Anti-Proliferative and Pro-Apoptotic Effects of Digested Aglianico Grape Pomace Extract in Human Colorectal Cancer Cells

Grape pomace (GP)—the major by-product of winemaking processes—still contains bioactive molecules with known beneficial properties for human health, such as an antiradical scavenging activity or an antiproliferative activity of tumors. In vitro studies have demonstrated that GP polyphenols specifically influence colon cancer cell proliferation. In addition to previously published work, we tested the phenolic compounds of Aglianico GP following an in vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestion on colorectal cancer cell lines at different degrees of differentiation. Our experiments, using HT29 and SW480 cells, confirmed the anti-proliferative effect of GP gastrointestinal digested extract and provided intriguing insights on the way it influences the cancer cell features (i.e., viability, proliferation, and apoptosis). We observed that Aglianico GP extract showed a great ability to affect cell proliferation and apoptosis. Interestingly, both HT29 and SW480 cells produced a significant increase in Bax, and a significant increase in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and caspase-3. The gastrointestinal digested GP extract was previously characterized both for antioxidant activity and phenolic composition. As a result, the TPC and the antioxidant activity reached high values in the Aglianico GP digested extract, and the main compounds assessed by UHPLC-DAD were anthocyanins, phenolic acids, and flavonoids. This work shed light on the use of digested GP extract as a dietary ingredient, a very sustainable source of nutritional compounds with potential health benefits for colon cancer cell proliferation.     

Diesel particulate abatement via wall-flow traps based on perovskite catalysts

It is probably redundant to stress how extensive are nowadays the attempts to reduce the diesel particulate emissions from automotive and stationary sources. The present paper looks into a technology relied on a catalytic trap based on a SiC wall-flow monolith lined with suitable catalysts for the sake of promoting a more complete and faster regeneration after particulate capture. All the major steps of the catalytic filter preparation are dealt with, including: the synthesis and choice of the proper catalyst and trap materials, the development of an in situ catalyst deposition technique, the bench testing of the derived catalytic wall-flow. The best catalyst selected was the perovskite La0.9K0.1Cr0.9O3-delta. The filtration efficiency and the pressure drop of the catalytic and non-catalytic monoliths were evaluated on a diesel engine bench under various operating conditions.     

Asymptotic analysis of a second-order singular perturbation model for phase transitions

We study the asymptotic behavior, as ${\varepsilon}$ tends to zero, of the functionals ${F^k_\varepsilon}$ introduced by Coleman and Mizel in the theory of nonlinear second-order materials; i.e., $$F^k_\varepsilon(u):=\int\limits_{I} \left(\frac{W(u)}{\varepsilon}-k\,\varepsilon\,(u')^2+\varepsilon^3(u'')^2\right)\,dx,\quad u\in W^{2,2}(I),$$ where k?>?0 and ${W:\mathbb{R}\to[0,+\infty)}$ is a double-well potential with two potential wells of level zero at ${a,b\in\mathbb{R}}$ . By proving a new nonlinear interpolation inequality, we show that there exists a positive constant k ₀ such that, for k?<?k ₀, and for a class of potentials W, ${(F^k_\varepsilon)}$ ??(L ¹)-converges to $$F^k(u):={\bf m}_k \, \#(S(u)),\quad u\in BV(I;\{a,b\}),$$ where m _k is a constant depending on W and k. Moreover, in the special case of the classical potential ${W(s)=\frac{(s^2-1)^2}{2}}$ , we provide an upper bound on the values of k such that the minimizers of ${F_\varepsilon^k}$ cannot develop oscillations on some fine scale and a lower bound on the values for which oscillations occur, the latter improving a previous estimate by Mizel, Peletier and Troy.     

New Oxaliplatin-Pyrophosphato Analogs with Improved In Vitro Cytotoxicity

Two new Pt(II)-pyrophosphato complexes containing the carrier ligands cis-1,3-diaminocyclohexane (cis-1,3-DACH) and trans-1,2-diamine-4-cyclohexene (1,2-DACHEX), variants of the 1R,2R-diaminocyclohexane ligand present in the clinically used Pt-drug oxaliplatin, have been synthesized with the aim of developing new potential antitumor drugs with high bone tropism. The complexes are more stable at physiological pH than in acid conditions, with Na₂[Pt(pyrophosphato)(cis-1,3-DACH)] (1) slightly more stable than [Pt(dihydrogenpyrophosphato)(1,2-DACHEX)] (2). The greater reactivity at acidic pH ensures a greater efficacy at the tumor site. Preliminary NMR studies indicate that 1 and 2 react slowly with 5’-GMP (used as a model of nucleic acids), releasing the pyrophosphate ligand and affording the bis 5’-GMP adduct. In vitro cytotoxicity assays performed against a panel of four human cancer cell lines have shown that both compounds are more active than oxaliplatin. Flow cytometry studies on HCT116 cells showed that the pyrophosphato compounds with the non-classical 1,3- and 1,4-diaminocyclohexane ligands (1 and 4) are the most capable to induce cells’ death by apoptosis and necrosis.     

