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The aim of this article is to offer an integrated translation approach for non-fiction picturebooks by considering different aspects, such as their multimodal character, their target audience and the variety of functions characterizing them, i.e. referential, expressive and humorous. For children, reading complex texts such as picturebooks means enriching their cognitive, esthetic and emotional skills, but also acquiring encyclopedic knowledge and learning lexical items. Within the recent production of children non-fiction picturebooks we can find those explaining emotions, the words defining them and their semantic correlations. This article focuses on Italian children's editions of picturebooks based on emotions, especially on books translated from Spanish. We will analyze the translation approach of Emozionario. Dimmi cosa senti (Italian translation of the Spanish Emocionario. Di lo que sientes by Cristina Núñez Pereira and Rafael R. Valcárcel, 2015, Nord-Sud Edizioni). While being aware of the limitations of medium-constrained translation, we suggest the application of a set of complex translation actions to this type of assignment, i.e. proper documentation, a thorough understanding of the aims of the translated text, awareness of the linguistic and encyclopedic knowledge of the target audience, and the ability of rewriting the target text, in line with where it will be published, as well as with peritextual elements and the iconotext.

One of the main challenges in teaching translation between Spanish and Italian with tourist texts are culture-specific items, both for their referential role – presenting a foreign reality and therefore attractive to the travellers’ eyes– and as functional markers within the communicative context in which they are employed. Although they could be labelled as mere extralinguistic problems since they are related to cultural differences, these culture-specific items might cause other kinds of problems, related to the author’s intention, or depending on the target context and audience of the translated text, i.e. pragmatic problems. So, apart from an exahustive documentation, including out of date bilingual dictionaries –providing, for instance, extended encyclopedic information– and Linguistic Istitutional sites such as Real Academia Española–providing information about neologisms or proper use of anglicisms–, before deciding the right translation strategy for rendering them, we have to take under consideration some other factors, such as the relevance of the culture-specific item and its functions within the specific text employed, as well as the text type and genre, the relationship between the two cultures, etc. In our didactic proposal we present a hybrid text type, the editorial hotel review, written by a travel journalist of El Pais, in which culture-specific words are employed with different purposes and, as a consequence, translation tecniques may vary. Finally, we will underline the relevance of the translator’s "internalised culture" of the language from which he/she translates, as well as his/her intercultural competence who helps to convey the functions of culture-specific items without forgetting the needs of the target audience and always keeping in mind that practical employment of the translated tourist text.

El presente trabajo muestra las etapas y los principales retos de un proyecto de traducción editorial colectiva que, tras su génesis en un contexto universitario, llevó a la publicación italiana de la novela gráfica Tutto quello che non dimenticherai mai del tuo Erasmus (título original en castellano: Cosas que nunca olvidarás de tu Erasmus, Lunwerg, 2015) de Raquel Piñeiro y Amaia Arrazola, editada por la editorial HOP! Edizioni, especializada en cómics. El taller se llevó a cabo dentro del marco de la asignatura de Traducción Directa Español-Italiano del último año del Grado de Mediación Lingüística Intercultural de la Universidad de Bolonia, siendo su principal finalidad el desarrollo de la competencia traductora entendida como proceso dinámico de tipo cognitivo, social, comunicativo e intercultural. Al comienzo de este artículo se verán el enfoque metodológico y la organización del taller en sus distintas fases; a continuación observaremos los principales desafíos relacionados con la traducción del cómic y, en concreto, con este ejemplo de escritura polifónica y estilo polifacético. A nivel traductológico, se analizarán los principales problemas de traducción en relación con el encargo, el público meta y la complejidad del iconotexto, caracterizado por la abundante presencia de culturemas visuales. Por último, se hará hincapié en el bagaje experiencial y en la creatividad de las aprendices, no solo en la resolución de problemas lingüístico-textuales, extralingüísticos y pragmáticos, a lo largo del proceso de trasvase, sino también en la promoción mediática del libro en entrevistas, blogs y eventos no presenciales en las redes sociales.

In questo contributo si presenterà il sottotitolaggio come strumento didattico impiegato nell’insegnamento di traduzione multimediale tra lo spagnolo e l’italiano all’interno del Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Traduzione Specializzata dell’Università di Bologna. Nello specifico, durante il corso gli studenti scelgono, analizzano e sottotitolano in italiano alcune puntate di note serie televisive spagnole, come ad esempio Aquí no hay quien viva, Aída, Con el culo al aire e La que se avecina. Come è noto il sottotitolo si realizza in un ambiente polisemiotico e multicodice; la sua maggiore complessità pertanto è legata alla trasposizione diamesica, vale a dire al passaggio da codice orale a codice scritto. E quando i tratti dell’oralità caratterizzano fortemente i personaggi delle serie, l’ulteriore sfida per i futuri sottotitolatori professionisti è proprio poterne preservare alcuni dei più distintivi anche nel sottotitolo.

