Nanoporous Au Behavior in Methyl Orange Solutions

Nanoporous (NP) gold, the most extensively studied and efficient NP metal, possesses exceptional properties that make it highly attractive for advanced technological applications. Notably, its remarkable catalytic properties in various significant reactions hold enormous potential. However, the exploration of its catalytic activity in the degradation of water pollutants remains limited. Nevertheless, previous research has reported the catalytic activity of NP Au in the degradation of methyl orange (MO), a toxic azo dye commonly found in water. This study aims to investigate the behavior of nanoporous gold in MO solutions using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography. The NP Au was prepared by chemical removal of silver atoms of an AuAg precursor alloy prepared by ball milling. Immersion tests were conducted on both pellets and powders of NP Au, followed by examination of the residual solutions. Additionally, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance measurements were employed to analyze NP Au after the tests. The findings reveal that the predominant and faster process involves the partially reversible adsorption of MO onto NP Au, while the catalytic degradation of the dye plays a secondary and slower role in this system

Dinamiche di spopolamento in Sardegna. Problematiche e potenzialità di casi studio a confronto

This study shows the first results of a wider interdisciplinary research, carried out by the school of Architecture of Cagliari, concerning the extensive phenomenon of abandoned villages and processes of depopulation. Starting from a taxonomic approach, the heterogeneity and complexity of the aspects involved in the activation, increase and interruption of these ongoing processes has been highlighted. Then, the study proposes a classification of the built settlements according to their typology and state of conservation, and to the causes and level of abandonment. Among the investigated case studies, some of them ‒ the ruins of Gairo Vecchia, the lost village of Palmas Suergiu, the industrial village of Ingurtosu and the burgh of Monteleone Rocca Doria ‒ can be considered significant and representative of the Sardinian processes. Constants and variables rise from the comparison among cases. In particular, considering the most interesting factors, the relationship between old and new centres, built to host homeless communities, can be underlined, and the role of the protection policies in the conservation processes of architectural structures, which are the remains of the lost villages. Dinamiche di spopolamento in Sardegna. Problematiche e potenzialità di casi studio a confrontoIl contributo proposto è parte del filone di ricerca, avviato recentemente dalla cattedra di Restauro dell’Università di Cagliari, incentrato sullo studio del vasto e multiforme fenomeno dell’abbandono dei piccoli insediamenti urbani della Sardegna e dei relativi processi di spopolamento. Lo studio, partendo da un primo approccio tassonomico, ha messo in luce l’eterogeneità e la complessità di questi eventi in corso localmente, definendo una classificazione del patrimonio insediativo, in riferimento alla loro origine e al livello di abbandono. Tra i molti casi studio indagati, alcuni di essi – le rovine di Gairo vecchia, il villaggio scomparso di Palmas Suergiu, il villaggio industriale di Ingurtosu e il borgo di Monteleone Rocca Doria – sono particolarmente rappresentativi. L’indagine approfondita e la comparazione tra i differenti casi presentati hanno permesso, per le loro peculiarità, di mettere a fuoco le molteplici problematiche dello spopolamento. In particolare, sono state investigate le relazioni tra l’insediamento abbandonato e i nuovi abitati, sorti per accogliere le comunità che da quello si sono allontanate e il ruolo della tutela nei processi di conservazione dei testimoni architettonici superstiti dei villaggi scomparsi.Il contributo proposto è parte del filone di ricerca, avviato recentemente dalla cattedra di Restauro dell’Università di Cagliari, incentrato sullo studio del vasto e multiforme fenomeno dell’abbandono dei piccoli insediamenti urbani della Sardegna e dei relativi processi di spopolamento. Lo studio, partendo da un primo approccio tassonomico, ha messo in luce l’eterogeneità e la complessità di questi eventi in corso localmente, definendo una classificazione del patrimonio insediativo, in riferimento alla loro origine e al livello di abbandono. Tra i molti casi studio indagati, alcuni di essi – le rovine di Gairo vecchia, il villaggio scomparso di Palmas Suergiu, il villaggio industriale di Ingurtosu e il borgo di Monteleone Rocca Doria – sono particolarmente rappresentativi. L’indagine approfondita e la comparazione tra i differenti casi presentati hanno permesso, per le loro peculiarità, di mettere a fuoco le molteplici problematiche dello spopolamento. In particolare, sono state investigate le relazioni tra l’insediamento abbandonato e i nuovi abitati, sorti per accogliere le comunità che da quello si sono allontanate e il ruolo della tutela nei processi di conservazione dei testimoni architettonici superstiti dei villaggi scomparsi. Processes of Depopulation in Sardinia. Issues and Potentialities of some Case StudiesThis study shows the first results of a wider interdisciplinary research, carried out by the school of Architecture of Cagliari, concerning the extensive phenomenon of abandoned villages and processes of depopulation. Starting from a taxonomic approach, the heterogeneity and complexity of the aspects involved in the activation, increase and interruption of these ongoing processes has been highlighted. Then, the study proposes a classification of the built settlements according to their typology and state of conservation, and to the causes and level of abandonment. Among the investigated case studies, some of them ‒ the ruins of Gairo Vecchia, the lost village of Palmas Suergiu, the industrial village of Ingurtosu and the burgh of Monteleone Rocca Doria ‒ can be considered significant and representative of the Sardinian processes. Constants and variables rise from the comparison among cases. In particular, considering the most interesting factors, the relationship between old and new centres, built to host homeless communities, can be underlined, and the role of the protection policies in the conservation processes of architectural structures, which are the remains of the lost villages

