Trace metal concentration in wild avian species from Campania,Italy

This study was conducted to determine heavy metals concentrations in tissues of 94 birds belonging to different species from coastal areas of Naples and Salerno (Southern Italy) in order to provide baseline data concerning trace element levels in wild birds living in or close to an area characterized by high anthropogenic impact. Additional aim of this study was to verify if diet influenced metal accumulation, so birds were classified as birds of prey, fish eating birds and insectivorous birds.     

Removal of UV Cutoff for the Nelson Model with Variable Coefficients

We consider the Nelson model with variable coefficients. Nelson models with variable coefficients arise when one replaces in the usual Nelson model the flat Minkowski metric by a static metric, allowing also the boson mass to depend on position. We study the removal of the ultraviolet cutoff.     

Nanoparticle microinjection and Raman spectroscopy as tools for nanotoxicology studies

Microinjection techniques and Raman spectroscopy have been combined to provide a new methodology to investigate the cytotoxic effects due to the interaction of nanomaterials with cells. In the present work, this novel technique has been used to investigate the effects of Ag and Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles on Hela cells. The nanoparticles are microinjected inside the cells and these latter ones are probed by means of Raman spectroscopy after a short incubation time, in order to highlight the first and impulsive mechanisms developed by the cells to counteract the presence of the nanoparticles. The results put in evidence a different behaviour of the cells treated with nanoparticles in comparison with the control cells; these differences are supposed to be generated by an emerging oxidative stress due to the nanoparticles. The achieved results demonstrate the suitability of the proposed method as a new tool for nanotoxicity studies.     

Reactivity of Fluoro‐Substituted Bis(thiocarbonyl) Donors with Diiodine: An XRD,FT–Raman,and DFT Investigation

The reactions of 1,3,8,10‐tetrakis(4′‐fluorophenyl)‐4,5,6,7‐tetrathiocino[1,2‐b:3,4‐b′]diimidazolyl‐2,9‐dithione ( 4 ) and molecular diiodine afforded spoke adducts with stoichiometries 4·I2 and 4? 3I₂, isolated in the compound 4? 3I₂ ? xCH₂Cl₂ ? (1?x)I₂ (x=0.70), and characterized by single‐crystal XRD and FT–Raman spectroscopy. The nature of the reaction products was investigated under the prism of theoretical calculations carried out at the DFT level. The structural data, FT–Raman spectroscopy, and quantum mechanical calculations agree in indicating that the introduction of fluorophenyl substituents results in a lowering of the Lewis basicity of this class of bis(thiocarbonyl) donors compared with alkyl‐substituted tetrathiocino donors and fluorine allows for extended interactions that are responsible for solid‐state crystal packing.     

The quest for hydrogen bond-based metal organic nanotubes (MONT)

Given the ability of forming homomeric amide···amide dimer by iso-nicotinamide (nda), we postulate the existence of a hydrogen bond equivalent of the iso-reticular metal organic nanotubes (MONT) built by using copper, p,p′-diphenylmethylene-diphosphinate (pcp), and bipyridine. We obtained the desired primary arrangement of Cu/pcp/nda consisting of a 1-D chain. Instead of the expected amide/amide dimer, the NH₂ groups were engaged in H-bonding networks with the phosphinate ligands in a series of 2-D slabs. The differences and the similarities of the Cu/pcp chains in known MONTs and in the reported structure are also highlighted.     

Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of pomegranate peel extracts on bovine mammary epithelial cells BME-UV1

Abstract

Pomegranate peel extracts (PPE) were tested for the first time on BME-UV1, a valid cellular model to study the bovine mammary epithelial metabolism, to evaluate the effects on the oxidative stress and inflammatory status. Based on the statistical analysis of MTT data, PPE at 0.1, 1.0 and 10?μg/mL resulted not cytotoxic after 24?h, 48?h and 7 days of treatment. At the same concentrations, PPE induced a reduction of ROS production elicited by the addition of hydrogen peroxide or lipopolysaccharide evidencing an antioxidant effect confirmed also by a decrease of malondialdehyde. At 10?μg/mL, PPE reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines expressions showing an anti-inflammatory effect on BME-UV1 treated with lipopolysaccharide. Although in vivo experiments are necessary, the results of this study are promising for future applications of PPE as feed supplement for dairy cattle, in particular around calving, when the animals are more subject to oxidative stress and inflammatory diseases.     

Determination of Hyaluronic Acid in a Chitosan-Based Formulation by RP C18 and HILIC LC–ESI-MS: an Evaluation of Matrix Effect

Two simple and fast C18 and HILIC liquid chromatography–electrospray mass spectrometry methods for the determination of hyaluronic acid (HA) in a mucoadhesive chitosan-based formulation were developed and validated. The performances of both methods were compared in terms of validation parameters and matrix effect. A simple sample preparation method based on sulphuric acid-based degradation was optimized for the detection of HA fragments (i.e. m/z 380 2-mer, m/z 759 4-mer, m/z 1,138 8-mer and m/z 1,518 16-mer). By operating under selected ion-monitoring mode, excellent selectivity towards chitosan fragments was obtained. For validation, good linearity, detection limits (<4 μg mL^?1) and precision (RSD % < 16 %) were generally obtained on matrix with both columns. However, HILIC column exhibited improved performances in terms of HA fragment separation and selectivity. By analyzing on the C18 column the chitosan-based formulation and sample extracts from pig mucosa treated with the formulation, matrix effects exhibited a dependence of signal suppression degree (ranging from 37 to 83 %) as a function of the HA fragment dimension. The HILIC column afforded instead a significantly reduced suppression degree (ranging from 1 to 16 %) and a better separation. These findings demonstrated the improved performances of the HILIC column with respect to conventional C18 mechanism for the analysis of HA fragments in complex matrices.     

L~1-Poincaré and Sobolev inequalities for differential forms in Euclidean spaces Dedicated to Professor Jean-Yves Chemin on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday

In this paper, we prove Poincaré and Sobolev inequalities for differential forms in L~1(R~n). The singular integral estimates that it is possible to use for L~p, p 1, are replaced here with inequalities which go back to Bourgain and Brezis(2007).