The Long Run: Neuroprotective Effects of Physical Exercise on Adult Neurogenesis from Youth to Old Age

The rapid lengthening of life expectancy has raised the problem of providing social programs to counteract the age-related cognitive decline in a growing number of older people. Physical activity stands among the most promising interventions aimed at brain wellbeing, because of its effective neuroprotective action and low social cost. The purpose of this review is to describe the neuroprotective role exerted by physical activity in different life stages. In particular, we focus on adult neurogenesis, a process which has proved being highly responsive to physical exercise and may represent a major factor of brain health over the lifespan

The neural substrate of spatial memory stabilization depends on the distribution of the training sessions

Distributed training is known to lead to more robust memory formation as compared to training experiences with short intervals. Although this phenomenon, termed distributed practice effect, ubiquitous over a wide variety of tasks and organisms, has long been known by psychologists, its neurobiological underpinning is still poorly understood. Using the striatum as a model system here we tested the hypothesis that the ability of distributed training to optimize memory might depend upon the recruitment of different neural substrates compared to those engaged by massed training. First, by contrasting the medial and the lateral domains of the dorsal striatum after massed and distributed training we demonstrated that neuronal activity, as assessed using c-Fos expression, is differentially affected by the training protocol in the two striatal subregions. Next, by blocking the AMPA receptors before recall we provide evidence to support a selective role of the medial and the lateral striatum in the storage of information acquired respectively by massed and distributed training. Finally, we found that optogenetic stimulation of the dorsolateral striatum during massed training enables the formation of an enduring memory similarly to what is observed with distributed learning. Overall, these findings identify a possible mechanism for the distributed practice effect, a still poorly understood aspect of learning

THE SPACING EFFECT: INVESTIGATION ABOUT THE NEUROBIOLOGICAL BASIS OF DISTRIBUTED LEARNING PARADIGMS

A common hallmark of many types of learning is that information presented using spaced repetitions is better remembered than information presented via massed repetitions. Although this phenomenon has long been known only recently insight from molecular studies provide evidence relative to its possible substrate. On the contrary, still unexplored are the mechanisms that contribute to better stability of distributed learning as compared with massed learning at a cellular and network level. To this purpose we compared in the Morris water maze (MWM) the effect of six training sessions distributed over three days with that of training massed in a single day. CD1 mice trained with the two training protocols did not differ in the ability to locate the platform 24hrs after the last training session. However, when tested 14 day after training, only the spaced-trained mice could efficiently remember the platform location. Analysis of learning did not reveal did any difference in the learning curve or in the strategy used to acquire the task in the two experimental groups. To explore the possibility that distributed compared to massed spatial training in the MWM might involve alternative network we are now investigating the effects of AMPA receptor blockade in the different component of the striatal complex on memory retrieval. Our results demonstrate that AMPA receptor activity in the dorso-medial but not the dorso-lateral striatum is required for retrieval of spatial information acquired with massed training. We are currently investigating the role of AMPA receptors in the same structures in recall spatial information learned with a spaced protocol

Metal-based Heterogeneous Catalysts for One-Pot Synthesis of Secondary Anilines from Nitroarenes and Aldehydes

Recently, N-substituted anilines have been the object of increasing research interest in the field of organic chemistry due to their role as key intermediates for the synthesis of important compounds such as polymers, dyes, drugs, agrochemicals and pharmaceutical products. Among the various methods reported in literature for the formation of C-N bonds to access secondary anilines, the one-pot reductive amination of aldehydes with nitroarenes is the most interesting procedure, because it allows to obtain diverse N-substituted aryl amines by simple reduction of nitro compounds followed by condensation with aldehydes and subsequent reduction of the imine intermediates. These kinds of tandem reactions are generally catalyzed by transition metal-based catalysts, mainly potentially reusable metal nanoparticles. The rapid growth in the last years in the field of metal-based heterogeneous catalysts for the one-pot reductive amination of aldehydes with nitroarenes demands for a review on the state of the art with a special emphasis on the different kinds of metals used as catalysts and their recyclability features

Metal-based Heterogeneous Catalysts for One-Pot Synthesis of Secondary Anilines from Nitroarenes and Aldehydes

