A Study on Structural Health Monitoring of a Large Space Antenna via Distributed Sensors and Deep Learning.

Most modern Earth and Universe observation spacecraft are now equipped with large lightweight and flexible structures, such as antennas, telescopes, and extendable elements. The trend of hosting more complex and bigger appendages, essential for high-precision scientific applications, made orbiting satellites more susceptible to performance loss or degradation due to structural damages. In this scenario, Structural Health Monitoring strategies can be used to evaluate the health status of satellite substructures.

Synthesis and Antimicrobial Studies of New Antibacterial Azo-Compounds Active against Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes.

Some novel (phenyl-diazenyl)phenols (-) were designed and synthesized to be evaluated for their antibacterial activity. Starting from an active previously-synthesized azobenzene chosen as lead compound, we introduced some modifications and optimization of the structure, in order to improve solubility and drug conveyance. Structures of all newly-synthesized compounds were confirmed by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), mass spectrometry, and UV-Vis spectroscopy.

Structure Modification of an Active Azo-Compound as a Route to New Antimicrobial Compounds.

Some novel (phenyl-diazenyl)phenols - were designed and synthesized to be evaluated for their antimicrobial activity. A previously synthesized molecule, active against bacteria and fungi, was used as lead for modifications and optimization of the structure, by introduction/removal or displacement of hydroxyl groups on the azobenzene rings. The aim of this work was to evaluate the consequent changes of the antimicrobial activity and to validate the hypothesis that, for these compounds, a plausible mechanism could involve an interaction with protein receptors, rather than an interaction with membrane.

Computational study on human sphingomyelin synthase 1 (hSMS1).

Human sphingomyelin synthase 1 (hSMS1) is the last enzyme for sphingomyelin (SM) biosynthesis. It has been discovered that in different human tumor tissues the SM levels are lower compared to normal tissues and the activation of hSMS1, to restore the normal levels of SM, inhibits cell cycle proliferation of cancer cells. Since the importance of SM and other lipid metabolism genes in the malignant transformation, we decided to explore the hSMS1 mechanism of action.

Effects of Resveratrol on p66Shc phosphorylation in cultured prostate cells.

There is increasing evidence that diet plays a crucial role in age-related diseases and cancer. Oxidative stress is a conceivable link between diet and diseases, thus food antioxidants, counteracting the damage caused by oxidation, are potential tools for fight age-related diseases and cancer. Resveratrol (RSV), a polyphenolic antioxidant from grapes, has gained enormous attention particularly because of its ability to induce growth arrest and apoptosis in cancer cells, and it has been proposed as both chemopreventive and therapeutic agent for cancer and other diseases.

Differential effect of 2-hydroxyoleic acid enantiomers on protein (sphingomyelin synthase) and lipid (membrane) targets.

The complex dual mechanism of action of 2-hydroxyoleic acid (2OHOA), a potent anti-tumor compound used in membrane lipid therapy (MLT), has yet to be fully elucidated. It has been demonstrated that 2OHOA increases the sphingomyelin (SM) cell content via SM synthase (SGMS) activation. Its presence in membranes provokes changes in the membrane lipid structure that induce the translocation of PKC to the membrane and the subsequent overexpression of CDK inhibitor proteins (e.

Small azobenzene derivatives active against bacteria and fungi.

ATP synthase and protein kinase (PKs) are prime targets for drug discovery in a variety of diseases. It is well known that numerous stilbenes are capable to interact and inhibit ATP synthase and PKs. This work focuses on a series of azobenzene based molecules having high structural similarity with antimicrobial stilbenes.

YADAMP: yet another database of antimicrobial peptides.

This work presents an antimicrobial peptide database (YADAMP) based on an extensive literature search. This database is focused primarily on bacteria, with detailed information for 2133 peptides active against bacteria. YADAMP was created to facilitate access to critical information on antimicrobial peptides (AMPs).

Resveratrol regulates p66Shc activation in HaCaT cells.

Skin is exposed to both endogenous and environmental oxidant agents, leading to the harmful generation of reactive oxygen species. Particular interest has been pointed on plant antioxidants, such as resveratrol, because of their wide-ranging biological activity and clinical potential. Resveratrol exerts antioxidant, metabolism-regulating and pro-apoptotic/anti-cancer effects on a variety of experimental models and has been suggested to protect skin from ultraviolet-induced photodamaging and photoaging.

Design and synthesis of spirotryprostatin-inspired diketopiperazine systems from prolyl spirooxoindolethiazolidine derivatives.

Based on the spirotryprostatin-A structure, we designed, synthesized, and evaluated different series of compounds belonging to the diketopiperazine structural class as potential cell cycle modulators and cytotoxic agents. Starting from the spirooxoindolthiazolidine scaffold, amide coupling with Pro derivatives and intramolecular cyclization reactions are suitable synthetic methods to generate chemically diverse diketopiperazine system, such as hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a][1,3]thiazolo[3,2-d]pyrazine-5,10-dione (structure I), hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a] [1,3]thiazolo[3,4-d]pyrazine-5,10-dione (structure II) and spiroindol-2-one[3,3']hexahydro-5,10H-pyrrolo[1,2-a][1,3]thiazolo[3,4-d]pyrazine-5,10-dione (structure III). Some of these compounds, especially those who belong to the series I and II, showed interesting cytotoxic activity.

Myocardial infarction induces embryonic reprogramming of epicardial c-kit(+) cells: role of the pericardial fluid.

Stem cells expressing c-kit have been identified in the adult epicardium. In mice, after myocardial infarction, these cells proliferate, migrate to the injury site and differentiate toward myocardial and vascular phenotype. We hypothesized that, acutely after myocardial infarction, pericardial sac integrity and pericardial fluid (PF) may play a role on epicardial cell gene expression, proliferation and differentiation.

The dietary antioxidant resveratrol affects redox changes of PPARalpha activity.

Background And Aims: Gene-environment interaction is behind the pathogenesis of most widespread diseases, and nutrition is among the environmental factors with the highest impact on human health. The mechanisms involved in the interaction between nutritional factors and the genetic background of individuals are still unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate whether resveratrol (RES), an antioxidant polyphenol of red wine, can influence the activity of PPARalpha in the rat hepatoma cell line McArdle-RH7777.

Classic Kaposi's sarcoma in southern Sardinia, Italy.

The first examination of classical Kaposi's sarcoma incidence in southern Sardinia (Italy) in 1998-2002 found the highest rate recorded in the island of 2.49 per 100 000 per year (standardised).

From cell death to embryo arrest: mathematical models of human preimplantation embryo development.

Human preimplantation embryos exhibit high levels of apoptotic cells and high rates of developmental arrest during the first week in vitro. The relation between the two is unclear and difficult to determine by conventional experimental approaches, partly because of limited numbers of embryos. We apply a mixture of experiment and mathematical modeling to show that observed levels of cell death can be reconciled with the high levels of embryo arrest seen in the human only if the developmental competence of embryos is already established at the zygote stage, and environmental factors merely modulate this.