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•Two thirds of hospitals systematically implement some nutritional screening tool.•Most used nutritional screening tools are NRS 2002 (Nutrition Risk Screening) and NUTRIC Score (Nutrition risk in critically ill).•Nutritional evaluations most used are anthropometry and SGA (Subjective Global Assessment).•Prevalence of malnutrition at admission shows expected values, yet lower than that described in other reports from Latin America.•A low percentage of hospitals count on multidisciplinary nutritional support.•Low use of oral nutritional supplements. We describe the status of medical nutrition therapy in adult patients in several hospitals in Latin America in 2023. with the aim of deepening understanding of its implementation and thus, in turn, contributing to the advancement of future guidelines. This is a descriptive, multicenter, cross-sectional study. An electronic questionnaire was applied, containing screening, nutritional therapy, multidisciplinary nutritional support, and monitoring indicators. Descriptive statistics were used in data processing. A total of 132 hospitals from 14 Latin American countries participated; 68.2% were state-owned with a median of 23,804 patients. In 66% of hospitals (n = 87) nutritional screening is systematically implemented; NRS-2002 (n = 66; 75.9%) applied mostly by dietitians. Median malnutrition at admission was 33% (IQR = 30.8). Median indication for diet therapy was 54.4% (IQR = 44.3); oral supplementation 13.6% (IQR = 18), and enteral and parenteral nutritional support 14.6% (IQR = 10.2). Indication is carried out mostly by dietitians (n = 78; 59.1%). 29.5% (n = 39) of hospitals count on multidisciplinary nutritional support. 75% (n = 99) use industrialized formulas, mostly in closed systems (n = 53; 40.2%). For parenteral nutrition, individually compounded and preprepared solutions are used (n = 71; 53.8%) generally administered by central catheters. Most frequently cited monitoring indicators were hemodynamic instability, metabolic complications, abdominal distension, and gastric residue. There are still low implementation percentages of nutritional screening, formation of nutritional therapy teams, and use of oral supplements. Malnutrition upon admission is within the expected range.

The and genes are connected to multiple syndromes from Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with uncertainty if genetic variants cause all or subsets of phenotypes based on the location and type of change. For , few have addressed if non-TSC associated genetic variants have direct contributions to changes in neurological genotype-to-phenotype impacts, including elevated rates of ASD and seizures. Dominant variants cause TSC, yet has many heritable variants not dominant for TSC that are poorly understood in neurological function, with some associated with ASD. Herein, we examined how missense variants in , R336W, T360N, T393I, S403L, and H732Y, impacted the development of cortical inhibitory interneurons, cell-types whose molecular, cellular, and physiological properties are altered after the loss of mouse . We found these variants complemented a known phenotype caused by loss of , increased cell size. However, distinct variants, particularly S403L showed deficits in complementing an increase in parvalbumin levels and exhibited smaller amplitude after hyperpolarizations. Overall, these data show that subtle phenotypes can be induced by some missense variants and provide an system to assess variants' neurological impact better.

Introduction Lead (Pb) exposure yielding blood lead levels (BLL) as low as 2 µg/dl in children is an international problem. More common in US low‐income neighborhoods, childhood Pb exposure can cause behavioral and cognitive deficits, including working memory impairments, which can persist into adulthood. So far, studies characterized short‐term effects of high Pb exposure on neuronal structure and function. However, long‐term consequences of early chronic Pb exposure on neuronal activity are poorly documented. Methods Here, we exposed male and female mice (PND [postnatal day] 0 to PND 28) to one of three Pb treatments: 0 ppm (sodium‐treated water, control), 30 ppm (low dose), and 330 ppm (high dose) lead acetate. Once the male and female mice were 9–12 months old, extracellular field recordings on hippocampal slices were performed. Results We show that at CA3 to CA1 synapses, synaptic transmission was decreased and neuronal fiber activity was increased in males exposed to lowest level Pb. In contrast, both synaptic transmission and neuronal fiber activity were increased in females exposed to high Pb. The ventral hippocampus–medial prefrontal cortex (vHPC–mPFC) synapses are crucial for working memory in rodents. The lowest level Pb decreased vHPC–mPFC synaptic transmission, whereas high Pb decreased short‐term synaptic depression. Conclusions Overall, we show for the first time that early exposure to either high or lowest level Pb has long‐term consequences on different synaptic properties of at least two hippocampal synapses. Such consequences of early Pb exposure might worsen the cognitive decline observed in aging men and women. Our results suggest that additional efforts should focus on the consequences of early Pb exposure especially in at‐risk communities. Environmental Pb can alter hippocampus‐dependent memory function, even when the brain is exposed to the lowest environmental levels. To date, the consequences of lowest Pb exposure on hippocampal synapses long after exposure has ceased are still unknown. In this study, we use a mouse model to demonstrate that early lowest level Pb has long‐term consequences on the synaptic activity of two hippocampal synapses crucial for memory processing.

