Child-Hayling test for French school-aged children: psychometric properties and normative data.

The Hayling Completion Sentence Test (HSCT) is dedicated to assess inhibition of the dominant response and includes two conditions, an automatic condition in which the participants are asked to complete sentences properly and an inhibition condition in which the participants were asked to produce a word completely unrelated to the sentence. The aim of our study was 1) to adapt, 2) to evaluate the psychometric properties and 3) to standardize the HSCT into a French-school-aged pediatric population. We developed the Child-Hayling Test, a child adaptation of the adult French version of the HSCT.

Towards cost-effective drug discovery: Reusable immobilized enzymes for neurological disease research.

Enzyme handling and utilization bears many challenges such as their limited stability, intolerance of organic solvents, high cost, or inability to reuse. Most of these limitations can be overcome by enzyme immobilization on the surface of solid support. In this work, the recombinant form of human cholinesterases and monoamine oxidases as important drug targets for neurological diseases were immobilized on the surface of magnetic non-porous microparticles by a non-covalent bond utilizing the interaction between a His-tag terminus on the recombinant enzymes and cobalt (Co) ions immobilized on the magnetic microparticles.

The biophysical and compositional properties of human basement membranes.

Basement membranes are among the most widespread, non-cellular functional materials in metazoan organisms. Despite this ubiquity, the links between their compositional and biophysical properties are often difficult to establish due to their thin and delicate nature. In this article, we examine these features on a molecular level by combining results from proteomics, elastic, and nanomechanical analyses across a selection of human basement membranes.

Evidence of a positive effect of verbal cumulative rehearsal on serial order working memory, as early as 4 years old.

The use of a verbal rehearsal strategy (repeating the items to be remembered to oneself in serial order) has been identified as a key factor in explaining working memory (WM) development. However, the debate remains open with regard to the age at which children are able to use it, and the actual benefits of using such a strategy. Numerous methodological constraints to identify WM strategies limit the interpretation of current findings reported in the literature.

Nanolattice-Forming Hybrid Collagens in Protective Shark Egg Cases.

Nanoscopic structural control with long-range ordering remains a profound challenge in nanomaterial fabrication. The nanoarchitectured egg cases of elasmobranchs rely on a hierarchically ordered latticework for their protective function─serving as an exemplary system for nanoscale self-assembly. Although the proteinaceous precursors are known to undergo intermediate liquid crystalline phase transitions before being structurally arrested in the final nanolattice architecture, their sequences have so far remained unknown.

Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-Bisphosphate Binding to Amphiphysin-II Modulates T-Tubule Remodeling: Implications for Heart Failure.

BIN1 (amphyphysin-II) is a structural protein involved in T-tubule (TT) formation and phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) is responsible for localization of BIN1 to sarcolemma. The goal of this study was to determine if PIP2-mediated targeting of BIN1 to sarcolemma is compromised during the development of heart failure (HF) and is responsible for TT remodeling. Immunohistochemistry showed co-localization of BIN1, Cav1.

Perceptions of Weight Loss in Older Adults Following a 6-Month Weight Loss Program: A Qualitative Research Study.

Background: Obesity in older adults contributes to increasing comorbidities and decreased quality of life. There is limited research that includes older adults' perspectives on weight loss.

Objective: The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain a better understanding of older adults' perceptions and experiences related to weight loss immediately after a 6-month weight loss intervention.

Prosocial lying in children between 4 and 11 years of age: The role of emotional understanding and empathy.

This study examined whether emotional understanding and empathy were predictors of prosocial lying in children aged 4 to 11 years. A total of 144 children participated in the study. To assess children's prosocial lying, we used the Helping Scenario, a classical experimental paradigm that allows children to lie to help others at their own expense.

The human Descemet's membrane and lens capsule: Protein composition and biomechanical properties.

The Descemet's membrane (DM) and the lens capsule (LC) are two ocular basement membranes (BMs) that are essential in maintaining stability and structure of the cornea and lens. In this study, we investigated the proteomes and biomechanical properties of these two materials to uncover common and unique properties. We also screened for possible protein changes during diabetes.

