Untersuchung des Zusammenhangs zwischen VEGF Gewebsexpression und des Sauerstoffpartialdrucks in primären Mammakarzinomen am Modell der primär systemischen Chemotherapie

Die vorliegende Arbeit ist Teil eines wissenschaftlichen Kooperationsprojektes zwischen der Frauenklinik vom Roten Kreuz in München und der Klinik für Strahlentherapie und radiologische Onkologie am Klinikum rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München. Ziel des Gesamtprojektes ist es den prädiktiven Wert für das Tumoransprechen auf primär systemische Chemotherapie von pO2 in malignen Mammatumoren zu bestimmen und seine Abhängigkeit von Serumhämoglobin, dem p53-Status und dem VEGF-Status zu untersuchen. In dieser Arbeit wurde der Zusammenhang zwischen dem intratumoralen Sauerstoffpartialdruck und dem VEGF-Status untersucht. Hierzu wurde das von 95 primären Mammakarzinomen stanzbiobtisch gewonnene Gewebe immunhistochemisch untersucht und die VEGF-Gewebeexpression bestimmt. Schließlich konnte, aus 109 ausgewerteten Sauerstoffmessungen und aus 95 bestimmten VEGF-Gewebeexpression, bei 77 Patientinnen sowohl Ergebnisse der Sauerstoffmessungen als auch der VEGF-Bestimmung zueinander in Beziehung gesetzt und statistisch ausgewertet werden. Zusätzlich wurden sowohl die pO2-Werte als auch der VEGF-Status mit den sog. klassischen Prognosefaktoren des Mammakarzinoms in Relation gesetzt. Hier wurden die gewonnen Werte mit dem Alter, der Tumorgröße, dem Nodalstatus, dem Grading und dem Hormonrezeptorstatus des untersuchten Patientinnenkollektivs zu einander in Beziehung gesetzt. Die der Arbeit zugrunde liegende Annahme war, dass, durch die Gewebehypoxie induzierte Hif-1 alpha Protein-Ausschüttung bedingte Steigerung der VEGF-Gewebeexpression, hypoxische Tumore einen gegenüber normoxischen Geweben erhöhten VEGF-Status haben müssten. Es konnte jedoch kein statistisch signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen dem Oxygenierungsstatus und der VEGF-Gewebeexpression bei primären Mammakarzinomen nachgewiesen werden. Lediglich wurde eine statistisch nicht signifikante Verminderung in anoxischen Geweben von VEGF-positiven Tumoren nachgewiesen. Die erziehlten Ergebnisse entsprechen zwar nicht den Erwartungen, dennoch kann gefolgert werden, dass der intratumorale pO2 und die VEGF-Gewebeexpression voneinander unabhängige Faktoren sind, von denen jeder für sich, wie aus der Literatur bekannt ist, mit einer schlechten Prognose vergesellschaftet ist. Auch konnte keine Assoziation mit den klassischen Prognosefaktoren nachgewiesen werden

Cyst nematodes of the genus Heterodera and Globodera in Sicily

A survey was conducted in Sicily, from 2007 to 2009, to obtain insights on specific composition, frequency and geographical distribution of cyst nematodes associated to crops of agricultural economic importance. Soil and root samples were collected mainly from crops showing chlorosis, poor growth and reduced yield. Cysts and larvae were extracted and identified to species level by comparative examination of morphological and morphometric characters. Confirmation of the species identity was also made by molecular analysis for some species. Seven species of the genus Heterodera Schmidt, 1871 and two of the genus Globodera Skarbilovic, 1959 were found. They were H. avenae Wollenweber, 1924, H. bifenestra Cooper, 1955, H. carotae Jones, 1950, H. goettingiana Liebscher, 1892, H. hordecalis Andersson, 1974, H. latipons Franklin, 1969 and H. schachtii Schmidt, G. rostochiensis (Wollenweber, 1923) Behrens, 1975 and G. pallida (Stone, 1973) Behrens, 1975. All species dectected are known to occur in Europe and the Mediterranean basin, but H. avenae, H. hordecalis, and H. latipons had not been reported from Sicily and H. bifenestra is a new report for Italy

Severe damage caused by Meloidogyne artiellia on cereals and leguminous in Sicily

The root-knot nematode Meloidogyne artiellia Franklin has been reported in various Italian regions on host plants belonging to the families Graminaceae, Leguminosae and Cruciferae, on which it is responsible for severe yield losses. It had never been detected in Sicily. In spring 2008, the nematode was found in different legume and cereal fields in the area of Caltagirone (province of Catania, Sicily). Fields infested with the nematode showed patches of stunted, chlorotic, withered and dwarfed plants. Moreover, ears of wheat were small and kernels appeared dried; finally, roots were scrubby. Infected plants were durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), broad bean (Vicia faba L.), lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) and vetch (Vicia sativa L.) Root observations showed brownings, small galls and mature females bearing egg masses and larvae at root bifurcations

Politiche di propaganda britanniche e storie di prigionia italiana tra Egitto e India

