Synthetic antigen-conjugated DNA systems for antibody detection and characterization

Antibodies are among the most relevant biomolecular targetsfordiagnostic and clinical applications. In this Perspective, we providea critical overview of recent research efforts focused on the developmentand characterization of devices, switches, and reactions based onthe use of synthetic antigen-conjugated DNA strands designed to beresponsive to specific antibodies. These systems can find applicationsin sensing, drug-delivery, and antibody-antigen binding characterization.The examples described here demonstrate how the programmability andchemical versatility of synthetic nucleic acids can be used to createinnovative analytical tools and target-responsive systems with promisingpotentials

Topological changes of brain network during mindfulness meditation: an exploratory source level magnetoencephalographic study

We have previously evidenced that Mindfulness Meditation (MM) in experienced meditators (EMs) is associated with long-lasting topological changes in resting state condition. However, what occurs during the meditative phase is still debated. Utilizing magnetoencephalography (MEG), the present study is aimed at comparing the topological features of the brain network in a group of EMs (n = 26) during the meditative phase with those of individuals who had no previous experience of any type of meditation (NM group, n = 29). A wide range of topological changes in the EM group as compared to the NM group has been shown. Specifically, in EMs, we have observed increased betweenness centrality in delta, alpha, and beta bands in both cortical (left medial orbital cortex, left postcentral area, and right visual primary cortex) and subcortical (left caudate nucleus and thalamus) areas. Furthermore, the degree of beta band in parietal and occipital areas of EMs was increased too. Our exploratory study suggests that the MM can change the functional brain network and provides an explanatory hypothesis on the brain circuits characterizing the meditative process

Toward correlating structure and mechanics of platelets

The primary physiological function of blood platelets is to seal vascular lesions after injury and form hemostatic thrombi in order to prevent blood loss. This task relies on the formation of strong cellular-extracellular matrix interactions in the subendothelial lesions. The cytoskeleton of a platelet is key to all of its functions: its ability to spread, adhere and contract. Despite the medical significance of platelets, there is still no high-resolution structural information of their cytoskeleton. Here, we discuss and present 3-dimensional (3D) structural analysis of intact platelets by using cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Cryo-ET provides in situ structural analysis and AFM gives stiffness maps of the platelets. In the future, combining high-resolution structural and mechanical techniques will bring new understanding of how structural changes modulate platelet stiffness during activation and adhesion

Non-natural protein-protein communication mediated by a DNA-based, antibody-responsive device

We report here the rational design and optimization of an antibody responsive, DNA-based device that enables communication between pairs of otherwise non-interacting proteins. The device is designed to recognize and bind a specific antibody and, in response, undergo a conformational change that leads to the release of a DNA strand, termed the “translator,” that regulates the activity of a downstream target protein. As proof of principle, we demonstrate antibody-induced control of the proteins thrombin and Taq DNA polymerase. The resulting strategy is versatile and, in principle, can be easily adapted to control artificial protein-protein communication in artificial regulatory networks

Uno studio pilota per identificare strategie educative volte alla promozione della salute nelle donne adulte nell’era del COVID 19

