Publications by authors named "Fabrizio Fiorentini"

Ureteral stents are among the most frequently used human implants, with urothelium trauma, blood clots, and bacterial colonization being their main reasons for failure. In this study, berberine-loaded zein (ZB) nanoparticles with high drug encapsulation efficiency (>90 %) were fabricated via electrospray on flat and 3D stainless steel structures. Physico-chemical characterization revealed that the ZB nanoparticles created a highly hydrophilic, antioxidant, and scratch-resistant continuous coating over the metal structure.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Natural polymers from organic wastes are being increasingly used in the biomedical field for creating eco-friendly devices, like bandages, that support healing and degrade without releasing toxins.
  • - The study proposes a microfibrous scaffold made from zein and pectin, loaded with vitamin C to enhance skin healing and protect against UV damage, using electrospinning and cross-linking techniques.
  • - Results show that the vitamin C in the scaffolds promotes collagen production in skin cells and reduces oxidative stress, with in vivo tests indicating a significant reduction in inflammatory cytokines in a mouse model with UVB-induced skin damage.
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The waste stream of low-grade wool is an underutilized source of keratin-rich materials with appropriate methods for upcycling into high value-added products still being an open challenge. In the present work, keratins were precipitated from their water solution to produce hierarchical keratin particles via isoelectric precipitation. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization coupled with time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry analysis (MALDI-TOF/TOF MS/MS) showed the presence of the amino acid sequence leucine-aspartic acid-valine (LDV) in the extracted keratin.

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Alterations of skin homeostasis are widely diffused in our everyday life both due to accidental injuries, such as wounds and burns, and physiological conditions, such as late-stage diabetes, dermatitis, or psoriasis. These events are locally characterized by an intense inflammatory response, a high generation of harmful free radicals, or an impairment in the immune response regulation, which can profoundly change the skin tissue' repair process, vulnerability, and functionality. Moreover, diabetes diffusion, antibiotic resistance, and abuse of aggressive soaps and disinfectants following the COVID-19 emergency could be causes for the future spreading of skin disorders.

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Keratin extracted from wool fibers has recently gained attention as an abundant source of renewable, biocompatible material for tissue engineering and drug delivery applications. However, keratin extraction and processing generally require a copious use of chemicals, not only bearing consequences for the environment but also possibly compromising the envisioned biological outcome. In this study, we present, for the first time, keratin-PVP biocomposite fibers obtained via an all-water co-electrospinning process and explored their properties modulation as a result of different thermal crosslinking treatments.

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The genome encodes for five agglutinin-like sequence (Als) cell-wall glycoproteins involved in adhesion to biotic and abiotic surfaces. The work presented here is aimed at analyzing the role of the two still uncharacterized genes in and , by the generation and characterization of C and single mutant strains. Phenotypic characterization showed that both mutant strains behaved as the parental wild type strain regarding growth rate in liquid/solid media supplemented with cell-wall perturbing agents, and in the ability to produce pseudohyphae.

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