FANCat: French affective norms for ten emotional categories.

The present study develops key research for French word norms that combines the predominant theories of dimensional and discrete (or categorical) emotions. As a result, we provide the database FANCat, affective norms for a set of 1031 French words on ten discrete emotion categories: fear, anger, disgust, sadness, anxiety, awe, excitement, contentment, amusement, and serenity. FANCat complements a previous word set, FAN, which provides only the dimensional norms, valence, and arousal (Monnier & Syssau, 2014).

Growth references for weight, height, and body mass index for Ecuadorian children and adolescents aged 5-19 years.

Introduction: The assessment of growth during childhood and adolescence is a critical component of health care at all levels, but it is also part of nutritional status diagnosis and the timely detection of related conditions. Ecuador lacks national growth references, so it has decided to adopt the international standards proposed by the World Health Organization. The objective of this study was to develop national references for weight, height, and body mass index for children and adolescents.

Whole-body and adipose tissue-specific mechanisms underlying the metabolic effects of fibroblast growth factor 21 in the Siberian hamster.

Objective: Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) has been shown to rapidly lower body weight in the Siberian hamster, a preclinical model of adiposity. This induced negative energy balance mediated by FGF21 is associated with both lowered caloric intake and increased energy expenditure. Previous research demonstrated that adipose tissue (AT) is one of the primary sites of FGF21 action and may be responsible for its ability to increase the whole-body metabolic rate.

In vivo production of psilocybin in E. coli.

Psilocybin, the prodrug of the psychoactive molecule psilocin, has demonstrated promising results in clinical trials for the treatment of addiction, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The development of a psilocybin production platform in a highly engineerable microbe could lead to rapid advances towards the bioproduction of psilocybin for use in ongoing clinical trials. Here, we present the development of a modular biosynthetic production platform in the model microbe, Escherichia coli.

Photoperiodic changes in adiposity increase sensitivity of female Siberian hamsters to systemic VGF derived peptide TLQP-21.

TLQP-21, a peptide encoded by the highly conserved vgf gene, is expressed in neuroendocrine cells and has been the most prominent VGF-derived peptide studied in relation to control of energy balance. The recent discovery that TLQP-21 is the natural agonist for the complement 3a receptor 1 (C3aR1) has revived interest in this peptide as a potential drug target for obesity. We have investigated its function in Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus), a rodent that displays natural seasonal changes in body weight and adiposity as an adaptation to survive winter.

Artificial Lysosomal Platform to Study Nanoparticle Long-term Stability.

Nanoparticles (NPs) possess unique properties useful for designing specific functionalities for biomedi- cal applications. A prerequisite of a safe-by-design and effective use in any biomedical application is to study NP-cell interactions to gain a better understanding of cellular consequences upon exposure. Cellular uptake of NPs results mainly in the localization of NPs in the complex environment of lysosomes, a compartment which can be mimicked by artificial lysosomal fluid.

Intertidal exposure favors the soft-studded armor of adaptive mussel coatings.

The mussel cuticle, a thin layer that shields byssal threads from environmental exposure, is a model among high-performance coatings for being both hard and hyper-extensible. However, despite avid interest in translating its features into an engineered material, the mechanisms underlying this performance are manifold and incompletely understood. To deepen our understanding of this biomaterial, we explore here the ultrastructural, scratch-resistant, and mechanical features at the submicrometer scale and relate our observations to individual cuticular components.

Mimicking the Chemistry of Natural Eumelanin Synthesis: The KE Sequence in Polypeptides and in Proteins Allows for a Specific Control of Nanosized Functional Polydopamine Formation.

