Capacity building to boost information and communication skills inside an institute of research

To enhance its visibility, the Library of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) along with the Scientific Communication Unit of the same institution delivered a set of informal online training sessions, or webinars, on their fields of expertise: information retrieval, publication, effective communication, and research evaluation, specifically addressed to internal users. The collaboration was extremely useful in terms of improved knowledge on skills available among the personnel of these two services. It increased trust in the competencies of internal staff and at the same time it contributed to develop awareness of the value of the services rendered. Skills to use available online resources for training were improved as well as ISS staff cohesion favouring the development of new collaborations

A New Genetic Risk Score to Predict the Outcome of Locally Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients Treated With First-Line Exemestane: Results From a Prospective Study

Currently there are no reliable biomarkers to predict outcome of exemestane treatment. We designed a prospective study to investigate whether constitutive genetic background might affect response to therapy. In a population of 302 advanced breast cancer patients treated with exemestane we showed that a 5-polymorphism-based genetic score could be used to identify patients with different risks of progression and death.Introduction: Approximately 50% of locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients treated with first-line exemestane do not show objective response and currently there are no reliable biomarkers to predict the outcome of patients using this therapy. The constitutive genetic background might be responsible for differences in the outcome of exemestane-treated patients. We designed a prospective study to investigate the role of germ line polymorphisms as biomarkers of survival. Patients and Methods: Three hundred two locally advanced or MBC patients treated with first-line exemestane were genotyped for 74 germ line polymorphisms in 39 candidate genes involved in drug activity, hormone balance, DNA replication and repair, and cell signaling pathways. Associations with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were tested with multivariate Cox regression. Bootstrap resampling was used as an internal assessment of results reproducibility. Results: Cytochrome P450 19A1-rs10046TC/CC, solute carrier organic anion transporter 1B1-rs4149056TT, adenosine triphosphate binding cassette subfamily G member 2-rs2046134GG, fibroblast growth factor receptor-4-rs351855TT, and X-ray repair cross complementing 3-rs861539TT were significantly associated with PFS and then combined into a risk score (0-1, 2, 3, or 4-6 risk points). Patients with the highest risk score (4-6 risk points) compared with ones with the lowest score (0-1 risk points) had a median PFS of 10 months versus 26.3 months (adjusted hazard ratio [AdjHR], 3.12 [95% confidence interval (CI), 2.18-4.48]; P < .001) and a median OS of 38.9 months versus 63.0 months (AdjHR, 2.41 [95% CI, 1.22-4.79], P = .012), respectively. Conclusion: In this study we defined a score including 5 polymorphisms to stratify patients for PFS and OS. This score, if validated, might be translated to personalize locally advanced or MBC patient treatment and management

Giustizia e letteratura II

The book explores and links different cultures, disciplines and perspectives, with a far more original and broad approach to the relations between “Justice” and “Literature” than more traditional works focused on “Law” and “Literature”. The many contributions from writers, literature and movie critics, psychologists, and criminal law practitioners and scholars, draw a complex and interdisciplinary path through primary texts of Italian and international literature, with the aim of prompting readers’ reflections about core issues related to law, crime, and responsibility. Through the analysis of masterpieces of literature, theatre and cinema, this book aims at stimulating dialogue and debate, as well as critical abilities and a deep-rooted sense of justice, amongst both law professionals and citizens at large. Literature and other forms of narration are presented here as a privileged key to approach long-standing questions about (amongst other) causes and consequences of crime; victimization and coping mechanisms; the role of criminal law and criminal proceedings; legalism and equity; law and ethics; the ‘time’ of justice; freedom, responsibility, culpability and forgiveness; rules, legality, socialization and culture; language and images as mediums for justice issues; the impact of prejudice and of existing balances of power on the application of the law; social and legal mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion; gender issues and legal systems; and so on. A whole section (Part V) is devoted to crimes against humanity and how the literary testimony may be understood both as a strategy to resist injustice and to seek justice, and as a way to prevent further horrors. Through this quest for justice in literature and arts, the volume proposes a wider cultural and research project which defies traditional formalistic and retributive approaches to criminal law, in order to open new perspectives for restorative and reintegrative strategies

