Search results for "ORGANIZATION"
showing 10 items of 4550 documents
Autism Related Neuroligin-4 Knockout Impairs Intracortical Processing but not Sensory Inputs in Mouse Barrel Cortex
2016
Neuroligin-4 (Nlgn4) is a cell adhesion protein that regulates synapse organization and function. Mutations in human NLGN4 are among the causes of autism spectrum disorders. In mouse, Nlgn4 knockout (KO) perturbs GABAergic synaptic transmission and oscillatory activity in hippocampus, and causes social interaction deficits. The complex profile of cellular and circuit changes that are caused by Nlgn4-KO is still only partly understood. Using Nlgn4-KO mice, we found that Nlgn4-KO increases the power in the alpha frequency band of spontaneous network activity in the barrel cortex under urethane anesthesia in vivo. Nlgn4-KO did not affect single-whisker-induced local field potentials, but suppr…
The FOXP2-Driven Network in Developmental Disorders and Neurodegeneration
2017
The transcription repressor FOXP2 is a crucial player in nervous system evolution and development of humans and songbirds. In order to provide an additional insight into its functional role we compared target gene expression levels between human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) stably overexpressing either human FOXP2 cDNA or its orthologues from the common chimpanzee, Rhesus monkey, and marmoset, respectively. Subsequent RNA-seq led to identification of 27 genes with differential regulation under the control of human FOXP2, which were previously reported to have FOXP2-driven and/or songbird song-related expression regulation. Importantly, RT-qPCR and Western blotting indicated differential re…
The Active Inference Approach to Ecological Perception: General Information Dynamics for Natural and Artificial Embodied Cognition
2018
The emerging neurocomputational vision of humans as embodied, ecologically embedded, social agents – who shape and are shaped by their environment – offers a golden opportunity to revisit and revise ideas about the physical and information-theoretic underpinnings of life, mind, and consciousness itself. In particular, the active inference framework (AIF) makes it possible to bridge connections from computational neuroscience and robotics/AI to ecological psychology and phenomenology, revealing common underpinnings and overcoming key limitations. AIF opposes the mechanistic to the reductive, while staying fully grounded in a naturalistic and information theoretic foundation, using the princi…
Consensus paper on the “executive summary of the international conference on Mediterranean diet and health: a lifelong approach” an Italian initiativ…
2018
The Mediterranean Diet Foundation, in collaboration with the International Menarini Foundation, organized the “International Conference on Mediterranean Diet and Health: A Lifelong Approach.” The Conference was held in Ostuni (Puglia, Italy) from March 30 to April 1, 2017. The event received the endorsement of the American Federation for Aging Research, the Research Consortium “Luigi Amaducci,” the European Nutrition for Health Alliance, the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society, the Clinical Section of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics—European Region, the National Research Council Research Project on Aging, the Italian Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics, a…
Healthy lifestyle and eating perceptions: correlations with weight and low-fat and low-sugar food consumption in adolescence
2017
Background: Low-fat and low-sugar foods, marketed as health promoters, offer an interesting avenue for consumers to pursue a healthier life. Despite the relevance of educating adolescents about the...
Cofilin and Neurodegeneration: New Functions for an Old but Gold Protein
2021
Cofilin is an actin-binding protein that plays a major role in the regulation of actin dynamics, an essential cellular process. This protein has emerged as a crucial molecule for functions of the nervous system including motility and guidance of the neuronal growth cone, dendritic spine organization, axonal branching, and synaptic signalling. Recently, other important functions in cell biology such as apoptosis or the control of mitochondrial function have been attributed to cofilin. Moreover, novel mechanisms of cofilin function regulation have also been described. The activity of cofilin is controlled by complex regulatory mechanisms, with phosphorylation being the most important, since t…
Credibility to attract, trust to stay: the mediating role of trust in improving brand congruence in sports services
2021
This research aims to demonstrate the mediating role of brand trust in the relationship between credibility and users' congruence with a sports services brand. The analysis was carried out using EQS 6.3 to perform the four required steps of the analysis (and the Sobel test was conducted for a public sports service and a private sports service. The results confirm the full mediation effect of brand trust in the case of the private service and a partial mediation for the public service. Therefore, this study confirms that credibility, in the presence of trust, ceases to have an influence on the congruence of users with the brand, which suggests that credibility is important at an initial stag…
Measles in Italy: Viral strains and crossing borders
2019
In 2017, Italy experienced one of the largest outbreaks of measles in recent years, with 5404 notified cases and 4347 confirmed cases. A further 2029 cases were notified during the first 6 months of 2018, and 1516 of them were laboratory-confirmed. The B3 and D8 genotypes were identified as those responsible for the outbreak. Possible transmission routes can be established by monitoring the circulating measles virus strains in support of the national health authorities to warn people and travellers. Keywords: Outbreak, Measles, Genotype identification, Surveillance
The prevalence of malnutrition according to the new ESPEN definition in four diverse populations
2016
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism.Background & aims: Consensus on the definition of malnutrition has not yet been reached. Recently, The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) proposed a consensus definition of malnutrition. The aim of the present study was to describe the prevalence of malnutrition according to the ESPEN definition in four diverse populations. Methods: In total, 349 acutely ill middle-aged patients, 135 geriatric outpatients, 306 healthy old individuals and 179 healthy young individuals were included in the study. Subjects were screened for risk of malnutrition using the SNAQ. The ESPEN definition of maln…
Magnesium and Micro-Elements in Older Persons
2021
Macro- and micro-element deficiencies are widely diffused in older people. The deficiency of these elements in older people is often attributable to malnutrition, even if other medical conditions (such as gastrointestinal problem) or non-medical conditions (such as polypharmacy) can lead to these deficiencies [1]. It is estimated that malnutrition is present in 1.3–47.8% of older people living in the community, being higher in other settings and in low-middle income countries [2].