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Background and Objectives: Binocular optical microscopy (OM) paved the way for a new era in brain and spine neurosurgery fields with the introduction of microsurgery. Despite its enormous contribution to modern neurosurgery, OM presents some intrinsic limitations that surgeons need to face during procedures such as prolonged non-ergonomic positions and decreased vision quality to the assistant eyepiece. To overcome these limitations, in recent years, new operative tools have been introduced, such as exoscopes. Here, we present our experience with exoscopes in spine surgery. Materials and Methods: In the period between January 2022 and December 2023, we gradually implemented the use of a high-definition 4K-3D exoscope (ORBEYETM, Olympus, Japan) in patients undergoing spinal surgery. Results: A total of 243 patients underwent spine surgery with exoscope magnification (47 intradural tumors, 99 lumbar degenerative cases, 79 cervical degenerative cases, 5 dorsal calcified disk herniations, 4 dural arteriovenous fistulas (dAVFs), and 9 others). We compared this cohort with a similar cohort of patients operated in the same period using OM based on different endpoints: operating time, complication rate, and infection rate. We did not find any statistically significant difference in any of the endpoints between these two groups. Conclusions: In our experience, the exoscope provides a better resolution of spinal anatomy and higher quality real-time images of the surgery for the entire OR team and improves the ergonomic posture of both surgeons, without lengthening the operating time and without increasing the rate of adverse events. Prospective studies with a larger cohort of patients are needed to further validate these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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]

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]