Deciphering Molecular Mechanisms of Interface Buildup and Stability in Porous Si/Eumelanin Hybrids

Porous Si/eumelanin hybrids are a novel class of organic–inorganic hybrid materials that hold considerable promise for photovoltaic applications. Current progress toward device setup is, however, hindered by photocurrent stability issues, which require a detailed understanding of the mechanisms underlying the buildup and consolidation of the eumelanin–silicon interface. Herein we report an integrated experimental and computational study aimed at probing interface stability via surface modification and eumelanin manipulation, and at modeling the organic–inorganic interface via formation of a 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI) tetramer and its adhesion to silicon. The results indicated that mild silicon oxidation increases photocurrent stability via enhancement of the DHI–surface interaction, and that higher oxidation states in DHI oligomers create more favorable conditions for the efficient adhesion of growing eumelanin

Oxytocin Nasal Spray in the Treatment of Binge Eating Disorder and Obesity: A pilot, Randomized, Double Blind Trial

1.1. Background Preclinical studies suggest that the neuropeptide oxytocin reduces food intake and body weight, but only a few clinical studies have investigated the translatability of these findings in humans. The present study investigated the safety and efficacy of oxytocin nasal spray in patients affected by binge eating disorder and obesity. 1.2. Methods Seventeen outpatients affected by binge eating disorder and obesity participated in a 8 week double-blind trial and received oxytocin (n=8; 24 IU, four times a day, 20 min before each of three meals and before going to bed) or placebo (n=9) with an energy-restricted diet. Primary outcomes included adverse events and the number of binge eating episodes per week. Secondary measures included body weight, BMI, severity of BED, craving for food, quality of sleep, quality of life, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. 1.3. Results One patient of oxytocin group discontinued prematurely the trial before the first post-randomization efficacy measure. Among the other 16 participants, 13 (81.2%) completed the trial, and 3 (18.8%) discontinued [3 in the oxytocin group; 0 in the placebo group (p=0.0625, Fisher’s exact test)]. No significant difference between groups was found in any outcome evaluated. Patients of the placebo group performed slightly better than patients of the oxytocin group in some secondary outcomes, but these differences were not significant. 1.4. Conclusion Oxytocin nasal spray resulted to be safe, including in women of childbearing age but did not significantly reduce the number of binge eating episodes per week in outpatients affected by binge eating disorder and obesity. These findings are discussed in light of the human oxytocin literature. Keyword

Effect of a Low-Moderate Exercise Program on Dysmetabolism in Older Adults: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Physical exercise has been shown to improve dysmetabolism in older adults, reducing cardiovascular risk, while its role in preventing dysmetabolism is less known. Moreover, most of the trials use exercise programs that are difficult to put into daily practice. The purpose of this Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was to evaluate the effectiveness of a 3-month moderate exercise program in improving or preventing dysmetabolism in 120 older adults, randomly selected for the exercise program (experimental group) or cultural activities (control group). None of the subjects were following a hypocaloric diet, and all of them reported healthy eating habits. Anthropometric (Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist Circumference (WC)) and metabolic variables (fasting plasma glucose (FPG), High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides (TG)) were assessed at baseline (T0) and at the end of the trial (T1). Dysmetabolism was defined by the presence of an increased WC plus at least two metabolic alterations. At T0, the two groups did not differ by sex, age, education, BMI, WC, FPG, HDL-C levels, and prevalence of dysmetabolism. The mean BMI value indicated overweight, and WC values were higher than the cut-off. At T1, a slight reduction in the number of people with dysmetabolism was found only in the experimental group. However, none of the individuals without dysmetabolism at T0 in the experimental group developed it at T1, while 11.4% developed it in the control group (p = 0.032). This study highlights that a moderate exercise program, accessible in daily practice, can prevent dysmetabolism in older adults, even while being overweight, while if dysmetabolism is already present, more prolonged combined nutritional and exercise interventions will be needed

