Alessandro Siani

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Verified

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• BSc, MSc, PhD, PGCE, FHEA
• Senior Lecturer at University of Portsmouth

Lockdown restrictions and social distancing regulations enforced by governments worldwide to prevent COVID-19 transmission have caused momentous disruption to the global education sector. Educators and students across all institutions and levels had to suddenly adapt to a new reality where in-person teaching was replaced by hybrid or remote learnin...

The rapid development of safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 is aptly considered a watershed moment in the course of the pandemic, and one of the greatest collaborative accomplishments of modern medicine. However, the rollout of vaccination campaigns highlighted striking global inequities in the procurement and distribution of vaccine dose...

In the current post-truth era, the ability to assess the reliability of information is an essential citizenship attribute. With nearly half of the present internet traffic estimated to be generated by bots, and misinformation being regularly weaponised by numerous parties for economic or political gain, it is imperative that citizens are equipped w...

This short commentary draws on academic and grey literature to critically evaluate the UK response to the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting aspects in which the response fell short and their ramifications on public trust and compliance with preventive measures. Such aspects include the initial delay in response to the outbreak, the controversial "her...

The rapid development of safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 is aptly considered a watershed moment in the course of the pandemic, and one of the greatest collaborative accomplishments of modern medicine. However, the rollout of vaccination campaigns highlighted striking global inequities in the procurement and distribution of vaccine dose...

This paper is about the effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) - and of their nanoparticle-mediated extracellular removal - in the TGF-β1-induced differentiation of fibroblasts (human dermal fibroblasts - HDFa) to more contractile myofibroblasts, and in the maintenance of this phenotype. Here, poly(propylene sulfide) (PPS) nanoparticles have been...

Vaccine hesitancy, referred to as the refusal or delayed uptake of vaccinations despite their availability, is one of the ten biggest current threats to global health as declared by the World Health Organization. Mistrust and outright hostility towards immunization are not recent phenomena: through the course of history, the development of new vacc...

The world is now distressed with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Although vaccination is not done in full fledge and a particular drug is not available to treat COVID-19, modern technologies help humanity fight against it. Data science is a part of modern technological a...

Lockdown restrictions and social distancing regulations enforced by governments worldwide to prevent COVID-19 transmission have caused momentous disruption to the global education sector. Educators and students across all institutions and levels had to suddenly adapt to a new reality where in-person teaching was replaced by hybrid or remote learnin...

Gendered barriers in education and attrition along the academic and professional pipeline are key determinants of the current STEM skills shortage. While enrolment in STEM undergraduate courses has been increasing in the recent decades, STEM degree choices still suffer from considerable gender imbalance, whereby women are underrepresented in maths-...

The popularisation of complex biomedical concepts brought about by COVID-19 has led to the rapid proliferation and diffusion of scientific misinformation, particularly among individuals with inadequate levels of scientific and digital literacy. A cross-sectional online survey of a UK population sample was conducted to address three key aims: to ver...

By hindering our ability to mount a swift and unified response to the challenges humanity is faced with, scientific misinformation poses an existential threat to our lives and civilization. To exemplify the detrimental effect of scientific misinformation on our collective response to current global challenges, the first section of this article disc...

Student engagement can have a positive influence on student success. Many methods exist for fostering engagement but tend to be generic and require tailoring to specific contexts, subjects, and students. In the case of undergraduate science students, practical classes are a popular tool for increasing engagement. However, despite strong potential f...

Vaccines are among the safest and most effective primary prevention measures. Thanks to the synergistic global efforts of research institutions, pharmaceutical companies and national health services, COVID-19 vaccination campaigns were successfully rolled out less than a year after the start of the pandemic. While the unprecedented speed of develop...

Introduction The distrust, delay and refusal of vaccinations represent serious threats to global public health. As demonstrated by the dramatic worldwide impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, adequate vaccine coverage against infectious diseases is essential towards the preservation and function of virtually every aspect of our society. While the determ...

Exposure to inspirational and relatable role models is crucial towards fostering engagement of learners with scientific disciplines. However, the representation of scientists in popular culture is still far from being adequately gender-and race-inclusive. This study evaluated the gender balance and impact of scientific role models using a two-prong...

Tissue contractures are processes of cell-mediated contraction, irreversible in nature and typically associated to fibrotic phenomena. Contractures can be reproduced in vitro; here, we have used a medium-throughput model based on fibroblast-seeded fibrin (the ‘contracture well’). Firstly, we show how profoundly these processes depend on the locatio...

Aims Vaccine hesitancy is widely recognised as one of the most serious threats to current global health. While the causes underlying vaccine hesitancy have been extensively described and several mitigation strategies trialled amongst current and prospective parents, there is a relative scarcity of research investigating its extent and causative fac...

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about significant changes to most aspects of our lives. As a result of the quarantine enforced by governments and authorities worldwide, people had to suddenly adapt their daily routines, including work, study, diet, leisure and fitness activities to the new circumstances. A growing body of research indicates that...

A workforce trained in STEM skills is a fundamental requisite for socioeconomic wellbeing and innovation, however one of the factors limiting its availability is the progressive attrition of women along the academic and professional pipeline. In this study, a survey was carried out with 504 students aged 14 to 18 in two British high schools to inve...

Vaccine hesitancy, defined as the refusal or delayed uptake of vaccinations despite their availability, has been recognised by the World Health Organization as one of the ten biggest current threats to global health. Mistrust and outright hostility towards immunisation are not recent phenomena: through the course of history, the development of new...

The term “fibrosis” refers to a spectrum of connective tissue disorders characterized by the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix leading to organ dysfunction and, ultimately, failure. Fibrosis affects millions of patients worldwide and often manifests itself as a late-stage pathological condition associated with poor prognostic outcome....

Educational institutions have a responsibility not only to provide a solid theoretical background on scientific phenomena, but to also frame them within the wider social context and highlight their numerous ethical implications. It is fundamental that tomorrow’s scientists be encouraged to develop an informed and critical approach towards scientifi...

Over the last decade, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases have been reported in developed countries around the world. In particular, measles outbreaks have been ongoing in the European Union since 2017, with the majority of cases concentrated in Romania and Italy. Measles has been identified as a powerful indicator of the status of vaccinatio...

Tackling the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) skills shortage is an ongoing challenge for governments and policymakers worldwide. While the last decade has seen an increase in student enrolment into STEM degree courses in the UK, the gender gap remains a persistent issue in academia. In order to understand the causes underpi...

The use of mobile computing devices has become an integral part of virtually every aspect of our personal and professional life, and education is no exception to this paradigm. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategies are becoming increasingly prevalent in teaching, learning and assessment across all age groups, however the evaluation of their relat...

Using polymers with a double stimulus responsiveness, we show that primary structure, in addition to chemical composition, can significantly influence the response. This, however, applies to a stimulus of supramolecular nature (temperature) and not to a molecular one (oxidation). In the anionic ring-opening copolymerization of ethylene sulfide (ES)...

In vitro models of fibrotic phenomena are often based on the fibroblast-myofibroblast transition as the contraction-triggering cellular event. There are, however, multiple sources of concern regarding the appropriateness of such models; a first and widely investigated issue is the often inappropriate nature of the interactions between mesenchymal c...

Significance: Myofibroblasts are prototypical fibrotic cells, which are involved in a number of more or less pathological conditions, from foreign body reactions to scarring, from liver, kidney, or lung fibrosis to neoplastic phenomena. The differentiation of precursor cells (not only of fibroblastic nature) is characterized by a complex interplay...

Purpose: Cell shape is a powerful indicator of cell activity. This study aimed to validate the use of numeric descriptors for the assessment of the effect of substrate mechanical properties on the morphology of 2D cultured fibroblasts. Methods: Two fibroblast cell types, the 3T3 murine cell line and primary Human Dermal Fibroblasts (HDF) were cu...