Magnetoelectrochemistry and asymmetric electrochemical reactions

Magnetoelectrochemistry is a branch of electrochemistry where magnetic fields play a vital role in the oxidation and reduction process of the molecules. When it comes to spin-dependent electrochemistry (SDE), becomes a new paradigm. This work presents electrochemical response during the “chiral imprinting” on working electrodes and the effects of potentiostatic and galvanostatic methods. We explore the use of the SDE concept, which is implemented for chiral-ferromagnetic (CFM) hybrid working electrodes, and we compare various electrochemical parameters affecting the quality of deposition. We electrochemically co-deposited nickel (Ni) with a chiral compound (tartaric acid) in its enantiopure forms (L and D), which allows us to obtain a chiral co-deposited nickel-tartaric acid (Ni-LTA or Ni-DTA) working electrode

multidisciplinary approach to pyemotes ventricosus papular urticaria dermatitis

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Facing the challenges of distance learning: Voices from the classroom

This article reports on the first webinar in the IATEFL Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group’ series of online events dedicated to supporting teachers in this unprecedented and unexpected pandemic situation. Learner Autonomy in the Time of Corona: Supporting Learners and Teachers in Turbulent Days featured a series of talks and open discussion panels, allowing participants to actively share their thoughts and ideas. In the following, the outcomes of the webinar will be discussed

La Terza Italia di Fronte alla Crisi e alla Crescita delle Nuove Potenze Manifatturiere. Una Metodologia di Supporto alle Decisioni di Politica Industriale Regionale

Lo scoppio della Crisi nel 2008 ha fin da subito in molti paesi stimolato interventi di politica industriale volti al supporto, alla difesa e al rilancio delle proprie economie. L’Italia tuttavia, segnata da un periodo di persistente fragilità e instabilità politica, ha visto forti limiti nelle capacità del governo nazionale di definire e implementare una strategia realmente intenzionata a promuovere la crescita, il cambiamento strutturale e il rilancio competitivo delle produzioni italiane. Questo scenario, mentre da una parte spiega e giustifica l’attivismo dei governi di alcune regioni italiane, dall’altro lato impone un’attenta riflessione su come rendere la politica industriale regionale più efficace ed efficiente. Incentrando l’analisi sul sistema manifatturiero delle regioni della Terza Italia, questo lavoro propone una metodologia per migliorare la trasparenza e l’efficacia nella scelta dei settori strategici di interesse per la politica industriale. In particolare sviluppiamo un indicatore composto – l’Indice di Settore Strategico (ISS) – per classificare i settori manifatturieri regionali in base alla loro importanza strategica e applichiamo una metodologia, l’uncertainty analysis, per valutare la robustezza del ranking e il grado di discrezionalità del policy-maker nel condizionare i risultati dell’analisi

The contribution of Further Education and skills to social mobility

Social mobility means being able to improve your and your family’s standard of living, through better education, employment and income. This report investigates how taking part in further education – such as an apprenticeship, work-based learning, community learning and adult education – helps people get better jobs and wages. It also looks at the effects further education has on the prospects for the children of learners. It is a review of published research from government, academics and think tanks

A New Biocomposite Material Based on Wheat Waste and Suitable for 3D Printing Applications

Biopolymers, such as poly(lactic) acid (PLA), which is obtained through green synthesis pathways from renewable resources, has attracted considerable interest in recent years because of the increasing need to reduce petroleum-based plastic pollution and bringing their prices comparable with conventional thermoplastic commodities’ price (e.g., polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene). The present work investigates the employment of 10% wt of natural materials, deriving from wheat milling process, as biofiller of PLA to develop a biocomposite filament suitable for 3D-printing technique. The inclusion of a cost-free natural material leads to a strong reduction of the whole material cost. Implementing this new class of composite material to additive manufacturing technique allows to dramatically reduce the environmental impact of 3D printed products

Platelet Activation in Ovarian Cancer Ascites: Assessment of GPIIb/IIIa and PF4 in Small Extracellular Vesicles by Nano-Flow Cytometry Analysis

In ovarian cancer, ascites represent the microenvironment in which the platelets extravasate to play their role in the disease progression. We aimed to develop an assay to measure ascites’ platelet activation. We enriched small extracellular vesicles (EVs) (40–200 nm) from ascites of high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer patients (n = 12) using precipitation with polyethylene glycol, and we conducted single-particle phenotyping analysis by nano-flow cytometry after labelling and ultra-centrifugation. Atomic force microscopy single-particle nanomechanical analysis showed heterogeneous distributions in the size of the precipitated particles and their mechanical stiffness. Samples were fluorescently labelled with antibodies specific to the platelet markers GPIIb/IIIa and PF4, showing 2.6 to 18.16% of all particles stained positive for the biomarkers and, simultaneously, the EV membrane labelling. Single-particle phenotyping analysis allowed us to quantify the total number of non-EV particles, the number of small-EVs and the number of platelet-derived small-EVs, providing a platelet activation assessment independent of the ascites volume. The percentage of platelet-derived small-EVs was positively correlated with platelet distribution width to platelet count in sera (PDW/PLT). Overall, we presented a high-throughput method that can be helpful in future studies to determine the correlation between the extent of platelet activation in ascites and disease status

