Risk assessment, and carcinogen mutagen for workers potentially exposed in the research laboratories of “Sapienza” University of Rome for Health Surveillance

The following work is meant to represent the evaluation of risk factors for the health of exposed workers, arising from the management of carcinogenic and mutagenic substances, through the use of algorithms. In some places of work as a research laboratory, it is more suitable a theoretical and practical methodology (algorithm) which allows a "timely" exposure assessment. The methodology developed and used is able to determine the level of risk of exposure due to a single agent and / or to more agents. Results obtained by the algorithm, have shown an higher exposure to 1 for formaldehyde (Lcanc = 1.32), while for acrylamide results obtained shows a lower exposure to 1 (Lcanc = 0.528). Although the overall exposure level of studied workers higher value to 1 (Lcanc= 1.848), the Occupational Medicine Centre of "Sapienza" - University of Rome, in agreement with the position taken by the Italian Society of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene applies health surveillance even in the presence of potential health risk reducing it among the general protection measures the health and safety of workers

An overview of the characterization of occupational exposure to nano aerosol in workplaces

Currently, there is a lack of standardized sampling and metric methods that can be applied to measure the level of exposure to nanosized aerosols. Therefore, any attempt to characterize exposure to nanoparticles (NP) in a workplace must involve a multifaceted approach characterized by different sampling and analytical techniques to measure all relevant characteristics of NP exposure. Furthermore, as NP aerosols are always complex mixtures of multiple origins, sampling and analytical methods need to be improved to selectively evaluate the apportionment from specific sources to the final nanomaterials. An open question at the world's level is how to relate specific toxic effects of NP with one or more among several different parameters (such as particle size, mass, composition, surface area, number concentration, aggregation or agglomeration state, water solubility and surface chemistry). As the evaluation of occupational exposure to NP in workplaces needs dimensional and chemical characterization, the main problem is the choice of the sampling and dimensional separation techniques. Therefore a convenient approach to allow a satisfactory risk assessment could be the contemporary use of different sampling and measuring techniques for particles with known toxicity in selected workplaces. Despite the lack of specific NP exposure limit values, exposure metrics, appropriate to nanoaerosols, are discussed in the Technical Report ISO/TR 27628:2007 with the aim to enable occupational hygienists to characterize and monitor nanoaerosols in workplaces. Moreover, NIOSH has developed the Document Approaches to Safe Nanotechnology (intended to be an information exchange with NIOSH) in order to address current and future research needs to understanding the potential risks that nanotechnology may have to workers. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd

Peptides binding cocaine: A strategy to design biomimetic receptors

A computational methodology for designing and rationalizing the selection of small peptides as biomimetic receptors for cocaine is proposed. The method started by searching and filtering proteins X-ray and NMR data of biological receptor-cocaine complexes. On the basis of different cocaine zones, the amino acids involved in biological binding sites were selected as pivots to design an initial library of 768 penta-peptides. The peptides flexibility was studied determining the minimum number of conformers required to make a reliable computed binding score. The 25 highest ranked penta-peptides were selected and used as starting point to generate a 3000 hexapeptides library by inserting each of the 20 natural amino acids in all sequence positions. All structures were energy minimized and docking runs were carried out using FRED tool from OpenEye scientific. The binding scores calculated by FRED were compared with a preliminary in vivo experimental test, using two different peptides as selective sorbent material used for cocaine in Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) technique coupled with Mass Spectrometry (MS). The simulation data were found to be in agreement with experimental laboratory results, supporting the methodology proposed in this work. © 2013 Perez G, et al

Quantitative analysis of fentanyl, several analogues and metabolites in urine by parallel artificial liquid membrane extraction and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis

The rapid introduction of new psychoactive substances (NPS) has definitively changed the drug market. Among the several NPS that were identified in the last decades, fentanyl and its analogues deserve special attention. These are synthetic opioids with high potency and are associated with increasing number of deaths; for this reason, forensic toxicologists are paying close attention to these analytes and sensitive analytical methods for their detection in biological samples of drug users are needed. The aim of this study was the development of a LC–MS/MS method for the determination of fentanyl, 23 analogues and metabolites in urine by exploiting parallel artificial liquid membrane extraction (PALME). This technique was shown to be particularly suitable for fentanyl extraction and allowed to obtain a high enrichment factor by using a few microliters of organic solvent (1-octanol) immobilized into a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. The extraction was carried out on a 96 well plate providing high laboratory throughput. The applied strategy allowed to measure concentrations ranging from 0.1 ng mL − 1 for fentanyl and most analogues to 5 ng mL − 1 for metabolites, by using an entry level mass spectrometer. Because of the different concentration levels generally found in real samples, linearity was studied in different ranges i.e. LOQ to 50 ng mL − 1 for parent drugs and LOQ to 200 ng mL − 1 for metabolites. All the validation parameters were found within the imposed limits, and notably matrix effect was not significant for all the analytes, showing the selectivity achieved by PALME extraction

