130,520 research outputs found
Dihydrofolate reductase: a new molecular target for gold(I) drugs?
No full textDehydrofolate reductasi : a new molecular target for gold(I) drugs?
R. Galassi,a A. Burini,a D. Micozzi,a A. Dolmella,b S. Pucciarellic
a School of Science and Technology, Chemistry Division, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino (Italy);
b Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Padova, 35131 Padova (Italy);
c School of Biosciences and Biotechnology, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino (Italy).
[email protected]
DHFR is an important enzyme mainly involved in the synthesis of pyrimidine and thymine basilar for the DNA replication and hence the cell proliferation. To perform its functions the DHFR enzyme needs the presence of a substrate and a cofactor such as NADPH and H2F.[1] Despite its fundamental importance in the cell’s metabolism this enzyme has never been tested as molecular target for gold(I) compounds which anti-proliferative action was ascertained. In fact, it is generally accepted that gold compounds act as multi-target drug and the proposed mechanisms mainly involve enzymes. Moreover, their action is function of their overall structure and of the nature of the ligands around the central metal atom.
Some pyrazolyl and imidazolyl gold(I) phosphane complexes synthesized by us have shown anticancer properties and they successfully inhibit some seleno-dependent enzymes such as thioredoxina reductase and glutathione peroxidase.[2] To investigate in depth their action on the regards of enzyme, inhibitory studies on DHFR have been carried out. Moreover, appropriate modifications in their structure have been performed in order to get information about the structure/properties relationship.
DTNB assays, stability studies in solution and affinity constant determinations have been performed too. Some conclusions about the possible mechanism of action may be taken accordingly.
Acknowledgements
Authors are grateful to CIRCSMB for Daniela Micozzi fellowship.
References
[1] M. Brandsch, I. Knütter, E. Bosse-Doenecke, J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 2008, 60, 543.
[2] R. Galassi, A. Burini, S. Ricci, M. Pellei, M. P. Rigobello, A. Citta, A. Dolmella, V. Gandin, C Marzano. Dalton Trans., 2012, 41, 530
Preliminary Studies on the Synthesis and Antimicrobial activity of TiO2/Ag/Au nanoparticles on materials for sanitation of indoor Ambient Assisted Living environments.
No full textPreliminary Studies on the Synthesis and Antimicrobial activity of TiO2/Ag/Au nanoparticles on materials for sanitation of indoor Ambient Assisted Living environments.
Ramadori A. T. a,b Galassi R.,a Micozzi, D.,c Pucciarelli, S. c
a School of Science and Technology, Chemistry Division, University of Camerino, Via S. Agostino 1, 62032 Camerino; e-mail: [email protected]
b Fellow from T.R.A.S.P.A.R.E.N:T.E project
c School of Biology, Chemistry Division, University of Camerino, Via S. Agostino 1, 62032 Camerino;
Infectious diseases contracted in the home environment are still a significant problem in the western world due to the excessive use of antibiotics, the occurrence of bacterial resistance and not always correct behavior of the population; prevention and personal hygiene are able to dramatically reduce the risk of transmission, but in some circumstances, for example in the case of older people not fully self-sufficient, long-term care in hospitals and residential health and social environments, which are overcrowded and poorly ventilated, normal personal and domestic hygiene measures may be insufficient.1 Hence, in the development of new technology for the improvement of the sanitation of environments and objects, the use of nanoparticle (NP) systems2 based on Au, Ag and TiO2 NPs was taken into consideration as additives in plasters, resins for water-based paints and varnishes. TiO2 has been purchased, while different Au and Ag NPs syntheses have been perfomed.3 The NPs have been characterized by spectroscopic methods such as UV-vis or IR spectroscopy. Different formulations and concentrations of NPs have been attempted. The obtained samples were tested to evaluate their antimicrobial activity on pathogenic coltures.
References:
1) a) Bruce, N.; Perez-Padilla, R.; Albalak, R. Bull.World Health Org. 2000, 78, 1078-1092. b) Gandara, A.; Mota, L. C.; Gibbs S. G. Environ. Health Perspective 2006, 114, 1859-1864.
2) Ashavani, K.; Praveen, K. V.; Pulickel, M. A.; George, J. Nature Materials 2008, doi:10.1038/nmat2099.
