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Club Itaca è un servizio offerto da Progetto Itaca Onlus, basato sul modello di Clubhouse International, di riabilitazione psicosociale psichiatrica per persone affette da disturbi di salute mentale Progetto Itaca e Atstrat hanno sviluppato "Storie di Rinascita", una metodologia di intervento volta ad aiutare le persone affette da disturbi della Salute Mentale ad acquisire consapevolezza e ad accettare la propria condizione, progredendo nel percorso di recovery attraverso la scrittura espressiva strutturata in tre atti: "come ero" (passato); "come sono" (presente); "cosa mi ha aiutato a cambiare" (fattori di rinascita). Scopo. L'obiettivo del presente studio è quello di indagare l'espressione emotiva delle narrative di Storie di Rinascita e di individuare gli elementi di rinascita riferiti dalle persone affette da disturbi della Salute Mentale. Metodi. 62 narrative sono state analizzate utilizzando la Sentiment Analysis e la Topic Analysis. Risultati. L'analisi del sentiment evidenzia una media dell'intensità delle parole polarizzate negativamente più elevata nel passato (µ = 1.71 ± 1.28) rispetto al presente (µ = 1.56 ± 0.93); si nota invece un aumento dell'intensità globale positiva da passato (µ = 1.29 ± 0.71) a presente (µ = 1.34 ± 0.80). Rispetto alle emozioni, le parole relative a rabbia, disgusto, paura e tristezza risultano meno intense nel presente (rispettivamente µ = 1.63 ± 1.06; µ = 1.40 ± 0.49; µ = 1.53 ± 0.94; µ = 1.76 ± 1.25), rispetto al passato (rispettivamente µ = 1.31 ± 0.63; µ = 1.12 ± 0.32; µ = 1.42 ± 0.63; µ = 1.47 ± 0.79). La media dell'intensità di gioia, sorpresa e fiducia è invece simile nelle due tipologie di narrazioni. L'Analisi dei Topic ha permesso di individuare i seguenti tre topic relativi ai fattori di rinascita: 1) il Club Itaca, 2) la Rete Sociale e 3) i Fattori Personali. Discussione e conclusione. L'utilizzo di un linguaggio emotivo meno negativo e più positivo quando si riferiscono al presente rispetto a quando parlano del loro passato permette di ipotizzare un miglioramento nella condizione delle persone affette da disturbi della Salute Mentale e una elaborazione positiva delle esperienze difficoltose sperimentate nel passato. Tali cambiamenti sembrano essere favoriti da Club Itaca, dal supporto della rete sociale e dalle proprie capacità personali. Storie di Rinascita risulta un utile strumento per favorire una rielaborazione della condizione di malattia e far prendere coscienza alle persone dei propri progressi.&nbsp

Recently, pushed by COVID-19 pandemic, the need of respecting social distancing has motivated several researchers to define novel technological solutions to monitor and track user movements. Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) world has addressed this challenge by means of the use of different technologies, such as Bluetooth, in order to track user inter-distance and encounter time. Technology solutions should be able to not only track contacts, but also alert users to restore social distancing. In this paper, we present IMPERSONAL framework, with the twofold aim of both (i) tracking and monitoring social distancing, and (ii) alerting users in case of gatherings. The framework is based on a sub-network of computer vision-based devices that is adopted to monitor and track users’movements to estimate their inter-distance and compute the encounter time. Such information is then the input to an Internet of Things sub-network, aiming to retrieve the anonymous IDs of people belonging to a gathering, as well as to send alert messages to them. We assess IMPERSONAL framework by means of extensive Monte Carlo simulations and experimental results, showing its effectiveness in terms of accuracy in correctly identifying users and gatherings in videos taken from live cameras, both in case of indoor and outdoor real scenarios. The benefits of IMPERSONAL framework are expressed in terms of the ability to track people, solve gatherings and send warning messages. IEEE

To limit the spread of COVID-19, social distancing measurements and contact tracing have become popular strategies implemented worldwide. In addition to manual contact tracing, smartphone-based applications based on proximity detection have emerged to speed up the discovery of potential infectious individuals. However, so far, their effectiveness has been limited, mainly due to privacy issues. A new tracing mechanism is represented by Online Social Networks (OSNs), which provide a successful way to track, share and exchange information in real-time. Being extremely popular and largely used by citizens, OSNs are less exposed to privacy concerns. In this paper, we present an OSN-based contact tracing platform called TraceMe to reduce the spread of the epidemic. The proposal currently targets COVID-19, but it can be used in presence of other infectious diseases, like Ebola, swine flue, etc. TraceMe implements conventional contact tracing based on physical proximity and, in addition, it leverages OSNs to identify other contacts potentially exposed to the virus. To efficiently find the targeted social community, while saving the time complexity, a clique-based method is applied. Performance evaluation based on a realistic dataset shows that TraceMe is able to analyse large-scale social networks in order to find, and then alert, the tight communities of contacts that are at high risk of infection.

