Effects of Cell Culture Media on the Dynamic Formation of Protein−Nanoparticle Complexes and Influence on the Cellular Response

The development of appropriate in vitro protocols to assess the potential toxicity of the ever expanding range of nanoparticles represents a challenging issue, because of the rapid changes of their intrinsic physicochemical properties (size, shape, reactivity, surface area, etc.) upon dispersion in biological fluids. Dynamic formation of protein coating around nanoparticles is a key molecular event, which may strongly impact the biological response in nanotoxicological tests. In this work, by using citrate-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of different sizes as a model, we show, by several spectroscopic techniques (dynamic light scattering, UV−visible, plasmon resonance light scattering), that proteins−NP interactions are differently mediated by two widely used cellular media (i.e., Dulbecco Modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) and Roswell Park Memorial Institute medium (RPMI), supplemented with fetal bovine serum). We found that, while DMEM elicits the formation of a large time-dependent protein corona, RPMI s..

Impact of nanoscale topography on genomics and proteomics of adherent bacteria.

Bacterial adhesion onto inorganic/nanoengineered surfaces is a key issue in biotechnology and medicine, because it is one of the first necessary steps to determine a general pathogenic event. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of bacteria−surface interaction represents a milestone for planning a new generation of devices with unanimously certified antibacterial characteristics. Here, we show how highly controlled nanostructured substrates impact the bacterial behavior in terms of morphological, genomic, and proteomic response. We observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that type-1 fimbriae typically disappear in Escherichia coli adherent onto nanostructured substrates, as opposed to bacteria onto reference glass or flat gold surfaces. A genetic variation of the fimbrial operon regulation was consistently identified by real time qPCR in bacteria interacting with the nanorough substrates. To gain a deeper insight into the molecular basis of the interaction mechan..

Water-repellent cellulose fiber networks with multifunctional properties.

We demonstrate a simple but highly efficient technique to introduce multifunctional properties to cellulose fiber networks by wetting them with ethyl-cyanoacrylate monomer solutions containing various suspended organic submicrometer particles or inorganic nanoparticles. Solutions can be applied on cellulosic surfaces by simple solution casting techniques or by dip coating, both being suitable for large area applications. Immediately after solvent evaporation, ethyl-cyanoacrylate starts cross-linking around cellulose fibers under ambient conditions because of naturally occurring surface hydroxyl groups and adsorbed moisture, encapsulating them with a hydrophobic polymer shell. Furthermore, by dispersing various functional particles in the monomer solutions, hydrophobic ethyl-cyanoacrylate nanocomposites with desired functionalities can be formed around the cellulose fibers. To exhibit the versatility of the method, cellulose sheets were functionalized with different ethyl-cyanoacrylate nanocomposite shells..

PALAEONTOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE ORDER LAMNIFORMES IN THE MIOCENE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN

A palaeontological study of the lamniform assemblage of the Miocene Mediterranean Sea, based on systematic, statistical and of palaeopathological approaches, is proposed. The systematic revision is mainly based on the important deposits of the area of Montpellier (South-Eastern France), of Malta, of the Salentine area (Italy) and of the Tertiary Piedmont Basin (Italy). The systematic analysis is integrated by the contribution of the multivariate statistical investigation: in particular some preliminary results, based on the Principal Component Analysis, are given.The Miocene Mediterranean deposits result characterized by a rich Lamniform population. The analysed material has allowed to identify 5 families, 10 genera and 14 species of sharks belonging to the order. The new data support the similarities of the taxonomic composition among coeval assemblages of the Mediterranean area and the close relationship between the Atlantic and the Mesogea populations, especially in the pelagic species of the order Lamniformes. The low differentiation of the lamniform Mediterranean assemblages and the similarity with the Atlantic faunas are supported by the paleogeographic situation of the Miocene Mediterranean which sees open passages between the basins.The presence of a population of big sharks, with tropical and temperate habits and a prevailing Mediterranean-Atlantic characteristic, from the early to the late Miocene, at least to the Tortonian, perfectly fits the Paleomediterranean fauna first advocated by Arambourg (1927) and the picture given by Cappetta & Ledoux (1970). The palaeopathological analysis of the skeletons of Neogene preys confirms the fact that this assemblage was sustained by a conspicuous alimentary biomass and underlines strict trophic interactions among big sharks, mainly belonging to the ord. Lamniformes, cetaceans and sirenians

Demand for customized communications by advertising agencies and marketing executives

