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Older adults with dementia present an increased risk of mortality due to seasonal influenza. Despite concerning evidence, the influenza vaccination program has been unsuccessful, with low rates of uptake in Italian people ≥65 years. In addition, being vaccinated does not eliminate the risk of contracting a virus, especially by coming into close contact with other possibly unvaccinated people, such as family caregivers in the home environment. Therefore, the refusal of family caregivers to get vaccinated for seasonal influenza could have dire consequences for their relatives with dementia. The aims of this study were to investigate the predictive role of the Theory of Planned Behavior model (TPB) and past vaccination behavior on the intention to receive a seasonal influenza vaccine among family caregivers of people with dementia. Data were collected from seventy-one respondents during July–September 2021 using a cross-sectional web-based survey design. Results of hierarchical binary logistic regression showed that TPB (i.e., attitudes towards vaccination, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) explained 51.6% of the variance in intention to receive a seasonal influenza vaccine; past vaccination behavior increased this to 58.8%. In conclusion, past vaccination behavior and the theory of planned behavior variables effectively predict influenza vaccine willingness of family caregivers of people with dementia and should be targeted in vaccination campaigns.

Breast cancer represents the most common cancer type and one of the major leading causes of death in the female worldwide population. Overexpression of HER2, a transmembrane glycoprotein related to the epidermal growth factor receptor, results in a biologically and clinically aggressive breast cancer subtype. It is also the primary driver for tumor detection and progression and, in addition to being an important prognostic factor in women diagnosed with breast cancer, HER2 is a widely known therapeutic target for drug development. The aim of this review is to provide an updated overview of the main approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer proposed in the literature over the past decade. We focused on the different targeting strategies involving antibodies and peptides that have been explored with their relative outcomes and current limitations that need to be improved. The review also encompasses a discussion on targeted peptides acting as probes for molecular imaging. By using different types of HER2-targeting strategies, nanotechnology promises to overcome some of the current clinical challenges by developing novel HER2-guided nanosystems suitable as powerful tools in breast cancer imaging, targeting, and therapy.

Self-assembling nanoparticles (SANPs) based on hyaluronic acid (HA) represent unique tools in cancer therapy because they combine the HA targeting activity towards cancer cells with the advantageous features of the self-assembling nanosystems, i.e., chemical versatility and ease of preparation and scalability. This review describes the key outcomes arising from the combination of HA and SANPs, focusing on nanomaterials where HA and/or HA-derivatives are inserted within the self-assembling nanostructure. We elucidate the different HA derivatization strategies proposed for this scope, as well as the preparation methods used for the fabrication of the delivery device. After showing the biological results in the employed in vivo and in vitro models, we discussed the pros and cons of each nanosystem, opening a discussion on which approach represents the most promising strategy for further investigation and effective therapeutic protocol development.

Pyrolyzed carbons from bio-waste sources are renewable nanomaterials for sustainable negative electrodes in Li- and Na-ion batteries. Here, carbon derived from a hazelnut shell has been obtained by hydrothermal processing of the bio-waste followed by thermal treatments and laser irradiation in liquid. A non-focused nanosecond pulsed laser source has been used to irradiate pyrolyzed carbon particles suspended in acetonitrile to modify the surface and morphology. Morphological, structural, and compositional changes have been investigated by microscopy, spectroscopy, and diffraction to compare the materials properties after thermal treatments as well as before and after the irradiation. Laser irradiation in acetonitrile induces remarkable alteration in the nanomorphology, increase in the surface area and nitrogen enrichment of the carbon surfaces. These materials alterations are beneficial for the electrochemical performance in lithium half cells as proved by galvanostatic cycling at room temperature.

Nanoparticles with active-targeting and stimuli-responsive behavior are a promising class of engineered materials able to recognize the site of cancer disease, targeting the drug release and limiting side effects in the healthy organs. In this work, new dual pH/redox-responsive nanoparticles with affinity for folate receptors were prepared by the combination of two amphiphilic dextran (DEX) derivatives. DEXFA conjugate was obtained by covalent coupling of the polysaccharide with folic acid (FA), whereas DEXssPEGCOOH derived from a reductive amination step of DEX was followed by condensation with polyethylene glycol 600. After self-assembling, nanoparticles with a mean size of 50 nm, able to be destabilized in acidic pH and reducing media, were obtained. Doxorubicin was loaded during the self-assembling process, and the release experiments showed the ability of the proposed system to modulate the drug release in response to different pH and redox conditions. Finally, the viability and uptake experiments on healthy (MCF-10A) and metastatic cancer (MDA-MB-231) cells proved the potential applicability of the proposed system as a new drug vector in cancer therapy.