3) a) Wojtysiak, S.; Kudelski, A. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 2012, 410, 45-51. b) Rohiman, A., Anshori, I., Surawijaya, A., Idris, I. AIP Conf. Proc. 2011, 1415, 39-42. c) Cubillana-Aguilera, L.M.; Franco-Romano, M.; Gil, M.L.A.; Naranjo-Rodríguez, I.; Hidalgo-Hidalgo de Cisneros, J. L.; Palacios-Santander, J.M. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 2011, 18, 789-794
How to evaluate the impact of academic spin-offs on local development: an empirical analysis of the Italian case
No full textEntrepreneurship education in Italian universities: trend, situation and opportunities
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the present situation and recent evolution of entrepreneurship education in Italian universities and to discuss whether these courses and curricula match the demand for entrepreneurial competences.
Design/methodology/approach – The empirical analysis is based on a census of entrepreneurship courses and curricula run by universities. The information collected through the internet refers to the academic years 2003-2004 and 2009-2010.
Findings – Compared with the situation observed in the USA and in other European countries, entrepreneurship education in Italy is rather “underdeveloped”. Only a few universities have courses or specific curricula dedicated to entrepreneurship. The courses are concentrated within business faculties while very few exist in science and engineering faculties. The slow pace with which Italian universities are keeping up with the global trend in entrepreneurship education at university level seems in vivid contrast with the need for the Italian economy to change its industry structure from the so-called “traditional” to “high-tech” sectors. The paper discusses the reasons for this situation
Rethinking entrepreneurship education within universities: knowledge sharing as value proposition
No full textAn empirical analysis of the relationship between university investments in Technology Transfer Offices and academic spin-offs
No full textThe aim of this paper is to analyze the role of university Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) in contributing to the creation and the performance of academic spin-offs (ASOs). More specifically, it investigates the relationship between resources invested in TTOs in term of employees and the creation and growth of ASOs. The empirical analysis refers to Italy, where since 1999 academicians have been allowed to be actively involved in setting up companies for the ‘industrial use of research’. We used data on ASOs and resources invested by Italian universities in TTOs during the 2002–2011 period to investigate if and to what extent such investments contributed to the birth and growth of ASOs. We also controlled the results using information on university and on local context, in which university is located. The results of the empirical analysis show that in a first phase academicians reacted more promptly than universities to the opportunities offered by the new legislation, which may in part be due to the organizational rigidity that characterizes Public Administration in Italy. However, the empirical analysis also shows that after this initial phase the size of the TTOs (in terms of employees) has had a positive influence on the number of new ASOs (i.e. birth), but not on the performance of ASOs (i.e. growth), which is influenced by both long-term investments in research (i.e. the quality of research results) and other variables linked to the regional and national contexts, such as the presence of incubators or the level of economic development. Our results regard a widely studied topic and should provide incremental findings for the community of entrepreneurship scholars and relevant implications for policy makers and TTO managers
Discouraged entrepreneurs and persistence in local entrepreneurship. The Italian case, 2001-2008
No full textItaly is characterized by large territorial differences in entrepreneurial rates. The main aims of this paper are to provide a better understanding of the factors affecting these differences and explain the reason of their persistence over time. The persistence of territorial differences may depend on the differences in explanatory variables of entrepreneurial rates or on the presence of path-dependent effects. For the empirical analysis, we consider the creation of new firms in Italy from 2001 to 2008 at territorial level (103 provinces) and disaggregated by sector of activity. Using the adult population as normalizing variable, the entrepreneurial rate is defined as the total number of new firms in a year on the adult population at the beginning of the same year. We find a negative effect of unemployment on entrepreneurial rates that confirms the predominance of the discouraging effect of unemployment on the refugee effect. Moreover, local unemployment has a negative impact on persistence thus suggesting that the refugee effect hold only as a second order condition
Gli spin-off universitari in Italia: un quadro del fenomeno e un’analisi della governance e della performance
No full textHow to evaluate the impact of academic spin-offs on local development: an empirical analysis of the Italian case
No full textThe paper proposes a framework to evaluate the impact of academic spin-offs at the local level. Spin-off creation is the most complex way of commercializing academic research, compared to patenting and R&D collaborations, but has the highest potential impact on the local context. We develop a framework that takes into account the direct and indirect impacts of spin-offs. In the empirical part of the paper we apply this framework to Italian spin-offs set up between 2000 and 2012, and to a sample of Università Politecnica delle Marche spin-offs. The empirical analysis shows that, measured in quantitative terms, the impact of spin-offs on the local economy is quite small. However, this depends on the characteristics of the local economy, and there are some indirect effects that should be considered in both the short and longer terms
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