Publications by authors named "A Menini"
Weight loss is a common early sign in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients and negatively correlates with survival. In different cancers and metabolic disorders, high levels of serum growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) contribute to a decrease of food intake and body weight, acting through GDNF family receptor alpha-like (GFRAL). Here we report that GDF15 is highly expressed in the peripheral blood of ALS patients and in the hSOD1 mouse model and that GFRAL is upregulated in the brainstem of hSOD1 mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is common in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps (CRSsNP), but research on this group is limited compared to those with nasal polyps (CRSwNP).
- A study of 97 CRSsNP patients and 97 healthy controls showed that a significant percentage (28.4%) of CRSsNP patients had OD at the start, with their sense of smell being significantly worse than the controls.
- After endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS), 37% of patients reported meaningful improvements in their olfactory function, but the overall prevalence of OD in this group remained low and improvements were limited compared to results seen in CRSwNP patients.
Article Synopsis
- The sympathetic nervous system enhances sensory detection and prepares organs for alertness, influencing how we sense our environment.
- The study focused on noradrenaline (NA) and its effect on vomeronasal sensory neurons (VSNs), which are crucial for sensing pheromones and other chemical signals.
- Findings revealed that NA boosts the activity of VSNs through alpha 1 adrenergic receptors, indicating a significant role of NA in regulating sensory processing and the connection between the sympathetic system and chemosensation.
Mammalian olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) generate an odorant-induced response by sequentially activating two ion channels, which are in their ciliary membranes. First, a cationic, Ca-permeable cyclic nucleotide-gated channel is opened following odorant stimulation via a G protein-coupled transduction cascade and an ensuing rise in cAMP. Second, the increase in ciliary Ca opens the excitatory Ca-activated Cl channel TMEM16B, which carries most of the odorant-induced receptor current.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Olfactory loss (OL) has emerged as one of the most prevalent and debilitating symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection and long-COVID-19. The present prospective observational study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of olfactory training (OT) on orthonasal and retronasal olfactory function in a cohort of individuals with persistent post-COVID-19 OL.
Methodology: Participants with post-COVID-19 olfactory impairment underwent 4 months of OT, self-assessing their smell perception and undergoing comprehensive psychophysical evaluation of orthonasal and retronasal olfaction at baseline and after training.