Low-Resistance Molecular Wires Propagate Spin-Polarized Currents

Spin based properties, applications, and devices are typically related to inorganic ferromagnetic materials. The development of organic materials for spintronic applications has long been encumbered by its reliance on ferromagnetic electrodes for polarized spin injection. The discovery of the chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect, in which chiral organic molecules serve as spin filters, defines a marked departure from this paradigm because it exploits soft materials, operates at ambient temperature, and eliminates the need for a magnetic electrode. To date, the CISS effect has been explored exclusively in molecular insulators. Here we combine chiral molecules, which serve as spin filters, with molecular wires that despite not being chiral, function to preserve spin polarization. Self-Assembled monolayers (SAMs) of right-handed helical (l-proline)8 (Pro8) and corresponding peptides, N-Terminal conjugated to (porphinato)zinc or meso-To-meso ethyne-bridged (porphinato)zinc structures (Pro8PZnn), were interrogated via magnetic conducting atomic force microscopy (mC-AFM), spin-dependent electrochemistry, and spin Hall devices that measure the spin polarizability that accompanies the charge polarization. These data show that chiral molecules are not required to transmit spin-polarized currents made possible by the CISS mechanism. Measured Hall voltages for Pro8PZn1-3 substantially exceed that determined for the Pro8 control and increase dramatically as the conjugation length of the achiral PZnn component increases; mC-AFM data underscore that measured spin selectivities increase with an increasing Pro8PZn1-3 N-Terminal conjugation. Because of these effects, spin-dependent electrochemical data demonstrate that spin-polarized currents, which trace their genesis to the chiral Pro8 moiety, propagate with no apparent dephasing over the augmented Pro8PZnn length scales, showing that spin currents may be transmitted over molecular distances that greatly exceed the length of the chiral moiety that makes possible the CISS effect

Intracrine endorphinergic systems in modulation of myocardial differentiation

A wide variety of peptides not only interact with the cell surface, but govern complex signaling from inside the cell. This has been referred to as an "intracrine" action, and the orchestrating molecules as "intracrines". Here, we review the intracrine action of dynorphin B, a bioactive end-product of the prodynorphin gene, on nuclear opioid receptors and nuclear protein kinase C signaling to stimulate the transcription of a gene program of cardiogenesis. The ability of intracrine dynorphin B to prime the transcription of its own coding gene in isolated nuclei is discussed as a feed-forward loop of gene expression amplification and synchronization. We describe the role of hyaluronan mixed esters of butyric and retinoic acids as synthetic intracrines, controlling prodynorphin gene expression, cardiogenesis, and cardiac repair. We also discuss the increase in prodynorphin gene transcription and intracellular dynorphin B afforded by electromagnetic fields in stem cells, as a mechanism of cardiogenic signaling and enhancement in the yield of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. We underline the possibility of using the diffusive features of physical energies to modulate intracrinergic systems without the needs of viral vector-mediated gene transfer technologies, and prompt the exploration of this hypothesis in the near future

Video games are exciting: a European study of videogame‐induced seizures and epilepsy.

Epileptic Disord. 2002 Jun;4(2):121-8. Video games are exciting: a European study of video game-induced seizures and epilepsy. Kasteleijn-Nolst Trenité DG, Martins da Silva A, Ricci S, Rubboli G, Tassinari CA, Lopes J, Bettencourt M, Oosting J, Segers JP. Department of Neurology, Medical Centre Alkmaar, PO Box 501, 1800 AM, The Netherlands. [email protected] Abstract BACKGROUND: Video game seizures have been reported in photosensitive and non-photosensitive patients with epilepsy. The game Super Mario World, has led to many cases of first seizures. We examined whether this game was indeed more provocative than other programs and whether playing the game added to this effect. METHODS: We prospectively investigated 352 patients in four European cities, using a standard protocol including testing of a variety of visual stimuli. We correlated historical data on provocative factors in daily life with electroencephalographic laboratory findings. RESULTS: The video game, Super Mario World proved more epileptogenic than standard TV programs and as provocative as programs with flashing lights and patterns. Most striking was the fact that video game-viewing and-playing on the 50 and 100 Hz TV was significantly more provocative than viewing the standard program (P < 0.001, P < 0.05 respectively). Playing the video game Mario World on a 50 Hz TV, appeared to be significantly more provocative than playing this game on the 100 Hz TV (P < 0.001). Of 163 patients with a history of TV-, VG- or CG-seizures, 85% of them showed epileptiform discharges in response to photic stimulation, 44% to patterns, 59% to 50 Hz TV and 29% to 100 Hz TV. CONCLUSIONS: Children and adolescents with a history of video game seizures are, in the vast majority, photosensitive and should be investigated with standardised photic stimulation. Games and programs with bright background or flashing images are specifically provocative. Playing a video game on a 100 Hz TV is less provocative [published with videosequences]. PMID: 12105074 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE