Ricerc@Sapienza

Huntington Disease (HD) is an autosomal-dominant, neurodegenerative disorder, including motor, cognitive, emotional and behavioral symptoms. Motor symptoms used to set the clinical onset, typically emerge in the middle age. Here, we describe the case of a patient, who received a genetic diagnosis at 75 years and developed motor symptoms at 80. The Patient shows severe motor symptoms in the absence of personality changes or psychiatric disorders typically observed in HD.

While the positive effects of environmental enrichment (EE) applied after weaning, in adulthood, during aging, or even in the presence of brain damage have been widely described, the transgenerational effects of pre-reproductive EE have been less examined. And yet, this issue is remarkable given that parental environmental experience may imprint offspring's phenotype over generations through many epigenetic processes. Interactions between individual and environment take place lifelong even before conception.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease involving the cerebellum. The particular atrophy pattern results in some typical clinical features mainly including motor deficits. In addition, the presence of cognitive impairments, involving language, visuospatial and executive functions, has been also shown in SCA2 patients and it is now widely accepted as a feature of the disease.

Veterans with disability represent a big burden worldwide and often require long-term rehabilitation. Unhealthy dietary and lifestyle habits, including smoke and alcohol abuse, are common in veterans. In the context of integrative medicine approaches, the "complementary and alternative medicine" has been suggested for the management of chronic diseases. However, the potential risk of interaction between herbal products, dietary supplements and drugs must be considered in veterans. The Mediterranean diet has been suggested as a natural, non-pharmacological nutraceutical for healthy ageing.

Imbalanced dietary n-3 and n-6 PUFA content has been associated with a number of neurological conditions. Endocannabinoids are n-6 PUFA derivatives, whose brain concentrations are sensitive to modifications of fatty acid composition of the diet and play a central role in the regulation of mood and cognition. As such, the endocannabinoid system appears to be an ideal candidate for mediating the effects of dietary fatty acids on mood and cognition.

This contribution introduces the main themes of the volume Human Nature. Anima, mente e corpo dall’antichità alle neuroscienze, focusing on the history of the concepts of soul, mind and body in philosophy, medicine and psychology, and its relevance for the contemporary research on the bodily roots of experience and cognition.

Study Objectives Sleep is altered at high altitude leading many mountaineers to use hypnotics in order to improve sleep efficiency. While after a full night at altitude the short-acting hypnotic zolpidem does not appear to alter cognitive function, residual adverse effects should be considered following early waking-up as performed by mountaineers. We hypothesized that zolpidem intake at high altitude would alter cognitive function 4 hours after drug intake.