Silurian agglutinated foraminifera from the Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

Viene qui descritta per la prima volta una associazione di foraminiferi agglutinanti all’interno di calcari siluriani della Penisola di Dingle, Contea di Kerry, Irlanda sud-occidentale. La collezione è stata rinvenuta nel residuo di campioni trattati per la preparazione di conodonti. I foraminiferi sono dominati da tubotalamidi (Rectoammodiscus e rari Sansabaina), mentre più rari sono i monotalamidi (Psammosiphonella e Psammosphaera). A livello speci co l’associazione presente in Irlanda è identica a quella descritta in precedenza nel Siluriano del Nord America, anche se presenta minore diversità. Tutte le specie rinvenute hanno una lunga distribuzione stratigra ca, e quindi ricoprono un signi cato limitato per correlazioni stratigra che. La fauna a conodonti ritrovata nei campioni ha permesso una attribuzione dei foraminiferi agglutinanti alla parte iniziale del Ludlow.An assemblage of primitive agglutinated foraminifera is reported for the first time from Silurian limestones from the Dingle Peninsula, Ireland. The assemblage is dominated by tubothalamids (Rectoammodiscus and rare Sansabaina), with less abundant monothalamids (Psammosiphonella and Psammosphaera). At the species level, the agglutinated foraminiferal assemblage is identical to those described previously from the Silurian of North America but is of lower diversity. The foraminiferal assemblage has limited potential for stratigraphic correlation as long-ranging taxa are present. The co-occurring conodont fauna enables an assignment to the early Ludlow

Key performance indicators for monitoring the integrated care pathway in breast cancer: the E.Pic.A. project

Introduction: Due to its high incidence, evaluating performance of care delivered to breast cancer patients is a crucial issue. The multidisciplinary panel E.Pic.A. (Economic Appropriateness of an Integrated Care Pathway) defined a set of key performance indexes (KPIs) to evaluate economic waste in breast cancer healthcare interventions. Methods: The E.Pic.A. panel identified the principal KPIs that are crucial within the breast cancer care pathway to evaluate the performance of care. KPIs were defined taking into account their reliability, validity, usability and feasibility of measurement through the linkage between multiple routine healthcare data sources. Results: 7 KPIs were identified: 3 on instrumental diagnostics, 2 on surgery and 2 on treatment. The 3 KPIs regarding instrumental diagnostics are aimed at assessing the inappropriateness of diagnostic tests performed before and after the index surgery. The 2 KPIs regarding surgery measure the inappropriateness of possible repeated interventions considering the time elapsed from the index surgery. The 2 KPIs regarding oncologic therapy measure the inappropriateness about the administration time of adjuvant therapy and radiotherapy considering the time elapsed from the index surgery. Conclusion: E.Pic.A methodology could help to evaluate economic waste in healthcare interventions with the objective of redirecting resources to interventions with greater value

Can facies act as a chronostratigraphical tool?

Results demonstrate that the Appalachian ironstones seem to reflect the same microbially-mediated iron mineralization already documented in the Carnic Alps

Tavola rotonda. Il mutamento del sitsema bancario. Un dibattito controverso

La tavola rotonda presenta le diverse posizioni che hanno animato il dibattito sugli effetti del consolidamente del sistema bancario italiano

Bringing Homogeneous Iron Catalysts on the Heterogeneous Side: Solutions for Immobilization

Noble metal catalysts currently dominate the landscape of chemical synthesis, but cheaper and less toxic derivatives are recently emerging as more sustainable solutions. Iron is among the possible alternative metals due to its biocompatibility and exceptional versatility. Nowadays, iron catalysts work essentially in homogeneous conditions, while heterogeneous catalysts would be better performing and more desirable systems for a broad industrial application. In this review, approaches for heterogenization of iron catalysts reported in the literature within the last two decades are summarized, and utility and critical points are discussed. The immobilization on silica of bis(arylimine)pyridyl iron complexes, good catalysts in the polymerization of olefins, is the first useful heterogeneous strategy described. Microporous molecular sieves also proved to be good iron catalyst carriers, able to provide confined geometries where olefin polymerization can occur. Same immobilizing supports (e.g., MCM-41 and MCM-48) are suitable for anchoring iron-based catalysts for styrene, cyclohexene and cyclohexane oxidation. Another excellent example is the anchoring to a Merrifield resin of an FeII-anthranilic acid complex, active in the catalytic reaction of urea with alcohols and amines for the synthesis of carbamates and N-substituted ureas, respectively. A SILP (Supported Ionic Liquid Phase) catalytic system has been successfully employed for the heterogenization of a chemoselective iron catalyst active in aldehyde hydrogenation. Finally, FeIII ions supported on polyvinylpyridine grafted chitosan made a useful heterogeneous catalytic system for C–H bond activation