Layer 6 corticothalamic (L6 CT) neurons provide massive input to the thalamus, and these feedback connections enable the cortex to influence its own sensory input by modulating thalamic excitability. However, the functional role(s) feedback serves during sensory processing is unclear. One hypothesis is that CT feedback is under the control of extra-sensory signals originating from higher-order cortical areas, yet we know nothing about the mechanisms of such control. It is also unclear whether such regulation is specific to CT neurons with distinct thalamic connectivity. Using mice (either sex) combined with electrophysiology techniques, optogenetics, and retrograde labeling, we describe studies of vibrissal primary motor cortex (vM1) influences on different CT neurons in the vibrissal primary somatosensory cortex (vS1) with distinct intrathalamic axonal projections. We found that vM1 inputs are highly selective, evoking stronger postsynaptic responses in Dual ventral posterior medial nucleus (VPm) and posterior medial nucleus (POm) projecting CT neurons located in lower L6a than VPm-only projecting CT cells in upper L6a. A targeted analysis of the specific cells and synapses involved revealed that the greater responsiveness of Dual CT neurons was due to their distinctive intrinsic membrane properties and synaptic mechanisms. These data demonstrate that vS1 has at least two discrete L6 CT subcircuits distinguished by their thalamic projection patterns, intrinsic physiology, and functional connectivity with vM1. Our results also provide insights into how a distinct CT subcircuit may serve specialized roles specific to contextual modulation of tactile-related sensory signals in the somatosensory thalamus during active vibrissa movements. Layer 6 corticothalamic (L6 CT) feedback circuits are ubiquitous across mammalian species and modalities, and their activities have a strong influence on thalamic excitability and information throughput to the neocortex. Despite clear evidence of CT effects on the thalamus, we know relatively little about how CT cells themselves are regulated. Our results show that input from the primary motor cortex strongly excites a subclass of CT neurons in the primary somatosensory cortex that innervate both core and higher-order somatosensory nuclei rather than those exclusively targeting core somatosensory thalamus. The cortico-cortico-thalamic pathway formed by these connections establishes a circuit-level substrate for supporting CT influence operating under the guidance of ongoing motor activities.

The aim of this paper is to deal with some methodological issues related to the multidimensional analysis of well-being from the theoretical perspective suggested by Amartya Sen. Widely recognised as one of the more satisfying and complete approaches to well-being analysis, Sen's capability approach has found relatively few empirical applications up to now, mainly for its strong informational and methodological requirements. In this paper I try to make some progress towards the possibility of realising a multidimensional assessment of Sen's concept of well-being with the use of the fuzzy sets theory; the methodology suggested is also tested in the evaluative space of functionings, with an empirical application referred to Italy.

We report on the first detection of very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission from the Crab Nebula by a Cherenkov telescope in dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder (SC) configuration. The result has been achieved by means of the 4 m size ASTRI-Horn telescope, operated on Mt. Etna (Italy) and developed in the context of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory preparatory phase. The dual-mirror SC design is aplanatic and characterized by a small plate scale, allowing us to implement large field of view cameras with small-size pixel sensors and a high compactness. The curved focal plane of the ASTRI camera is covered by silicon photo-multipliers (SiPMs), managed by an unconventional front-end electronics based on a customized peak-sensing detector mode. The system includes internal and external calibration systems, hardware and software for control and acquisition, and the complete data archiving and processing chain. The observations of the Crab Nebula were carried out in December 2018, during the telescope verification phase, for a total observation time (after data selection) of 24.4 h, equally divided into on- and off-axis source exposure. The camera system was still under commissioning and its functionality was not yet completely exploited. Furthermore, due to recent eruptions of the Etna Volcano, the mirror reflection efficiency was reduced. Nevertheless, the observations led to the detection of the source with a statistical significance of 5.4 sigma above an energy threshold of ~3 TeV. This result provides an important step towards the use of dual-mirror systems in Cherenkov gamma-ray astronomy. A pathfinder mini-array based on nine large field-of-view ASTRI-like telescopes is under implementation.

SOXS (Son Of X-Shooter) is a single object spectrograph built by an international consortium for the ESO NTT telescope. SOXS is based on the heritage of the X-Shooter at the ESO-VLT with two arms (UV-VIS and NIR) working in parallel, with a Resolution-Slit product of about 4500, capable of simultaneously observing over the entire band the complete spectral range from the U- to the H-band. SOXS will carry out rapid and long-term Target of Opportunity requests on a variety of astronomical objects. The SOXS vacuum and cryogenic control system has been designed to evacuate, cool down and maintain the UV-VIS detector and the entire NIR spectrograph to their operating temperatures. The design chosen allows the two arms to be operated independently. This paper describes the final design of the cryo-vacuum control system, its functionalities and the tests performed in the integration laboratories.

Short-term plasticity regulates the strength of central synapses as a function of previous activity. In the neocortex, direct synaptic interactions between areas play a central role in cognitive function, but the activity-dependent regulation of these long-range corticocortical connections and their impact on a postsynaptic target neuron is unclear. Here, we use an optogenetic strategy to study the connections between mouse primary somatosensory and motor cortex. We found that short-term facilitation was strong in both corticocortical synapses, resulting in far more sustained responses than local intra-cortical and thalamocortical connections. A major difference between pathways was that the synaptic strength and magnitude of facilitation were distinct for individual excitatory cells located across all cortical layers and specific subtypes of GABAergic neurons. Facilitation was dependent on the presynaptic calcium sensor synaptotagmin-7 and altered by several optogenetic approaches. Current-clamp recordings revealed that during repetitive activation, the short-term dynamics of corticocortical synapses enhanced the excitability of layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons, increasing the probability of spiking with activity. Furthermore, the properties of the connections linking primary with secondary somatosensory cortex resemble those between somatosensory-motor areas. These short-term changes in transmission properties suggest long-range corticocortical synapses are specialized for conveying information over relatively extended periods.