Lamellar ordering, droplet formation and phase inversion in exotic active emulsions

We study numerically the behaviour of a mixture of a passive isotropic fluid and an active polar gel, in the presence of a surfactant favouring emulsification. Focussing on parameters for which the underlying free energy favours the lamellar phase in the passive limit, we show that the interplay between nonequilibrium and thermodynamic forces creates a range of multifarious exotic emulsions. When the active component is contractile (e.g., an actomyosin solution), moderate activity enhances the efficiency of lamellar ordering, whereas strong activity favours the creation of passive droplets within an active matrix. For extensile activity (occurring, e.g., in microtubule-motor suspensions), instead, we observe an emulsion of spontaneously rotating droplets of different size. By tuning the overall composition, we can create high internal phase emulsions, which undergo sudden phase inversion when activity is switched off. Therefore, we find that activity provides a single control parameter to design composite materials with a strikingly rich range of morphologies.Comment: 15 pages: Manuscprit (4 figures) and SI (11 figures

Autoinflammatory diseases: a possible cause of thrombosis?

Autoinflammatory diseases are a group of disorders due to acquired or hereditary disfunction of innate immune system and characterized by systemic or localized manifestations. The prototype is Familial Mediterranean Fever, a monogenic hereditary disorder, whose causing gene (MeFV gene) was identified in 1997 and opened the way to a new fascinanting chapter of rheumatology. A growing body of monogenic and poligenic autoinflammatory disorders has been described since then. Arterial and venous thrombosis is a common medical problem, with significant morbidity and mortality. Strong evidences from basic research and clinical epidemiological studies support the theory that inflammation and thrombosis can be associated. Because of their recurrent/chronic inflammatory nature, autoinflammatory diseases are a putative cause of thrombotic manifestations. In the present work, we reviewed the available evidences about monogenic autoinflammatory disorders, complicated by thrombotic manifestations

Motzkin numbers out of Random Domino Automaton

Motzkin numbers are derived from a special case of Random Domino Automaton - recently proposed toy model of earthquakes. An exact solution of the set of equations describing stationary state of Random Domino Automaton in "inverse-power" case is presented. A link with Motzkin numbers allows to present explicit form of asymptotic behaviour of the automaton.Comment: short pape

Behçet’s Disease as a Model of Venous Thrombosis

Behçet’s disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology characterized by recurrent oral, genital aphthous ulcerations, uveitis, skin lesions and other multisystem affections associated with vasculitis. Different types of vessels, predominantly veins, can be affected in BD. The frequency of vascular lesions in BD, such as superficial and deep venous thromboses, arterial aneurysms and occlusions, ranges between 7-29%

Air temperature-related human health outcomes: Current impact and estimations of future risks in Central Italy

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Optical Response of CVD-Grown ML-WS2 Flakes on an Ultra-Dense Au NP Plasmonic Array

The combination of metallic nanostructures with two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides is an efficient way to make the optical properties of the latter more appealing for opto-electronic applications. In this work, we investigate the optical properties of monolayer WS2 flakes grown by chemical vapour deposition and transferred onto a densely-packed array of plasmonic Au nanoparticles (NPs). The optical response was measured as a function of the thickness of a dielectric spacer intercalated between the two materials and of the system temperature, in the 75–350 K range. We show that a weak interaction is established between WS2 and Au NPs, leading to temperature- and spacer-thickness-dependent coupling between the localized surface plasmon resonance of Au NPs and the WS2 exciton. We suggest that the closely-packed morphology of the plasmonic array promotes a high confinement of the electromagnetic field in regions inaccessible by the WS2 deposited on top. This allows the achievement of direct contact between WS2 and Au while preserving a strong connotation of the properties of the two materials also in the hybrid system

SNAI1 is upregulated during muscle regeneration and represses FGF21 and ATF3 expression by directly binding their promoters

During skeletal myogenesis, the zinc-finger transcription factors SNAI1 and SNAI2, are expressed in proliferating myoblasts and regulate the transition to terminally differentiated myotubes while repressing pro-differentiation genes. Here, we demonstrate that SNAI1 is upregulated in vivo during the early phase of muscle regeneration induced by bupivacaine injury. Using shRNA-mediated gene silencing in C2C12 myoblasts and whole-transcriptome microarray analysis, we identified a collection of genes belonging to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathway whose expression, induced by myogenic differentiation, was upregulated in absence of SNAI1. Among these, key ER stress genes, such as Atf3, Ddit3/Chop, Hspa5/Bip, and Fgf21, a myokine involved in muscle differentiation, were strongly upregulated. Furthermore, by promoter mutant analysis and Chromatin immune precipitation assay, we demonstrated that SNAI1 represses Fgf21 and Atf3 in proliferating myoblasts by directly binding to multiple E boxes in their respective promoter regions. Together, these data describe a new regulatory mechanism of myogenic differentiation involving the direct repressive action of SNAI1 on ER stress and Fgf21 expression, ultimately contributing to maintaining the proliferative and undifferentiated state of myoblasts

Could clustering of comorbidities be useful for better defining the internal medicine patients’ complexity?

Internal medicine patients are mostly elderly with multiple comorbidities, usually chronic. The high prevalence of comorbidity and multimorbidity has a significant impact on both positive responses to treatment and the occurrence of adverse events. Clustering is the process of nosography grouping into meaningful associations with some index disease, so that the objects within a cluster have high similarity in comparison with one another. In the decision-making process it is imperative that, in addition to understanding the immediate clinical problems, we are able to explicit all the contextual factors that have to be taken into account for the best outcome of care. Cluster analysis could be leveraged in developing better interventions targeted to improve health outcomes in subgroups of patients