Recent progress and new perspectives on metal amide and imide systems for solid-state hydrogen storage

Hydrogen storage in the solid state represents one of the most attractive and challenging ways to supply hydrogen to a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Although in the last 15 years a large variety of material systems have been identified as possible candidates for storing hydrogen, further efforts have to be made in the development of systems which meet the strict targets of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Recent projections indicate that a system possessing: (i) an ideal enthalpy in the range of 20-50 kJ/mol H2, to use the heat produced by PEM fuel cell for providing the energy necessary for desorption; (ii) a gravimetric hydrogen density of 5 wt. % H2 and (iii) fast sorption kinetics below 110 °C is strongly recommended. Among the known hydrogen storage materials, amide and imide-based mixtures represent the most promising class of compounds for on-board applications; however, some barriers still have to be overcome before considering this class of material mature for real applications. In this review, the most relevant progresses made in the recent years as well as the kinetic and thermodynamic properties, experimentally measured for the most promising systems, are reported and properly discussed

Modulatory effect of nicotinic acid on the metabolism of Caco-2 cells exposed to IL-1β and LPS

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are the most common gastrointestinal inflammatory pathologies. Previous work evidenced a lower content of nicotinic acid (NA) in feces of IBD patients compared to healthy subjects. In the present study, we aimed to understand the effects of NA on intestinal inflammation, as several studies reported its possible beneficial effect, and investigate its influence on inflammation-driven metabolism. NA was tested on a Caco-2 in-vitro model in which inflammation was induced with interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), two mayor proinflammatory compounds produced in IBD, that stimulate the production of cytokines, such as interleukin 8. A metabolomics approach, with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear proton magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), was applied to study the metabolic changes. The results showed that NA significantly reduced the level of IL-8 produced in both LPS and IL-1β stimulated cells, confirming the anti-inflammatory effect of NA also on intestinal inflammation. Moreover, it was demonstrated that NA treatment had a restoring effect on several metabolites whose levels were modified by treatments with IL-1β or LPS. This study points out a possible use of NA as anti-inflammatory compound and might be considered as a promising starting point in understanding the beneficial effect of NA in IBD

Seminal fluid metabolomic markers of oligozoospermic infertility in humans

Infertility affects 12–15% of couples worldwide, and male factors are the cause of nearly half of all cases. Studying seminal fluid composition could lead to additional diagnostic accuracy and a better understanding of the pathophysiology of male factor infertility. Metabolomics offers a new opportunity to evaluate biomarkers and better understand pathological mechanisms. The aim of the study was to identify new markers or therapeutic targets to improve outcomes in male factor or idiopathic infertility patients. Semen samples were obtained from 29 men with a normal spermogram test, and from 18 oligozoospermic men. Samples were processed and analyzed by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy and, subsequently, multivariate and univariate statistical analyses. Receiving Operator Curves (ROC) and Spearman correlations were also performed. An Orthogonal Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis supervised multivariate model was devised to compare the groups. The levels of fructose, myo‐inositol, aspartate and choline were altered. Moreover, Spearman Correlation associated fructose, aspartate and myo‐inositol with the total amount of spermatozoa, total motile spermatozoa, % of immotility and % of “in situ” spermatozoic motility respectively. NMR‐based metabolomics allowed the identification of a specific metabolic fingerprint of the seminal fluids of patients affected by oligozoospermia

A review of the MSCA ITN ECOSTORE - Novel complex metal hydrides for efficient and compact storage of renewable energy as hydrogen and electricity

Hydrogen as an energy carrier is very versatile in energy storage applications. Developments in novel, sustainable technologies towards a CO2-free society are needed and the exploration of all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) as well as solid-state hydrogen storage applications based on metal hydrides can provide solutions for such technologies. However, there are still many technical challenges for both hydrogen storage material and ASSBs related to designing low-cost materials with low-environmental impact. The current materials considered for all-solid-state batteries should have high conductivities for Na+, Mg2+ and Ca2+, while Al3+-based compounds are often marginalised due to the lack of suitable electrode and electrolyte materials. In hydrogen storage materials, the sluggish kinetic behaviour of solid-state hydride materials is one of the key constraints that limit their practical uses. Therefore, it is necessary to overcome the kinetic issues of hydride materials before discussing and considering them on the system level. This review summarizes the achievements of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) innovative training network (ITN) ECOSTORE, the aim of which was the investigation of different aspects of (complex) metal hydride materials. Advances in battery and hydrogen storage materials for the efficient and compact storage of renewable energy production are discussed

