Reactivity of fused 1,3-benzothiaphospholes: Formation of pentacoordinated derivatives

Fused 1,3-benzothiaphospholes 2 (cis-2,6,10-trimethyl-[1, 3]benzothiaphospholo[2,3-b][1, 3]benzothiaphosphole) reacts with H₂O₂ and S₈, giving the corresponding oxide and sulfide, respectively. The reactions of 2 with diethyl azodicarboxylate (DEAD)/catechol or DEAD/o-aminophenol, o-azidophenol, and tetrachloro-o-benzoquinone (TOB) give the first examples of spiro pentacoordinated phosphorus derivatives of this heterocyclic system. The X-ray structural analysis of spiro compound 3 showed a trigonal bipyramidal configuration at phosphorus in which the three rings assume axial-equatorial positions.     

Label-Free Quantitative Proteomics to Explore the Action Mechanism of the Pharmaceutical-Grade Triticum vulgare Extract in Speeding Up Keratinocyte Healing

Plant extracts have shown beneficial properties in terms of skin repair, promoting wound healing through a plethora of mechanisms. In particular, the poly-/oligosaccharidic aqueous extract of Triticum vulgare (TVE), as well as TVE-based products, shows interesting biological assets, hastening wound repair. Indeed, TVE acts in the treatment of tissue regeneration mainly on decubitus and venous leg ulcers. Moreover, on scratched monolayers, TVE prompts HaCat cell migration, correctly modulating the expression of metalloproteases toward a physiological matrix remodeling. Here, using the same HaCat-based in vitro scratch model, the TVE effect has been investigated thanks to an LFQ proteomic analysis of HaCat secretomes and immunoblotting. Indeed, the unbiased TVE effect on secreted proteins has not yet been fully understood, and it could be helpful to obtain a comprehensive picture of its bio-pharmacological profile. It has emerged that TVE treatment induces significant up-regulation of several proteins in the secretome (153 to be exact) whereas only a few were down-regulated (72 to be exact). Interestingly, many of the up-regulated proteins are implicated in promoting wound-healing-related processes, such as modulating cell–cell interaction and communication, cell proliferation and differentiation, and prompting cell adhesion and migration.     

Antioxidant Cardioprotection against Reperfusion Injury: Potential Therapeutic Roles of Resveratrol and Quercetin

Ischemia-reperfusion myocardial damage is a paradoxical tissue injury occurring during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. Although this damage could account for up to 50% of the final infarct size, there has been no available pharmacological treatment until now. Oxidative stress contributes to the underlying production mechanism, exerting the most marked injury during the early onset of reperfusion. So far, antioxidants have been shown to protect the AMI patients undergoing PCI to mitigate these detrimental effects; however, no clinical trials to date have shown any significant infarct size reduction. Therefore, it is worthwhile to consider multitarget antioxidant therapies targeting multifactorial AMI. Indeed, this clinical setting involves injurious effects derived from oxygen deprivation, intracellular pH changes and increased concentration of cytosolic Ca²⁺ and reactive oxygen species, among others. Thus, we will review a brief overview of the pathological cascades involved in ischemia-reperfusion injury and the potential therapeutic effects based on preclinical studies involving a combination of antioxidants, with particular reference to resveratrol and quercetin, which could contribute to cardioprotection against ischemia-reperfusion injury in myocardial tissue. We will also highlight the upcoming perspectives of these antioxidants for designing future studies.     

Atmosphere effects in the processing of silicon carbide and silicon oxycarbide thin films and coatings

Silicon carbide and silicon oxycarbide films were prepared from solutions of polycarbosilane and methyldimethoxysilane + tetraethoxysilane, respectively, and deposited on different substrates (Si wafers, stainless steel plates, sapphire and SiC fibers). The coatings were heated at different temperatures and in different atmospheres, such as regular grade argon, ultra high purity and argon vacuum. The films were characterized using different techniques (FT-IR, XRD, SIMS, Ellipsometry).The influence of the processing parameters (heat treatment temperature and atmosphere) on the final microstructure of the coatings is discussed in this article.     

