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The athletes of the year towards Tokyo 2021

February 2021

The olympic year started (again). The world of sport is looking forward to great competitions at the next Summer Olympic Games. The "queen of sports" calendar is already full of races. In the first venues of the year, Ajla Del Ponte and Luminosa Bogliolo, the athletes of the year of Switzerland and Italy respectively, had a great start of the season. In Karlsruhe (Germany), Del Ponte ran the 60m in 7.17s (PB), while Bogliolo finished 60hs in 8.05s (SB).

The last dribbling of Maradona

December 2020

Diego Armando Maradona, the god of football, passed away from hearth failure. El pibe de oro was sixty years old. Maradona won FIFA World Cup with Argentina in 1986 and lost the final at next World Cup Italia 90. Napoli Football Club, the italian team he was captain of, named the San Paolo stadium in his honour. He will always be admired across generations.

Giant ship is blocking the Suez Canal

March 2021

Some days ago, one of the biggest container ships got stuck in one of the most important water channels of the world. The Ever Given caused a traffic jam in the Red Sea, since more than 230 ships are waiting to enter the Suez Canal, through which all navigation has been suspended. Specialist salvage companies have been brought in to help refloat the ship, and an adviser to Egypt's president has said he hopes the situation will be resolved within two to three days. In the meantime, as butterfly effect, the price of oil increased of 5%, reaching 60 dollars per barrel.

EU starts Covid-19 mass vaccination

January 2021

After EU's medicine regulator approved the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, the vaccination started throughout Europe. “Today, we start turning the page on a difficult year,” Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president wrote on Twitter. “The #COVID19 vaccine has been delivered to all EU countries.”. Older Europeans and healthcare workers are in the priority queue of the campain to inoculate more than 450 million people across the European Union. The European Union’s member states made a show of solidarity by waiting for the bloc’s regulatory board to approve the vaccine before beginning coordinated national campaigns. But how those will play out in individual countries is likely to be disparate.

Erasmus in the time of Coronavirus

April 2021

As students head back to universities this September, a new cycle of Erasmus+ exchanges is starting, but the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the way the EU‘s student mobility programmes will be delivered. European (and non-European) university students will still study at foreign universities, but the crucial mobility aspect is in danger. Students can enrol as usual, but some universities are not inviting them to come to their campuses and only providing online classes. Others are offering full or blended mobility, which will see students learning remotely, with a chance to go abroad if and when circumstances allow. “This is a first time in the Erasmus+ programme,” said Kostis Giannidis, president of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN). “It’s a totally different experience.” In addition, fears surrounding COVID-19 and travelling mean fewer students want to participate in the programme. Sometime, the way to overcome the fear is given by students' associations, which are currently very active although the restrictions. Erasmus Student Network (ESN) is the biggest Erasmus association in Europe. It counts more than 13500 active members and operates following the principle: "Students helping students".

Researchers use ultrasounds to improve diagnosis of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy

January 2021

A team of researchers at Guizhou Medical University (China) has revealed that ultrasounds can be helpful in the diagnosis of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN). High-resolution ultrasounds are a non invasive tool and shows the characteristics of peripheral nerve morphological changes in patients with DPN. They also investigated the application of shear wave elastography to further improve the efficiency of the diagnosis. Peripheral neuropathy symptoms might include: gradual onset of numbness; sharp, jabbing, or burning pain; extreme sensitivity to touch; lack of coordination; muscle weakness; heat intolerance. There are many cases of DPN misdiagnosed patients for many years. According to Columbia University Medical Center, in more than 50% of cases, the cause can be addressed before the damage is more severe. Therefore, it is extremely important to have efficient and effective diagnosis techniques.