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Background Delays in learning skills have been extensively reported for very preterm children. However, few studies have examined academic achievement profiles in Italian preterm children as a function of their neonatal immaturity. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed that included 82 healthy Italian children born very and extremely preterm (without major neurosensory outcomes; IQ ≥85). Children were evaluated for academic and neurocognitive performances at the second cycle of primary school. Results Healthy preterm children showed on average academic and neurocognitive profiles that did not differ according to gestational age. Impairment was seen to one or more learning domains in 14.6% of the healthy preterm children. Conclusions Italian children born very and extremely preterm without major neurosensory damage and/or cognitive delay showed on average learning and neurocognitive profiles within the normal range, regardless of gestational age. Nevertheless, they showed higher proportions of learning impairment than a normative Italian population during their final years of primary school. Healthcare providers should be aware of this result, and long-term surveillance should be organized to promptly identify those children who are in need of therapeutic intervention.

Aging is a major risk factor for many neurological disorders and is associated with dural lymphatic dysfunction. We sought to evaluate the association of aging with the volume of the peri-sinus lymphatic space using contrast-enhanced 3T T1-weighted black-blood magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

In this retrospective study, 165 presumed neurologically normal subjects underwent brain MRIs for cancer staging between April and November 2018. The parasagittal peri-sinus lymphatic space was evaluated using contrast-enhanced 3D T1-weighted black-blood MRIs, and volumes were measured with semiautomatic method. We compared the volumes of normalized peri-sinus lymphatic spaces between the elderly (≥65 years,

= 72) and non-elderly (

= 93) groups and performed multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess if aging is independently associated with the volume of normalized peri-sinus lymphatic spaces.

The normalized peri-sinus lymphatic space volume was significantly higher in the elderly than in the non-elderly (mean, 3323 ± 758.7 mL vs. 2968.7 ± 764.3 mL,

= 0.047). After adjusting the intracranial volume, age age was the strongest factor independently associated with peri-sinus lymphatic space volume (β coefficient, 28.4 (5.7-51.2),

= 0.015) followed by male sex (β coefficient, 672.4 (113.5-1230.8),

= 0.019).

We found that the peri-sinus dural lymphatic space volume was higher in the elderly group than in the non-elderly group, and the increased peri-sinus lymphatic space was independently associated with aging. These findings indicate that the peri-sinus lymphatic space may be related with the aging process and lymphatic system dysfunction as well.

We found that the peri-sinus dural lymphatic space volume was higher in the elderly group than in the non-elderly group, and the increased peri-sinus lymphatic space was independently associated with aging. These findings indicate that the peri-sinus lymphatic space may be related with the aging process and lymphatic system dysfunction as well.Growing up in vulnerable conditions has an impact on children and adolescents' mental health and well-being outcomes. However, this evidence has rarely been obtained in middle and low-income countries like Guatemala, where food insecurity and exposure to violence frequently threaten childhood development. The aim of this study was to analyse the relations that sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors have with psychological adjustment of low-socioeconomic status (SES) Guatemalan children and adolescents, and how these relations were mediated by food insecurity and exposure to violence. A total of 185 participants (50.8% girls; aged between 6 to 17, M = 11.82, SD = 3.7) from three vulnerable schools located in rural and urban areas of Guatemala were assessed. The results indicated that exposure to violence significantly moderates the effect of sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables in measures of depression, anxiety and health-related quality of life. Adolescents more exposed to violence reported higher levels of depression and anxiety, as well as lower levels of health-related quality of life. In contrast, food insecurity did not seem to influence psychological adjustment outcomes in this low-SES sample. These findings highlight the relevance of exposure to violence for mental health and well-being, and is a factor that should be considered when designing public health policies to promote children and adolescents' welfare.The aim of the study was to estimate the dietary exposure to acrylamide (AA) from the consumption of various processed food and to assess the associated health risks in different age groups in Korea. Potato crisps and French fries presented the highest mean levels of AA (546 and 372 μg/kg, respectively) followed by coffee (353 μg/kg) and tea products (245 μg/kg). The mean AA dietary exposure values for toddlers (≤2 years), children (3-6 years), children (7-12 years), adolescents (13-19 years), adults (20-64 years), and seniors (≥65 years) were estimated to be 0.15, 0.13, 0.06, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.06 μg/kg body weight (BW)/day, respectively. Based on the benchmark dose lower confidence limit (BMDL10) of 0.18 and 0.31 mg/kg BW/day, the calculated mean and 95th percentile values for the margin of exposure were below 10,000 for the all age groups suggesting possible health concern for Koreans. Biscuits, crisps, and coffee were the primary foods contributing to dietary AA exposure among these in the Korean populations. In children, considering the health risk of AA dietary exposure, especially from biscuits and crisps, there is a need to further control and modify dietary habits to ensure lower AA exposure.The Ppz enzymes are Ser/Thr protein phosphatases present only in fungi that are characterized by a highly conserved C-terminal catalytic region, related to PP1c phosphatases, and a more divergent N-terminal extension. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Ppz phosphatases are encoded by two paralog genes, PPZ1 and PPZ2. Ppz1 is the most toxic protein when overexpressed in budding yeast, halting cell proliferation, and this effect requires its phosphatase activity. We show here that, in spite of their conserved catalytic domain, Ppz2 was not toxic when tested under the same conditions as Ppz1, albeit Ppz2 levels were somewhat lower. Remarkably, a hybrid protein composed of the N-terminal extension of Ppz1 and the catalytic domain of Ppz2 was as toxic as Ppz1, even if its expression level was comparable to that of Ppz2. Similar amounts of yeast PP1c (Glc7) produced an intermediate effect on growth. Mutation of the Ppz1 myristoylable Gly2 to Ala avoided the localization of the phosphatase at the cell periphery but only slightly attenuated its toxicity. Therefore, the N-terminal extension of Ppz1 plays a key role in defining Ppz1 toxicity. This region is predicted to be intrinsically disordered and contains several putative folding-upon-binding regions which are absent in Ppz2 and might be relevant for toxicity.The RAS mutations are the most frequently occurring somatic mutations in humans, and several studies have established that T cells from patients with RAS-mutant cancer recognize and kill RAS-mutant cells. Enhancing the T cell response via therapeutic cancer vaccination against mutant RAS results in a clinical benefit to patients; thus, T cells specific to RAS mutations are effective at battling cancer. As the theory of cancer immuno-editing indicates that healthy donors may clear malignantly transformed cells via immune-mediated killing, and since T cells have been shown to recognize RAS-mutant cancer cells, we investigated whether healthy donors harbor T-cell responses specific to mutant RAS. We identified strong and frequent responses against several epitopes derived from the RAS codon 12 and codon 13 mutations. Some healthy donors demonstrated a response to several mutant epitopes, and some, but not all, exhibited cross-reactivity to the wild-type RAS epitope. In addition, several T cell responses were identified against mutant RAS epitopes in healthy donors directly ex vivo. Clones against mutant RAS epitopes were established from healthy donors, and several of these clones did not cross-react with the wild-type epitope. Finally, CD45RO+ memory T cells from healthy donors demonstrated a strong response to several mutant RAS epitopes. Taken together, these data suggest that the immune system in healthy donors spontaneously clears malignantly transformed RAS-mutant cells, and the immune system consequently generates T-cell memory against the mutations.Coronaviruses are able to establish persistence. However, how coronaviruses react to persistence and whether the selected viruses have altered their characteristics remain unclear. In this study, we found that the persistent infection of bovine coronavirus (BCoV), which is in the same genus as SARS-COV-2, led to alterations of genome structure, attenuation of gene expression, and the synthesis of subgenomic mRNA (sgmRNA) with a previously unidentified pattern. Subsequent analyses revealed that the altered genome structures were associated with the attenuation of gene expression. In addition, the genome structure at the 5' terminus and the cellular environment during the persistence were responsible for the sgmRNA synthesis, solving the previously unanswered question regarding the selection of transcription regulatory sequence for synthesis of BCoV sgmRNA 12.7. Although the BCoV variants (BCoV-p95) selected under the persistence replicated efficiently in cells without persistent infection, its pathogenicity was still lower than that of wild-type (wt) BCoV. Furthermore, in comparison with wt BCoV, the variant BCoV-p95 was not able to efficiently adapt to the challenges of alternative environments, suggesting wt BCoV is genetically robust. We anticipate that the findings derived from this fundamental research can contribute to the disease control and treatments against coronavirus infection including SARS-CoV-2.Particular attention is paid to biodegradable materials from the environmental point of view and antimicrobial materials that ensure the microbiological safety of packaged products. The aim of the work was to study the properties of the composition, based on biodegradable polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) and the antimicrobial additive-birch bark extract (BBE). Test samples of materials were obtained on the laboratory extruder by extrusion with ultrasonic treatment of the melt. The concentration of the antimicrobial additive in the polymer matrix was 1 wt %. A complex research was carried out to study the structural, physico-mechanical characteristics, antimicrobial properties and biodegradability of the modified PBAT. Comparative assessment of the physico-mechanical characteristics of samples based on PBAT showed that the strength and elongation at break indices slightly decrease when the ultrasonic treatment of the melt is introduced. It was found out, that the antimicrobial additive in the composition of the polymer matrix at the concentration of 1 wt % has a static effect on the development of microorganisms on the surface of the studied modified films.