Perspectives of a web-based software to improve crash data quality and reliability in Italy

Real‐world crash data play a vital part in the development of safer transport since information on crash data is essential as a means of understanding where and why crashes occurred in the past and how the occurrence of similar events may be prevented in the future. Crash databases provide the basic information for effective highway safety management but several existing databases show significant drawbacks which hinder their effective use for safety analysis and improvement. In Italy, the national crash database is maintained by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) and presents major issues related to the crash report form, the crash classification, the crash location, and the crash severity. Moreover, almost all police departments use an out-of-date paper form, not in line with the national and international needs. Modern technologies offer potential for significant improvements of existing methods and procedures for crash data collection, processing and analysis. To address these issues, in this paper we present the development and evaluation of a web-based platform-independent software for crash data collection, processing and analysis named ReGIS (Crash Data Collection, Processing and Analysis). The software is designed for mobile and desktop electronic devices and enables a guided and automated drafting of the crash report, assisting police officers both on-site and in the office. The software development was based both on the detailed critical review of existing Australasian, EU, and U.S. crash databases and software as well as on the continuous consultation with the stakeholders. The evaluation was carried out comparing the completeness, timeliness, and accuracy of crash data before and after the use of the software in the city of Vico Equense, in south of Italy showing significant advantages. The amount of collected information increased from 82 variables to 268 variables, i.e., a 227% increase. The time saving was more than one hour per crash, i.e., a 36% reduction. The on-site data collection did not produce time saving, however this is a temporary weakness that will be annihilated very soon in the future after officers are more acquainted with the software. The phase of evaluation, processing and analysis carried out in the office was dramatically shortened, i.e., a 69% reduction. Another benefit was the standardization which allowed fast and consistent data analysis and evaluation. Even if all these benefits are remarkable, the most valuable benefit of the new procedure was the reduction of the police officers mistakes during the manual operations of survey and data evaluation. Because of these benefits, the satisfaction questionnaires administrated to the police officers after the testing phase showed very good acceptance of the procedure

A spatial multi-scale fluorescence microscopy toolbox discloses entry checkpoints of SARS-CoV-2 variants in Vero E6 cells

: We exploited a multi-scale microscopy imaging toolbox to address some major issues related to SARS-CoV-2 interactions with host cells. Our approach harnesses both conventional and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and easily matches the spatial scale of single-virus/cell checkpoints. After its validation through the characterization of infected cells and virus morphology, we leveraged this toolbox to reveal subtle issues related to the entry phase of SARS-CoV-2 variants in Vero E6 cells. Our results show that in Vero E6 cells the B.1.1.7 strain (aka Alpha Variant of Concern) is associated with much faster kinetics of endocytic uptake compared to its ancestor B.1.177. Given the cell-entry scenario dominated by the endosomal "late pathway", the faster internalization of B.1.1.7 could be directly related to the N501Y mutation in the S protein, which is known to strengthen the binding of Spike receptor binding domain with ACE2. Remarkably, we also directly observed the central role of clathrin as a mediator of endocytosis in the late pathway of entry. In keeping with the clathrin-mediated endocytosis, we highlighted the non-raft membrane localization of ACE2. Overall, we believe that our fluorescence microscopy-based approach represents a fertile strategy to investigate the molecular features of SARS-CoV-2 interactions with cells

Developing a participatory process for soil fertility:A case study in an urban area of Italy

Approaches that are transdisciplinary and participatory can help to address complex socio-ecological issues by integrating multiple disciplinary perspectives while taking into account the different needs and experiences of community members and other stakeholders. Despite this promise, such approaches are rarely applied within the scientific community, as researchers and public actors often lack the training, practice and reference cases required to handle the working relationships and translations of terminology, ideas and values across multiple bodies of knowledge. A case study described in this manuscript depicts a group of researchers, artists and citizens consciously engaged in the construction of a transdisciplinary process as part of a 40-day ‘citizen science’ experiment focussed on assessing soil fertility in the urban area of Milan, Italy. The group drew from recognised scientific approaches, applied agronomic methodologies, artistic practices and technological tools, integrating them into a hybrid process of collective and participatory inquiry. As a quantitative outcome of the experiment, a dataset of bio-chemical parameters was generated, which was enriched by agronomic interpretations but also by artistic and reflective materials. Importantly, the process developed transdisciplinary and participatory skills, as it created a potentially replicable procedure of engagement, analysis and presentation for use in other citizen science settings. This article presents the context, the multiple objectives of the research and the applied approach and its timeline. Described in detail are the process of designing and conducting the experiment by involving an extended research community—including both junior and senior researchers—in progressive steps. Quantitative and qualitative results are provided. The findings are meant to contribute case material and methods to inform the advancement of transdisciplinary research approaches within the scientific community as well as examples of ways to transcend the boundaries of science to include artists and community stakeholders. The aspiration is to inform and inspire concrete application of transdisciplinary and participatory methods in concert to address complex socio-environmental challenges

