Opeatogenys gracilis (Pisces: Gobiesocidae): An overlooked species or another ‘Mediterranean endemism’ found in Atlantic waters?

The occurrence of Opeatogenys gracilis outside the Mediterranean Sea is confirmed for the first time. This is probably a more common species than previously thought, but its apparent complete dependence on seagrass beds suggests the possibility of including it in the IUCN threatened species list. Some sex differences are described and a complete meristic and morphometric description of the species is presented. The occurrence of the species in the north-east Atlantic indicates that it might be a recent dispersal from the Mediterranean Sea, or an overlooked part of the autochthonous fauna

Nanoparticles from softwood kraft lignin as bio-derived fillers in polymer-based nanocomposites

Lignin is a naturally occurring aromatic polymer found in the wall of cellular plants. The large availability of lignin on Earth, second only to cellulose and hemicellulose, makes it particularly interesting as valuable renewable source of aromatics for the development of high performance and environmentally friendly polymer-based materials.1-3 Despite such great potential, lignin is still enormously underutilized at industrial scale, as its fate is typically to be burnt as low-cost fuel for energy generation. In this context, the large number of functional groups present in lignin (e.g., aliphatic and aromatic hydroxyls, carbonyls, carboxyls) makes this material particularly attractive as reinforcing filler for the preparation of polymer-based composites, due to the potentially favourable covalent and non-covalent interactions that may arise between such highly-functional filler and the polymeric matrix. To this purpose, different attempts have been made involving the incorporation of lignin particles (generally in the 10-100 μm range) into plastics and rubbers. Typically, it was shown that straightforward addition of lignin into the target matrix yielded little or no effect on the mechanical response of the so-obtained composite. An alternative strategy to achieve enhanced dispersion level of the lignin filler within the polymer matrix is the preparation and use of lignin-based nanoparticles (LNP). Indeed, LNP are expected to provide a more efficient interaction with the polymer matrix compared with the micrometer-sized counterpart owing to their larger surface-to-volume ratio thus ultimately resulting in improved mechanical response of the LNP-based polymer composite material.4-6 In this work, LNP were prepared by ultrasonic treatment of technical softwood kraft lignin to obtain lignin-water dispersions with excellent colloidal stability. A thorough chemical, physical and morphological characterization was carried out on the LNP system and a comparison with the parent untreated material was performed. Such LNP were incorporated into a waterborne thermoplastic polyurethane matrix at different concentrations to yield bio-based nanocomposite materials. The effect bio-filler type (LNP vs. untreated lignin) and concentration on the chemical-physical, thermal and morphological characteristics of the resulting nanocomposites was investigated and the reinforcing effect was discussed based on mechanical tests. The results of this study give a direct demonstration of a viable environmentally friendly approach to obtain waterborne polyurethane-based nanocomposites reinforced with LNP in a straightforward and accessible way and provide clear evidence of the potential of LNP as fully bio-derived fillers for advanced nanocomposite applications. Acknowledgements This work has been performed as part of the ValorPlus Project that has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no FP7-KBBE-2013-7-613802. References [1] Laurichesse, S.; Avérous, L. Prog. Polym. Sci. 2014, 39, 1266. [2] Griffini, G.; Passoni, V.; Suriano, R.; Levi, M.; Turri, S. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2015, 3, 1145. [3] Passoni, V.; Scarica, C.; Levi, M.; Turri, S.; Griffini, G. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2016, 4, 2232. [4] Thakur, V.K.; Thakur, M.K.; Raghavan, P.; Kessler, M.R. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2014, 2, 1072. [5] Nair, S.S.; Sharma, S.; Pu, Y.; Sun, Q.; Pan, S.; Zhu, J.Y.; Deng, Y.; Ragauskas, A.J. ChemSusChem 2014, 7, 3513. [6] Gilca, I.A.; Popa, V.I.; Crestini, C. Ultrason. Sonochem. 2015, 23, 369

Tumor interstitial fluid: misconsidered component of the internal milieu of a solid tumor.

The tumor interstitial fluid (TIF) is a fluid phase present in the extracellular space of all tumors whose importance in oncology is seldom recognized. In order to stimulate other researchers to give it the due importance, a review of the available data (including our own) is provided. An hypothesis is presented for the genesis, fate and role of the TIF in the processes of invasion, growth and metastatization. Open questions regarding the TIF's role in tumor response to therapy are raised

Photopolymers for stable solar cells, sodium batteries and photoelectrochromic windows

The stability of energy devices is a critical (but often disregarded) issue, since great focus is often devoted to the efficiency records (even if these values rapidly decrease upon time). However, today's research in the energy field must be connected to concepts such as long-term stability, safety and environmental impact. In this work, we present free-radical photopolymerization as an attractive technique for the design and straightforward preparation of polymeric components for different energy devices (both storage and conversion). Photopolymerization represents a very attractive technique to this purpose, since it does not require solvents, catalysts, thermal treatments and purification steps. In the initial section, polymer electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) are demonstrated as alternatives to the standard liquid counterparts, using cobalt complexes as redox mediator. In addition, external luminescent and light-cured coatings are developed to further increase cell durability through a combined effect of UV-cutting, down-shifting and self-cleaning. In the second section, electrolytes and light-cured protective coatings are demonstrated for the first time in photoelectrochromic devices, thus leading to smart windows with highly stable characteristics and easy to be manufactured on a large scale. Finally, we show how Na-ion polymer batteries can be considered as an emerging, green and safe solution to the large storage of the electricity produced by solar panels

Photopolymers for stable solar cells, sodium batteries and photoelectrochromic windows

The stability of energy devices is a critical (but often disregarded) issue, since great focus is often devoted to the efficiency records (even if these values rapidly decrease upon time). However, today's research in the energy field must be connected to concepts such as long-term stability, safety and environmental impact. In this work, we present free-radical photopolymerization as an attractive technique for the design and straightforward preparation of polymeric components for different energy devices (both storage and conversion). Photopolymerization represents a very attractive technique to this purpose, since it does not require solvents, catalysts, thermal treatments and purification steps. In the initial section, polymer electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) are demonstrated as alternatives to the standard liquid counterparts, using cobalt complexes as redox mediator. In addition, external luminescent and light-cured coatings are developed to further increase cell durability through a combined effect of UV-cutting, down-shifting and self-cleaning. In the second section, electrolytes and light-cured protective coatings are demonstrated for the first time in photoelectrochromic devices, thus leading to smart windows with highly stable characteristics and easy to be manufactured on a large scale. Finally, we show how Na-ion polymer batteries can be considered as an emerging, green and safe solution to the large storage of the electricity produced by solar panels