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Abstract: Nonlinear effects in vacuum have been predicted but never observed yet directly. The PVLAS collaboration has long been working on an apparatus aimed at detecting such effects by measuring vacuum magnetic birefringence. Unfortunately the sensitivity has been affected by unaccounted noise and systematics since the beginning. A new small prototype ellipsometer has been designed and characterized at the Department of Physics of the University of Ferrara, Italy entirely mounted on a single seismically isolated optical bench. With a finesse F =414,000 and a cavity length L =0.5m we have reached the sensitivity of given the laser power at the output of the ellipsometer of P =24mW. This record result, very close to the predicted limit, demonstrates the feasibility of reaching such sensitivities, and opens the way to designing a dedicated apparatus for a first detection of vacuum magnetic birefringence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to report our clinical experience of Sweet's syndrome, a severe dermatological disease which may be extremely important to recognize for the early diagnosis of a neoplastic disorder. Eleven patients affected by Sweet's syndrome, treated at the Department of Dermatology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy, during 1998 to 2004, were evaluated. A retrospective analysis was performed. Data on age, sex distribution, clinical data, histopathological and immunohistochemical findings and therapy were collected. We observed one patient with idiopathic form, 5 patients affected by the para-inflammatory variant and 5 para-neoplastic cases (with haemoproliferative diseases). The cases with the para-inflammatory form were affected by minor infectious manifestations. Prolonged follow-up is necessary to verify that a case of idiopathic variant is not really a paraneoplastic form. Based on immunohistochemical analysis, we cannot exclude that true histiocytes, immunoreactive for CD68/PGM, infiltrate the dermis in Sweet's syndrome lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This Special Issue of Biophysical Chemistry includes a selection of the papers presented at the XXI Congress of the Italian Society of Pure and Applied Biophysics (i.e., SIBPA, Società Italiana di Biofisica Pura ed Applicata) held on September 2012 at the University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy. Topics cover all biophysical disciplines, from molecular to cellular, to integrative biophysics giving an almost comprehensive view of the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches, proper of the modern biophysics. SIBPA, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2013, has steadily grown and appeals to both specialists and a wider general audience. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a comment to the study conducted by researchers headed by Cecilia Pancaldi of the Department of Morphology and Embryology at the University of Ferrara in Ferrara, Italy. It states that the study focuses on the existence of Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) in buffy coats of immunocompetent individuals. The author notes that the study provided valuable data that could open new opportunities in the analysis of MCPyV-associated hematologic neoplasias.

Announces the First Congress of Italian Revolutionary Biologists that will be held at the Department of Biology of the University of Ferrara in Italy from August 24 to 26, 2005. Highlight of the congress.