Sense of agency disturbances in movement disorders: A comprehensive review

Sense of agency refers to the experience that one’s self-generated action causes an event in the external environment. Here, we review the behavioural and brain evidence of aberrant experiences of agency in movement disorders, clinical conditions characterized by either a paucity or an excess of movements unrelated to the patient’s intention. We show that specific abnormal agency experiences characterize several movement disorders. Those manifestations are typically associated with structural and functional brain abnormalities. However, the evidence is sometimes conflicting, especially when considering results obtained through different agency measures. The present review aims to create order in the existing literature on sense of agency investigations in movement disorders and to provide a coherent overview framed within current neurocognitive models of motor awareness

Hungry brains: A meta-analytical review of brain activation imaging studies on food perception and appetite in obese individuals

The dysregulation of food intake in chronic obesity has been explained by different theories. To assess their explanatory power, we meta-analyzed 22 brain-activation imaging studies. We found that obese individuals exhibit hyper-responsivity of the brain regions involved in taste and reward for food-related stimuli. Consistent with a Reward Surfeit Hypothesis, obese individuals exhibit a ventral striatum hyper-responsivity in response to pure tastes, particularly when fasting. Furthermore, we found that obese subjects display more frequent ventral striatal activation for visual food cues when satiated: this continued processing within the reward system, together with the aforementioned evidence, is compatible with the Incentive Sensitization Theory. On the other hand, we did not find univocal evidence in favor of a Reward Deficit Hypothesis nor for a systematic deficit of inhibitory cognitive control. We conclude that the available brain activation data on the dysregulated food intake and food-related behavior in chronic obesity can be best framed within an Incentive Sensitization Theory. Implications of these findings for a brain-based therapy of obesity are briefly discussed

Motor imagery training speeds up gait recovery and decreases the risk of falls in patients submitted to total knee arthroplasty

With Motor imagery (MI), movements are mentally rehearsed without overt actions; this procedure has been adopted in motor rehabilitation, primarily in brain-damaged patients. Here we rather tested the clinical potentials of MI in purely orthopaedic patients who, by definition, should maximally benefit of mental exercises because of their intact brain. To this end we studied the recovery of gait after total knee arthroplasty and evaluated whether MI combined with physiotherapy could speed up the recovery of gait and even limit the occurrence of future falls. We studied 48 patients at the beginning and by the end of the post-surgery residential rehabilitation program: half of them completed a specific MI training supported by computerized visual stimulation (experimental group); the other half performed a non-motoric cognitive training (control group). All patients also had standard physiotherapy. By the end of the rehabilitation, the experimental group showed a better recovery of gait and active knee flexion-extension movements, and less pain. The number of falls or near falls after surgery was significantly lower in the experimental group. These results show that MI can improve gait abilities and limit future falls in orthopaedic patients, without collateral risks and with limited costs

Análise exploratória de dados espaciais da produção de café no estado do Paraná, 1980-2018.

Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo foi realizar a análise exploratória dos dados espaciais (Aede) da produção de café dos municípios do estado do Paraná, no período 1980-2018. A fonte dos dados foi o Instituto Paranaense de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Ipardes). Nesse período, a produtividade da cultura do café no estado do Paraná aumentou de cerca de 900 para 1.500 kg ha-1, com tendência de crescimento de 16,48 kg ha-1 por ano. A introdução de novas tecnologias na década de 1990 propiciou menor risco aos produtores, e o aumento da produtividade implicou a redução do custo médio da saca de café e o aumento da competitividade. No período de análise, ocorreu o deslocamento da maior parte da área colhida e da produção para as Mesorregiões Norte Pioneiro e Norte Central, que passaram a concentrar a produção e os municípios mais produtivos. Verificou-se uma autocorrelação espacial da produtividade dos municípios, e identificaram-se agrupamentos espaciais Alto-Alto dos municípios localizados, principalmente, nas Mesorregiões Norte Pioneiro e Norte Central do estado do Paraná, no ano de 2018. Abstract: The objective of this study was to carry out an exploratory analysis of spatial data (AEDE) for coffee production in municipalities of Paraná state, Brazil, in the period 1980-2018. The data source was the Instituto Paranaense de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Ipardes). In that period, the productivity of the coffee culture in Parana state increased from about 900 to 1,500 kg ha-1, with a growth trend of 16.48 kg ha-1 per year. The introduction of new technologies in the 1990 decade provided less risk to producers, and the increase of productivity implied the reduction of the average cost of coffee bag and the increase of competitiveness. In the period analysed, most of the harvested area and production moved to the Mesoregions Norte Pioneiro and Norte Central, which started to concentrate the production and more productive municipalities. A spatial autocorrelation was found for the municipalities? productivity, and Alto-Alto spatial clusters were identified for the municipalities located mainly in the Paraná state Mesoregions North Pioneiro and Central North, in 2018.Título em inglês: Exploratory analysis of spatial data of the coffee production in Paraná state, 1980-2018

A Scientist explains the Dadaist Creativity: The Essays of Stephen Jay Gould on Marcel Duchamp

The poster, presented at the 75th National Conference of the Unione Zoologica Italiana, deals with the relationship between the scientist Stephen Jay Gould and the artist Marcel Duchamo, discussing the essays Gould devoted to Duchamps' works

Acidic extracellular proteases from microrganisms of fairly acidic niche.

The protein population secreted from three wine-contaminant microorganisms was studied by two-dimensional electrophoresis and screened for proteases. Proteolytic enzymes were electrophoretically purified and their activity, optimum pH and temperature determined. The protease of Acetobacter aceti maintained its activity over the range of pHs 3.0- 5.0, thus being of potential biotechnological interest