Tailoring a lignocellulosic biomass to simultaneously enhance N-doping and textural properties of porous carbons designed for effective environmental remediation.

Transforming lignocellulosic biomass waste into value-added materials like porous carbons offers a sustainable and increasingly important solution for its efficient management within a circular economy framework. Although the heteroatom-doping process enhances oxygen- or nitrogen-containing functionalities on porous carbons, it often leads to losses in structural integrity and other key functionalities. This study presents a novel protocol to produce N-doped porous carbons that efficiently introduces nitrogen groups while improving surface area, microporosity definition and the concentration of oxygen-containing functionalities.

Merging 3D-printing technology and disposable materials for electrochemical purposes: A sustainable alternative to ensure greener electroanalysis.

3D-printing technology has revolutionized electrochemical applications by enabling rapid prototyping of various devices with high precision, even in highly complex structures. However, a significant challenge remains in developing less costly and more sustainable analytical approaches and methods aimed at mitigating the negative environmental impacts of chemical analysis procedures. In this study, we propose a solution to these challenges by creating a simple and versatile electrochemical system that combines 3D-printing technology with recyclable disposable materials, such as graphite from an exhausted battery and a stainless-steel screw.

Brain-computer interface for robot control with eye artifacts for assistive applications.

Human-robot interaction is a rapidly developing field and robots have been taking more active roles in our daily lives. Patient care is one of the fields in which robots are becoming more present, especially for people with disabilities. People with neurodegenerative disorders might not consciously or voluntarily produce movements other than those involving the eyes or eyelids.

A Backbone-Tracking Passive Exoskeleton to Reduce the Stress on the Low-Back: Proof of Concept Study.

Exoskeletons for the low-back have great potential as tools to both prevent low-back pain for healthy subjects and limit its impact for chronic patients. Here, we show a proof-of-concept evaluation of our low-back exoskeleton. Its peculiar feature is the backbone-tracking kinematic structure that allows tracking the motion of the human spine while bending the trunk.

Grasping learning, optimization, and knowledge transfer in the robotics field.

Service robotics is a fast-developing sector, requiring embedded intelligence into robotic platforms to interact with the humans and the surrounding environment. One of the main challenges in the field is robust and versatile manipulation in everyday life activities. An appealing opportunity is to exploit compliant end-effectors to address the manipulation of deformable objects.

Review on Patient-Cooperative Control Strategies for Upper-Limb Rehabilitation Exoskeletons.

Technology-supported rehabilitation therapy for neurological patients has gained increasing interest since the last decades. The literature agrees that the goal of robots should be to induce motor plasticity in subjects undergoing rehabilitation treatment by providing the patients with repetitive, intensive, and task-oriented treatment. As a key element, robot controllers should adapt to patients' status and recovery stage.

A Machine Learning Approach for Mortality Prediction in COVID-19 Pneumonia: Development and Evaluation of the Piacenza Score.

Background: Several models have been developed to predict mortality in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, but only a few have demonstrated enough discriminatory capacity. Machine learning algorithms represent a novel approach for the data-driven prediction of clinical outcomes with advantages over statistical modeling.

Objective: We aimed to develop a machine learning-based score-the Piacenza score-for 30-day mortality prediction in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.

Assisting Operators in Heavy Industrial Tasks: On the Design of an Optimized Cooperative Impedance Fuzzy-Controller With Embedded Safety Rules.

Human-robot cooperation is increasingly demanded in industrial applications. Many tasks require the robot to enhance the capabilities of humans. In this scenario, safety also plays an important role in avoiding any accident involving humans, robots, and the environment.

Genotoxic and mutagenic effects of polluted surface water in the midwestern region of Brazil using animal and plant bioassays.

This study aimed to evaluate DNA damage in animal and plant cells exposed to water from the Água Boa stream (Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil) by using bioassays, and to identify the chemical compounds in the water to determine the water quality in the area. Through the cytotoxicity bioassay with Allium cepa, using micronucleus test, and comet assay, using Astyanax altiparanae fish, the results indicated that biological samples were genetically altered. Micronuclei were observed in erythrocytes of A.

Ex-vivo characterization of circulating colon cancer cells distinguished in stem and differentiated subset provides useful biomarker for personalized metastatic risk assessment.

Background: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) represent one of the most interesting target in improving diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Herein we evaluate the possibility of using an emo-cytometric approach on the evaluation of the heterogeneous population of CTCs to improve personalized metastatic risk assessment. We benchmarked ex vivo behavior of distinct subsets of circulating colon tumor cells with correspondent clinical behavior of patients from which we isolated CTCs.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: review of the literature with a focus on therapeutical implications.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare neoplasm which is associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). First of all, we reviewed the literature on NPC treatment. Radio/chemotherapy is currently the gold standard but unfortunately is affected by rates of failure ranging from 7% up to 58%.