DNA methylation episignature testing improves molecular diagnosis of Mendelian chromatinopathies

Purpose: Chromatinopathies include more than 50 disorders caused by disease-causing variants of various components of chromatin structure and function. Many of these disorders exhibit unique genome-wide DNA methylation profiles, known as episignatures. In this study, the methylation profile of a large cohort of individuals with chromatinopathies was analyzed for episignature detection. Methods: DNA methylation data was generated on extracted blood samples from 129 affected individuals with the Illumina Infinium EPIC arrays and analyzed using an established bioinformatic pipeline. Results: The DNA methylation profiles matched and confirmed the sequence findings in both the discovery and validation cohorts. Twenty-five affected individuals carrying a variant of uncertain significance, did not show a methylation profile matching any of the known episignatures. Three additional variant of uncertain significance cases with an identified KDM6A variant were re-classified as likely pathogenic (n = 2) or re-assigned as Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (n = 1). Thirty of the 33 Next Generation Sequencing negative cases did not match a defined episignature while three matched Kabuki syndrome, Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome and BAFopathy respectively. Conclusion: With the expanding clinical utility of the EpiSign assay, DNA methylation analysis should be considered part of the testing cascade for individuals presenting with clinical features of Mendelian chromatinopathy disorders

Hyperbaric exposure and oxidative Stress in occupational activities (HEOxS): the study protocol

Background: Hyperbaric exposure (HE) is proven to be a stressor to several mechanisms in living cells. Even if after homeostasis restoration, harmful effects are expected, in particular a presence of free radicals. These latter are the stimulus to negative phenomenon as inflammation or cancer. In Italy, with 7500 km of sea shores, a large quantity of workers is exposed to HE during occupational activities. A deep knowledge of HE and bodily effects is not well defined; hence a multidisciplinary assessment of risk is needed. To detect one or more indicators of HE a research group is organised, under the INAIL sponsorship. The research project focused on the oxidative stress (OxS) and this paper details on the possible protocol to estimate, with a large amount of techniques on several human liquids, the relationship between OxS and HE. Specific attention will be paid to identify confounding factors and their influence. Methods: Blood and urine will be sampled. Several lab techniques will be performed on samples, both targeted, to measure the level of well-known biomarkers, and untargeted. Regard the formers: products of oxidation of DNA and RNA in urine; inflammation and temperature cytokines and protein carbonyles in blood. Untargeted evaluation will be performed for a metabolomics analysis in urine. Confounding factors: temperature, body fat, fitness, allergies and dietary habits. These factors will be assessed, directly or indirectly, prior and after HE. The final scope of the project is to determine one or more indicators that relates to HE in hits twofold nature: depth and duration. Conclusion: The relationship between OxS and HE is not deeply investigated and literature proposes diverging results. The project aims to define the time dependence of biomarkers related to OxS, to rise knowledge in risk assessment in workers exposed to HE

Authors' response: Mezei et al's "Comments on a recent case-control study of malignant mesothelioma of the pericardium and the tunica vaginalis testis"