COVID-19 pandemic has drastically reduced physical activity levels in the global population, due to the limitation of movements and social life imposed by local governments. Sedentary behaviors are known to be strictly associated with higher risks to develop diseases (Allen et al., 2017). Italy was the first country in which severe lockdown periods were imposed on the population, to limit virus circulation. Our study aimed to analyze lifestyle habits in a group of 14 volunteer women, aged from 40 to 50 years, for 2 years, in a telemonitoring manner. Semi-Structured questionnaires on lifestyle habits, anthropometric measures, sleep, physical activity monitoring by smartphone were recorded before, during, and after lockdown. Statistical analysis was conducted with the t-Student test and ANOVA, normal distribution of data was tested with the Shapiro Wilk test. During the lockdown, the daily number of steps shows a reduction of -65%. The number of weekly walking kilometers was drastically reduced by -70%. No statistically significant improvements were registered in the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), although the number of daily steps had returned to pre-COVID levels. The study highlights that educational strategies are necessary to avoid the risks of prolonged sedentary behaviors.La pandemia da COVID-19 ha drasticamente ridotto i livelli di attività fisica nella popolazione, a seguito delle limitazioni imposte per fronteggiare la diffusione virale. I comportamenti sedentari sono strettamente associati ad alto rischio di sviluppare patologie (Allen et al., 2017). L’Italia è stata una delle prime nazioni in cui sono state adottate misure restrittive. Lo scopo del nostro studio è stato quello di analizzare gli stili di vita di 14 volontarie, tra i 40 e i 50 anni di età, per due anni, mediante una valutazione a distanza. Sono stati adoperati questionari semi-strutturati per gli stili di vita, le misure antropometriche, il sonno e una rilevazione mediante smartphone dei livelli di attività fisica. L’analisi è stata condotta prima della pandemia, durante il lockdown e nella fase post-lockdown. L’analisi statistica è stata realizzata mediante test di t-Student e ANOVA. La normalità delle distribuzioni dei dati è stata testata mediante test di Shapiro Wilk. Durante il lockdown, il numero giornaliero di passi si è ridotto del 65%. Il numero di chilometri settimanali percorsi si è ridotto del 70%. Non sono state evidenziante variazioni significative tramite il questionario di Pittsburgh per l’analisi della qualità e quantità del sonno, sebbene il numero di passi giornalieri fosse ritornato ai valori prepandemia. Lo studio ha fatto emergere la necessità di specifiche strategie di educazione alla salute, necessarie per limitare i rischi derivanti dalla sedentarietà

Strategie di inclusione e partecipazione nella formazione universitaria. Indagine sui risultati di apprendimento raggiunti dagli studenti in Scienze motorie in periodo pandemico

The study has been made on the purpose to prove the effectiveness of strategies used by Inclusion and Participation Office of the Telamatic University “Pegaso” in the pandemic period. The University gives an inclusion program based not only on assistive IT equipment but also on corrective and/ or improvement actions. Starting from the data relating to students who rely on the services of the inclusion and participation office, it has been carried out a comparative analysis between the data relating the period from March 2019 to March 2020 and those relating to the next 12 months, in other words, the first year of the pandemic. The sample studied is made by students enrolled to the 3 year degree course in Motor Science and the master’s degree course in Management of sport and physical activities: the data being compared were the number of enrolledwith disabilities and the number of exams taken by students participating in the inclusion project before and during the pandemic period. The aim has been to demonstrate the presence of a training project well structured even in extreme situations, such as the current one, that has witnessed relevant organizational difficulties in the field of inclusion of many institutions, it is,nevertheless, possible to achieve expected learning results. Lo scopo dello studio condotto è stato quello di verificare l’efficacia delle strategie poste in essere dall’Ufficio inclusione e partecipazione dell’Università Telematica Pegaso in periodo pandemico. L’Ateneo offre un programma inclusione incentrato non solo su dotazioni informatiche assistive ma anche su azioni a valenza correttiva e/o migliorativa. Partendo dai dati relativi agli studenti che si affidano ai servizi dell’ufficio inclusione e partecipazione, è stata effettuata un’analisi comparativa tra i dati relativi al periodo che va da Marzo ’19 a Marzo ’20 e quelli relativi ai 12 mesi successivi, ovvero il primo anno di pandemia. Il campione studiato è costituito dagli iscritti al corso di Laurea Triennale in Scienze Motorie e al corso di Laurea Magistrale in Management dello sport e delle attività motorie: i dati oggetto di comparazione sono stati il numero degli iscritti con disabilità e il numero di esami sostenuti dagli studenti aderenti al progetto inclusione prima e durante il periodo pandemico. L’obiettivo è stato quello di dimostrare che in presenza di un progetto formativo ben strutturato, anche in situazioni estreme quale quella attuale che ha visto notevoli difficoltà organizzative nel settore dell’inclusione di molte istituzioni, è possibile raggiungere i risultati di apprendimento attesi

