Dear colleagues,

The 28 of June 2018 the International Master courses in Protection against CBRNe events of the University of Rome Tor Vergata and the Police of Abu Dhabi GHQ (United Arab Emirates) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate in the didactic, training and scientific research areas.

The ceremony to sign the MoU has been held in the Head Quarters of the Abu Dhabi Police with the Rector of the University of Rome Tor Vergata – Prof. Giuseppe Novelli and the Major General Maktoom Ali Elsharifi with the presence of Local Authorities and of a delegation of the CBRNe Master composed, among the others, by Prof. Leonardo Palombi (Director of the CBRNe Master courses), Dr. Pasquale Gaudio (Coordinator of the CBRNe Master courses), Dr. Andrea Malizia (Didactic Coordinator of the CBRNe Master courses) and of members of the didactic board such as Lt. Col. Bernd Allert (COE JCBRND), Prof. Francesco d’Errico (University of Pisa and University of Yale) e of the colleagues Prof. Massimo Papa and Prof. Loredana Santo representing the Faculty of Law and Engineering of our University.
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After the MoU signature, the Rector has given the CBRNe Master diploma to the first group of officers that have completed successfully in A.Y. 2016/2017. We want to congratulate with Sami Alsaadi, Salem Alkaabi, Sultan Alkaabi, Abdulla Alseraifi, Salem Alrashidi and take the chance to thanks Prof. Amer Hosin and Major Ibrahim Al Marzouqui to let the formalization of this cooperation possible.
It is a crucial moment for our University that continues to enforce the international cooperation’s to favorite not only a scientific growth but also social and human ones.   

#CBRNe Master courses are a partner of the project :

​"MELODY - A harmonised CBRN training curriculum for first responders and medical staff"

together with NEDERLANDSE ORGANISATIE VOOR TOEGEPAST, RIJKSINSTITUUT VOOR VOLKSGEZONDHEID EN MILIEU and NATUURWETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK TNO (NL); ISEM-INSTITUT PRE MEDZINARODNU BEZPECNOST A KRIZOVE RIADENIE, NO (SK); AUTONOOM PROVINCIEBEDRIJF CAMPUS VESTA (BL); KESZENLETI RENDORSEG (HU); UNIWERSYTET LODZKI (PL); Länsi-Suomen Pelastusharjoitusaluesäätiö (FI); European Council of Disaster Medicine (ECDM) (FR).
The project is coordinated by the Studiecentrum voor Kernenergie/Centre d'Etude de l'Energie  Nucléaire (BE).
The call won is: ISFP-2017-AG-PROTECT.
The activity: A harmonised CBRN training curriculum for first responders and medical staff
Activity: ISFP-2017-AG-PROTECT.
Abstract of the project:
The main objective of this project proposal is to define, develop and deploy a harmonized CBRN training curriculum for first responders and medical staff, by medical staff it is meant ambulance drivers, paramedics and emergency room (ER) personnel. The objectives set out for the project will be achieved through 7 logically designed work packages (WPs), which cover the consultation with existing training facilities in the consortium, leading to a draft document, which will then through consultation with end-users/practitioners will determine how far we are from the actual training needs. Additional effort will be spent in correcting the departures from the existing training material with respect to the actual practitioner’s needs. The improved CBRN training curriculum will be assessed and evaluated through a number of dedicated exercises and training activities which will lead to a new set of improvements. A WP has been devoted to demonstration and dissemination activities. The former will deal with showcasing the final product through a set of full-scale exercises, whereas the latter will be a continuous effort in raising awareness on the project and its activities at all levels: from practitioner to policymakers. It is expected that a fully fit-for-purpose CBRN training curriculum
for EU first responders and medical staff, properly quality assured and controlled will be delivered three years after the initiation of the project.

On the 29th of May the Association Sport Senza Frontiere ONLUS has organized a conference on "Lo sport come contrasto alla povertà infantile" held at the Salone d'Onore of CONI. Since 2015, the Department of Biomedicine and Prevention has an agreement with the Association who is involved in facilitating the access  to sport and, even more, to primary health services (paediatric check up, vaccinations, nutritional education) for children with social frailty. 
Our Department has been primary involved in projecting and monitoring the health part of the program, with particular regard to the assessment of child nutritional status and their eating behaviors. The scientific research, that has also included health education campaigns and epidemiologic data analysis, has been conducted under the supervision of Prof. Ersilia Buonomo.  
During the conference, Prof Leonardo Palombi has highlighted the important role of the no profit Associations as key components to integrate and aggregate children with social frailty supporting families and schools in a challenging moment for the society. Doc Stefania Moramarco has instead shown the preliminary results of " ForGood. Sport è benessere", underscoring the efficacy of the program in identifying child health problems (nutritional status, eating behaviors, access to the health services), with important results obtained in reaching the 100% coverage of vaccinations, improvement of eating habits and lowering on overweight and obesity prevalence. 

