Publications by authors named "Funari V"

Metals are essential in our daily lives and have a finite supply, being simultaneously contaminants of concern. The current carbon emissions and environmental impact of mining are untenable. We need to reclaim metals sustainably from secondary resources, like waste.

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The inter-element relationships and the forms in which metals exist strongly influence their mobility and, in turn, have a signature on the environment and human health. Located in the northern Apennines within the Emilia-Romagna region, the Ridracoli artificial lake is one of Italy's most important reservoirs that provides drinking water for about one million people. This work characterized the reservoir sediments by ICP-MS after aqua regia digestion (ARD), comparing the limits by law to assess environmental compliance and XRF data from the same sample-set taken as total concentrations.

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  • Investigations of trace metals, major elements, and radionuclides in the EL-C01 sediment core provide insights into sedimentary changes and human impacts in the Po river prodelta over the last 175 years.
  • There are identifiable peaks in trace metals and aluminum in the core, particularly associated with major flood events of the Po river in the 20th century.
  • Post-1900 sediments show increased concentrations of lead, zinc, and copper, especially after World War II, but a decline in heavy metals since the 1980s suggests a positive impact from Italy's anti-pollution legislation.
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Background: There has recently been growing interest in the roles of inflammation in contributing to the development of anxiety in people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID). Patient-reported outcome measures can facilitate the assessment of physical and psychological functioning. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) is a set of Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) that cover physical appearance, mental health, and social health.

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Background: Tumor mutational burden (TMB) measurements aid in identifying patients who are likely to benefit from immunotherapy; however, there is empirical variability across panel assays and factors contributing to this variability have not been comprehensively investigated. Identifying sources of variability can help facilitate comparability across different panel assays, which may aid in broader adoption of panel assays and development of clinical applications.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-nine tumor samples and 10 human-derived cell lines were processed and distributed to 16 laboratories; each used their own bioinformatics pipelines to calculate TMB and compare to whole exome results.

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  • - The sea around Dajin Island is a crucial habitat for the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin but faces ecological threats due to rapid economic growth, making real-time ecological monitoring essential.
  • - Researchers used advanced imaging techniques to analyze key indicators of water quality, finding that the area is experiencing low to medium eutrophication, with variations in Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations.
  • - The study revealed that dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the water comes mainly from land sources but is also influenced by aquaculture, highlighting the need for more comprehensive monitoring methods to better assess aquatic health.
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  • Mechatronic and soft robotics are drawing inspiration from animals, particularly in the field of marine biomimetic research, to create high-performance robots.
  • A total of 6980 scientific publications from 1950-2020 show significant growth in research, especially around 2003-2004, with two major collaboration clusters emerging: one in Asia-North America and another in Europe.
  • The three key areas of focus include energy provision through microbial fuel cells, developing biomaterials for soft robots, and enhancing locomotor designs, though challenges remain in achieving sustainable energy solutions for long-term robotic operation.
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The NTRK genes include a family of three genes, NTRK1, NTRK2, and NTRK3, which are associated with fusions with a variety of partner genes, leading to upregulation of three proteins, TrkA, TrkB, and TrkC. NTRK fusions occur in a variety of solid tumors: at high incidence in secretory carcinoma of the breast and salivary glands, congenital mesoblastic nephroma, and infantile fibrosarcoma; at intermediate incidence in thyroid carcinoma, particularly postradiation carcinomas and a subset of aggressive papillary carcinomas, Spitzoid melanocytic neoplasms, pediatric midline gliomas (particularly pontine glioma), and KIT/PDGFRA/RAS negative gastrointestinal stromal sarcomas; and at a low incidence in many other solid tumors. With new FDA-approved treatments available and effective in treating patients whose tumors harbor NTRK fusions, testing for these fusions has become important.

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The discharge of toxic elements from tailings soils in the aquatic environments occurs chiefly in the presence of indigenous bacteria. The biotic components may interact in the opposite direction, leading to the formation of a passivation layer, which can inhibit the solubility of the elements. In this work, the influence of jarosite on the bio-immobilization of toxic elements was studied by native bacteria.

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This paper reports supplementary information to "Understanding room-temperature magnetic properties of anthropogenic ashes from municipal solid waste incineration to assess potential impacts and resources" [1]. The sample-set is composed of 47 samples of bottom (BA) and fly (FA) ashes from Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI), including eight magnetic extracts of selected BA and FA materials. The sampling relies on a simple random sampling strategy at four different MSWI sites in Northern Italy [2].

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Background: Tumor mutational burden (TMB), defined as the number of somatic mutations per megabase of interrogated genomic sequence, demonstrates predictive biomarker potential for the identification of patients with cancer most likely to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors. TMB is optimally calculated by whole exome sequencing (WES), but next-generation sequencing targeted panels provide TMB estimates in a time-effective and cost-effective manner. However, differences in panel size and gene coverage, in addition to the underlying bioinformatics pipelines, are known drivers of variability in TMB estimates across laboratories.