PTPA variants and impaired PP2A activity in early-onset parkinsonism with intellectual disability

The protein phosphatase 2A complex (PP2A), the major Ser/Thr phosphatase in the brain, is involved in a number of signalling pathways and functions, including the regulation of crucial proteins for neurodegeneration, such as alpha-synuclein, tau and LRRK2. Here, we report the identification of variants in the PTPA/PPP2R4 gene, encoding a major PP2A activator, in two families with early-onset parkinsonism and intellectual disability. We carried out clinical studies and genetic analyses, including genome-wide linkage analysis, whole-exome sequencing, and Sanger sequencing of candidate variants. We next performed functional studies on the disease-associated variants in cultured cells and knock-down of ptpa in Drosophila melanogaster. We first identified a homozygous PTPA variant, c.893T&gt;G (p.Met298Arg), in patients from a South African family with early-onset parkinsonism and intellectual disability. Screening of a large series of additional families yielded a second homozygous variant, c.512C&gt;A (p.Ala171Asp), in a Libyan family with a similar phenotype. Both variants co-segregate with disease in the respective families. The affected subjects display juvenile-onset parkinsonism and intellectual disability. The motor symptoms were responsive to treatment with levodopa and deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus. In overexpression studies, both the PTPA p.Ala171Asp and p.Met298Arg variants were associated with decreased PTPA RNA stability and decreased PTPA protein levels; the p.Ala171Asp variant additionally displayed decreased PTPA protein stability. Crucially, expression of both variants was associated with decreased PP2A complex levels and impaired PP2A phosphatase activation. PTPA orthologue knock-down in Drosophila neurons induced a significant impairment of locomotion in the climbing test. This defect was age-dependent and fully reversed by L-DOPA treatment. We conclude that bi-allelic missense PTPA variants associated with impaired activation of the PP2A phosphatase cause autosomal recessive early-onset parkinsonism with intellectual disability. Our findings might also provide new insights for understanding the role of the PP2A complex in the pathogenesis of more common forms of neurodegeneration.</p

The Internationalisation of R&D and the Knowledge Production Function

This paper considers the effect of acquisition FDI on the knowledge production function. We distinguish between acquisitions by MNEs from technologically leading countries and those behind the technological frontier. We show that both acquire similarly R&D intensive domestic firms, but there are important differences post-acquisition. Acquisitions from technologically intensive countries reduce domestic R&D effort, in favour of an increase in foreign technology transfers, which suggests complementarities in the knowledge assets of the MNE and the target firm as a reason for FDI. In contrast, consistent with technology sourcing FDI, acquisitions from non-leading countries increase internal R&D efforts

Quantitation of oxidized and reduced albumin in mammals. An intriguing analytical question

Oxidized albumin is considered a short-term biomarker of oxidative stress and its measurement in blood contributes to evaluate the impact of diseases, drugs, dialytic treatments, physical activity, environmental contaminants etc. on the red-ox balance of humans as well as of other mammalians. Nevertheless, the most common methods for quantifying the oxidized and reduced albumins are costly and time-consuming. Furthermore, there is a dearth of information regarding the proper ways to store human serum or plasma samples in order to prevent inaccurate quantification of these various albumin forms. This paper explores these aspects and proposes a few spectrophotometric assay procedures which make the quantitation of oxidized and reduced albumin very fast, precise and un-expensive in various mammals

Complete Genome Sequencing of 10 Brucella abortus Biovar 3 Strains Isolated from Water Buffalo

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease that affects both humans and animals. Its distribution is global, concentrated in the Mediterranean area, India, Central Asia, and Latin America. Here, we present a complete genome assembly of 10 Brucella abortus strains isolated from water buffaloes farmed in the Campania region of Italy