Dyes of a Shadow Theatre: Investigating Tholu Bommalu Indian Puppets through a Highly Sensitive Multi-Spectroscopic Approach

Tholu Bommalu are typical leather puppets of the traditional Indian shadow theatre. Two of these objects are part of a collection in the International Puppets Museum “Antonio Pasqualino” (Palermo, Sicily, Italy), which can count on one hundred-seventy-three of artifacts. These Indian puppets were investigated to obtain information related to the use of dyes for their manufacturing through a multi-technical approach exploiting the combination of highly sensitive spectroscopic techniques. Wet cotton stubbons were used to entrap small particles of dyes on the fibers from the art objects for the consequent analyses. Visible Light Micro-Reflectance spectroscopy was employed for the preliminary identification of the molecular class of dyes directly on the swabs, while Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering allowed the identification of the specific dye. Several synthetic dyes belonging to different typologies of coloring compounds were identified. The study resulted in an interesting overview of dyes used in recent Tholu Bommalata manufacturing through the combination of micro-invasive techniques directly on the sampling substrate

New advances in dye analyses. In situ gel-supported liquid extraction from paint layers and textiles for SERS and HPLC-MS/MS Identification

To date, it is still not possible to obtain exhaustive information about organic materials in cultural heritage without sampling. Nonetheless, when studying unique objects with invaluable artistic or historical significance, preserving their integrity is a priority. In particular, organic dye identification is of significant interest for history and conservation research, but it is still hindered by analytes’ low concentration and poor fastness. In this work, a minimally invasive approach for dye identification is presented. The procedure is designed to accompany noninvasive analyses of inorganic substances for comprehensive studies of complex cultural heritage matrices, in compliance with their soundness. Liquid extraction of madder, turmeric, and indigo dyes was performed directly from paint layers and textiles. The extraction was supported by hydrogels, which themselves can undergo multitechnique analyses in the place of samples. After extraction, Ag colloid pastes were applied on the gels for SERS analyses, allowing for the identification of the three dyes. For the HPLC-MS/MS analyses, re-extraction of the dyes was followed by a clean-up step that was successfully applied on madder and turmeric. The colour change perceptivity after extraction was measured with colorimetry. The results showed ΔE values mostly below the upper limit of rigorous colour change, confirming the gentleness of the procedure

Preventive medicine center and health care for students of medicine and health professions at the Sapienza University of Rome: a research protocol

This project aims to develop a Center of Preventive Medicine and Health Care for the students of Medicine and Health profession at Sapienza University of Rome. At the beginning of the university career students, both residents and nonresident s, have to face several difficulties such as: starting smoking or the increase in cigarette consumption ; the independent management of their own health (especially for non residents consequently to the distance of the family doctor) ; unhealthy diet; tuberculosis (TB) biological risk during their university training. These aspects , especially if present at the same time, act as a source stress and adversely affect the quality of life and the academic performance. Specific aims of the project will be: implementing an ambulatory of Preventive Medicine; implementing a virtual ambulatory of general medicine; creating a website on the problems mentioned above. Data collected will be computerized to keep an electronic health record (HER) and to use the information for the purposes of scientific research. The Centre will act in close relationship with the Central Administration, with the Headmasters of the Medical Faculties, and in close collaboration with the Center of Occupational Medicine of Sapienza University

Inside the history of Italian coloring industries. An investigation of ACNA dyes through a novel analytical protocol for synthetic dye extraction and characterization

The introduction of synthetic dyes completely changed the industrial production and use of colorants for art materials. From the synthesis of the first synthetic dye, mauveine, in 1856 until today, artists have enjoyed a wider range of colors and selection of chemical properties than was ever available before. However, the introduction of synthetic dyes introduced a wider variety and increased the complexity of the chemical structures of marketed dyes. This work looks towards the analysis of synthetically dyed objects in heritage collections, applying an extraction protocol based on the use of ammonia, which is considered favorable for natural anthraquinone dyes but has never before been applied to acid synthetic dyes. This work also presents an innovative cleanup step based on the use of an ion pair dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction for the purification and preconcentration of historical synthetic dyes before analysis. This approach was adapted from food science analysis and is applied to synthetic dyes in heritage science for the first time in this paper. The results showed adequate recovery of analytes and allowed for the ammonia-based extraction method to be applied successfully to 15 samples of suspected azo dyes from the Azienda Coloranti Nazionali e Affini (ACNA) synthetic dye collection, identified through untargeted HPLC-HRMS analyses

DIFFERENTIATION OF RAT SALIVARY-GLANDS BY THERMOANALYTICAL ANALYSIS

La libération d'eau dans les glandes sublinguales, parotides et sous-maxillaires de rats mâles et femelles a été étudiée par l'analyse thermoanalytique pour définir le contenu total et les types d'eau. Différents types d'eau ont été observés et la distribution relative semble être une fonction de l'énergie de liaison de l'eau aux composants glandulaires. En outre, la présence d'un dimorphisme sexuel dans la glande sublinguale de rat a été démontrée