combining TMS with electroencephalography (EEG) (Ilmoniemi and Kicic, 2010; Peterchev et al., 2014), might facilitate the development of more selective forms of stimulation targeting particular neuronal populations or brain states, and ultimately improve the reliability and behavioural specificity of rTMS protocols

Density correlations in ultracold atomic Fermi gases

We investigate density fluctuations in a coherent ensemble of interacting fermionic atoms. Adapting the concept of full counting statistics, well-known from quantum optics and mesoscopic electron transport, we study second-order as well as higher-order correlators of density fluctuations. Using the mean-field BCS state to describe the whole interval between the BCS limit and the BEC limit, we obtain an exact expression for the cumulant-generating function of the density fluctuations of an atomic cloud. In the two-dimensional case, we obtain a closed analytical expression. Poissonian fluctuations of a molecular condensate on the BEC side are strongly suppressed on the BCS side. The size of the fluctuations in the BCS limit is a direct measure of the pairing potential. We also discuss the BEC-BCS crossover of the third cumulant and the temperature dependence of the second cumulant.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. A. New calculation of the bin statistics of a free Bose gas; updated and extended bibliograph

Corticospinal excitability modulation by pairing peripheral nerve stimulation with cortical states of movement initiation

KEY POINTS: We compare the effects on corticospinal excitability of repeatedly delivering peripheral nerve stimulation at three time points (-30 ms, 0 ms, +50 ms) relative to muscle onset in a cue-guided task. Plastic changes in excitability are only observed when stimuli are delivered immediately before the time when muscles activate, while stimuli delivered at muscle onset or shortly later (0, +50 ms) have no effect. Plastic effects are abolished if there is ongoing volitional EMG activity in the muscles prior to onset of the phasic contraction. The plastic effects induced by timing peripheral stimulation relative to electromyographic markers of muscle activation are as effective as those that occur if stimulation is timed relative to electroencephalographic markers of motor cortical activation. We provide a simple alternative protocol to induce plasticity in people in whom EEG recording is difficult. ABSTRACT: Plastic changes in corticospinal excitability (CSE) and motor function can be induced in a targeted and long-term manner if afferent volleys evoked by peripheral nerve stimulation are repeatedly associated with the peak of premovement brain activity assessed with electroencephalography (EEG). Here we ask whether other factors might also characterise this optimal brain state for plasticity induction. In healthy human volunteers (N = 24) we find that the same reliable changes in CSE can be induced by timing peripheral afferent stimulation relative to the electromyography (EMG) onset rather than using the EEG peak. Specifically, we observed an increase in CSE when peripheral stimulation activated the cortex just before movement initiation. By contrast, there was no effect on CSE if the afferent input reached the cortex at the same time or after EMG onset, consistent with the idea that the temporal order of synaptic activation from afferent input and voluntary movement is important for production of plasticity. Finally, in 14 volunteers we found that background voluntary muscle activity prior to movement also abolished the effect on CSE. One possible explanation is that the intervention strengthens synapses that are inactive at rest, but change their activity in anticipation of movement, and that the intervention fails when the synapses are tonically active during background EMG activity. Overall, we demonstrate that, in individuals with voluntary control of muscles targeted by our intervention, EMG signals are a suitable alternative to EEG to induce plasticity by coupling movement-related brain states with peripheral afferent input. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved