Search results for "Major"
showing 10 items of 1120 documents
Apoptotic-like Leishmania exploit the host´s autophagy machinery to reduce T-cell-mediated parasite elimination
2015
Apoptosis is a well-defined cellular process in which a cell dies, characterized by cell shrinkage and DNA fragmentation. In parasites like Leishmania, the process of apoptosis-like cell death has been described. Moreover upon infection, the apoptotic-like population is essential for disease development, in part by silencing host phagocytes. Nevertheless, the exact mechanism of how apoptosis in unicellular organisms may support infectivity remains unclear. Therefore we investigated the fate of apoptotic-like Leishmania parasites in human host macrophages. Our data showed--in contrast to viable parasites--that apoptotic-like parasites enter an LC3(+), autophagy-like compartment. The compartm…
Brain Functional Effects of Psychopharmacological Treatment in Major Depression: A Focus on Neural Circuitry of Affective Processing
2015
In the last two decades, neuroimaging research has reached a much deeper understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of major depression (MD) and has converged on functional alterations in limbic and prefrontal neural networks, which are mainly linked to altered emotional processing observed in MD patients. To date, a considerable number of studies have sought to investigate how these neural networks change with pharmacological antidepressant treatment. In the current review, we therefore discuss results from a) pharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies investigating the effects of selective serotonin or noradrenalin reuptake inhibitors on neural activation…
the role of antidepressant treatments on cognitive deficits: a review of recent literature
2011
Objective: Nowadays, the interaction between cognition and emotions during a depressive disorder in an area of interest in the scientific literature. Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) usually show alterations in various cognitive functions: attention, working memory, mental processing speed, executive functions. Clinical observation of the effects of cognitive deficits on quality of life in patients with MDD, in euthymic and relapse phases, needs a review of recent scientific literature on the impact of antidepressant treatment as a protective factor of the improvement of cognitive performances. Methods: Electronic PubMed and PsycInfo searches were conducted to identify research…
Motor imagery in unipolar major depression
2014
International audience; Background: Motor imagery is a potential tool to investigate action representation, as it can provide insights into the processes of action planning and preparation. Recent studies suggest that depressed patients present specific impairment in mental rotation. The present study was designed to investigate the influence of unipolar depression on motor imagery ability. Methods: Fourteen right-handed patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for unipolar depression were compared to 14 matched healthy controls. Imagery ability was accessed by the timing correspondence between executed and imagined movements during a pointing task, involving strong spatiotemporal constraints (spee…
Major and trace elements characterization of atmospheric deposition in volcanic, urban, and industrial areas of Sicily (Italy): preliminary results
2022
The source of chemical elements dissolved in rainwater can be both natural and anthropogenic. A group of trace elements has been recently brought to attention for their possible environmental impacts, the Technology-critical elements (TCEs). The current knowledge about the geochemical cycle of TCEs is still scarce, nevertheless recent studies [e.g. Brugnone et al., 2020] evidenced a contribution from the volcanic activity for some of them (Te, Tl, and REE). Our research aims to produce a geochemical database on major and trace element depositions in different areas of Sicily: a volcanic area (Etna), two urban areas (Palermo, Catania), two industrial areas (Milazzo, Priolo), and a rural moni…
Atmospheric Deposition around the Industrial Areas of Milazzo and Priolo Gargallo (Sicily–Italy)—Part A: Major Ions
2023
The chemical composition of rainwater was studied in two highly-industrialised areas in Sicily (southern Italy), between June 2018 and July 2019. The study areas were characterised by large oil refining plants and other industrial hubs whose processes contribute to the release of large amounts of gaseous species that can affect the chemical composition of atmospheric deposition As in most of the Mediterranean area, rainwater acidity (ranging in the study area between 3.9 and 8.3) was buffered by the dissolution of abundant geogenic carbonate aerosol. In particular, calcium and magnesium cations showed the highest pH-neutralizing factor, with ~92% of the acidity brought by SO42− and NO…
Phase-space factors and half-life predictions for Majoron-emitting β−β− decay
2015
A complete calculation of phase space factors (PSFs) for Majoron-emitting 0νβ − β − decay modes is presented. The calculation makes use of exact Dirac wave functions with finite nuclear size and electron screening and includes lifetimes, single-electron spectra, summed electron spectra, and angular electron correlations. Combining these results with recent microscopic interacting boson model nuclear matrix elements (NMEs) we make half-life predictions for the ordinary Majoron decay (spectral index n=1 ). Furthermore, comparing theoretical predictions with the obtained experimental lower bounds for this decay mode we are able to set limits on the effective Majoron-neutrino coupling constant …
Exploring Oscillatory Dysconnectivity Networks in Major Depression During Resting State Using Coupled Tensor Decomposition
2022
Dysconnectivity of large-scale brain networks has been linked to major depression disorder (MDD) during resting state. Recent researches show that the temporal evolution of brain networks regulated by oscillations reveals novel mechanisms and neural characteristics of MDD. Our study applied a novel coupled tensor decomposition model to investigate the dysconnectivity networks characterized by spatio-temporal-spectral modes of covariation in MDD using resting electroencephalography. The phase lag index is used to calculate the functional connectivity within each time window at each frequency bin. Then, two adjacency tensors with the dimension of time frequency connectivity subject are constr…
Brain responses to sound intensity changes dissociate depressed participants and healthy controls.
2017
Depression is associated with bias in emotional information processing, but less is known about the processing of neutral sensory stimuli. Of particular interest is processing of sound intensity which is suggested to indicate central serotonergic function. We tested weather event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to occasional changes in sound intensity can dissociate first-episode depressed, recurrent depressed and healthy control participants. The first-episode depressed showed larger N1 amplitude to deviant sounds compared to recurrent depression group and control participants. In addition, both depression groups, but not the control group, showed larger N1 amplitude to deviant than standa…
Identifying Oscillatory Hyperconnectivity and Hypoconnectivity Networks in Major Depression Using Coupled Tensor Decomposition
2021
AbstractPrevious researches demonstrate that major depression disorder (MDD) is associated with widespread network dysconnectivity, and the dynamics of functional connectivity networks are important to delineate the neural mechanisms of MDD. Cortical electroencephalography (EEG) oscillations act as coordinators to connect different brain regions, and various assemblies of oscillations can form different networks to support different cognitive tasks. Studies have demonstrated that the dysconnectivity of EEG oscillatory networks is related with MDD. In this study, we investigated the oscillatory hyperconnectivity and hypoconnectivity networks in MDD under a naturalistic and continuous stimuli…