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The hippocampal formation is considered essential for spatial navigation. In particular, subicular projections have been suggested to carry spatial information from the hippocampus to the ventral striatum. However, possible cross-structural communication between these two brain regions in memory formation has thus far been unknown. By selectively silencing the subiculum–ventral striatum pathway we found that its activity after learning is crucial for spatial memory consolidation and learning-induced plasticity. These results provide new insight into the neural circuits underlying memory consolidation and establish a critical role for off-line cross-regional communication between hippocampus and ventral striatum to promote the storage of complex information. Spatial information is passed from the hippocampus via the subiculum to the ventral striatum. Here, the authors show that inhibiting this projection after spatial learning disrupts learning induced plasticity and spatial memory consolidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blue wine, recently appeared on the French market, is part of the effort made by winemakers in creating new and attractive wine, while maintaining traditional manufacturing processes. According to the labels on the bottles, the blue wine prides itself on being a natural wine, whose blue color is also obtained in a natural way by means of a very particular wine-making process. This study reports first analyses carried out on two blue wines to determine the origin of the blue color. The results show that a well-known coloring food additive was used in the wine and identified as Brilliant Blue FCF by UV–Vis spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The amounts of Brilliant Blue FCF were assessed in the two wines by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to UV–Vis spectroscopy and found to be 8.62 ± 0.04 mg L−1 and 5.46 ± 0.01 mg L−1 in Vindigo and Imajyne wines, respectively. Such addition was, however, not specified by the winemakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background  Population‐based surveys on the quality of life of people with Down syndrome (DS) are difficult to perform because of ethical and legal policies regarding privacy and confidential information, but they are essential for service planning. Little is known about the sample size and variability of quality of life of people with DS living in the city of Rome, which has a population of 2.7 million inhabitants. The aim of the present study is to explore the needs and challenges in health, social integration and daily life, of people with DS living in Rome. Methodology  A cross‐sectional, census‐based survey was conducted in 2006. All family doctors (3016 in total) of the National Health Service were involved by the Statistical Bureau of the Municipality of Rome. As per the census, every resident citizen is registered with a family doctor and every person with disabilities is coded. Associations for Down Syndrome encouraged their members to participate in the research. Questionnaires were completed by families of people with DS, in accordance with privacy laws. Findings  An initial survey, conducted via a letter and a telephone contact with family doctors, identified 884 people with DS residing in the city of Rome. Data on the medical and social conditions of 518 people with DS, ranging in age from 0 to 64 years, were collected. Some 88% of these were living with their original family; 82.1% had one or more siblings, and 19.5% had lost one or both parents. A full 100% of children with DS were enrolled in the public school system. This ensures that they are fully occupied and entirely integrated in society. After secondary school there is a lack of opportunities. Thus, only 10% of adults were working with a regular contract. A mere 42.2% of people with DS aged 25–30 were involved in some form of regular activity (although not always on a daily basis). After the age of 30, the percentage of people demonstrating decline in function increased sharply, while disability‐related support decreased. In other words, as people with DS age, daily life evolves increasingly around the home, with only occasional outdoor activities. Conclusion  The health, employment and social needs of the majority of people with DS in the city of Rome are not being met. The findings of this study underscore the urgent need for more comprehensive inclusion in society of adults with DS and for the provision of support services to create an enabling environment for inclusion. Because of the variability of performance among individuals with DS, there is a need to create more case‐specific options in terms of work, living arrangements, social networking and medical services. Schooling and social inclusion in childhood alone do not guarantee a satisfactory quality of life in adulthood. It is argued herewith that policy of inclusion and support should extend over the entire lifetime of people with DS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called ‘Tunguska Event’ refers to a major explosion that occurred on 30 June 1908 in the Tunguska region of Siberia, causing the destruction of over 2000 km2 of taiga, globally detected pressure and seismic waves, and bright luminescence in the night skies of Europe and Central Asia, combined with other unusual phenomena. The ‘Tunguska Event’ may be related to the impact with the Earth of a cosmic body that exploded about 5–10 km above ground, releasing in the atmosphere 10–15 Mton of energy. Fragments of the impacting body have never been found, and its nature (comet or asteroid) is still a matter of debate. We report results from the investigation of Lake Cheko, located ∼8 km NNW of the inferred explosion epicenter. Its funnel-like bottom morphology and the structure of its sedimentary deposits, revealed by acoustic imagery and direct sampling, all suggest that the lake fills an impact crater. Lake Cheko may have formed due to a secondary impact onto alluvial swampy ground; the size and shape of the crater may have been affected by the nature of the ground and by impact-related melting and degassing of a permafrost layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nitrate-reductase (NR) defective cell lines of Nicotiana plumbaginifolia isolated in our laboratory could not be regenerated into plants on the standard medium (Márton et al. 1982 a). The normal regeneration potential, however, was restored in somatic hybrids obtained by fusing the NR (green) lines with a pigment deficient (P), but NR line, A28. Somatic hybrid plants were fertile in two combinations (A28 + NA9 and A28 + NX9). As expected, segregation for NR and P was found after selfing the somatic F1 (SF1) obtained by protoplast fusion, and in the F2. The variable segregation ratios are explained by chromosome abnormalities. Co-segregation of the NR phenotype and the altered response to shoot induction on standard medium suggest the involvement of the nitrate-assimilatory pathway in determining shoot regeneration ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct gene transfer into plant protoplasts has been recently developed, and conditions for high frequency transformation of SR tobacco protoplasts established. In this paper we analyse numerous transformation parameters in a comparative study on SR Nicotiana tabacum and N. plumbaginifolia, and report on a simple chemical technique for very efficient protoplast transformation. It is based on the synergistic interaction of MgCl and PEG. The technique yielded up to 1400 transformants per 3×10 treated N. tabacum protoplasts (up to 4.8% of the survivors, late selected clones). Using N. plumbaginifolia, the frequencies were 10-fold lower, indicating that the 'competence' for transformation has a species-specific component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One hundred and forty-five children aged 3 months to 11.5 years, with rectal temperatures greater than 38.9°C, were randomly treated with aspirin 5, 10 or 15 mg/kg p.o. Temperatures were recorded just before medication, every 30 min thereafter for 4 h and subsequently hourly up to 6 h. In all dosage regimens the average temperature was significantly reduced in the time interval 1-6 h after drug administration; the antipyretic effect, however, was significantly greater with the 10 and 15 mg/kg doses. Both had significantly better and comparable clinical efficacy, defined as reduction in fever below 38.9°C. The duration of the clinical effect was not dose-related. A dose of 10 mg/kg appears rational for the treatment of children with fever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]