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Introduction: Aggressive disorders, in patients with intellectual disability, are satisfactorily managed with an educational, psychological, and pharmacological approach. Posterior hypothalamic region deep brain stimulation emerged in the last two decades as a promising treatment for patients with severe aggressive disorders. However, limited experiences are reported in the literature. Methods: A systematic review was performed following PRISMA guidelines and recommendations by querying PubMed and Embase on August 24th, 2022, with the ensuing string parameters: ([deep brain stimulation] OR [DBS]) AND ([aggressiv*] OR disruptive). Cochrane Library, DynaMed, and ClinicalTrials.gov were consulted using the combination of keywords "deep brain stimulation" and "aggressive" or "aggression". The clinical outcome at the last follow-up and the rate of complications were considered primary and secondary outcomes of interest. Results: The initial search identified 1,080 records, but only 10 studies met the inclusion criteria and were considered. The analysis of clinical outcome and complications was therefore performed on a total of 60 patients. Quality of all selected studies was classified as high, but one. Mean Overt Aggression Scale (OAS) improvement was 68%, while Inventory for Client Agency Planning (ICAP) improvement ranged between 38.3% and 80%. Complications occurred in 4 patients (6.7%). Conclusion: Posterior hypothalamic region deep brain stimulation may be considered a valuable option for patients with severe aggression disorders and ID. This review can represent a mainstay for those who will be engaged in the surgical treatment of these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to analysing the literature on AI in regional sciences to understand the evolution of the topic in the field. Through a bibliometric analysis, it identifies the most publishing journals, most cited authors and relevant topics analysing more than 800 articles published between 1986 and 2020. Moreover, it reviews the most recent avenues of the literature analysing in-depth the content of 70 articles published in 2020 and 2021 in relevant journals in the field of innovation and regional science. From the analysis of the recent literature, six groups of topics emerge: Industry 4.0, smart cities, big data, AI and related technologies (robotization, IoT, augmented and virtual reality). The results confirm that AI is still an emerging topic in regional science and contribute to identifying the most intriguing issue and future research trends for developing this new research line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we perform a preliminary analysis of the technologies, firms and industries that may be affected by the possible futures of the metaverse, attempting to derive some hypotheses on the spatial effects of this process. We distinguish between two possible evolutive scenarios – the 'metaverse shaped by reality view' and the 'metaverse shaping reality view' – and factors affecting them, deriving implications for public policy planning. The first scenario presents relatively traditional core policy challenges: ensuring homogeneous availability of network infrastructures as well as the skills indispensable to catch the new technological opportunities at the local level, accompanying the reallocation of factors of production associated to disruption and addressing inequalities. In the second, the main challenge is more radical: to ensure that desirable features are incorporated in the emerging virtual worlds from the start. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This collection on 'Artificial intelligence, big data, algorithms and Industry 4.0 in firms and clusters' is introduced exploring the themes discussed by the nine papers and grouped into three categories to uncover new dynamics and identify future research opportunities for clusters and organizations in these transformative times. The first group explores theoretical aspects of AI and its evolution in social sciences, focusing on industry 4.0, smart cities, big data, and other related topics. The second group examines the role of industrial robots in employment, productivity, and knowledge absorption in industrial districts. The third group discusses innovation in the context of local production systems, AI ecosystems, and the growth and potential of the Metaverse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the role of the inventors' networks and the diversity of the local industrial structure for regional innovation, differentiating between regions' production of normal and breakthrough innovations. Our results suggest that, on the one hand, local related variety enhances the overall innovation rate, while unrelated variety supports the rate of breakthrough innovations. On the other hand, we find evidence that inventors' networks are determinant for regions' patenting of normal and breakthrough innovations. To do so we constructed a unique database of Italian patenting activity at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) dating back to 1972. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emerging stream of entrepreneurship studies is debating how knowledge composition influences the capacity of territories to give birth to new firms. This paper aims to study the dynamics linking new firm formation and relatedness. Some studies demonstrate that proximity between different but related sectors positively influences new firms formation. Others point out how the presence of unrelated sectors can have a more significant impact. This paper studies these dynamics across 27 individual industries, computing measures of external and internal relatedness for each sector in Italy, using data on new firm formation between 2012 and 2014. The results suggest the broadly positive impact of external relatedness on new firm formation when compared to the impact of internal relatedness. The sectoral study of the impact of relatedness on new business creation could increase policymakers' awareness of the capacity of individual sectors to promote favourable path-creation trajectories at the micro-level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the relationship between a new indicator of economic context, economic complexity (EC), and fertility change in Italian provinces between 2006 and 2015. We hypothesize that the level of EC is associated with fertility as it reflects a territory's capacity to innovate, grow and create job opportunities. The results illustrate a clear positive association between EC and fertility change across Italian provinces for the period considered, net of traditional fertility predictors. Those areas that stand at the frontiers of EC are also more likely to dominate and adapt to the negative consequences of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses entrepreneurship adopting the concept of 'emergence', defined in the literature on entrepreneurship and complexity, as the creation of a new order, arising from the interactions between its elements. We hypothesise that the recent evolution of (and interaction between) i) entrepreneurial figures and their functions, (ii) firms' structures and strategies and (iii) external environment has defined a set of properties, characteristic of a new emergent entrepreneurial order. A case study conducted on 24 entrepreneurs based on a traditional manufacturing region is used to support the theoretical building process and demonstrate the phenomenon beyond the Silicon Valley storytelling. The results categorise the entrepreneurial properties around three spheres (Cognition, Coordination, Cooperation) and explain (in the discussion part) their dynamic generative process, underlining the necessity to embrace a holistic unit of analysis, to fully understand the entrepreneurial emergent order. Finally, some implications for managerial models and policy strategies are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the research is to investigate whether the structure of knowledge networks and the variety of the local industrial structure are important for regional innovation and if the interplay between these two forces has an additional effect on local innovativeness. The research analyses co‐patenting collaborations at firm level in the Italian provinces in three five‐year intervals in the period 2001–2016. Results show that the structure of knowledge networks and agglomeration economies of inventors boost local inventive capacity. It also highlights how these forces have an increasing impact on innovation as the variety of the area increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in fostering innovation and growth in the wider economy has been much debated, beginning with Bakhshi et al. (2008) seminal contribution. Such studies of creative industries assign a strategic role to territories, but they provide little empirical evidence. In this paper, the issues of the creative economy are combined with evolutionary economic geography topics to understand whether the CCIs are able to foster innovation and growth in the wider economy. Using an indicator of the relatedness between creative and other sectors for the Italian provinces, we analyse employment growth over a period of ten years (2006–2015). A panel data analysis is then applied to investigate the role of relatedness and the clustering of creative industries in wider economic growth, showing that, to favour growth, the creative industries require the presence of other sectors with a high degree of proximity/relatedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work uses an evolutionary economic geography framework to contribute to the literature on the combinatorial dimension of differentiated knowledge bases (DKB). The aim is to determine if there is a pattern of knowledge creation that does not rely on one specific knowledge base, and if the three knowledge bases require the presence of other related sectors to exploit their innovative capacity leading to the growth of the region. We apply Hidalgo, Klinger, Barabási, and Hausmann's [2007. The product space conditions the development of nations. Science, 317(5837), 482–487.] methodology of a revealed relatedness measure between sectors, thus measuring the relatedness between the three KB and the relatedness of each KB with all other sectors (outside). The results show how, at the local level, the sectors characterized by synthetic and symbolic knowledge bases in the presence of other sectors with a high degree of relatedness are able to increase the employment growth of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present research is to investigate the intellectual structure of creative economy research (CER) with a bibliometric analysis based on co-citation. Firstly, we try to reconstruct the evolution of academic research on creative economy with particular attention to the themes of regional and local economic development. Secondly, we investigate the community of contributions/actors that contributed to its generation throughout social network analysis. We analyse publications collected from ISI Web of Science, which includes all academic works starting from the seminal contribution of Department of Culture Media and Sport in 1998. Through the analysis of 941 publications produced over 16 years, we investigate the evolution of CER. Then we apply a relational analysis exploring co-citations of ‘disseminators’ and founders’ work’ of CER. Results underline that creative economy may be considered as a successful multidisciplinary paradigm born and developed in English-speaking countries, developed even on a global level, and still in a developmental phase. The internal