En los últimos años, la práctica de la traducción colectiva de obras literarias ha entrado en contextos formativos con el objetivo de familiarizar al aprendiz con todos los pasos previos a la publicación del texto en el mercado editorial de la lengua de llegada. El caso específico que proponemos se centra en la traducción italiana del álbum ilustrado Tu corazón en un cofre (2013), de Rebecca Beltrán y Mercé López. Al tratarse de un proyecto insertado en la programación del curso de traducción del español al italiano del último año del Grado de Mediación Lingúística Intercultural, primero explicaremos los objetivos que implicaba, es decir, el desarrollo de la competencia traductora. Veremos el diseño de la propuesta didáctica, detallando la estructura y las fases de desarrollo, las tareas específicas de cada equipo de estudiantes, etc. Además, nos detendremos en el estudio de las principales características estilísticas de la obra en concreto y del género —álbum ilustrado crossover— dentro del marco de la Literatura Infantil y Juvenil. Propondremos algunos de los principales problemas de traducción de la obra y sus propuestas correspondientes. Y finalmente, veremos cómo la experiencia se concluyó con la publicación y distribución del libro en Italia, ya que una de las tareas suplementarias consistía en redactar y enviar una propuesta de edición a un grupo selecto de editoriales.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by motor impairments caused by degeneration of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. In addition to these symptoms, PD patients often suffer from non-motor comorbidities including sleep and psychiatric disturbances, which are thought to depend on concomitant alterations of serotonergic and noradrenergic transmission. A primary locus of serotonergic neurons is the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), providing brain-wide serotonergic input. Here, we identified electrophysiological and morphological parameters to classify serotonergic and dopaminergic neurons in the murine DRN under control conditions and in a PD model, following striatal injection of the catecholamine toxin, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). Electrical and morphological properties of both neuronal populations were altered by 6-OHDA. In serotonergic neurons, most changes were reversed when 6-OHDA was injected in combination with desipramine, a noradrenaline (NA) reuptake inhibitor, protecting the noradrenergic terminals. Our results show that the depletion of both NA and dopamine in the 6-OHDA mouse model causes changes in the DRN neural circuitry.

Abstract Cell signaling is central to neuronal activity and its dysregulation may lead to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Here, we show that selective genetic potentiation of neuronal ERK signaling prevents cell death in vitro and in vivo in the mouse brain, while attenuation of ERK signaling does the opposite. This neuroprotective effect mediated by an enhanced nuclear ERK activity can also be induced by the novel cell penetrating peptide RB5. In vitro administration of RB5 disrupts the preferential interaction of ERK1 MAP kinase with importinα1/KPNA2 over ERK2, facilitates ERK1/2 nuclear translocation, and enhances global ERK activity. Importantly, RB5 treatment in vivo promotes neuroprotection in mouse models of Huntington's (HD), Alzheimer's (AD), and Parkinson's (PD) disease, and enhances ERK signaling in a human cellular model of HD. Additionally, RB5‐mediated potentiation of ERK nuclear signaling facilitates synaptic plasticity, enhances cognition in healthy rodents, and rescues cognitive impairments in AD and HD models. The reported molecular mechanism shared across multiple neurodegenerative disorders reveals a potential new therapeutic target approach based on the modulation of KPNA2‐ERK1/2 interactions.

Animals often behave repetitively and predictably. These repetitive behaviors can have a component that is learned and ingrained as habits, which can be evolutionarily advantageous as they reduce cognitive load and the expenditure of attentional resources. Repetitive behaviors can also be conscious and deliberate, and may occur in the absence of habit formation, typically when they are a feature of normal development in children, or neuropsychiatric disorders. They can be considered pathological when they interfere with social relationships and daily activities. For instance, people affected by obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, Huntington’s disease and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome can display a wide range of symptoms like compulsive, stereotyped and ritualistic behaviors. The striatum nucleus of the basal ganglia is proposed to act as a master regulator of these repetitive behaviors through its circuit connections with sensorimotor, associative, and limbic areas of the cortex. However, the precise mechanisms within the striatum, detailing its compartmental organization, cellular specificity, and the intricacies of its downstream connections, remain an area of active research. In this review, we summarize evidence across multiple scales, including circuit-level, cellular, and molecular dimensions, to elucidate the striatal mechanisms underpinning repetitive behaviors and offer perspectives on the implicated disorders. We consider the close relationship between behavioral output and transcriptional changes, and thereby structural and circuit alterations, including those occurring through epigenetic processes.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterised by synaptic surplus and atypical functional connectivity. Here, the authors show that synaptic pathology in Tsc2 haploinsufficient mice is associated with autism-like behavior and cortico-striatal hyperconnectivity, and that analogous functional hyperconnectivity signatures can be linked to mTOR-pathway dysfunction in subgroups of children with idiopathic ASD.

