Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna 3 articles published in JoVE Neuroscience Assessing Pupil-linked Changes in Locus Coeruleus-mediated Arousal Elicited by Trigeminal Stimulation Maria Paola Tramonti Fantozzi*1, Tommaso Banfi*2,3, Vincenzo De Cicco*1, Massimo Barresi4, Enrico Cataldo5, Davide De Cicco1, Luca Bruschini6, Paola d'Ascanio1, Gastone Ciuti2,3, Ugo Faraguna1,7, Diego Manzoni1 1Department of Translational Research and of New Surgical and Medical Technologies, University of Pisa, 2 To verify whether trigeminal effects on cognitive performance involve locus coeruleus activity, two protocols are presented that aim to evaluate possible correlations between the performance and task-related pupil size changes induced by chewing. These protocols may be applied to conditions in which locus coeruleus contribution is suspected. Medicine Ultrasound-based Pulse Wave Velocity Evaluation in Mice Nicole Di Lascio1,2, Claudia Kusmic2, Francesco Stea2,3, Francesco Faita2 1 Arterial stiffness represents a key factor in cardiovascular disease and pulse wave velocity (PWV) can be considered as a surrogate index for arterial stiffness. This protocol describes an image processing algorithm for calculating PWV in mice based on ultrasound image processing that is applicable at different arterial sites. Bioengineering Design and Fabrication of an Elastomeric Unit for Soft Modular Robots in Minimally Invasive Surgery Iris De Falco1, Giada Gerboni1, Matteo Cianchetti1, Arianna Menciassi1 1 This paper describes the design and fabrication of a soft unit for surgical manipulators. The base module includes three flexible fluidic actuators to achieve omnidirectional bending and elongation, and a granular jamming-based mechanism to enable stiffness control. A complete mechanical characterization is also reported.
