Fellini's Graphic Heritage

Federico Fellini was a cartoonist and comic artist well before becoming a film director. He retained a strong penchant for drawing during his career; he mostly expressed it by providing preliminary sketches for his films, caricatures for his friends, and self\u2010therapy for himself through the visual diary known as Il libro dei sogni. Fellini's drawings aroused the interest of many artists, who collaborated with him or produced works inspired by the visual legacy of the director. The essay describes and analyzes the graphic production by Fellini, his collaborators, and those inspired by him. The first part considers the early experiences of Fellini as a cartoonist (1937\u20131947); the second details his graphic phase dominated by Il libro dei sogni (1948\u20131993). The third section deals with comics and animated films inspired by Fellini; the referenced authors include Milo Manara, Giorgio Cavazzano, and Andrei Khrzhanovskii

Transfection Mediated by Gemini Surfactants: Engineered Escape from the Endosomal Compartment

The structure of the lipoplex formed from DNA and the sugar-based cationic gemini surfactant 1, which exhibits excellent transfection efficiency, has been investigated in the pH range 8.8-3.0 utilizing small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-TEM). Uniquely, three well-defined morphologies of the lipoplex were observed upon gradual acidification: a lamellar phase, a condensed lamellar phase, and an inverted hexagonal (H||) columnar phase. Using molecular modeling, we link the observed lipoplex morphologies and physical behavior to specific structural features in the individual surfactant, illuminating key factors in future surfactant design, viz., a spacer of six methylene groups, the presence of two nitrogens that can be protonated in the physiological pH range, two unsaturated alkyl tails, and hydrophilic sugar headgroups. Assuming that the mechanism of transfection by synthetic cationic surfactants involves endocytosis, we contend that the efficacy of gemini surfactant 1 as a gene delivery vehicle can be explained by the unprecedented observation of a pH-induced formation of the inverted hexagonal phase of the lipoplex in the endosomal pH range. This change in morphology leads to destabilization of the endosome through fusion of the lipoplex with the endosomal wall, resulting in release of DNA into the cytoplasm.