Qualitative evaluation of the effect of morphology,spatial distribution and coherent interfaces on the coarsening kinetics and size distribution of particles during Ostwald ripening

ABSTRACT

By exploiting the simple structure of the recently developed Multi-Particle model of Ostwald ripening based on pairwise interactions, the effect of extra factors affecting the coarsening process, such as the morphology of particles, the topology of their spatial distribution and the presence of elastic fields surrounding coherent precipitates, is analysed from a qualitative viewpoint.

Two observables disclose the presence of deviations with respect to the behaviour of a system of spherical and incoherent precipitates: the absolute value of the kinetic coarsening constant, together with its evolution with the volume fraction, and the shape of the asymptotic particle size distribution (PSD) for a given volume fraction of second phase.

By using a parametrised ‘rounded cube’ ideal solid it is shown that, as the shape of precipitates flattens, the coarsening constant decreases reaching in some condition values as low as about 20% that of a system of spheres with the same fraction.

Consequently, the curve of the relative kinetic constant with the volume fraction has a slower increase above 0.7 compared to spherical particles and this permits to explain accurately the experimental data on dense systems in the whole range of volume fractions.

It is also shown how the shape of the PSD is influenced by regular arrangements of particles in the space and by interfacial stresses in the matrix surrounding coherent precipitates. In both cases the model predicts a sharpening of the PSD, whose shape tends to become more symmetrical and somehow similar to that of the classical LSW theory.     

A Non-Adiabatic Flamelet Progress�CVariable Approach for LES of Turbulent Premixed Flames

A progress variable/flame surface density/probability density function method has been employed for a Large Eddy Simulation of a CH₄/Air turbulent premixed bluff body flame. In particular, both mean and variance of the progress variable are transported and subgrid spatially filtered gradient contributes to model the flame surface density (that introduces the effect of the subgrid flame reaction zone) and to presume a probability density function (that introduces the effect of subgrid fluctuations on chemistry). Chemistry is preliminarly tabulated in terms of laminar premixed flames and enthalpy is included as a new coordinate in their tabulation to take into account heat losses in the flowfield. Then, the PDF is used to build a turbulent flamelet library. The filtered mass, momentum, enthalpy and scalar equations mentioned above are integrated by an explicit scheme using finite differences, 2nd?Corder accurate in space and third order in time, over a cylindrical non-uniform grid using a staggered mesh. The bluff-body geometry is modelled by using the Immersed Boundary Method. The numerical predictions are compared with the available experimental data.     

Decarboxylative biaryl synthesis in a continuous flow reactor

A practical protocol was developed that allows performing decarboxylative cross-coupling reactions in continuous flow reactors. Various biaryls were thus synthesized from aromatic carboxylic acids and aryl triflates using a Cu/Pd-catalyst system.     

Solubility of acetic acid and trifluoroacetic acid in low-temperature (207-245 k) sulfuric acid solutions: implications for the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere

The solubility of gas-phase acetic acid (CH(3)COOH, HAc) and trifluoroacetic acid (CF(3)COOH, TFA) in aqueous sulfuric acid solutions was measured in a Knudsen cell reactor over ranges of temperature (207-245 K) and acid composition (40-75 wt %, H(2)SO(4)). For both HAc and TFA, the effective Henry's law coefficient, H*, is inversely dependent on temperature. Measured values of H* for TFA range from 1.7 × 10(3) M atm(-1) in 75.0 wt % H(2)SO(4) at 242.5 K to 3.6 × 10(8) M atm(-1) in 40.7 wt % H(2)SO(4) at 207.8 K. Measured values of H* for HAc range from 2.2 × 10(5) M atm(-1) in 57.8 wt % H(2)SO(4) at 245.0 K to 3.8 × 10(8) M atm(-1) in 74.4 wt % H(2)SO(4) at 219.6 K. The solubility of HAc increases with increasing H(2)SO(4) concentration and is higher in strong sulfuric acid than in water. In contrast, the solubility of TFA decreases with increasing sulfuric acid concentration. The equilibrium concentration of HAc in UT/LS aerosol particles is estimated from our measurements and is found to be up to several orders of magnitude higher than those determined for common alcohols and small carbonyl compounds. On the basis of our measured solubility, we determine that HAc in the upper troposphere undergoes aerosol partitioning, though the role of H(2)SO(4) aerosol particles as a sink for HAc in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere will only be discernible under high atmospheric sulfate perturbations.     

Smartphone-Based Dopamine Detection by Fluorescent Supramolecular Sensor

Supramolecular recognition of dopamine by two quinoxaline cavitands was studied in solution by fluorescence titrations, ESI-MS and ROESY measurements. In addition, the tetraquinoxaline cavitand was dropped onto a siloxane-based polymeric solid support, obtaining a sensor able to detect dopamine in a linear range of concentrations 10 Mm–100 pM, with a detection limit of 1 pM, much lower than the normal concentration values in the common human fluids (plasma, urine and saliva), by using a simple smartphone as detector. This sensor shows also good selectivity for dopamine respect to the other common analytes contained in a saliva sample and can be reused after acid–base cycles, paving the way for the realization of real practical sensor for human dopamine detection.