Development and validation of a luminescence-based, medium-throughput assay for drug screening in Schistosoma mansoni

Schistosomiasis, one of the world's greatest neglected tropical diseases, is responsible for over 280,000 human deaths per annum. Praziquantel, developed in the 1970s, has high efficacy, excellent tolerability, few and transient side effects, simple administration procedures and competitive cost and it is currently the only recommended drug for treatment of human schistosomiasis. The use of a single drug to treat a population of over 200 million infected people appears particularly alarming when considering the threat of drug resistance. Quantitative, objective and validated methods for the screening of compound collections are needed for the discovery of novel anti-schistosomal drugs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The present work describes the development and validation of a luminescence-based, medium-throughput assay for the detection of schistosomula viability through quantitation of ATP, a good indicator of metabolically active cells in culture. This validated method is demonstrated to be fast, highly reliable, sensitive and automation-friendly. The optimized assay was used for the screening of a small compound library on S. mansoni schistosomula, showing that the proposed method is suitable for a medium-throughput semi-automated screening. Interestingly, the pilot screening identified hits previously reported to have some anti-parasitic activity, further supporting the validity of this assay for anthelminthic drug discovery. CONCLUSIONS: The developed and validated schistosomula viability luminescence-based assay was shown to be successful and suitable for the identification of novel compounds potentially exploitable in future schistosomiasis therapies

Guest Editorial: Sustainable growth and development in the food and beverage sector

The main reason for writing this Editorial on the Special Issue 'Sustainable growth and development in the food and beverage sector” is to acknowledge the brilliant contribution of the researchers who have enriched the British Food Journal (BFJ) with their contributions. This Special Issue contributes to the literature on the advancement of technologies and their impact on individuals" behaviours, measures to be taken for environmental protection and green consumption, extends research in the field of sustainable supply chain management, consumer perceptions and reactions to food products and provides various tools to manage individuals" behaviours. Previous studies have already identified changes adapted to the environment. Consumers are becoming increasingly demanding and require their needs to be met as quickly as possible (Baker et al., 2020). The literature also demonstrates the growing interest of digitalization in institutions, even affecting customer consumption (Zhuang et al., 2021). Selby et al. (2021) claim that individuals with low levels of physical activity, poor diet and smoking tend to acquire higher risks on their adaptations. Another issue is the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This has resulted in numerous restrictions in daily life, including social isolation and lack of defined protocols (Jaworski, 2021). Individuals" lifestyles have been modified, and they have had to adapt in order not to spread the virus. According to Ammar et al. (2020), food consumption and eating patterns were characterised as more unhealthy during confinement

Behavioral Change and Social Innovation Through Reward: An Integrated Engagement System for Personal Mobility, Urban Logistics and Housing Efficiency

Abstract A significant role among soft mobility measures to influence people's mobility choices and to raise awareness is played by the provision of targeted information. The integration of user-centered design, social innovation, portable devices, and sensors may have a role in influencing people's choices and consumption patterns. The paper presents two ongoing works that investigate, design and develop tools for valuing people's positive behaviors and rewarding choices in the domain of mobility and energy. The objective of such tools is both to raise people's awareness and to engage it into a collaborative environment, in order to meet a common set of targets. The strategy adopted in both the cases is based on linking "bottom-up" with "top-down" approach, i.e. by making people to behave and to make choices coordinately with decision maker's (i.e. the Public Administration or the Administrator of the system) objectives. The first regards Opti-LOG, a project co-funded by Regione Lombardia under the Smart Cities and Communities program, which concerns last-mile delivery with low emission and zero emission vehicles. The second case regards Sharing Cities, a H2020 project that includes a pilot project in the Municipality of Milano, where the focus is on citizen engagement and behaviors in the domains of personal mobility and energy. The system, by enabling mechanisms of collaboration, sharing and human capital generation, tackles the objectives of lowering energy consumption and promoting sustainable mobility and contributes to the weaving of a more cohesive social tissue

PARTECIPAZIONE E GRADIMENTO DI UN PERCORSO DI ACCOMPAGNAMENTO PSICOLOGICO RIVOLTO ALLE MATRICOLE DELLA FACOLTÀ DI MEDICINA

