Search results for "multifunctional"

Electrospun PCL/GO-g-PEG structures: Processing-morphology-properties relationships

2017

Abstract Polycaprolactone (PCL) biocomposite nanofiber scaffolds with different concentrations of graphene oxide (GO) and GO surface grafted with poly(ethylene glycol) (GO-g-PEG) were prepared by electrospinning. Morphological, mechanical as well as wettability characterizations of electrospun nanofibers were carried out. Results showed that the average diameter of PLA/GO electrospun nanofibers decreased upon increasing the filler content. Differently, the diameter increased while using GO-g-PEG. Both nanofillers enhanced the electrospun PCL hydrophilicity even if PCL/GO-g-PEG samples exhibited improved wettability. The Young moduli of the composite nanofiber mats were improved by adding GO…

Sustainability and multifunctionality in Mediterranean cropping systems: the role of medicinal and aromatic plants

2010

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, shortly termed MAPs, are a huge category of plant species, which have in common their aptitude to supply substances, respectively medicines and flavours, that are or may be used by people for a large number of uses, having a various level of complexity: from plants which are used by man “as they are” or after a minimum transformation, addressed to human food (the spices), or herbal self-therapy (the traditional medicinal plants), it is possible to drop to species employed by highly sophisticated industrial sectors such as perfume or cosmetic industries, passing through almost all intermediate ways and complexities. Many of these plants find the best growing co…

Aridity index, soil erosion and climate drive no-till ecosystem services trade-off in Mediterranean arable land

2021

Abstract Despite the relevant literature on the advantages of no-till (NT) management, the world area under NT is only 10% of the arable land, probably due to several limiting factors as climate, soil types, farming systems and yield. Soil conservation practices and particularly NT soil management are able to provide many ecosystem services (ESs). This paper suggests a framework to determine the area distribution of soil erosion control and food security ESs trade-offs furnished by NT, starting from the potential soil erosion and aridity index maps. The interaction between the potential soil erosion and the aridity index showed that different trade-offs and synergies of multiple ESs may occ…

MAPs in Sicily: cultivation, uses, and potentiality

2013

In Sicily, MAPs have been used and cultivated for centuries, with many uses ranging from the preparation of fresh or stored food items, flavoring of foods and beverages, home-made human or animal therapy or even aesthetical purposes. Many of them grow spontaneously into such areas, and are claimed to play a significant role inside land biodiversity. The widespread belief that only under “natural” conditions MAPs find their optimum quality features has driven in many cases to their uncontrolled collection from the wild, and as a result many of them are nowadays at a risk of extinction. The field cropping of such spontaneous species could play an important role in safeguarding biodiversity, a…

La complessità del paesaggio agrario del “giardino mediterraneo” a partire dalla tavola di Alesa

2014

The Mediterranean is characterized by landscapes as result from long and complex historical processes in a varied environment. An identification and clarification of the role of the “Mediterranean Garden” (MG) in the Traditional Mediterranean Landscape (TML) is necessary. The MG is often associated with numerous different agricultural landscapes, due to the long historical process that has led to their identification. This paper identifies the characteristics of the MG’s landscape, starting from a historical overview of Sicily. What emerges is the structural, compositional and functional character of these traditional landscapes and systems, which is complex, multipurpose and often with mix…

Da “luoghi” di scarto a “spazi” di innovazione. Piani e politiche per i territori agricoli periurbani

2014

Concerning the new post-metropolitan area, the peri-urban territories, also due to the vagueness of their structural components, have become po-lisemical and plural places. From border areas between urban and rural functions, they have turned into integration places dealing with those two functions, getting out indeed their own plural identities. They are unsteady places, not even urban and no longer rural; border areas not only in spatial and administrative terms but also as regard a conceptual profile, which – such as a mosaic where settlement, agricultural and environmental systems interact and coexist- ask for clarification and mutuality reformulation between populated areas environment…

Role of Enolase/MBP-1 in non-tumorigenic and cancer cells

The glycolytic enzyme α-enolase is a highly conserved protein involved in multiple functions (Díaz-Ramos A et al 2012). Besides the mainly cytoplasmic localization, the protein has been detected on the surface of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells where it functions as a plasminogen receptor, while a shorter variant, called Myc promoter-binding protein-1 (MBP-1), is mainly located in the nucleus. Several lines of evidence indicate that MBP-1 acts as a tumor suppressor, negatively regulating cell proliferation or promoting apoptosis of cancer cells. Although a few reports indicate that stressful conditions, such as glucose deprivation or hypoxia, may modulate MBP-1 expression in mammalian cell…

Novel antiproliferative chimeric compounds with marked histone deacetylase inhibitory activity.

2014

Given our interest in finding potential antitumor agents and in view of the multifactorial mechanistic nature of cancer, in the present work, taking advantage of the multifunctional ligands approach, new chimeric molecules were designed and synthesized by combining in single chemical entities structural features of SAHA, targeting histone deacetylases (HDACs), with substituted stilbene or terphenyl derivatives previously obtained by us and endowed with antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic activity. The new chimeric derivatives were characterized with respect to their cytotoxic activity and their effects on cell cycle progression on different tumor cell lines, as well as their HDACs inhibitio…

Radiation-engineered multifunctional nanogels: a versatile platform with theranostic capabilities for cancer

2018

Under a rational desing, combining biologically active molecules, ligand to specific cell receptors and fluorescent, radioactive or paramagnetic labels into a single nano-object can bride the unique properties of the individual components and impruve conventional sensing, imaging and therapeutic efficaces.

Mani verdi per la città. Scenari di agricoltura urbana multifunzionale nella Piana dei colli a Palermo

2015

L’agricoltura periurbana multifunzionale è considerata una strategia efficace per arginare il dilagare dell’urbanizzazione nelle aree rurali, contrastare la pressione urbana e al contempo rendere le città più abitabili e vitali. Dalla prospettiva urbana, le aree agricole intercluse sono soggette a maggiori pressioni da parte del mercato immobiliare e sebbene assolvano molteplici funzioni nei riguardi della città, non sempre sono riconosciute come infrastruttura naturale d’interesse pubblico, come bene comune da tutelare in quanto paesaggio agro-urbano e da collegare a sistemi ambientali più ampi. L’articolo esplora il concetto di agricoltura multifunzionale e lo applica ad un sistema di are…