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Ganoderma lucidum, a mushroom with medicinal properties, can grow on diverse lignocellulosic substrates. Substrate enrichment with additives has been used as a strategy to increase mushroom productivity. In this study, we evaluated the impact of substrate formulation on the bioactive chemical profile of the basidiome. The bioactive chemical profile of basidiomes cultivated on rice agro-residues (RA) or sunflower seed hulls (SSH) enriched with olive oil and/or copper was evaluated using conventional colorimetric methods and FT-MIR spectrometry coupled with chemometrics. The contents of total triterpenoids, ganoderic acids, high-molecular-weight carbohydrates, and phenolic compounds were sensitive to substrate formulation and harvest time. Moreover, cluster analysis and principal component analysis of the mid-IR spectra were able to discriminate between basidiomes cultivated on either RA or SSH substrates, and for SSH substrates between enriched and nonenriched formulas. These results indicate that the bioactive composition of G. lucidum can be influenced by the formulation of the cultivation substrate.

Phlebology is not a specialty for its own in Italy. Phlebological patients are treated by vascular and general surgeons, dermatologists, phlebologists, angiologists, internists and even general practitioners. Even tough guidelines present a series of recommendations based on evidence-based medicine, guidelines may also be a tool to unify the diagnostic and therapeutic approach in a vast medical field like phlebology. Since vascular surgeons and phlebologists are particularly involved in phlebology-related pathologies the scientific societies of the Italian Society of Phlebology (SIF) and the Italian Society for Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (SICVE) decided to cooperate for the preparation of phlebo-lymphological guidelines. These guidelines comprehend also an important chapter dealing with the lymphology of the lower extremities; phlebological active physicians are often faced with lymphatic pathologies and a good differential diagnosis can be sometimes very helpful. Sclerotherapy and Surgery as the major therapeutical alternatives are extensively analyzed, but also the compression therapy, the medical and physical therapy are presented under the critical view of evidence based analyses. Separate chapters deal with the treatment alternatives for superficial and deep venous thromboses and the recommendations for the treatment of venous ulcers. The current scientific evidences were confronted with the experiences of Italian specialists and the particular practice and reality in Italy. They represent therefore the actual valid positions and recommendations in Italy which shall be updated regularly.

Monolayers of n-eicosanephosphonic acid, EPA, were studied using a Langmuir balance and a Brewster angle microscope at different subphase pH values to change the charge of the polar headgroups (Zav) from 0 to -2. Molecular dynamics simulations (MDS) results for |Zav| = 0, 1, and 2 were compared with the experimental ones. EPA monolayers behave as mixtures of mutually miscible species (C20H41-PO3H2, C20H41-PO3H(-), and C20H41-PO3(2-), depending on the subphase pH). The order and compactness of the monolayers decrease when increasing |Zav|, while go from strongly interconnected by phosphonic-phosphonic hydrogen bonds (|Zav| = 0-0.03) through an equilibrium between the total cohesive energy and the electrostatic repulsion between the charged polar groups (0.03 < |Zav| < 1.6) to an entirely ionic monolayer (|Zav| ≈ 2). MDS reveal for |Zav| = 0 that the chains form spiralled nearly rounded structures induced by the hydrogen-bonded network. When |Zav| ≈ 1 fingering domains were identified. When Z ≈ 2, the headgroups are more disordered and distanced, not only in the xy plane but also in the z direction, forming a rough layer and responding to compression with a large plateau in the isotherm. The monolayers collapse behavior is consistent with the structures and domains founds in the different ionization states and their consequent in-plane rigidity: there is a transition from a solid-like response at low pH subphases to a fluid-like response at high pH subphases. The film area in the close-packed state increases relatively slow when the polar headgroups are able to form hydrogen bonds but increases to near twice that this value when |Zav| ≈ 2. Other nanoscopic properties of monolayers were also determined by MDS. The computational results confirm the experimental findings and offer a nanoscopic perspective on the structure and interactions in the phosphonate monolayers.