Sito web del progetto NuSTeO - "Nuove Strategie Terapeutiche in Oftalmologia: Infezioni Batteriche, Virali e Microbiche". Obiettivo del sito è la disseminazione dei risultati del progetto,attività svolta in collaborazione con tutti i partner del progetto, con il coordinamento dell'azienda capofila, MediVis S.r.l.

Il Rapporto tecnico illustra le difficoltà emerse nella gestione del progetto NuSTeO (POR Sicilia) in seguito alla mancata previsione della seconda tranche del progetto nel PdGP del 2022, che ha avuto come conseguenza il conferimento di tale somma, incassata alle fine dell'anno, nell'avanzo di gestione del Bilancio del CNR. Il Rapporto Tecnico inoltre analizza e prospetta le possibili soluzioni alle difficolta di gestione riscontrate.

Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) is blended with methyl gallate (MG) encapsulated with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and then mixed with a liquid electrolyte to prepare a polymer gel electrolyte. The structural and physical properties of prepared polymer gels are analyzed by various analytical instruments. The MG-PEG-HPMC hybrid is found to be able for entrapping a large amount of liquid electrolyte and is used to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). This polymer gel electrolyte shows high ionic conductivity (5.43 x 10(-4) S cm(-1)) and good triiodide diffusion coefficient (2.25 x 10(-6) cm(2) s(-1)). The resulting DSSCs show an efficiency of 6.96% at a light intensity of 85 mW cm(-2). The long-term stability test reveals that the fabricated DSSCs will be stable even after 500 h. The benefits of incorporating a gel electrolyte into DSSCs are highlighted along with factors affecting the stability of these devices. The use of these bio-based materials has the potential to make a significant contribution to the widespread exploitation of stable, efficient, and low-cost dye-sensitive solar cells.

Composite materials have been used for many years in a wide variety of sectors starting from aerospace and nautical up to more commonly used uses such as bicycles, glasses, and so on. The characteristics that have made these materials popular are mainly their low weight, resistance to fatigue, and corrosion. In contrast to the advantages, however, it should be noted that the manufacturing processes of composite materials are not eco-friendly, and their disposal is rather difficult. For these reasons, in recent decades, the use of natural fibers has gained increasing attention, allowing the development of new materials sharing the same advantages with conventional composite systems while respecting the environment. In this work, the behavior of totally eco-friendly composite materials during flexural tests has been studied through infrared (IR) analysis. IR imaging is a well-known non-contact technique and represents a reliable means of providing low-cost in situ analysis. According to this method, the surface of the sample under investigation is monitored, under natural conditions or after heating, by recording thermal images with an appropriate IR camera. Here, the results achieved for jute- and basalt-based eco-friendly composites through the use of both passive and active IR imaging approaches are reported and discussed, showing the possibilities of use also in an industrial environment.

Single-responsive biomaterials have been of great importance for three decades in biomedical applications and cancer therapy in particular. However, the need for improvement in their efficiency and therapeutic results can still be felt. Evolved from these nanocarriers, multi-responsive ones have gained immense attention recently because of their multifunctionality--targetability, hyperthermia, ROS generation, smart and controlled drug release, and imaging. Due to complex structure of cancerous tumors, these nanomaterials are more applied in this field with more promising outcomes under a term called combined therapy. Multi-responsive nanocarriers are divided into three main groups: endogenous or internal, exogenous or external, and the integration of both. This chapter focuses on nanomaterials responsive to more than one stimulus in cancer therapy. The internal (pH, enzyme, GSH, etc.), external (light, ultrasound, magnetism, etc.), and combination of both are covered separately.

The species of Candida present good capability to form fungal biofilms on polymeric surfaces and are related to several human diseases since many of the employed medical devices are designed using polymers, especially high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Herein, HDPE films containing 0; 0.125; 0.250 or 0.500 wt% of 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (CMImCl) or its analog 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium methanesulfonate (CMImMeS) were obtained by melt blending and posteriorly mechanically pressurized into films. This approach resulted in more flexible and less brittle films, which impeded the Candida albicans, C. parapsilosis, and C. tropicalis biofilm formation on their surfaces. The employed imidazolium salt (IS) concentrations did not present any significant cytotoxic effect, and the good cell adhesion/proliferation of human mesenchymal stem cells on the HDPE-IS films indicated good biocompatibility. These outcomes combined with the absence of microscopic lesions in pig skin after contact with HDPE-IS films demonstrated their potential as biomaterials for the development of effective medical device tools that reduce the risk of fungal infections.