It is a pleasure present a new scientific cooperation that is born between our Department of Biomedicine and Prevention (PI Prof. Leonardo Palombi and three important Institutes of Moscow.

- Prof. Evdokia KHOLOSTOVA: Director of Social University, Moscow
- Prof. Alexei ANDREEV: Social Chamber of Moscow
- Dr. Ivan MALOFEEV: Director of the Territorial Center of Social Services "Novogirrevo" of the Department of Labor and Social Protection of Moscow

The topic of this workshop was the problem of the ageing (from both OSCE and Russia prospectives) and the different approach in the elderly problem for the National Health Systems.

The workshop has been attended by Professors, Researchers, PhD candidates and candidates of the Specialization Schools of Hygiene of the Department of Biomedicine and Prevention.

We think that it is only the beginning of  a fruitful and interesting  cooperation.

PI: Florence Malisan
Co-investigators: Ivano Condò, Gian Paolo Ussia
 
HAX-1 is a potential biomarker for cardiomyopathies
 
           Cardiomyopathies are a heterogeneous group of diseases affecting the myocardium, due to various causes but often genetically determined. Predicting any given patient’s course in terms of development of symptoms or lethal arrhythmias remains a challenge. Friedreich’s Ataxia (FRDA) is a hereditary disorder due to deficient expression of the mitochondrial protein frataxin characterized by progressive neurodegeneration and frequent cardiomyopathy since approximatively 60% of FRDA patients die from heart failure. Searching for genes involved in FRDA pathogenesis, microarray analysis revealed that overexpression of frataxin correlates with overexpression of HS-1 associated protein X-1 (HAX-1) which comprises a family of proteins playing important roles in the regulation of apoptosis. Interestingly, HAX-1 plays a crucial role in cell survival in cardiac tissue.
           We have shown that low levels of frataxin in FRDA cell lines and primary peripheral mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of FRDA patients correspond to reduced levels of HAX-1 (F. Malisan and F. Amati, manuscript in preparation) confirming the positive relashionship between frataxin and HAX-1 both at protein and mRNA level. This expression pattern is noteworthy in PBMCs of FRDA patients affected by cardiac disease, especially for mRNA expression.
         We therefore sought to investigate the expression and role of HAX-1 in cardiomyopathy patients in order to evaluate HAX-1 as a molecular biomarker for cardiomyopathy. Moreover, we plan to study the physiological variations of circulating microRNAs to evaluate whether and which microRNAs are involved in any differences found in HAX-1 expression and to examine which of them may be important as biomarkers for cardiomyopathy.
           Our results will contribute to the discovery of novel genetic “risk” or “protective” factors in cardiomyopathy that may also emerge as new therapeutic targets.

PI: Marco Barchi
Co-investigators: Paola Grimaldi, Pellegrino Rossi
 
 
Impact of genetic and epigenetic alterations on transmission of aneuploidies in mammals
 
 
Chromosome abnormalities occur with high frequency in humans. Of different classes of aberrations, aneuploidy is the most common and clinically relevant. Except few cases, monosomies and and trisomies of the autosomes are incompatible with normal development. However, the consequences are less severe for the sex chromosomes, so that X-chromosomes monosomy (45,X0), condition associated with Turner syndrome (TS), and trisomy (47,XXY) associated with Klinefelter syndrome (KS), are “enriched” among liveborns.
 
In mammals, proper homologous chromosomes pairing and segregation of the sex chromosomes and autosomes during meiosis, rely on homologous recombination, a process that is fired by the formation of double strand breaks (DSBs) by the SPO11 protein. DSBs landscape is not random, as they are constrained to specific regions of the genome, called “hot spots”, by the histone-lysine N-methyltransferase PRDM9.
 
