In this study the effectiveness of an equine-assisted therapy (EAT) in improving adaptive and executive functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was examined (children attending ...EAT, n = 15, control group n = 13; inclusion criteria: IQ > 70). Therapeutic sessions consisted in structured activities involving horses and included both work on the ground and riding. Results indicate an improvement in social functioning in the group attending EAT (compared to the control group) and a milder effect on motor abilities. Improved executive functioning was also observed (i.e. reduced planning time in a problem-solving task) at the end of the EAT program. Our findings provide further support for the use of animal-assisted intervention programs as complementary intervention strategies for children with ASD.
The maturational patterns of ‘tracéalternant’ (TA) and sleep spindles obtained from 16 early detected phenylketonuric (PKU) children during their first months of life were compared with others that ...were evaluated in recordings taken from 42 controls of the same age group. The TA maturation evolved significantly later in the PKU group than in the control group during the 5th–8th week (the TA score for the PKU group was 64% vs. 10% in the control group,
P < 0.001). Afterwards, during the 9th–12th week the score for the PKU group was 27% vs. 0% in the controls (
P < 0.002). The sleep spindle evolution score also matured significantly later in the PKU than the control group: the score was 31% in PKU children vs. 85% in controls for the 5th–8th week of age (
P < 0.01), and it was 66% vs. 96% for the 9th–12th week (
P < 0.02). After the 12th week, TA pattern could not be detected, and spindles reached complete maturation in the PKU children as well. Our results show a consistent delay in the maturation of TA and spindle scores in PKU children. This trend of delay is parallel to the plasma phenylalanine normalization, but not necessarily dependent only on it. In conclusion, we suggest that studies on the critical maturational periods of different sleep components (TA and sleep spindles) might provide a sensitive tool for early diagnosis of neurophysiological brain alterations during the first trimester of life in a population of children ‘at risk’.
Experimental evidence suggests that environmental stress conditions can alter the expression of BDNF and that the expression of this neurotrophin influences behavioural responses in mammalian models. ...It has been recently demonstrated that exposure to 34 °C for 21 days alters the brain proteome and behaviour in zebrafish. The aim of this work was to investigate the role of BDNF in the nervous system of adult zebrafish under control and heat treatment conditions. For this purpose, zebrafish from three different genotypes (wild type, heterozygous BDNF
and knock out BDNF
) were kept for 21 days at 26 °C or 34 °C and then euthanized for brain molecular analyses or subjected to behavioural tests (Y-maze test, novel tank test, light and dark test, social preference test, mirror biting test) for assessing behavioural aspects such as boldness, anxiety, social preference, aggressive behaviour, interest for the novel environment and exploration. qRT-PCR analysis showed the reduction of gene expression of BDNF and its receptors after heat treatment in wild type zebrafish. Moreover, proteomic analysis and behavioural tests showed genotype- and temperature-dependent effects on brain proteome and behavioural responding. Overall, the absent expression of BDNF in KO alters (1) the brain proteome by reducing the expression of proteins involved in synapse functioning and neurotransmitter-mediated transduction; (2) the behaviour, which can be interpreted as bolder and less anxious and (3) the cellular and behavioural response to thermal treatment.
We present a data set on the biodiversity of Italian freshwaters, including lakeshores and riverbanks of natural (N=379: springs, streams and lakes) and artificial (N=11: fountains) sites. The data ...set belongs partly to the Italian Long Term Ecological Research network (LTER-Italy) and partly to LifeWatch, the European e-Science infrastructure for biodiversity and ecosystem research. The data included cover a time period corresponding to the last fifty years (1962-2014). They span a large number of taxa from prokaryotes and unicellular eukaryotes to vertebrates and plants, including taxa linked to the aquatic habitat in at least part of their life cycles (like immature stages of insects, amphibians, birds and vascular plants). The data set consists of 6463 occurrence data and distribution records for 1738 species. The complete data set is available in csv file format via the LifeWatch Service Centre.
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