Validation of the Italian translation of the Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale - Revised (RAADS-R)

reservedLa diagnosi del disturbo dello spettro autistico è spesso tardiva, anche a causa della presenza di pochi strumenti disponibili: si stima che circa l’1% degli adulti con autismo non siano diagnosticati. Tra gli strumenti di screening è presente la Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale – Revised (RAADS-R), che si è già dimostrato un valido strumento di supporto clinico in altre lingue. In questo studio è stata condotta la validazione della traduzione italiana della RAADS-R con l’obbiettivo di analizzarne le proprietà psicometriche su un campione di 742 partecipanti, di cui 337 adulti con disturbo dello spettro autistico (ASD) e 405 adulti tratti dalla popolazione generale. La versione italiana della RAADS-R ha ottenuto un’eccellente attendibilità in termini di coerenza interna (α = .93 per il campione con ASD e α = .95 per il campione generale). A un cut-off ottimale di 95 si sono registrate una sensibilità di 87% e una specificità di 81%. Tuttavia, le analisi fattoriali confermative svolte su diversi modelli non hanno ottenuto indici di fit adeguati. Per questo si è deciso di svolgere un’ulteriore analisi fattoriale confermativa del modello a tre fattori tratto dalla versione breve RAADS-14, il quale ha ottenuto indici di fit migliori. A un cut-off ottimale di 17,5, la RAADS-14 ha registrato una sensibilità di 88% e una specificità di 75%. La RAADS-14 è risultata migliore in termini di validità di costrutto rispetto alla RAADS-R, anche se comunque inadeguata, e peggiore per coerenza interna. In termini di capacità discriminativa, le due scale sono apparse molto simili per sensibilità e migliore la RAADS-R per specificità e accuratezza diagnostica (AUC)

Possible Use of Linear Echobronchoscope for Diagnosis of Peripheral Pulmonary Nodules

Echobronchoscope-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is mainly used as the transbronchial approach to hilar/mediastinal lymph nodes or lesions, for diagnostic or staging purposes. Moreover, the role of linear EBUS-TBNA as a diagnostic tool for central intrapulmonary lesions adjacent to the trachea or the major bronchi is also well established. However, since the tip of the ultrasound probe at the distal end of the echobronchoscope is very thin, it can be wedged through smaller peripheral bronchi, reaching the distal parenchyma and allowing for peripheral pulmonary lesion sampling. The main aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the diagnostic yield and the safety of EBUS-TBNA in the diagnosis of pulmonary peripheral nodules. The database of the Interventional Pulmonology Unit of Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria delle Marche (Ancona, Italy) was evaluated to identify peripheral pulmonary nodules approached by EBUS-TBNA. Thirty patients with a single peripheral pulmonary nodule located peripherally to the subsegmental bronchi of the lower lobes and adjacent to a small bronchus greater than 3 mm in diameter were included in this study. The nodule was visible using endoscopic ultrasound in 28 patients and the diagnosis was obtained via EBUS-TBNA in 26 cases (12 adenocarcinoma, 5 typical carcinoid tumors, 4 hamartoma and 5 metastatic lesions). The diagnostic yield was 86.6% for all 30 patients and 92.8% if only the 28 patients in which the lesion was visualized via echobronchoscopy were considered. No relevant adverse events were observed. We conclude that EBUS-TBNA may be an effective and safe option to sample pulmonary peripheral nodules in selected patients with lower lobe peripheral pulmonary lesions adjacent to small bronchi greater than 3 mm in diameter and reachable with the EBUS-TBNA probe

Neurodevelopmental outcome in one-year-old children born preterm: differences between low birth weight and very low birth weight

