Clinical evaluation and treatment of acute asthma exacerbations in children

2009

This update on treatment of asthma exacerbations in children is the result of an Italian Pediatric Society Task-force, made up of a panel of experts working in 2007–2008. The aim is to give clear indications on the use of the drugs most employed in children, grading the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations. Suggestions on their limits due to unlicensed and off-label use are reported. The level of evidence and the strength of recommendations for different therapeutic approaches demonstrate that frequently the use of drugs in children is extrapolated from the experience in adults and that more studies are required to endorse the correct use of different drugs in asthmatic …

Possible light-induced superconductivity in K3C60 at high temperature.

2015

The non-equilibrium control of emergent phenomena in solids is an important research frontier, encompassing effects such as the optical enhancement of superconductivity. Nonlinear excitation of certain phonons in bilayer copper oxides was recently shown to induce superconducting-like optical properties at temperatures far greater than the superconducting transition temperature, Tc. This effect was accompanied by the disruption of competing charge-density-wave correlations, which explained some but not all of the experimental results. Here we report a similar phenomenon in a very different compound, K3C60. By exciting metallic K3C60 with mid-infrared optical pulses, we induce a large increas…

Pressure tuning of light-induced superconductivity in K3C60

2017

Optical excitation at terahertz frequencies has emerged as an effective means to manipulate complex solids dynamically. In the molecular solid K3C60, coherent excitation of intramolecular vibrations was shown to transform the high temperature metal into a non-equilibrium state with the optical conductivity of a superconductor. Here we tune this effect with hydrostatic pressure, and we find it to disappear around 0.3 GPa. Reduction with pressure underscores the similarity with the equilibrium superconducting phase of K3C60, in which a larger electronic bandwidth is detrimental for pairing. Crucially, our observation excludes alternative interpretations based on a high-mobility metallic phase…

Plasma polymer films and gold nanoparticles: coupling of properties to design a biosensor

The present investigation deals with the functionalization of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with primary amine-based plasma polymer films (NH2-PPF), to improve their properties for bioanalytical applications. Cyclopropylamine (CPA) plasma polymerization, in pulsed and continuous wave radio frequency discharges, was employed to growth CPA amino-based PPFs coatings (18 nm) onto Au NPs of 12 nm of diameter deposited on glass and silicon substrates. A multi-technique investigation, based on FT-IR and XPS spectroscopies, AFM and SEM microscopies and Tof-SIMS spectrometry, revealed peculiar features of the CPA PPFs. In particular, by FT-IR it was possible to obtain an overview about the rich chemis…