Bacteriophages as therapeutic and diagnostic vehicles in cancer

Evolution of nanomedicine is the re-design of synthetic and biological carriers to implement novel theranostic platforms. In recent years, bacteriophage research favors this process, which has opened up new roads in drug and gene delivery studies. By displaying antibodies, peptides, or proteins on the surface of different bacteriophages through the phage display technique, it is now possible to unravel specific molecular determinants of both cancer cells and tumor-associated microenvironmental molecules. Downstream applications are manifold, with peptides being employed most of the times to functionalize drug carriers and improve their therapeutic index. Bacteriophages themselves were proven, in this scenario, to be good carriers for imaging molecules and therapeutics as well. Moreover, manipulation of their genetic material to stably vehiculate suicide genes within cancer cells substantially changed perspectives in gene therapy. In this review, we provide examples of how amenable phages can be used as anticancer agents, especially because their systemic administration is possible. We also provide some insights into how their immunogenic profile can be modulated and exploited in immuno-oncology for vaccine production

Study of Cathode Materials for Na-Ion Batteries: Comparison Between Machine Learning Predictions and Density Functional Theory Calculations

Energy storage technologies have experienced significant advancements in recent decades, driven by the growing demand for efficient and sustainable energy solutions. The limitations associated with lithium’s supply chain, cost, and safety concerns have prompted the exploration of alternative battery chemistries. For this reason, research to replace widespread lithium batteries with sodium-ion batteries has received more and more attention. In the present work, we report cutting-edge research, where we explored a wide range of compositions of cathode materials for Na-ion batteries by first-principles calculations using workflow chains developed within the AiiDA framework. We trained crystal graph convolutional neural networks and geometric crystal graph neural networks, and we demonstrate the ability of the machine learning algorithms to predict the formation energy of the candidate materials as calculated by the density functional theory. This materials discovery approach is disruptive and significantly faster than traditional physics-based computational methods

Bartlett pear unsaturated ethyl deconoates and C9 compounds among components characterizing cv. Catalan roxo grape marc distillates

Catalan roxo marc distillates contain compounds at an unusual level in a grape derivate. The most peculiar are several unsaturated ethyl decanoates typical of Bartlett pear distillates and derived from ethyl esters found in the grape skins, some of which partially modified in the stereoisomery probably by the fermentation process. Remarkable compounds are unbranched aliphatic C-9 compounds at different oxidation state as well as ethyl nonanoate. At sensorially interesting levels methyl and ethyl salicylate and ethyl cinnamate, monoterpenols typical of floral-like varieties, vitispiranes and 4-ethylguaiacol are detected. Methyl salicylate is found in the berry as free and bound compound as several monoterpenols

Operability and Results of Retro and On-Going Commission Tools Applied to an Existing Building

Several tools in the scope of Annex 40 (PECI Model Commissioning Plan and Guide specification, Emma-CTA, IPMVP) have been used to realise the retro and the on-going commissioning of an existing building. The aim of the work was to evaluate operability, consumed time, results of these tools used by HVAC operation technicians. Analysis of making use of the different tools in a common framework is proposed, giving feedback information to creative authors

Comparison of the microleakage in class II bulk-fill restorations and different filling techniques: An “in vitro study”