Kinetic alteration of the 6Mg(NH2)2-9LiH-LiBH4 system by co-adding YCl3 and Li3N

The 6Mg(NH2)2-9LiH-LiBH4 composite system has a maximum reversible hydrogen content of 4.2 wt% and a predicted dehydrogenation temperature of about 64 °C at 1 bar of H2. However, the existence of severe kinetic barriers precludes the occurrence of de/re-hydrogenation processes at such a low temperature (H. Cao, G. Wu, Y. Zhang, Z. Xiong, J. Qiu and P. Chen, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014, 2, 15816-15822). In this work, Li3N and YCl3 have been chosen as co-additives for this system. These additives increase the hydrogen storage capacity and hasten the de/re-hydrogenation kinetics: a hydrogen uptake of 4.2 wt% of H2 was achieved in only 8 min under isothermal conditions at 180 °C and 85 bar of H2 pressure. The re-hydrogenation temperature, necessary for a complete absorption process, can be lowered below 90 °C by increasing the H2 pressure above 185 bar. Moreover, the results indicate that the hydrogenation capacity and absorption kinetics can be maintained roughly constant over several cycles. Low operating temperatures, together with fast absorption kinetics and good reversibility, make this system a promising on-board hydrogen storage material. The reasons for the improved de/re-hydrogenation properties are thoroughly investigated and discussed

Cytological and histological diagnosis of lung cancer in Sardinia and Italy in the 1990s

Background. Up to 30-50% of all lung cancer cases remain without cyto-histological characterisation. The aim of our study was to evaluate retrospectively the proportion of histological and/or cytological diagnosis in patients with lung cancer in Sardinia. Methods. Data was gathered by consulting the hospital registers and case notes of individual patients released from hospital with a diagnosis of Lung Cancer at all medical centres throughout Sardinia. In gathering patients' data, we focused our attention on cytological and histological procedures through which allowed the lung cancer was diagnosed. Cancer Registries data was utilised to compare our data with national and Sassari province data. Results. From 1991 to 1996 there was a total of 3146 lung cancer patients registered in Sardinia. 1902 patients (60.5%) had a histological diagnosis, 142 patients (4.5%) a cytological diagnosis while in 1102 patients (35%) the diagnosis was performed without any pathological validation. Conclusions. Our study has shown that lung cancer diagnosis is supported by pathological verification in 65% of cases while in remaining 35% of patients the diagnosis is based only on clinical and radiological reports. In Italy data from Cancer Registries report the percentage of cyto- histological diagnosis to be 70% with the percentage of cytological diagnosis being higher than in Sardinia

MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF ANISAKID NEMATODES IN FISHES OF NORTHERN SARDINIAN SEA

The authors report results of analysis carried out during 2008-2010 for identification and molecular characterization of larval Anisakis nematodes isolated from fishes of the northern Sardinian sea

Decreased allopregnanolone induced by hormonal contraceptives is associated with a reduction in social behavior and sexual motivation in female rats

