A Review on Coordination Properties of Al(III) and Fe(III) toward Natural Antioxidant Molecules: Experimental and Theoretical Insights

This review focuses on the ability of some natural antioxidant molecules (i.e., hydroxycinnamic acids, coumarin-3-carboxylic acid, quercetin, luteolin and curcumin) to form Al(III)- and Fe(III)-complexes with the aim of evaluating the coordination properties from a combined experimental and theoretical point of view. Despite the contributions of previous studies on the chemical properties and biological activity of these metal complexes involving such natural antioxidants, further detailed relationships between the structure and properties are still required. In this context, the investigation on the coordination properties of Al(III) and Fe(III) toward these natural antioxidant molecules might deserve high interest to design water soluble molecule-based metal carriers that can improve the metal’s intake and/or its removal in living organisms.     

On the Relationships Between the Moments of a POVM and the Generator of the von Neumann Algebra It Generates

In the present paper, we review some recent results about commutative positive operator valued measures (POVMs) and single out some open problems. We introduce a conjecture about the extension of some recent results and prove some important consequences of such conjecture. In particular, we prove that it implies the universal character of some of the mathematical objects we introduce, i.e., the fact that they do not depend on the POV measure we are considering. We analyze the relevance of this result. Finally, we point out that some of the results we present admit a constructive proof and we show the relevance of this fact to the theory of commutative POV measures.     

Classical Mechanics in Hilbert Space,Part 1

We consider the Hamilton formulation as well as the Hamiltonian flows on a symplectic (phase) space. These symplectic spaces are derivable from the Lie group of symmetries of the physical system considered. In Part 2 of this work, we then obtain the Hamiltonian formalism in the Hilbert spaces of square integrable functions on the symplectic spaces so obtained.     

Antiproliferative effect of millimeter radiation on human erythromyeloid leukemia cell line K562 in culture: ultrastructural- and metabolic-induced changes

In the present study we compared the proliferation behavior, the ultrastructural morphology and the glycolitic metabolism of K562 cells irradiated by low-power wide-band millimeter waves, with those of sham-exposed K562 cells (control), maintained in the same culture conditions. The gigaHertz radiation treatments, performed between 53-78 10(9) Hz, induced a noticeable inhibition of the cell proliferation that could be related to relevant ultrastructural changes. Such effects brought the irradiated cell system to lose the homeostasis and to trigger defense/reparatory mechanisms in order to reestablish a new steady state. (13)C-Nuclear magnetic resonance data on the kinetic of glucose metabolism demonstrated that the irradiated cells enhanced the glycolitic aerobic pathway, indicating that such system need to produce an extra-bioenergy. Most of the ATP synthesized served probably to perform the above processes resulting in a significant decrease of the proliferation rate without significant cell death increment.     

Stochastic matrices and a property of the infinite sequences of linear functionals

Our starting point is the proof of the following property of a particular class of matrices. Let T={T_i,j} be a n×m non-negative matrix such that ∑_jT_i,j=1 for each i. Suppose that for every pair of indices (i,j), there exists an index l such that T_i,l≠T_j,l. Then, there exists a real vector k=(k₁,k₂,…,k_m)^T,k_i≠k_j,i≠j;0<k_i?1, such that, if i≠j.Then, we apply that property of matrices to probability theory. Let us consider an infinite sequence of linear functionals , corresponding to an infinite sequence of probability measures {μ_(·)(i)}_i∈N, on the Borel σ-algebra such that, . The property of matrices described above allows us to construct a real bounded one-to-one piecewise continuous and continuous from the left function f such that

     

Electro‐optical Properties of Neutral and Radical Ion Thienosquaraines

Thienosquaraines are an interesting class of electroactive dyes that are useful for applications in organic electronics. Herein, the redox chemistry and electrochromic response of a few newly synthesized thienosquaraines are presented. These properties are compared to those of the commercial 2,4‐bis[4‐(N,N‐diisobutylamino)‐2,6‐dihydroxyphenyl]squaraine. The stability of the radical ions formed in electrochemical processes strongly affects these properties, as shown by cyclic voltammetry, in situ spectroelectrochemistry, and quantum chemical calculations. Furthermore, all of the dyes show aggregation tendency resulting in panchromatic absorption covering the whole UV/Vis spectral range.     

