Per una nuova rubrica: dal Network dalle sedi ai Cluster tecnologici.

A partire da questo numero, la rivista Techne, raccogliendo le proposte avanzate dalla comunità scientifica in occasione dell'ultima Assemblea dei Soci tenutasi lo scorso ottobre al MADE-Expo di Milano, trasforma la rubrica “Network SITdA”, oggi rassegna dei contributi dalle sedi universitarie, nella sezione “Cluster”, espressione di un modello organizzativo delle sinergie tra ricerca, formazione, impresa, finalizzato ad un dialogo più efficace con i vari livelli delle Istituzioni. Catalizzatori di nuove risposte alle sfide ambientali, economiche e sociali, i cluster hanno valenze interdisciplinari ed internazionali, per la creazione di 'nuova imprenditorialità dai saperi'. I cluster potrebbero aprire, pertanto nuove opportunità per la società e il mercato, in termini di prodotti, servizi, settori produttivi, modalità di organizzazione e interazione. Il numero 5 della rivista è occasione per introdurre una svolta nell'impegn

A framework for human microbiome research

A variety of microbial communities and their genes (the microbiome) exist throughout the human body, with fundamental roles in human health and disease. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Human Microbiome Project Consortium has established a population-scale framework to develop metagenomic protocols, resulting in a broad range of quality-controlled resources and data including standardized methods for creating, processing and interpreting distinct types of high-throughput metagenomic data available to the scientific community. Here we present resources from a population of 242 healthy adults sampled at 15 or 18 body sites up to three times, which have generated 5,177 microbial taxonomic profiles from 16S ribosomal RNA genes and over 3.5 terabases of metagenomic sequence so far. In parallel, approximately 800 reference strains isolated from the human body have been sequenced. Collectively, these data represent the largest resource describing the abundance and variety of the human microbiome, while providing a framework for current and future studies

Association between preoperative evaluation with lung ultrasound and outcome in frail elderly patients undergoing orthopedic surgery for hip fractures: study protocol for an Italian multicenter observational prospective study (LUSHIP)

Abstract Background Hip fracture is one of the most common orthopedic causes of hospital admission in frail elderly patients. Hip fracture fixation in this class of patients is considered a high-risk procedure. Preoperative physical examination, plasma natriuretic peptide levels (BNP, Pro-BNP), and cardiovascular scoring systems (ASA-PS, RCRI, NSQIP-MICA) have all been demonstrated to underestimate the risk of postoperative complications. We designed a prospective multicenter observational study to assess whether preoperative lung ultrasound examination can predict better postoperative events thanks to the additional information they provide in the form of “indirect” and “direct” cardiac and pulmonary lung ultrasound signs. Methods LUSHIP is an Italian multicenter prospective observational study. Patients will be recruited on a nation-wide scale in the 12 participating centers. Patients aged  >  65 years undergoing spinal anesthesia for hip fracture fixation will be enrolled. A lung ultrasound score (LUS) will be generated based on the examination of six areas of each lung and ascribing to each area one of the four recognized aeration patterns—each of which is assigned a subscore of 0, 1, 2, or 3. Thus, the total score will have the potential to range from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 36. The association between 30-day postoperative complications of cardiac and/or pulmonary origin and the overall mortality will be studied. Considering the fact that cardiac complications in patients undergoing hip surgery occur in approx. 30% of cases, to achieve 80% statistical power, we will need a sample size of 877 patients considering a relative risk of 1.5. Conclusions Lung ultrasound (LU), as a tool within the anesthesiologist’s armamentarium, is becoming increasingly widespread, and its use in the preoperative setting is also starting to become more common. Should the study demonstrate the ability of LU to predict postoperative cardiac and pulmonary complications in hip fracture patients, a randomized clinical trial will be designed with the scope of improving patient outcome. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04074876. Registered on August 30, 2019