Immunobiology of Acute Chorioamnionitis.

Acute chorioamnionitis is characterized by neutrophilic infiltration and inflammation at the maternal fetal interface. It is a relatively common complication of pregnancy and can have devastating consequences including preterm labor, maternal infections, fetal infection/inflammation, fetal lung, brain, and gastrointestinal tract injury. In this review, we will discuss current understanding of the pathogenesis, immunobiology, and mechanisms of this condition. Most commonly, acute chorioamnionitis is a result of ascending infection with relatively low-virulence organisms such as the Ureaplasma species. Furthermore, recent vaginal microbiome studies suggest that there is a link between vaginal dysbiosis, vaginal inflammation, and ascending infection. Although less common, microorganisms invading the maternal-fetal interface via hematogenous route (e.g., Zika virus, Cytomegalovirus, and Listeria) can cause placental villitis and severe fetal inflammation and injury. We will provide an overview of the knowledge gleaned from different animal models of acute chorioamnionitis and the role of different immune cells in different maternal-fetal compartments. Lastly, we will discuss how infectious agents can break the maternal tolerance of fetal allograft during pregnancy and highlight the novel future therapeutic approaches

Finite time distributions of stochastically modeled chemical systems with absolute concentration robustness

Recent research in both the experimental and mathematical communities has focused on biochemical interaction systems that satisfy an "absolute concentration robustness" (ACR) property. The ACR property was first discovered experimentally when, in a number of different systems, the concentrations of key system components at equilibrium were observed to be robust to the total concentration levels of the system. Followup mathematical work focused on deterministic models of biochemical systems and demonstrated how chemical reaction network theory can be utilized to explain this robustness. Later mathematical work focused on the behavior of this same class of reaction networks, though under the assumption that the dynamics were stochastic. Under the stochastic assumption, it was proven that the system will undergo an extinction event with a probability of one so long as the system is conservative, showing starkly different long-time behavior than in the deterministic setting. Here we consider a general class of stochastic models that intersects with the class of ACR systems studied previously. We consider a specific system scaling over compact time intervals and prove that in a limit of this scaling the distribution of the abundances of the ACR species converges to a certain product-form Poisson distribution whose mean is the ACR value of the deterministic model. This result is in agreement with recent conjectures pertaining to the behavior of ACR networks endowed with stochastic kinetics, and helps to resolve the conflicting theoretical results pertaining to deterministic and stochastic models in this setting

Breakthroughs in the Design of Novel Carbon-Based Metal Oxides Nanocomposites for VOCs Gas Sensing

Nowadays, the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at trace levels (down to ppb) is feasible by exploiting ultra-sensitive and highly selective chemoresistors, especially in the field of medical diagnosis. By coupling metal oxide semiconductors (MOS e.g., SnO2, ZnO, WO3, CuO, TiO2 and Fe2O3) with innovative carbon-based materials (graphene, graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, single-wall and multi-wall carbon nanotubes), outstanding performances in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, limits of detection, response and recovery times towards specific gaseous targets (such as ethanol, acetone, formaldehyde and aromatic compounds) can be easily achieved. Notably, carbonaceous species, highly interconnected to MOS nanoparticles, enhance the sensor responses by (i) increasing the surface area and the pore content, (ii) favoring the electron migration, the transfer efficiency (spillover effect) and gas diffusion rate, (iii) promoting the active sites concomitantly limiting the nanopowders agglomeration; and (iv) forming nano-heterojunctions. Herein, the aim of the present review is to highlight the above-mentioned hybrid features in order to engineer novel flexible, miniaturized and low working temperature sensors, able to detect specific VOC biomarkers of a human's disease

Synthesis and Applications of Nanomaterials for Photocatalysis and Electrocatalysis

This book supplies fundamental aspects regarding the use of different nanostructures as heterogeneous catalysts for energy and environmental applications. In recent decades, the attention of both scientific and industrial communities has become increasingly focused on the implementation of groundbreaking nanomaterials in all fields of human activity, especially toward improving energy efficiency and fulfilling environmental demands. Energy and environment represent a perfect blend: energy-saving environmental remediations and promising energetic devices meeting environmental concerns represent potential future challenges that humankind will face. In this context, the fine control of the nanosized species is the real tool to overcome the current issues and to improve the final performances. Herein, from an energetic point of view, oxygen evolution and reduction reactions (OER and ORR) are keys to deeply understanding the behaviour of water splitting devices and fuel cells as well as zinc/air batteries, respectively. Zinc tantalum oxynitride-based photoanodes and nitrogen-modified carbon doped with different metals will be presented and fully characterised. Concurrently, bismuth titanate nanosheets and noble metal core-shell nanoparticles can be adopted to enhance hydrogen evolution through photocatalytic water splitting, exploiting solar energy. Instead, for what concerns the environmental remediation, the use of pure (black, modified, and faceted TiO2, Ga2O3) and composite (graphene/titanate, Zn2\u2013SnO4/BiOBr, g-C3N4/Nb2O5, MnO2/TiO2 and CaIn2S4/ZnIn2S4) nanomaterials allow for air and water purification, especially under solar irradiation. Particularly, the complete photodegradation of noxious species (benzylic acid), organic dyes (rhodamine B, methylene blue and alizarin red), heavy metals (chromium), recalcitrant pharmaceutical active principles (cinnamic acid, ibuprofen and tetracycline), and VOCs (ethanol) will be thoroughly discussed. Finally, we would like to acknowledge all the authors who have contributed to this book with their scientific expertise, and we hope that the readers will find the arguments both useful and interesting

