Electrochemical and Structural Characterization of Lanthanum-Doped Hydroxyapatite: A Promising Material for Sensing Applications.

In the quest to find powerful modifiers of screen-printed electrodes for sensing applications, a set of rare earth-doped CaRE(PO)(OH) (RE = La, Nd, Sm, Eu, Dy, and Tm and x = 0.01, 0.02, 0.

Fabrication of a New, Low-Cost, and Environment-Friendly Laccase-Based Biosensor by Electrospray Immobilization with Unprecedented Reuse and Storage Performances.

The fabrication of enzyme-based biosensors has received much attention for their selectivity and sensitivity. In particular, laccase-based biosensors have attracted a lot of interest for their capacity to detect highly toxic molecules in the environment, becoming essential tools in the fields of white biotechnology and green chemistry. The manufacturing of a new, metal-free, laccase-based biosensor with unprecedented reuse and storage capabilities has been achieved in this work through the application of the electrospray deposition (ESD) methodology as the enzyme immobilization technique.

Electrospray deposition as a smart technique for laccase immobilisation on carbon black-nanomodified screen-printed electrodes.

Enzymes immobilisation represents a critical issue in the design of biosensors to achieve standardization as well as suitable analytical performances in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, and stability. In this work electrospray deposition (ESD) has been exploited as a novel technique for the immobilisation of laccase enzyme on carbon black modified screen-printed electrodes. The aim is to fabricate an amperometric biosensor for phenolic compound detection.

Acamprosate and relapse prevention in the treatment of alcohol dependence: a placebo-controlled study.

The objective of this study was to compare acamprosate with placebo in the treatment of alcohol-dependent patients during a 6-month post-detoxification treatment and a 3-month medication-free follow-up. Patients (n = 330) were detoxified and randomized to treatment with acamprosate (1998 mg/day) or placebo within an out-patient programme including medical counselling, psychotherapy and self-help groups. The main outcome criterion was drinking behaviour as assessed by: abstinence/relapse ratio, cumulative abstinence duration (CAD) and the period of continued abstinence.

Comorbidity of drug dependence and other mental disorders: a two-phase study of prevalence at outpatient treatment centres in Italy.

A cross-sectional multicentre study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of DSM III-R Axis I morbidity among drug addicts seeking treatment. Consecutive outpatients of the National Health Service's treatment units (aged 18-60 years, fulfilling criteria for drug dependence and without primary diagnosis of alcohol dependence) were enrolled at intake. In the first phase of the study, professional staff members evaluated current psychiatric morbidity of 317 clients clinically.