Erratum to: Anionic liposomes for small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) delivery to primary neuronal cells: Evaluation of alpha-synuclein knockdown efficacy

Nano Research - The name of the fourth author in the original version of this article was unfortunately wrongly written on the first page. Instead of Caitriona M. O’iscoll It should read...     

Physiopathology of IL-12 in human solid neoplasms: blood levels of IL-12 in early or advanced cancer patients, and their variations with surgery and immunotherapy

Working with psychotraumatized war veterans we perceived their extremely regressive position, which is accompanied by several destructive and autodestructive compulsions. Facing the multiple traumatic experiences which they lived through, a certain degree of regression has been appearing, since even a satisfying "nourishing-indulgence of their needs" cannot completely make up for their pre-war position. In this way occurred the splitting between ideal (introjected) object and real object, in which were projected all bad experiences, and which is still persecuting and wants to destroy. Through interactions between all group members of traumatized patients we analyzed the phenomena and the specificities of these groups-particularly their regressive position. The aim of the group psychotherapy was to enable progressive overcoming of regressive position and transition into a more mature stage of development, thus creating a favorable climate for growing up and independence.     

Joint desirability foundations of social choice and opinion pooling

Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence - We develop joint foundations for the fields of social choice and opinion pooling using coherent sets of desirable gambles, a general uncertainty...     

Anionic liposomes for small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) delivery to primary neuronal cells: Evaluation of alpha-synuclein knockdown efficacy

Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) deposition in Lewy bodies (LB) is one of the main neuropathological hallmarks of Parkinson's disease (PD).LB accumulation is considered a causative factor of PD,which suggests that strategies aimed at reducing α-syn levels could be relevant for its treatment.In the present study,we developed novel nanocarriers suitable for systemic delivery of small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) that were specifically designed to reduce neuronal α-syn by RNA interference.Anionic liposomes loaded with an siRNA-protamine complex for α-syn gene silencing and decorated with a rabies virus glycoprotein (RVG)-derived peptide as a targeting agent were prepared.The nanoparticles were characterized for their ability to load,protect,and deliver the functional siRNA to mouse primary hippocampal and cortical neurons as well as their efficiency to induce gene silencing in these cells.Moreover,the nanocarriers were evaluated for their stability in serum.The RVG-decorated liposomes displayed suitable characteristics for future in vivo applications and successfully induced α-syn gene silencing in primary neurons without altering cell viability.Collectively,our results indicate that RVG-decorated liposomes may be an ideal tool for further studies aimed at achieving efficient in vivo α-syn gene silencing in mouse models of PD.     

Electron–phonon dissipation in quantum nanodevices

Microscopic modelling of electronic-phase coherence versus energy dissipation plays a crucial role in the design and optimization of new-generation electronic quantum nanodevices, like quantum-cascade light sources and quantum logic gates; in this context, a variety of simulation strategies have been proposed and employed. The aim of this article is to discuss virtues versus intrinsic limitations of non-Markovian density-matrix approaches. More specifically, we shall show that the usual mean-field treatment employed to derive quantum-kinetic equations may lead to highly unphysical results, like negative distribution functions and non-dissipative carrier–optical phonon couplings. By means of a simple two-level model, we shall show that such limitations are expected to be particularly severe in zero-dimensional electronic systems—like quantum-dot nanostructures, potential constituents of quantum-computation devices—coupled to dispersionless phonon modes. Such a behaviour is in striking contrast with the case of Markovian treatments, where a proper combination of adiabatic limit and mean-field approximation guarantees a physically acceptable solution.     

Relationships between microstructure and transport properties of proton-conducting porous PVDF membranes

Fluorinated polymers are today investigated as possible alternatives to Nafion™ in PEM Fuel Cells. In this paper, we study the relationships between the microstructure and the proton transport of porous PVDF homopolymer membranes swollen by 11 M aqueous solution of H₃PO₄. The analysis is performed on membranes with different nominal pores size values, d_p. The membranes are thermally stable at least up to 250 °C. A dependence of the proton transport on the pores size has been found, that is particularly evident for low d_p values and at low relative humidity (R.H.). Conductivity values exceeding 0.1 S cm⁻¹ are obtained at 80 °C even at 10% R.H. for d_p ≥ 0.22 μm. We show that the behaviour of the transport properties cannot be simply rationalized in terms of d_p, but it requires an accurate knowledge of the membrane microstructure (tortuosity, pores interconnections and size distributions). ³¹P NMR spectroscopy also shows that anisotropic interactions take place between the components of the solution and at a lower extent, between the solution and the pores walls, also for d_p values in the micrometer range. In order to make a preliminary check of the suitability of these membranes for applications in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFCs), studies of methanol crossover and diffusion through the membrane have been carried out and compared with those of Nafion™.     

Bicompartmental device for dynamic cell coculture: design, realisation and preliminary results

Low-shear perfusion and compartmental systems are very important conceptual designs for the realization of high-density cell cultures and cocultures, thus allowing very realistic models and therefore reliable results. In this work, we combines low-shear perfusion and multi-compartments in one device. We also describe the design, fabrication and validation of a bicompartmental, low-perfusion culture chamber specifically designed for applications in various fields, such as tissue engineering, pharmacology, molecular biology, pharmacokinetics, nanomedicine, and drug delivery testing. The device properties in terms of flow features and metabolite exchange capabilities are fully characterized. In vitro tests performed on cell lines confirm the effectiveness of the device as an experimental tool for measurements in dynamic and multiple-cell cultures and cocultures.     

Analysis and development of locomotion devices for the gastrointestinal tract

The authors are developing devices for semi-autonomous or autonomous locomotion in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. In this paper, they illustrate the systematic approach to the problem of "effective" locomotion in the GI tract and the critical analysis of "inchworm" locomotion devices, based on extensor and clamper mechanisms. The fundamentals of locomotion and the practical problems encountered during the development and the testing (in vitro and in vivo) of these devices are discussed. A mini device capable of propelling itself in the colon and suitable to perform, at least, rectum-sigmoidoscopy (the tract where approximately 60% of all colon cancers are found) is presented. This paper introduces preliminary, but useful, concepts for understanding, modeling and improving the performance of virtually any existing and novel devices for endoscopy of the GI tract.