Transition metal carbide nanoparticles are a class of technological interesting materials with a wide range of applications. Among metal carbides, tantalum carbides have good compatibility with the biological environment while molybdenum carbides are used as catalyst in electrochemical reactions. Laser ablation of bulk transition metal targets in some liquids is here reported and laser ablation in organic solvents is used as simple synthetic strategy for the production of carbide nanostructures. Herein, the nanoparticles produced by ultra-short laser ablation of tantalum and molybdenum in water, acetone, ethanol and toluene have been characterized by TEM, XRD and XPS analysis. The combined effect of metal and solvent chemical and physical properties on the composition of the nanomaterials obtained has been pointed out. In particular, the different reactivity of Ta and Mo with respect to oxidizing species determines the composition of particles obtained in water, on the other hand the organic solvents decomposition allows to obtain transition metal carbide (TMC) nanoparticles. The observed carbonaceous shell formed on TMC allows to protect the particle's carbidic core and to improve and tailor the applications of these nanomaterials.

Olivine-type lithium metal phosphates (LiMPO₄) are promising cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. LiFePO₄ (LFP) is commonly used in commercial Li-ion cells but the Fe 3+ /Fe 2+ couple can be usefully substituted with Mn 3+ /Mn 2+ , Co 3+ /Co 2+ , or Ni 3+ /Ni 2+ , in order to obtain higher redox potentials. In this communication we report a systematic analysis of the synthesis condition of LiCoPO₄ (LCP) using a solvo-thermal route at low temperature, the latter being a valuable candidate to overcome the theoretical performances of LFP. In fact, LCP shows higher working potential (4.8 V vs. 3.6 V) compared to LFP and similar theoretical capacity (167 mAh·g -1 ). Our goal is to show the effect of the synthesis condition of the ability of LCP to reversibly cycle lithium in electrochemical cells. LCP samples have been prepared through a solvo-thermal method in aqueous-non aqueous solvent blends. Different Co 2+ salts have been used to study the effect of the anion on the crystal growth as well as the effect of solution acidity, temperature and reaction time. Materials properties have been characterized by Fast-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopies. The correlation between structure/morphology and electrochemical performances has been investigated by galvanostatic charge-discharge cycles.

The synthesis of a novel functional biomaterial for wound healing treatment was carried out by adopting a free-radical grafting procedure in aqueous media. With this aim, ciprofloxacin (CFX) was covalently incorporated into collagen (T1C) chains employing an ascorbic acid/hydrogen peroxide redox pair as biocompatible initiator system. The covalent insertion of CFX in the polymeric chains was confirmed by FT-IR and UV analyses, while an antibacterial assay demonstrated the activity of the synthesized conjugate against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, microorganisms that commonly infect wounds. A catechin blended conjugate was also tested in order to evaluate the ability to influence fibroblast cell growth. The observed antibacterial activity and stimulation of fibroblast growth support the applicability of CFX-T1C conjugate in wound treatment encouraging the healing process.

In this work, molecularly imprinted nanospheres for controlled/sustained release of quercetin were synthesized employing methacrylic acid and ethylene glycoldymethacrylate as functional monomer and crosslinking agent, respectively. One pot precipitation polymerization was chosen as polymerization technique to obtain nanosized materials with spherical shape. Morphological and hydrophilic properties by scanning electron microscopy and water content measurements were determined, and recognition and selectivity properties of the imprinted materials were tested using the template quercetin and its structural analogue, the flavonoid catechin. Finally, the applicability of the obtained materials as drug delivery devices was evaluated by performing in vitro release studies in plasma simulating fluids and cytotoxicity testson HeLa cells.

A novel polymeric material with antioxidant properties and suitable for ophthalmic application was synthesized by free radical grafting reaction between 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and quercetin. The presence of quercetin in the polymeric chain was confirmed by FT-IR and UV-Vis analyses, while an estimation of the amount of quercetin bound per gram of polymer was obtained by the Folin-Ciocalteu assay. The conjugate shows high biocompatibility (HET-CAM assay) and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties which were extensively investigated by specific in vitro tests.