Genotoxic potential of TiO2 on bottlenose dolphin leukocytes

Titanium dioxide is extensively used in a variety of products, including industrial materials and cosmetics. Studies mainly performed on human cell lines and in vivo exposure on experimental animals have raised concern about the toxic effects of ultrafine titanium dioxide; however, scarce information is available about its impact on aquatic life. The aim of this article was to assess the genotoxic potential of TiO₂ (anatase and rutile) on bottlenose dolphin leukocytes. Blood samples were obtained from four male and one female specimens reared at the Adriatic SeaWorld “Oltremare” (Riccione, Italy). Leukocytes were isolated by the lyses procedure and in vitro exposed to TiO₂ in RPMI. Experimental solutions were sonicated immediately before dosing the cells. Three exposure times (4, 24 and 48 h) and three doses (20, 50 and 100 μg/ml) were tested. Genotoxicity was detected by the single-cell gel electrophoresis (or comet assay) at pH ≥ 13, assessing single/double-strand breaks and alkali-labile sites. Cytotoxicity was also detected by the Trypan blue exclusion method. Results showed that both the crystalline forms of TiO₂ were genotoxic for bottlenose dolphin leukocytes, with a statistically significant increase of DNA fragmentation after exposure to 50 and 100 μg/ml for 24 and 48 h. Although preliminary, these are the first data regarding the genetic susceptibility of toothed cetaceans toward an “emerging” pollutant, such as TiO₂ particles.     

Potential Mitigation of Smoke Taint in Wines by Post-Harvest Ozone Treatment of Grapes

When bushfires occur near grape growing regions, vineyards can be exposed to smoke, and depending on the timing and duration of grapevine smoke exposure, fruit can become tainted. Smoke-derived volatile compounds, including volatile phenols, can impart unpleasant smoky, ashy characters to wines made from smoke-affected grapes, leading to substantial revenue losses where wines are perceivably tainted. This study investigated the potential for post-harvest ozone treatment of smoke-affected grapes to mitigate the intensity of smoke taint in wine. Merlot grapevines were exposed to smoke at ~7 days post-veraison and at harvest grapes were treated with 1 or 3 ppm of gaseous ozone (for 24 or 12 h, respectively), prior to winemaking. The concentrations of smoke taint marker compounds (i.e., free and glycosylated volatile phenols) were measured in grapes and wines to determine to what extent ozonation could mitigate the effects of grapevine exposure to smoke. The 24 h 1 ppm ozone treatment not only gave significantly lower volatile phenol and volatile phenol glycoside concentrations but also diminished the sensory perception of smoke taint in wine. Post-harvest smoke and ozone treatment of grapes suggests that ozone works more effectively when smoke-derived volatile phenols are in their free (aglycone) form, rather than glycosylated forms. Nevertheless, the collective results demonstrate the efficacy of post-harvest ozone treatment as a strategy for mitigation of smoke taint in wine.     

Set-theoretic complete intersections in characteristic

We describe a class of toric varieties which are set-theoretic complete intersections only over fields of one positive characteristic .

     

Motion of Discrete Interfaces Through Mushy Layers

We study the geometric motion of sets in the plane derived from the homogenization of discrete ferromagnetic energies with weak inclusions. We show that the discrete sets are composed by a ‘bulky’ part and an external ‘mushy region’ composed only of weak inclusions. The relevant motion is that of the bulky part, which asymptotically obeys to a motion by crystalline mean curvature with a forcing term, due to the energetic contribution of the mushy layers, and pinning effects, due to discreteness. From an analytical standpoint, it is interesting to note that the presence of the mushy layers implies only a weak and not strong convergence of the discrete motions, so that the convergence of the energies does not commute with the evolution. From a mechanical standpoint it is interesting to note the geometrical similarity of some phenomena in the cooling of binary melts.     

Numerical detection of instability regions for delay models with delay-dependent parameters

In this paper we are interested in gaining local stability insights about the interior equilibria of delay models arising in biomathematics. The models share the property that the corresponding characteristic equations involve delay-dependent coefficients. The presence of such dependence requires the use of suitable criteria which usually makes the analytical work harder so that numerical techniques must be used. Most existing methods for studying stability switching of equilibria fail when applied to such a class of delay models. To this aim, an efficient criterion for stability switches was recently introduced in [E. Beretta, Y. Kuang, Geometric stability switch criteria in delay differential systems with delay dependent parameters, SIAM J. Math. Anal. 33 (2002) 1144–1165] and extended [E. Beretta, Y. Tang, Extension of a geometric stability switch criterion, Funkcial Ekvac 46(3) (2003) 337–361]. We describe how to numerically detect the instability regions of positive equilibria by using such a criterion, considering both discrete and distributed delay models.     

Segments and Hilbert schemes of points

Using results obtained from a study of homogeneous ideals sharing the same initial ideal with respect to some term order, we prove the singularity of the point corresponding to a segment ideal with respect to a degreverse term order (as, for example, the degrevlex order) in the Hilbert scheme of points in Pⁿ. In this context, we look into the properties of several types of “segment” ideals that we define and compare. This study also leads us to focus on the connections between the shape of generators of Borel ideals and the related Hilbert polynomial, thus providing an algorithm for computing all saturated Borel ideals with a given Hilbert polynomial.     

D'Alembert's functional equation on restricted domains

Summary In the class of functionalsf:X , whereX is an inner product space with dimX 3, we study the D'Alembert functional equationf(x + y) + f(x – y) = 2f(x)f(y) (1) on the restricted domainsX ₁ = {(x, y) X ²/x, y = 0} andX ₂ = {(x, y) X ²/x = y}. In this paper we prove that the equation (1) restricted toX ₁ is not equivalent to (1) on the whole spaceX. We also succeed in characterizing all common solutions if we add the conditionf(2x) = 2f²(x) – 1. Using this result, we prove the equivalence between (1) restricted toX ₂ and (1) on the whole spaceX. This research follows similar previous studies concerning the additive, exponential and quadratic functional equations.     

Stratifications et ensemble de non-cohérence d'un espace analytique réel

Sans résuméL'auteur est associé au groupe G.N.S.A.G.A. du C.N.R.     

Control of Protonated Schiff Base Excited State Decay within Visual Protein Mimics: A Unified Model for Retinal Chromophores

Artificial biomimetic chromophore-protein complexes inspired by natural visual pigments can feature color tunability across the full visible spectrum. However, control of excited state dynamics of the retinal chromophore, which is of paramount importance for technological applications, is lacking due to its complex and subtle photophysics/photochemistry. Here, ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations are combined for the study of highly tunable rhodopsin mimics, as compared to retinal chromophores in solution. Conical intersections and transient fluorescent intermediates are identified with atomistic resolution, providing unambiguous assignment of their ultrafast excited state absorption features. The results point out that the electrostatic environment of the chromophore, modified by protein point mutations, affects its excited state properties allowing control of its photophysics with same power of chemical modifications of the chromophore. The complex nature of such fine control is a fundamental knowledge for the design of bio-mimetic opto-electronic and photonic devices.