SPIN-OFF

Echolight

Echolight, Spin-off of the National Research Council set at the Lecce site of the Institute of Clinical Physiology, is a research-based hi-tech start-up specialized in the development of innovative medical devices for early diagnosis of osteoporosis.

The new developed echographic system, unique all over the world in its kind, exploits a revolutionary ultrasound technique for the assessment of bone strength at spine and femur level. Presently, the first phase of the clinical validation has been completed and an international multicenter study has been started.

Osteoporosis is a silent disease that affects more than 200 millions of women in the world, and the progressive population aging will increase the burden of the already alarming problem. Nevertheless, at present osteoporosis is still under-diagnosed, since the current gold standard technology is based on X-rays and therefore it is only available in hospital structures, with waiting lists up to two years.

Echolight will make available on the market the first device for early diagnosis of osteoporosis, so spreading the examination also to private practices and pharmacies for an effective diagnosis and prevention of the osteoporotic disease.

www.echolight.it

 Amolab

AMOLAB, Spin-off of the National Research Council, in Lecce, is a research based and high-tech company specialized in the development of innovative ultrasonic medical devices for the intrapartum assessment of labor progression indicators in a field with poor technological support and with alarming problems of clinical management.

Today, reliable and objective indications in the process of clinical decision towards surgical intervention (i.e., Caesarean Section) or an operative childbirth (i.e., application of forceps or vacuum extractor) are still lacking and relevant literature documents the high rates of errors (up to 88% of cases) in labor management. Additionally, in the obstetrics and gynecology clinical sector defensive medicine, medical litigations (insurance companies does not offer coverage to physicians) regarding human errors and risks for patients have reached unacceptable levels of social costs.

In Italy the average national rate of Cesarean Sections is 38% reaching 60% in some regions, and these values are continuously increasing with respect to the past decade (24% in Europe; 29% in the USA; 15% is the maximum rate recommended by WHO).

AMOLAB has developed a non-invasive ultrasound based method (patented at a national and international level) able to provide quantitative indications about labor progression and consequently, if necessary, directions about the applicability of different kinds of operative maneuvers and interventions.

www.amolab.it

Qualimedlab

I programmi di valutazione Esterna di Qualità in Medicina di Laboratorio (VEQ o EQAS External Quality Assessment Schemes) hanno lo scopo di permettere un confronto retrospettivo tra le determinazioni eseguite in laboratori differenti. I partecipanti ai programmi di VEQ ottengono, attraverso i rapporti periodici dei risultati, informazioni utili sulle prestazioni analitiche dei differenti metodi/kit utilizzati nelle misurazioni. QualiMedLab mette gratuitamente a disposizione dei laboratori interessati una VEQ DEMO che permette di testare le caratteristiche delle VEQ EQAS-CNR, senza bisogno di effettuare dosaggi.

www.qualimedlab.it

Quipu

Quipu srl è una società spin-off del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche e dell'Università di Pisa, fondata da un gruppo di ingegneri e medici con una consolidata esperienza nel settore dell’ecografia. La missione di Quipu è di progettare una nuova generazione di sistemi a ultrasuoni basati su applicazioni software.

Quipu ha sviluppato una nuova piattaforma software che contiene applicazioni innovative per l’ecografia. La piattaforma gira su un personal computer standard e può essere connessa ad un qualsiasi scanner ad ultrasuoni esistente, aggiungendo funzioni avanzate ad una comune macchina ecografa. In una seconda fase di sviluppo, lo scanner ecografico potrà essere integrato come una periferica del computer così da completare una nuova architettura ecografica basata su applicazioni software.

Quipu ha completato e sta commercializzando le sue prime due applicazioni nel campo della prevenzione delle malattie cardiovascolari: (i) FMD Studio per la valutazione della funzione endoteliale tramite la misura della vasodilatazione fusso-mediata; (ii) Carotid Studio per la valutazione dello spessore e della rigidità carotidea nella valutazione precoce di aterosclerosi. Il prodotto software è un dispositivo medico CE (93/42/CEE).

www.quipu.eu

FACILITIES

IFC Pisamodel: Clinical model for predicting the probability of pulmonary embolism

When considered individually, symptoms, signs, or common laboratory tests have limited diagnostic power. Jointly, however, they may provide accurate assessment of the clinical probability of pulmonary embolism.

IFC developed two prediction models for the online computation of the clinical probability of pulmonary embolism.

The first evaluation model (PM1) is recommended to the physician skilled with the interpretation of the chest radiographs.
The second model (PM2) can be consulted in case of radiogram unavailability.

Software for PM1 PM2 can be downloaded for desktop, laptop, palm computers and mobile phones. 

References and contacts:

Simonetta Monti : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

EchoCardio-Norm

EchoCardio-Norm is a simple and essential tool for cardiologists, echocardiographists, anesthesits, radiologists: an application that can be used daily on smartphones, tablets or desktop PCs to calculate normal echocardiographic values.

The major innovations of this app are: 1) the immediate availability of normal data from different sources; 2) the option to automatically choose the most appropriate reference value for a subject by age, sex, and ethnicity.

A section dedicated to normal range in the specific field of cardiac magnetic resonance is also available.

The application is available for Android smartphones and personal computers running Windows, OSX, and LINUX.

EchoCardio-Norm: was developed through the joint work of two Italian Institutions: Fondazione Toscana "G. Monasterio "(FTGM), and the Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council (IFC-CNR).

Download EchoCardio-Norm:

• For UNIX:  https://box.ifc.cnr.it/index.php/s/kaaCU0H3XQPmViP
  

• For OSX:  https://box.ifc.cnr.it/index.php/s/wOPOgrsDlExTA80
  

• For WINDOWS: https://box.ifc.cnr.it/index.php/s/t6uYFocpFId41aZ

SORTER-ò

Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) is a technique that separates cells with different characteristics that coexist within a heterogeneous population. The cell type of interest is marked using one or more fluorophores (fluorescent proteins such as GFP or RFP expressed by suitable vectors, fluorescent antibodies that recognize specific membrane proteins, fluorescent products of specific enzymatic activities, fluorescence molecules interfering with DNA) and Is separated from the rest of the unmarked population. The essential benefit offered by FACS is that cells obtained after sorting are vital and can therefore be studied for their biological properties as well as for their phenotypic characteristics. Sorting is used for this purpose in various fields of research: in cardiovascular biology, to study the differentiation of endothelial cells; In biology of development, to study the formation of the heart and the central nervous system; in tumor biology, to study heterogeneous populations of cancer cells [Read more]

In order to meet the needs of users working in San Cataldo but also those operating in the external scientific community, the CNR Clinical Physiology Institute offers a sorting service based on the use of FACSJazz at two Colors (blue laser 488nm + yellow-green laser 561nm).

The use of sorting takes place under the supervision of a specialized technician who is responsible for the maintenance of the instrument and the execution of experiments.

The service includes:

• Assistance in fine-tuning sorting experiments
• Assistance in acquiring, analyzing and interpreting data
• Assistance in presenting the data

The conditions and technical details of this service are described as follows:

The FACSjazz instrument available at IFC

Access form to the sorting service available at IFC

IFC Sorting Facility-Booking Form