Biomarkers for personalised prevention of chronic diseases: a common protocol for three rapid scoping reviews.

INTRODUCTION: Personalised prevention aims to delay or avoid disease occurrence, progression, and recurrence of disease through the adoption of targeted interventions that consider the individual biological, including genetic data, environmental and behavioural characteristics, as well as the socio-cultural context. This protocol summarises the main features of a rapid scoping review to show the research landscape on biomarkers or a combination of biomarkers that may help to better identify subgroups of individuals with different risks of developing specific diseases in which specific preventive strategies could have an impact on clinical outcomes. This review is part of the "Personalised Prevention Roadmap for the future HEalThcare" (PROPHET) project, which seeks to highlight the gaps in current personalised preventive approaches, in order to develop a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for the European Union. OBJECTIVE: To systematically map and review the evidence of biomarkers that are available or under development in cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases that are or can be used for personalised prevention in the general population, in clinical or public health settings. METHODS: Three rapid scoping reviews are being conducted in parallel (February-June 2023), based on a common framework with some adjustments to suit each specific condition (cancer, cardiovascular or neurodegenerative diseases). Medline and Embase will be searched to identify publications between 2020 and 2023. To shorten the time frames, 10% of the papers will undergo screening by two reviewers and only English-language papers will be considered. The following information will be extracted by two reviewers from all the publications selected for inclusion: source type, citation details, country, inclusion/exclusion criteria (population, concept, context, type of evidence source), study methods, and key findings relevant to the review question/s. The selection criteria and the extraction sheet will be pre-tested. Relevant biomarkers for risk prediction and stratification will be recorded. Results will be presented graphically using an evidence map. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Population: general adult populations or adults from specific pre-defined high-risk subgroups; concept: all studies focusing on molecular, cellular, physiological, or imaging biomarkers used for individualised primary or secondary prevention of the diseases of interest; context: clinical or public health settings. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/7JRWD (OSF registration DOI).

High throughput optical readout of dense arrays of nanomechanical systems for sensing applications.

We present an instrument based on the scanning of a laser beam and the measurement of the reflected beam deflection that enables the readout of arrays of nanomechanical systems without limitation in the geometry of the sample, with high sensitivity and a spatial resolution of few micrometers. The measurement of nanoscale deformations on surfaces of cm(2) is performed automatically, with minimal need of user intervention for optical alignment. To exploit the capability of the instrument for high throughput biological and chemical sensing, we have designed and fabricated a two-dimensional array of 128 cantilevers. As a proof of concept, we measure the nanometer-scale bending of the 128 cantilevers, previously coated with a thin gold layer, induced by the adsorption and self-assembly on the gold surface of several self-assembled monolayers. The instrument is able to provide the static and dynamic responses of cantilevers with subnanometer resolution and at a rate of up to ten cantilevers per second. The instrumentation and the fabricated chip enable applications for the analysis of complex biological systems and for artificial olfaction.

Bimodal atomic force microscopy imaging of isolated antibodies in air and liquids.

We have developed a dynamic atomic force microscopy (AFM) method based on the simultaneous excitation of the first two flexural modes of the cantilever. The instrument, called a bimodal atomic force microscope, allows us to resolve the structural components of antibodies in both monomer and pentameric forms. The instrument operates in both high and low quality factor environments, i.e., air and liquids. We show that under the same experimental conditions, bimodal AFM is more sensitive to compositional changes than amplitude modulation AFM. By using theoretical and numerical methods, we study the material contrast sensitivity as well as the forces applied on the sample during bimodal AFM operation.

Identification of nanoscale dissipation processes by dynamic atomic force microscopy.

Identification of energy-dissipation processes at the nanoscale is demonstrated by using amplitude-modulation atomic force microscopy. The variation of the energy dissipated on a surface by a vibrating tip as a function of its oscillation amplitude has a shape that singles out the dissipative process occurring at the surface. The method is illustrated by calculating the energy-dissipation curves for surface energy hysteresis, long-range interfacial interactions and viscoelasticity. The method remains valid with independency of the amount of dissipated energy per cycle, from 0.1 to 50 eV. The agreement obtained between theory and experiments performed on silicon and polystyrene validates the method.