817 research outputs found
Controlling the Adipose-derived Stem cell 3D-organization on micrometric PLGA regular scaffolds for cardiac tissue regeneration and repair
No full textThe deposition of cells at sites of injury is a clinically relevant approach to facilitate local tissue regeneration and repair. However, cell engraftment, retention, and survival are generally modest, requiring the development of novel deposition techniques and biomaterials. Here, a micro-sized polymeric network (microMESH) is investigated as a promising biodegradable scaffold for the engraftment and tissue integration of human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells (hADSCs) to be used for a wide range of injuries, including myocardial infarction. microMESH comprises a regular network of PLGA microfilaments spatially organized to form square openings of 5x5, 10x10 and 20x20 μm2 . microMESH is realized using soft lithographic techniques starting from a master silicon template reproducing the actual geometry of the final PLGA network. After extensive geometrical, physico-chemical, and mechanical characterizations using a broad range of techniques, hADSCs were integrated with microMESH. Cell viability, spatial organization, secretome and stemness were characterized for all three different microMESH configurations and compared to conventional systems, including 2D plastic dishes and collagen layers. Interestingly, when hADSCs were cultured on microMESH they organized in spheroidal-like structures, despite the geometry, maintaining viability over time. This peculiar attitude of the microMESH to form assemblies better represents the human tissue outside the body, compared to 2D monolayer cultures. Additionally, spheroids established an intimate interaction with the microMESH resulting in the scaffold incorporation within the 3D arrangement formed by the cells. On the contrary, hADSCs form only superficial interaction above the flat collagen sheet that is currently used for cell transplantation in animal models of cardiac diseases. Moreover, once the hADSCs are placed on microMESH, the actin cytoskeleton reorganizes to confer a 3D cell shape with multidirectional actin arrangements, forming nonlinear structures and ring structures at the anchorage site to the microMESH, relative to linear filaments when the cells adhered and flattened onto the plastic surface and on top of collagen scaffold. This internal reorganization and the stronger interaction may explain why microMESH scaffold fostered the secretion of biologically active molecules, acting in a paracrine fashion on resident cells, which are expected to accelerate tissue regeneration and repair. Specifically, when hADSCs grew on microMESH we observed a trend for higher production of several factors with specific implications in angiogenesis, stem cell proliferation and expansion, cell survival, inflammation modulation, ECM remodeling, stem cell mobilization, chemotaxis and homing, relative to 2D monolayer conditions. The paracrine effect of hADSCs is scaffold dependent and can be modulated by tailoring the geometrical and mechanical properties of microMESH. Indeed, the 5x5 microMESH showed its contribution in angiogenesis, ECM remodeling and stem cell mobilization from bone marrow into the bloodstream. Indeed, highest amounts of VEGF, TIMP-2 and GCSF, respectively were detected in 5x5 geometry compared to the other conditions. Rather, 10x10 geometry promotes angiogenesis enhancing the VEGF production, stem cell proliferation and survival by raising the Fibroblast Growth Factors family secretion and EGF factor, respectively and favors ECM remodeling increasing the TIMP-2 production compared to other conditions. Lastly, the 20x20 seems to have a more anti-inflammatory role (combination of IL-10 and TGF-β1) and chemotactic function (e.g. RANTES). Finally, in this work, we started to shed new light on the ability of micromMESH geometry to modulate the hADSCs stemness evaluating the expression levels of CD44, CD90 and CD105 markers over time. The proposed microMESH scaffold is expected to provide an effective alternative to more conventional hADSCs transplant techniques
Evaluation and Optimization of electoral systems
No full textSi tratta di un volume monografico sull'analisi, la valutazione e l'ottimizzazione dei sistemi elettorali attraverso strumenti di matematica applicata.
La Parte III è attribuibile esclusivamente a Federica Ricca
L’innovazione verde di diverse filiere agroindustriali nel territorio Alcotra: il progetto FINNOVER
No full textFINNOVER, "Strategie innovative per lo sviluppo di filiere verdi transfrontaliere" (http://www.interreg-finnover.com), è un progetto Interreg Alcotra transfrontaliero Italia / Francia avviato nel 2017 e appena giunto al termine. Gli obiettivi di questo progetto di ricerca sono stati l'innovazione e l'implementazione eco-sostenibile di diverse filiere di trasformazione agroindustriale nell'ottica della Green Circular Economy e della valorizzazione della biodiversità del territorio Alcotra. Il territorio Alcotra ha una grande variabilità di ambienti, paesaggi, cultura e tradizioni legati alla presenza di una nutrita biodiversità e alla produzione agricola ivi sviluppata che deve essere salvaguardata e valorizzata. Inoltre, presenta un importante tessuto imprenditoriale che, tuttavia, è costituito per lo più da piccole-medie imprese (PMI) che necessitano di essere supportate per poter sviluppare innovazione.
La gestione dei rifiuti derivanti dalle lavorazioni agricole e alimentari è stato uno dei temi principali del progetto, che ha offerto alle realtà imprenditoriali locali nuove prospettive di recupero degli scarti e/o dei sottoprodotti di lavorazione per l’ottenimento di potenziali principi attivi di origine naturale da utilizzarsi in campo nutraceutico e/o fitofarmacologico.
Le filiere produttive dei gemmoderivati, dei funghi e della lavanda, quale specie floricola tipica del territorio, sono state l’oggetto principale della ricerca del Dipartimento di Farmacia e del Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell'Ambiente e della Vita dell’Università degli studi di Genova.
