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Abstract Background Metatypical cell carcinoma can be considered as a new entity of skin cancer, being an intermediate typology between basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas. The behaviour of the metatypical cell carcinoma lies between these two varieties of skin cancer. It is difficult to perform a differential diagnosis based on morphological and clinical features – therefore it is only possible by accurate histology. Methods The authors have retrospectively analysed clinical records of 240 patients who were affected by metatypical skin cancer and who were treated by surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Results MTC affected more males than females (62.5% vs 37.5%) than males. The most affected site was the cervicofacial area, 71.7%; then the trunk, 10%; the limbs, 9.6%; the scalp 3.7%; and other regions 5%. A recurrence occurred in 24 cases (10%), mainly in head and neck area. Conclusion In this manuscript, the authors have emphasised the importance of conducting a differential diagnosis, and the importance of the specific treatment for metatypical skin cancer, even though more clinical studies and long-term follow-ups are required before establishing specific guidelines.

Truncus arteriosus is a rare cyanotic congenital heart disease (1.5%). That has a poor prognosis if not treated surgically in early childhood. In this disorder, blood is pumped from the heart to the systemic, pulmonary, and coronary circulations via a single trunk located above the interventricular septum. A 46-year-old female with history of congenital heart disease but with no previous surgery who had lost follow-up was admitted to the hospital with decompensated heart failure, chest pain and significant cyanosis (SpO2 52%) without respiratory distress. Initial diagnosis was Tetralogy of Fallot, but angiotomography revealed right infundibulum atresia, slightly hypoplastic right lung, and Truncus Arteriosus A3 with large caliber left pulmonary artery and fibrous cord at right pulmonary artery topography, as well as fine collaterals of the bronchial arteries. Right heart catheterization showed anomalous origin of the left pulmonary artery from the aorta and hypoplasia of the right pulmonary artery and ventricular septal defect. Mean aortic pressure of 86mmhg and mean left pulmonary artery pressure of 89mmhg. Due to elevated pulmonary pressures and the connection of the left pulmonary artery to the aorta, only a heart-lung transplant was possible, with no corrective surgical options. Despite the high pulmonary pressures, she was not started on a pulmonary vasodilator due to the origin of the pulmonary artery, which would cause greater pressure overload. Suprasystemic pulmonary hypertension is often seen as a complication of congenital heart disease, and it limits the option of treatments of the primary disease as well as the option for heart transplant. Combined heart-lung transplant is still a great challenge in most centers and countries with high mortality rates, which mostly leads to the decision for palliation instead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We propose a new planning method to reduce the use of the range shifter. • We improved plan quality and dose calculation accuracy with this new method. • The method is applied to 5 clinical cases to show its impact in clinical practice. Abstract Purpose To implement a new proton therapy planning method for the treatment of shallow lesions with PBS and to compare it to the standard method. Methods and materials In order to treat shallow lesions, a pre-absorber, usually called range-shifter (RS), is needed: it is used to degrade the beam energy and treat tumors shallower than the minimum range available. Its use is associated to dose calculation uncertainties and plan quality degradation which should be minimized. We studied five tumor localizations requiring RS and created three plans for each case: a) standard method with the RS close to the patient surface, b) with the RS used only for the shallow part of the tumor (when strictly needed) and completely retracted and c) as the b) approach but with the RS close to the patient. We called these two approaches 'Range Shifter Optimization' (RSO) techniques. We compared those plans in terms of dose distribution quality, delivery time and patient-specific-QA results. Results In most cases a good dose reduction to OARs with no significant loss in terms of target coverage was obtained when the RSO techniques were used. Patient-specific-QA gave very good results in terms of γ-Passing-Rate (PR) (3%, 3 mm) for both RSO techniques (mean 98.09%), while the standard had some very low PR (minimum 81.09%). The delivery time increased (5.0 min on average per treatment) but was still acceptable in terms of patient compliance. Conclusion We developed a new planning technique for shallow lesions and we demonstrated its superiority in terms of both plan quality and patient-specific-QA results with respect to the standard method. This technique is routinely used to treat patients in our center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We study the degradation of methyl orange by using hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) in the presence of ion metals. • We measure the effect of various operating parameters (pH, temperature, inlet pressure) on the decolourization efficiency. • A full factorial plan was carried out to determine the main effects and mutual interactions among the factors. • We find that the optimum operating conditions among those investigated are: 5 ppm of, pH = 2, 0.6 MPa and 1 h, independently of temperature. • The degradation process in the presence of ion metals increased of 5 times the efficiency of the HC performed in the absence of metals. Abstract The aim of this research was to investigate the methyl orange degradation using hydrodynamic cavitation. The synthetic solutions simulated a real textile effluent containing dye and metals (iron and nickel) as a consequence of the corrosion of nickel-plated metal components of the plant during the production of textile materials. In the first series of experiments, the hydrodynamic cavitation was studied in terms of operating inlet pressure and pH of solution. Subsequently, a full factorial plan was performed to determine the main effects and interactions among the investigated factors: inlet pressure (p in), temperature (T), initial dye concentration (c MO / 0), and treatment time (t). The results showed that inlet pressure, temperature and concentration had a significant positive effect on dye degradation, as well as the interactions temperature/dye concentration and pressure/time. The optimum operating conditions among those investigated were: c MO / 0 = 5 ppm, pH = 2, p in = 0.6 MPa and t = 1 h, independently of temperature (T). In the above conditions, the degradation yields were near to 75% and the final concentration was less than 1 ppm. On the contrary, at c MO / 0 = 20 ppm, pH = 2, p in = 0.6 MPa, T = 40 °C and t = 1 h, the degradation efficiency was about 56% and the final concentration was less than 9 ppm. A comparison among the experiments carried out in the absence and in the presence of iron and nickel showed that metals acted as catalysts and the energy required for the process with metal ions was 5 times smaller than that those required by the experiments conducted without the metals in solution, at the same operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A selective sensing platform for the organophosphate paraoxon, a highly toxic organic pollutant, has been designed and tested on water samples. A porous hybrid organic–inorganic film, synthesised using tetraethoxysilane, 1,8‐bis(triethoxysilyl)octane and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, has been molecularly imprinted with a structural analogue of paraoxon, the diethyl(4‐nitrobenzyl)phosphonate, to induce selective recognition. Exfoliated graphene has been incorporated into the porous matrix to provide enhancement of the Raman scattering signal. The Raman sensor has been tested on different concentrations of paraoxon in both ethanol and water/ethanol mixture. The molecular selectivity has been assessed by comparing the Raman signal enhancement of paraoxon with a similar organophosphate, the bis‐(4‐nitrophenyl) phosphate. The molecularly imprinted film has shown a fourfold increase of the paraoxon signal, when compared with the corresponding not‐imprinted. The evaluation of the density of molecular cavities into the molecularly imprinted samples (4.50 * 10−10 μmol μm−3) has allowed assuming that each molecular cavity is capable of providing a remarkable signal enhancement of 1.47 * 1012 count * μmol−1 only when recognising paraoxon. The material design has allowed coupling the sensitivity of the graphene‐mediated enhancement of Raman scattering with the selectivity of molecular imprinting into a single and potentially portable, analytical system. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The main objective of this manuscript is the description of a mobile demonstration plant designed and built for the recovery of metals from waste of electrical and electronic equipment and other waste such as spent batteries and exhausted industrial catalysts. The plant was designed within the European FP7 framework HydroWEEE-demo (2012–2016) and can offer an effective proposal to addressing the problem of the electronic waste, reducing the environmental impact of their not correct disposal, recovering critical materials as rare earths and precious elements, and giving economic benefits, moreover by it, it is possible to overcome the problem of moving hazardous wastes from one country to another one. Details about the process to recover rare earths from fluorescent materials are presented. Two alternative treatments are showed with and without recirculation of the residual solutions. Economic analysis shows that with the actual product price (14 €/kg) only the process, in which solution recirculation is present, provides a return on the investment. Positive gain is possible if the plant works at its highest capacity and if the price growths up to 20 €/kg the gain increases about 20% of operating costs (process with recirculation, 2 batch/day). In the process without recirculation of the solution, to obtain the same ratio between gain and operating cost it is necessary that the price increases up to 26 €/kg. About other e-wastes, economic analysis has shown that the highest gain is provided from the PCB treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated whether supplementation with different doses of cerium dioxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs) during in vitro maturation (IVM) of prepubertal ovine oocytes influenced their embryonic development in vitro. Cumulus-oocyte complexes derived from the ovaries of slaughtered prepubertal sheep underwent IVM with CeO2NPs (0, 44, 88 or 220 µg mL-1). Matured oocytes were fertilised in vitro and zygotes were cultured for 7 days. The results demonstrated that CeO2NPs were internalised in the cumulus cells and not in the oocyte. The treatment with CeO2NPs did not affect nuclear maturation or intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species of the oocytes. The percentage of oocytes with regular chromatin configuration and cytoskeleton structures when treated with 44 µg mL-1 CeO2NPs was similar to oocytes matured in the absence of CeO2NPs and significantly higher than those treated with 88 or 220 µg mL-1 CeO2NPs. The relative quantification of transcripts in the cumulus cells of oocytes matured with 44 µg mL-1 CeO2NPs showed a statistically lower mRNA abundance of BCL2-associated X protein (BAX), B-cell CLL/lymphoma 2 (BCL2) and superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) compared with the 0 µg mL-1 CeO2 NPs group. A concentration of 44 µg mL-1 CeO2NPs significantly increased the blastocyst yield and their total, inner cell mass and trophectoderm cell numbers, compared with the 0 and 220 µg mL-1 groups. A low concentration of CeO2NPs in the maturation medium enhanced in vitro embryo production of prepubertal ovine oocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dots (C-dots) are a large family of nanomaterials characterized by an intense photoluminescence. The origin of the emission is multifaceted and is dependent on a number of factors, including structure, surface, and composition. The term "carbon dots" is quite broad and encompasses a wide range of carbon nanostructures. The multiple properties are a result of this variability, which also makes it difficult to establish a clear structure-property relationship. Photoluminescence is the property of this class of nanomaterials that has garnered the greatest attention due to the possibility of applications in various fields, including biotechnologies, electronics, and energy. Another property of C-dots that has only lately been recognized is their antioxidant activity, i.e., the ability to act as a free radical scavenger. Furthermore, it has been proven that certain types of C-dots function as oxidizing agents when exposed to visible and/or UV radiation. This dual oxidant-antioxidant nature is particularly intriguing and closely related to the C-dot properties. Although many articles have been published on the subject, it still needs to be understood what structure-property relationships regulate the responses to free radicals. This review aims to provide a general overview of the characteristics of C-dots as scavengers or radical emitters by a critical analysis of the relevant studies. Based on their intended application as oxidants or antioxidants, the findings of this review can be used to synthesize C-dots with precisely defined functional properties. [Display omitted] • Carbon dots have the capability of generatingreactive oxygen species under illumination with UV and visible light. • Radical scavenging has been observed in severaltypes of carbon dots. • Dual oxydant-antixoxidant effects can beobserved in properly designed carbon dots. • The oxidant and antioxidant nature of the carbondot must be properly designed through a careful control of the surface andstructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]