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the microleakage at the interproximal horizontal margin in Class II restorations realized using four different types of composite resin: SDR® (Dentsply, Dentsply Sirona Italy – Piazza dell’Indipendenza, 11, 00185 Rome RM), Xtra-base® (VOCO, VOCO GmbH – 27457 Cuxhaven, Germany), Ceram-XTM (Dentsply, Dentsply Sirona Italy – Piazza dell’Indipendenza, 11, 00185 Rome RM), GrandioSO®(VOCO, VOCO GmbH – 27457 Cuxhaven, Germany). Additionally, two of these (SDR® and Xtra-base®) were used following a bulk fill technique following the producer’s instructions, while the other two (Ceram-XTM and GrandioSO®) were used following the traditional incremental technique. Methods: A total of 20 freshly extracted human teeth, either molar or premolars, were selected. They were randomly divided in four groups, one for each material: for each tooth, two Class II cavities, one mesial and one distal, were realized in order to be reconstructed with the material assigned to each tooth. In total, each group had five teeth and 10 restorations made, for a total of 40 restorations. After restoration, the teeth were covered with nail polish except for a 2mm-wide area which included the interproximal horizontal margin, and the apexes were sealed using Dyract®Seal sealer (Dentsply, Dentsply Sirona Italy – Piazza dell’Indipendenza, 11, 00185 Rome RM). The samples were then thermocycled at 55°C for 500 cycles and immersed in a solution of 0.2% Fuchsin dye for 24 hours. They were then sectioned mesiodistally and examined using an optical microscope (Leica DMS 1000) at a magnification of 20x: the microleakage was assessed by measuring the dye penetration through the floor of the restoration and scored using the Demarco scale (Demarco 2001). A Kruskal-Wallis Test and six Mann-Whitney tests were then performed to investigate whether or not the difference between the results in the different groups was statistically significant. Results: In this study, the best performance was observed in Group 2 (Xtra-base® VOCO; Bulk Fill technique) since no signs of microleakage were noticed. In Group 1 (SDR® Dentsply; Bulk Fill technique) the worst performance was observed: five samples showed no infiltration, while the other five showed a score of 2. In group 3 (Ceram-XTM Dentsply; Incremental technique.) six samples showed a score of 0, two samples a score of 1 and two samples a score of 2. In group 4 (GrandioSO®VOCO; Incremental technique) seven samples showed a score of 0, while one sample showed a score of 1 and two samples showed a score of 2. The Kruskal-Wallis test, however, did not reveal any statistically significant difference. Six different Mann-Whitney tests (one for each pair of groups, every combination possible) confirmed these results by not showing statistically significant differences between the different composites and techniques. Conclusion: Within the natural limitations of an in-vitro study, there is no statistically significant difference in terms of microleakage scores, even after thermocycling, between four different composite resins (Xtra-base® VOCO, SDR® Dentsply, Ceram-XTM Dentsply, GrandioSO®VOCO) two of which used with a bulk fill technique (Xtra-base® VOCO, SDR® Dentsply) and two with an incremental technique (Ceram-XTM Dentsply, GrandioSO®VOCO), as per the manufacturer’s instructions. These results encourage the design of clinical studies which could highlight differences between the performance of these composites through time when subjected not only to intra-oral temperature variation, but to occlusal forces, pH variations and plaque accumulation too

Phosphine Oxide Porous Organic Polymers Incorporating Cobalt(II) Ions: Synthesis, Characterization, and Investigation of H2Production

Suitably functionalized porous matrices represent versatile platforms to support well-dispersed catalytic centers. In the present study, porous organic polymers (POPs) containing phosphine oxide groups were fabricated to bind transition metals and to be investigated for potential electrocatalytic applications. Cross-linking of mono- and di-phosphine monomers with multiple phenyl substituents was subject to the Friedel-Crafts (F-C) reaction and the oxidation process, which generated phosphine oxide porous polymers with pore capacity up to 0.92 cm3/g and a surface area of about 990 m2/g. The formation of the R3P·BH3 borohydride adduct during synthesis allows to extend the library of phosphine-based monomeric entities when using FeCl3. The porous polymers were loaded with 0.8-4.2 w/w % of cobalt(II) and behaved as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts with a Faradaic efficiency of up to 95% (5.81 × 10-5 mol H2 per 11.76 C) and a stable current density during repeated controlled potential experiments (CPE), even though with high overpotentials (0.53-0.68 V to reach a current density of 1 mA·cm-2). These studies open the way to the effectiveness of tailored phosphine oxide POPs produced through an inexpensive and ecofriendly iron-based catalyst and for the insertion of transition metals in a porous architecture, enabling electrochemically driven activation of small molecules