The cJun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway has been extensively studied with regard to its involvement in neurodegenerative processes, but little is known about its functions in neurotransmission. In a mouse model of Parkinson's disease (PD), we show that the pharmacological activation of dopamine D1 receptors (D1R) produces a large increase in JNK phosphorylation. This effect is secondary to dopamine depletion, and is restricted to the striatal projection neurons that innervate directly the output structures of the basal ganglia (dSPN). Activation of JNK in dSPN relies on cAMP-induced phosphorylation of the dopamine- and cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein of 32kDa (DARPP-32), but does not require N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor transmission. Electrophysiological experiments on acute brain slices from PD mice show that inhibition of JNK signaling in dSPN prevents the increase in synaptic strength caused by activation of D1Rs. Together, our findings show that dopamine depletion confers to JNK the ability to mediate dopamine transmission, informing the future development of therapies for PD.

Summary: Serotonin-producing neurons profusely innervate brain regions via long-range projections. However, it remains unclear whether and how endogenous serotonergic transmission specifically influences regional or global functional activity. We combined designed receptors exclusively activated by designed drugs (DREADD)-based chemogenetics and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), an approach we term “chemo-fMRI,” to causally probe the brain-wide substrates modulated by endogenous serotonergic activity. We describe the generation of a conditional knockin mouse line that, crossed with serotonin-specific Cre-recombinase mice, allowed us to remotely stimulate serotonergic neurons during fMRI scans. We show that endogenous stimulation of serotonin-producing neurons does not affect global brain activity but results in region-specific activation of a set of primary target regions encompassing corticohippocampal and ventrostriatal areas. By contrast, pharmacological boosting of serotonin levels produced widespread fMRI deactivation, plausibly reflecting the mixed contribution of central and perivascular constrictive effects. Our results identify the primary functional targets of endogenous serotonergic stimulation and establish causation between activation of serotonergic neurons and regional fMRI signals. : Giorgi et al. combined chemogenetics and functional magnetic resonance imaging (chemo-fMRI) to establish causation between serotonin release and regional functional activity. They show that endogenous serotonergic transmission does not affect global brain activity but selectively activates a set of target regions that serve as primary effectors of this modulatory system. Keywords: DREADD, connectivity, clozapine, CNO, CBV, dopamine, citalopram, pharmacokinetics

The functional organization of the dorsal striatum is complex, due to the diversity of neural inputs that converge in this structure and its subdivision into direct and indirect output pathways, striosomes and matrix compartments. Among the neurotransmitters that regulate the activity of striatal projection neurons (SPNs), opioid neuropeptides (enkephalin and dynorphin) play a neuromodulatory role in synaptic transmission and plasticity and affect striatal-based behaviors in both normal brain function and pathological states, including Parkinson's disease (PD). We review recent findings on the cell-type-specific effects of opioidergic neurotransmission in the dorsal striatum, focusing on the maladaptive synaptic neuroadaptations that occur in PD and levodopa-induced dyskinesia. Understanding the plethora of molecular and synaptic mechanisms underpinning the opioid-mediated modulation of striatal circuits is critical for the development of pharmacological treatments that can alleviate motor dysfunctions and hyperkinetic responses to dopaminergic stimulant drugs.

The basal ganglia play a critical role in shaping motor behavior. For this function, the activity of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) of the striatonigral and striatopallidal pathways must be integrated. It remains unclear whether the activity of the two pathways is primarily coordinated by synaptic plasticity mechanisms. Using a model of Parkinson’s disease, we determined the circuit and behavioral effects of concurrently regulating cell-type-specific forms of corticostriatal long-term synaptic depression (LTD) by inhibiting small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels (SKs) of the dorsolateral striatum. At striatopallidal synapses, SK channel inhibition rescued the disease-linked deficits in endocannabinoid (eCB)-dependent LTD. At striatonigral cells, inhibition of these channels counteracted a form of adenosine-mediated LTD by activating the ERK cascade. Interfering with eCB-, adenosine-, and ERK signaling in vivo alleviated motor abnormalities, which supports that synaptic modulation of striatal pathways affects behavior. Thus, our results establish a central role of coordinated synaptic plasticity at MSN subpopulations in motor control.

Current concepts suggest that exposure to THC during adolescence may act as a risk factor for the development of psychiatric disorders later in life. However, the molecular underpinnings of this vulnerability are still poorly understood. To analyze this, we investigated whether and how THC exposure in female rats interferes with different maturational events occurring in the prefrontal cortex during adolescence through biochemical, pharmacological and electrophysiological means. We found that the endocannabinoid system undergoes maturational processes during adolescence and that THC exposure disrupts them, leading to impairment of both endocannabinoid signaling and endocannabinoid-mediated LTD in the adult prefrontal cortex. THC also altered the maturational fluctuations of NMDA subunits, leading to larger amounts of gluN2B at adulthood. Adult animals exposed to THC during adolescence also showed increased AMPA gluA1 with no changes in gluA2 subunits. Finally, adolescent THC exposure altered cognition at adulthood. All these effects seem to be triggered by the disruption of the physiological role played by the endocannabinoid system during adolescence. Indeed, blockade of CB1 receptors from early to late adolescence seems to prevent the occurrence of pruning at glutamatergic synapses. These results suggest that vulnerability of adolescent female rats to long-lasting THC adverse effects might partly reside in disruption of the pivotal role played by the endocannabinoid system in the prefrontal cortex maturation.