Highly routinely reproducible alignment of 1H NMR spectral peaks of metabolites in huge sets of urines

A method to obtain high reproducibility of (1)H NMR chemical shift of peaks of biofluid metabolites, by simple acidification with HCl is evaluated. Biofluid (1)H NMR analysis is indeed spoiled by a strong chemical shift dependence of metabolite peaks on parameters such as ionic strength, concentration of some earth alkali cations and, mostly, on pH of samples. The resulting chemical shift variations, as large as 0.1 ppm, generate misalignments of homogeneous peaks, artifacts and misinterpretations. Reproducible alignment is essential in (1)H NMR based metabonomics, where peak misalignments prevent even very wide bins (i.e., 0.04 ppm, as elsewhere proposed) from being used to integrate spectral data for multivariate statistical analysis. Here is demonstrated that routine acidification with HCl to 1.2≤pH≤2.0 ensures highly reproducible peak alignment of urine (1)H NMR spectra. In this respect, simple inspection of citrate peaks in the urine can be used to measure pH, as it will be extensively discussed, in that at such low pH they show no dependency on other urine components as reported at higher pH. Under these conditions, in as many as 493 urine samples, in which concentrations of Ca(2+), Mg(2+), K(+), Na(+), Cl(-), phosphate, and creatinine and ionic strength measured by means of well standardized conventional procedures, showed very wide ranges, peaks align within a SD always lower than 0.002 ppm, thus allowing the use of integration bins at least five times narrower than 0.04 ppm.     

Reduced OFF-axis haze in polymer-dispersed liquid crystals

Polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) are composite materials formed by micron-sized droplets of liquid crystals (LCs) dispersed in a polymer matrix, which can be turned from an opaque state to a transparent one by application of a suitable electric field. PDLCs have been proposed in applications related to the control of light transmittance on large surfaces (light shutters, displays, rear mirrors). Despite several advantages, PDLCs’ main drawback is haze, i.e. the fast decay of transmission at large viewing angles. In this paper, a method for achieving highly transparent PDLC devices over a wide range of viewing angles is proposed. The method is based on the use of PDLCs with tilted elongated LC droplets and driven by opportune electric fields, which are experimentally calculated and able to ensure an almost constant value for OFF-axis transmittance.     

Uniform Continuity of POVMs

Recently a characterization of uniformly continuous POVMs and a necessary condition for a uniformly continuous POVM F to have the norm-1 property have been provided. Moreover it was proved that in the commutative case, uniform continuity corresponds to the existence of a Feller Markov kernel. We apply such results to the analysis of some relevant physical examples; i.e., the phase space localization observables, the unsharp phase observable and the unsharp number observable of which we study the uniform continuity, the norm-1 property and the existence of a Feller Markov kernel.     

Influence of Materials Properties on Bio-Physical Features and Effectiveness of 3D-Scaffolds for Periodontal Regeneration

Periodontal diseases are multifactorial disorders, mainly due to severe infections and inflammation which affect the tissues (i.e., gum and dental bone) that support and surround the teeth. These pathologies are characterized by bleeding gums, pain, bad breath and, in more severe forms, can lead to the detachment of gum from teeth, causing their loss. To date it is estimated that severe periodontal diseases affect around 10% of the population worldwide thus making necessary the development of effective treatments able to both reduce the infections and inflammation in injured sites and improve the regeneration of damaged tissues. In this scenario, the use of 3D scaffolds can play a pivotal role by providing an effective platform for drugs, nanosystems, growth factors, stem cells, etc., improving the effectiveness of therapies and reducing their systemic side effects. The aim of this review is to describe the recent progress in periodontal regeneration, highlighting the influence of materials’ properties used to realize three-dimensional (3D)-scaffolds, their bio-physical characteristics and their ability to provide a biocompatible platform able to embed nanosystems.