Therapeutic Potential of Highly Selective A3 Adenosine Receptor Ligands in the Central and Peripheral Nervous System

Ligands of the G_i protein-coupled adenosine A₃ receptor (A₃R) are receiving increasing interest as attractive therapeutic tools for the treatment of a number of pathological conditions of the central and peripheral nervous systems (CNS and PNS, respectively). Their safe pharmacological profiles emerging from clinical trials on different pathologies (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and fatty liver diseases) confer a realistic translational potential to these compounds, thus encouraging the investigation of highly selective agonists and antagonists of A₃R. The present review summarizes information on the effect of latest-generation A₃R ligands, not yet available in commerce, obtained by using different in vitro and in vivo models of various PNS- or CNS-related disorders. This review places particular focus on brain ischemia insults and colitis, where the prototypical A₃R agonist, Cl-IB-MECA, and antagonist, MRS1523, have been used in research studies as reference compounds to explore the effects of latest-generation ligands on this receptor. The advantages and weaknesses of these compounds in terms of therapeutic potential are discussed.     

L‐lysine and EDTA polymer mimics as resins for the quantitative and reversible removal of heavy metal ion water pollutants

Traditional precipitation methods for inorganic micropollutant removal from waters are increasingly being replaced by sorption methods based on both natural and synthetic materials. In this context, two novel effective heavy metal ions absorbers are presented. These resins, LYMA and LMT85, were crosslinked poly(amidoamine)s carrying amine and carboxyl groups in their repeating units. In particular, the LYMA‐repeating unit contains one carboxyl and two amine groups and is a mimic of L ‐lysine, whereas LMT85 contains two amine and five carboxyl groups and is a mimic of EDTA. Both resins were prepared at moderate cost by simple eco‐friendly procedures. The heavy metal ion set adopted as benchmark was Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺, Pb²⁺, Zn²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Co²⁺. LYMA proved selective for Cu²⁺ and Ni²⁺, the other ions tested being negligibly absorbed, whereas LMT85 proved capable of rapidly and quantitatively absorbing all the ions tested either singly or in mixed solution. The absorption process was reversible, and the resins were easily regenerated by acidification. The absorption of several metal ions imparted intense coloring to the resins, a feature possibly exploitable for analytical purposes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Research and development for the SPES target

The target is one of the key issues of isotope separation on line (ISOL) facilities. SPES, now under development at LNL-INFN, is an innovative ISOL facility possessing a target chatacterized by seven separate uranium dicarbide thin disks. The research on the materials development and target prototyping is discussed in the following.     

Combining Gene Expression Profiles and Drug Activity Patterns Analysis: A Relational Clustering Approach

The combined analysis of tissue micro array and drug response datasets has the potential of revealing valuable knowledge about various relations among gene expressions and drug activity patterns in tumor cells. However, the amount and the complexity of biological data needs appropriate data mining models in order to extract interesting patterns and useful information. The ultimate goal of this paper is to define a model which, given the gene expression profile related to a specific tumor tissue, could help in selecting a set of most responsive drugs. This is accomplished through an integrated framework based on a constraint-based clustering algorithm, called Relational K-Means, which groups cell lines using drug response information and taking into account cell-to-cell relationships derived from their gene expression profiles.     

Actively compensated aerostatic thrust bearing: design,modelling and experimental validation

Active compensation is an effective method for increasing air bearing static and dynamic performance. This paper describes the design, modelling and experimental validation of an actively compensated externally pressurized gas bearing. The active compensation is obtained through the support compensation strategy. With this strategy, the system’s initial working position is restored by compensating for air gap variations through adjustments to the bearing vertical dimension. The described bearing consists in a conventional thrust bearing which is integrated with a multilayer piezoelectric actuator, a compliant mechanism and a digital controller. Nevertheless the non-linear nature of the air system, a simple linear model results to be an effective choice for neighbour of equilibrium conditions. Results demonstrate the good accuracy of the model and the system’s good capacity of rejecting external force disturbances.