Top Italian Scientists Journal最新文献

{"title":"An overview on Modulated Scattering Sensors and their applications","authors":"Massimo Donelli","doi":"10.62684/khlr6743","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.62684/khlr6743","url":null,"abstract":"Modulated scattering sensors are based on the scattering properties of small antennas. They operate similarly to radio frequency identifier RFIDs but they don't require a radio front-end, and with respect to RFIDs, which are characterized by a limited operative range, MST sensors can theoretically reach any distance up to kilometres. The information is carried on by modulating an impinging/interrogating electromagnetic wave by properly change the load impedance of the antenna sensor, with suitable resistive loads and electronic switches. MST sensors can also operate at microwave frequency bands thanks to the introduction of suitable MEMs switches able to operate up to 100 GHz, moreover they are simple, low invasive and very cheap. In this work the evolution and some recent advancements in the development and application of MST sensors at different engineering scenarios will be reported and commented.","PeriodicalId":517745,"journal":{"name":"Top Italian Scientists Journal","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140285955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Population reduction in salt intake for the prevention of cardiovascular disease: the “Four Imperatives”","authors":"Francesco P Cappuccio","doi":"10.62684/elqm3750","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.62684/elqm3750","url":null,"abstract":"Salt consumption is now much greater than needed for survival. High salt intake increases blood pressure in both animals and humans. Conversely, a reduction in salt intake causes a dose-dependent reduction in blood pressure in men and women of all ages and ethnic groups, and in patients already on medication. The risk of strokes and heart attacks rises with increasing blood pressure, and a reduction of blood pressure with drugs reduces the risk. However, most events occur in individuals with ‘normal’ blood pressure levels. Non-pharmacological prevention is therefore the only option to reduce such events in the population at large. Reduction in population salt intake reduces the number of vascular events. It is one of the most important public health measures to reduce the global cardiovascular burden. Salt reduction policies are feasible and effective (preventive imperative), cost-saving (economic imperative), powerful, rapid, equitable (political imperative) and life-saving (moral imperative). The World Health Organization recommends reducing salt consumption by 30% globally by 2025, aiming to reduce salt consumption to less than 5g per day, eventually.","PeriodicalId":517745,"journal":{"name":"Top Italian Scientists Journal","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140404503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The use of scientific ranking in the Academic career. An exemplificative survey in an Italian relatively young University","authors":"Salvatore Chirumbolo","doi":"10.62684/zoug4998","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.62684/zoug4998","url":null,"abstract":"Scientific ranking, usually involved in a metric evaluation of one’s own academic reputation, does not seem to even match with the career advancement in the University context. Paradoxically, members with a low ranking in bibliometric evaluation, usually expressed as number of publications (now known as “research products”), Hirsch’s index (Hind) and citations, cover responsibilities decisively higher than other members with a better ranking position. Although this research has been performed in a single exemplificative Italian Academy, this issue may be expanded to many further Italian Universities, representing a great concern for the advancement of science. Ideally, researchers in the field support the thesis that academic career and scientific rankings walk alongside following meritocratic rules [1], yet, sound analyses in the real world make this enthusiastic consideration somehow controversial [2-7]. Following Gelmini’s law, in 2010, a significant burden of “subjectivity” on the Expert Committee’s evaluation of academic careers, occurring once a candidate participated in earning the National Scientific Qualification for teaching in an Academy, led meritocracy to fail [7]. The apparently shareable consideration that a scientific crew should be empowered in selecting the best candidate suited for the defined project, often points at human and character features, empathy, promptness to obey without discussing head’s ideas, self-denial and a poor creative participation, in order to prevent any conflictual proposal, idea or debate. In this arrangement of skills, scientific rankings cannot bear any real support. Yet, Gelmini’s law introduced important novelties to the complete anarchy in selecting candidates for the Academic career, such as the so-called “medians”, in order to properly link the expertise of the candidate with his/her own scientific reputation, i.e., its scientific ranking compared to at least the half of current Academic experts in the same professional branch. Medians would be a paramount method to evaluate one’s own reputation on the basis that the candidate has exceeded the 50% of the confirmed experts in a nationwide assessment. Notwithstanding, other “personalized” items were involved in the selection route, just causing real perturbating bias in the correctness of the same selection. What have we lost in this dramatic drift far from a true, honest meritocracy? A first, maybe trivial, consideration would be to arrange a cut off of rankings to possibly select a candidate as worth of teaching in an Academy, either as Associate Professor or Full Professor. If rankings are recognized as the only reliable metric to categorize the expertise level of a researcher or a scholar, then primarily an Institution should consider rankings as the leading source of professionality for a defined field of research. In this Editorial, I will address this point.","PeriodicalId":517745,"journal":{"name":"Top Italian Scientists Journal","volume":"179 