11 research outputs found
Trento Longaretti collezionista. Piccola curiosa raccolta di un pittore
No full textQuesta pubblicazione documenta la collezione artistica di Trento Longaretti, già direttore dell’Accademia Carrara di Bergamo. Pittore a sua volta, Longaretti ha riunito, nel corso della vita, una serie di dipinti, disegni, incisioni e sculture di altri artisti, che costituiscono un’interessante testimonianza del gusto di un artista.
Il catalogo delle opere - databili tra la fine del XV secolo e il XX secolo - è suddiviso in pittura, grafica e scultura ed è preceduto da un saggio di Giovanni Valagussa.
Tra gli artisti presenti nella collezione, spiccano i nomi di Pellizza da Volpedo, Tullio Garbari, Piero Marussig, Ennio Morlotti, Mario Sironi e Gianfranco Ferroni
Liver metastases: sulphur hexafluoride-enhanced ultrasonography for lesion detection: a systematic review.
No full textThis is a systematic review to evaluate the accuracy of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) performed with "SonoVue" (sulphur hexafluoride) in the detection of hepatic metastases. The MEDLINE, EMBASE and COCHRANE Databases were searched, regardless of language, for relevant articles published before December 2009. Two reviewers independently assessed study eligibility using a standardized form and methodological quality using the quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies (QUADAS) Checklist. Sensitivity estimates were calculated on a per-patient and/or per-lesion basis. The search for published articles yielded 718 potentially relevant abstracts. Of these, 14 papers were eligible but only three articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria, which comprised a total of 450 patients (patient sample number: range 12 to 365; cancer prevalence: 14.8 to 71.2%). Estimated per-patient sensitivity ranged from 79-100%. Although the quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies checklist showed the papers were of good quality, a meta-analysis was not applicable because of the lack of eligible studies. In conclusion, CEUS seems to be promising in the detection of liver metastases; however, there have not been enough studies to conduct meta-analysis. Further studies are required before this promising method can be widely used
Safer by design cellulose nanosponges for wastewater treatment
No full textLAUREA MAGISTRALELa contaminazione delle acque rappresenta uno dei maggiori rischi per l’uomo e l’ambiente. Fra i vari contaminanti presenti nelle acque reflue industriali, i coloranti organici richiedono particolare attenzione.
Ciò spinge allo sviluppo di materiali innovativi, più performanti e meno (eco)tossici per la decontaminazione delle acque da coloranti, seguendo l’approccio del “safe and sustainable by design (SSbD)”.
I nanomateriali, avendo elevata area superficiale e reattività, sono considerati valide soluzioni per lo sviluppo di materiali sorbenti. In questo contesto, le nanofibre di cellulosa, ottenibili anche da biomassa di scarto, sono un materiale di partenza adatto alla produzione di sistemi nanostrutturati. Inoltre, la nanocellulosa può subire un‘ossidazione regioselettiva, esponendo gruppi carbossilici che possono prendere parte a processi di reticolazione, se in presenza di opportuni reticolanti. Nell’ultimo decennio, il nostro gruppo ha sviluppato una nanospugna a base cellulosica ottenuta in presenza di b-PEI 25 kDa ed acido citrico come reticolante. Se da un lato questo materiale ha manifestato elevate proprietà adsorbenti per la rimozione di coloranti organici, dall’altro è stata misurata una parziale ecotossicità associata ad un lento rilascio del polimero poliamminico .
In questo lavoro riporto la sintesi di una nuova libreria di materiali nanostrutturati partendo da nanocellulosa e diversi polimeri poliamminici , con lo scopo finale di ridurre il rischio potenziale di rilascio di polimeri tossici, mantenendo possibilmente le elevate prestazioni in termini di bonifica.
Tra le differenti formulazioni, quella con b-PEI 1.8 kDa ha restituito i migliori risultati in termine di prestazione di adsorbimento a basse concentrazioni. Anche se ad alte concentrazioni l’originale formulazione con b-PEI 25 kDa risulta essere più efficiente, va sottolineato come il b-PEI 1.8 kDa sia da considerarsi generalmente più sicuro, portando possibilmente ad una formulazione più ecosafe.
Futuri sviluppi includeranno la validazione della sicurezza della nostra nuova formulazione attraverso test in vivo su microorganismi e ricci di mare.Water contamination represents one of the major risks for the environment and human health. Among the several pollutants which need to be removed from industrial wastewater, organic dyes derived from textile industry deserve high attention.
For this reason, the development of innovative, higher performing and low (eco)toxic materials, for water decontamination from dyes, following safe and sustainable by design (SSbD) criteria, is mandatory.
Nanomaterials, having a higher and more reactive surface area, are considered a valuable option for the development of sorbent materials. In this context, cellulose nanofibers are suitable building blocks to produce nanostructured systems, with the added value of originating from renewable sources. Moreover, nanocellulose can undergo a regioselective oxidation, bearing carboxylic groups which can take part in cross-linking, if in the presence of proper reticulants. In the last decade, our research group developed a cellulose-based nanosponge obtained in the presence of branched polyethyleneimine (b-PEI) 25 kDa and citric acid as cross-linkers. While this material performs great in the removal of organic dyes, a partial ecotoxicity associated to the slow release of the polyamine was observed.
In this work I report the synthesis of a new library of nanostructured materials starting from nanocellulose and different polyamine polymers (amino PEG 4 arms, amino PEG 8 arms and b-PEI 1.8 kDa), with the final aim to reduce the potential risk of release of toxic polymers, while possibly maintaining high performances.
Among the different formulations, the one with b-PEI 1.8 kDa provided the best results in terms of adsorption performance at lower concentration. Even if at higher concentration the original formulation with b-PEI 25 kDa performs slightly better, b-PEI 1.8 kDa is generally safer, possibly leading to a more eco-safe formulation.
