Superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles were synthetized and capped by a SiO
2
shell in order to avoid oxidation and aggregation of the iron oxide nanostructures. The inorganic capping was then ...further decorated by folic acid molecules, by using a very simple procedure exploiting supramolecular interactions among the organic moieties and the inorganic nanoparticles. The supramolecular nanoadduct thanks to folic acid molecules could act as a "Trojan horse" for the cancer cells and due to its superparamagnetic properties could induce local heat generation upon an appropriate magnetic field application. In fact, temperature was increased up to 42 °C when a 18 mT magnetic field was applied to the nanoparticles and the hybrid nanostructures were verified to be selectively internalized by HeLa cells, a human cervical cancer line known to overexpress the folic acid receptor.
Folic Acid decorated SPIONs selective internalization was monitored by an innovative Ellipsometry imaging approach.
To assess the relevance of spindle cell tumours in the canine gastrointestinal (GI) tract and to classify them, a retrospective study was carried out on haematoxylin and eosin-stained sections from ...formalin-fixed paraffin wax-embedded samples of 105 primary GI tumours. Seventeen out of 105 (16%) GI tumours were mesenchymal, 48% were epithelial and 36% were round cell tumours. Spindle cell tumours were stained by Masson trichrome, Orcein-Van Gieson and labelled immunohistochemically (vimentin, desmin, smooth muscle actin, protein S100, glial fibrillar acid protein, CD117 and MIB-1) and the histological grade, mitotic index, nuclear size and cellular density were also assessed. The 17 gastrointestinal mesenchymal tumours were classified as 10 leiomyomas (10/10 positive for desmin and smooth muscle actin; 6/10 positive for vimentin) 2 leiomyosarcomas (2/2 positive for desmin, smooth muscle actin and vimentin) and 5 gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) (5/5 positive for CD117 and vimentin; 3/5 positive for smooth muscle actin). Canine GISTs appeared as densely packed spindle cell tumours, with a diffuse, strong, cytoplasmic immunopositivity for c-kit protein (CD117). GISTs, defined as CD117-positive spindle cell or epithelioid or pleomorphic neoplasms that presumably derive from interstitial cells of Cajal, are reported in recent medical studies as the most common mesenchymal tumours of the GI tract. Our data suggest that GISTs represent a significant portion of canine GI spindle cell tumours, which can be definitely distinguished from leiomyosarcomas only by their expression of CD117.
Electrostatic microactuator is a paradigm of MEMS. Cantilever and double clamped microbeams are often used in microswitches, microresonators and varactors. An efficient numerical prediction of their ...mechanical behaviour is affected by the nonlinearity of the electromechanical coupling. Sometimes an additional nonlinearity is due to the large displacement or to the axial-flexural coupling exhibited in bending. To overcome the computational limits of the available numerical methods two new formulations are here proposed and compared. Modifying the classical beam element in the Finite Element Method to allow the implementation of a \emph {Non incremental sequential approach} is firstly proposed. The so-called \emph {Discrete Geometric Approach (DGA)}, already successfully used in the numerical analysis of electromagnetic problems, is then applied. These two methods are here formulated, for the first time, in the case of strongly nonlinear electromechanical coupling. Numerical investigations are performed to find the pull-in of microbeam actuators experimentally tested. The non incremental approach is implemented by discretizing both the structure and the dielectric region by means of the FEM, then by meshing the electric domain by the Boundary Element Method (BEM). A preliminary experimental validation is finally presented in the case of planar microcantilever actuators.
The Gerda collaboration is performing a search for neutrinoless double beta decay of super(76)Ge with the eponymous detector. The experiment has been installed and commissioned at the Laboratori ...Nazionali del Gran Sasso and has started operation in November 2011. The design, construction and first operational results are described, along with detailed information from the R&D phase.
The Gerda collaboration is performing a search for neutrinoless double beta decay of ^sup 76^Ge with the eponymous detector. The experiment has been installed and commissioned at the Laboratori ...Nazionali del Gran Sasso and has started operation in November 2011. The design, construction and first operational results are described, along with detailed information from the R&D phase.
1 Department of Electronics and
Informatics, University of Padova, 35131 Padova;
2 San Raffaele Scientific
Institute, 20132 Milan, Italy; and
3 Hypertension-Endocrine Branch,
National Heart, Lung, ...and Blood Institute, National Institutes of
Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
Glucose effectiveness is an important
determinant of glucose tolerance that can be derived from minimal model
analysis of an intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT). However,
recent evidence suggests that glucose effectiveness is overestimated by
minimal model analysis. Here we compare a new model-independent estimate of glucose effectiveness with the minimal model estimate by
reanalyzing published data in which insulin-dependent diabetic subjects
were each given IVGTTs under two conditions (Quon, M. J., C. Cochran,
S. I. Taylor, and R. C. Eastman.
Diabetes 43: 890-896, 1994). In
one case, a basal insulin level was maintained (BI-IVGTT). In the
second case, a dynamic insulin response was recreated (DI-IVGTT). Our
results show that minimal model glucose effectiveness is very similar
to the model-independent measurement during a BI-IVGTT but is three
times higher during a DI-IVGTT. To investigate the causes of minimal
model overestimation in the presence of a dynamic insulin response,
Monte Carlo simulation studies on a two-compartment model of glucose
kinetics with various insulin response patterns were performed. Results
suggest that minimal model overestimation is due to single-compartment
representation of glucose kinetics that results in a critical
oversimplification in the presence of increasingly dynamic insulin
secretion patterns.
intravenous glucose tolerance test; glucose kinetics
The
Gerda
collaboration is performing a search for neutrinoless double beta decay of
76
Ge with the eponymous detector. The experiment has been installed and commissioned at the Laboratori Nazionali ...del Gran Sasso and has started operation in November 2011. The design, construction and first operational results are described, along with detailed information from the R&D phase.
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