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for electronic reconnaissance, and in electronic counter-countermeasures techniques. Intercept equipment has been developed for use against ground-mobile communications systems. Shipborne and airborne electronic intelligence and direction-finding systems include some of the latest features in automation and design sophistication. The Italians have experimented with data link systems between direction-finding stations, and integral intercept/jamming systems have been developed for rapid jamming response, as well as look-through capability. The EL70 jammer, a joint German-Italian project, was produced by Electronicca of Italy as a deception-repeater jammer able to recognize and counter specific aircraft and missile threats. Other interesting electronic warfare developments are a brute-force jammer to render fire-control radar ineffective beyond a very limited range and a communication link which allows a control station to set frequencies automatically (and other operating condition) of other stations within the net when a special signal appears.
Infrared activities have included work on communications and detection techniques and in 1970 included infrared signature studies of ships and disposable decoys. The Galileo Works, Florence, has developed an infrared beam-rider missile guidance system and a passive tracker. The shipboard electronics system for the Israeli Gabriel missile system is of Italian design. Other efforts in the military electrooptical field are a combined low-level-level TV radar tracker and later rangefinder systems for fire control.
In the late 1950's and early 1960's, the major Italian electronics company, Olivetti, developed and produced several of its own models of general purpose digital computers. Prior to the sale of its computer interest to a U.S. company, Olivetti also produced other models using licensed U.S. designs. Since the mid-1960's, the only domestically developed Italian computer model has been the Laben-70, made by the Laboratori Elettronici e Nucleari in Milan. Special purpose digital and analog computer also have been developed indigenously. An analog-type computer, the model OC14, was built in 1996 and was intended to be part of the fire control system installed in West German army tanks. Selenia has developed the CDD-3032, a third-generation computer incorporating medium scale integration, for military and air traffic control applications. Production of this system is expected to be underway in the near future. Selenia reportedly is also constructing a general purpose digital computer for the next series of ESRO satellites.
5. Medical sciences (S)
Lack of funds and equipment has limited advances in biomedical research in Italy, although individual scientists are exceedingly capable. Training for research is good and noteworthy work is being done, particularly in biophysics, genetic, and pharmacology. Research is promoted primarily by the CNR, which has a National Consultative Committee for Biology and Medicine, the Ministries of Health and Agriculture, the universities, and the private sector. Italy relies in part on support from international sources, especially the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization. Major research centers include the Higher Institute of Health of the Ministry of Health, the Mario Negri Pharmacological Research Institute, the National Institute of Nutrition of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Farmitalia unit of the Montecatini industrial complex.
The level of pharmacological research is high. Fine work is being done on the interaction of drugs, the mechanism associated with the development of arteriosclerosis, the pharmacodynamic action of barbiturates, the synthesis and transport of lipids, species differences in toxicology, and the pharmacogenetic aspects of learning and memory. An interdisciplinary, molecular-biological approach is being made in clinical pharmacology.
In the development of pharmaceuticals, good work is underway on cardiovascular agents, the mechanics of antitumor action, screening of new cancer chemotherapeutic agents, the mechanism of action of psychotropic drugs and the modification of synthesis of ergot alkaloids. Interesting studies are being contributed to steroid biosynthesis and to the chemistry of antitumor and antiviral antibiotics. The Mario Negri Institute is carrying on research in cancer chemotherapy, neuropsychopharmacology, the pharmacology of lipid metabolism, and the toxicology of industrially important chemicals.
Research in biochemistry is especially active and production reflects investigative areas of worldwide interest. Italian biochemists have exploited a wide range of sophisticated instrumentation, including the electron microscope and gas chromatograph. Current studies have included work on the mechanism of hormone release, the role of prostaglandins and the interaction of neural and hormonal control, functional differentiation of tissue peptides, the action of immunoglobulins, and the diagnosis of brain tumors. The Ministry of Health is supporting the study of clinical laboratory automation. Although Italy has a
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200080002-5