Mass customization and one-to-one marketing strategies have greatly impacted business practices in the last decade. This has been true in advertising where marketers can effectively customize a message based on the nature of the receiver, deliver it in a cost-effective way, and obtain feedback regarding its effectiveness. The purpose of the present study by the Printing Industry Center (CIAS) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is to benchmark the amount of personalization and complexity of personalized advertising in the U.S. Two distinct populations, advertising agencies and marketing executives, were sampled to measure their current usage patterns and their underlying motivations for recommending personalization within the context of media planning and campaign execution. The objectives of the research were: 1. To define the dynamics between the advertising agency, the marketing executive, and the print services provider relative to media decisions and campaign direction. 2. To reveal the current preferences for print or non-print marketing programs and perspectives on the best media options for personalized campaigns. 3. To determine the amount of variable information or personalization used and the degree of complexity of the customized communication. 4. To understand the barriers to and facilitators of the implementation of a personalized communication strategy. 5. To determine who measures the effectiveness of a campaign and how it is done. The advertising agency respondents were drawn from The Red Book list, which contains detailed profiles of more than 13,000 U.S. and international advertising agencies. A total of 250 advertising agencies completed a 30- minute telephone interview in the spring of 2003. The marketing executive sample was drawn from the Dun and Bradstreet list and was restricted to financial services fi rms, manufacturers, and retail firms. A total of 1,999 firms were contacted by phone to produce the 205 completed surveys. The results, by research objective, are: Dynamics Among Firms Impacting Media Choice • Over half (53%) of marketing executives in the sample had used an advertising agency in the past year. Only 36% reported that the advertising agency bought print on their behalf. • Approximately one-third of marketing executives printed almost all marketing materials internally. • Media choices for advertising revealed the integrated nature of campaigns. Magazines and newspapers led the way for both advertising agencies and marketing executives, making up 31% and 35% of their respective allocations. Collateral and direct mail made up a total of 23% of advertising agencies’ media allocations and 31% of marketing executives’ allocations. Advertising agencies spent a higher proportion of the media budget on broadcast television and radio than did the marketing executives. • The type of media purchased by advertising agencies varied according to their client base. Those that served primarily business-to-business (B2B) clients bought more collateral, direct marketing, and magazine advertising. Those that served primarily business-to- consumer (B2C) clients bought more broadcast TV, radio, and newspaper advertising. • Advertising agencies were asked to indicate up to five factors that drove the media choices for campaigns. Target market selection or demographic was the top factor at 71%. Cost/budget was the second most important factor at 63%; marketing strategy was third at 56%. ROI target was important to 31% of respondents. The least important specific factor driving media choices for campaigns was the need for a personalized message (14%). Use of Personalization • An average of 23% of the work completed by advertising agencies involved personalization. Nearly 20% of advertising agencies had not produced a personalized campaign in the past year. An average of 33% of marketing executives’ campaigns involved personalization. Only 3% of the marketing executives had not produced a personalized campaign in the past year. • When asked, “To what degree are the messages customized?”, both advertising agencies and marketing executives responded that nearly half of their campaigns used the lowest level of complexity, the mail-merge option, including only a variable address and/ or salutation. Only 27% of advertising agencies and 18% of the marketing executives used graphics in the customized messages. • Over three quarters of advertising agency clients (79%) who requested personalization were categorized as small, with annual revenues of $100 million or less. Nearly half of clients (47%) who requested personalization were categorized as B2B companies. The two most common industry classifications for clients who requested personalization were manufacturing and retail, both at 40%. The third most common industry classification for clients requesting personalization was financial at 34%. • In response to the question of which types of media are best for personalization, 86% of advertising agencies indicated that direct mail was the best. E-mail was rated as effective by 56% and customized Internet pages were rated as effective by 35%. Phone/call center/telemarketing was the lowest rated medium for personalization at 18%. Barriers to Using Personalization • Nearly two thirds of both groups were aware of the new print technologies used for personalization. However, while over half of the advertising agencies said that they had shown samples to their corporate clients, only 36% of the marketing executives reported that they had seen samples demonstrated by their agencies. • The biggest specific obstacles keeping advertising agencies from recommending personalization strategies to their clients were price and lack of a suitable database. For the marketing executives, the lack of resources (money, databases, people, or knowledge) and lack of need were the top obstacles mentioned. • The marketing executives were asked if they used a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Only 21% indicated that they did. E x e c u t i v e Summary Copyright 2003 Printing Industry Center (CIAS) at RIT - All rights reserved. 4 However, almost all had a customer database. In managing the customer database, nearly 60% used sales force management capabilities, 31% used data mining, and 28% used campaign management. Measuring Campaign Effectiveness • We found that advertising agency and marketing executive perceptions differed on this issue. Seventy-five percent of marketing executives said that they measured campaign results, whereas only 37% of advertising agencies indicated that their clients, the marketing executives, measured the results. Sales leads, a change in sales, number of orders, and response to direct mail were used to measure results by 45 to 50% of the marketing executives. In order for the demand for more complex levels of customized communications to grow, advertising agencies and their corporate clients must perceive the importance of personalization strategies in campaign planning. While there is still a need to build awareness, there is even greater need to communicate the cost/ benefi t advantages to customized communication. With reduced marketing budgets and intense ROI pressure, advertising agencies should find that their marketing executive clients are searching for proven techniques that will help them achieve better business results. Creative and cost-effective solutions using digital color printing technology to produce eye-catching, relevant direct postal mail will appeal to the marketing executive, particularly to those who are in smaller, B2B firms

Digital color - Where is the market?

