Utilization of Marine Crustaceans as Study Models: A New Approach in Marine Ecotoxicology for European (REACH) Regulation

Pollution problems affect greatly the aquatic environments that are mainly sensitive to several typologies of contamination, such as chemical pollution, oil dumping, microbiological contamination from sewers, etc. To date a lot of chemicals are utilized in productive processes and many new substances are synthesized every year; the utilization and introduction of these newly synthesized chemicals into the environment and in production cycles must be approved after an accurate evaluation of their eventual toxic properties against selected organisms with the main purpose to protect the safety of plants and animals and the human health. These evaluations need to be carried out using test-species which are representative of the environmental compartment under consideration; in this connection, the availability of test-species able to furnish reliable and cheap results and to evaluate the activity of pollutants at the individual and ecosystem level is essential. To date the availability of test-species, easy to collect and to rear, and sensitive to different xenobiotics, is an important aspect in ecotoxicology in order to characterize the risk of chemicals. In the aquatic environment an ideal battery of organisms should comprise the representative links of the food web: a primary producer, such as a microalga, a primary consumer (invertebrate), such as a crustacean, and a secondary consumer (vertebrate), such as a fish. In this connection, the new European regulation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization of CHemicals) n. 1907/2006 introduces an integrated system for the management of all produced/imported chemicals for an amount \ub31 ton/year and states that all substances destined to be used in the EU and to be introduced into the production processes must be subject to accurate evaluation including toxicity tests on selected organisms. All tests indicated by REACH must be carried out in conformity with well defined analysis methods determined by the EU or, failing that, according to the OECD guidelines or to other determined methods. Furthermore, all tests must be performed in conformity with the principles of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) according to the pertinent Community directive

Association between EEG Paroxysmal Abnormalities and Levels of Plasma Amino Acids and Urinary Organic Acids in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abnormalities in the plasma amino acid and/or urinary organic acid profile have been reported in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). An imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory neuronal activity has been proposed as a mechanism to explain dysfunctional brain networks in ASD, as also suggested by the increased risk of epilepsy in this disorder. This study explored the possible association between presence of EEG paroxysmal abnormalities and the metabolic profile of plasma amino acids and urinary organic acids in children with ASD. In a sample of 55 children with ASD (81.8% male, mean age 53.67 months), EEGs were recorded, and 24 plasma amino acids and 56 urinary organic acids analyzed. EEG epileptiform discharges were found in 36 (65%) children. A LASSO regression, adjusted by age and sex, was applied to evaluate the association of plasma amino acids and urinary organic acids profiles with the presence of EEG epileptiform discharges. Plasma levels of threonine (THR) (coefficient = −0.02, p = 0.04) and urinary concentration of 3-Hydroxy-3-Methylglutaric acid (HMGA) (coefficient = 0.04, p = 0.02) were found to be associated with the presence of epileptiform discharges. These results suggest that altered redox mechanisms might be linked to epileptiform brain activity in ASD

Beyond body image: what body schema and motor imagery can tell us about the way patients with Anorexia Nervosa experience their body

AimRecent evidence suggests that the body image disturbance often observed in patients with anorexia nervosa also extends to the body schema. According to the embodiment approach, the body schema is not only involved in motor execution, but also in tasks that only require a mental simulation of a movement such as motor imagery, mental rotation of bodies, and visuospatial perspective-taking. The aim of the present study was to assess the ability of patients with anorexia in mentally simulate movements.MethodsThe sample included 52 patients with acute anorexia and 62 healthy controls. All participants completed three tests of explicit motor imagery, a mental rotation test and a test of visuospatial perspective-taking.ResultsPatients with anorexia nervosa, with respect to controls, reported greater difficulties in imagining movements according to a first-person perspective, lower accuracy in motor imagery, selective impairment in the mental rotation of human figures, and reduced ability in assuming a different egocentric visuospatial perspective.ConclusionThese results are indicative of a specific alteration in motor imagery in patients with anorexia nervosa. Interestingly, patients’ difficulties appear to be limited to those tasks which specifically rely on the body schema, while patients and controls performed similarly in the 3D objects mental rotation task

Improving Recognition of Treatable Rare Neuromuscular Disorders in Primary Care: A Pilot Feasibility Study

Innovative targeted treatments for neuromuscular disorders (NMDs) can dramatically improve the course of illness. Diagnostic delay, however, is a major impediment. Here, we present a pilot project aimed at assessing the feasibility of a screening program to identify children at high risk for NMDs within the first 30 months of life. The Promoting Early Diagnosis for Neuromuscular Disorders (PEDINE) project implemented a three-step sequential screening in an area of about 300,000 people with (1) an assessment of the motor development milestones to identify “red flags” for NMDs by primary care pediatricians (PCPs) as part of the routine Health Status Check visits; (2) for the children who screened positive, a community neuropsychiatric assessment, with further referral of suspected NMD cases to (3) a hospital-based specialized tertiary care center. In the first-year feasibility study, a total of 10,032 PCP visits were conducted, and twenty children (0.2% of the total Health Status Check visits) screened positive and were referred to the community neuropsychiatrist. Of these, four had elevated creatine kinase (CK) serum levels. This pilot study shows that screening for NMDs in primary care settings is feasible and allows children at high risk for muscular disorder to be promptly identified