Amphiphilic pH-sensitive hydrogels containing magnetite Fe3O4 nanoparticles were obtained by radical copolymerization of N-vinylpyrrolidone and 4-vinylpyridine and cross-linking of the latter with N,N-methylenebisacrylamide. The synthesized neat and magnetite hydrogels were analyzed by physicochemical characterization as FT-IR, TQA, SEM, X-Ray and swelling ratio. The incorporation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles into the hydrogel structure has been shown to improve crystallinity and thermal stability. The sorption of trypsin by PVPr-so-P4VP and PVPr-so-P4VP/Fe3O4 hydrogels in aqueous solution was studied as well as the effect of the hydrogel dose, average pH, temperature, ionic strength, contact time and initial enzyme concentration on the process. The best adsorption equilibrium state for PVPr-so-P4VP-amphiphile hydrogel was demonstrated at 75 mg, pH = 7 (initial trypsin concentration: 100 mg×L-1, contact time: 80 min) at 25-45 °C. However, for PVPr-so-P4VP/Fe3O4-based gel, it happens within 60 min at a dosage of 100 mg and an initial solution of trypsin of 150 mg×L-1, and the protein capacity was 53.5 ± 2 and 68.54 ± 3 mg×gr-1, respectively. The results of trypsin adsorption were applied to Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models, I and II order kinetics. The maximum monolayer protein capacity was determined to be 71-72 mg×gr-1 at 45 °C for the hydrogel PVPr-so-P4VP/Fe3O4. It was determined that trypsin sorption by hydrogel obtained from the cross-linking of the copolymer PVPr-so-P4VP was more suitable for the isothermal models Freundlich and Langmuir, partially D-R (R2 =0.98). Trypsin adsorption by crosslinking of the hydrogel PVPr-so-P4VP/Fe3O4 is only suitable for Langmuir isotherm models (R2 =0.9961). The KL of the two hydrogels PVPr-co-P4VP and PVPr-co-P4VP/Fe3O4 was greater than one and was 1.218 and 5.880, respectively. The thermodynamic parameters such as free energy, enthalpy, and entropy were quantified. It has been observed that the temperature increase up to 45 °C proves that the process is endothermic, and after 45 °C the trypsin molecule begins to become more difficult to adsorb. The value of ?G° is negative for hydrogels, but ?S° is positive (83.39 and 116.41 J×mol-1K-1, respectively). Based on the results, PVPr-co-P4VP and PVPr-co-P4VP/Fe3O4 hydrogels can be used as adsorbents for chromatographic separation of proteins and drugs, and as matrices for administration and long-term effects for enzymes.

New drug delivery systems for wound healing applications based on ?/?/?-cyclodextrin (?/?/?-CD) acrylic (A) and styrenic (S) monomers have been synthesized and co-polymerized with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) via a cryo-polymerization technique. The 3D macroporous cryogels containing hydrophobic cavities were loaded with lomefloxacin (LOM), piroxicam (PIR), and fluconazole (FLU) with a drug loading efficiency (DLE) of up to 78%. Depending on the formulated systems, the release of drugs under different stimuli was achieved, with efficiencies ranging from 23 to 95%. It was demonstrated that the presence of CDs within cryogels determines benefits both in loading capacity and drug delivery. CD derivatives were simultaneously loaded with LOM and PIR and tested for multi-drug release. This non-conventional approach was successfully designed as a proof of concept responding to the need to preserve a sterile target area, facilitating skin repair in wound healing applications. For this purpose, the biocompatibility of CD formulations was ascertained against human fibroblasts.