Digital color was introduced in the marketplace almost a decade ago. Both Indigo and Xeikon introduced key new products, and early projections were that these technologies would take off. Initially, as with a number of new technologies, there were technical issues. Presses were unreliable; ink and toner didn’t stick to the paper; and the cost of consumables was too high to generate any substantial application transfer from offset technology. Today, Indigo has been taken over by HP. Xeikon faced bankruptcy and was acquired by Punch Technologies. And we are seeing the emergence of new suppliers for production color: Xerox with the iGen3, and NexPress. Ink and toner are sticking to the paper. The quality of the output is substantially better. Consumables costs are down and reliability has improved dramatically. There are a number of application software solutions to support the implementation of one-to-one marketing applications. The key questions everyone is asking are: • Where is the demand for short-run digital color and variable data? • Is there really a market? • What will it take to accelerate application growth and drive volume to these digital color presses? The premise for this report is that much can be learned about the future from lessons of the past. The research efforts started by digging into the archives and pulling out press releases from vendors on early market successes between 1994 and 1999. The analysis was designed to see if these early adopters returned to their traditional offset printing business models, if they ultimately took such a financial hit that they had to shut their doors, or if they stayed the course and established a successful digital color business. Understanding what print providers who are leveraging digital color today did to differentiate themselves is critical to the next wave of digital color technologies. Searching the old press clippings, 149 early adopters were identified. Of these, 44 firms (23%) refused to complete the survey or were unable to find a time convenient for the interview. 66 firms (44%) completed the survey. 49 firms were either out of business or had been acquired by another firm

Marketing communications demand creation: Marketing executive study

For the past several years, many graphic arts industry analysts and market research firms have predicted that the growth of digital color and variable data is about to explode. So far, however, growth has failed to meet market expectations. Several hypotheses are associated with the subdued market growth. The following factors are most frequently cited: • Lack of a strong value proposition for digital color and personalization. Contributing to this is the relatively low incidence of documented ROI metrics for digital color or personalization for marketing materials. • Limited availability of accurate data for targeted or versioned marketing campaigns. If the data do exist, the cost associated with transforming data into a usable form is high. • The migration to electronic media options for direct communication with customers. As part of the investigation into adoption of digital color printing technologies, the Printing Industry Center at RIT embarked on a research initiative to gain an understanding of the relationship between the agency, corporate marketing executive, and print services provider. This report focuses specifically on how instrumental the corporate marketing executive is in initiating the demand for marketing materials that require digital printing. Specific research objectives for this study include: 1. Defining the dynamics between the corporate marketing executive, the printer, and the creative agency relative to media decisions and campaign direction. 2. Understanding how media are selected and how print media are perceived and used within corporations. 3. Evaluating the corporate marketing executive’s level of digital printing technology and that individual’s current use of 1:1 communications solutions. 4. Understanding how database technologies are currently used within corporations and to what extent these technologies are integrated into corporate printing capabilities. 5. Defining the measures for campaign effectiveness utilized by marketing executives today. A sample of 1,999 unique records was randomly selected from the Dun and Bradstreet list. They were contacted by phone and asked to participate in a 20-minute interview. Of the 205 completed interviews, there were 55 financial services firms, 100 manufacturing firms, 21 retail firms and 29 firms classified as “other.

The Advertising agency\u27s role in marketing communication demand creation

Early adopters of digital color printing have consistently been told that they need to educate the advertising agency market to drive digital color print volume. Experience has yielded mixed results for digital color printers who have taken this approach. There have been several hypotheses suggested why agency education has had limited value, including: the price/value equation for digital color printing, limited availability of accurate data for targeted marketing campaigns, and relative lack of use of return on investment metrics for one-toone marketing. As part of the industry analysis effort for the digital color market, the Printing Industry Center at RIT embarked on a research initiative to gain an understanding of the relationship between the advertising agency, the corporate marketing executive, and the print services provider. This report focuses specifically on the impact of the advertising agency on the demand for marketing communication materials that utilize digital color printing