A Contribution to a Better Understanding of the Group (Charales, Charophyceae): A Taxonomic Re-Examination of the Collected in the Province of Ferrara, Italy.

The identification of a charophyte population found in a rice field in Ferrara, North Italy, collected in 1999 and initially identified as , has been reevaluated. Detailed morphological observations here reported have suggested that the specimen displays characteristics more akin to , particularly in the structure of its bicellular dactyls and axillary heads. Additional examinations, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of oospores and analyses of herbarium specimens-encompassing original materials of , f.

Efficacy of Thiocolchicoside for Musculoskeletal Pain Management: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

: Despite the fact that thiocolchicoside has been widely used in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain, its efficacy has never been systematically evaluated. We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) to appraise the existing evidence on the efficacy of thiocolchicoside for musculoskeletal pain management. : The literature search was performed on multiple databases, extracting reports of RCTs evaluating the efficacy of thiocolchicoside compared to placebo or no exposure.

Immunogenicity and Safety of Chikungunya Vaccines: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Several vaccines against chikungunya fever have been developed and tested, and one has been recently licensed. We performed a meta-analysis to estimate the immunogenicity and safety of all chikungunya vaccines that have been progressed to clinical trial evaluation (VLA1553; mRNA-1388/VAL-181388; PXVX0317/VRC-CHKVLP059-00-VP; ChAdOx1 Chik; MV-CHIK). We included trials retrieved from MedLine, Scopus, and ClinicalTrials.

Material Composition and Implantation Site Affect in vivo Device Degradation Rate.

Successful tissue engineering requires biomedical devices that initially stabilize wounds, then degrade as tissue is regenerated. However, the material degradation rates reported in literature are often conflicting. Incorporation of in situ monitoring functionality into implanted devices would allow real time assessment of degradation and potential failure.

Immunogenicity, Safety and Efficacy of the Dengue Vaccine TAK-003: A Meta-Analysis.

The TAK-003 dengue vaccine was licensed in Europe in December 2022, and the official recommendations from most EU countries are still under formulation. To support policymakers, we performed a meta-analysis to quantify TAK-003's immunogenicity, efficacy and safety among seronegative and seropositive populations after the administration of one or two vaccine doses. We included trials retrieved from MEDLINE, Scopus and ClinicalTrials.

Characteristics of the health districts in Italy and their implication in primary health care policies: an analysis of socio-demographic trends.

Introduction: The Health District (HD) is a critical component of Italy's National Health Service, responsible for ensuring Primary Health Care (PHC) services in response to community health needs. The Italian government established a national strategic reform program, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), starting in 2022, with a series of health interventions to reorganize the PHC setting, the main reform being the Ministerial Decree 77/2022 (DM77). Our study aimed to provide a description of socio-demographic data and to assess the correlation between HDs, in order to suggest health intervention priorities in PHC reforms.

In vivo micro-computed tomography evaluation of radiopaque, polymeric device degradation in normal and inflammatory environments.

Polymeric biomedical implants are an important clinical tool, but degradation remains difficult to determine post-implantation. Computed tomography (CT) could be a powerful tool for device monitoring, but polymers require incorporation of radiopaque contrast agents to be distinguishable from tissue. In addition, immune response to radiopaque devices must be characterized as it modulates device function.

Distance learning in primary health care: an Italian experience among medical residents to integrate public health and primary health care.

Investing in Primary Health Care (PHC) is crucial for the future of Public Health (PH), although recent studies highlighted the lack of training in PHC within Italian Residency Schools. This article intends to show the experience and impact of a training course focused on standardizing the knowledge of medical residents in Hygiene and preventive medicine regarding PHC. The strength of the intervention was to demonstrate the feasibility of a unique and homogeneous educational path throughout the national territory.

Best practices, errors, and perspectives of half a century of plant translocation in Italy.

Conservation translocations are becoming common conservation practice, so there is an increasing need to understand the drivers of plant translocation performance through reviews of cases at global and regional levels. The establishment of the Italian Database of Plant Translocation (IDPlanT) provides the opportunity to review the techniques used in 186 plant translocation cases performed in the last 50 years in the heart of the Mediterranean Biodiversity Hotspot. We described techniques and information available in IDPlanT and used these data to identify drivers of translocation outcomes.

Dual-responsive magnetic nanodroplets for controlled oxygen release ultrasound and magnetic stimulation.

Magnetic oxygen-loaded nanodroplets (MOLNDs) are a promising class of nanomaterials dually sensitive to ultrasound and magnetic fields, which can be employed as nanovectors for drug delivery applications, particularly in the field of hypoxic tissue treatment. Previous investigations were primarily focused on the application of these hybrid systems for hyperthermia treatment, exploiting magnetic nanoparticles for heat generation and nanodroplets as carriers and ultrasound contrast agents for treatment progress monitoring. This work places its emphasis on the prospect of obtaining an oxygen delivery system that can be activated by both ultrasound and magnetic fields.

In vivo Biomedical Imaging of Immune Tolerant, Radiopaque Nanoparticle-Embedded Polymeric Device Degradation.

Biomedical implants remain an important clinical tool for restoring patient mobility and quality of life after trauma. While polymers are often used for devices, their degradation profile remains difficult to determine post-implantation. CT monitoring could be a powerful tool for in situ monitoring of devices, but polymers require the introduction of radiopaque contrast agents, like nanoparticles, to be distinguishable from native tissue.

Full-Dose Intraoperative Electron Radiotherapy for Early Breast Cancer: Evidence from a Single Center's Experience.

