Cohomology of groups with metacyclic Sylow -subgroups

We determine the cohomology algebras for all groups with a metacyclic Sylow -subgroup. The complete -local stable decomposition of the classifying space is also determined.

     

Enhancement of temozolomide stability by loading in chitosan-carboxylated polylactide-based nanoparticles

In the presented work, amphiphilic nanoparticles based on chitosan and carboxy-enriched polylactic acid have been prepared to improve the stability of the pro-drug temozolomide in physiological media by encapsulation. The carrier, with a diameter in the range of 150–180 nm, was able to accommodate up to 800 μg of temozolomide per mg of polymer. The obtained formulation showed good stability in physiological condition and preparation media up to 1 month. Temozolomide loaded inside the carrier exhibited greater stability than the free drug, in particular in simulated physiological solution at pH 7.4 where the hydrolysis in the inactive metabolite was clearly delayed. CS-SPLA nanoparticles demonstrated a pH-dependent TMZ release kinetics with the opportunity to increase or decrease the rate. Mass spectroscopy, UV-Vis analysis, and in vitro cell tests confirmed the improvement in temozolomide stability and effectiveness when loaded into the polymeric carrier, in comparison with the free drug.     

Structure and stereochemistry of a new cytotoxic polychlorinated sulfolipid from Adriatic shellfish

A detailed analysis of the causative toxins contained in the hepatopancreas of toxic mussels from the northern Adriatic sea has been carried out. Along with some DSP (diarrhetic shellfish poisoning) type toxins, such as okadaic acid, yessotoxin, and their derivatives, which are involved in a number of human intoxications throughout the world, we have now isolated a new cytotoxin, a polychlorinated sulfolipid 1, whose gross structure has been elucidated by spectral analysis, including various 2D NMR techniques. The relative stereochemistry of 1 was elucidated by successful application of the J-based configuration analysis developed for acyclic compounds using carbon-proton spin-coupling constants ((2,3)J(C,H)) and proton-proton spin-coupling constants ((3)J(H,H)); its absolute stereochemistry was established by the Mosher method. Compound 1 possesses in vitro cytotoxicity against WEHI 164 and RAW 264.7 cells.     

Biopolymers and biomaterials based on elastomeric proteins

Elastomeric proteins represent a very interesting subject of investigation, not only for their molecular mechanism(s) of elasticity, but also for their great potential as novel biomaterials. This review is intended to give an overview of the properties of the main elastic proteins, with particular focus on elastin and, at the same time, a report on the most recent acquisitions in the field of elastomeric biomaterials.

TEM image of poly(OrnGlyGlyOrnGly) after crosslinking reaction with GTA. The bar represents 100 nm.     

Homology computation for a class of contact structures on T^3

We consider a family of tight contact forms on the three-dimensional torus and we compute the relative Contact Homology by using the variational theory of critical points at infinity. We will also show local stability.     

A Numerical Approach to Marine Circulation Using Free Surface or Rigid-lid Modeling: Application in the Bay of Calvi

When establishing a model of fluid flow in marine modeling, a key issue is the choice between a rigid-lid approach or a free surface level model. This is not a trivial issue as it plays an important role, not only in the choice of the numerical techniques, but also in the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the numerical results. Most software use either free surface or rigid-lid hypotheses, but comparing their results is difficult, since the numerical tools used are in general, extremely different. In this work, some numerical investigations comparing rigid-lid and free surface models are presented. A numerical method using Galerkin's method, but with a new basis, is applied to solve the rigid-lid equations in a realistic domain with varying bottom. A numerical method, similar to the one already used for free surface equations (the same truncating method and precision level) is applied, where the main differences between the simulation results depend only on the model employed. In addition, a comparative simulation between rigid-lid and free surface models to study marine circulation in the bay of Calvi (Corsica) is presented, and numerical results in the non-stratified case only (fluid with constant density) are described, as no further difficulties appear in the stratified case.     

Singular Perturbations of Nonlinear Degenerate Parabolic PDEs: a General Convergence Result

The main result of the paper is a general convergence theorem for the viscosity solutions of singular perturbation problems for fully nonlinear degenerate parabolic PDEs (partial differential equations) with highly oscillating initial data. It substantially generalizes some results obtained previously in [2]. Under the only assumptions that the Hamiltonian is ergodic and stabilizing in a suitable sense, the solutions are proved to converge in a relaxed sense to the solution of a limit Cauchy problem with appropriate effective Hamiltonian and initial data. In its formulation, our convergence result is analogous to the stability property of Barles and Perthame. It should thus reveal a useful tool for studying general singular perturbation problems by viscosity solutions techniques. A detailed exposition of ergodicity and stabilization is given, with many examples. Applications to homogenization and averaging are also discussed.