Search

In recent literature, tear's biomarkers analysis through spectroscopic techniques is emerging as a reliable tool to identify neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's syndromes. The focus of this work is to discuss the results of the application of Raman Spectroscopy on tears collected from patients affected by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), comparing to healthy controls. Showing high specificity and sensitivity, both differential and multivariate analysis have reported differences in spectral components, principally identified in two peaks related to Phenylalanine and Amide I. Furthermore, as distinctive for the neurodegenerative diseases, protein and lipids alterations have been found. The results, being confirmed by a parallel study conducted by infrared (IR) spectroscopy on the same samples, lead to the prospect of defining the technique supportive in the diagnosis of ALS, exploiting tears as a source of biomarkers.

Marine biofouling causes problems for technologies based on the sea, including ships, power plants and marine sensors. Several antifouling techniques have been applied to marine sensors, but most of these methodologies are environmentally unfriendly or ineffective. Bioinspiration, seeking guidance from natural solutions, is a promising approach to antifouling. Here, the eye of the green crab Carcinus maenas was regarded as a marine sensor model and its surface characterized by means of atomic force microscopy. Engineered surface micro-and nanotopography is a new mechanism found to limit biofouling, promising an effective solution with much reduced environmental impact. Besides giving a new insight into the morphology of C. maenas eye and its characterization, our study indicates that the eye surface probably has antifouling/fouling-release potential. Furthermore, the topographical features of the surface may influence the wettability properties of the structure and its interaction with organic molecules. Results indicate that the eye surface micro-and nanotopography may lead to bioinspired solutions to antifouling protection.

In this paper we discuss the optical (absorption and photoluminescence) and solvatochromic properties of a newly synthesized alternating copolymer based on poly(3-alkylthiophene) structure. In this copolymer an unsubstituted thiophene ring is linked to a 3-alkyl-substituted thiophene, the two repeating units being alternated in the copolymer chains. Moreover, a bulky group, THP, with high steric hindrance has been introduced in the side chain. This copolymer, designed to preserve the backbone planarity of polythiophenes and to prevent a close packing arrangement through the non-regioregular insertion of the bulky substituted monomer, shows high PL quantum yield in the solid state and in solution aggregates. The electroluminescence of this copolymer is reported for a simple single layer device. © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

This paper reports an experimental study aimed to develop a suitable and reliable procedure to graft organic molecular fragments onto silicon surfaces, leading to a stable organic termination. Grafting of self-assembled organic films on the (0 0 1) surface of Si is performed by SC1/SC2 processing and by a bromination step preceding the nucleophilic reaction with the organic aromatic compound. After each wet processing step the Si(0 0 1) morphology is investigated using atomic force microscopy to correlate the etching chemistry and the substrate morphology. The bromination step is observed to cause a strong increase of surface roughness due to the formation of pyramid-shaped nanostructures. Controlling the surface roughness as induced by chemical processing is suggested as a fundamental goal towards an increase of the organic film coverage and stability. Correcting actions and enabling prevention of surface damage are proposed and discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.