Increasing the service life and therefore the efficiency of a structure can be achieved by implementing appropriate Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation techniques. Detecting and monitoring of defects is not always feasible when using Linear Ultrasonic techniques especially at the initiation stage of damage. In this investigation, a new Non-Linear Ultrasonic method is developed by properly tuning the standard Sideband Peak Count-Index (SPC-I) technique and will be called tuned SPC-I technique. It is shown that the tuned SPC-I technique is more efficient for detecting defect initiation and defect progression at both micro- and macro-scales. The efficiency of the tuned SPC-I technique is demonstrated by monitoring impact induced damage progression in glass fiber reinforced composite plates. This tuned SPC-I technique is shown to be very sensitive to defects at the micro-scale level and it remains sensitive to larger defects as the micro-cracks coalesce to form macro-cracks whereas other Non-Linear Ultrasonic techniques start to lose their sensitivity for larger cracks. By properly tuning the SPC-I technique it can be used for various materials/geometries for monitoring non-linearity generated by micro and macro scale damages. This is achieved by experimentally tuning the most sensitive frequency for the SPC-I analysis using a pristine specimen. This sensitive frequency is then used to detect and monitor defects. Once defects progress to form macro-cracks, the specimen properties are altered causing a shift of the sensitive frequency and allowing continued monitoring of the defects. Glass fiber composite plate specimens that are impacted with increasing impact energies (0J, 5J, 10J, 20J, 30J, 40J, and 50J) are investigated. It is determined that by using the approach discussed above, it is possible to robustly detect impact damage, monitor the progression of impact damage at both micro- and macro-scales by shifting the tuned frequency.

The paper describes the results of some benchmarking tests aimed to verify and validate all the solutions implemented during the deployment of a HPC heterogeneous resource acquired by the data center of the University of Naples "Federico II" thanks to the funds of the IBiSCo (Infrastructure for Big data and Scientific COmputing) Italian National Project. The first set of benchmarks evaluates how the network interconnection technologies affect the inter- and intra-node communications of GP-GPU workloads. The second set evaluates the performance of the Lustre parallel file system to ensure an efficient environment for data-intensive applications. The tests, especially those that analyze the lower level of the middleware (micro-benchmarks), seem to confirm the ability of the resource to guarantee the expected performance.

Sviluppo di packaging attivo per preservare la qualità nel corso della shelf-life di frutta di IV Gamma. Sviluppo e deposizione di recettori gasocromici per il monitoraggio visivo durante la shelf-life di ortofrutta di IV gamma. Validazione di packaging intelligente a base di recettori gasocromici, per il monitoraggio dei processi fermentativi durante la con

Plasticized nanocomposites based on poly(lactic acid) have been prepared by melt mixing following a two-step approach, adding two different oligomeric esters of lactic acid (OLAs) as plasticizers and fumed silica nanoparticles. The nanocomposites maintained a remarkable elongation at break in the presence of the nanoparticles, with no strong effects on modulus and strength. Measuring thermo-mechanical properties as a function of aging time revealed a progressive deterioration of properties, with the buildup of phase separation, related to the nature of the plasticizer. Materials containing hydroxyl-terminated OLA showed a higher stability of properties upon aging. On the contrary, a synergistic effect of the acid-terminated plasticizer and silica nanoparticles was pointed out, inducing an accelerated hydrolytic degradation of PLA: materials at high silica content exhibited a marked brittleness and a dramatic decrease of molecular weight after 16 weeks of aging.

The ability of full-scale industrial plants to degrade bioplastics waste must be verified to exclude any negative effects on the quality of the process outputs. This study aims to assess the degradation of two thermoplastic cellulose acetate-based bioplastics, in pure and composite forms in both Anaerobic Digestion (AD) and Composting (C) industrial conditions. The main degradation occurred during AD, where a disintegration of about 36% and 50% was achieved from pure and composite thermoplastic cellulose acetate, respectively. The disintegration during C did not exceed 20% for both samples. The combined process resulted in a slightly higher degradation (58-40%) than that obtained in AD, revealing how the main alteration of samples occurred in an anaerobic environment. Despite this macroscopic degradation, the samples showed only minor superficial degradation as highlighted from SEM analysis. FT-IR spectroscopy, TGA andDSC analyses showed that the biodegradation mechanism involved mainly the plasticizer loss and deacetylation of the cellulose matrix, with only partial degradation of cellulose backbone However, both deacetylation and degradation were favored in AD and AD + C processes and from the presence of filler in anaerobic conditions. These results demonstrated how the degradation obtained on an industrial scale can differ significantly from those obtained in the laboratory scale, especially for pure thermoplastic cellulose acetate. Furthermore, current industrial AD and C process resulted not optimized for the treatment of thermoplastic cellulose acetate-based bioplastics. Hence, this works could help waste facilities managers to process emerging materials such as bioplastics in a more sustainable way.

Zeolites are used to store sunlight energy in the form of latent heat of adsorption. The energy is stored by dehydration of the substance and released by its rehydration. The availability of an online monitoring technique for this hydration/dehydration process is an extremely useful potentiality for an optimal exploitation of such technology, since it allows establishment of the degree of activation and saturation of the material. Here, an electrical method has been developed and used for monitoring the hydration/dehydration process of a sample of natural clinoptilolite. Clinoptilolite has been selected as a model zeolitic material for testing this monitoring technique since it is a widely spread, very inexpensive, and highly mechanically stable zeolite type, that could be used for such a purpose. The study has been performed in the presence of pure water vapor and wet air (75RH) after having dehydrated the sample by exposition to sunlight for 12 h. The developed monitoring method has also allowed us to have information on the kinetics of the process (Lagergren pseudo-first order), to establish the specific rate of hydration (3.3 × 10 min), and to have an idea of the involved adsorption mechanism. The sample of natural clinoptilolite was also chemically and structurally characterized by EDS, XRD, DSC, and TGA.

Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are genetic multisystem diseases, characterized by defective glycoconjugate synthesis. A small number of CDG with isolated liver damage have been described, such as TMEM199-CDG, a non-encephalopathic liver disorder with Wilson disease-like phenotype. Only eight patients with TMEM199-CDG have been described including seven Europeans (originating from Greece and Italy) and one Chinese. Three patients from southern Italy (Campania) shared the same known missense mutation pathogenetic variant NM_152464.3:c. 92G > C (p.Arg31Pro), also found in a Greek patient. Here we report a new patient from southern Italy (Sicily), with a homozygous c.92G > C p.(Arg31Pro) variant in TMEM199. The patient's phenotype is characterized by mild non-progressive hepatopathy with a normal hepatic echo structure. A persistent increase in serum transaminases, total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and low serum ceruloplasmin and copper levels and normal urinary copper excretion were observed. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry analyses showed abnormal N- and O- protein glycosylation, indicative of a Golgi processing defect and supporting the function of TMEM199 in maintaining Golgi homeostasis. TMEM199-CDG is an ultra-rare CDG relatively frequent in the southern Mediterranean area (7 in 9 patients, 77%). It is mainly associated with the c.92G > C (p.Arg31Pro) pathogenetic allele globally reported in 4 out of 7 families (57%), including one from Greece and three unrelated families from southern Italy. The almost uniform clinical phenotype described in patients with TMEM199-CDG appears to reflect a higher prevalence of the same variant in patients from the southern Mediterranean area.

In the last two decade, a growing interest is emerging for the fabrication of nanofibrous membranes by electrospinning techniques. Due to their superior features in terms of extended surface area, high porosity and high process versatility, electrospun fibres are promising to fabricate excellent adsorbent systems for heavy metals ions. Indeed, by the combination of organic and inorganic materials and an accurate functionalization of fibre surface, it is possible to design innovative membranes with selective adsorption ability to specific heavy metal based on competitive mechanism with tunable excellent applications. In this chapter, an overview of the current state of art in the fabrication of electrospun membranes will be proposed, also tracing future insights to meet recent demands in different application areas, including agriculture, food science, and pharmaceutical and biomedical industries.

N-methyl-D-glucamine (NMG) is a chelating molecule used for environmental purposes for its high efficiency and selectivity versus metal ions species. The technology namely CrioPurA regards the realization of NMG-based hydrogels, produced by cryo-polymerization in water. The synthesis of ad-hoc functionalized polymeric materials with chelating groups is a sustainable and low-cost strategy to obtain adsorbent materials. In particular, the technique adopted for the realization of material allows to obtain different structures as well as shapes of different sizes, with high porosity, permeability and excellent sequestering action towards boron, arsenic, chromium and other metals ions from the water. CrioPurA can be regenerated, reused and adapted to existing water treatment plants

Green composites have gained increasing attention in recent years as a sustainable alternative to traditional materials used in marine structures. These composites are made from biodegradable and renewable materials, making them environmentally friendly and reducing the subsequent carbon footprint. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of green composites materials and their applications in marine structures. This review includes a classification of the potential fibres and matrixes for green composites which are suitable for marine applications. The properties of green composites, such as their strength and Young's modulus, are analysed and compared with those of traditional composites. An overview concerning current rules and regulations is presented. The applications of green composites in marine structures are reviewed, focusing on both shipbuilding and offshore applications. The main challenges in a wider application of green composites are also highlighted, as well as the benefits and future challenges.