International audience; Obstacle detection is a tool adopted in vehicular safety applications, aiming to detect a moving obstacle in an area of interest with the highest accuracy. Different sensors are used for this aim, such as LiDAR devices mounted on board of a vehicle that capture images of the surrounding environment. Extending the number of LiDAR sensors can be useful to improve the obstacle detection accuracy, since multiple images are captured from different distances and directions, and this represents an interesting approach, specially in case of dense networks with cooperative nodes. In this paper we present MuSLi technique, aiming to (i) provide an accurate obstacle detection and (ii) forward alert messages to other cars in the network, in case of correct detection of a pedestrian crossing the street. MuSLi relies on the connected content islands scenario, where each vehicle defined as a content island subscribes to a service in order to receive and share published messages. Specifically, the road safety service allows the detection of an obstacle through multiple LiDAR sensors from neighboring cars. Furthermore, we investigate the fastest transmission mode among those defined in the C-V2X releases to alert the presence of a pedestrian to the other approaching cars. The proposed technique provides the distances by the crossroad in which is better to use V2V, V2I or V2N according to the environment, the scheduling technique and the measured interference.

The compartmentalization of psychological science and of the profession prevents the progress of the discipline. Compartmentalization is a collateral effect of the impressive scientific, methodological, and technical development of psychology, which has led to the emergence of specialized segments of knowledge and practice that unavoidably tend to progress separately from each other and weaken their reciprocal linkage. The work highlights the limits of compartmentalization and discusses motives that call for the unity of psychology. Three approaches to unification are outlined: I) the identification of the ultimate causal explanation; II) the progressive extension of the explicative capacity of specific theories; III) the building of a metatheoretical framework. Finally, the paper proposes the intervention as the criterion to compare the capacity of the three approaches to unity. According to this criterion, approaches can be validated by reason of their ability to enable professional psychology to address the current challenges that people and society have to face.

R. Giuliano, F. Mazzenga, A. Vizzarri, A.M. Vegni, "Future Communication Systems for Railway: the AB4Rail project in H2020 Shift2Rail Programme", Transport Research Arena (TRA) Conference 14-17nov 2022 *Alessandro Vizzarri (contact author). E-mail address: alessandro.vizzarri@radiolabs.it ABSTRACT In the last few years, the railway community has been working on the replacement of GSM-R technology used within the ERTMS/ETCS system. It is crucial to identify alternative communication technologies able to replace GSM-R guaranteeing the same requirements of QoS/QoE, security, and safety. For this purpose, the two most promising approaches are based on FRMCS and ACS systems. The Eu-Rail JU H2020 AB4Rail project (Alternative Bearer For Rail) aims to investigate the possibility of extending the set of communication bearers that can be integrated into the FRMCS/ACS systems. In this paper, the authors describe the main results obtained in AB4Rail research activities and adopted methodologies. From AB4Rail project investigations, it has emerged that the most promising candidates are: Free Space Optics (FSO) and innovative aerial communication technologies including LEO HTS satellites and HAPS.

BackgroundPsychological factors have been found to be associated with functional hypothalamic amenorrhea (FHA); however, their role in the onset or persistence of FHA is still understudied. The study aims to assess the associations of psychological factors with the presence vs the absence of FHA.MethodsA systematic literature search has been conducted across the major databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Embase) to explore the psychological factors associated with FHA. The search was limited to English-written articles published from 2000 onwards. Articles were selected based on stringent inclusion/exclusion criteria. After data extraction, meta-analysis and meta-synthesis were conducted.ResultsOf 349 retrieved articles, eight studies were included. Findings indicate that the main psychological factors associated to FHA seem to be depression and eating attitudes, especially drive for thinness. FHA women present higher levels of anxiety, sleep disorders, dysfunctional attitudes, and alexithymia. The meta-analysis on drive for thinness revealed that the pooled MD across the studies was statistically significant both in the fixed 0.63 (95% CI: 0.31–0.95) and random model 0.70 (95% CI: 0.13–1.26). Likewise, as for depression, the pooled MD across the studies was statistically significant both in the fixed 0.60 (95% CI: 0.36–0.84) and random model 0.61 (95% CI: 0.20–1.01).DiscussionFindings showed the association of psychological factors and FHA and recognized their involvement in the persistence of the disorder. A multidisciplinary approach should involve a collaborative process between gynecologists, clinical psychologists, and psychiatrists, from diagnosis to treatment. Longitudinal studies should be implemented with a comparison/control group or by including clinical psychologists in the psychological assessment and study design.

International audience; Visible Light Communication (VLC) is recognized as a complement communication technology that meets many hurdles of Radio Frequency (RF) systems. For example, VLC overcomes the limited RF spectrum resources for mobile users, even though its application demands an effective mechanism to handover among the different devices, in order to keep the connectivity consistent. In this paper, a new handover mechanism is introduced for mobile VLC nodes, based on a real time evaluation of the Interference-to-Noise Ratio (INR). This mechanism is coupled with four adaptive modulation schemes to further enhance the data rate. The communication system is evaluated at 0.15 mps and 0.3 mps velocities for different parameters i.e., handover rate, delivered data per handover and handover delay ratio, through an extensive simulated campaign. An experimental validation carried out through software-defined approach, considering a small-scale scenario and low power Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). A perfect results alignment between simulation and measurement show how suggested INR-based mechanism overcomes classical SNR-based handover for all performance parameters evaluated in this study.

With the advancement of nanotechnology, there has been fervid research activity on new communication paradigms suitable for new challenging contexts, such as biological systems. Among different approaches, the most considered has been artificial Molecular Communication, where entities such as synthetic molecules, enzymes, hormones, bacteria etc. are functionalized in order to implement information exchange with the surrounding system and with other entities. In this context, it is interesting to analyze specific features that could be exploited for effective communication paradigms. In this paper, we focus on chiral molecules (a.k.a. enantiomers) as novel enablers for a molecular communication paradigm. Chirality is an interesting and appealing feature existing in nature and that can be replicated with strong emphasis in new types of materials, such as metasurfaces and metamaterials. A deep knowledge of chirality features and how chiral molecules interact with each other or with achiral molecules provides insights into designing a new molecular communication technique suitable for biological environments. In this contribution, we will highlight the main applications of chiral molecules and we will present chiral features as the viable way for realizing a nanocommunication system.

Background The nocebo effect is a negative effect of a pharmacological or nonpharmacological medical treatment that is induced by patients' expectations, and that is unrelated to the physiological action of the treatment. The nocebo effect can negatively affect treatment outcomes. Aim To develop evidence-based consensus recommendations for the prevention and management of the nocebo effect in biosimilar-treated patients with IBD. Methods The "NOCE-BIO Consensus Group" was composed of 19 members from five European countries, and with different fields of expertise. A literature review on the nocebo effect, with specific focus on information about its prevention and management in biosimilar-treated IBD patients, was performed. Preliminary statements were formulated and voted on during a consensus group meeting held in Milan, Italy, in July 2018. A statement was accepted if >75% of participants voted 4 ("agree") or 5 ("strongly agree") on a scale of 1-5. Results Consensus was reached on 11 recommendation statements. Seven statements reached consensus after one voting round and four statements reached consensus after two voting rounds. All statements were supported by very low-quality level of evidence. The panel agreed that patient-health-care provider relationship is a key driver of acceptance of biosimilars, which limits the risk of negative bias and the nocebo effect. Lack of knowledge among patients and health-care providers about the effectiveness and safety of biosimilars should be minimized. Education about biosimilars needs to be tailored to the individual patient, and positive framing is recommended. Conclusions The nocebo effect is under-recognised in the era of biosimilars, although it may negatively impact on the cost-savings of biosimilars. Future research should focus on the magnitude, the risk factors, the impact, and the management of the nocebo effect in biosimilars-treated IBD patients.

International audience; In this work, a new paradigm for vehicular communications based on Reconfigurable Intelligent Meta-surfaces (RIMs) is presented. By using the proposed RIM, we are able to manipulate electromagnetic waves in the half-space, since the element is reflective. The unit cell consists of a U-shaped designed microstrip structure equipped with a pin diode and via a hole. In this study, two different reflection modes are achieved for 1-bit data transferring in each state. By incorporating these two different configurations together, the reflected phases in the proposed RIM surface can be controlled respectively in 0 ∘ and 180 ∘. The proposed unit cell can provide a usable double negative functional characteristic around 5.3 GHz. The main goal of this paper is the use of a multifunctional behavior RIM for vehicular communications to code the transmitted wave. A novel phase distribution diagram is generated to propagate in each angle. Moreover, two major electromagnetic modulation functions, beam forming and space coding have been demonstrated. Finally, we show how the RIM can be employed for vehicular communications, acting as a coated access point along the street. We derive the instantaneous data rate at the receiver node, the outage probability and the channel capacity, as affected by different beam widths, distances and vehicle speed.

