Publications by authors named "Casali E"

The cumulated π system of a nonsymmetric allene contains three distinct unsaturated carbons that imbue it with unique reactivity toward radicals as compared to its alkene and alkyne counterparts. Despite the synthetic potential of these versatile building blocks, electrochemical transformations of allenes have been historically underexplored. Myriad strategies for easy access to allenes, coupled with the resurgence of interest in sustainable oxidative transformations of hydrocarbons, prompted our efforts to conduct an in-depth investigation of a rare example of an electrochemical TEMPO-mediated allene dioxygenation.

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  • Arthropod-borne viruses like dengue virus (DENV) are a major global health issue, infecting around 400 million people annually and causing outbreaks even in non-endemic regions.
  • The study aimed to improve serological diagnosis and identify new drugs by mapping immunogenic protein regions of DENV through high-density peptide arrays and computational methods.
  • Twenty-four specific peptides were found that could distinguish DENV from other flaviviruses, with two peptides potentially serving as a serum biomarker for DENV infection, which may aid in developing diagnostic and preventative strategies.
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Asymmetric epoxidation represents a hot topic in organic synthesis. In recent years, organocatalysts based on sugar skeletons have been exploited in asymmetric epoxidation to achieve enantiomeric pure epoxides. In this work, two different endocyclic ketones derived from glucose and galactose protected with a 4,6--benzylidene group have been prepared and exploited for Shi-type epoxidation.

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Epoxides, as a prominent small ring O-heterocyclic and the privileged pharmacophores for medicinal chemistry, have recently represented an ideal substrate for the development of single-atom replacements. The previous O-to-C replacement strategy for epoxides to date typically requires high temperatures to achieve low yields and lacks substrate range and functional group tolerance, so achieving this oxygen-carbon exchange remains a formidable challenge. Here, we report a silver-catalyzed direct conversion of epoxides into trifluoromethylcyclopropanes in a single step using trifluoromethyl N-triftosylhydrazones as carbene precursors, thereby achieving oxygen-carbon exchange via a tandem deoxygenation/[2 + 1] cycloaddition.

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Cannabidiol (CBD), a prominent phytocannabinoid found in various chemotypes, is under extensive investigation for its therapeutic potential. Moreover, because it is nonpsychoactive, it can also be utilized as a functional ingredient in foods and supplements in certain countries, depending on its legal status. From a chemical reactivity point of view, CBD can undergo conversion into different structurally related compounds both during storage and after the consumption of CBD-based products.

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Hypoxia plays a significant role in the development of various cerebral diseases, many of which are associated with the potential risk of recurrence due to mitochondrial damage. Conventional drug treatments are not always effective for hypoxia-related brain diseases, necessitating the exploration of alternative compounds. In this study, we investigated the potential of diphenyl diselenide [(PhSe)] to ameliorate locomotor impairments and mitigate brain mitochondrial dysfunction in zebrafish subjected to hypoxia.

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The key role of chiral small molecules in drug discovery programs has been deeply investigated throughout last decades. In this context, our previous studies highlighted the influence of the absolute configuration of different stereocenters on the pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and functional properties of promising Sigma receptor (SR) modulators. Thus, starting from the racemic SR ligand RC752, we report herein the isolation of the enantiomers via enantioselective separation with both HPLC and SFC.

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In this work, we successfully employed electrochemical conditions to promote a Hofer-Moest, intramolecular Friedel-Crafts alkylation sequence. The reaction proceeds under mild conditions, employing carboxylic acids as starting materials. Notably, the electrochemical process performed in batch was adapted to a continuous flow electrolysis apparatus to provide a significant improvement.

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Ring-fused azacyclic compounds are important building units in the synthesis of biorelevant natural products, pharmaceutical agents, and molecular materials. Herein, we present a new approach to these condensed azacycles by a biomimetic cascade cyclization of arylalkenyl dioxazolones. This cascade reaction was found to proceed with excellent stereoselectivity and a high functional group tolerance.

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  • NLRP3 protein complexes are linked to various inflammatory diseases, making their targeted inhibition a potential treatment for neuroinflammation symptoms.
  • Activation of NLRP3 leads to the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and cell death, with its NACHT domain playing a key role in the assembly process.
  • Molecular dynamics simulations reveal how allosteric ligands can inhibit NLRP3 by altering its protein structure and dynamics, leading to a Machine Learning model that can classify the protein's state as Active or Inactive.
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  • * A specific challenging case of S. maltophilia BSI due to septic thrombosis is presented, where the infection was successfully treated using cefiderocol in addition to levofloxacin.
  • * The treatment plan also included an intra-lock therapy with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole to prevent reinfection, as full resolution of the infection source was not achievable, supported by a serum bactericidal assay to confirm the treatment's effectiveness.
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Objectives: Little is known regarding outcomes and optimal therapeutic regimens of infections caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPC-Kp) resistant to ceftazidime/avibactam (CZA) and susceptible to meropenem (MEM). Although susceptible to MEM in vitro, the possibility of developing MEM resistance overtime is a concern. We describe the clinical characteristics of patients with colonization/infection due to KPC variants with a focus on the in vitro activity of fosfomycin (FOS)-containing combinations.