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140286902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Brain drain: Mitigatory strategies for a critical issue affecting Italy since over 50 years","authors":"Giovanni Di Guardo","doi":"10.62684/zacc6181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.62684/zacc6181","url":null,"abstract":"Brain drain, a profuse haemorrhage of brilliant female and male minds, is known to affect Italy and the overall Italian Society since over 50 years. Its obvious consequence is the alarming and persistent loss of scientific, educational and creative talents who, after getting graduated in one of our public Universities, leave the Country in search of more appealing, rewarding and successful professional and scientific opportunities abroad, thereby substantially contributing to make more prosperous the economy and the society of the Nations hosting them, with special emphasis on European Union (EU) Countries.","PeriodicalId":517745,"journal":{"name":"Top Italian Scientists Journal","volume":"41 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140508857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rationale and design of a prospective, open-label, randomized, multicentric clinical trial on the role of drug-coated balloons for bifurcation coronary lesions: the PRO-DAVID study","authors":"Đeiti Prvulović, Bernardo Cortese","doi":"10.62684/ehoa4798","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.62684/ehoa4798","url":null,"abstract":"Background. Coronary bifurcation lesions (CBL) are associated with impaired outcome. The role of drug-coated balloons (DCB) in this setting has been only investigated in small studies so far. Aim. We here describe the design of PRO-DAVID study, aiming at investigating the clinical outcomes of a “provisional DCB” versus a \"standard\" approach (provisional or upfront two stent techniques) for the treatment of complex CBL. Methods and results. The PRO-DAVID trial is a prospective, open-label, randomized, multicentric clinical trial of the interventions with true CBL (Medina 1,0,1; 1,1,1; 0,1,1) of unprotected left main (LM), and non-left main (non-LM) CBL with affected significant side branche (SB). The study hypothesis is that a “provisional DCB approach” with PCI using first DCB in SB after optimal predilatation and then DES implantation in the main vessel will be non-inferior to standard bifurcation-PCI as per EBC recommendations. The calculated sample size is 602 patients in total, and allocation is 1:1. The primary study endpoint is a composite of cardiac death, target vessel MI, or clinically-driven target lesion revascularization (TLR) at 12 months, and patients will be followed up for up to 3 years. Implications. CBL management with stents only is associated with impaired outcome, and some preliminary data on the performance of DCB show their safety and efficacy in this setting. PRO DAVID study is an adequately powered randomized trial with clinical endpoints aimed to test DCB use in true CBL.","PeriodicalId":517745,"journal":{"name":"Top Italian Scientists Journal","volume":"29 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140508644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The “Black Swan Principle” and the Genetics of Complex Diseases","authors":"Giuseppe Novelli, Juergen K. V. Reichardt","doi":"10.62684/yewj9912","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.62684/yewj9912","url":null,"abstract":"The black swan principle is a philosophy theory created by Nassim Nicholas Taleb that seeks to explain rare and unpredictable events, appearances that seem to defy logic or rational explanation. These events, termed \"Black Swans,\" have been observed in various domains, including finance, public administration, infectious diseases, and ecology. The concept of Black Swans has gained recently, significant attention in academia and practice due to its relevance in understanding extreme and rare occurrences. The “black swan” concept has been used in genetics for the unexpected developments that genome sequencing would reveal and which could have consequences for healthcare systems (e.g., increase in often unnecessary and inappropriate diagnostic investigations, increase in non-patients, etc.).","PeriodicalId":517745,"journal":{"name":"Top Italian Scientists Journal","volume":"11 1-2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140509414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Penicillin saga: a different tale","authors":"Pietro Giusti, Andrea Vendramin, M. Zusso","doi":"10.62684/yaao1046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.62684/yaao1046","url":null,"abstract":"The Sumerians, but also the ancient Egyptians, as well as Greeks and Indians, used extracts of some plants and fungi for the treatment of infections. Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz (1846 - 1916), the author of Quo Vadis, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905, in his novel “With iron and with fire” reports that during the 17th-century in Poland, wet bread was mixed with cobwebs (which often contained fungal spores) to heal wounds. In the same period, in England, in the book entitled Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, the apothecary and botanist John Parkinson (1567 - 1650) recommended the use of molds as a medical treatment for many infectious diseases that affect humans. These treatments often work since many organisms, including many species of mold, naturally produce antibiotic substances. However, ancient practitioners could not accurately identify or isolate the active components of these organisms. Similar experiences and evidence have been found in many other countries, including Italy. For example, Bartolomeo Bizio (1791 - 1862), found in 1821, that the red color assumed by “polenta” (a corn meal dish) was due to a bacterium that he named Serratia marcescens and that its development was inhibited by the presence of mold. After 1850, thanks to the progress of chemistry, the chemotherapy concept for the treatment of infectious diseases began to assert itself. Consequently, some effective chemical compounds were synthesized (for example sodium arsenylate by Antoine Béchamp in 1859 and used, at that time, against sleeping sickness and other