IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS AND REPORTS
IMPORTANT REPORT
The assessment of the degree of fragility and the need for continuous care of over sixty-four elders in the Lazio region.
Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata - IPASVI
The aging of the population leads to a change in demand for services, underlining the need for new patterns of intervention in the area and new access routes to welfare benefits. The current fragmentation of healthcare in many services directed to a few people, and often at a low intensity, is due to the lack of clear criteria for access to the services and standardized and homogenous operating procedures. The growing interest, of the last few decades, around the definition of individual fragility, makes this parameter a key for understanding assistance demand, to be combined with a proactive approach to dimensioning demand and identifying people at risk of negative outcomes such as death, or institutionalization. Early detection of fragility by means of multidimensional rapid-use evaluation tools used in routine screening activity may allow resetting regional social policies by focusing on a preventive approach... download the complete report
IMPORTANT PAPERS
Innocenzi E., De Domenico E., Ciccarone F., Zampieri M., Rossi G., Cicconi R., Bernardini R., Mattei M. and Grimaldi P. (2019). "Paternal activation of CB2 cannabinoid receptor impairs placental and embryonic growth via an epigenetic mechanism". Scientific Reports volume 9, Article number: 17034.
Abstract
The cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2) is the peripheral receptor for cannabinoids, involved in the homeostatic control of several physiological functions. Male mitotic germ cells express a high level of CB2, whose activation promotes their differentiation in both in vitro and in vivo experiments, controlling the correct progression of spermatogenesis. However, it remains elusive if CB2 activation in spermatogonia could affect reproductive success in terms of fertility and healthy pregnancy outcomes. In this study, we explored the effects of male CB2 activation on sperm number and quality and its influence on next generation health. We show that exposure of male mice to JWH-133, a selective CB2 agonist, decreased sperm count, impaired placental development and reduced offspring growth. These defects were associated with altered DNA methylation/hydroxymethylation levels at imprinted genes in sperm and conserved in placenta. Our findings reveal that paternal selective activation of CB2 alters the sperm epigenome and compromises offspring growth. This study demonstrates, for the first time, a new role of CB2 signaling in male gametes in causing epigenetic alterations that can be transmitted to the next generation by sperm, highlighting potential risks induced by recreational cannabinoid exposure.
Orecchini E, Doria M, Antonioni A, Galardi S, Ciafrè SA, Frassinelli L, Mancone C, Montaldo C, Tripodi M, Michienzi A. ADAR1 restricts LINE-1 retrotransposition. Nucleic Acids Res. 2016 Sep 21. pii: gkw834
Abstract
Adenosine deaminases acting on RNA (ADARs) are involved in RNA editing that converts adenosines to inosines in double-stranded RNAs. ADAR1 was demonstrated to be functional on different viruses exerting either antiviral or proviral effects. Concerning HIV-1, several studies showed that ADAR1 favors viral replication. The aim of this study was to investigate the composition of the ADAR1 ribonucleoprotein complex during HIV-1 expression. By using a dual-tag affinity purification procedure in cells expressing HIV-1 followed by mass spectrometry analysis, we identified 14 non-ribosomal ADAR1-interacting proteins, most of which are novel. A significant fraction of these proteins were previously demonstrated to be associated to the Long INterspersed Element 1 (LINE1 or L1) ribonucleoparticles and to regulate the life cycle of L1 retrotransposons that continuously re-enter host-genome.Hence, we investigated the function of ADAR1 in the regulation of L1 activity.By using different cell-culture based retrotransposition assays in HeLa cells, we demonstrated a novel function of ADAR1 as suppressor of L1 retrotransposition. Apparently, this inhibitory mechanism does not occur through ADAR1 editing activity. Furthermore, we showed that ADAR1 binds the basal L1 RNP complex. Overall, these data support the role of ADAR1 as regulator of L1 life cycle.
Fairchild, G et al. Mapping the structural organization of the brain in conduct disorder: replication of findings in two independent samples.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry; 14/06/2016; doi:10.1111/jcpp.12581
Abstract
BACKGROUND:Neuroimaging methods that allow researchers to investigate structural covariance between brain regions are increasingly being used to study psychiatric disorders. Structural covariance analyses are particularly well suited for studying disorders with putative neurodevelopmental origins as they appear sensitive to changes in the synchronized maturation of different brain regions. We assessed interregional correlations in cortical thickness as a measure of structural covariance, and applied this method to investigate the coordinated development of different brain regions in conduct disorder (CD). We also assessed whether structural covariance measures could differentiate between the childhood-onset (CO-CD) and adolescence-onset (AO-CD) subtypes of CD, which may differ in terms of etiology and adult outcomes.
METHODS:We examined interregional correlations in cortical thickness in male youths with CO-CD or AO-CD relative to healthy controls (HCs) in two independent datasets. The age range in the Cambridge sample was 16-21 years (mean: 18.0), whereas the age range of the Southampton sample was 13-18 years (mean: 16.7). We used FreeSurfer to perform segmentations and applied structural covariance methods to the resulting parcellations.
RESULTS:In both samples, CO-CD participants displayed a strikingly higher number of significant cross-cortical correlations compared to HC or AO-CD participants, whereas AO-CD participants presented fewer significant correlations than HCs. Group differences in the strength of the interregional correlations were observed in both samples, and each set of results remained significant when controlling for IQ and comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS:This study provides new evidence for quantitative differences in structural brain organization between the CO-CD and AO-CD subtypes, and supports the hypothesis that both subtypes of CD have neurodevelopmental origins.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:Neuroimaging methods that allow researchers to investigate structural covariance between brain regions are increasingly being used to study psychiatric disorders. Structural covariance analyses are particularly well suited for studying disorders with putative neurodevelopmental origins as they appear sensitive to changes in the synchronized maturation of different brain regions. We assessed interregional correlations in cortical thickness as a measure of structural covariance, and applied this method to investigate the coordinated development of different brain regions in conduct disorder (CD). We also assessed whether structural covariance measures could differentiate between the childhood-onset (CO-CD) and adolescence-onset (AO-CD) subtypes of CD, which may differ in terms of etiology and adult outcomes.
METHODS:We examined interregional correlations in cortical thickness in male youths with CO-CD or AO-CD relative to healthy controls (HCs) in two independent datasets. The age range in the Cambridge sample was 16-21 years (mean: 18.0), whereas the age range of the Southampton sample was 13-18 years (mean: 16.7). We used FreeSurfer to perform segmentations and applied structural covariance methods to the resulting parcellations.
RESULTS:In both samples, CO-CD participants displayed a strikingly higher number of significant cross-cortical correlations compared to HC or AO-CD participants, whereas AO-CD participants presented fewer significant correlations than HCs. Group differences in the strength of the interregional correlations were observed in both samples, and each set of results remained significant when controlling for IQ and comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS:This study provides new evidence for quantitative differences in structural brain organization between the CO-CD and AO-CD subtypes, and supports the hypothesis that both subtypes of CD have neurodevelopmental origins.