In vitro expansion of tumour cells derived from blood and tumour tissue is useful to redefine personalized treatment in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

The clinical development of locally and advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) suffers from a lack of biomarkers as a guide in the selection of optimal prognostic prediction. Circulating Tumour Cells (CTCs) are correlated to prognosis and show efficacy in cancer monitoring in patients. However, their enumeration alone might be inadequate; it might also be critical to understand the viability, the apoptotic state and the kinetics of these cells.

Folic acid functionalized surface highlights 5-methylcytosine-genomic content within circulating tumor cells.

Although the detection of methylated cell free DNA represents one of the most promising approaches for relapse risk assessment in cancer patients, the low concentration of cell-free circulating DNA constitutes the biggest obstacle in the development of DNA methylation-based biomarkers from blood. This paper describes a method for the measurement of genomic methylation content directly on circulating tumor cells (CTC), which could be used to deceive the aforementioned problem. Since CTC are disease related blood-based biomarkers, they result essential to monitor tumor's stadiation, therapy, and early relapsing lesions.

Protein-carbohydrate complex reveals circulating metastatic cells in a microfluidic assay.

Advances in carbohydrate sequencing technologies reveal the tremendous complexity of the glycome and the role that glycomics might have to bring insight into the biological functions. Carbohydrate-protein interactions, in particular, are known to be crucial to most mammalian physiological processes as mediators of cell adhesion and metastasis, signal transducers, and organizers of protein interactions. An assay is developed here to mimic the multivalency of biological complexes that selectively and sensitively detect carbohydrate-protein interactions.

Role of systemic chemotherapy in the management of resected or resectable colorectal liver metastases: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Liver metastases are a common event in patients with colorectal cancer. Surgical resection, if feasible, produces a survival benefit. We performed a systematic review of randomized clinical trials (RCT) and meta-analysis to address the question if current available studies support the use of systemic chemotherapy as an adjunct to surgery in resected/resectable patients.

Mass spectrometry-based identification of the tumor antigen UN1 as the transmembrane CD43 sialoglycoprotein.

The UN1 monoclonal antibody recognized the UN1 antigen as a heavily sialylated and O-glycosylated protein with the apparent molecular weight of 100-120 kDa; this antigen was peculiarly expressed in fetal tissues and several cancer tissues, including leukemic T cells, breast, and colon carcinomas. However, the lack of primary structure information has limited further investigation on the role of the UN1 antigen in neoplastic transformation. In this study, we have identified the UN1 antigen as CD43, a transmembrane sialoglycoprotein involved in cell adhesion, differentiation, and apoptosis.

Experimental modified orthotopic piggy-back liver autotransplantation.

Unlabelled: The classical orthotopic liver autotransplantation is a very challenging and time wasting technique; it includes the division of major hepatic vessels and choledocus, and subsequent reconnection by end to end anastomoses. The caval end to end anastomoses are the most difficult to be performed and the interposition of a prosthesis can be required. We adopted the classical orthotopic liver autotransplantation technique in 2 patients affected with diffused liver metastases from colorectal cancer, for extracorporeal neutron capture therapy (BNCT).

Extra-corporeal liver BNCT for the treatment of diffuse metastases: what was learned and what is still to be learned.

Almost eight years ago, in December 2001, we performed for the first time in the world thermal neutron irradiation on an isolated liver of a patient. The organ was affected by diffuse metastases of a colon carcinoma and had been previously loaded with a (10)B compound. In July 2003, the same procedure was applied again on a patient for the treatment of unresectable and incurable hepatic metastases of a carcinoma of the rectum.

Neutron autoradiography imaging of selective boron uptake in human metastatic tumours.

The ability to selectively hit the tumour cells is an essential characteristic of an anti-tumour therapy. In boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) this characteristic is based on the selective uptake of (10)B in the tumour cells with respect to normal tissues. An important step in the BNCT planning is the measurement of the boron concentration in the tissue samples, both tumour and healthy.

Surface properties and implantation site affect the capsular fibrotic overgrowth.

Transplantation of encapsulated pancreatic islets is a promising approach for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. Large-scale application of this technique, however, is hampered by insufficient biocompatibility of the capsules. In this study, we have evaluated the biocompatibility of a new synthetic material with six different chemical groups on their surface (amino, carboxy-sulfate, carboxylate, hydroxylate, sulfate, and PMMA) used for the fabrication of the microcapsules.

How to study boron biodistribution in liver metastases from colorectal cancer.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate boron distribution for a safe and effective BNCT (Boron Neutron Capture Therapy) of liver metastases. Samples both from healthy and tumour liver parenchyma were analysed, after i.v.

Efficacy of boron neutron capture therapy on liver metastases of colon adenocarcinoma: optical and ultrastructural study in the rat.

The effect of neutron boron capture therapy (BNCT) was studied in rat tumor liver cells after induction of the liver metastases by splenic inoculation of cells from DHA/K12/TRb line. Ten days following the treatment, the BPA was injected into rats and therefore the animals were sacrificed, the liver was exposed to neutron irradiation and processed. In some experiments the liver was reimplanted (after irradiation) in syngenic animals and studied 3 days later, following sacrifice.