Niosomes as carriers for ophthalmic drugs: in vitro/in vivo evaluation

This report provides X-ray diffraction and Raman spectral evidence that, when 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile is present in the culture medium, Acetobacter xylinum, which is a model system for investigation of the biosynthesis of native cellulose, produces cellulose II, as well as cellulose I. The significance of the observations with respect to the mechanism of biosynthesis of cellulose is discussed briefly.     

Porosity‐dependent properties of Nb‐doped Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 ceramics

In the present work, it is shown how the controlled porosity can be exploited to obtain a compromise between a reduced permittivity down to a few hundreds and maintaining a high tunability level as in the dense material, to fulfill requirements for tunable applications. Nb‐doped Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ ceramics with porosity in the range 5%‐30% have been prepared by direct sintering method. X‐ray diffraction analysis and Rietveld refinement indicated a co‐existence of tetragonal and monoclinic phases in the porous ceramics. Dielectric properties revealed a gradual reduction in permittivity when increasing the porosity level, while maintaining low dielectric losses below 3%. The ferroelectric switching behavior is also influenced by the porosity level: a continuous reduction in the saturation and remnant polarization is observed with increasing porosity. The nonlinear dielectric properties of all the investigated ceramics preserve a high level of tunability in comparison with one of the dense material, irrespective of the porosity level, while zero field permittivity was decreased below 1000. An optimum behavior is found for the ceramic sample with 25% porosity, which shows a high tunability, smaller losses, and moderate dielectric constant (ε ~600).     

Gene Transactivation and Transrepression in MYC-Driven Cancers

MYC is a proto-oncogene regulating a large number of genes involved in a plethora of cellular functions. Its deregulation results in activation of MYC gene expression and/or an increase in MYC protein stability. MYC overexpression is a hallmark of malignant growth, inducing self-renewal of stem cells and blocking senescence and cell differentiation. This review summarizes the latest advances in our understanding of MYC-mediated molecular mechanisms responsible for its oncogenic activity. Several recent findings indicate that MYC is a regulator of cancer genome and epigenome: MYC modulates expression of target genes in a site-specific manner, by recruiting chromatin remodeling co-factors at promoter regions, and at genome-wide level, by regulating the expression of several epigenetic modifiers that alter the entire chromatin structure. We also discuss novel emerging therapeutic strategies based on both direct modulation of MYC and its epigenetic cofactors.     

Comment on “The Impact of Composite Effect on Dielectric Constant and Tunability in Ferroelectric‐Dielectric System”

A comparison between 2D and 3D Finite Element Method based simulations on the tunability properties of ferroelectric – linear dielectric composites is presented. Dependences of the effective permittivity and tunability on the concentration of the linear phases are presented and it is shown that there are important differences between the two approaches. The appropriateness of such simulations in describing realistic composite systems is discussed, too.     

Development on systems configuration in ITER Tokamak Complex and Auxiliary Buildings

The ITER site consists of almost 30 buildings to service the Tokamak machine which is located in the centre of the Tokamak Complex facility with the Tokamak-, Diagnostic- and Tritium building.The design of a large part of the ITER plant systems will be executed by the ITER Domestic Agencies or their industrial suppliers under functional specifications provided by the ITER Organization. At the same time, the detailed design of the building is carried out by the European Domestic Agency ‘Fusion for Energy’ (F4E).In order to allow an efficient identification of the ITER configuration as well as to manage the concurrent engineering activities and to simplify the identification and assessment of changes, the design of each ITER plant systems is described in the so-called Configuration Management Models (CMM). These are light CATIA^® 3D models that define the required space envelope and the physical interfaces in-between the systems and the buildings.The paper describes the procedure adopted for the control of the baseline configuration of the Tokamak Complex facility and Auxiliary Buildings with their associated plant systems and illustrates the current status as well as recent developments in the different systems.     

Water toxicity assessment and spatial pollution patterns identification in a Mediterranean River Basin District. Tools for water management and risk analysis

In compliance with the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive, monitoring of the ecological and chemical status of Catalan river basins (NE Spain) is carried out by the Catalan Water Agency.The large amount of data collected and the complex relationships among the environmental variables monitored often mislead data interpretation in terms of toxic impact, especially considering that even pollutants at very low concentrations might contribute to the total toxicity.The total dataset of chemical monitoring carried out between 2007 and 2008 (232 sampling stations and 60 pollutants) has been analyzed using sequential advanced modeling techniques. Data on concentrations of contaminants in water were pre-treated in order to calculate the bioavailable fraction, depending on substance properties and local environmental conditions.The resulting values were used to predict the potential impact of toxic substances in complex mixtures on aquatic biota and to identify hot spots. Exposure assessment with Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) and mixture toxicity rules were used to compute the multi-substances Potentially Affected Fraction (msPAF).The combined toxicity of the pollutants analyzed in the Catalan surface waters might potentially impact more than 50% of the species in 10% of the sites.In order to understand and visualize the spatial distribution of the toxic risk, Self Organising Map (SOM), based on the Kohonen's Artificial Neural Network (ANN) algorithm, was applied on the output data of these models. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed on top of Neural Network results in order to identify main influential variables which account for the pollution trends. Finally, predicted toxic impacts on biota have been linked and correlated to field data on biological quality indexes using macroinvertebrate and diatom communities (IBMWP and IPS). The methodology presented could represent a suitable tool for water managers in environmental risk assessment and management.     

Decoration of Nanovesicles with pH (Low) Insertion Peptide (pHLIP) for Targeted Delivery

Acidity at surface of cancer cells is a hallmark of tumor microenvironments, which does not depend on tumor perfusion, thus it may serve as a general biomarker for targeting tumor cells. We used the pH (low) insertion peptide (pHLIP) for decoration of liposomes and niosomes. pHLIP senses pH at the surface of cancer cells and inserts into the membrane of targeted cells, and brings nanomaterial to close proximity of cellular membrane. DMPC liposomes and Tween 20 or Span 20 niosomes with and without pHLIP in their coating were fully characterized in order to obtain fundamental understanding on nanocarrier features and facilitate the rational design of acidity sensitive nanovectors. The samples stability over time and in presence of serum was demonstrated. The size, ζ-potential, and morphology of nanovectors, as well as their ability to entrap a hydrophilic probe and modulate its release were investigated. pHLIP decorated vesicles could be useful to obtain a prolonged (modified) release of biological active substances for targeting tumors and other acidic diseased tissues.     

Electrochemical behaviour of a new triiron-substituted polyoxomolybdate

A new complex of the Keggin trilacunary polyoxomolybdate (PMo₉) with Fe³⁺ ions, having the formula (PFe₃Mo₉), has been synthesized and characterized by chemical analysis, FT-IR, Raman, UV-VIS-NIR and EPR spectroscopy, as well as by magnetic susceptibility measurements. Cyclic voltammetry performed at different scan rates, pH and supporting electrolyte composition, was used to investigate the electrochemical behaviour of the PFe₃Mo₉ complex in acidic medium and its electrocatalytic effect on H₂O₂ reduction. The voltammetric waves were assigned, and the enhanced electrocatalytic efficiency of PFe₃Mo₉ relative to PMo₉ was attributed to the presence of Fe atoms.