Does vegetation accelerate coastal dune erosion during extreme events?

A broadly accepted paradigm is that vegetation reduces coastal dune erosion. However, we show that during an extreme storm event, vegetation surprisingly accelerates erosion. In 104-m-long beach-dune profile experiments conducted within a flume, we discovered that while vegetation initially creates a physical barrier to wave energy, it also (i) decreases wave run-up, which creates discontinuities in erosion and accretion patterns across the dune slope, (ii) increases water penetration into the sediment bed, which induces its fluidization and destabilization, and (iii) reflects wave energy, accelerating scarp formation.

Design and Synthesis of Novel Raman Reporters for Bioorthogonal SERS Nanoprobes Engineering.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) exploiting Raman reporter-labeled nanoparticles (RR@NPs) represents a powerful tool for the improvement of optical bio-assays due to RRs’ narrow peaks, SERS high sensitivity, and potential for multiplexing. In the present work, starting from low-cost and highly available raw materials such as cysteamine and substituted benzoic acids, novel bioorthogonal RRs, characterized by strong signal (103 counts with FWHM < 15 cm−1) in the biological Raman-silent region (>2000 cm−1), RRs are synthesized by implementing a versatile, modular, and straightforward method with high yields and requiring three steps lasting 18 h, thus overcoming the limitations of current reported procedures. The resulting RRs’ chemical structure has SH-pendant groups exploited for covalent conjugation to high anisotropic gold-NPs.

Design, synthesis and evaluation of RGD peptidomimetic - Gold nanostar conjugates as M21 cell adhesion inhibitors.

Effective targeting of αβ integrin is of high relevance in cancer research as this protein is overexpressed on several types of tumor cells, making such receptor ideal for the development of therapeutics and of diagnostic imaging agents. In this paper, the synthesis of a novel functionalized triazole-based RGD peptidomimetic and its covalent conjugation on pegylated gold nanostars is reported. These highly stable nanoconstructs showed a multivalent effect in binding αβ integrin receptors and proved to inhibit M21 cell adhesion at 25 pM concentration.

Multitargeting application of proline-derived peptidomimetics addressing cancer-related human matrix metalloproteinase 9 and carbonic anhydrase II.

A series of d-proline peptidomimetics were evaluated as dual inhibitors of both human carbonic anhydrases (hCAs) and human gelatinases (MMP2 and MMP9), as these enzymes are both involved in the carcinogenesis and tumor invasion processes. The synthesis and enzyme inhibition kinetics of d-proline derivatives containing a biphenyl sulfonamido moiety revealed an interesting inhibition profile of compound XIV towards MMP9 and CAII. The SAR analysis and docking studies revealed a stringent requirement of a trans geometry for the two arylsulfonyl moieties, which are both necessary for inhibition of MMP9 and CAII.

Adverse drug reactions in SARS-CoV-2 hospitalised patients: a case-series with a focus on drug-drug interactions.

Due to the need of early and emergency effective treatments for COVID-19, less attention may have been paid to their safety during the global emergency. In addition, characteristics of drug-drug interaction (DDI)-related adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in COVID-19 patients have not yet been studied in depth. The aim of the present case-series study is to describe clinical and pharmacological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 hospitalised patients, focusing on ADRs, particularly those related to DDIs.