Monte Carlo simulation of an experiment looking for radiative solar neutrino decays

We analyse the possibility of detecting visible photons from a hypothetical radiative decay of solar neutrinos. Our study is focused on the simulation of such measurements during total solar eclipses and it is based on the BP2000 Standard Solar Model and on the most recent experimental information concerning the neutrino properties.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Astropart. Phy

Search for possible neutrino radiative decays during the 2001 total solar eclipse

We present the results of the observations performed in the occasion of the June 21, 2001 total solar eclipse, looking for visible photons emitted trough a possible radiative decay of solar neutrinos. We establish lower limits for the neutrino proper lifetimes larger than 1000 s/eV, for neutrino masses larger than 0.01 eV.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, accepted by Astopart. Phys, updated reference

Epha2 expression in bone sarcomas: Bioinformatic analyses and preclinical characterization in patient-derived models of osteosarcoma, ewing’s sarcoma and chondrosarcoma

Bone sarcomas are a group of heterogeneous malignant mesenchymal tumors. Complete surgical resection is still the cornerstone of treatment, but, in the advanced/unresectable setting, their management remains challenging and not significantly improved by target- and immuno-therapies. We focused on the tyrosine kinase Eph type-A receptor-2 (EphA2), a key oncoprotein implicated in self-renewal, angiogenesis, and metastasis, in several solid tumors and thus representing a novel potential therapeutic target. Aiming at better characterizing its expression throughout the main bone sarcoma histotypes, we investigated EPHA2 expression in the Cancer Cell Lines Encyclopedia and in public datasets with clinical annotations. looking for correlations with molecular, histopathological and patients’ features and clinical outcomes in a total of 232 osteosarcomas, 197 Ewing’s sarcomas, and 102 chondrosarcomas. We observed EPHA2 expression in bone sarcoma cell lines. We demonstrated higher EPHA2 expression in tumor tissues when compared to normal counterparts. A significant correlation was found between EPHA2 expression and Huvos grade (osteosarcoma) and with worse overall survival (dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma). Next, we characterized EPHA2 expression and activation in bone sarcoma primary tissues and in patient-derived xenografts generated in our laboratory to verify their reliability as in vivo models of osteosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma and chondrosarcoma. Furthermore, for the first time, we demonstrated EPHA2 expression in chondrosarcoma, suggesting its potential key role in this histotype. Indeed, we observed a significant dose-dependent antitumor effect of the EphA2-inhibitor ALW-II-41-27 in patient-derived in vitro models. In conclusion, EphA2 targeting represents a promising novel therapeutic strategy against bone sarcomas

Pazopanib and trametinib as a synergistic strategy against osteosarcoma: Preclinical activity and molecular insights

Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) inhibitors’ activity in advanced osteosarcoma is significant but short-lived. To prevent or at least delay drug resistance, we explored a vertical inhibition by combining drugs acting at different levels of the RTK pathways (pazopanib + trametinib). We studied pazopanib + trametinib antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo (MNNG-HOS and KHOS xenografts in NOD/SCID mice) investigating the molecular mechanisms and potential escapes. The involvement of MAPK-PI3K pathways was validated by Nanostring technology, western blot and by silencing/overexpression experiments. Pazopanib targets were expressed on seven osteosarcoma cell lines and their pathways were activated. Pazopanib + trametinib exhibited synergistic antitumor activity by inducing apoptosis and inhibiting ERK1/2 and Akt. In vivo antitumor activity was shown in osteosarcoma-bearing mice. The drug combination significantly down-modulated RTK Ephrin Type-A Receptor 2 (EphA2) and Interleukin-7 Receptor (IL-7R), whereas induced mitogen-activated protein-kinase kinase (MAPKK) MEK6. EphA2 silencing significantly reduced osteosarcoma cell proliferation and migration, while impeding MEK6 up-regulation in the treated cells significantly increased the antitumor effect of the studied drugs. Moreover, the up-regulation of MEK6 reduced combination activity. Pazopanib + trametinib demonstrated synergistic antitumor effects in osteosarcoma models through ERK and Akt inhibition and EphA2 and IL-7R down-modulation. MEK6 up-regulation might evoke escaping mechanism

Polymer-hematite nanocomposites: templating effect of commercial ion-exchangers in the growth of size-controlled iron oxide nanoparticles

The commercially available ion-exchange resin Amberlite IR120 has been used as the stabilizing agent for the preparation of a size controlled nanostructured hematite phase. The employed synthetic approach, based on the loading of Fe3+ by ion exchange and the subsequent treatment with an aqueous base solution, produces a nanocomposite material with a remarkably high content of oxide nanoparticles (iron content = 18.8 % w/w, corresponding to 24.9 % w/w of Fe2O3). Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy investigation show that the iron distribution is egg-like and parallels the distribution of the sulfonic groups of the ion-exchanger. Transmission electron microscopy characterization reveals that the size of the ferric oxide nanoparticles in the nanocomposites is narrowly distributed in the 4-6 nm range and that it is the same after the first and the fifth ion-exchange-precipitation cycle. Selected area Electron Diffraction (SAED) analysis of the nanostructured oxide after five ion-exchange-precipitation cycles indicates that it is hematite with a distorted structure

Automatic Integration of Cycle-accurate Descriptions with Continuous-time Models for Cyber-Physical Virtual Platforms

Development of cyber-physical systems' control algorithms usually relies on architecture-agnostic abstract models, often leading to ineffective implementations. This paper presents a technique to automatically integrate cycle-accurate models of digital HW components with continuous-time physical models. It proposes a solution to the semantic gap between the involved models of computation. Furthermore, model generation and integration for both Simulink-based proprietary environment and FMI-based portable standard are presented to produce a cyber- physical virtual-platform useful to refine control algorithms up to their SW implementations on the actual HW platform

Cross-linked poly-vinyl polymers versus polyureas as designed supports forcatalytically active M0 nanoclustersPart II. Pd0/cross-linked poly-vinyl polymers versus Pd0/EnCatTM30NP in mildhydrogenation reactions

Innovative Pd0 heterogeneous catalysts were prepared upon using cross-linked, gel-type, functional acrylic polymers as the supports, along a simple route in use in our laboratories since long. The supports were obtained by polyaddition co-polymerization of N,N-dimethylacrylamide with either 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid, methacrylic acid or 4-vinylpyridine, and ethylene glycoldimethacrylate (cross-linker). The performance of these catalysts in the hydrogenation of cyclohexene, trans-methylcinnamate and 4-chloro-2-nitroanisole was compared with that of commercial Pd0/EnCat 30NP, produced by Reaxa. One of the catalysts (sulfonic resin as the support) behaved very well as far as activity, stability and selectivity are concerned. These results suggest that heterogeneous metal catalysts supported on polyaddition resins could be developed to become interesting materials for technical applications