Particle Exclusion Assay: A Tool for Measuring Hyaluronan Pericellular Matrix.

Hyaluronan (HA) is the most abundant glycosaminoglycan in the extracellular matrix, and its deposition is strictly related to changes in cellular behaviors, such as cell migration, proliferation, and adhesion. Pericellular HA is abundant in a variety of cell types, and its amount could reflect specific conditions, thus suggesting a particular cellular status.Particle exclusion assay is a useful tool to visualize pericellular matrices with a high HA content, simply employing microscope image analysis.

Hyaluronan in pathophysiology of vascular diseases: specific roles in smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, and macrophages.

One of the main components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of blood vessels is hyaluronic acid or hyaluronan (HA). It is a ubiquitous polysaccharide belonging to the family of glycosaminoglycans, but, differently from other proteoglycan-associated glycosaminoglycans, it is synthesized on the plasma membrane by a family of three HA synthases (HAS). HA can be released as a free polymer in the extracellular space or remain associated with the plasma membrane in the pericellular space via HAS or HA-binding proteins.

[Fractal behavior of indoor radon variations].

Recently, a new mathematical theory has been developed which describes the non-linear dynamic and complex systems which are widely diffused in nature. In spite of great variability in the phenomenon appearances, so great as to seem chaotic, the phenomena are described by algorithms which are, at times, very simple; they are characterized by a parameter, the so-called fractal dimension, which is a fractional number. We employed this new theory to verify the fractal behavior of temporal variations of radon 222 concentration, as measured in a house at Angera (Italy), 1986-1987.

[EPR and TL measurements of BeO "Termalox 995" irradiated with photons].

Beryllium oxide dosimeters (Termalox 995) have been irradiated (at 60-Co facility) with graduated doses from 3 X 10(-1) to 1 X 10(2) Gy (30 to 10.000 rad). EPR measurements show a very good linear correlation between the amplitude of signal and the absorbed dose.