Publications by authors named "A Damiani"

The fetal brain is susceptible to programming effects during pregnancy, potentially leading to long-term consequences for offspring's cognitive health. Fructose intake is thought to adversely affect fetal brain development, whereas physical exercise before and during pregnancy may be protective. Therefore, this study aimed to assess biochemical and genotoxic changes in maternal hippocampi and behavioral, genotoxic, and biochemical alterations in offspring hippocampi.

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A century of research established that GABA inhibits proprioceptive inputs presynaptically to sculpt spinal neural inputs into skilled motor output. Recent results in mice challenged this theory by showing that GABA can also facilitate action potential conduction in proprioceptive afferents. Here, we tackle this controversy in monkeys, the most human-relevant animal model, and show that GABA receptors (GABARs) indeed facilitate sensory inputs to spinal motoneurons and interneurons and that this mechanism also influences sensory transmission to supraspinal centers.

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Article Synopsis
  • Targeted electrical stimulation to specific thalamic regions could help patients with epilepsy who can't undergo surgery, but results vary significantly based on how well the stimulation aligns with the brain regions causing seizures.
  • The study focused on three thalamic subnuclei and involved 32 patients to explore the connection between these nuclei and the areas of the brain where seizures start, using advanced imaging and electrophysiological techniques.
  • Results showed that stimulating the properly matched thalamic nuclei effectively reduced seizure activities and frequency, with a 86.5% reduction for those with a specialized neurostimulation system, compared to only 39% effectiveness with standard methods.
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