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Realization of large geo-engineering projects in rocks containing naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) must address several crucial geo-environmental issues, including the design of the construction site, the enforcement of health protection measures and the environmentally responsible spoil management. This leads to a compelling need to develop effective and standard procedures to evaluate the distribution and concentration of NOA in rock volumes. NOA petrofacies are here proposed as an innovative tool to evaluate the asbestos distribution and concentration in complex geological settings. NOA petrofacies are fundamental asbestos-bearing rock types, consisting in recurrent lithological and structural features controlling asbestos occurrence. Here we describe and discuss how the NOA petrofacies approach was utilized in a geo-environmental study for the evaluation of asbestos content in a complex meta-ophiolite suite, which will be crossed by the "Gronda di Genova" highway by-pass project (Genoa, NW Italy). NOA petrofacies were used to predict the distribution and relative abundance of NOA in geologically homogeneous zones characterized by the occurrence of specific NOA minerals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The use of nanotechnology is growing enormously and occupational physicians have an increasing interest in evaluating potential hazards and finding biomarkers of effect in workers exposed to nanoparticles.Methods: A study was carried out with 36 workers exposed to (nano)TiO2 pigment and 45 controls. Condensate (EBC) titanium and markers of oxidation of nucleic acids (including 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), 8-hydroxyguanosine (8-OHG), 5-hydroxymethyl uracil (5-OHMeU)) and proteins (such as o-tyrosine (o-Tyr), 3-chlorotyrosine (3-ClTyr) and 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NOTyr)) were analysed from samples of their exhaled breath.Results: In the production workshops, the median total mass 2012 and 2013 TiO2 concentrations were 0.65 and 0.40 mg/m(3), respectively. The median numbers of concentrations measured by the scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and aerodynamic particle sizer (APS) were 1.98 × 10(4) and 2.32 × 10(4) particles/cm(3), respectively; and about 80% of those particles were smaller than 100 nm in diameter. In the research workspace, lower aerosol concentrations (0.16 mg/m(3) and 1.32 × 10(4) particles/cm(3)) were found. Titanium in the EBC was significantly higher in production workers (p<0.001) than in research workers and unexposed controls. Accordingly, most EBC oxidative stress markers, including in the preshift samples, were higher in production workers than in the two other groups. Multiple regression analysis confirmed an association between the production of TiO2 and the levels of studied biomarkers.Conclusions: The concentration of titanium in EBC may serve as a direct exposure marker in workers producing TiO2 pigment; the markers of oxidative stress reflect the local biological effect of (nano)TiO2 in the respiratory tract of the exposed workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charged colloids can behave as Yukawa systems, with similar phase behaviour. Using particle-resolved studies, we consider a system with an unusually long Debye screening length which forms crystals at low colloid volume fraction φ ≈ 0.01. We quantitatively compare this system with the Yukawa model and find that its freezing point is compatible with the theoretical prediction but that the crystal polymorph is not always that expected. In particular we find body-centred cubic crystals where face-centred cubic crystals are expected. (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrospray has been recognized as an efficient technique for the fabrication of polymer micro and nanosystems and recently it was applied to lipids. The objective of this study was to assess the potential of electrospray for the encapsulation of insulin into lipid particles. Spherical particles of about 1 µm were obtained jetting a propanolic solution of palmitic or stearic acid and ethylcellulose or Pluronic F127 in a 10:1 or 20:1 (w/w) ratio under an electric field of 30 kV. Insulin was entrapped into the particles with high encapsulation efficiency by the formation of an ion-pair with sodium dodecyl sulphate. Far-ultraviolet circular dichroism spectroscopy indicated that electrospray did not modify the secondary structure of insulin. An in vitro prolonged release over 24 hours was observed after an initial burst effect. This study demonstrates that electrospray represents a viable new alternative for preparing in a single step peptide-protein loaded lipid based microspheres directly in powder form. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]