Background and aims. The COVID-19 outbreak is a far-reaching health crisis and a significant psychological stressor. COVID-19 patients experience an unknown and life-threatening condition that ex-poses them to strict social distancing, physical discomfort, medication side effects, long hospitalization, stigmatization and fear of death. Older people seem to be particularly vulnerable to the current pandemic from both a physical and a psychological point of view. The present article aims to describe different psychological reactions in older hospitalized COVID-19 patients encountered by the clinical psychology Unit of one of northern Italy most hit hospitals. Three prototypical clinical cases will be described and discussed. Insights about different attitudes towards the illness will be offered. Conclusions. Auto-biographical narration among older hospitalized COVID-19 patients has positive effect. Hospital psychologist can support patients in the process of disease acceptance.

Prevalence of anxiety/depression was investigated in 105 COVID‐19 patients at 1‐3 months from virological clearance by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS‐A/D). 30% of patients displayed pathological HADS‐A/D, 52.4% showed persistent symptoms. Pathological HADS‐A/D patients more commonly reported symptom persistence, even after adjustment for age, gender, disease severity. Psychological assessments should be encouraged in COVID‐19 patients’ follow‐up. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Visible light communication (VLC) technology has traditionally emerged as a complementary solution to radio frequency, due to its huge available bandwidth and high data rates. Relying on visible spectrum, VLC allows both illumination and communication, thus representing a green technology with reduced energy impact. However, VLC can also be exploited for localization, and thanks to its huge bandwidth it can reach very high accuracy (i.e.

Anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress have been reported among the general population during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the adjustment after the emergency phase remains under-investigated. This study aims to understand the adjustment processes of the population after the emergency phase of the pandemic.We conducted a grounded theory based on the experience of 24 clinical psychologists who provided extensive support to the population during the pandemic in different Italian regions. Three online focus groups were conducted. The transcripts of the focus groups were analyzed through a process of open, axial, and selective coding. Data collection terminated once thematic saturation was reached.Repositioning emerged as the evolutionary task people were confronted with in the face of a New Reality. Repositioning meant dealing with and integrating unpleasant Emotional Experiences deriving from the lockdown and reopening (i.e., unsafety, emotional exhaustion, loneliness, uncertainty, loss, and disconnection) through different Coping Strategies. Repositioning was facilitated or hindered by contextual and individual Intervening Conditions and led to two Adjustment Outcomes: growth or block.Results suggest that repositioning was the core task people had to face after the emergency phase of COVID-19. Proactive psychological interventions may support the population in repositioning in order to prevent maladjustment and encourage post-traumatic growth.

In the last decade, Online Social Networks (OSNs) have emerged as one of the most disruptive communication platforms with high socio-economic value, used every day by billions of users to connect with friends, colleagues, and any other user with social ties and common interests. Social features are pervasively penetrating in our daily life not only by means of OSNs, but also in other contexts, such as that of vehicular ad-hoc networks. Vehicular Social Networks (VSNs) are enhanced with social features that impact not only on societal services, but especially on connectivity and communication performance. As a result, the coexistence of both OSNs and VSNs can represent a benefit for both two domains, allowing the creation of a unique network framework for connectivity maintenance. This paper presents a connectivity management technique in a heterogeneous network framework, namely SOLVER, comprised of both OSN and VSN communities for data exchange among nodes belonging to different networks. Connectivity switching is allowed in case of expected connectivity loss, as well as degradation of network performance. Results assess the effectiveness of SOLVER framework as compared to traditional Client-Server and Peer-to-Peer architectural modes.

International audience; Sixth generation (6G) wireless communication networks are envisioned to be empowered with novel enabling technologies to guarantee ubiquitous coverage requirements, heterogeneous communication scenarios, improved network intelligence, spectral rates and security. 6G vision is not only limited to terrestrial networks, but also extends to non-terrestrial networks encompassing satellites and aerial networks, thus exploring a full spectra of heterogeneous communication links. In 6G scenarios, the role of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is of paramount importance, as flying devices are expected to densely populate aerial space, providing an intermediate network layer between ground networks and space ones. As a vision of fully integrated 6G heterogeneous networks, ground, aerial and satellite networks will coexist, thus realizing space-air-ground integrated communication network for 6G scenarios. This work highlights several novel 6G enabling technologies, and presents the detailed study and evaluation of communication technology candidates from the perspective of aerial communication networks, key design considerations and technical challenges.