The oxidation of dopamine and of other catecholamines leads to the formation of conformal films on the surface of all known materials and to the formation of a precipitate in solution. In some cases, it has been shown that the addition of additives in the dopamine solution, like certain surfactants or polymers, polyelectrolytes, and certain proteins, allows to get polydopamine nanoparticles of controlled size and the concomitant decrease, in an additive/dopamine dependent manner, in film formation on the surface of the reaction beaker. However, the mechanism behind this controlled oxidation and self-assembly of catecholamines is not known.

The nuclear retinoid-related orphan receptor RORα controls circadian thermogenic programming in white fat depots.

The RORα-deficient staggerer (sg/sg) mouse is lean and resistant to diet-induced obesity. Its thermogenic activity was shown to be increased not only in brown adipose tissue (BAT), but also in subcutaneous white adipose tissue (WAT) where UCP1 content was enhanced, however, without Prdm16 coexpression. Our observation of partial multilocular lipid morphology of WAT in sg/sg mice both in the inguinal and perigonadal sites led us to focus on the phenotype of both fat depots.

Assessing the Stability of Fluorescently Encoded Nanoparticles in Lysosomes by Using Complementary Methods.

Nanoparticles (NPs) are promising tools in biomedical research. In vitro testing is still the first method for initial evaluation; however, NP colloidal behavior and integrity, in particular inside cells (that is, in lysosomes), are largely unknown and difficult to evaluate because of the complexity of the environment. Furthermore, while the majority of NPs are usually labeled with fluorescent dyes for tracking purposes, the effect of the lysosomal environment on the fluorophore properties, as well as the ensuing effects on data interpretation, is often only sparsely addressed.

Defective signaling through plexin-A1 compromises the development of the peripheral olfactory system and neuroendocrine reproductive axis in mice.

The olfacto-genital syndrome (Kallmann syndrome) associates congenital hypogonadism due to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) deficiency and anosmia. This is a genetically heterogeneous developmental disease with various modes of transmission, including oligogenic inheritance. Previous reports have involved defective cell signaling by semaphorin-3A in the disease pathogenesis.

FRET-Based Sensors Unravel Activation and Allosteric Modulation of the GABA Receptor.

The main inhibitory neurotransmitter, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), modulates many synapses by activating the G protein-coupled receptor GABA, which is a target for various therapeutic applications. It is an obligatory heterodimer made of GB1 and GB2 that can be regulated by positive allosteric modulators (PAMs). The molecular mechanism of activation of the GABA receptor remains poorly understood.

HTS-compatible FRET-based conformational sensors clarify membrane receptor activation.

Cell surface receptors represent a vast majority of drug targets. Efforts have been conducted to develop biosensors reporting their conformational changes in live cells for pharmacological and functional studies. Although Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) appears to be an ideal approach, its use is limited by the low signal-to-noise ratio.

Affective norms for 720 French words rated by children and adolescents (FANchild).

FANchild (French Affective Norms for Children) provides norms of valence and arousal for a large corpus of French words (N = 720) rated by 908 French children and adolescents (ages 7, 9, 11, and 13). The ratings were made using the Self-Assessment Manikin (Lang, 1980). Because it combines evaluations of arousal and valence and includes ratings provided by 7-, 9-, 11-, and 13-year-olds, this database complements and extends existing French-language databases.

A lock-in-based method to examine the thermal signatures of magnetic nanoparticles in the liquid, solid and aggregated states.

We propose a new methodology based on lock-in thermography to study and quantify the heating power of magnetic nanoparticles. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles exposed to a modulated alternating magnetic field were used as model materials to demonstrate the potency of the system. Both quantitative and qualitative information on their respective heating power was extracted at high thermal resolutions under increasingly complex conditions, including nanoparticles in the liquid, solid and aggregated states.

Optically responsive supramolecular polymer glasses.

The reversible and dynamic nature of non-covalent interactions between the constituting building blocks renders many supramolecular polymers stimuli-responsive. This was previously exploited to create thermally and optically healable polymers, but it proved challenging to achieve high stiffness and good healability. Here we present a glass-forming supramolecular material that is based on a trifunctional low-molecular-weight monomer ((UPyU)3TMP).