Ricerc@Sapienza

In this work the results deriving from the characterization of materials used by Lucio Fontana to realize some of his artworks are presented. Specifically, object of analyses are three artworks from the collection of National Gal- lery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome, whose complex composition required the combination of differ- ent diagnostic techniques for a complete characterization.

Galectin-3 (Gal-3) regulates basic cellular functions such as cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions, growth, proliferation, differentiation, and inflammation. It is not surprising, therefore, that this protein is involved in the pathogenesis of many relevant human diseases, including cancer, fibrosis, chronic inflammation and scarring affecting many different tissues. The papers published in the literature have progressively increased in number during the last decades, testifying the great interest given to this protein by numerous researchers involved in many different clinical contexts.

Epidurals are the most diffused loco-regional techniques
for the relief of operative, postoperative, and chronic pain
and are used for about 50% of deliveries. Currently, doctors still
identify epidural space relying on subjective perception, by using
“blind” manual techniques to which are associated failure rate
up to 7%. In the last years, many systems aimed at assisting and
guiding the placement of epidural needle have been proposed. In
particular, optical systems basically rely on the integration inside

Monitoring the air particulate concentration both outdoors and indoors is becoming a more relevant issue in the past few decades. An innovative, fully automatic, monitoring system called CleAir is presented. Such a system wants to go beyond the traditional technique (gravimetric analysis), allowing for a double monitoring approach: the traditional gravimetric analysis as well as the optical spectroscopic analysis of the scattering on the same filters in steady-state conditions.

Spontaneous Raman is a well-established tool to probe molecular vibrations. Under resonant conditions, it is a largely used method for characterizing the structure of heme-proteins. In recent years, advances in pulsed laser sources allowed to explore vibrational features with complex techniques based on non-linear optical interactions, among which is stimulated Raman scattering (SRS).

Cell membranes are intrinsically heterogeneous, as the local protein and lipid distribution is critical to physiological processes. Even in template systems embedding a single protein type, like purple membranes, there can be a different local response to external stimuli or environmental factors, resulting in heterogeneous conformational changes. Despite the dramatic advances of microspectroscopy techniques, the identification of the conformation heterogeneity is still a challenging task.

Albendazole (ABZ) is a sulfanyl-benzimidazole anthelmintic drug used worldwide in the treatment and prevention of parasitic diseases in animals and humans. Following oral administration, ABZ is rapidly oxidized into the pharmacologically active chiral sulfoxide metabolite known as ricobendazole (RBZ). As its achiral precursor, RBZ shows very low intestinal absorption due to its poor solubility in water (0.06 mg mL?1). To the best of our knowledge, there is no known example in human medicine of a water-soluble salt form of racemic or enantiomerically pure RBZ.

Direct HPLC separation of the enantiomers of triclabendazole sulfoxide (TCBZ-SO), which is the main metabolite of the anthelmintic drug triclabendazole, was carried out using the polysaccharide-based Chiralpak AS-H and Chiralpak IF-3 chiral stationary phases (CSPs). The chromatographic behaviour of both CSPs was evaluated and compared using normal-phase and reversed-phase eluents at different column temperatures.

Voltammetry of microparticles (VMP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques, complemented by SEM-EDX and Raman spectroscopy, were applied to a set of 15 Roman bronze coins and one Tessera from the temple of Magna Mater (Rome, Italy). The archaeological site, dated back be- tween the second half and the end of the 4th century A.D., presented a complicated stratigraphic context.

The coupling of Thermogravimetry (TG) in conjuction with chemometrics was investigated for the first time to evaluate the capabilities of this novel test to provide the screening of thalassemia in blood samples stored at 4 °C until 15 days. Healthy donors were considered as reference subjects and a typical thermal behaviour as a function of aging was estimated and compared to thermal behaviour of thalassemia subjects. Diagnosis of thalassemia was made at the Day-Hospital Thalassemia of S.