ATTRv amyloidosis Italian Registry: clinical and epidemiological data.

Introduction: ATTRv amyloidosis is worldwide spread with endemic foci in Portugal and Sweden, Japan, Brazil, Maiorca, and Cyprus. A national Registry was developed to characterise the epidemiology and genotype-phenotype correlation of ATTRv amyloidosis in Italy and to allow a better planning of diagnostic and therapeutic services.

Methods: Fifteen Italian referral centres for amyloidosis spread all over the country have contributed to the Registry.

Functional Evaluation of Olfactory Pathways in Living Xenopus Tadpoles.

Xenopus tadpoles offer a unique platform to investigate the function of the nervous system. They provide multiple experimental advantages, such as accessibility to numerous imaging approaches, electrophysiological techniques and behavioral assays. The Xenopus tadpole olfactory system is particularly well suited to investigate the function of synapses established during normal development or reformed after injury.

Tight temporal coupling between synaptic rewiring of olfactory glomeruli and the emergence of odor-guided behavior in Xenopus tadpoles.

Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) are chemoreceptors that establish excitatory synapses within glomeruli of the olfactory bulb. OSNs undergo continuous turnover throughout life, causing the constant replacement of their synaptic contacts. Using Xenopus tadpoles as an experimental system to investigate rewiring of glomerular connectivity, we show that novel OSN synapses can transfer information immediately after formation, mediating olfactory-guided behavior.