UPO Biobank: The Challenge of Integrating Biobanking into the Academic Environment to Support Translational Research

Biobanks are driving motors of precision and personalized medicine by providing high-quality biological material/data through the standardization and harmonization of their collection, preservation, and distribution. UPO Biobank was established in 2020 as an institutional, disease, and population biobank within the University of Piemonte Orientale (UPO) for the promotion and support of high-quality, multidisciplinary studies. UPO Biobank collaborates with UPO researchers, sustaining academic translational research, and supports the Novara Cohort Study, a longitudinal cohort study involving the population in the Novara area that will collect data and biological specimens that will be available for epidemiological, public health, and biological studies on aging. UPO Biobank has been developed by implementing the quality standards for the field and the ethical and legal issues and normative about privacy protection, data collection, and sharing. As a member of the "Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure" (BBMRI) network, UPO Biobank aims to expand its activity worldwide and launch cooperation with new national and international partners and researchers. The objective of this manuscript is to report an institutional and operational experience through the description of the technical and procedural solutions and ethical and scientific implications associated with the establishment of this university research biobank

Computerized Mapping System Of Cerebral Evoked-Potentials

The introduction of computerized analysis systems in the study of bioelectrical signals is enhancing the understanding of the physiological mechanisms which underlie cerebral evoked potentials (EPs) in response to externally applied stimuli. In the present study, short latency (0-50-ms) and long latency (0-500-ms) somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were recorded by 32 scalp electrodes from normal and pathological subjects during median nerve stimulation. An interpolation procedure for estimating data values between the neighboring electrodes allowed the mapping of cortical activity across the scalp. Time signals were also transformed by an FFT algorithm and frequency maps obtained following the same interpolation procedure. Temporal and frequency maps were graphically displayed using color and three-dimensional plots. The usefulness of computerized topographical analysis is discussed; the time and frequency computer maps obtained from the same subjects are compared and their relative advantages are evaluated