In this project we will explore how genetic and epigenetic alterations in germ cells genome might impact on fertility and proper chromosome segregation in gametes. Using knock-in mouse models developed in our lab, we will investigate the specific function of single Spo11 splice isoforms in proper segregation of the X-Y chromosome and autosomes. Results obtained with mice will be tested on samples from human patients; i.e. KS-parents, KS, non-obstructive azoospermic (NOA) or oligospermic patients with an unbalanced chromosome number. In addition, we will study if  variations in the expression levels of the epigenetic modifier PRDM9, induced pharmacologically by synthetic agonist of cannabinoid receptors,  may affect crossover formation leading to aneuploidy. This information could be potentially relevant for Marijuana smokers. ,  
 

Wednesday March 7 was the Department Young Investigators Day 2018. The event, organized, as last year, by Prof. Roberto Testi with the help of an Organizing Committee composed by members of the Research Commission, started with a short introduction by the Rector, Prof. Giuseppe Novelli, and by Prof. Francesco Lo Coco. The Rector underlined the idea that scientific research and, more in general, our University, contributes not only to the advancement of knowledge but also to the creation of job opportunities and to the improvement of living standards of the area.
The scientific program was organized in three oral sessions, Basic Biomedicine, Translational and preventive Biomedicine and New technologies and instrumentations in Medicine and Surgery, and in a guided poster session where all the participants were given the opportunity to orally present their work. During the oral plenary sessions, 12 young speakers presented their work, selected among the 72 abstracts received by the Committee. The speakers were biologists, physicians, physicists, chemists and engineers, a representation of the multidisciplinary nature of our Department. Discussion has been lively and constrained only by time limits imposed by the program. A special thanks to Prof. Testi and to the Organizing Committee from the Rector, The Dean of the Faculty, the Department Director and, in particular, from the young investigators of our Department.

Si comunica a tutto il personale, a tutti gli studenti ed a tutti i visitatori che ​il giorno 5 marzo p.v. è previsto, presso i ballatoi (tra i lati nord/sud) del secondo piano dell’edificio E, del primo e secondo piano dell’edificio F della Facoltà di Medicina, l’inizio dei lavori di manutenzione straordinaria della pavimentazione e dei parapetti.
Le attività termineranno, salvo imprevisti, entro il 30 marzo p.v.

Dear colleagues,
It is with a great pleasure that Friday 02/02/2018 the #MasterCBRN host a seminar on "Secondary Traumatization and Mental Health of Staff working in Emergency Settings" held by Prof. Amer Hosin (Professor of Trauma Psychology & Child Psychiatry and Senior Academic Advisor, Emergency and Public Safety Department, ADP, GHQ Abu Dhabi Police).
The seminar, held at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery under the auspices of the Department of Biomedicine and Prevention (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata) and with the scientific introduction of Prof. Leonardo Palombi, has been a success with an important participation of medical doctors, engineers, physics, biologist and CBRNe first responders.
The seminar has been also an occasion to arrange a meeting with the Rector of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Prof. Giuseppe #Novelli, to establish the contents of the upcoming signature of the cooperation agreement regarding research, didactic and training on CBRNe activities under the umbrella of the International Master courses in Protection against CBRNe events.
We took the chance also to arrange a weekend of visits to our wonderful city of Rome.
We are honored to continue this important cooperation with the #United #Arab #Emiratesand certify it with a formal cooperation agreement.
STAY TUNED.
The Directive Board of #MasterCBRN

Cari Colleghi e Colleghe,

visto il grande successo riscontrato lo scorso aprile, anche per il 2018 sarà organizzata una Giornata scientifica dedicata ai giovani ricercatori del nostro Dipartimento. Dottorandi, Assegnisti, Specializzandi e Borsisti del nostro Dipartimento potranno presentare il loro lavoro sotto forma di poster ed un limitato numero di lavori sarà selezionato per essere presentato oralmente. Come lo scorso anno, tre giovani ricercatori riceveranno un premio in denaro.

La Giornata si svolgerà il 7 marzo 2018 e sarà organizzata in tre sessioni:

1. Biomedicina di base
2. Biomedicina traslazionale e preventiva
3. Nuove tecnologie e strumentazioni.

In particolare, la terza sessione sarà dedicata alla presentazione di tecnologie e strumentazioni innovative, disponibili e validate, che possano essere messe a disposizione dei ricercatori del dipartimento per favorire interazioni e sinergie.
 Ampio spazio sarà dedicato alla presentazione e discussione dei posters.

Gli abstract dei lavori dovranno essere inviati entro il 1 febbraio 2018 a ricerca@biomedicinaeprevenzione.uniroma2.it e dovranno contenere:
1) sessione preferita per la presentazione
2) nome di chi presenta il lavoro
3) nome del supervisore scientifico
4) titolo del lavoro
5) autori e affiliazioni
6) abstract (max 250 parole)
 
Vi prego di dare opportuna diffusione del contenuto della presente ai giovani ricercatori che collaborano alle vostre ricerche.
Cordiali saluti,
Prof. Roberto Testi
Commissione Ricerca
Dipartimento Biomedicina e Prevenzione

Rome — 11 December 2017 — An interesting article reporting, in two pages, the results and activities of our Department has been published on the Journal "Il Sole 24 ORE"

DOWNLOAD THE PDF VERSION: