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Background: Afamelanotide (AFA) is a synthetic analogue of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone that is approved for the treatment of patients affected by erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP). AFA induces a "sun free" tanning and changes of acquired melanocytic nevi (AMN) that are generically described as "darkening". Objectives: To assess clinical and dermoscopic AMN changes during AFA treatment. Methods: Adult EPP patients treated with two AFA implants 50 days apart were enrolled. They underwent a clinical and dermoscopic examination of all AMN at baseline (T0), and after 5 (T1) and 12 (T2) months from the first AFA implant. The general pattern, symmetry, number, and size of pigmented globules, morphology of the pigment network, and dermoscopic melanoma features were assessed. Results: Fifteen patients were enrolled with 103 AMN. At T1 all reticular and 2-component AMN showed a focal network thickening that returned to baseline by T2. The increase of globules' number was observed at T1 but not at T2. The difference in number was not influenced by patients' age or phototype. Dermoscopic changes suggestive of malignancy were never seen. The development of new AMN was never registered. Conclusions: AFA treatment induces reversible changes of AMN dermoscopic morphology without findings suggestive of malignant transformation and it does not stimulate the development of new AMN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a promising therapy for the cure of diffuse tumors. The successful clinical application of BNCT requires finding new boron-based compounds suitable for an efficient B delivery to the cancerous tissues. The purpose of this work is to synthesize borosilicate nanoparticles by a sol-gel recipe, and to functionalize them with folic acid in order to promote their capture by the tumor cells. Whereas sol-gel is a promising technique for the synthesis of nanoparticles, in case of borosilicate systems this approach is affected by significant boron loss during preparation. Here we show that functionalization of borosilicate nanoparticles with folic acid can reduce the boron loss. Moreover, preliminary biocompatibility tests indicate that functionalization strongly changes the reactivity of NPs towards blood cells, so favouring the potential use of these materials for clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research was to evaluate how the presence of oxygen can affect irradiation-induced degradation reactions of PEGd,lPLA and PEG-PLGA multiblock copolymers submitted to gamma irradiation and to investigate the radiolytic behavior of the polymers. PEGd,lPLA, PEG-PLGA, PLA, and PLGA were irradiated by using a 60Co irradiation source in air and under vacuum at 25 kGy total dose. Mw and Mn were evaluated by gel permeation chromatography. The stability study was carried out on three samples sets: (a) polymer samples irradiated and stored in air, (b) polymer samples irradiated and stored under vacuum, and (c) polymer samples irradiated under vacuum and stored in air. The thermal and radiolytic behavior was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), respectively. Samples irradiated in air showed remarkable Mw and Mn reduction and Tg value reduction due to radiation-induced chain scission reactions. Higher stability was observed for samples irradiated and stored under vacuum. EPR spectra showed that the presence of PEG units in multiblock copolymer chains leads to: (a) decrease of the radiolytic yield of radicals and (b) decrease of the radical trapping efficiency and faster radical decay rates. It can be concluded that the presence of oxygen during the irradiation process and the storage phase significantly increases the entity of irradiation-induced damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diet-incorporation larval bioassay was used to evaluate the response of the leafroller Pandemis heparana (Denis and Schiffermüller) to seven insecticides: tebufenozide (Mimic 23% a.i., Bayer), methoxyfenozide (Prodigy 23% a.i., Bayer), flufenoxuron (Cascade 50 DC 4.7% a.i., BASF), lufenuron (Match 5.32% a.i., Syngenta), indoxacarb (Steward WG 30% a.i., Du Pont), abamectine (Vertimec EC 1.9% a.i., Syngenta) and spinosad (Laser 44.2% a.i., Dow Agro Science). Both neonate and 12-day-old (third to fourth instar) larvae were used in the bioassay. The obtained efficacy baselines were compared with the response of the pest exposed to leaves treated with the same insecticides. The persistence of field-aged leaf residues of the seven insecticides was bioassayed on neonate larvae. Given the obtained LC50 values in the diet-incorporation bioassays larval age was not always a significant factor affecting the response of P. heparana larvae. Differences in LC50 values between neonate and 12-day-old larvae were not statistically significant for abamectine, tebufenozide and methoxyfenozide. Young larvae seemed to be more susceptible than older larvae to spinosad, indoxacarb and lufenuron, while flufenoxuron was more effective against 12-day-old than neonate larvae. When the larvae were exposed to the insecticides on treated leaves, all the tested compounds were less effective on older larvae than on neonates. When applied at the recommended field rates, all seven insecticides can be considered highly effective against both neonate and 12-day-old larvae of P. heparana because their security index (SI = recommended field rate/LC90) always exceeded the threshold value of 1. The high persistence of insect growth inhibitors (IGIs) and moulting accelerating compounds (MACs) in the field compensates for their relatively low SI values. For this reason and given their activity against Cydia pomonella, IGIs and MACs are the most interesting insecticides for spring treatments for the combined control of both species, P. heparana and C. pomonella. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasters and mortars taken from the walls of the ancient hospital ‘San Matteo’ of Pavia (Italy), were investigated with thermal and other techniques. From the data collected, two groups of materials were brought out: the first one, containing the plasters, is remarkably richer in calcite than the second group, formed by the mortars. These findings allow one to relate these groups to two historical periods: the middle of the XV century, and the end of the XVIII century. Some hypotheses may also be made on the compositions of the binding/inert fractions adopted in preparing these materials in the building yards of the two periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The devitrification of glassy PbGeO3 was studied and interpreted by means of isothermal and non-isothermal Johnson-Mehl-Avrami equations. In the case of the non-isothermal approach, several approximated equations proposed by various authors were considered in order to obtain both the activation energy E a and the Avrami morphological coefficient n of the crystallisation process. A critical discussion of the Avrami coefficient on the basis of experimental morphological evidence is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-three spectral curves of extraterrestrial solar irradiance in the (180-400) nm wavelength range, derived from measurements taken on rockets and airborne platforms by various research groups, were examined in order to determine the average spectral curves of extraterrestrial solar irradiance. Such curves can be more reliably used in computational programmes prepared for simulating the radiative-transfer processes occurring in the terrestrial atmosphere. For each spectral curve, a careful examination was performed of the errors due to instrumental characteristics, calibration procedures, atmospheric extinction, solar limb-darkening effects, as well as to the use of normalization procedures to zero-air-mass and the mean Earth-Sun distance. These error estimates were used to obtain realistic evaluations of the standard deviations at the various wavelengths. The resulting data sets were employed to calculate the weighted mean values of the full-disk solar irradiance outside the atmosphere, for spectral resolution values of 0.4 and 1 nm. The values are presented in two tables. A further analysis was performed in order to evaluate the variability of the extraterrestrial solar irradiance as a function of solar activity, but indistinct and contradictory results were found, presumably because the experimental errors were greater than the periodical changes in the density flux of extraterrestrial solar radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurements of direct solar irradiance were taken at the San Pietro Capofiume station in the centre of the Po Valley using two examples of the multispectral sun photometer, model UVISIR, on several clear-sky days of late spring and early summer in the years 1989 and 1990. Realistic evaluations of aerosol optical thickness at several sun-photometric wavelengths were obtained from these measurements by i) using values of the calibration constants carefully found by following both the Langley plot method and the spectral-correction procedure, which had previously been applied with satisfactory results to the sun-photometric measurements carried out in Antarctica and ii) taking into account the extinction effects produced by Rayleigh scattering and absorption due to ozone, water vapour and nitrogen dioxide on the solar radiation passing through the atmosphere. By examining a wide set of spectral series of the aerosol optical thickness in terms of the well-known Ångström formula, a large number of pairs of atmospheric-turbidity parameters α and β was obtained, presenting a range of the mean daily values of α from 1.0 to 1.7 (with the median of 1.48) and a range of the mean daily values of β from 0.10 to 0.30 (with the median of 0.15). Using the particulate extinction models CR (for continental particles) and TR (for small tropospheric particles and large rural particles), the aerosol mass loading of the atmosphere calculated for these values of α and β was estimated to vary between 0.09 and 0.31 g m (with the median of 0.21 g m) during the measurement period of 1989 and between 0.09 and 0.41 g m (with the median of 0.13 g m for model CR and of 0.21 g m for model TR) during June and July 1990. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Il Nuovo Cimento: C is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Il Nuovo Cimento: C is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Il Nuovo Cimento: C is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Il Nuovo Cimento: C is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Il Nuovo Cimento: C is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Il Nuovo Cimento: C is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A study of the dependence features of the relative optical mass functions for air, water vapour, ozone and nitrogen dioxide on the apparent solar zenith angle θ was performed by calculating these optical parameters by means of the well-known computer code LOWTRAN 7 at several values of θ and for nine atmospheric models characterized by different latitudes and seasons. Moreover, other investigations were performed on the dependence features of (i) the relative optical air mass on the thermal characteristics of the low troposphere, (ii) the relative optical water vapour mass on the vertical distribution characteristics of absolute humidity in the troposphere, and (iii) the relative optical mass function for ozone and nitrogen dioxide on the shape characteristics of the vertical profiles of the two gaseous concentrations and the concentration peak altitudes. The results are compared with the values given by the two simple formulas proposed by Kasten (1966) for air and water vapour and the formulas defined by Young (1969) and Staehelin et al. (1995) for ozone and nitrogen dioxide. From this comparison, a wide set of correction factors were obtained which can be conveniently used in the analysis of multispectral sun-radiometric measurements for calculating, with a very high precision, the values of the four optical mass functions at all the angles θ in the 0° to 87° range, corresponding to the various latitudinal and seasonal conditions described by the nine atmospheric models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]