A bibliometric study of research activity in ASEAN related to the EU in FP7 priority areas

Two relevant recent developments in the area of science and technology (S&T) and related policy-making motivate this article: first, bibliometric data on a specific research area’s performance becomes an increasingly relevant source for S&T policy-making and evaluation. This trend is embedded in wider discussions on evidence-based policy-making. Secondly, the scientific output of Southeast Asian countries is rising, as is the number of international research collaborations with the second area of our interest: Europe. Against this background, we employ basic bibliometric methodology in order to draw a picture of Southeast Asian research strengths as well the amount and focus of S&T cooperation between the countries in Southeast Asia and the European Union. The results can prove useful for an interested public as well as for the scientific community and science, technology and innovation policy-making.     

MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry detection of extra-virgin olive oil adulteration with hazelnut oil by analysis of phospholipids using an ionic liquid as matrix and extraction solvent

The adulteration of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) with hazelnut oil (HO) is frequent and constitutes a serious concern both for oil suppliers and consumers. The high degree of similarity between the two oils as regards triacylglycerol, total sterol and fatty acid profile, complicates the detection of low percentages of HO in EVOO. However, phospholipids (PLs) are usually present in seed oils at a concentration range of 10–20 g/kg, while the amounts of PLs in VOOs are 300–400 times lower. Thus, in this work a sample pretreatment procedure focused towards the selective PLs extraction was developed; the Bligh–Dyer extraction procedure was modified introducing the ionic liquid resulting from the combination of TBA (tributylamine) and CHCA (α-Cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid) as extraction solvent. The selective extraction and enrichment of phospholipids from EVOO and HO samples was then achieved. The relevant extracts were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) using the same ionic liquid TBA-CHCA as MALDI matrix, that was found to be very suitable for PLs analysis. In fact, a remarkable increase of the phospholipids signals, with a simultaneous decrease of those relevant to triacylglycerols and diacylglycerols, was observed in the relevant mass spectra. The applicability of the whole method to the individuation of the presence of HO in EVOO was demonstrated by the analysis of EVOO samples progressively adulterated with variable quantities of HO, that was still detectable at a 1% contamination level.     

Toward local growth of individual nanowires on three-dimensional microstructures by using a minimally invasive catalyst templating method

We present a novel minimally invasive postprocessing method for catalyst templating based on focused charged particle beam structuring, which enables a localized vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth of individual nanowires on prefabricated three-dimensional micro- and nanostructures. Gas-assisted focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) was used to deposit a SiO(x) surface layer of about 10 × 10 μm(2) on top of a silicon atomic force microscopy cantilever. Gallium focused ion beam (FIB) milling was used to make a hole through the SiO(x) layer into the underlying silicon. The hole was locally filled with a gold catalyst via FEBID using either Me(2)Au(tfac) or Me(2)Au(acac) as precursor. Subsequent chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-induced VLS growth using a mixture of SiH(4) and Ar resulted in individual high quality crystalline nanowires. The process, its yield, and the resulting angular distribution/crystal orientation of the silicon nanowires are discussed. The presented combined FIB/FEBID/CVD-VLS process is currently the only proven method that enables the growth of individual monocrystalline Si nanowires on prestructured substrates and devices.     

Transgenic Mice for the Translational Study of Neuropathic Pain and Dystonia

Murine models are fundamental in the study of clinical conditions and the development of new drugs and treatments. Transgenic technology has started to offer advantages in oncology, encompassing all research fields related to the study of painful syndromes. Knockout mice or mice overexpressing genes encoding for proteins linked to pain development and maintenance can be produced and pain models can be applied to transgenic mice to model the most disabling neurological conditions. Due to the association of movement disorders with sensitivity and pain processing, our group focused for the first time on the role of the torsinA gene GAG deletion—responsible for DYT1 dystonia—in baseline sensitivity and neuropathic responses. The aim of the present report are to review the complex network that exists between the chaperonine-like protein torsinA and the baseline sensitivity pattern—which are fundamental in neuropathic pain—and to point at its possible role in neurodegenerative diseases.     

