The fundamental group and torsion group of Beauville surfaces

We give a survey on the fundamental group of surfaces isogenous to a higher product. If the surfaces are regular, e.g. if they are Beauville surfaces, the first homology group is a finite group. We present a MAGMA script which calculates the first homology groups of regular surfaces isogenous to a product.Comment: 14 pages; MAGMA script included; v2: minor corrections, final version to appear in the Proceedings of the Conference "Beauville Surfaces and Groups", Newcastle University (UK), 7-9th June 201

Nanolipid-trehalose conjugates and nano-assemblies as putative autophagy inducers

The disaccharide trehalose is an autophagy inducer, but its pharmacological application is severely limited by its poor pharmacokinetics properties. Thus, trehalose was coupled via suitable spacers with squalene (in 1:2 and 1:1 stoichiometry) and with betulinic acid (1:2 stoichiometry), in order to yield the corresponding nanolipid-trehalose conjugates 1-Sq-mono, 2-Sq-bis and 3-Be-mono. The conjugates were assembled to produce the corresponding nano-assemblies (NAs) Sq-NA1, Sq-NA2 and Be-NA3. The synthetic and assembly protocols are described in detail. The resulting NAs were characterized in terms of loading and structure, and tested in vitro for their capability to induce autophagy. Our results are presented and thoroughly commented upon

Association between PM10 concentrations and school absences in proximity of a cement plant in northern Italy.

Dusts are one of the main air pollutants emitted during cement manufacturing. A substantial part of these are breathable particles that are less than 10\u3bcm in diameter (PM10), which represent a potential threat for the health of the exposed population. This study aimed at evaluating the short-term effects of PM10 concentrations on the health of children, aged 6-14 years, who attended the schools in Fumane (Italy), in proximity (1.2km) to a large cement plant. School absenteeism was used as a proxy indicator of child morbidity. Time series of daily school absences and PM10 concentrations were collected for 3 school-years from 2007 to 2010 (541 school-days, 462 children on average). The associations between PM10 concentrations and school absence rates in the same day (lag0) and in the following 4 days (lag1 to lag4) were evaluated using generalised additive models, smoothed for medium/long term trends and adjusted for day of the week, influenza outbreaks, daily temperature and rain precipitations. The average concentration of PM10 in the period was 34 (range: 4-183) \u3bcg/m(3). An average 10\u3bcg/m(3) increase of PM10 concentration in the previous days (lag0-4) was associated with a statistically significant 2.5\% (95\%CI: 1.1-4.0\%) increase in the rate of school absences. The highest increase in the absence rates (2.4\%; 95\%CI: 1.2-3.5\%) was found 2 days after exposure (lag2). These findings provide epidemiological evidence of the acute health effects of PM10 in areas with annual concentrations that are lower than the legal European Union limit of 40\u3bcg/m(3), and support the need to establish more restrictive legislative standards