To evaluate the clinical response rate and cosmetic outcome after full-dose intraoperative electron radiotherapy (IOERT) in early breast cancer (BC) treated with conserving surgery. Inclusion criteria were: >60 years old, clinical tumor size ≤2 cm, luminal A carcinoma, patological negative lymph nodes, excluded lobular carcinoma histology. IOERT was delivered with a dose of 21 Gy at 90% isodose.

Piezo/sono-catalytic activity of ZnO micro/nanoparticles for ROS generation as function of ultrasound frequencies and dissolved gases.

We report an accurate study on sonocatalytic properties of different ZnO micro and nanoparticles to enhance OH radical production activated by cavitation. In order to investigate some of the still unsolved aspects related to the piezocatalytic effect, the degradation of Methylene Blue and quantification of radicals production have been evaluated as function of different ultrasonic frequencies (20 kHz and 858 kHz) and dissolved gases (Ar, N and air). The results shown that at low frequency the catalytic effect of ZnO particles is well evident and influenced by particle dimension while at high frequency a reduction of the degradation efficiency have been observed using larger particles.

Macrophytes in Inland Waters: From Knowledge to Management.

The huge biodiversity of inland waters and the many different aquatic habitats or ecosystems occurring there are particularly threatened by human impacts. In this Special Issue, ten articles have been collected that show new data on the distribution and ecology of some rare aquatic macrophytes, including both vascular plants and charophytes, but also on the use of these organisms for the monitoring, management, and restoration of wetlands.

Improvement of Hyperthermia Properties of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles by Surface Coating.

Magnetic hyperthermia is an oncological therapy that exploits magnetic nanoparticles activated by radiofrequency magnetic fields to produce a controlled temperature increase in a diseased tissue. The specific loss power (SLP) of magnetic nanoparticles or the capability to release heat can be improved using surface treatments, which can reduce agglomeration effects, thus impacting on local magnetostatic interactions. In this work, FeO nanoparticles are synthesized via a coprecipitation reaction and fully characterized in terms of structural, morphological, dimensional, magnetic, and hyperthermia properties (under the Hergt-Dutz limit).

Predictive Factors of Recurrence After Laparoscopic Incisional Hernia Repair: A Retrospective Multicentre Cohort Study.

The main purpose of this study was to analyze patient-related factors that may influence the risk of hernia recurrence following laparoscopic incisional hernia repair (LIHR), including the potential role of chosen materials. A multicenter, retrospective cohort study was conducted on all patients who were aged >18 years and who underwent elective laparoscopic incisional hernia mesh repair at the Departments of Surgery of the S. Anna University Hospital in Ferrara and Sassuolo Hospital in Modena, Italy.

3D Extrusion Printing of Biphasic Anthropomorphic Brain Phantoms Mimicking MR Relaxation Times Based on Alginate-Agarose-Carrageenan Blends.

The availability of adapted phantoms mimicking different body parts is fundamental to establishing the stability and reliability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods. The primary purpose of such phantoms is the mimicking of physiologically relevant, contrast-creating relaxation times and . For the head, frequently examined by MRI, an anthropomorphic design of brain phantoms would imply the discrimination of gray matter and white matter (WM) within defined, spatially distributed compartments.

Dextran-shelled oxygen-loaded nanodroplets modulate macrophages killing and inflammatory response to Enterococcus faecalis.

Chronic wounds are associated with inflammation, infections, and hypoxic environment. Macrophages play a crucial role in wound healing removing bacteria and secreting signal molecules to coordinate tissue repair. Recently, dextran-shelled Oxygen-Loaded NanoDroplets (OLNDs) have been proposed as new tools to counteract hypoxia in chronic wounds.

Convergent Morphological Evolution in Sect. (Caryophyllaceae) in the Mediterranean Basin.

Recent divergence can obscure species boundaries among closely related taxa. section (Caryophyllaceae) has been taxonomically controversial, with about 30 species described. We investigate species delimitation within this section using 500 specimens sequenced for one nuclear and two plastid markers.

Antibacterial and Antifungal Efficacy of Medium and Low Weight Chitosan-Shelled Nanodroplets for the Treatment of Infected Chronic Wounds.

Purpose: Medium versus low weight (MW vs LW) chitosan-shelled oxygen-loaded nanodroplets (cOLNDs) and oxygen-free nanodroplets (cOFNDs) were comparatively challenged for biocompatibility on human keratinocytes, for antimicrobial activity against four common infectious agents of chronic wounds (CWs) - methicillin-resistant (MRSA), and - and for their physical interaction with cell walls/membranes.

Methods: cNDs were characterized for morphology and physico-chemical properties by microscopy and dynamic light scattering. In vitro oxygen release from cOLNDs was measured through an oximeter.

Insight into Sonoluminescence Augmented by ZnO-Functionalized Nanoparticles.

Recent advances in optical imaging techniques rely on the use of nanosized contrast agents for in vitro and in vivo applications. We report on an imaging method based on the inertial cavitation of ultrasound-irradiated water solutions that lead to sonoluminescence (SL), here, newly proposed in combination with semiconductor nanoparticles, in particular, aminopropyl-functionalized zinc oxide nanocrystals. The obtained measurements confirm the ability of such nanocrystals to increase the sonoluminescence emission, together with the ability to modify the SL spectrum when compared to the pure water behavior.

Antimicrobial oxygen-loaded nanobubbles as promising tools to promote wound healing in hypoxic human keratinocytes.

Chronic wounds (CWs) are typically characterized by persistent hypoxia, exacerbated inflammation, and impaired skin tissue remodeling. Additionally, CWs are often worsened by microbial infections. Oxygen-loaded nanobubbles (OLNBs), displaying a peculiar structure based on oxygen-solving perfluorocarbons such as perfluoropentane in the inner core and polysaccharydes including chitosan in the outer shell, have proven effective in delivering oxygen to hypoxic tissues.