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Abstract Inhibitory control is the capacity to withhold or suppress a thought or action intentionally. The anterior Midcingulate Cortex (aMCC) participates in response inhibition, a proxy measure of inhibitory control. Recent research suggests that response inhibition is modulated by individual variability in the aMCC sulcal morphology. However, no study has investigated if this phenomenon is associated with neurofunctional differences during a task. In this study, 42 participants performed an Attention Network Task and a Numerical Stroop task in an MRI scanner. We investigated differences in brain activity and response inhibition efficiency between individuals with symmetric and asymmetric aMCC sulcal patterns. The results showed that aMCC morphological variability is partly associated with inhibitory control, and revealed greater activation in individuals with symmetric patterns during the Stroop task. Our findings provide novel insights into the functional correlates of the relationship between aMCC morphology and executive abilities.

ObjectivesRecent studies supported coagulation involvement in multiple sclerosis, an inflammatory-demyelinating and degenerative disease of the central nervous system. The main objectives of this observational study were to identify the most specific pro-coagulative/vascular factors for multiple sclerosis pathogenesis and to correlate them with brain hemodynamic abnormalities.MethodsWe compared i) serum/plasma levels of complement(C)/coagulation/vascular factors, viral/microbiological assays, fat-soluble vitamins and lymphocyte count among people with multiple sclerosis sampled in a clinical remission (n=30; 23F/7M, 40 ± 8.14 years) or a relapse (n=30; 24F/6M, age 41 ± 10.74 years) and age/sex-matched controls (n=30; 23F/7M, 40 ± 8.38 years); ii) brain hemodynamic metrics at dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced 3T-MRI during relapse and remission, and iii) laboratory data with MRI perfusion metrics and clinical features of people with multiple sclerosis. Two models by Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis were performed using two groups as input: (1) multiple sclerosis vs. controls, and (2) relapsing vs. remitting multiple sclerosis.ResultsCompared to controls, multiple sclerosis patients had a higher Body-Mass-Index, Protein-C and activated-C9; and a lower activated-C4. Levels of Tissue-Factor, Tie-2 and P-Selectin/CD62P were lower in relapse compared to remission and HC, whereas Angiopoietin-I was higher in relapsing vs. remitting multiple sclerosis. A lower number of total lymphocytes was found in relapsing multiple sclerosis vs. remitting multiple sclerosis and controls. Cerebral-Blood-Volume was lower in normal-appearing white matter and left caudatum while Cerebral-Blood-Flow was inferior in bilateral putamen in relapsing versus remitting multiple sclerosis. The mean-transit-time of gadolinium-enhancing lesions negatively correlated with Tissue-Factor. The top-5 discriminating variables for model (1) were: EBV-EBNA-1 IgG, Body-Mass-Index, Protein-C, activated-C4 and Tissue-Factor whereas for model (2) were: Tissue-Factor, Angiopoietin-I, MCHC, Vitamin A and T-CD3.ConclusionTissue-factor was one of the top-5 variables in the models discriminating either multiple sclerosis from controls or multiple sclerosis relapse from remission and correlated with mean-transit-time of gadolinium-enhancing lesions. Tissue-factor appears a promising pro-coagulative/vascular biomarker and a possible therapeutic target in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.Clinical trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT04380220.

Glutamate is the brain’s main excitatory neurotransmitter. Glutamatergic neurons primarily compose basic neuronal networks, especially in the cortex. An imbalance of excitatory and inhibitory activities may result in epilepsy or other neurological and psychiatric conditions. Among glutamate receptors, AMPA receptors are the predominant mediator of glutamate-induced excitatory neurotransmission and dictate synaptic efficiency and plasticity by their numbers and/or properties. Therefore, they appear to be a major drug target for modulating several brain functions. Perampanel (PER) is a highly selective, noncompetitive AMPA antagonist approved in several countries worldwide for treating different types of seizures in various epileptic conditions. However, recent data show that PER can potentially address many other conditions within epilepsy and beyond. From this perspective, this review aims to examine the new preclinical and clinical studies—especially those produced from 2017 onwards—on AMPA antagonism and PER in conditions such as mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, idiopathic and genetic generalized epilepsy, brain tumor-related epilepsy, status epilepticus, rare epileptic syndromes, stroke, sleep, epilepsy-related migraine, cognitive impairment, autism, dementia, and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as provide suggestions on future research agenda aimed at probing the possibility of treating these conditions with PER and/or other AMPA receptor antagonists.

Thanks to the latest technological developments LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) sensors are no longer an exclusive feature of manned airborne platforms but they are close to becoming a commercial solution in the UAS (Uncrewed Aerial Systems) domain. The release on the market of the Zenmuse L1 by DJI (Dà-Jiāng Innovations) is a step further in this direction, thanks also to a substantial work of enhancement made by the Chinese company not only on the hardware side, but also on the software one. The research presented in this work is focused on the use of the L1 LiDAR for the 3D survey of built heritage, analysing the results of different tests to highlight first considerations on its performances and the point cloud quality. Considering its recent release, this sensor is still yet to be thoroughly analysed and validated and its performances to be assessed. LiDAR data has been acquired on a selected test site, documented also with traditional Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) and UAS photogrammetry. The latter techniques (supported also by a topographic survey) will thus be exploited to generate the ground reference and to assess the quality and accuracy of the L1 dataset.

O surgimento do Covid-19 mudou significativamente as notícias veiculadas nas mídias tradicionais e na web. Preocupações como cozinhar em casa ou pedir alimentos por aplicativo (apps), saúde, realizar compras pelo ­e-commerce ou trabalhar em casa, passaram a fazer parte do cotidiano das famílias. A falta de alguns itens, filas e restrições nos supermercados, e as disputas externas por itens alimentícios também foram noticiados. Nessa perspectiva, buscou-se analisar as implicações iniciais da pandemia no agronegócio, por meio das notícias numa mídia brasileira. Para isso, realizou-se a coleta de reportagens sobre o agronegócio e o Covid-19 datados no início da pandemia, no portal do Jornal Folha de São Paulo (FSP), na internet. Foram obtidas 184 notícias, cujo conteúdo foi analisado com auxílio do software QDA Miner. Observou-se que os principais tópicos tratados nas publicações da FSP, nesse período inicial da pandemia, estavam relacionados ao mercado externo, a pobreza e ao preço dos alimentos. Abstract: The emergence of Covid-19 has significantly changed the news broadcast in traditional media and on the web. Concerns such as cooking at home or ordering food through apps, health, shopping on e-commerce, or working from home became part of everyday life for families. Shortages of some items, queues and restrictions at supermarkets, and outside disputes over food items were also reported. From this perspective, we sought to analyze the initial implications of the pandemic on agribusiness through the news in a Brazilian media outlet. To this end, the collection of news reports on agribusiness and Covid-19 dating from the beginning of the pandemic was carried out in the internet portal of the newspaper Folha de São Paulo (FSP). We obtained 184 news reports, whose content was analyzed with the help of the QDA Miner software. It was observed that the main themes addressed in the FSP publications, in this initial period of the pandemic, were related to the foreign market, poverty and food prices.