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The behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a frequent cause of early-onset dementia. The diagnosis of bvFTD remains challenging because of the limited accuracy of neuroimaging in the early disease stages and the absence of molecular biomarkers, and therefore relies predominantly on clinical assessment. BvFTD shows significant symptomatic overlap with non-degenerative primary psychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorders and even personality disorders. To date, ∼50% of patients with bvFTD receive a prior psychiatric diagnosis, and average diagnostic delay is up to 5-6 years from symptom onset. It is also not uncommon for patients with primary psychiatric disorders to be wrongly diagnosed with bvFTD. The Neuropsychiatric International Consortium for Frontotemporal Dementia was recently established to determine the current best clinical practice and set up an international collaboration to share a common dataset for future research. The goal of the present paper was to review the existing literature on the diagnosis of bvFTD and its differential diagnosis with primary psychiatric disorders to provide consensus recommendations on the clinical assessment. A systematic literature search with a narrative review was performed to determine all bvFTD-related diagnostic evidence for the following topics: bvFTD history taking, psychiatric assessment, clinical scales, physical and neurological examination, bedside cognitive tests, neuropsychological assessment, social cognition, structural neuroimaging, functional neuroimaging, CSF and genetic testing. For each topic, responsible team members proposed a set of minimal requirements, optimal clinical recommendations, and tools requiring further research or those that should be developed. Recommendations were listed if they reached a ≥ 85% expert consensus based on an online survey among all consortium participants. New recommendations include performing at least one formal social cognition test in the standard neuropsychological battery for bvFTD. We emphasize the importance of 3D-T1 brain MRI with a standardized review protocol including validated visual atrophy rating scales, and to consider volumetric analyses if available. We clarify the role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET for the exclusion of bvFTD when normal, whereas non-specific regional metabolism abnormalities should not be over-interpreted in the case of a psychiatric differential diagnosis. We highlight the potential role of serum or CSF neurofilament light chain to differentiate bvFTD from primary psychiatric disorders. Finally, based on the increasing literature and clinical experience, the consortium determined that screening for C9orf72 mutation should be performed in all possible/probable bvFTD cases or suspected cases with strong psychiatric features.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability worldwide. The decision-making process in the management of severe TBI must be based on the best available evidence to minimize the occurrence of secondary brain injuries. However, healthcare approaches to managing TBI patients exhibit considerable variation. Methods: Over an 18-month period, a multidisciplinary panel consisting of medical doctors, physiotherapists, nutritional therapists, and nurses performed a comprehensive review on various subtopics concerning TBI. The panel identified primary questions to be addressed using the Population, Intervention, Control, and Outcome (PICO) format and applied the Evidence to Decision (EtD) framework criteria for evaluating interventions. Subsequently, the panel formulated recommendations for the management of severe TBI in children. Results: Fourteen evidence-based recommendations have been devised for the management of severe TBI in children, covering nine topics, including imaging studies, neuromonitoring, prophylactic anticonvulsant use, hyperosmolar therapy, sedation and analgesia, mechanical ventilation strategies, nutritional therapy, blood transfusion, and decompressive craniectomy. For each topic, the panel provided clinical recommendations and identified research priorities. Conclusions: This review offers evidence-based strategies aimed to guide practitioners in the care of children who suffer from severe TBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In plants, L‐serine (Ser) biosynthesis occurs through various pathways and is highly dependent on the atmospheric CO2 concentration, especially in C3 species, due to the association of the Glycolate Pathway of Ser Biosynthesis (GPSB) with photorespiration. Characterization of a second plant Ser pathway, the Phosphorylated Pathway of Ser Biosynthesis (PPSB), revealed that it is at the crossroads of carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur metabolism. The PPSB comprises three sequential reactions catalysed by 3‐phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PGDH), 3‐phosphoSer aminotransferase (PSAT) and 3‐phosphoSer phosphatase (PSP). PPSB was overexpressed in plants exhibiting two different modes of photosynthesis: Arabidopsis (C3 metabolism), and maize (C4 metabolism), under ambient (aCO2) and elevated (eCO2) CO2 growth conditions. Overexpression in Arabidopsis of the PGDH1 gene alone or PGDH1, PSAT1 and PSP1 in combination increased the Ser levels but also the essential amino acids threonine (aCO2), isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, threonine and methionine (eCO2) compared to the wild‐type. These increases translated into higher protein levels. Likewise, starch levels were also increased in the PPSB‐overexpressing lines. In maize, PPSB‐deficient lines were obtained by targeting PSP1 using Cas9 endonuclease. We concluded that the expression of PPSB in maize male gametophyte is required for viable pollen development. Maize lines overexpressing the AtPGDH1 gene only displayed higher protein levels but not starch at both aCO2 and eCO2 conditions, this translated into a significant rise in the nitrogen/carbon ratio. These results suggest that metabolic engineering of PPSB in crops could enhance nitrogen content, particularly under upcoming eCO2 conditions where the activity of GPSB is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Retos: Nuevas Perspectivas de Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación is the property of Federacion Espanola de Asociaciones de Docentes de Educacion Fisica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the structural characteristics, yield and water use efficiency of forage cactus under daytime and nighttime irrigation in a Brazilian semiarid region. The experiment followed a completely randomized design in a 3 × 2 factorial scheme, with ten replications: three clones of forage cactus ("IPA Sertânia"—IPA, "Miúda"—MIU, "Orelha de Elefante Mexicana"—OEM) and two irrigation schedules (daytime and nighttime). Irrigation was applied once a week using a graduated cylinder. The structural characteristics (i.e., plant height and width, total number of cladode—TNC; cladode number per emergence order—CN1, CN2 and CN3; cladode area—CA; cladode area index—CAI), productive characteristics (fresh mass production per plant—FM and dry mass—DM) and water use efficiency (WUEFM and WUEDM) were obtained from the plant harvests. Our results showed that the irrigation schedules did not lead to significant differences in most of the response variables (p > 0.05), except for the TNC (13.2 und), CN2 (7.4 und) and CAI (1.58 m2 m−2) of MIU. It was observed that OEM presented the highest yield, WUEFM and WUEDM (p < 0.05). Adopting the OEM clone, regardless of the irrigation schedule, is the strategy that achieves the best production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)