I gemmoderivati rappresentano una relativamente nuova categoria di integratori alimentari a base erboristica ottenuti a partire da tessuti freschi embrionali di alberi e piante, come gemme o giovani germogli, mediante macerazione a freddo in solventi (es. etanolo e glicerolo). Questa ricerca ha esplorato il potenziale utilizzo delle tecnologie di estrazione eco-compatibile (Estrazione assistita con ultrasuoni) sia come metodica innovativa di produzione dei gemmoderivati1,2, confrontando gli estratti ottenuti con i tradizionali macerati glicerici, sia per valorizzare i sottoprodotti della loro filiera, rappresentando un'interessante innovazione in questo campo3. Sono state condotte, inoltre, valutazioni farmacologiche atte a verificare l’azione salutistica di alcuni di questi prodotti. In particolare, gli studi farmacologici in vitro ed in vivo si sono concentrati sulla valutazione degli effetti ansiolitici, antidepressivi e promnesici ("antiaging") di alcuni gemmoderivati andando a caratterizzare le influenze di genere ed età negli animali trattati4.
La filiera funghi eduli ha indagato sulla coltivazione in serra del Pleurotus ostreatus derivante da ceppi autoctoni liguri allevandolo, in un’ottica di economia circolare, su pani ottenuti dagli scarti vegetali della produzione dell’olio essenziale di lavanda. Ciò ha permesso di creare un interessante punto di unione tra due filiere tipiche del territorio Alcotra, prospettando fruttuose sinergie.
La fruibilità dei risultati ottenuti è stata valutata attraverso uno studio di fattibilità affiancando alle innovazioni messe a punto, una valutazione della loro maturità tecnologica, un’analisi SWOT ed elementi utili alla loro valutazione in termini economici.
1) Turrini, F.; Donno, D.; Beccaro, G.L.; Pittaluga, A.M.; Grilli, M.; Zunin, P.; Boggia, R. Foods, 2020, vol. 9, 1343.
2) Turrini, F.; Donno, D.; Beccaro, G.L.; Zunin, P.; Pittaluga, A.M.; Boggia, R. Foods, 2019, vol. 8, 466.
3) Turrini, F.; Donno, D.; Boggia, R.; Beccaro, G.L.; Zunin, P.; Leardi, R.; Pittaluga, A.M. Food Research International 2019, vol.115, 276-282.
4) Turrini, F.; Vallarino, G.; Cisani, F.; Donno, D.; Beccaro, G.L.; Zunin, P.; Boggia, R.; Pittaluga, A.; Grilli, M. Nutrients 2020, vol. 12, 3328
Functional interaction between presynaptic nicotinic and D2 receptors on dopaminergic nerve endings of rat and mouse nucleus accumbens
No full textAssessment of the health status of the clam Chamelea gallina along a latitudinal gradient in the Adriatic Sea
No full textDynamic modeling of levitation of a superconducting bulk by coupled H-magnetic field and arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulations
No full textIntrinsically stable magnetic levitation between superconductors and permanent magnets can be exploited in a variety of applications of great technical interest in the field of transportation (rail transportation), energy (flywheels) and industry. In this contribution, we present a new model for the calculation of levitation forces between superconducting bulks and permanent magnets, based on the H-formulation of Maxwell's equations coupled with an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation. The model uses a moving mesh that adapts at each time step based on the time-change of the distance between a superconductor bulk and a permanent magnet. The model is validated against a fixed mesh model (recently in turn validated against experiments) that uses an analytical approach for calculating the magnetic field generated by the moving permanent magnet. It is then used to analyze the magnetic field dynamics both in field-cooled and zero-field-cooled conditions and successively used to test different configurations of permanent magnets and to compare them in terms of levitation forces. The ease of implementation of this model and its flexibility in handling different geometries, material properties, and application scenarios makes it an attractive tool for the analysis and optimization of magnetic levitation-based applications
Draunara, installation, Federica Cellini, 2014
No full text Draunara, Federica Cellini, Ana B.K, widewalls.ch , 26/05/2014 "Washed away onto the shores of the island, migrants from Africa keep arriving to Lampedusa, a small island just off the coast of Sicily. (...) The Unstoppable Tempest Draunara takes its name from the local term for a storm that swoops over the island coming from the sea. The author of the piece draws a parallel between the tempest and the overwhelming number of people arriving from the same direction. Although the arrivals ar..
correction idelalisib exposure before allogenic stem cell transplantation in patients with follicular lymphoma an EBMT survey
No full textThe article “Idelalisib exposure before allogeneic stem cell transplantation in patients with follicular lymphoma: an EBMT survey”, written by Leopold Sellner, Johannes Schetelig, Linda Koster, Goda Choi, Didier Blaise, Dietrich Beelen, Fabrizio Carnevale Schianca, Jakob Passweg, Urs Schanz, Emmanuel Gyan, Federica Sora, Nicolaus Kröger, Gerald. G. Wulf, Gwendolyn Van Gorkom, Jiri Mayer, Corentin Orvain, Jean Henri Bourhis, Pavel Jindra, Victoria Potter, Francesco Zallio, Elisabeth Vandenberghe, Stephen Robinson, Patrick J. Hayden, Ibrahim Yakoub-Agha, Silvia Montoto, Peter Dreger, on behalf of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Lymphoma and Chronic Malignancies Working Parties, was originally published Online First without Open Access. After publication in volume 55, issue 12, page 2335–2338, the author decided to opt for Open Choice and to make the article an Open Access publication. Therefore, the copyright of the article has been changed to © The Author(s) 2020 and the article is forthwith distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder
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