In graph theory, centrality metrics give information about the importance of a node. Applied to ad-hoc networks, as in the context of sparse dynamic networks, centrality metrics are widely used to take optimal decisions regarding information dissemination. Indeed, nodes showing higher centrality metrics are expected to act as preferred next-hop forwarders in case of dynamic networks. However, in sparse networks, as a consequence of this dynamicity, nodes could choose low centrality forwarder nodes when disseminating their messages, thus resulting in sub-optimal message dissemination.In this paper, we address this problem presenting a Machine Learning-based approach to help estimating the future values of the node’s centrality by defining two models based on (i) linear and (ii) polynomial regressions. The node centrality estimation is then exploited in a message forwarding technique we propose called "Linear And Polynomial regression based" (LAPSE). By means of simulations and through the use of real-mobility traces, we show that selecting forwarding nodes via the estimated centrality values allows to obtain better performances than traditional approaches based in terms of the overall centrality of the selected node.

Background The COVID-19 outbreak is severely affecting the overall mental health with unknown psychological consequences. Although a strong psychological impact is possible, scant evidence is available to date. Past studies have shown that resilience decreases the negative effects of stress. This study aimed to examine depression, anxiety, and stress among the Italian general population during the phase characterized by lockdown, and to investigate the role of resilience as a potential predictor. Methods A total sample of 6,314 Italian people participated in this study. Participants were recruited between March 29 and May 04 2020 through an online survey. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) and the Resilience Scale (RS) were administered. Demographic data and lockdown related information were also collected. A correlational analysis was carried out to examine relationships between psychopathological domains and resilience. Three hierarchical regression analyses were conducted using the depression, anxiety, and stress as dependent variables and the resilience as independent variable controlling for age, gender, and education. COVID-19 specific variables were also included in the three regression analyses. A further exploratory analysis was carried out to examine which aspects of resilience predict depression, anxiety, and stress. Results The prevalence of moderate to extremely severe symptoms among participants was 32% for depression, 24.4% for anxiety, and 31.7% for stress. The sample mean scores on depression, anxiety, and stress were higher than the normal scores reported in the literature. Results of correlational analysis showed that resilience factors, such as meaningfulness, self-reliance, existential aloneness, and equanimity, are inversely associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Results of regression analyses indicated that resilience was statically significant in predicting depression, anxiety, and stress. Geographic area of residence and infected acquaintances were also significant predictors. Regarding the resilience factors, results revealed that meaningfulness, perseverance, and equanimity were statistically significant in predicting all the DASS-21 scales. Conclusion About a third of respondents reported moderate to extremely severe depression, anxiety, and stress. The present study suggests that psychological resilience may independently contribute to low emotional distress and psychological ill-being. These findings can help explain the variability of individual responses during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Background and aims The role of new psychological factors such as psychopathological patterns and defense mechanisms in the care of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been poorly investigated. We aimed to assess the psychological characteristics and defense mechanisms of IBD patients. Methods This was a single-center, observational, cross-sectional study. Consecutive adult IBD patients were enrolled and stratified according to disease activity. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected, and validated questionnaires (Symptom Checklist-90-R [SCL-90-R]) for psychological distress, Defense Mechanism Inventory (DMI) for psychological defense mechanisms, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) for quality of life (QoL) were administered. Results Two hundred one patients were enrolled: 101 in remission and 100 with active disease. The mean score for IBDQ was below the cutoff level (156.8 ± 37.8), with a significantly greater impairment of QoL in subjects with flares (136.5 vs 177.5, P < 0.001). Lower scores were associated with female gender. No patients had psychological scores above the cutoff for normality. Statistically higher SCL-90-R scores were found in active patients for obsessive-compulsive disorder (P = 0.026), depression (P = 0.013), anxiety (P = 0.013), phobic anxiety (P = 0.002), psychoticism (P = 0.007), global severity index (GSI) (P = 0.005) and positive symptom total (PST) (P = 0.001). A significantly increased probability of higher global indexes was associated with Crohn’s disease and disease flares. None of the defensive Defense Mechanism Inventory (DMI) styles resulted above the cutoff in our cohort. Conclusions Further data are needed to demonstrate the potential key role of psychological intervention in the therapeutic strategies utilized for IBD patients, and the identification of specific psychological patterns based on the patients profile is necessary to optimize psychological intervention.

Glycolytic potential (GP) is one of the postmortem traits used to predict the quality of the final meat products. Despite that, the knowledge of the molecular and metabolic pathways controlling this trait is still not complete. To add some information on this field we used two pools of Italian Large White heavy pigs divergent for GP to investigate through a microarray approach the differences of gene expressions between the two pools. On the whole, 32 genes were differentially expressed, and among them 31 were overexpressed in low GP pool. These genes were involved in mitochondrial functions and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) biosynthetic processes, in calcium homeostasis, and in lipid metabolism, with Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling being a possible master regulator of the molecular differences observed between the two pools. The different GP levels between the two pools could have determined in low GP muscles a more rapid occurrence of the molecular cascade related to the events triggering cell death.

