Tin,Titanium, Tantalum,Vanadium and Niobium Oxide Based Sensors to Detect Colorectal Cancer Exhalations in Blood Samples

User-friendly, low-cost equipment for preventive screening of severe or deadly pathologies are one of the most sought devices by the National Health Services, as they allow early disease detection and treatment, often avoiding its degeneration. In recent years more and more research groups are developing devices aimed at these goals employing gas sensors. Here, nanostructured chemoresistive metal oxide (MOX) sensors were employed in a patented prototype aimed to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs), exhaled by blood samples collected from patients affected by colorectal cancer and from healthy subjects as a control. Four sensors, carefully selected after many years of laboratory tests on biological samples (cultured cells, human stools, human biopsies, etc.), were based here on various percentages of tin, tungsten, titanium, niobium, tantalum and vanadium oxides. Sensor voltage responses were statistically analyzed also with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, that allowed the identification of the cut-off discriminating between healthy and tumor affected subjects for each sensor, leading to an estimate of sensitivity and specificity parameters. ROC analysis demonstrated that sensors employing tin and titanium oxides decorated with gold nanoparticles gave sensitivities up to 80% yet with a specificity of 70%.     

A Light-Triggerable Nanoparticle Library for the Controlled Release of Non-Coding RNAs

RNA-based therapies offer a wide range of therapeutic interventions including the treatment of skin diseases; however, the strategies to efficiently deliver these biomolecules are still limited due to obstacles related to the cellular uptake and cytoplasmic delivery. Herein, we report the synthesis of a triggerable polymeric nanoparticle (NP) library composed of 160 formulations, presenting physico-chemical diversity and differential responsiveness to light. Six formulations were more efficient (up to 500 %) than commercially available lipofectamine in gene-knockdown activity. These formulations showed differential internalization by skin cells and the endosomal escape was rapid (minutes range). The NPs were effective in the release of siRNA and miRNA. Acute skin wounds treated with the top hit NP complexed with miRNA-150-5p healed faster than wounds treated with scrambled miRNA. Light-activatable NPs offer a new strategy to topically deliver non-coding RNAs.     

Structural properties of silica surface: a classical molecular dynamics study

The structural properties of silica's free surface affect a number of phenomena, such as surface catalysis or the deposition of metallic films. In this work we present a study on the structure of the silica surface based on molecular dynamics simulations. We have computed the bond-angle and bond-length distribution functions at different surface penetrations, as well as surface defect properties. All these features are affected by the Si/O ratio in the surface region which differs from the interior.     

Synthesis of novel simplified eleutheside analogues with potent microtubule-stabilizing activity, using ring-closing metathesis as the key-step

The synthesis of a number of novel simplified eleutheside analogues with potent tubulin-assembling and microtubule-stabilizing properties is described, using ring-closing metathesis as the key-step for obtaining the 6-10 fused bicyclic ring system.     

Krichever Maps,Faà di Bruno Polynomials,and Cohomology in KP Theory

We study the geometrical meaning of the Faà di Bruno polynomials in the context of KP theory. They provide a basis in a subspace W of the universal Grassmannian associated to the KP hierarchy. When W comes from geometrical data via the Krichever map, the Faà di Bruno recursion relation turns out to be the cocycle condition for (the Welters hypercohomology group describing) the deformations of the dynamical line bundle on the spectral curve together with the meromorphic sections which give rise to the Krichever map. Starting from this, one sees that the whole KP hierarchy has a similar cohomological meaning.     

Plasma-induced graft-polymerisation of ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate on polyethylene films

A detailed study of argon plasma-induced graft-polymerisation of ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate (EGMP) on polyethylene (PE) substrates is presented. The process consists of four steps: (a) plasma pre-activation of the PE substrates; (b) immersion in an EGMP solution; (c) argon plasma-induced graft-polymerisation; (d) washing and drying of the samples. Influence of the solution and plasma parameters on the process efficiency, evaluated in terms of amount of grafted polymer and coverage uniformity, is investigated. The plasma-induced graft-polymerisation of EGMP is then followed by sample weighting, contact angle measurements, attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) analysis. Finally, flame-retardant properties of modified PE substrates are evaluated by limiting oxygen index (LOI) measurements.     

EPR Study of Triplet Defects in Ca2CuO3

Ca₂CuO₃ is an essentially diamagnetic oxide, in spite of its EPR spectrum. The latter is similar to literature spectra attributed to dimers or clusters formed by copper ions. A model based on the formation of triplet-state defects involving two neighbor copper ions is then discussed to explain these experimental observations. These defects would also propagate in the crystal and interact with each other.