EXPRESS: Landmark Publications in Analytical Atomic Spectrometry: Fundamentals and Instrumentation Development.

The almost-two-centuries history of spectrochemical analysis has generated a body of literature so vast that it has become nearly intractable for experts, much less for those wishing to enter the field. Authoritative, focused reviews help to address this problem but become so granular that the overall directions of the field are lost. This broader perspective can be provided partially by general overviews but then the thinking, experimental details, theoretical underpinnings and instrumental innovations of the original work must be sacrificed.

Membrane fluctuations of human red blood cells investigated by the current signal noise in scanning ion conductance microscopy.

Human red blood cells show submicron membrane fluctuations (CMFs) that have been mainly studied with optical microscopies. Although the functional role of this phenomenon is still uncertain, the amplitude of membrane fluctuations is considered as an indicator of mechanical resilience to the stress encountered in the capillary beds. We investigate here the membrane fluctuations in red blood cells using the scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM), a scanning probe technique that avoids the probe-sample contact.

Erythro-Magneto-HA-Virosome: A Bio-Inspired Drug Delivery System for Active Targeting of Drugs in the Lungs.

Over the past few decades, finding more efficient and selective administration routes has gained significant attention due to its crucial role in the bioavailability, absorption rate and pharmacokinetics of therapeutic substances. The pulmonary delivery of drugs has become an attractive target of scientific and biomedical interest in the health care research area, as the lung, thanks to its high permeability and large absorptive surface area and good blood supply, is capable of absorbing pharmaceuticals either for local deposition or for systemic delivery. Nevertheless, the pulmonary drug delivery is relatively complex, and strategies to mitigate the effects of mechanical, chemical and immunological barriers are required.

miR-182-5p is an evolutionarily conserved Tbx5 effector that impacts cardiac development and electrical activity in zebrafish.

To dissect the TBX5 regulatory circuit, we focused on microRNAs (miRNAs) that collectively contribute to make TBX5 a pivotal cardiac regulator. We profiled miRNAs in hearts isolated from wild-type, CRE, Tbx5and Tbx5 mice using a Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) approach. TBX5 deficiency in cardiomyocytes increased the expression of the miR-183 cluster family that is controlled by Kruppel-like factor 4, a transcription factor repressed by TBX5.

Nonlinear indentation of single human erythrocytes under application of a localized mechanical force.

Despite the accepted notion that erythrocytes are uniquely deformable cells, the apparent Young's modulus values reported in the literature do not differ so much from those of other cells. We devised to measure the local deformability of living immobilized human erythrocytes at a low force, in contact-free mode, using an application of Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy (SICM) previously developed in our laboratory. Reversible indentations were induced by forces of up to few hundreds pN.