Ricerc@Sapienza

Background: Repetitive convergent inputs to a single post-synaptic neuron can induce long-term potentiation (LTP) or depression (LTD) of synaptic activity in a spike timing-dependent manner. Objective: Here we set a protocol of visual paired associative stimulation (vPAS) of the primary visual cortex (V1) in humans to induce persistent changes in the excitatory properties of V1 with a spike timing rule.

Cancer treatment with either standard chemotherapy or targeted agents often results in the emergence of drug-refractory cell populations, ultimately leading to therapy failure. The biological features of drug resistant cells are largely overlapping with those of cancer stem cells and include heterogeneity, plasticity, self-renewal ability, and tumor-initiating capacity. Moreover, drug resistance is usually characterized by a suppression of proliferation that can manifest as quiescence, dormancy, senescence, or proliferative slowdown.

Plants are exposed to heterogeneity in the environment where new stress factors (i.e. climate change, land use change and invasiveness) are introduced. In particular, climate change has been shown to affect abundance and distribution of plant species, as well as plant community composition (1). Nevertheless, adaptation to global change could require the evolution of a number of different traits that may be constrained by correlations between them (2).

We examine the structural overlap of the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and the Behavioral Approach System (BAS) with Stability and Plasticity, the two higher-order factors encompassing the Big Five. Carver and White’s BIS/BAS and the Big Five Inventory were administered to a sample of 330 adults, serving both as targets and informants. Self- and other-ratings were modeled by using the Correlated Trait-Correlated Method model.

Self-face representation is fundamentally important for self-identity and self-consciousness. Given its role in preserving identity over time, self-face processing is considered as a robust and stable process. Yet, recent studies indicate that simple psychophysics manipulations may change how we process our own face. Specifically, experiencing tactile facial stimulation while seeing similar synchronous stimuli delivered to the face of another individual seen as in a mirror, induces 'enfacement' illusion, i.e.

The postnatal period is characterized by extensive neuronal plasticity, synaptic organization, and remod-eling.

Commentary: Cortical plasticity and olfactory function in early blindness

Here, we investigated the properties of presynaptic N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (pre-NMDARs) at corticohippocampal excitatory connections between perforant path (PP) afferents and dentate granule cells (GCs), a circuit involved in memory encoding and centrally affected in Alzheimer's disease and temporal lobe epilepsy. These receptors were previously reported to increase PP release probability in response to gliotransmitters released from astrocytes.

Despite the effectiveness of mass distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) in reducing malaria transmission in Africa, in hyperendemic areas such as Burkina Faso the burden of malaria remains high. We here report the results of a 4-month survey on the feeding habits and Plasmodium infection in malaria vectors from a village in Burkina Faso one year following a national LLIN distribution programme. Low values of human blood index (HBI) observed in the major malaria vectors in the area (Anopheles coluzzii: N = 263, 20.1%; An.

Activity-regulated cytoskeletal associated protein (Arc) is an immediate-early gene critically involved in synaptic plasticity and memory consolidation. Arc mRNA is rapidly induced by synaptic activation and a portion is locally translated in dendrites where it modulates synaptic strength. Being an activity-dependent effector of homeostatic balance, regulation of Arc is uniquely tuned to result in short-lived bursts of expression. Cis-Acting elements that control its transitory expression post-transcriptionally reside primarily in Arc mRNA 3? UTR.