: Mezei et al's letter (1) is an opportunity to provide more details about our study on pericardial and tunica vaginalis testis (TVT) mesothelioma (2), which is based on the Italian national mesothelioma registry (ReNaM): a surveillance system on mesothelioma, with individual asbestos exposure assessment. Incidence of pericardial mesothelioma has been estimated around 0.5 and 0.2 cases per 10 million person-years in men and women, respectively, and around 1 case for TVT mesothelioma. ReNaM collected 138 cases thanks to its long period of observation (1993-2015) and national coverage. Conducting a population-based case-control study with incidence-density sampling of controls across Italy and over a 23 year time-span should have been planned in 1993 and would have been beyond feasibility and ReNaM scope. We rather exploited two existing series of controls (3). The resulting incomplete time- and spatial matching of cases and controls is a limitation of our study and has been acknowledged in our article. The analysis of case-control studies can nevertheless be accomplished in logistic models accounting for the variables of interest, in both individually and frequency matched studies (4). Furthermore, analyses restricted to (i) regions with enrolled controls, (ii) cases with definite diagnosis, (iii) incidence period 2000-2015, and (iv) subjects born before 1950 have been provided in the manuscript, confirming the strength of the association with asbestos exposure (supplemental material tables S4-7). Following Mezei et al's suggestion, we performed further sensitivity analyses by restriction to regions with controls and fitting conditional regression models using risk-sets made of combinations of age and year of birth categories (5-year classes for both). We confirmed positive associations with occupational exposure to asbestos of pericardial mesothelioma, with odds ratios (OR) (adjusted for region) of 9.16 among women [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.56-150] and 5.63 (95% CI 1.02-31.0) among men; for TVT mesothelioma the OR was 7.70 (95% CI 2.89-20.5). Using risk sets of age categories and introducing year of birth (5-year categories) as a covariate (dummy variables) the OR were similar: OR (adjusted for region) of 9.17 among women (95% CI 0.56-150) and 5.76 (95% CI 1.07-31.0) among men; for TVT the OR was 9.86 (95% CI 3.46-28.1). Possible bias from incomplete geographical overlap between cases and controls has been addressed in the paper (table S4) and above. In spatially restricted analyses, OR were larger than in those including cases from the whole country, indicating that bias was towards the null. Mezei et al further noted that "the regional distribution of controls is different from that of person-time observed". This objection is not relevant because the above analyses were adjusted by region. Our controls were provided by a population-based study on pleural mesothelioma (called MISEM) and a hospital-based study on cholangiocarcinoma (called CARA). In MISEM, the response rate was 48.4%, a low but not unexpected rate as participation among population controls is usually lower and has been declining over time (5). It is important to underline that ReNaM applied the same questionnaire that was used for interviews and carried out the same exposure assessment as both MISEM and CARA. As repeatedly stated in ReNaM papers (6-7), each regional operating center assesses asbestos exposure based on the individual questionnaire, other available information, and knowledge of local industries. Occupational exposure to asbestos is classified as definite, probable or possible. Occupational exposure is (i) definite when the subject`s work was reported or otherwise known to have involved the use of asbestos or asbestos-containing materials (MCA); (ii) probable when subjects worked in factories where asbestos or MCA were used, but their personal exposure could not be documented; and (iii) possible when they were employed in industrial activities known to entail the use of asbestos or MCA. Hence, the definite and probable categories are closer to one another and were combined in our analyses. In any case, restricting analyses to subjects with definite occupational exposure and using each set of controls separately, as suggested by Mezei et al, yielded elevated OR for TVT and pericardial mesothelioma among men using both the above described modelling strategies; the OR could not be calculated for women. There were 70 (25 pericardial and 45 TVT) occupationally exposed mesothelioma cases. In population-based studies, analyses by occupation are limited by the low prevalence of most specific jobs. As briefly reported in our paper, for purely descriptive purposes, the industrial activity of exposure (cases may have multiple exposures), were construction (22 exposures, 7 and 15 for pericardial and TVT mesotheliomas, respectively), steel mills and other metal working industries (4 and 11), textile industries (2 and 3), and agriculture (2 and 5); other sectors had lower exposure frequencies. The absence of industries like asbestos-cement production, shipbuilding and railway carriages production/repair should not be surprising and had already been observed (7). In the Italian multicenter cohort study of asbestos workers (8), given the person-years of observation accrued by workers employed in these industries and gender- and site-specific crude incidence rates, approximately 0.1 case of pericardial and 0.2 of TVT mesothelioma would have been expected from 1970 to 2010. Even increasing ten-fold such figures to account for higher occupational risks among these workers would not change much. Asbestos exposure in agriculture has been repeatedly discussed in ReNaM reports (9: pages 70, 73, 128, 164 and 205). Exposure opportunities included the presence of asbestos in wine production, reuse of hessian bags previously containing asbestos, or construction and maintenance of rural buildings. Similarly, mesothelioma cases and agricultural workers exposed to asbestos have been noted in France (10). In conclusion, the additional analyses we performed according to Mezei et al's suggestions confirm the association between asbestos exposure and pericardial and TVT mesothelioma, supporting the causal role of asbestos for all mesotheliomas. ReNaM`s continuing surveillance system with national coverage is a precious platform for launching analytical studies on pleural and extra pleural mesothelioma. References 1. Mezei G, Chang ET, Mowat FS, Moolgavkar SH. Comments on a recent case-control study of malignant mesothelioma of the pericardium and the tunica vaginalis testis Scand J Work Environ Health. 2021;47(1):85-86. https://doi.org/10.5271/3909 2. Marinaccio A, Consonni D, Mensi C, Mirabelli D, Migliore E, Magnani C et al.; ReNaM Working Group. Association between asbestos exposure and pericardial and tunica vaginalis testis malignant mesothelioma: a case-control study and epidemiological remarks. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2020;46(6):609-617. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3895. 3. Greenland S. Control-initiated case-control studies. Int J Epidemiol 1985 Mar;14(1):130-4. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/14.1.130. 4. Pearce N. Analysis of matched case-control studies. BMJ 2016 Feb;352:i969. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i969. 5. Bigert C, Gustavsson P, Straif K, Pesch B, Brüning T, Kendzia B et al. Lung cancer risk among cooks when accounting for tobacco smoking: a pooled analysis of case-control studies from Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and China. J Occup Environ Med 2015 Feb;57(2):202-9. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000000337. 6. Marinaccio A, Binazzi A, Marzio DD, Scarselli A, Verardo M, Mirabelli D et al.; ReNaM Working Group. Pleural malignant mesothelioma epidemic: incidence, modalities of asbestos exposure and occupations involved from the Italian National Register. Int J Cancer 2012 May;130(9):2146-54. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.26229. 7. Marinaccio A, Binazzi A, Di Marzio D, Scarselli A, Verardo M, Mirabelli D et al. Incidence of extrapleural malignant mesothelioma and asbestos exposure, from the Italian national register. Occup Environ Med 2010 Nov;67(11):760-5. https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.2009.051466. 8. Ferrante D, Chellini E, Merler E, Pavone V, Silvestri S, Miligi L et al.; the working group. Italian pool of asbestos workers cohorts: mortality trends of asbestos-related neoplasms after long time since first exposure. Occup Environ Med 2017 Dec;74(12):887-98. https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2016-104100. 9. ReNaM VI Report. Available from: https://www.inail.it/cs/internet/docs/alg-pubbl-registro-nazionale-mesoteliomi-6-rapporto.pdf. Italian 10. Marant Micallef C, Shield KD, Vignat J, Baldi I, Charbotel B, Fervers B et al. Cancers in France in 2015 attributable to occupational exposures. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2019 Jan;222(1):22-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2018.07.015