structure of research appears fragmented in many sub-communities concentrated around some key concepts. Whereas creative class and creative city contribute to the foundation of the field, cultural and creative industries are the most important and recent topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peripheral nerve sheath tumors (PNSTs) include schwannomas, neurofibromas (NFs), and plexiform neurofibromas (PNFs), among others. While they are benign tumors, according to their biological behavior, some have the potential for malignant degeneration, mainly PNFs. The specific factors contributing to the more aggressive behavior of some PNSTs compared to others are not precisely known. Considering that lipid homeostasis plays a crucial role in fibrotic/inflammatory processes and in several cancers, we hypothesized that the lipid asset was also unbalanced in this group of nerve tumors. Through untargeted lipidomics, NFs presented a significant increase in ceramide, phosphatidylcholine, and Vitamin A ester. PNFs displayed a marked decrease in 34 out of 50 lipid class analyzed. An increased level of ether- and oxidized-triacylglycerols was observed; phosphatidylcholines were reduced. After sphingolipidomic analysis, we observed six sphingolipid classes. Ceramide and dihydroceramides were statistically increased in NFs. All the glycosylated species appeared reduced in NFs, but increased in PNFs. Our findings suggested that different subtypes of PNSTs presented a specific modulation in the lipidic profile. The untargeted and targeted lipidomic approaches, which were not applied until now, contribute to better clarifying bioactive lipid roles in PNS natural history to highlight disease molecular features and pathogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between culture and economy is facing a new phase based on an increasing connection between culture, creativity and technological innovation. A New Era is beginning where cultural organisations may face different challenges that emerged from the diffusion of digital technology. The digital revolution has pervaded and transformed not only various industrial sectors, but the whole of society. The most evident consequences are in terms of new forms of representation of cultural heritage, growing creative capacity and new market niches. This edited collection seeks to enlarge this debate with the aim of offering a wide discussion of topics related to the role of new technologies and innovation for cultural and creative sectors and organisations. In particular, the objective is twofold: (a) understanding new dynamics generated by digital transformation and how they may affect the cultural and creative industries and organisations; (b) identifying the new challenges in the development of new trajectories for cultural and creative sectors in the Digital Era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The supracerebellar transtentorial approach for the resection of brain lesion at the level of the mesial temporooccipital region is underused in the field of epilepsy surgery, despite the theoretical advantage of sparing normal brain structures, in particular in the dominant hemisphere for language. Hereby we present the case of a patient with a low-grade epilepsy associated tumor, presenting with weekly drug-resistant focal seizures, treated by a supracerebellar transtentorial lesionectomy. Surgery was uneventful and the histopathology revealed a pleomorphic low-grade neuroepithelial tumor of the young patient. At the 6-month follow-up, the patient did not present neurologic deficits and she never presented with seizures after surgery, so antiepileptic drug tapering started. The integration of supracerebellar transtentorial approach in the "armory" of the epilepsy neurosurgeon requires a dedicated expertise and an anesthesiologic setting used to manage the semisitting position; on the other hand, it could provide a relevant option to provide safe and complete lesionectomy in the mesial temporooccipital region, together with the more classical sublobar and transcerebral approaches (Video 1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To date, no shared algorithms with the aim of guiding surgical strategy in complex cases of degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) exist. Our purpose is to present the Cervical Surgical Score (CSS) which could help in identifying complex DCM cases, suggesting a surgical strategy., Methods: We created the CSS based on multidisciplinary and literature-focused discussions, based on eight parameters including number of levels of cervical pathology and myelopathy, type and predominance of compression and grade of clinical myelopathy. We prospectively enrolled surgical DCM patients in a 15-months period, collecting clinical and radiological data. During outpatient clinic a specific surgical indication was offered to DCM patients. To validate the score, each outpatient clinic surgical indication was compared a posteriori to the one that resulted from multidisciplinary CSS scoring, focusing on patients for which both an anterior and posterior approach were considered suitable., Results: A total of 100 patients operated on for DCM at our Institution between December 2021 and February 2023 were prospectively enrolled. In 53% of patients the pathology was present at more than two levels. According to CSS calculation, 14% of patients resulted in the "grey zone", where both an anterior and posterior approach were deemed feasible. Among them, in 42.8% of cases the CSS allowed a modification of the originally planned surgery. Looking at outcome, an improvement of m-JOA score in 62% of patients was disclosed., Conclusions: This preliminary study showed the reliability and usefulness of CSS in detecting complex DCM cases, requiring further analysis by expert spine surgeons, suggesting a surgical strategy.

