Phase 2 study of palmitoylethanolamide combined with luteoline in frontotemporal dementia patients.

Frontotemporal dementia is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder for which no pharmacological treatments have been approved. Neuroinflammation plays a central role in driving the pathogenic mechanisms underlying frontotemporal dementia. In the last few years, co-ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide combined with luteoline has emerged as a potential therapeutic molecule in neurodegenerative disorders pathogenically related to frontotemporal dementia, for its demonstrated strong anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties.

PLUMED Tutorials: A collaborative, community-driven learning ecosystem.

In computational physics, chemistry, and biology, the implementation of new techniques in shared and open-source software lowers barriers to entry and promotes rapid scientific progress. However, effectively training new software users presents several challenges. Common methods like direct knowledge transfer and in-person workshops are limited in reach and comprehensiveness.

Methyl formate synthesis via S Acyl esterification on interstellar ice mantles.

Context: Methyl formate (MF) has been detected in several interstellar environments, but whether or not the formation of this molecule takes place in the gas phase or on the ices of interstellar grains is still unclear. In this study, we explore the synthesis of methyl formate through the nucleophilic acyl substitution (S Acyl) reaction between methanol (CH OH) and formic acid (HCOOH) on amorphous solid water, which is the main component of interstellar ice mantles.

Methods: Using density functional theory (DFT), we model MF formation by sampling HCOOH in different catalytic sites on the water clusters with CH OH, and vice versa, for initial reactant configurations.

Bio-Inspired Interlocking Micro-Patterning for Tunable, Switchable and Selective Adhesion in Wet and Dusty Environments.

Achieving adhesion under unfavorable conditions, such as when van der Waals interaction is not available or in dust environments, is crucial in applications ranging from surgical sutures to wound-healing tapes, underwater adhesives, robotic grippers, and space grasping. Interestingly, plants, animals, and microorganisms living in such environmental conditions show surface morphological traits optimized to achieve mechanical interlocking. Thus, they achieve an effective work of adhesion thanks to the interplay of friction and interfacially-storable elastic energy, which otherwise typically suppress adhesion.

Circuit-Based Understanding of Fine Spatial Scale Clustering of Orientation Tuning in Mouse Visual Cortex.

In sensory cortex of brain it is often the case that neurons are spatially organized by their functional properties. A hallmark of primary visual cortex (V1) in higher mammals is a columnar functional map, where neurons tuned to different stimuli features are regularly organized in space. However, rodent visual cortex is at odds with this rule and lacks any spatially ordered functional architecture, and rather neuron feature preference is haphazardly organized in patterns termed 'salt-and-pepper'.

Insights from Modulation-Excitation Spectroscopy into the Role of Pt Geometrical Sites in the WGS Reaction.

Modulation-excitation spectroscopy coupled to diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (ME-DRIFTS) was explored in this work to obtain valuable insights into the structure-reactivity relations in nanostructured Pt catalysts for the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction. By using model Pt catalytic systems composed of colloidal Pt nanoparticles (NPs) deposited on CeO (i.e.

Magnetic signature of thermoelectric cardiac dynamics.

Developing methods to predict electromagnetic instabilities in cardiac dynamics is crucial. However, a comprehensive view of the heart's magnetic activity at a tissue scale is still needed. To address such a challenging problem, we present a theoretical framework to investigate thermoelectric cardiac dynamics from the magnetic field perspective.

Microfluidic 3D Bioprinting of Foamed Fibers with Controlled Micromorphology.

The synergistic integration of microfluidic technologies with additive manufacturing systems is advancing the development of innovative platforms to 3D bioprint scaffolds for tissue engineering with unparalleled biological relevance. Significant interest is growing in realizing porous functionally graded materials (pFGMs) that can resemble the hierarchical organization of porosity found in bone tissue. This study introduces a method for fabricating porous scaffolds based on the real-time generation of a liquid foam, which is gelled, forming porous fibers that are organized into structured matrixes using a 3D bioprinting system.

Contextual subspace variational quantum eigensolver calculation of the dissociation curve of molecular nitrogen on a superconducting quantum computer.

We present an experimental demonstration of the Contextual Subspace Variational Quantum Eigensolver on superconducting hardware. Calculating the potential energy curve of molecular nitrogen proves challenging for many conventional quantum chemistry techniques, since static correlation dominates in the dissociation limit. Our quantum simulations retain good agreement with the Full Configuration Interaction energy, outperforming all benchmarked single-reference wavefunction techniques in capturing the bond-breaking appropriately.

High performance-oriented computer aided drug design approaches in the exascale era.

Introduction: In 2023, the first exascale supercomputer was opened to the public in the US. With a demonstrated 1.1 exaflops of performance, Frontier represents an unprecedented breakthrough in high-performance computing (HPC).

Reach&Grasp: a multimodal dataset of the whole upper-limb during simple and complex movements.

Upper-limb movement characterization is crucial for many applications, from research on motor control, to the extraction of relevant features for driving active prostheses. While this is usually performed using electrophysiological and/or kinematic measurements only, the collection of tactile data during grasping movements could enrich the overall information about interaction with external environment. We provide a dataset collected from 10 healthy volunteers performing 16 tasks, including simple movements (i.

Master classes of the tenth international brain-computer interface meeting: showcasing the research of BCI trainees.

The Tenth International brain-computer interface (BCI) meeting was held June 6-9, 2023, in the Sonian Forest in Brussels, Belgium. At that meeting, 21 master classes, organized by the BCI Society's Postdoc & Student Committee, supported the Society's goal of fostering learning opportunities and meaningful interactions for trainees in BCI-related fields. Master classes provide an informal environment where senior researchers can give constructive feedback to the trainee on their chosen and specific pursuit.

