Ricerc@Sapienza

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder responsible for the majority of dementia cases in elderly people. Current treatments provide inadequate symptomatic relief as several distinct pathological processes are thought to underlie the decline of cognitive and neural function seen in AD. This suggests that the efficacy of treatment requires a multitargeted approach. In this context, palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) provides a novel potential adjunct therapy that can be incorporated into a multitargeted treatment strategy.

Microglia are the resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS). In the last year, the improvements in the transgenic mouse technologies and imaging techniques have shed light on microglia functions under physiological conditions. Microglia continuously scan the brain parenchyma with their highly motile processes, maintaining tissue homeostasis and participating in neuronal circuits refinement.

Previous evidence showed abnormal posterior sources of resting-state delta ( rhythms in patients with Alzheimer’s disease with dementia (ADD), Parkinson’s disease with dementia
(PDD), and Lewy body dementia (DLB), as cortical neural synchronization markers in quiet wakefulness.
Here, we tested the hypothesis of additional abnormalities in functional cortical connectivity computed
in those sources, in ADD, considered as a “disconnection cortical syndrome”, in comparison with PDD

We hypothesized that dopamine neuromodulation might affect cortical excitability in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients set in quiet wakefulness, as revealed by resting state eyes-closed electroencephalographic (rsEEG) rhythms at alpha frequencies (8–12 Hz). Clinical and rsEEG rhythms in PD with dementia (N = 35), PD with mild cognitive impairment (N = 50), PD with normal cognition (N = 35), and normal (N = 50) older adults were available from an international archive. Cortical rsEEG sources were estimated by exact low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography.

Light-operated drugs constitute a major target in drug discovery, since they may provide spatiotemporal resolution for the treatment of complex diseases (i.e. chronic pain). JF-NP-26 is an inactive photocaged derivative of the metabotropic glutamate type 5 (mGlu(5)) receptor negative allosteric modulator raseglurant. Violet light illumination of JF-NP-26 induces a photochemical reaction prompting the active-drug's release, which effectively controls mGlu5 receptor activity both in ectopic expressing systems and in striatal primary neurons.

The aim of this retrospective exploratory study was that resting state eyes-closed electroencephalographic (rsEEG) rhythms might reflect brain arousal in patients with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease dementia (ADD), Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), and dementia with Lewy body (DLB). Clinical and rsEEG data of 42 ADD, 42 PDD, 34 DLB, and 40 healthy elderly (Nold) subjects were available in an international archive. Demography, education, and Mini-Mental State Evaluation score were not different between the patient groups.

Nel noto volume L’errore di Cartesio. Emozione, ragione e cervello umano (1994) il neurologo Antonio Damasio sostiene che gli sforzi moderni di analisi della cognizione e delle emozioni in termini neurobiologici sono stati ostacolati dalla persistente influenza del ‘dualismo cartesiano’ in Psicologia. Descartes, tuttavia, non ha mai considerato la sfera cognitiva e quella emotiva come indipendenti dalle funzioni organiche e cerebrali.

Integrating the multifactorial processes co-occurring in both physiological and pathological human conditions still remains one of the main challenges in translational investigation. Moreover, the impact of age-associated disorders has increased, which underlines the urgent need to find a feasible model that could help in the development of successful therapies. In this sense, the Octodon degus has been indicated as a ‘natural’ model in many biomedical areas, especially in ageing.

In this work, we present a low-power 2nd order band-pass filter for neural recording applications. The central frequency of the passband is set to 375Hz and the quality factor to 5 to properly process the neural signals related to the onset of epileptic seizure, and to strongly attenuate all the out of band biological signals and electrical disturbances. The biquad filter is based on a fully differential Tow Thomas architecture in which high-valued resistors are implemented through switched high-resistivity polysilicon resistors.

With the goal to improve the Product Design tools, in the Emotional Design approaches, we investigated if the designers can interpret neurophysiological responses analyzed by means of Cognitive Neurosciences’ tools. For this purpose, and to facilitate the dialogue between these two disciplines, we defined the tool and method named AlPha Matrix and Cards. With the latter, designers can integrate their specific knowledge and skills with new information gathered by Cognitive Neurosciences, to understand even better the user's response.