Collection and analytical characterisation of the atmospheric particulate in the city of Bari

In this paper an application of new procedures for atmospheric particulate analysis is illustrated. PM10, PAHs (benzo[a]anthracene (BaA), benzo[b]fluoranthene (BbF), benzo[j]fluoranthene (BjF), benzo[k]fluoranthene (BkF), benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), indeno[1, 2, 3-cd]pyrene (Ip), dibenzo[a, h]anthracene (DbA)) and heavy metals (Cu, Ni, Zn, Co, Mn, Cd, Fe and Pb) were investigated. PM10 determination was performed by gravimetric method, PAHs were measured by GC-MS, and heavy metals by HPIC. An air quality monitoring campaign on the territory of Bari municipality has been organised, and its results are shown.     

Bergamot (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Citrus bergamia</Emphasis> Risso) fruit extracts and identified components alter expression of interleukin 8 gene in cystic fibrosis bronchial epithelial cell lines

Background  

Cystic fibrosis (CF) airway pathology is a fatal, autosomal, recessive genetic disease characterized by extensive lung inflammation. After induction by TNF-α, elevated concentrations of several pro-inflammatory cytokines (i.e. IL-6, IL-1β) and chemokines (i.e. IL-8) are released from airway epithelial cells. In order to reduce the excessive inflammatory response in the airways of CF patients, new therapies have been developed and in this respect, medicinal plant extracts have been studied. In this article we have investigated the possible use of bergamot extracts (Citrus bergamia Risso) and their identified components to alter the expression of IL-8 associated with the cystic fibrosis airway pathology.     

Cores of Simplicial Complexes

We introduce a method to reduce the study of the topology of a simplicial complex to that of a simpler one. Applying this method to complexes arising from graphs, we give topological meaning to classical graph invariants. As a consequence, we answer some questions raised in (Ehrenborg and Hetyei in Eur. J. Comb. 27(6):906–923, 2006) on the independence complex and the dominance complex of a forest and obtain improved algorithms to compute their homotopy types.     

Synthesis of novel, simplified, C-7 substituted eleutheside analogues with potent microtubule-stabilizing activity

The synthesis of a number of novel, simplified, C-7 substituted 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. The RCM precursors were synthesized starting from aldehyde 3 [prepared in six steps on a multigram scale from R-(−)-carvone in 30% overall yield] via multiple stereoselective Hafner-Duthaler allyltitanations and/or Brown allylborations. ‘Second generation’ RCM-catalyst 15 gave the desired ring closed ten-membered carbocycles as single Z stereoisomers in good yields. The RCM stereochemical course (100% Z) is likely to reflect thermodynamic control. Molecular mechanics and semi-empirical calculations also show that the Z stereoisomers of these ten-membered carbocycles are consistently more stable than the E. The crucial role of the homoallylic and allylic substituents and of their protecting groups for the efficiency of the RCM reactions is discussed. In particular, we have found that p-methoxyphenyl (PMP) protected allylic alcohols, the products of a stereoselective oxyallylation, are compatible with the RCM reaction and give better yields than the corresponding free allylic alcohols. One of the simplified analogues of the natural product (44, lacking inter alia the C-4/C-7 ether bridge) retains potent microtubule-stabilizing activity. However, the cytotoxicity tests did not parallel the potent tubulin-assembling and microtubule-stabilizing properties: limited cytotoxicity was observed against three common tumor cell lines (human ovarian carcinoma, human colon carcinoma and human leukemia cell lines, IC₅₀ in the μM range), approximately two orders of magnitude less than paclitaxel (IC₅₀ in the nM range). The mechanism of cell cycle arrest induced by compound 44 is similar to that obtained with paclitaxel.     

On the effect of catalyst status in the quantitative determination of platinum in Pt-Sn/MgO materials

The development of an analytical method for the determination of platinum in MgO based Pt/Sn catalysts is described. Electrothermal atomic absorption spectroscopy (ETAAS) was chosen because of its high sensitivity and robustness against spectral interferences. All the sources of chemical interferences were statistically analyzed and corrections were adopted for the presence of magnesium oxide support. The effectiveness of different mineralization procedures was critically evaluated as a function of the chemical of the solid catalyst. Microwave digestion allowed recovery of metal of 100% for all the catalysts analyzed and exhibited significant better precision values than other digestion methods, which could nevertheless be utilized under proper conditions in selected cases. Received: 31 July 2000 / Revised: 17 October 2000 / Accepted: 24 October 2000