Contribution of Metabolomics to Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis,Prognosis and Treatment

Metabolomics-based technologies map in vivo biochemical changes that may be used as early indicators of pathological abnormalities prior to the development of clinical symptoms in neurological conditions. Metabolomics may also reveal biochemical pathways implicated in tissue dysfunction and damage and thus assist in the development of novel targeted therapeutics for neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Metabolomics holds promise as a non-invasive, high-throughput and cost-effective tool for early diagnosis, follow-up and monitoring of treatment response in multiple sclerosis (MS), in combination with clinical and imaging measures. In this review, we offer evidence in support of the potential of metabolomics as a biomarker and drug discovery tool in MS. We also use pathway analysis of metabolites that are described as potential biomarkers in the literature of MS biofluids to identify the most promising molecules and upstream regulators, and show novel, still unexplored metabolic pathways, whose investigation may open novel avenues of research.     

Proteomic Investigation of the Role of Nucleostemin in Nucleophosmin-Mutated OCI-AML 3 Cell Line

Nucleostemin (NS; a product of the GNL3 gene) is a nucleolar–nucleoplasm shuttling GTPase whose levels are high in stem cells and rapidly decrease upon differentiation. NS levels are also high in several solid and hematological neoplasms, including acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). While a role in telomere maintenance, response to stress stimuli and favoring DNA repair has been proposed in solid cancers, little or no information is available as to the role of nucleostemin in AML. Here, we investigate this issue via a proteomics approach. We use as a model system the OCI-AML 3 cell line harboring a heterozygous mutation at the NPM1 gene, which is the most frequent driver mutation in AML (approximately 30% of total AML cases). We show that NS is highly expressed in this cell line, and, contrary to what has previously been shown in other cancers, that its presence is dispensable for cell growth and viability. However, proteomics analysis of the OCI-AML 3 cell line before and after nucleostemin (NS) silencing showed several effects on different biological functions, as highlighted by ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA). In particular, we report an effect of down-regulating DNA repair through homologous recombination, and we confirmed a higher DNA damage rate in OCI-AML 3 cells when NS is depleted, which considerably increases upon stress induced by the topoisomerase II inhibitor etoposide. The data used are available via ProteomeXchange with the identifier PXD034012.     

Multi-criteria analysis for the selection of space heating systems in an industrial building

Decisions on space heating of industrial buildings involve several conflicting objectives and solutions prospected by economic optimization (e.g. life cycle cost minimization) models may be far from the real preferences of decision makers. To overcome this limit, multi-criteria decision analysis which has hardly been used at single building level, especially in industrial contexts, could be a helpful methodology. This paper presents the application of a well-known multi-criteria approach, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), to the selection of space heating systems for an industrial building. We discuss the technologies available for industrial heating, criteria elicited from the decision maker and the ranking of alternatives identified with our AHP model. As very little is reported in literature about industrial energy system choices, our study, although focused on an individual case, may shed some light on decision making in this sector. To this end, we also compare our results with evidence on residential heating systems choices derived from literature. Investment costs are the most important criterion for industry, whereas qualitative attributes and operational costs are most important for homes. Qualitative attributes also significantly affect industrial heating system choices and, as the AHP is particularly effective in handling these aspects, we suggest it could be used for tactical energy planning models.     

Alleged Detrimental Mutations in the SMPD1 Gene in Patients with Niemann-Pick Disease

Loss-of-function mutations in the sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 1 (SMPD1) gene are associated with decreased catalytic activity of acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) and are the cause of the autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disorder Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) types A and B. Currently, >100 missense mutations in SMPD1 are listed in the Human Gene Mutation Database. However, not every sequence variation in SMPD1 is detrimental and gives rise to NPD. We have analysed several alleged SMPD1 missense mutations mentioned in a recent publication and found them to be common variants of SMPD1 that give rise to normal in vivo and in vitro ASM activity. (Comment on Manshadi et al. Int. J. Mol. Sci.2015, 16, 6668–6676).