International audience; Recent progress in the field of nanotechnology is enabling communication between nanodevices to be considered also for in-vivo applications. In particular, nanodevices enabling light-controlled process have started to attract a lot of interest in the research community, due to potential applications like health-care wearable devices, intra-body applications and optogenetics, whose main objective is to stimulate neurons by the means of the light signals. Leveraging on these premises, we consider upconversion phenomenon , namely the ability of specific nanoparticles to convert low energy radiations (e.g., near-infrared radiations) into higher energy radiation (e.g., visible light) via a non-linear process. Energy transfer as viable communication mean has been already considered based on Förster-Resonance-Energy Transfer. In this paper, we focus on Phonon-Assisted Energy Transfer, and we analyze the requirements and conditions for generating optical signals from a genuine signal processing point of view. More specifically, based on information theory approach, we derive the conditions to minimize the error probability. We show that the dopant concentration (i.e., concentration of elements drugging a pure material in order to change its features) mostly influences the correct generation of the light signal. The performed analysis is based on experimental results.

As cancer immunotherapies continue to expand across all areas of oncology, it is imperative to establish a standardized approach for defining and capturing clinically important toxicities, such as cytokine release syndrome (CRS). In this paper, we provide considerations for categorizing the variety of adverse events that may accompany CRS and for recognizing that presentations of CRS may differ among various immunotherapies (e.g., monoclonal antibodies, CAR T cell therapies and T cell engagers, which can include bispecific antibodies and other constructs). The goals of this paper are to ensure accurate and consistent identification of CRS in patients receiving immunotherapies in clinical studies to aid in reporting; enable more precise evaluation of the therapeutic risk-benefit profile and cross-study analyses; support evidence-based monitoring and management of important toxicities related to cancer immunotherapies; and improve patient care and outcomes. These efforts will become more important as the number and variety of molecular targets for immunotherapies broaden and as therapies with novel mechanisms continue to be developed.

In the last decade, international efforts have been focused on public engagement, to foster public involvement in the affairs and decisions of policy-makers and scientists, in order to open a mutual sharing of knowledge, values and beliefs. Our study describes a pilot experience of public engagement in a fringe field of biomedical research which involves caregivers of patients with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS). For the 20th anniversary of Italian CdLS family’s association, a workshop focusing on progress and advancement of biomedical research on CdLS was organized for families. At the end participants were invited to complete a 14-item questionnaire, developed using a mixed method strategy with both quantitative (closed-ended) and qualitative (open-ended) data. Parents reported an overall good opinion of biomedical research (81.1%), reported trust in biomedical research (78.4%), and concluded that the basic research is as important as the clinical research (64.5%). However, only 19.4% of parents reported they were satisfied with the communication between researchers and society, and only 13.5% had a good perception of the availability of economic resources for research. Caregivers identified 4 areas of priorities: heuristic, functional, altruistic, and supportive; they reported to be highly satisfied with the workshop for both increasing knowledge about CdLS research, and for building up a network with supportive functions. Public engagement is a good way to inform caregivers about basic research progress, but also for informing researchers on the public’s views and concerns and for getting fresh and interesting perspectives.

Resume Introduction Plusieurs etudes ont suggere la faisabilite de la chirurgie robotique (CR) dans des indications techniquement difficiles telles que la duodenopancreatectomie cephalique (DPC), initialement consideree comme une contre-indication relative a la chirurgie mini-invasive. Le but de cette etude etait d’analyser les resultats perioperatoires, anatomocliniques et carcinologiques de la DPC/CR sur une serie de patients consecutifs. Methode Tous les patients ayant eu consecutivement une DPC/CR etaient inclus dans cette analyse des resultats perioperatoires cliniques, anatomopathologiques et carcinologiques. Afin d’analyser la courbe d’apprentissage, les resultats operatoires ont ete compares entre la periode initiale et la periode tardive nous avons aussi separe l’etude en deux periodes initiale et tardive. Resultats Cinquante-neuf patients ont ete inclus. La duree d'hospitalisation mediane etait 9 jours (5–118) avec une morbidite globale et une mortalite respectivement de 37 et de 3 %. Le taux de fistule pancreatique clinique etait de 11,8 %. Une resection R0 etait obtenue dans 96 % des cas. Les taux de survie sans recidive et de survie globale a 3 ans etaient respectivement de 37,2 et 61,9 %. Il n’y avait de difference significative entre la periode initiale et la periode tardive de l’etude. Conclusion La DPC/CR est faisable, et repond aux standards carcinologiques de la chirurgie ouverte. De plus, elle a des avantages en termes de resultats cliniques immediats.