In preterm infants, low birth weight represents one of the major risk factors for health and developmental issues. In Italy, most of the studies are focused on extremely preterm or Very and Extremely Low Birth Weight (VLBW, ELBW) children, whereas little data are available on the neurodevelopmental outcome of Low Birth Weight (LBW) children. We aimed to study the developmental profile of a group of preterm children at 12 months of corrected age, comparing cognitive, language and motor performances between LBW and VLBW

Sensory evaluation of the sound of rolling office chairs: An exploratory study for sound design

Only an infinitesimal part of the sounds from everyday objects that surround us has been designed specifically. This study has dealt with a sensory test for sounds produced by objects interacting with other objects, which can be performed during the concept design phase, where only some parts of the product can be tested. The aim of the study has been to prove the reliability of this preliminary test and compare it to the full-product test con- dition. The concept for an office-chair was considered, and the sound of a chair-wheel moving across flooring tiles was tested as a simplification of chair-flooring interactions. Sixty participants took part in a listening test and described the acoustic stimuli of the wheels of two office chairs, one of high quality and the other of low quality, rolling over polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ceramic and wood floorings. The listeners were asked to assign descriptors to stimuli from a list of 26 adjectives, according to a forced ordered scale. Comparisons were made with sounds from the rolling of real office chairs. The sound of wheel rolling was prevalently judged "rough" on ceramics, "dull" on PVC and "smooth" on wood, and some cross-modal audio-tactile verbal interactions between the sounds and flooring surfaces emerged. No statistically significant difference was found between the concept and full product test conditions, thus proving the efficacy of the concept sound test during the early design phase

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Internet-Based Communication for Public Health: Systematic Review

Background: Communicating strategically is a key issue for health organizations. Over the past decade, health care communication via social media and websites has generated a great deal of studies examining different realities of communication strategies. However, when it comes to systematic reviews, there is fragmentary evidence on this type of communication. Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to summarize the evidence on web institutional health communication for public health authorities to evaluate possible aim-specific key points based on these existing studies. Methods: Guided by the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement, we conducted a comprehensive review across 2 electronic databases (PubMed and Web of Science) from January 1, 2011, to October 7, 2021, searching for studies investigating institutional health communication. In total, 2 independent researchers (AN and SS) reviewed the articles for inclusion, and the assessment of methodological quality was based on the Kmet appraisal checklist. Results: A total of 78 articles were selected. Most studies (35/78, 45%) targeted health promotion and disease prevention, followed by crisis communication (24/78, 31%), general health (13/78, 17%), and misinformation correction and health promotion (6/78, 8%). Engagement and message framing were the most analyzed aspects. Few studies (14/78, 18%) focused on campaign effectiveness. Only 23% (18/78) of the studies had an experimental design. The Kmet evaluation was used to distinguish studies presenting a solid structure from lacking studies. In particular, considering the 0.75-point threshold, 36% (28/78) of the studies were excluded. Studies above this threshold were used to identify a series of aim-specific and medium-specific suggestions as the communication strategies used differed greatly. Conclusions: Overall, the findings suggest that no single strategy works best in the case of web-based health care communication. The extreme variability of outcomes and the lack of a unitary measure for assessing the end points of a specific campaign or study lead us to reconsider the tools we use to evaluate the efficacy of web-based health communication

Real-time Pilot Crew's Mental Workload and Arousal Assessment During Simulated Flights for Training Evaluation: a Case Study

Training assessment is usually done by evaluating information derived from instructor's supervision related to the pilot's operational performance and behavior. However, this approach lacks objective measures, especially regarding the pilots' mental states while accomplishing the flight training tasks. The study therefore aimed at developing and testing a method for gathering and analyzing in real-time pilots' brain activity and skin conductance to improve the training evaluation. In this regard, Novice pilots' neurophysiological signals were acquired throughout multi-crew training sessions. The results demonstrated how the methodology proposed was able to endow real-time pilots' mental workload and arousal assessment for i) better evaluating training progress and operational behavior during the training session, and ii) for objectively comparing different training sessions