La tesi narra lo sforzo compiuto da note agenzie di intelligence (Special Operations Executive e Political Warfare Executive) per portare alla rieducazione politica e al reclutamento dei prigionieri di guerra italiani internati in Egitto e India, in fasi diverse, al fine di costituire una Free Italian force che avrebbe potuto avere un ruolo militare o, più semplicemente, un forte valore propagandistico. Nel lavoro sono descritte le direttive generali che esplicarono tale politica, gli uomini che le elaborarono e i profili biografici di persone che furono coinvolte, a vario titolo, nei processi di propaganda progettati dai britannici. La tesi è stata resa possibile attraverso consultazioni di materiali bibliografici e serie archivistiche in biblioteche e archivi in Italia e all’estero. Costituiscono un elemento non irrilevante della tesi anche le opere memorialistiche dei reduci. Il lavoro è strutturato in quattro parti. Dopo un capitolo bibliografico a carattere introduttivo, si illustrano i tentativi di propaganda e reclutamento verso i pows italiani, iniziati in Egitto dal settembre-ottobre 1940 fino alla seconda metà del 1941. Nel terzo capitolo si narra quindi delle politiche di propaganda portate avanti in India, dove nel novembre del 1941 arrivò il personale d’intelligence dalla Gran Bretagna che doveva studiare e portare avanti a marce spedite il progetto dell’unità antifascista. Il quarto capitolo verte su quanto accaduto nei campi indiani dopo l’8 settembre e sui risultati, non previsti, della propaganda

Amphiphiles Self-Assembly: Basic Concepts and Future Perspectives of Supramolecular Approaches

Amphiphiles are synthetic or natural molecules with the ability to self-assemble into a wide variety of structures including micelles, vesicles, nanotubes, nanofibers, and lamellae. Self-assembly processes of amphiphiles have been widely used to mimic biological systems, such as assembly of lipids and proteins, while their integrated actions allow the performance of highly specific cellular functions which has paved a way for bottom-up bionanotechnology. While amphiphiles self-assembly has attracted considerable attention for decades due to their extensive applications in material science, drug and gene delivery, recent developments in nanoscience stimulated the combination of the simple approaches of amphiphile assembly with the advanced concept of supramolecular self-assembly for the development of more complex, hierarchical nanostructures. Introduction of stimulus responsive supramolecular amphiphile assembly-disassembly processes provides particularly novel approaches for impacting bionanotechnology applications. Leading examples of these novel self-assembly processes can be found, in fact, in biosystems where assemblies of different amphiphilic macrocomponents and their integrated actions allow the performance of highly specific biological functions. In this perspective, we summarize in this tutorial review the basic concept and recent research on self-assembly of traditional amphiphilic molecules (such as surfactants, amphiphile-like polymers, or lipids) and more recent concepts of supramolecular amphiphiles assembly which have become increasingly important in emerging nanotechnology

Earthquake-triggered landslide susceptibility in Italy by means of Artificial Neural Network

The use of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approaches has gained a significant role over the last decade in the field of predicting the distribution of effects triggered by natural forcing, this being particularly relevant for the development of adequate risk mitigation strategies. Among the most critical features of these approaches, there are the accurate geolocation of the available data as well as their numerosity and spatial distribution. The use of an ANN has never been tested at a national scale in Italy, especially in estimating earthquake-triggered landslides susceptibility. The CEDIT catalogue, the most up-to-date national inventory of earthquake-induced ground effects, was adopted to evaluate the efficiency of an ANN to explain the distribution of landslides over the Italian territory. An ex-post evaluation of the ANN-based susceptibility model was also performed, using a sub-dataset of historical data with lower geolocation precision. The ANN training highly performed in terms of spatial prediction, by partitioning the Italian landscape into slope units. The obtained results returned a distribution of potentially unstable slope units with maximum concentrations primarily distributed in the central Apennines and secondarily in the southern and northern Apennines. Moreover, the Alpine sector clearly appeared to be divided into two areas, a western one with relatively low susceptibility to earthquake-triggered landslides and the eastern sector with higher susceptibility. Our work clearly demonstrates that if funds for risk mitigation were allocated only on the basis of rainfall-induced landslide distribution, large areas highly susceptible to earthquake-triggered landslides would be completely ignored by mitigation plans.</p

Spontaneous galvanic displacement of Pt nanostructures on nickel foam: Synthesis, characterization and use for hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract In this paper we propose the use of spontaneous galvanic displacement as a promising solution to produce nickel foam electrodes functionalized with interconnected platinum nanoparticles. Scanning Electron Microscopy analyses, coupled with X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy show that, under proper conditions, we can overcome the limits of other deposition techniques, achieving a uniform Pt coverage throughout the 3D structure of the Ni foam. We show that such a condition, not deeply investigated in previous literature, turns out to be crucial for the long term stability of the electrodes under constant current stress. The amount of Pt on the Ni foam has been experimentally evaluated, obtaining optimal results with 0.015 mg cm−2 of noble metal in a 0.16 cm thick electrode. Such a low amount corresponds to a Ni foam cost increase of less than 0.1%