Thermo-responsive Graft Copolymers based on Poly(Methyl Vinyl Ether): from Synthesis to Evaluation

Recently, stimuli-responsive polymer systems have been extensively investigated because of their wide range of potential applications in medicine, biotechnology, ecology and pharmacology. The most important stimulus in these studies is temperature. Thermo-responsive polymers are hydrophilic and water-soluble at low temperatures, but separate from these solutions when the temperature is raised above a certain temperature, which is called the cloud point temperature (Tcp). This behaviour is based on the fact that the hydrophilic polymer/water interactions dominate at low temperatures, but are broken above the Tcp. Poly(methyl vinyl ether) (PMVE) was chosen for its thermo-responsive properties close to body temperature. What has emerged from this work is that the controlled/living polymerization methods developed so far eliminate the limits in the design of novel types of graft copolymers with potential applications such as drug carriers, switchable amphiphiles, mineralization templates, etc... Several synthetic concepts have been designed to graft this polymer onto hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymer backbones. For the preparation of these polymer structures, two different strategies were used, both grafting onto and grafting from approaches to attach the copolymers as nearly monodisperse side chains of controlled molecular weight. Secondly, the physical properties of these graft copolymers have been studied with a wide range of advanced characterization techniques. These new polymers have proved to have suitable thermo-responsive properties. For example, some of them have been shown to act as efficient dispersants and stabilizers for carbon black, a good model for sludge. From the industrial viewpoint, pigment or inorganic particle stabilization in water has a huge potential due to the public demand for products friendly to the environment. Potentially, they could also be used as sensors or actuators for drug delivery systems. We expect that our work could help chemists as well as non-chemists to develop new applications which could be reliably utilized in real life application

Diffamazione e discorso d'odio in Internet

Una recente pronuncia di legittimità (Cass., [ord.] 16.5.2023, n. 13411), nel precisare i limiti del legittimo esercizio del diritto di critica (politica) all’interno di una piattaforma digitale come Twitter (oggi “X”), offre l’occasione per riflettere su problemi che circondano la tutela, nell’ambiente digitale, di diritti fondamentali della persona come la libertà di espressione, la privacy e il diritto a non esser discriminati. Il contributo si sofferma, in particolare, sul ruolo delle maggiori società di tecnologia dell’informazione (cd. Big Tech) nel governo del discorso pubblico online alla luce del quadro regolatorio europeo come modificato dal cd. Digital Services Act (Reg. UE 2022/2065

Unruly wives in the household : Toward feminist genealogies for peace research

Feminist scholars and activists have historically been written out of peace research, despite their strong presence in the early stages of the field. In this article, we develop the concept of "wifesization" to illustrate the process through which feminist and feminized interventions have been reduced to appendages of the field, their contributions appropriated for its development but unworthy of mention as independent producers of knowledge. Wifesization has trickle-down effects, not just for knowledge production, but also for peacebuilding practice. We propose new feminist genealogies for peace research that challenge and redefine the narrow boundaries of the field, in the form of a patchwork quilt including early theorists, utopian writing, oral history, and indigenous knowledge production. Reflections draw on the authors' engagements with several archives rich in cultures and languages of peace, not reducible to a "single story." Recovering wifesized feminist contributions to peace research, our article offers a new way of constructing peace research canons that gives weight to long-standing, powerful, and plural feminist voices, in order to make peace scholarship more inclusive and ultimately richer.Peer reviewe

Introduction

acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Human papillomavirus infection and risk factors in a cohort of Tuscan women aged 18-24: results at recruitment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is conclusive evidence that human papillomavirus (HPV) infections of the cervix are a necessary cause of cervical cancer. In Italy there are consistent data of HPV prevalence in women aged 25 - 64 years, but there is limited data for younger women. The objective of this on-going 3-year prospective cohort study is to investigate the prevalence, acquisition, clearance and persistence of HPV infections in young Tuscan women and the risk factors correlated with such events.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>One thousand and sixty-six women aged between 18 and 24 years were enrolled and received an initial HPV test. They were asked to return to the clinic over the study period for further tests every 12 months, if their HPV HR result was negative, or every 6 months, if positive. Additionally, women with an HPV positive result were given a cytological examination and if the cytological diagnosis was ASC-US or more severe, only women with HPV HR, were referred for colposcopy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present here data for the enrolment phase of the study. At baseline, within the study sample, just under 30% of women were infected by HPV and 19.3% of women were infected with oncogenic types. A relationship was highlighted between HPV infection, number of sexual partners (in particularly in the last 3 years) and the lifetime number of partner's partners. Condom use showed a slight protective effect in univariate analysis but these data were not statistically significant in multivariate analysis. The association between HPV infection and demographic and behavioural variables were tested by crude odds ratio (OR). Multivariate logistic regression was applied to compute the adjusted odds ratios.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The prevalence of oncogenic HPV types was high in young Tuscan women. The 3-year follow-up of this cohort may provide a better understanding of the processes of acquisition, clearance and persistence of infection and the correlated risk factors.</p

A feasibility study of the use of the AutoPap screening system as a primary screening and location-guided rescreening device

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Carta de restauração dos fósseis

A Itália é um país com forte tradição no campo da restauração. Não surpreende, portanto, que a Carta de Restauração dos Fósseis tenha nascido em contexto italiano. O documento, publicado em 1998, organiza e sistematiza informações sobre cada atividade que possa influenciar na longevidade do fóssil, desde a escavação até o momento de guarda em uma instituição. Apesar de muitos dos pontos abordados serem intrínsecos do “fazer paleontologia”, algumas questões nos parecem relevantes para profissionais que queiram tratar de fósseis. Algo importante a enfatizar, por exemplo, é a inclusão de informações de campo, de preparação e conservação na documentação do registro na coleção científica – dados já apontados para uma documentação museológica. Outro ponto importante a destacar é a necessidade das instituições de prover laboratórios de preparação, restauração e conservação para os vários objetos de pesquisa, com profissionais qualificados nas diversas áreas de conhecimento necessárias para estas atividades. Infelizmente, isso ocorre pontualmente em certas instituições. Acreditamos que as normas de restauração e de conservação de fósseis, normalmente dispersas em várias bibliografias, foram habilmente sintetizadas na presente carta, favorecendo o conhecimento dos princípios básicos dos critérios de base e normas a serem seguidas para a coleta, preparação, restauração e conservação de material fóssil. E, ainda que a realidade italiana seja diversa da brasileira em muitos aspectos, as boas práticas indicadas no texto têm o potencial de servir de norte para políticas de gestão de coleções paleontológicas. Por fim, agradecemos ao Dr. Vittorio Borselli, coordenador da presente Carta, por conceder a autorização para tradução do documento, e assim, proporcionar sua difusão abrangente entre os profissionais que trabalham com a curadoria de material paleontológico no Brasil