Ruolo della PKA/cAMP dipendente sulla regolazione dell'espressione di Foxp3 durante il differenziamento delle Treg in vitro

Le cellule T regolatorie sono una sottopopolazione di linfociti T che servono al mantenimento dell’omeostasi immunitaria attraverso il controllo della proliferazione delle cellule T convenzionali. La proteina PKA che risente delle variazioni dei livelli di cAMP cellulari è parte della via PKA/cAMP dipendente ed è importante per la corretta esecuzione di molti processi cellulari. E’ stata ampiamente dimostrata una relazione tra cAMP e l’immunimodulazione delle cellule T ed in particolare è stato dimostrato che il cAMP produce effetto inibitorio sulla proliferazione di tali cellule. L’obiettivo di questo studio è stato quello di comprendere se la via di segnalazione PKA/cAMP dipendente avesse anche un ruolo sulla differenziazione delle Tconvenzionali in T regolatorie indotte in vitro

“Being Yourself”: Self-Determination at a Summer Sports Camp for Youth with Visual Impairments

This mixed methods study examined self-determination at a summer sports camp for youth with visual impairments. Athletes responded to questionnaires regarding their perceptions of their own self-determination across home, school, and camp settings; goals they set; and their experiences throughout the week of camp. Coaches answered similar questions concerning opportunities for athletes to practice and learn self-determination skills at camp. Five athletes also participated in interviews about their understanding of self-determination in the camp setting. A repeated measures ANOVA on the composite scores of AIR Self-Determination Scale (Wolman et al., 1994) across home, school, and camp settings revealed athletes were statistically significantly more confident in their self-determination skills at camp (M = 26.6, SD = 3.33) compared to at home (M = 19.1, SD = 5.76) and at school (M = 19.2, SD = 5.21), p \u3c .001. Through qualitative survey responses, questionnaires, and interviews, athletes reported that the camp setting created an emotionally-safe environment to practice self-determination skills through fostering positive relationships between coaches and athletes at camp, providing emotional support, and promoting inclusion with respect to visual impairment. This research will contribute to the literature surrounding teaching self-determination skills to young people with visual impairments and has implications for classroom learning. In particular, low staff-to-student ratios, access to adapted sport, options to follow one’s own interests throughout the day, and goal-setting are all aspects of the camp environment that educators can adopt to promote self-determination in school

An FTIR Microspectroscopy Ratiometric Approach for Monitoring X-ray Irradiation Effects on SH-SY5Y Human Neuroblastoma Cells

The ability of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in analyzing cells at a molecular level was exploited for investigating the biochemical changes induced in protein, nucleic acid, lipid, and carbohydrate content of cells after irradiation by graded X-ray doses. Infrared spectra from in vitro SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells following exposure to X-rays (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 Gy) were analyzed using a ratiometric approach by evaluating the ratios between the absorbance of significant peaks. The spectroscopic investigation was performed on cells fixed immediately (t0 cells) and 24 h (t24 cells) after irradiation to study both the initial radiation-induced damage and the effect of the ensuing cellular repair processes. The analysis of infrared spectra allowed us to detect changes in proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids attributable to X-ray exposure. The ratiometric analysis was able to quantify changes for the protein, lipid, and DNA components and to suggest the occurrence of apoptosis processes. The ratiometric study of Amide I band indicated also that the secondary structure of proteins was significantly modified. The comparison between the results from t0 and t24 cells indicated the occurrence of cellular recovery processes. The adopted approach can provide a very direct way to monitor changes for specific cellular components and can represent a valuable tool for developing innovative strategies to monitor cancer radiotherapy outcome

A "Smartly Functional" Urban 3D Model: A New Way to Preserve the State of Health and Quality of a Complex Masonry Structure

The 3D model is the primary information of an integrated support system for the assessment of structural safety under vertical loads and seismic vulnerability of a masonry building. The available approaches for evaluating seismic demand and capacity still appear inadequate and today aims to improve the process of knowledge of the seismic behavior of masonry structures and of the reliability of the numerical analysis of evaluation methods. Discrete modeling approaches (macro-elements) can lead to more reliable results if accurate surveys of the geometry and construction details of the masonry structure are used, especially in contexts where advise against the execution of invasive on-site tests for assessments both under vertical and seismic loads, limiting the investigation campaigns. In order to improve digital processes, oriented to the knowledge of the state of health and quality of a masonry structure, this study illustrates a new overture to virtual modeling and assessment of the structural safety of this type of work. The survey and relief methodology here proposed integrates digital data sensors—configured within an IoT (Internet of Things) network—in a geometric model with a level of accurate and precise detail, processed downstream of the laser scanner and photogrammetric survey of the single masonry building, as "S. Domenico Church in the "Sassi" of Matera

Silk reinforced with graphene or carbon nanotubes spun by spiders

Here, we report the production of silk incorporating graphene and carbon nanotubes directly by spider spinning, after spraying spiders with the corresponding aqueous dispersions. We observe a significant increment of the mechanical properties with respect to the pristine silk, in terms of fracture strength, Young's and toughness moduli. We measure a fracture strength up to 5.4 GPa, a Young's modulus up to 47.8 GPa and a toughness modulus up to 2.1 GPa, or 1567 J/g, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the highest reported to date, even when compared to the current toughest knotted fibres. This approach could be extended to other animals and plants and could lead to a new class of bionic materials for ultimate applications

Micro Sensing of pH Levels in Biological Samples by Graphene-Based Raman Spectroscopy

Graphene provides a unique way for sensing local pH level of substances on micrometric scale, with important implications for the monitoring of cellular metabolic activities where protonic excretion could occur. Doping modifications of graphene, induced by the contact of the graphene with different pH solutions were investigated by micro-Raman spectroscopy in order to develop a pH biosensor. To test the developed biosensor with real biological systems, the pH values of cell culture media in different conditions were evaluated

different approaches to ft ir microspectroscopy on x ray exposed human cells

Fourier-Transform Infrared microspectroscopy (μFT-IR) has been usefully applied in the analysis of the complex biological processes occurring during X-ray radiation-cell interaction. Different experimental approaches are available for FT-IR spectra collection (transmission, attenuated total reflection (ATR), and transflection modes) from cells samples. Recently, some problems have been raised about the role of transmitted and reflected components of the infrared beam in transflection mode. For this reason, we investigated two different transflection approaches for collecting spectra from cells exposed to X-ray. In the former approach, cells were grown on MirrIR slides, and for the second approach, cell pellets were prepared. In both cases, SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells were used. X-ray exposure was performed at doses of 2 and 4 Gy. Spectra were obtained by using both the approaches in the 600–4000 cm−1 spectral range from exposed and not-exposed samples. The main contributions from proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and DNA were clearly evidenced in spectra obtained with the two different acquisition approaches. A comparison among them has been also reported