Non-Coding RNAs in Muscle Dystrophies

ncRNAs are the most recently identified class of regulatory RNAs with vital functions in gene expression regulation and cell development. Among the variety of roles they play, their involvement in human diseases has opened new avenues of research towards the discovery and development of novel therapeutic approaches. Important data come from the field of hereditary muscle dystrophies, like Duchenne muscle dystrophy and Myotonic dystrophies, rare diseases affecting 1 in 7000–15,000 newborns and is characterized by severe to mild muscle weakness associated with cardiac involvement. Novel therapeutic approaches are now ongoing for these diseases, also based on splicing modulation. In this review we provide an overview about ncRNAs and their behavior in muscular dystrophy and explore their links with diagnosis, prognosis and treatments, highlighting the role of regulatory RNAs in these pathologies.     

Removal of exhausted oils by adsorption on mixed Ca and Mg oxides

Adsorption tests were performed on two different exhausted oils to reduce their polluting and health hazard potential: a "water-insoluble oil", utilised for automotive engine lubrication, and an "emulsified" oil, used as coolant for metal-cutting tools. Dolomite, a low-cost recovery material, was used to prepare two effective adsorbents: (a) a mixed Ca and Mg oxide obtained by thermal decomposition of dolomite at 1800 degrees C, and (b) an activated material obtained by submitting this product to chemical treatment with HCl. Preliminary tests carried out with an excess of the former material showed that the insoluble oil was adsorbed with lower yield (Y = 0.40) than the soluble (emulsified) oil (Y = 0.60). The material activation with HCl remarkably improved the adsorption of soluble oil organic fraction (Y > 0.90), while only a little increase in the removal yield was observed for the insoluble oil (Y = 0.44). The results presented and discussed in this work pointed out that the products of dolomite calcination can successfully replace the conventional adsorbing materials in the removal of organic pollutants, with particular concern to exhausted soluble oils, which cannot usually be recycled, thus reducing the operational costs of their treatment.     

The "genetics" of driving behavior: parents' driving style predicts their children's driving style

It can be hypothesized that children inherit their parents' driving habits both through genetic disposition and model learning. A few studies have shown indeed that parents' and their children's traffic convictions and accidents correlate which, however, may be due to life style and other exposure factors. This study aimed at investigating the relationships between parents' and their children's self-reported driving behavior. The subjects were 174 parent-child pairs who independently completed a questionnaire. Driving behavior-driving style-was evaluated by means of Manchester driver behavior questionnaire (DBQ), while data about driving exposure, life style, accidents, and traffic tickets were also collected. A series of regression models indicated that parents' self-reported driving behavior explains their children's respective self-reported behavior, even when exposure and demographic and life-style factors are controlled.     

Uniqueness and reciprocity in the boundary-initial value problem for a mixture of two elastic solids occupying an unbounded domain

Summary In this paper two uniqueness theorems for an anisotropic mixture of two linear elastic solids are established: The former concerns the mixed boundary-value problem, the latter the displacement problem. These theorems are proved for unbounded domains in the absence of artificial restrictions upon the behaviour of the unknown fields at infinity. A reciprocity theorem is also given.     

Intranucleolar localization of DNA topoisomerase IIalpha is a distinctive feature of necrotic, but not of apoptotic, Jurkat T-cells

Two distinct types of cell death have been described: apoptosis and necrosis. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the differences between these two types are far less numerous than initially thought. Morphological analyses might provide important information to distinguish apoptotic from necrotic samples. We recently reported that in necrotic, but not apoptotic, HL-60 human myeloid leukaemia cells, the nuclear protein topoisomerase IIalpha concentrated in nucleoli. In order to ascertain whether or not this phenomenon was restricted to a peculiar cell type or could be detected also in cells of lymphoid lineage, we performed an investigation aimed at defining the localization of topoisomerase IIalpha in apoptotic and necrotic Jurkat human T lymphoblastoid cells. Immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that topoisomerase IIalpha was excluded from the condensed chromatin of apoptotic cells, whereas in necrotic cells it was localized in discrete nuclear dots. Immuno-electron microscopy analysis showed that topoisomerase IIalpha was undetectable in nucleoli of normal and apoptotic cells, whereas it was present in the nucleolus of necrotic cells irrespectively of the type of inducer used (ethanol, H(2)O(2), HgCl(2)). Taken together, our findings identify topoisomerase IIalpha as a potential morphological marker useful to discriminate between apoptotic and necrotic cells.     

On‐Chip Magnetic Platform for Single‐Particle Manipulation with Integrated Electrical Feedback

Methods for the manipulation of single magnetic particles have become very interesting, in particular for in vitro biological studies. Most of these studies require an external microscope to provide the operator with feedback for controlling the particle motion, thus preventing the use of magnetic particles in high‐throughput experiments. In this paper, a simple and compact system with integrated electrical feedback is presented, implementing in the very same device both the manipulation and detection of the transit of single particles. The proposed platform is based on zig‐zag shaped magnetic nanostructures, where transverse magnetic domain walls are pinned at the corners and attract magnetic particles in suspension. By applying suitable external magnetic fields, the domain walls move to the nearest corner, thus causing the step by step displacement of the particles along the nanostructure. The very same structure is also employed for detecting the bead transit. Indeed, the presence of the magnetic particle in suspension over the domain wall affects the depinning field required for its displacement. This characteristic field can be monitored through anisotropic magnetoresistance measurements, thus implementing an integrated electrical feedback of the bead transit. In particular, the individual manipulation and detection of single 1‐μm sized beads is demonstrated.     

Fuzzy and simulation-based techniques for industrial safety and risk assessment

This paper characterizes the development of a hybrid computer-based tool supporting design for safety practices in industrial plant component specification and layout definition. The tool combines simulation and fuzzy logic techniques for the systematic risk assessment of specified design and layout configurations for plants dealing with hazardous materials. In the hybrid system architecture, the simulation module provides the historical experience for a priori hazard identification and ranking, accounting for the domino effects of possible accidental occurrences, while the fuzzy module provides the correlation matrices for concurrent hazard evaluation and overall risk assessment. In particular, the fuzzy module enables the quantitative assessment and comparison among alternative design solutions providing design guidelines, which can be further tested and verified through simulation.