Frontotemporal dementia. How to deal with its diagnostic complexity?

Introduction: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) encompasses a group of heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorders. Aside from genetic cases, its diagnosis is challenging, particularly in the early stages when symptoms are ambiguous, and structural neuroimaging does not reveal characteristic patterns.

Areas Covered: The authors performed a comprehensive literature search through MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases to gather evidence to aid the diagnostic process for suspected FTD patients, particularly in early phases, even in sporadic cases, ranging from established to promising tools.

The impact of action descriptions on attribution of moral responsibility towards robots.

In the era of renewed fascination with AI and robotics, one needs to address questions related to their societal impact, particularly in terms of moral responsibility and intentionality. In seven vignette-based experiments we investigated whether the consequences of a robot or human's actions, influenced participant's intentionality and moral responsibility ratings. For the robot, when the vignettes contained mentalistic descriptions, moral responsibility ratings were higher for negative actions consequences than positive action consequences, however, there was no difference in intentionality ratings.

A Computational Model of Hybrid Trunk-like Robots for Synergy Formation in Anticipation of Physical Interaction.

Trunk-like robots have attracted a lot of attention in the community of researchers interested in the general field of bio-inspired soft robotics, because trunk-like soft arms may offer high dexterity and adaptability very similar to elephants and potentially quite superior to traditional articulated manipulators. In view of the practical applications, the integration of a soft hydrostatic segment with a hard-articulated segment, i.e.

Endocrine Disrupting Toxicity of Bisphenol A and Its Analogs: Implications in the Neuro-Immune Milieu.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are natural or synthetic substances that are able to interfere with hormonal systems and alter their physiological signaling. EDCs have been recognized as a public health issue due to their widespread use, environmental persistence and the potential levels of long-term exposure with implications in multiple pathological conditions. Their reported adverse effects pose critical concerns about their use, warranting their strict regulation.

Neuromorphic computing at scale.

Neuromorphic computing is a brain-inspired approach to hardware and algorithm design that efficiently realizes artificial neural networks. Neuromorphic designers apply the principles of biointelligence discovered by neuroscientists to design efficient computational systems, often for applications with size, weight and power constraints. With this research field at a critical juncture, it is crucial to chart the course for the development of future large-scale neuromorphic systems.

Rhythmic categories in horse gait kinematics.

Anecdotally, horses' gaits sound rhythmic. Are they really? In this study, we quantified the motor rhythmicity of horses across three different gaits (walk, trot, and canter). For the first time, we adopted quantitative tools from bioacoustics and music cognition to quantify locomotor rhythmicity.

Molecular dynamics-guided reaction discovery reveals endoperoxide-to-alkoxy radical isomerization as key branching point in α-pinene ozonolysis.

Secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) significantly impact Earth's climate and human health. Although the oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been recognized as the major contributor to the atmospheric SOA budget, the mechanisms by which this process produces SOA-forming highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) remain unclear. A major challenge is navigating the complex chemical landscape of these transformations, which traditional hypothesis-driven methods fail to thoroughly investigate.

Neuronal mechanisms of nociceptive-evoked gamma-band oscillations in rodents.

Gamma-band oscillations (GBOs) in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) play key roles in nociceptive processing. Yet, one crucial question remains unaddressed: what neuronal mechanisms underlie nociceptive-evoked GBOs? Here, we addressed this question using a range of somatosensory stimuli (nociceptive and non-nociceptive), neural recording techniques (electroencephalography in humans and silicon probes and calcium imaging in rodents), and optogenetics (alone or simultaneously with electrophysiology in mice). We found that (1) GBOs encoded pain intensity independent of stimulus intensity in humans, (2) GBOs in S1 encoded pain intensity and were triggered by spiking of S1 interneurons, (3) parvalbumin (PV)-positive interneurons preferentially tracked pain intensity, and critically, (4) PV S1 interneurons causally modulated GBOs and pain-related behaviors for both thermal and mechanical pain.

Longitudinal and Noninvasive Intracellular Recordings of Spontaneous Electrophysiological Activity in Rat Primary Neurons on Planar MEA Electrodes.

Presently, the in vitro recording of intracellular neuronal signals on microelectrode arrays (MEAs) requires complex 3D nanostructures or invasive and approaches such as electroporation. Here, it is shown that laser poration enables intracellular coupling on planar electrodes without damaging neurons or altering their spontaneous electrophysiological activity, allowing the process to be repeated multiple times on the same cells. This capability distinguishes laser-based neuron poration from more invasive methods like electroporation, which typically serve as endpoint measurement for cells.

Live-cell imaging of circular and long noncoding RNAs associated with FUS pathological aggregates by Pepper fluorescent RNA.

Lately, important advancements in visualizing RNAs in fixed and live cells have been achieved. Although mRNA imaging techniques are well-established, the development of effective methods for studying noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) in living cells is still challenging but necessary, as they show a variety of functions and intracellular localizations, including participation in highly dynamic processes like phase transition, which is still poorly studied in vivo. Addressing this issue, we tagged two exemplary ncRNAs with the fluorescent RNA (fRNA) Pepper.

Cognitive impairments in chronic pain: a brain aging framework.

Chronic pain (CP) not only causes physical discomfort but also significantly affects cognition. This review first summarizes emerging findings that reveal complex associations between CP and cognitive impairments, and then presents neuroimaging evidence showing aging-related brain alterations in CP and proposes a framework where accelerated brain aging links CP to cognitive impairments. This framework explains how CP-related multi-level factors, which either contribute to the onset of CP or arise as a result of CP, influence brain aging in linear and nonlinear ways, leading to cognitive impairments and increased dementia risk.