Growth of Rhodococcus sp. strain BCP1 on gaseous n-alkanes: New metabolic insights and transcriptional analysis of two soluble di-iron monooxygenase genes

Rhodococcus sp. strain BCP1 was initially isolated for its ability to grow on gaseous n-alkanes, which act as inducers for the co-metabolic degradation of low-chlorinated compounds. Here, both molecular and metabolic features of BCP1 cells grown on gaseous and short-chain n-alkanes (up to n-heptane) were examined in detail. We show that propane metabolism generated terminal and sub-terminal oxidation products such as 1- and 2-propanol, whereas 1-butanol was the only terminal oxidation product detected from n-butane metabolism. Two gene clusters, prmABCD and smoABCD-coding for Soluble Di-Iron Monooxgenases (SDIMOs) involved in gaseous n-alkanes oxidation-were detected in the BCP1 genome. By means of Reverse Transcriptase-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis, a set of substrates inducing the expression of the sdimo genes in BCP1 were assessed as well as their transcriptional repression in the presence of sugars, organic acids, or during the cell growth on rich medium (Luria-Bertani broth). The transcriptional start sites of both the sdimo gene clusters were identified by means of primer extension experiments. Finally, proteomic studies revealed changes in the protein pattern induced by growth on gaseous- (n-butane) and/or liquid (n-hexane) short-chain n-alkanes as compared to growth on succinate. Among the differently expressed protein spots, two chaperonins and an isocytrate lyase were identified along with oxidoreductases involved in oxidation reactions downstream of the initial monooxygenase reaction step

The role of right and left parietal lobes in the conceptual processing of numbers

Neuropsychological and functional imaging studies have associated the conceptual processing of numbers with bilateral parietal regions (including intraparietal sulcus). However, the processes driving these effects remain unclear because both left and right posterior parietal regions are activated by many other conceptual, perceptual, attention, and response-selection processes. To dissociate parietal activation that is number-selective from parietal activation related to other stimulus or response-selection processes, we used fMRI to compare numbers and object names during exactly the same conceptual and perceptual tasks while factoring out activations correlating with response times. We found that right parietal activation was higher for conceptual decisions on numbers relative to the same tasks on object names, even when response time effects were fully factored out. In contrast, left parietal activation for numbers was equally involved in conceptual processing of object names. We suggest that left parietal activation for numbers reflects a range of processes, including the retrieval of learnt facts that are also involved in conceptual decisions on object names. In contrast, number selectivity in right parietal cortex reflects processes that are more involved in conceptual decisions on numbers than object names. Our results generate a new set of hypotheses that have implications for the design of future behavioral and functional imaging studies of patients with left and right parietal damage

Marble hydrophobicity tuned by Si-based coatings

Hydrophobic polymers applied on stone materials increase their durability against undesired weathering processes [1]. The achievement of a certain degree of surface hydrophobicity (reducing the water permeation) constitutes one of the main research focuses [2]. Herein, two commercial Si-based resins (e.g. Alpha\uaeSI30 and Bluesil\uaeBP9710), directly applied on Carrara marble substrates and a silanization process, by using trichloromethylsilane (TCMS), were adopted. Contact angle measurements were carried out to evaluate the hydrophobic features. Hence, since only in the case of TCMS a good hydrophobicity was achieved (\uf071 around 150\ub0), two commercial polysiloxane-based additives (e.g. TegoPhobe 1500N and TegoPhobe 1650) were added respectively to Alpha\uaeSI30 and Bluesil\uaeBP9710, according to their chemical compatibility. These auxiliary substances allowed to decrease the wettability features of marble. Furthermore, since all the investigated coatings could be used as stone materials protective agents, water capillary absorption and vapor permeability tests were performed. Also, in this case, TCMS revealed to be the most performing one among the adopted silane-based resins, thanks to the drastic reduction of absorbed water and the decrease of vapor permeability within the threshold value of 50%. Finally, the coatings stability was evaluated by accelerated ageing tests. References [1] Cappelletti G., Fermo P., Pino F., Pargoletti E., Pecchioni E., Fratini F., Ruffolo S.A., La Russa M.F., On the role of hydrophobic Si-based protective coatings in limiting mortar deterioration, Environ Sci Pollut Res, 22 (2015) 17733\u201317743. [2] Cappelletti G., Fermo P., Camiloni M., Smart hybrid coatings for natural stones conservation, Progress in Organic Coatings 78 (2015) 511\u2013516