Obiettivi: valutare la partecipazione e il gradimento delle matricole che aderiscono al “Progetto Accoglienza”, un percorso di accoglienza e accompagnamento psicologico, attivo da quattro anni, presso il Corso di Laurea in Medicina e Chirurgia dell’Università degli Studi di Brescia. Metodo: il percorso si fonda sull’implementazione della figura di studenti senior (tutor), adeguatamente formati e supervisionati da docenti della Sezione di Psicologia Clinica, attraverso l’utilizzo di modalità gruppali, in accordo con specifiche metodologie utilizzate da tempo in psicologia clinica. I tutor fungono da riferimenti rassicuranti e identificatori per le matricole, che a loro volta aderiscono al progetto in modo volontario e ricevono crediti opzionali, al fine di riconoscere il valore formativo dello scambio fra studenti del primo anno e studenti senior. Per la valutazione del livello di gradimento è stato predisposto un questionario ad hoc, elaborato in parte sulla base di strumenti utilizzati nei corsi professionali in cui è previsto l’accreditamento e in parte sulla base di proposte e riflessioni fra i docenti di psicologia dell’Ateneo, che non hanno preso parte al progetto. Risultati: il numero di studenti che partecipa con regolarità al percorso di accoglienza è cresciuto nei quattro anni: da 125 a 164. Gli studenti hanno in media un’età di 19.3 anni (±1.7) e sono in prevalenza femmine. Il questionario di gradimento viene compilato in media dall’85% delle matricole coinvolte. Quasi la totalità di esse riferisce che ripeterebbe l’esperienza, anche senza crediti formativi; il 98% la consiglierebbe ad una nuova matricola. Per quanto riguarda rilevanza, efficacia e utilità del percorso rispetto alle proprie esigenze formative, anche in questo caso la maggior parte degli studenti riporta una valutazione positiva. Conclusioni: i dati raccolti mostrano un gradimento medio-alto, che si mantiene costante negli anni. Si ritiene che tale percorso possa fornire un aiuto concreto per fronteggiare le difficoltà associate all’ingresso nell’Università. Fra gli indicatori di efficacia di consimili interventi nel lungo periodo, riteniamo utile la ricaduta in termini di prevenzione del drop out e dell’ allungamento temporale del corso di studi

Crowdfunding and innovation: a bibliometric review and future research agenda

Purpose: This article aims to investigate the status of and the trends in the intertwining of crowdfunding and innovation literature by identifying, evaluating and synthesizing the findings from previous research. This paper provides a bibliometric meta-analysis of the already substantial and growing literature on innovation and crowdfunding research.Design/methodology/approach: Using a bibliometric approach, this research scrutinizes all articles that include terms related to “crowdfunding” and “innovation” (in their title, abstract or keywords) in Elsevier’s Scopus database. VosViewer and Bibliometrix package in R have been used to analyse 150 articles.Findings: The results suggest that there are three main research clusters in the innovation and crowdfunding literature. The first cluster highlights the role of crowdfunding in fostering radical and incremental innovation. The second cluster focuses on the concept of openness and its effect on innovation in crowdfunding campaigns, while the third cluster explains the role of platforms’ innovation in crowdfunding success.Originality/value: Taking a holistic perspective, this contribution advances new knowledge on the intertwining of crowdfunding and innovation research fields. It implies that crowdfunding is facilitating the flow of knowledge between different stakeholders, including project initiators and crowd investors, among others, as they all benefit from open innovation platformspeer-reviewe

Regional Formularies in Italy: current state and future perspectives

Regional Formularies in Italy: current state and future perspectives Regional Formularies (RF) are considered part of pharmaceutical policies implemented by regions to govern access of medicines to regional market. However, they have been actually challenged, because of their presumed impact on differences of patient's access across the regions. The paper aimed at investigating the current status of RF and Regional Therapeutic Committees (CTR) and at suggesting/recommending possible reforms. The current status was investigated through a questionnaire administered to the regional pharmaceutical departments. Recommendations were retrieved from a multi -stakeholder work group carried out on 30-31 March 2023, embedded into a Forum focused on the regional pharmaceutical policies. Nineteen out of twenty-one regions responded to the survey: 12 use RF, mainly managed by the CTR; the RF frequency of update and the time needed for drugs listing greatly vary across regions; pharmacists, specialists and general practitioners are always represented in CTR, whereas other healthcare professionals and experts are more rarely involved; in 3 regions the CTR does not publish any RF update; the CTR mainly rely, to take decisions, on the dimension of the target population, the cost of therapy compared to alternative treatments and the impact on pharmaceutical expenditure. The working group recommended to overcome the RFs, if they are merely considered a list of available drugs at regional level, focusing CTR activities to ensure market access and to govern the prescribing behaviour, and strengthening/anticipating the flow of information from the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) to the regions, to enable a more efficient approach to local access to drugs