Future developments will include the safety validation of our new formulation through in vivo tests on microbial and sea urchins
Involvement of renal tubular Toll-like receptor 9 in the development of tubulointerstitial injury in systemic lupus.
No full textSRF and SRFΔ5 Splicing Isoform Recruit Corepressor LSD1/KDM1A Modifying Structural Neuroplasticity and Environmental Stress Response
No full textTen to 20% of western countries population suffers from major depression disorder (MDD). Stressful life events represent the main environmental risk factor contributing to the onset of MDD and other stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders. In this regard, investigating brain physiology of stress response underlying the remarkable individual variability in terms of behavioral outcome may uncover stress-vulnerability pathways as a source of candidate targets for conceptually new antidepressant treatments. Serum response factor (SRF) has been addressed as a stress transducer via promoting inherent experience-induced Immediate Early Genes (IEGs) expression in neurons. However, in resting conditions, SRF also represents a transcriptional repressor able to assemble the core LSD1/CoREST/HDAC2 corepressor complex, including demethylase and deacetylase activities. We here show that dominant negative SRF splicing isoform lacking most part of the transactivation domain, namely SRFΔ5, owes its transcriptional repressive behavior to the ability of assembling LSD1/CoREST/HDAC2 corepressor complex meanwhile losing its affinity for transcription-permissive cofactor ELK1. SRFΔ5 is highly expressed in the brain and developmentally regulated. In the light of its activity as negative modulator of dendritic spine density, SRFΔ5 increase along with brain maturation suggests a role in synaptic pruning. Upon acute psychosocial stress, SRFΔ5 isoform transiently increases its levels. Remarkably, when stress is chronically repeated, a different picture occurs where SRF protein becomes stably upregulated in vulnerable mice but not in resilient animals. These data suggest a role for SRFΔ5 that is restricted to acute stress response, while positive modulation of SRF during chronic stress matches the criteria for stress-vulnerability hallmark
COULD BE A LINK BETWEEN NON ATOPIC ASTHMA AND HP INFECTION?
No full textA potential role of Helicobater Pylori (HP) infection in several extra-intestinal pathologies has been recently suggested. The aim of our study was to assess the role of serology positive for HP in atopic and non atopic infants and children affected by atopic dermatitis, urticaria, rhinitis and asthma. We included 615 children affected by atopic diseases. According to prick test positivity and age, we divided the patients into two groups: atopic or non-atopic patients and infants (0-2 years) or children (2-12 years). The serum levels of antibodies for H. pylori immunoglobulin G were measured by using an ELISA test. We found a not significant difference between group 1 and group 2 about atopy. There was a significant higher frequency of HP positive serology in older children. As for infants, a higher significant prevalence of HP positive serology was found in non-atopic patients. HP positive serology was significantly higher only in non-atopic infants affected by atopic dermatitis and urticaria than in atopic. In group 2, non atopic children shown a significant increase in the prevalence of HP serum positivity than atopic children. As for asthma, there was an higher prevalence of HP serology positive in non atopic asthmatic children group than in atopic asthmatics. On the contrary, the prevalence of positive HP serology was not significantly different between atopic and non atopic children affected by dermatitis, urticaria, and rhinitis. The present data confirm an inverse association between HP positive serology and atopy in both groups. However, the higher prevalence of positive HP serology was observed in non atopic asthmatics children than in atopic asthmatics. We could speculate that HP infection can favour non-atopic asthma onset
On the dynamics of planetesimals embedded in turbulent protoplanetary discs with dead zones
No full text. NJT was supported by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, the NASA Origins
and Outer Planets programs, and the Alexander von Humboldt
Foundation
The epilepsy-associated protein PCDH19 undergoes NMDA receptor-dependent proteolytic cleavage and regulates the expression of immediate-early genes
No full textBrain MRI findings in severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy and genotype-phenotype correlations
No full textTo determine the occurrence of neuroradiological abnormalities and to perform genotype-phenotype correlations in severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMEI, Dravet syndrome).Alpha-subunit type A of voltage-gated sodium channel (SCN1A) mutational screening was performed by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) and multiplex ligation probe amplification (MLPA). MRI inclusion criteria were: last examination obtained after the age of 4 years on 1.5-T systems; hippocampal cuts acquired perpendicular to the long axis of the hippocampus; qualitative assessment was performed on T(1)-weighted, T(2)-weighted, proton density, and 1-3 mm thick coronal FLAIR images.We collected 58 SMEI patients in whom last MRI was performed at or later than 4 years of age. SCN1A mutations occurred in 35 (60\%) cases. Thirteen (22.4\%) out of 58 patients showed abnormal MRIs. Eight patients showed cortical brain atrophy of which 3 associated to ventricles abnormalities, 1 to cerebellar atrophy, 1 to white matter hyperintensity; 3 patients had ventricles enlargement only; 1 patient showed hippocampal sclerosis (HS); 1 had focal cortical dysplasia. Genotype-phenotype analysis indicated that abnormal MRIs occurred more frequently in patients without SCN1A mutations (9/23; 39.1\%) compared to those carrying SCN1A mutations (4/35; 11.4\%) (p=0.02).Different brain abnormalities may occur in SMEI. Only one case with HS was observed; thus, our study does not support the association between prolonged febrile seizures and HS in SMEI. Abnormal MRIs were significantly more frequent in patients without SCN1A mutations. Prospective MRI studies will assess the etiological role of the changes observed in these patients
Involvement of renal tubular toll-like receptor 9 in the development of tubulointerstitial injury in systemic lupus
No full text