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  • * Out of 838 enrolled patients, 5 (0.6%) developed infections related to CIEDs, while 212 (25.5%) died over a median follow-up period of 42.3 months.
  • * The study found that chronic kidney disease requiring dialysis and corticosteroid therapy significantly increased infection risk, while older age, chronic kidney disease, and a history of atrial fibrillation were associated with higher all-cause mortality.
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SARS-CoV-2 has evolved rapidly in the first 3 years of pandemic diffusion. The initial evolution of the virus appeared to proceed through big jumps in sequence changes rather than through the stepwise accumulation of point mutations on already established variants. Here, we examine whether this nonlinear mutational process reverberates in variations of the conformational dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein (S-protein), the first point of contact between the virus and the human host.

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We aimed to investigate predictors of intervention of acute type B aortic penetrating ulcer (PAU) and intramural hematoma (IMH). We conducted a retrospective chart review of all patients admitted for acute type B PAU or IMH in a tertiary referral hospital. Indications to intervention were "complicated" (rupture, impending rupture, malperfusion) or "high risk for unfavorable outcome" (refractory hypertension and/or pain despite best medical treatment, morphologic aortic evolution, transition to a new aortic syndrome, or increase in IMH/PAU depth >5 mm) during the acute/subacute phase.

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Properly substituted tetrahydrofuran (THF) rings are important building blocks in the synthesis of many natural metabolites. Having reliable procedures to control the stereoselectivity at the THF core while decorating it with different substituents is a fundamental requirement to achieve and fulfill the complexity of nature. We recently reported a new chemical approach to control the stereochemistry in the alkylation and arylation of furanoside derivatives by using a rhenium(V) complex to form an intermediate oxo-carbenium species able to react with proper soft nucleophiles.

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Background: Remdesivir (REM) has shown potent antiviral activity and efficacy in animal models of COVID-19; nevertheless, clinical trials and real-life reports have shown conflicting data on its effectiveness. Aims of the study were to evaluate the impact of remdesivir on I) Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission, II) need for orotracheal intubation (OTI) and III) in-hospital mortality. Furthermore, we estimated the kinetics of laboratory parameters and assessed the risk factors for in-hospital mortality in the remdesivir population.

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  • A study investigated the rates and outcomes of cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) procedures in patients with active COVID-19, using data from 53 medical centers across 13 countries.
  • The CIED implantation rate among hospitalized COVID-19 patients ranged from 0 to 16.2 per 1000, with a notable 30-day complication rate of 13.9% and a 180-day mortality rate of 9.6%.
  • Significant differences in patient outcomes were identified between Europe and North America, highlighting the need for careful consideration of risks when performing CIED procedures on patients with COVID-19.
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Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) based metabolomic analysis of whole saliva has provided potential diagnostic biomarkers for numerous human diseases contributing to a better understanding of their mechanisms. However, a comprehensive interpretation of the significance of metabolites in whole, parotid, and submandibular/sublingual saliva subtypes is still missing. Precision and reproducibility of sample preparation is an essential step.

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A novel approach for the formation of anomeric carbon-functionalized furanoside systems was accomplished through the employment of an oxo-rhenium catalyst. The transformation boasts a broad range of nucleophiles including allylsilanes, enol ethers, and aromatics in addition to sulfur, nitrogen, and hydride donors, able to react with an oxocarbenium ion intermediate derived from furanosidic structures. The excellent stereoselectivities observed followed the Woerpel model, ultimately providing 1,3--1,4- systems.

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Celestial amplitudes which use conformal primary wave functions rather than plane waves as external states offer a novel opportunity to study properties of amplitudes with manifest conformal covariance and give insight into a potential holographic celestial conformal field theory at the null boundary of asymptotically flat space. Since translation invariance is obscured in the conformal basis, features of amplitudes that heavily rely on it appear to be lost. Among these are the remarkable relations between gauge theory and gravity amplitudes known as the double copy.

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Background: Red blood cell (RBC) units may contain a variety of molecules that can activate the neutrophil cascade turning neutrophils into targets for immunomodulatory molecules. Our metabolomics profiling of RBC units revealed a significant increase of hypoxanthine concentration during storage. Hypoxanthine catabolism in vivo ends with the production of uric acid through a reaction catalysed by xanthine oxidase during which reactive oxygen species are generated.

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The emergency caused by Covid-19 pandemic raised interest in studying lifestyles and comorbidities as important determinants of poor Covid-19 prognosis. Data on tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity are still limited, while no data are available on the role of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTP). To clarify the role of tobacco smoking and other lifestyle habits on COVID-19 severity and progression, we designed a longitudinal observational study titled COvid19 and SMOking in ITaly (COSMO-IT).

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Iron porphyrin methoxy complexes, of the general formula [Fe(porphyrin)(OCH)], are able to catalyze the reaction of diazo compounds with alkenes to give cyclopropane products with very high efficiency and selectivity. The overall mechanism of these reactions was thoroughly investigated with the aid of a computational approach based on density functional theory calculations. The energy profile for the processes catalyzed by the oxidized [Fe(Por)(OCH)] (Por = porphine) as well as the reduced [Fe(Por)(OCH)] forms of the iron porphyrin was determined.

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  • This study investigates the metabolic composition of saliva to find non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers for oral health, focusing on submandibular/sublingual saliva, which has not been thoroughly analyzed before.
  • Researchers analyzed saliva samples from 20 healthy individuals using nuclear magnetic resonance and identified varying metabolites present in different saliva types: whole, parotid, and submandibular/sublingual.
  • The findings revealed specific metabolites unique to each saliva subtype and laid the groundwork for further research into salivary biomarkers related to oral and systemic health issues.
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