Geological appraisals of core samples using the ExoMars 2020 rover instrumentation

International audienc

Mechanistic studies on two dinuclear organogold(III) compounds showing appreciable antiproliferative properties and a high redox stability

Two dinuclear oxo-bridged organogold(III) compounds, namely [(N,N,C)2Au2(μ-O)][PF6]2 (with N,N,CH = 6-(1-methylbenzyl)-2,2′-bipyridine, Au2O1; or 6-(1,1-dimethylbenzyl)-2,2′-bipyridine, Au2O2), were previously prepared and characterised. Their solution chemistry under physiological-like conditions has been investigated here as well as their in vitro antiproliferative properties. Notably, these compounds reveal a marked redox stability even in the presence of effective biological reductants such as ascorbic acid and glutathione. The two dinuclear gold(III) compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic actions against a representative panel of 12 human tumor cell lines, in comparison to respective mononuclear parent compounds [(N,N,C)AuOH][PF6], and appreciable biological activity could be highlighted. The reactions of Au2O1 and Au2O2 with a few model proteins were studied and the ability to form metallodrug–protein adducts monitored through ESI MS methods. Typical adducts were identified where the protein is associated to monometallic gold fragments; in these adducts gold remains in the oxidation state +3 and conserves its organic ligand. A direct comparison of the biological profiles of these binuclear organogold(III) compounds with those previously reported for a series of dinuclear oxo-bridged complexes [(N,N)2Au2(μ-O)2][PF6]2 (N,N = 6(6′)-substituted 2,2′-bipyridines) named Auoxo's was carried out. It emerges that the greater cytotoxicity of the latter is mainly due to the greater oxidising power of their gold(III) centres and to propensity to generate gold(I) species; in contrast, the here described bimetallic organogold(III) complexes manifest a far higher redox stability in the biological milieu coupled to lower, but still significant, antiproliferative properties. Different molecular mechanisms are thus hypothesised for these two classes of dinuclear gold(III) agents

Mechanistic studies on two dinuclear organogold(III) compounds showing appreciable antiproliferative properties and a high redox stability

Two dinuclear oxo-bridged organogold(III) compounds, namely [(N,N,C)2Au2(μ-O)][PF6]2 (with N,N,CH = 6-(1-methylbenzyl)-2,2′-bipyridine, Au22O1; or 6-(1,1-dimethylbenzyl)-2,2′-bipyridine, Au22O2), were previously prepared and characterised. Their solution chemistry under physiological-like conditions has been investigated here as well as their in vitro antiproliferative properties. Notably, these compounds reveal a marked redox stability even in the presence of effective biological reductants such as ascorbic acid and glutathione. The two dinuclear gold(III) compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic actions against a representative panel of 12 human tumor cell lines, in comparison to respective mononuclear parent compounds [(N,N,C)AuOH][PF6], and appreciable biological activity could be highlighted. The reactions of Au22O1 and Au22O2 with a few model proteins were studied and the ability to form metallodrug–protein adducts monitored through ESI MS methods. Typical adducts were identified where the protein is associated to monometallic gold fragments; in these adducts gold remains in the oxidation state +3 and conserves its organic ligand. A direct comparison of the biological profiles of these binuclear organogold(III) compounds with those previously reported for a series of dinuclear oxo-bridged complexes [(N,N)2Au2(μ-O)2][PF6]2 (N,N = 6(6′)-substituted 2,2′-bipyridines) named Auoxo's was carried out. It emerges that the greater cytotoxicity of the latter is mainly due to the greater oxidising power of their gold(III) centres and to propensity to generate gold(I) species; in contrast, the here described bimetallic organogold(III) complexes manifest a far higher redox stability in the biological milieu coupled to lower, but still significant, antiproliferative properties. Different molecular mechanisms are thus hypothesised for these two classes of dinuclear gold(III) agents