FIRB "SQUARE" project: nano-structured sensors for the detection of the polluting in engine exhaust gases and for indoor air quality monitoring

The present work is a final dissemination of activities carried out and main results obtained in the national founded project Firb "Square". The project is leaded by Centro Ricerche Fiat and it involves the most qualified national public Research Institutes and Universities active in the fields of nanomaterials synthesis, nanotechnology and gas sensors development

Fabrication at wafer level of miniaturized gas sensors based on SnO2 nanorods deposited by PECVD and gas sensing characteristics

SnO2 nanorods were successfully deposited on 3″ Si/SiO2 wafers by inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) and a wafer-level patterning of nanorods layer for miniaturized solid state gas sensor fabrication were performed. Uniform needle-shaped SnO2 nanorods in situ grown were obtained under catalyst- and high temperature treatment-free growth condition. These nanorods have an average diameter between 5 and 15 nm and a length of 160–300 nm. The SnO2-nanorods based gas sensors were tested towards NH3 and CH3OH and gas sensing tests show remarkable response, showing promising and repeatable results compared with the SnO2 thin films gas sensors.Accepted versio

Molecular Alterations and Severe Abnormalities in Spermatozoa of Young Men Living in the “Valley of Sacco River” (Latium, Italy): A Preliminary Study

The Valley of Sacco River (VSR) (Latium, Italy) is an area with large-scale industrial chemical production that has led over time to significant contamination of soil and groundwater with various industrial pollutants, such as organic pesticides, dioxins, organic solvents, heavy metals, and particularly, volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In the present study, we investigated the potential impact of VOCs on the spermatozoa of healthy young males living in the VSR, given the prevalent presence of several VOCs in the semen of these individuals. To accomplish this, spermiograms were conducted followed by molecular analyses to assess the content of sperm nuclear basic proteins (SNBPs) in addition to the protamine-histone ratio and DNA binding of these proteins. We found drastic alterations in the spermatozoa of these young males living in the VSR. Alterations were seen in sperm morphology, sperm motility, sperm count, and protamine/histone ratios, and included significant reductions in SNBP–DNA binding capacity. Our results provide preliminary indications of a possible correlation between the observed alterations and the presence of specific VOCs

Seminal VOCs Analysis Investigating Sperm Quality Decline—New Studies to Improve Male Fertility Contrasting Population Ageing

The world is impacting with a drastic demographic change that is reflected in a progressive ageing population. If on the one side increasing health care for older people is important, stimulating the level of birth becomes decisive. The principal goal of this work is to set up of new method for early diagnosis of male infertility based on analysis of seminal Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), potentially biomarkers of infertility status. The identification of the volatile metabolite patterns in semen samples was done by an unconventional GC/[−MS + gas sensor] system. Once validate this approach could integrate and improve traditional semen analysis based on physiological parameters and addressed to the development of novel medical devices based on gas microsensors for male infertility screening

Characterization of Human Semen by GC-MS and VOC Sensor: An Unexplored Approach to the Study on Infertility

Infertility is one of principal health and social problems of this century. Male factors are involved in half of the cases and often the alteration concerns sperm motility. Seminogram is the gold standard technique for semen analysis, but it presents several limits. For this reason, we propose a new method for discriminating asthenozoospermic samples (low sperm motility) from normozoospermic ones (progressive motility > 32%) based on the never explored analysis of the volatile metabolites in the headspace of human semen sample by Gas Chromatograph (GC) equipped with two detectors: aMass Spectrometer (MS) and a metal oxide based gas sensor sensitive (MOX) to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). VOC sensor signal profiles (resistance vs. time) showed a higher sensitivity to specific organic classes such as aldehydes and ketones. The sensorgrams were preprocessed and analysed by PLS-DA. The results showed that sensorgrams analysis by suitable bioinformatics techniques has a good discrimination power and could support physiological parameters in human semen assessment. The analysis of the human semen Volatilome may be a proof-of-concept for the development of a novel micro-GC device with a sensor array detector, a potential candidate for infertility assessment in clinical practice