The Lucca pilot study is in progress. From the beginning of the project, several meetings took place between representatives of local citizen associations and researchers, where the study objectives and design were discussed.
Many issues were addressed, in particular the state of health of the Serchio Valley population through the analysis of data related to mortality and morbidity, and the key aspects of participated epidemiologic research projects. The meetings were an occasion for discussing the most appropriate strategies for obtaining the involvement of a large number of residents and for defining the contents of information materials and of the Italian website of the project.
The presentation of the project, held on July 1st, saw a wide participation of the local residents and speeches by Caterina Campani (Mayor of Barga), Professor Annibale Biggeri (local project manager of the project) and Paolo Fusco (a representative of the La Libellula association). At the end, there was a wide debate addressed to clarify some aspects of the project. The intent was to lay the foundations for a lasting collaboration and a relation of mutual trust betweenthe researchers, local administrators of the community and the citizens. The next meeting will be held in September, with the main point on the agenda of starting to define the protocol of the molecular epidemiology part of the project.
More about this pilot (in Italian) https://www.ariadiricerca.it