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  • Hydrocarbon seepage in the marine environment is often neglected due to insufficient detailed exploration data, prompting a need for better monitoring systems.
  • A relocatable and cost-effective monitoring system was tested in two Central Adriatic Sea case studies: an oil spill at 10 m depth and methane seeps at 84 m depth, using advanced detection methods.
  • The study involved measuring nutrient and hydrocarbon concentrations in the water column and sediment, with a novel use of a benthic chamber to collect water samples for analyzing contamination levels.
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  • Municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) is a popular method for waste treatment in Europe, producing about 20 million tons of incineration bottom ash (IBA) annually.
  • IBA contains valuable materials like ferrous and non-ferrous metals and glass, which can be recovered, depending on the original waste composition.
  • The paper reviews different technologies and approaches for recovering non-ferrous metals from IBA, highlighting advancements since the 1990s that have become standard in developed countries.
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  • * Approximately 46 million tonnes of MSWI ashes are produced each year, commonly disposed of in landfills or used as aggregate, but they can be processed for metal recovery similar to low-grade ores.
  • * A SWOT analysis highlights that while bioleaching can enhance resource recovery in a sustainable way, it faces technical and regulatory challenges that must be addressed for successful implementation.
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The continuous presence of toxic elements in the aquatic environments around mine tailings occurs due to bioleaching or chemical extraction promoted by the mining operations. Biogenic passivation treatment of tailings dams can be a new environment-friendly technique to inhibit the solubility of heavy metals. In spite of current bioleaching researches, we tried to minimize the mobility of the trace elements in the laboratory scale through the formation of a passivation layer in the presence of a mixed culture of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans.

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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by alterations in the intestinal microbiota and altered immune responses to gut microbiota. Evidence is accumulating that IBD is influenced by not only commensal bacteria but also commensal fungi. We characterized fungi directly associated with the intestinal mucosa in healthy people and Crohn's disease patients and identified fungi specifically abundant in patients.

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T helper 9 (T9) cells are important for the development of inflammatory and allergic diseases. The T9 transcriptional network converges signals from cytokines and antigen presentation but is incompletely understood. Here, we identified TL1A, a member of the TNF superfamily, as a strong inducer of mouse and human T9 differentiation.

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  • Steel slag, a by-product of steel production, is explored as a source for recovering metals like aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), and vanadium (V) using bacterial leaching techniques.
  • Bioleaching tests showed higher metal recovery from steel slag compared to control treatments, particularly with smaller particle sizes, though duration of leaching did not significantly impact results.
  • Despite modest recovery rates using AmberliteIRA-400, the study suggests alternative ion exchange resins or methods could enhance metal recovery from the substantial global steel slag production.
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  • Environmental policies in the EU are shifting focus from just reducing hazardous waste to recovering valuable resources from it, particularly in light of increasing municipal solid waste incineration.
  • Air pollution control residues (APCr) from incineration are classified as hazardous waste, whereas fly ashes may have different classifications due to their harmful content like toxic metals.
  • The text proposes various recovery methods, including detoxification and product manufacturing, and discusses six case studies on technologies for material recovery, aiming to change the perception of waste into a resource while ensuring environmental protections.
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Background: The role of amplification in lung cancer, particularly in relation to checkpoint inhibition and WT, has not been fully explored. In this study, we correlated PD-L1 expression with amplification and , , or mutation in primary lung cancer.

Methods: In this retrospective study, tissue collected from 471 various tumors, including 397 lung cancers, was tested for amplification by FISH with a /centromere probe.

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During their production, management, and landfilling, bottom (BA) and fly (FA) ashes from municipal solid waste incineration may liberate Fe-bearing, ultrafine particles and easily enter different environmental sinks of the biosphere. We aim to explore a collection of BA and FA samples from Italian incinerators to probe magnetic mineralogy and the fraction of harmful superparamagnetic (SP) nanoparticles (d<30nm). X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy observation, temperature- and frequency-dependent magnetometry, and Mossbauer analysis are performed.

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The transcriptional regulator Blimp1 plays crucial roles in controlling terminal differentiation in several lineages. In T cells, Blimp1 is expressed in both effector (Teff) and regulatory (Treg) cells, and mice with T cell-specific deletion of Blimp1 (Blimp1CKO mice) spontaneously develop severe intestinal inflammation, indicating a crucial role for Blimp1 in T cell homeostasis regulation. Blimp1 has been shown to function as a direct activator of the Il10 gene and although its requirement for IL10 expression has been demonstrated in both Treg and Teff cells under inflammatory conditions, the intrinsic requirement of Blimp1 for homeostatic maintenance of these T cell subsets had not been investigated.

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Dysregulation of MST1/STK4, a key kinase component of the Hippo-YAP pathway, is linked to the etiology of many cancers with poor prognosis. However, how STK4 restricts the emergence of aggressive cancer remains elusive. Here, we investigated the effects of STK4, primarily localized in the cytoplasm, lipid raft, and nucleus, on cell growth and gene expression in aggressive prostate cancer.

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