Summary Purpose Robotics has shown encouraging results for a number of technically demanding abdominal surgeries including pancreaticoduodenectomy, which has originally represented a relative contraindication to the application of the minimally-invasive technique. We aimed to investigate the perioperative, clinicopathologic, and oncological outcomes of robot-assisted pancreaticoduodenectomy by assessing a consecutive series of totally robotic procedures. Methods All consecutive patients who underwent robotic pancreaticoduodenectomy were included in the present analysis. Perioperative, clinicopathologic and oncological outcomes were examined. In order to investigate the role of the learning curve, surgical outcomes were also used to compare the early and the late phase of our experience. Results A total of 59 patients underwent surgery. Median hospital stay was 9 days (5 - 110), with an overall morbidity and mortality of 37% and 3%, respectively. Of note, the rate of clinically relevant pancreatic fistula was 11.8%. R0 resections were achieved in 96% of patients and the 3-year disease-free and overall survivals were 37.2 and 61.9%, respectively. Overall, surgical outcomes did not vary significantly between the first and the late phase of the series. Conclusions Robotic pancreaticoduodenectomy can be performed competently. It satisfies all features of oncological adequacy and may offer a number of advantages over standard procedures in terms of surgical results.

The massive increase in population density in cities has led to several urban problems, such as an increment of air pollution, traffic congestion, and a faster spread of infectious diseases. With the rapid innovation in the intelligent sensors technology, and its integration into smart vehicles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), a novel sensing paradigm has been promoted, namely vehicular crowdsensing, which leverages on-board sensors to capture information from the surrounding environment. Collected data are then analyzed to take proper countermeasures. In this paper, we present a smart coordination mechanism between UAVs and ground vehicles (GVs), which sense information like body temperature and breathing rate of people, in order to support a variety of monitoring applications, including discovering the presence of infectious diseases. In our framework, namely GUAVA, aerial and ground vehicles are equipped with GPS devices and thermal cameras to monitor specific geographic areas, detect humans’ vital parameters and, at the same time, discover duplicate data by identifying matching faces in thermal video sequences with the GaussianFace algorithm. The sensing tasks in hard-to-reach places are assigned to UAVs, with the ability to power up wirelessly from the nearest GV and offload the collected monitoring images to it. Simulation results have assessed our proposed framework, showing good performance in terms of distinct Quality of Service (QoS) metrics.

What is the psychological impact of infertility on infertile patients and partners of infertile patients?This online, international, quantitative survey assessed the impact of infertility on mental health, relationships and daily activities for 1944 respondents. Respondents were male or female infertile patients (n = 1037) or partners to infertile patients (n = 907; not necessarily partners of the patient sample) and were recruited at different stages of the treatment journey.The most common emotions were 'sadness' at infertility diagnosis and 'anxiety' during treatment. Emotions differed in nature and intensity throughout the journey. Envy of others who achieved pregnancy was frequently reported by women. More than half of respondents (60.4%; n = 1174) perceived the infertility journey to have impacted their mental health, and 44.1% (n = 857) of respondents sought mental health support. More patients reported mental health impacts (70.1%, n = 727) than partners (49.3%, n = 447). One in three respondents indicated that their relationship had suffered due to the infertility diagnosis. Of these respondents, 55.0% (n = 409) strongly agreed that infertility caused an emotional strain. Patients more often than partners reported a detrimental impact on daily activities. Respondents most commonly agreed with statements regarding an 'effect on work-life balance'.Treatment journey stages are defined by their impact profile, which differs between infertile patients and partners of infertile patients. Negative impacts are diverse (mental health, relational, daily activities). There was disparity between the number of respondents reporting mental health issues and the number seeking mental health support. This indicates the need for support services tailored to different treatment stages.

