Effects on Folsomia candida Willem, 1902 of products resulting from anaerobic digestion of biomass tested at different soil pH

In recent years, it has become increasingly important to reduce the production and impact of wastes on the environment, and to save and restore natural resources. A way of disposing industrial, agro-industrial and urban wastes is their treatment by anaerobic digestion, with the production of biogas and residual organic material. The latter is commonly called digestate and can be used in agriculture as fertilizer, soil improver or adsorbent material, but only scarce or no evaluations of its biological effects on soil organisms are presently available. The aim of the present research was to study the effects of digestate, when added to soils with different pH values, on the survival and reproduction of the collembolan Folsomia candida. The digestate investigated in this study was obtained from agro-industrial wastes mixed with biological sludge. We exposed springtails to two different concentrations of digestate (2.5%; 5%) in two artificial soils with pH values of 6 and 4.5. The addition of digestate resulted in an increase of experimental-soil pH values, depending on the concentration and original pH value of the artificial soil used. The negative effects of digestate detected on the survival and reproduction of F. candida was mainly attributed to pH values > 6. The high pH value, however, does not explain by itself the strong decrease in number of juveniles in the experimental soil when the highest concentration of digestate was combined with the highest pH value reached: in this case it is possible to assume a combined effect of pH and other digestate characteristics such as nitrogen content and salinity, currently under study

Tailoring of silica-based nanoporous pod by spermidine multi-activity

Ubiquitous in nature, polyamines (PAs) are a class of low-molecular aliphatic amines critically involved in cell growth, survival and differentiation. The polycation behavior is validated as a successful strategy in delivery systems to enhance oligonucleotide loading and cellular uptake. In this study, the chemical features and the functional roles of the PA spermidine are synergistically exploited in the synthesis and bioactive functionalization of SiO2-based structures. Inspired by biosilicification, the role of spermidine is assessed both as catalyst and template in a biomimetic one-pot synthesis of dense silica-based particles (SPs) and as a competitive agent in an interfacial reassembly strategy, to empty out SPs and generate spermidine-decorated hollow silica nanoporous pods (spd-SNPs). Spermidine bioactivity is then employed for targeting tumor cell over-expressed polyamine transport system (PTS) and for effective delivery of functional miRNA into melanoma cells. Spermidine decoration promotes spd-SNP cell internalization mediated by PTS and along with hollow structure enhances oligonucleotide loading. Accordingly, the functional delivery of the tumor suppressor miR-34a 3p resulted in intracellular accumulation of histone-complexed DNA fragments associated with apoptosis. Overall, the results highlight the potential of spd-SNP as a multi-agent anticancer therapy

Microwave assisted sintering of Na-β’’-Al2O3 in single mode cavities: Insights in the use of 2450 MHz frequency and preliminary experiments at 5800 MHz

Microwave assisted sintering of Na-beta’’-Al2O3 in single mode cavities was accurately investigated. The use of single mode cavity allowed monitoring the parameters affecting the sintering process, like the forward power, together with the temperature evolution, making possible to perform energy efficiency and specific energy consumption evaluations. Experiments have been performed at the frequency of 2450 MHz, but preliminary results are also reported using the higher frequency of 5800 MHz, in order to investigate its effect on important parameters like the power density distribution as well as the penetration depth, which are responsible of the resulting heating rate and sintering outcome. Dielectric properties of the powders were measured as a function of temperature in order to partially predict and support the understanding of their experimental heating behaviour. Furthermore, dielectric properties provide the fundamental information needed for the multiphysics numerical simulation, performed with the aim to reach insights into the power density evolution in the specimen as sintering proceeds

Guidelines on the diagnosis, treatment and management of visceral and renal arteries aneurysms: a joint assessment by the Italian Societies of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (SICVE) and Medical and Interventional Radiology (SIRM)

: The objective of these Guidelines is to provide recommendations for the classification, indication, treatment and management of patients suffering from aneurysmal pathology of the visceral and renal arteries. The methodology applied was the GRADE-SIGN version, and followed the instructions of the AGREE quality of reporting checklist. Clinical questions, structured according to the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome) model, were formulated, and systematic literature reviews were carried out according to them. Selected articles were evaluated through specific methodological checklists. Considered Judgments were compiled for each clinical question in which the characteristics of the body of available evidence were evaluated in order to establish recommendations. Overall, 79 clinical practice recommendations were proposed. Indications for treatment and therapeutic options were discussed for each arterial district, as well as follow-up and medical management, in both candidate patients for conservative therapy and patients who underwent treatment. The recommendations provided by these guidelines simplify and improve decision-making processes and diagnostic-therapeutic pathways of patients with visceral and renal arteries aneurysms. Their widespread use is recommended