Recently, N-substituted anilines have been the object of increasing research interest in the field of organic chemistry due to their role as key intermediates for the synthesis of important compounds such as polymers, dyes, drugs, agrochemicals and pharmaceutical products. Among the various methods reported in literature for the formation of C–N bonds to access secondary anilines, the one-pot reductive amination of aldehydes with nitroarenes is the most interesting procedure, because it allows to obtain diverse N-substituted aryl amines by simple reduction of nitro compounds followed by condensation with aldehydes and subsequent reduction of the imine intermediates. These kinds of tandem reactions are generally catalyzed by transition metal-based catalysts, mainly potentially reusable metal nanoparticles. The rapid growth in the last years in the field of metal-based heterogeneous catalysts for the one-pot reductive amination of aldehydes with nitroarenes demands for a review on the state of the art with a special emphasis on the different kinds of metals used as catalysts and their recyclability features

Stable mixed-valence diphenylphosphanido bridged platinum(ii)–platinum(iv) complexes

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitivad/FEDER (Proyect PGC2018-094749-B-I00) and by the Gobierno de Aragón (Grupo E17_17R: Química Inorgánica y de los Compuestos Organometálicos). Politecnico di Bari is gratefully acknowledged for financial support (FRA funds to M. L. and P. M.).Peer reviewe

A two-week summer program promoting physical activity: quality of life assessment in Italian children

Physical activity (PA) can be associated with better health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study aimed to assess HRQoL before and after a two-week summer program promoting PA in Italian school-aged children. Participants were recruited during the Giocampus summer2017 (Parma, Italy), from June to July. Before (T0) and after (T1) the program, children and one of their parents answered the Kindl questionnaire. For each domain, least-square mean changes (LSmc) at T1 were derived from linear regression models stratified by responder and adjusted for child gender, age group, time spent in PAs and HRQoL score of the responder at T0. 350 children (7-13 years, 52% males) and 342 parents answered the questionnaire at both T0 and T1. At T1, the HRQoL score of the children significantly improved in the emotional (LSmc 2.9, p<0.001), self-esteem (LSmc 3.3, p<0.001), family (LSmc 4.2, p<0.001) and friend (LSmc 3.1, p<0.001) domains. Parents reported significantly more improvement in self-esteem than children (LSmc 6.7 vs 3.3, p=0.012). Children spending more time in PA reported significantly more improvement in self-esteem than those doing less PA (LSmc 4.4 [p vs 2.2 [p=0.181]). A short summer program promoting PA may improve HRQoL in the general population of school-aged children

Acetate ion addition to and exchange in (1,5-cyclooctadiene)rhodium( i ) acetate: relevance for the coagulation of carboxylic acid-functionalized shells of core-crosslinked micelle latexes

International audienceThe solution behavior of complex [Rh(COD)(μ-OAc)]2 in the absence and presence of PPN+OAc− in dichloromethane has been investigated in detail by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. Without additional acetate ions, the compound shows dynamic behavior at room temperature, consistent with an inversion of its C2v structure. Addition of PPN+OAc− reveals an equilibrated generation of [Rh(COD)(OAc)2]−. Rapid exchange is observed at room temperature between the neutral dimer and the anionic mononuclear complex, as well as between the anionic complex and free acetate. Lowering the temperature to 213 K freezes the exchange between the two Rh complexes, but fast exchange between the anionic Rh complex and free acetate maintains coalesced Me (1H and 13C) and COO (13C) NMR resonances. DFT calculations support the experimental data and lean in favour of a dissociative mechanism for the acetate exchange in [Rh(COD)(OAc)2]−. The acetate ligands in complex [Rh(COD)(μ-OAc)]2 are also exchanged in a biphasic (water/organic) system with the methacrylic acid (MAA) functions of hydrosoluble [MMA0.5-co-PEOMA0.5]30 copolymer chains (PEOMA = poly(ethylene oxide) methyl ether methacrylate), resulting in transfer of the Rh complex to the aqueous phase. Exchange with the MAA functions in the same polymer equally takes place for the chloride ligands of [Rh(COD)(μ-Cl)]2. The latter phenomenon rationalizes the coagulation of a core-crosslinked micelle (CCM) latex, where MMA functions are present on the hydrophilic CCM shell, when a dichloromethane solution of [Rh(COD)(μ-Cl)]2 is added