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a rare metabolic disorder that leads to severe neurological abnormalities unless early treated with a strict phenylalanine (Phe)-restricted diet. The parents' involvement in PKU management is crucial and could lead to psychological distress; however, few studies have explored the parents' psychological wellbeing. The study aimed to: 1) evaluate the presence of psychological distress and impaired quality of life among parents of children with PKU, assessing the impact of the diagnosis and the impact of the treatment management; 2) explore the associations between parents' psychological outcomes and their children's blood-Phe levels.One hundred thirty-eight parents of patients with PKU (who need a Phe-restricted diet) and with a mild form (mild hyperphenylalaninemia-MHP, with no diet indication) filled-out self-report psychological questionnaires; Phe-levels of children with PKU were retrieved.Parents of children with PKU did not report higher levels of psychological distress neither compared with the normative scores nor with parents of children with MHP. Optimal Phe-levels were associated with a higher number of parents' depressive complaints, with a lower tendency to express anger feelings, with a lower social functioning, and a higher mental health.Parents of children with PKU showed a good psychological adaptation to their children's disease and treatment. Findings highlighted associations between parents' psychological wellbeing and their children's adherence to diet. Interestingly, an optimal adherence to the diet of their children was associated with parental low social functioning, a higher tendency to control the anger expression, and greater somatic depressive symptoms.

BACKGROUND Communication with families is crucial in ICU care. However, only a few residency programs include communication and relationship training in their curricula. This study aimed to assess the impact of a communication-skill course on residents' empathy and self-reported skills. MATERIAL AND METHODS A single-center, observational study was conducted. Since 2017, the 4th-year residents of the Anaesthesia and Intensive Care School, University of Milan attended the mandatory "Program to Enhance Relational and Communication Skills in ICU (PERCS-ICU)". PERCS-ICU lasted 10 hours and involved small groups of residents. The course was articulated around the simulation and debriefing of 3 difficult conversations with trained actors. Before and after the course, residents completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy and a questionnaire measuring self-assessed preparation, communication skills, relational skills, confidence, anxiety, emotional awareness, management of emotions, and self-reflection when conducting difficult conversations. The quality and usefulness of the course and the case scenario were assessed on a 5-point Likert scales. RESULTS Between 2017 and 2019, 6 PERCS-ICU courses were offered to 71 residents, 69 of whom completed the questionnaires. After the course, residents reported improvements in empathy (p

RESEARCH QUESTION What are the key drivers and barriers for infertile patients and their partners to see an infertility specialist and initiate treatment? DESIGN An online, international, 30-minute quantitative survey collected data from 1944 respondents from nine countries. Respondents were infertile patients (n = 1037) or partners of infertile patients (n = 907; but not necessarily partners of the patient sample), at different stages of the treatment journey. RESULTS The overall average times were 3.2 years to receiving a medical infertility diagnosis, 2.0 years attempting to achieve pregnancy without assistance before treatment, and 1.6 years of treatment before successful respondents achieved pregnancy. The most common driver for considering treatment after a consultation (n = 1025) was an equal desire within the couple to have a child (40.8%). Of the partners (n = 356), 29.8% reported that transparency of information from healthcare professionals about treatment expectations was important. A significantly higher proportion of respondents seeking treatment reported that healthcare professionals offered supportive services (61.2%) and mental health services (62.0%), than of the 207 respondents who did not seek treatment (32.4% and 36.7%, respectively; P

Designs and results for a low-power and economical fingerprint visible light positioning (VLP) system are discussed in this paper. A system using four white LEDs and one photodiode was deployed. The LEDs are independently controlled and modulated by individual transmitter circuits, removing the requirement for a large, expensive signal generator. The receiver circuit filters and converts the received signal to DC, allowing a simple microcontroller to save the received signal. We propose the creation of a fingerprint database by recording signal data, fitting a two-dimensional Gaussian distribution to the data, and then generating the fingerprint database for all positions in the evaluation system. System positioning accuracy of 13.44 + / − 0.36 mm was observed, corresponding to a relative error of 2.8% with respect to the system dimensions. This result presents an improvement on positioning accuracy for fingerprint positioning VLP systems, which build their own transmitters.

This paper investigates a novel communication system architecture for traffic management and data control in railway scenarios. The proposed solution should be integrated in the existing European Railway Traffic Management System/European Train Control System, the most advanced and successful standard even outside the European countries. Our system integrates public land mobile networks that usually offer best-effort packet services, with a quality-of-service (QoS) guaranteed satellite network. It represents a cost-effective substitution for 4G and 5G networks, aiming to replace current well-known GSM-R standard. The coexistence of heterogeneous networks is guaranteed by the multi-path transmission control protocol (TCP) protocol that addresses specific “add and drop” subflow policies and priority handling logics, in order to realize efficient seamless handovers. Providing priority to TCP subflows corresponds to select QoS-guaranteed, and the best effort networks able to fulfill railway requirements. The logic of adding and dropping subflows exploits both a real-time check of the current status of the serving network and “a priori” network performance information. Experimental results have been carried out in both city and harsh environments, where the main performance metrics ( i.e. , average delay, jitter, and bit rate) have been assessed.