Epidemiological patterns of asbestos exposure and spatial clusters of incident cases of malignant mesothelioma from the Italian national registry.

BACKGROUND: Previous ecological spatial studies of malignant mesothelioma cases, mostly based on mortality data, lack reliable data on individual exposure to asbestos, thus failing to assess the contribution of different occupational and environmental sources in the determination of risk excess in specific areas. This study aims to identify territorial clusters of malignant mesothelioma through a Bayesian spatial analysis and to characterize them by the integrated use of asbestos exposure information retrieved from the Italian national mesothelioma registry (ReNaM). METHODS: In the period 1993 to 2008, 15,322 incident cases of all-site malignant mesothelioma were recorded and 11,852 occupational, residential and familial histories were obtained by individual interviews. Observed cases were assigned to the municipality of residence at the time of diagnosis and compared to those expected based on the age-specific rates of the respective geographical area. A spatial cluster analysis was performed for each area applying a Bayesian hierarchical model. Information about modalities and economic sectors of asbestos exposure was analyzed for each cluster. RESULTS: Thirty-two clusters of malignant mesothelioma were identified and characterized using the exposure data. Asbestos cement manufacturing industries and shipbuilding and repair facilities represented the main sources of asbestos exposure, but a major contribution to asbestos exposure was also provided by sectors with no direct use of asbestos, such as non-asbestos textile industries, metal engineering and construction. A high proportion of cases with environmental exposure was found in clusters where asbestos cement plants were located or a natural source of asbestos (or asbestos-like) fibers was identifiable. Differences in type and sources of exposure can also explain the varying percentage of cases occurring in women among clusters. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates shared exposure patterns in territorial clusters of malignant mesothelioma due to single or multiple industrial sources, with major implications for public health policies, health surveillance, compensation procedures and site remediation programs