Radiolabelling of TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanoparticles for radiotracer studies

Industrially manufactured titanium dioxide nanoparticles have been successfully radiolabelled with ⁴⁸V by irradiation with a cyclotron-generated proton beam. Centrifugation tests showed that the ⁴⁸V radiolabels were stably bound within the nanoparticle structure in an aqueous medium, while X-ray diffraction indicated that no major structural modifications to the nanoparticles resulted from the proton irradiation. In vitro tests of the uptake of cold and radiolabelled nanoparticles using the human cell line Calu-3 showed no significant difference in the uptake between both batches of nanoparticles. The uptake was quantified by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry and high resolution γ-ray spectrometry for cold and radiolabelled nanoparticles, respectively. These preliminary results indicate that alterations to the nanoparticles’ properties introduced by proton bombardment can be controlled to a sufficient extent that their further use as radiotracers for biological investigations can be envisaged and elaborated.     

Longitudinal 3D Blood Flow Distribution Provided by Diffuse Correlation Tomography during Bone Healing in a Murine Fracture Model

Noninvasive monitoring of vascularization can potentially diagnose impaired bone healing earlier than current radiographic methods. In this study, a noncontact diffuse correlation tomography (DCT) technique was employed to measure longitudinal blood flow changes during bone healing in a murine femoral fracture model. The three-dimensional distribution of the relative blood flow was quantified from one day pre-fracture to 48 days post-fracture. For three mice, frequent DCT measurements were performed every other day for one week after fracture, and then weekly thereafter. A decrease in blood flow was observed in the bone fracture region at one day post-fracture, followed by a monotonic increase in blood flow beyond the pre-injury baseline until five to seven days post-fracture. For the remaining 12 mice, only weekly DCT measurements were performed. Data collected on a weekly basis show the blood flow for most mice was elevated above baseline during the first two post-fracture weeks, followed by a subsequent decrease. Torsional strength of the excised femurs was measured for all 15 mice after 7 weeks of healing. A metric based on the early blood flow changes shows a statistically significant difference between the high strength group and the low strength group.     

Evaluation of Mercury Levels in Sediment and Soil Samples from Vila Nova River Basin, in Amapá State, Brazil, Using Radiochemical Neutron Activation Analysis

In the present work, results from a survey on mercury concentration in sediments and soils from a gold mining area along the Vila Nova river, in Amapá State, Brazil, are presented. These values were compared with those from the Igarapé Pedra Preta basin, an area unaffected by mining activities. Total mercury contents were determined in the muddy (silt+clay) fraction of the sediments and in the <2 mm fraction of the soils using radiochemical neutron activation analysis (RNAA). The detection limit of the method was 54 µg·kg^–1 for soils and 14 µg·kg^–1 for sediments when 200 mg of sample were analysed. The Hg results obtained from a comparison between our current method (RNAA) and CV AAS are also presented. Mercury levels showed to be very high in the soils and sediments collected in the Vila Nova river (up to 2 mg·kg^–1) when compared to background values (0.3 mg·kg^–1) for this region. An enrichment factor was calculated, using Al as a normalizing factor. It showed values up to 8 in sediments of the Vila Nova river basin, indicating a relatively high degree of pollution as compared to the values of about 1 for the samples of the Igarapé Pedra Pretra basin.     

Alternative Cauchy equation in three unknown functions

Aequationes mathematicae - In this paper we deal with the product of two or three Cauchy differences equaled to zero. We show that in the case of two Cauchy differences, the condition of absolute...     

Sulla stabilita' degli omomorfismi e sue applicazioni alle equazioni funzionali

Sono presentati i principali risultati relativi alla stabilità degli omomorfismi e vengono illustrate alcune applicazioni nella risoluzione di equazioni funzionali di Cauchy alternative e non omogenee. The main results concerning the stability of homomorphisms are presented. Then they are used for solving some alternative and inhomogeneous Cauchy functional equations.

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(Conferenza tenuta il 29 febbraio 1988)     

Variations on the Drygas equation and its stability

We study the stability of the Drygas functional equation:

g(xy)+g(xy⁻¹)=2g(x)+g(y)+g(y⁻¹)     

A method for solving a conditional cauchy equation on abelian groups

Sunto In questa Nota è descritto wn metodo per la determinazione delle soluzioni della seguente equazione condizionale f(x+y) f(x) + f(y) + a implica f(x + y)=f(x) + f(y) dove f:GH, a H e G ed H sono gruppi abeliani qualsiasi. Sono poi determinate esplicitamente le soluzioni nei casi G=(r), G= e G=(p).

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Lavoro svolto nell'ambito del G.N.A.F.A.-C.N.R.