trypanosomiasis. It was later abandoned due to its remarkable toxicity). However, thanks to Louis Pasteur (1822 - 1895), in the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century, the interest in substances of natural origin returned. Pasteur in fact highlighted both the inhibiting action of molds on the development of some bacteria and the antagonism between different bacteria. These observations were taken up by Arnaldo Cantani (1837 - 1893), who tried, with poor results, to apply Pasteur’s concept, developing bacteriotherapy (fight against pathogenic bacteria with other harmless bacteria) to treat tuberculosis.","PeriodicalId":517745,"journal":{"name":"Top Italian Scientists Journal","volume":"18 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140509321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prognostic value of clinical and microbiological parameters in COVID-19: the COMEPA study","authors":"Nicola Veronese, M. Noale, Anna La Carrubba, Luca Carruba, Stefano Ciriminna, Francesco Pollicino, Dario Saguto, Simona De Grazia, Federica Cacioppo, G. M. Giammanco, Claudio Costantino, Francesco Vitale, Marco Affronti, Maria Chiara Morgante, Giusi Randazzo, Ligia J Dominguez, Stefania Maggi, Mario Barbagallo, the COMEPA study authors","doi":"10.62684/xhiy3899","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.62684/xhiy3899","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose. Clusters’ analysis may indicate distinct phenotypes and symptom profiles potentially due to differing pathophysiology and needing different clinical approaches in COVID-19. However, the research about clusters combining clinical and microbiological information is still limited. The purpose of our study was to examine the prognostic role of clusters, including clinical and microbiological parameters in terms of severity of lung involvement, in-hospital mortality, and the occurrence of long COVID. Methods. Information regarding COVID-19, mortality, severity of lung involvement derived from medical records; long COVID symptomatology was ascertained using phone calls. A k-means clustering method was considered to partition data into clusters considering typical symptoms of COVID-19 present at hospital admission and SarsCov2 variants. Results. Our analysis identified among 414 patients (mean age: 65 years; males: 59.9%) four different clusters. Cluster 1: higher prevalence of respiratory COVID symptoms at hospital admission; Cluster 2: higher frequency of non-respiratory COVID symptoms and a higher prevalence of the Alpha variant; Cluster 3: older subjects and more frequently men, reporting more severe medical conditions and with a higher prevalence of Wild type variant; Cluster 4: patients that more often reported general and gastrointestinal COVID symptoms at the admission. From a prognostic point of view, patients in cluster 3 more frequently died and were admitted in a nursing home, with significantly lower presence of long COVID symptomatology. Conclusions. Clusters combining clinical and microbiological information in individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 that had different not only different profiles, but also different prognostic values, also in terms of long COVID.","PeriodicalId":517745,"journal":{"name":"Top Italian Scientists Journal","volume":"9 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140509852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Navigating the Evolving Scientific Communication: The Impact of ‘Top Italian Scientists’ on Modern Research and Innovation","authors":"Pasquale Striano","doi":"10.62684/ihxb5276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.62684/ihxb5276","url":null,"abstract":"Scientific communication is undergoing a transformative evolution in the digital age, with The Top Italian Scientists Journal (TISJ) at the forefront of this revolution. This article explores the dynamic interplay between modern scientific writing, research methodologies, evaluation criteria, and the influential role of TISJ in shaping the Italian scientific landscape. We delve into innovations in scientific communication and research practices while offering practical insights for authors to navigate this evolving landscape.","PeriodicalId":517745,"journal":{"name":"Top Italian Scientists Journal","volume":"55 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140512434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Couple dominance, dark personality traits, and power motivation","authors":"Javier I. Borráz-León, Coltan Scrivner, Oliver C. Schultheiss, Royce Lee, Dario Maestripieri","doi":"10.62684/jazj6280","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.62684/jazj6280","url":null,"abstract":"In romantic couples, there is usually an asymmetry in decisional power such that one partner is dominant and the other is subordinate. This study investigated the role of sex, ethnicity, self-assessed social status, personality traits, and power motivation (both explicit and implicit) as potential determinants or correlates of couple dominance in a mixed-sex sample of 50 college students. Through a previously validated questionnaire, participants indicated whether they were dominant or subordinate in their romantic relationship, or whether the latter was egalitarian. Major personality domains, narcissism, psychopathy, borderline, autistic-like traits, and explicit power were assessed through questionnaires. Participants also underwent a Picture Story Exercise to evaluate their implicit motives. Being dominant and having high explicit, but not implicit, power motivation were associated with some psychopathic, narcissistic, and/or borderline traits, while autistic-like traits were associated with being subordinate. Traits such as extraversion, conscientiousness, and honesty-humility had weak associations with couple dominance and/or explicit or implicit power motivation. Our findings have implications for the understanding of dominance dynamics within couples and the relationship between personality traits and power motivation.","PeriodicalId":517745,"journal":{"name":"Top Italian Scientists Journal","volume":"41 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140513456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}