The progressive loss of brain network fingerprints in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis predicts clinical impairment

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterised by functional connectivity alterations in both motor and extra-motor brain regions. Within the framework of network analysis, fingerprinting represents a reliable approach to assess subject-specific connectivity features within a given population (healthy or diseased). Here, we applied the Clinical Connectome Fingerprint (CCF) analysis to source-reconstructed magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals in a cohort of seventy-eight subjects: thirty-nine ALS patients and thirty-nine healthy controls. We set out to develop an identifiability matrix to assess the extent to which each patient was recognisable based on his/her connectome, as compared to healthy controls. The analysis was performed in the five canonical frequency bands. Then, we built a multilinear regression model to test the ability of the “clinical fingerprint” to predict the clinical evolution of the disease, as assessed by the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-r), the King’s disease staging system, and the Milano-Torino Staging (MiToS) disease staging system. We found a drop in the identifiability of patients in the alpha band compared to the healthy controls. Furthermore, the “clinical fingerprint” was predictive of the ALSFRS-r (p = 0.0397; β = 32.8), the King’s (p = 0.0001; β = − 7.40), and the MiToS (p = 0.0025; β = − 4.9) scores. Accordingly, it negatively correlated with the King’s (Spearman’s rho = -0.6041, p = 0.0003) and MiToS scales (Spearman’s rho = − 0.4953, p = 0.0040). Our results demonstrated the ability of the CCF approach to predict the individual motor impairment in patients affected by ALS. Given the subject-specificity of our approach, we hope to further exploit it to improve disease management

Automating the Administration and Analysis of Psychiatric Tests: the Case of Attachment in School Age Children

This article presents the School Attachment Monitor, a novel interactive system that can reliably administer the Manch- ester Child Attachment Story Task (a standard psychiatric test for the assessment of attachment in children) without the supervision of trained professionals. Attachment prob- lems in children cause significant mental health issues and costs to society which technology has the potential to re- duce. SAM collects, through instrumented doll-play games, enough information to allow a human assessor to manually identify the attachment status of children. Experiments show that the system successfully does this in 87.5% of cases. In addition, the experiments show that an automatic approach based on deep neural networks can map the information collected into the attachment condition of the children. The outcome SAM matches the judgment of expert human asses- sors in 82.8% of cases. This is the first time an automated tool has been successful in measuring attachment. This work has significant implications for psychiatry as it allows profes- sionals to assess many more children cost effectively and to direct healthcare resources more accurately and efficiently to improve mental health

The MOCAST+ Study on a Quantum Gradiometry Satellite Mission with Atomic Clocks

In the past twenty years, satellite gravimetry missions have successfully provided data for the determination of the Earth static gravity field (GOCE) and its temporal variations (GRACE and GRACE-FO). In particular, the possibility to study the evolution in time of Earth masses allows us to monitor global parameters underlying climate changes, water resources, flooding, melting of ice masses and the corresponding global sea level rise, all of which are of paramount importance, providing basic data on, e.g. geodynamics, earthquakes, hydrology or ice sheets changes. Recently, a large interest has developed in novel technologies and quantum sensing, which promise higher sensitivity, drift-free measurements, and higher absolute accuracy for both terrestrial surveys and space missions, giving direct access to more precise long-term measurements. Looking at a time frame beyond the present decade, in the MOCAST+ study (MOnitoring mass variations by Cold Atom Sensors and Time measures) a satellite mission based on an “enhanced” quantum payload is proposed, with cold atom interferometers acting as gravity gradiometers, and atomic clocks for optical frequency measurements, providing observations of differences of the gravitational potential. The main outcomes are the definition of the accuracy level to be expected from this payload and the accuracy level needed to detect and monitor phenomena identified in the Scientific Challenges of the ESA Living Planet Program, in particular Cryosphere, Ocean and Solid Earth. In this paper, the proposed payload, mission profile and preliminary platform design are presented, with end-to-end simulation results and assessment of the impact on geophysical applications