RATIONALE: Allopregnanolone is a neurosteroid involved in depression, memory, social, and sexual behavior. We have previously demonstrated that treatment with a combination of ethinylestradiol (EE) and levonorgestrel (LNG), two compounds frequently used in hormonal contraception, decreased brain allopregnanolone concentrations. These changes may contribute to some of the emotional and sexual disorders observed in hormonal contraceptive users. OBJECTIVES: We thus examined whether the reduction in allopregnanolone concentrations induced by long-term EE/LNG administration was associated with altered emotional, learning, social, and sexual behaviors. METHODS: Rats were orally treated with a combination of EE (0.030 mg) and LNG (0.125 mg) once a day for 4 weeks and were subjected to behavioral tests 24 h after the last administration. RESULTS: EE/LNG treatment reduced immobility behavior in the forced swim test, without affecting sucrose preference and spatial learning and memory. In the resident-intruder test, EE/LNG-treated rats displayed a decrease in dominant behaviors associated with a reduction in social investigation. In the paced mating test, EE/LNG treated rats showed a reduction in proceptive behaviors, while the lordosis quotient was not affected. Progesterone, but not estradiol, administration to EE/LNG-treated rats increased sexual activity and cerebrocortical allopregnanolone concentrations. Prior administration of finasteride decreased allopregnanolone concentrations and abolished the increase in proceptivity induced by progesterone administration. CONCLUSIONS: The decrease in brain allopregnanolone concentrations induced by EE/LNG treatment is associated with a reduction in social behavior and sexual motivation in female rats. These results might be relevant to the side effects sometimes exhibited by women taking hormonal contraceptives

Failure of acute ethanol administration to alter cerebral cortical and hippocampal allopregnanolone levels in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice

Acute ethanol administration to rats stimulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and increases brain and plasma levels of the potent neurosteroid allopregnanolone. Increased allopregnanolone levels contribute to the anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, sedative and pro-aggressive actions of ethanol. It is not yet known if ethanol’s effects on allopregnanolone levels generalize across species. Indeed, studies in mice have reported that ethanol does not always alter brain and plasma allopregnanolone levels We thus explored the effects of ethanol administration on brain levels of allopregnanolone and its precursor progesterone in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice, two inbred strains with different sensitivity to behavioral effects of alcohol. Male C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice were injected with ethanol (1, 2, 3 or 4 g/kg, i.p.) or saline and were sacrificed 1 hour later or 15, 30, 60 and 120 minutes later for the time course studies. Allopregnanolone, progesterone and corticosterone levels were measured by radioimmunoassay in cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Acute ethanol administration did not alter cerebral cortical and hippocampal levels of allopregnanolone and progesterone in both C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice at any of the doses examined. Cerebral cortical levels of allopregnanolone and progesterone were also not altered at any of the time points examined in either strain. Acute ethanol administration dose-dependently increased corticosterone levels in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus of both mouse strains. In C57BL/6J mice, corticosterone levels were increased by 319%, 352% and 448% in the cerebral cortex and by 284%, 218% and 368% in the hippocampus at the doses of 2, 3 and 4 g/kg, respectively, p<0.001. In DBA/2J mice, corticosterone levels were increased by 354%, 417%, 447% and 574% in the cerebral cortex and by 259%, 434%, 567% and 629% in the hippocampus at the doses of 1, 2, 3 and 4 g/kg, respectively, p<0.001. The effect of ethanol on cerebral cortical corticosterone levels was also time-dependent: in C57BL/6J mice it was apparent at 15 min (+155%), reached a peak at 60 min (+306%) and remained elevated at 120 min (+217%) from ethanol administration (p<0.001); in DBA/2J mice it was apparent at 30 min (+546%), reached a peak at 60 min (+1002%) and remained elevated at 120 min (+822%) from ethanol administration (p<0.001). These results suggest that ethanol administration is activating the HPA axis, as expected, and that ethanol might directly impair brain neurosteroid synthesis. Moreover, to evaluate if the effect of ethanol on allopregnanolone levels was specific to ethanol or not, we tested whether administration of morphine, which also increases cerebral cortical levels of allopregnanolone in rats, alters allopregnanolone and progesterone levels in male C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice. Morphine administration increased cerebral cortical allopregnanolone levels in C57BL/6J mice (+77%, +93% and +88%, at the doses of 5, 10 and 30 mg/kg, respectively, p<0.01) and DBA/2J mice (+81% at the dose of 5 mg/kg, p<0.05). Morphine administration also increased progesterone levels in both strains. These results suggest that the impairment in brain neurosteroidogenesis in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice appears to be specific to ethanol. Overall, these results show important species differences in the effects of ethanol on brain neurosteroidogenesis. Given that ethanol does not alter cerebral cortical and hippocampal concentrations of allopregnanolone and progesterone in the two mouse strains examined, the differential sensitivity to some of the behavioral effects of ethanol cannot be directly correlated to hormonal changes in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice