Effect of the acrylic acid content on the permeability and water uptake of latex films

Acrylic acid (AA) is a monomer commonly employed in emulsion polymerization to provide electrostatic colloidal stability and improve specific film performance. The addition of AA not only modifies the kinetics of the polymerization, but also it takes part in the interaction between colloidal particles, which has a strong influence on their packing and consequent latex film properties. In this contribution a theoretical modeling of the latex film formation is presented and compared to experimental results: water vapor permeability and latex film capacitance are studied as a function of AA content. It has been shown that water uptake is mainly affected by film morphology which in turn is defined by intercolloidal interaction and drying rate.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Simulation of atomic force microscopy of fractal nanostructured carbon films

The fractal properties of nanostructured carbon films as derived from atomic force microscopy are theoretically investigated by classical molecular dynamics. The non-trivial role of the tip radius in the experimental determination of the fractal exponents is elucidated

Materiale di nanoaggregati di tetraossido di tetraargento

Deposito di domanda di brevett

Gynecological and psycho-sexual aspects of women with history of anorectal malformations

Purpose: Women with anorectal malformation (ARM) are expected to have a normal life span, therefore, gynecological and psycho-sexual issues are also important. Aim of the study was to assess these aspects in adult females with history of ARM. Methods: Thirty-seven women from two ARM referral centers, aged 65 16, were identified. Gynecologic visit, cervicovaginal swab, pelvic ultrasound, FSH, LH, prolactin, progesterone, 17\u2013\u3b2\u2013estradiol, DHEAS, testosterone, TSH during follicular and luteal phases, and administration of FSFI questionnaire to screen the female sexual functioning were performed. Data were compared with six controls. Results: Nineteen patients, mean age 21.7 (16\u201345), participated to the study. Associated anomalies, mostly affecting limbs, vertebrae and genitalia, were present in 57.8% of cases. Mullerian anomalies were retrieved in 36.8%. Hormones\u2019 levels were normal. Concerning sexual functioning, four women (21%) reported dyspareunia or impossible penetration, four did not answer the FSFI questionnaire due to lack of confidence about their sexuality, and three scored lower than the cut-off value for female sexual function. Conclusion: This study confirms the importance of a multidisciplinary long-term follow-up for ARM patients, including a careful study of the reproductive tract to detect and treat those conditions that could affect the fertility. Moreover, an appropriate psychological support should be provided

A preliminary investigation on placenta protein profile reveals only modest changes in well controlled gestational diabetes mellitus.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with a wide range of tissue-specific changes depending on the quality of glycemic control of the mothers. Here we tested the hypothesis that GDM is associated with alterations in the human term placenta proteome. For this aim, two different approacheswere employed. The placenta homogenates from 20 healthy subjects and those from 20 GDM pregnant women were pooled. The two samples thus obtained were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) and the proteins detected were tentatively identified by comparison of their molecular weight with the Human Protein Reference Database, restricting the search to the species expressed in the placenta tissue. However this approach led to misleading results: in fact, an in deep analysis of the spectra and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) measurements of the digestion products from the protein detected, unequivocally proved that the species observed are maternal and fetal globins. Consequently, the two pools were analyzed by 1D sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; the different bands obtained were digested by trypsin and the digestion products were analyzed by MALDI-MS; the protein identification was carried out by comparison of the peptide mass fingerprint with databases. Only modest quantitative differences were observed between the placenta protein profiles of healthy and GDM subjects, indicating that GDM, if well controlled, induces only minor changes in the placental proteome. One example of differently expressed proteins in the placenta homogenate pool from GDM and the controls was the SRRM1 protein, a member of the serine-arginine protein kinase family; for GDM samples, the MALDI spectrum of its digestion products showed the presence of molecular species attributable to glycation and glyco-oxidation processes