Conjugation of amino-bioactive glasses with 5-aminofluorescein as probe molecule for the development of pH sensitive stimuli-responsive biomaterials

Bioceramics, such as silica-based glasses, are widely used in bone and teeth restoration. Nowadays, the association between nanotechnology and pharmacology is one of the most promising research fields in cancer therapy. The advanced processing methods and new chemical strategies allow the incorporation of drugs within them or on their functionalized surfaces. Bioceramics can act as local drug delivery systems to treat bone and teeth diseases. The present paper reports data related to the development of a pH-stimuli responsive bioactive glass. The glass conjugation with 5-aminofluorescein (5-AF), through a pH-sensitive organic spacer, allows to produce a pH-responsive bioactive biomaterial: when it is exposed to specific pH changes, it can favour the release of 5-AF directly at the target site. 5-AF has been chosen as a simple, low cost, non toxic model to simulate doxorubicin, an anticancer drug. As doxorubicin, 5-AF contains an amino group in its structure in order to form an amide bond with the carboxylic functionalities of the glass. Raman spectroscopy and thermal analysis confirm the glass conjugation of 5-AF by means of an amide bond; the amount of 5-AF loaded was very high (≈65 and 44 wt%). The release tests at two different pH (4.2 and 7.4) show that the amount of released 5-AF is higher at acid pH with respect to physiological one. This preliminary datum evidenced that a pH-sensitive drug delivery system has been developed. The low amount of 5-AF released (<1 wt% of the total 5-AF) is due to the very low solubility of 5-AF in aqueous medium. This disadvantage, may be overcome in a dynamic environment (physiological conditions), where it is possible to obtain a drug release system ensuring an effective therapeutic dose for long times and, at the same time, avoiding the drug toxicity.     

Density related properties of bark insulation boards bonded with tannin hexamine resin

Building owners are increasingly interested in a healthy and sustainable living environment, which is a trend favoring ecological building materials with outstanding structural physical parameters. Insulation boards from particles of larch bark (Larix decidua Mill.) bonded with a formaldehyde-free tannin resin were pressed and evaluated for their mechanical and physical properties. It could be shown that light (target density 250 kg/m³) boards can be pressed, and their thermal conductivity is low (0.065–0.09 W/(m*K)). With regard to mechanical characteristics, the influence of panel density was studied, and it was found that a certain compaction (ρ ≥ 400 kg/m³) is necessary to meet the requirements of the relevant standard. Interestingly, the resin amount did not influence the mechanical board properties as strongly as expected, and panel density is the most important variable in this respect. The study proved that tree bark cannot only be used for substantially upgraded insulation panels but can also be bonded with a formaldehyde free tannin resin.     

Poly(DL-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) and poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) blends for biomedical application: Physical properties,cell compatibility,and in vitro degradation behavior

Poly(DL-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PLCL) and poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) blends of various compositions were prepared. Fractured sections of PLCL/PLGA blends did not evidence phase separation and blend glass transition temperatures suggested some degree of blend compatibility. The elastic modulus showed a negative deviation from the additive law of mixture. Superior biocompatibility in terms of fibroblast NIH 3T3 cell adhesion and proliferation, better mechanical properties, and a more homogeneous phase were obtained with PLCL/PLGA 25/75 blend. Rapid degradation of PLCL phase (4–8 weeks) in PLCL/PLGA 25/75 blend led to a porous structure, which makes it a potential candidate for drug delivery systems.     

The underground cavity network of south-eastern Rome (Italy): an evolutionary geological model oriented to hazard assessment

There are many abandoned underground mines beneath the city of Rome, created in the Pleistocene pyroclastic deposits over thousands of years. These pose a serious public safety risk hence the study was undertaken to better assess the stability of the underground workings. The Villa de Sanctis public park was selected as a suitable test site, as in this area the cavity network can be inspected and the different steps of the progressive migration of voids toward the surface can be identified. In addition to an underground geological survey, geophysical investigations were undertaken to elucidate some key characteristics of the involved lithological units, including elastic stiffness and layer thickness. Recommendations are made for further studies of the accessible and inaccessible areas.     

An Adaptive Control System to Deliver Interactive Virtual Environment Content to Handheld Devices

Wireless communication advances have enabled emerging video streaming applications to mobile handheld devices. For example, it is possible to display and interact with complex 3D virtual environments on mobile devices that don’t have enough computational and storage capabilities (e.g. smart phones, PDAs) through remote rendering techniques, where a server renders 3D data and streams the corresponding image flow to the client. However, due to fluctuations in bandwidth characteristics and limited mobile device CPU capabilities, it is extremely challenging to design effective systems for streaming interactive multimedia over wireless networks. This paper presents a novel approach based on a controller that can automatically adjust streaming parameters basing on feedback measures from the client device. Experimental results prove the effectiveness of the proposed solution in coping with bandwidth changes, thus providing high Quality of Service (QoS) in remote visualizations.     

Fingerprint Clustering with Bounded Number of Missing Values

The problem of clustering fingerprint vectors with missing values is an interesting problem in Computational Biology that has been proposed in Figueroa et al. (J. Comput. Biol. 11(5):887–901, 2004). In this paper we show some improvements in closing the gaps between the known lower bounds and upper bounds on the approximability of variants of the biological problem. Moreover, we have studied two additional variants of the original problem proposed in Figueroa et al. (Proc. 11th Computing: The Australasian Theory Symposium (CATS), CRPIT, vol. 41, pp. 57–60, 2005). We prove that all such problems are APX-hard even when each fingerprint contains only two unknown positions and we present a greedy algorithm that has constant approximation factors for these variants. Despite the hardness of these restricted versions of the problem, we show that the general clustering problem on an unbounded number of missing values such that they occur for every fixed position of an input vector in at most one fingerprint is polynomial time solvable.