Objective: Peripheral nerve sheath tumors (PNST) include mainly schwannomas and neurofibromas. Surgical resection represents the mainstay of treatment but due to their pathogenesis, distinguishing between intact functional nerve and the fibers from whence the PNST arose may not always be easy to perform, constituting the most relevant risk factor in determining a worsening in neurological condition. The introduction of intraoperative tools to better visualize these tumors could help achieve a gross-total resection. In this study, we analyzed the effect of sodium fluorescein (SF) on the visualization and resection of a large cohort of PNST., Methods: Between September 2018 and December 2021, 142 consecutive patients harboring a suspected PNST underwent fluorescein-guided surgery at the Department of Neurosurgery of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy. All patients presented with a different degree of contrast enhancement at preoperative MRI. SF was intravenously injected after intubation at 1 mg/kg. Intraoperative fluorescein characteristics and postoperative neurological and radiological outcomes were collected, analyzed, and retrospectively compared with a historical series., Results: 142 patients were included (42 syndromic and 100 sporadic); schwannoma was the predominant histology, followed by neurofibroma (17 neurofibroma e 12 plexiform neurofibroma) and MPNST. Bright fluorescence was present in all cases of schwannomas and neurofibromas, although with a less homogeneous pattern, whereas it was significantly less evident for malignant PNST; perineurioma and hybrid nerve sheath tumors were characterized by a faint fluorescence enhancement. The surgical resection rate in the general population and even among the subgroups was about 66.7%; from the comparative analysis, we found a consistently higher rate of complete tumor removal in plexiform neurofibromas, 66% in the "fluorescent" group vs 44% in the "historical" group (p-value < 0.05). The rate of complications and mean surgical time were superimposable among the two populations., Conclusions: SF is a valuable method for safe fluorescence-guided PNST and mimicking lesions resection. Our data showed a positive effect of fluorescein-guided surgery in increasing the rate of surgical resection of plexiform neurofibromas, suggesting a possible role in improving the functional and oncological outcome of these lesions., Competing Interests: FA received honoraria from the Carl Zeiss Meditec Company for lectures at International Congresses. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Nazzi, Innocenti, Castelli, Tramacere, Eoli, Cojazzi, Gatti, Acerbi, Falco and Vetrano.)

Peripheral nerve sheath tumors (PNSTs) include schwannomas, neurofibromas (NFs), and plexiform neurofibromas (PNFs), among others. While they are benign tumors, according to their biological behavior, some have the potential for malignant degeneration, mainly PNFs. The specific factors contributing to the more aggressive behavior of some PNSTs compared to others are not precisely known. Considering that lipid homeostasis plays a crucial role in fibrotic/inflammatory processes and in several cancers, we hypothesized that the lipid asset was also unbalanced in this group of nerve tumors. Through untargeted lipidomics, NFs presented a significant increase in ceramide, phosphatidylcholine, and Vitamin A ester. PNFs displayed a marked decrease in 34 out of 50 lipid class analyzed. An increased level of ether- and oxidized-triacylglycerols was observed; phosphatidylcholines were reduced. After sphingolipidomic analysis, we observed six sphingolipid classes. Ceramide and dihydroceramides were statistically increased in NFs. All the glycosylated species appeared reduced in NFs, but increased in PNFs. Our findings suggested that different subtypes of PNSTs presented a specific modulation in the lipidic profile. The untargeted and targeted lipidomic approaches, which were not applied until now, contribute to better clarifying bioactive lipid roles in PNS natural history to highlight disease molecular features and pathogenesis.