SOEC are produced at ISTEC starting from powders obtained by conventional solid state synthesis or chemical routes (precipitation, sol-gel, etc.). The powders are synthesized with characteristics suitable for the subsequent shaping processes. The cell fabrication consists in depositing the cell elements onto a supporting-element produced by tape casting. All the possible substrates for SOEC were produced with this technique: anodes: La0.6Sr0.4Fe0.8Co0.2O3 (LSCF), La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (LSM); ...

Cubic isotropic MgAl2O4 spinel can be regarded as an almost ideal transparent ceramic material. It is an attractive material in the aerospace sector for several applications under severe conditions such as hard front layer in transparent protection and rugged optical windows operating in harsh environment. CNR ISTEC optimized the production process of spinel components with an in-line transmittance up to 82 % close to the theoretical value

The experience gained in the field of colloidal science has been fruitfully transferred to the control of nano particles (NPs) confinement and surface chemistry, opening new challenges towards the control of potentially adverse health impact of nanomaterials. EXPECTED IMPACTS _ Some of the very high impacts expected by the present research are: o The development of practical and cost effective strategies for reduction of worker exposure to NMs during all stages of NMs production, use and ...

Coupling nanoparticle sol-gel process technology with textile finishing or spinning techniques let to obtain HIGHLY VERSATILE MULTIFUNCTIONAL MEDIA, easily exploitable in environmental green technology, application. The high scalability and sustainability of the process is guaranteed by the consolidated technologies involved in nanotech / sol-gel / colloidal and textile processes. ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES _The widely accepted mechanism of antibacterial action is for both TiO2 and Ag ...

The most efficacy drug therapy employed to treat Parkinson's disease is the levodopa but, for obscure reasons, after few years this induces motor complications called dyskinesias. The Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology-CNR of Catanzaro, in collaboration with the Institute of Neurology of the Policlinico "Magna Graecia" Catanzaro, has shed new light on the neurobiological correlates of this motor complication demonstrating the efficacy of neurostimulation. This research has been ...

A mild decrease of oxygen supply to the brain can selectively impair the brain's arousal levels and behavioral responses, but not orienting of spatial attention and executive control functions. This is indicated by the findings of a study carried out by the Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology in collaboration with the University of Milan Bicocca. These findings were presented at the "2014 Society for Neuroscience" Annual Congress, the largest and most influential Neuroscience ...

It takes just 300 ms to our brain to understand whether one person's facial mimic and body language are consistent with her inner feelings and mental states or with a verbal description of her feelings and mentations. And, when they are not, that person's verbal message has a short life in our brain. Indeed, our brain very quickly compares the inputs deriving from areas processing facial expressions, and face and body mimics (including the mirror neurons system) with the visceral feelings of ...

"Spice of life": polyphenol curcumin by-products may act on Parkinson's relates protein aggregation. Paolo Ruzza, ICB-CNR Parkinson's disease (PD) belongs to the group of protein misfolding diseases and it is characterized by the progressive degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra of the brain. Among the biochemical mechanisms proposed for the pathogenesis of PD, our attention has been focused on the intracellular accumulation and aggregation of misfolded proteins, in ...

Dejà-vù is a fascinating and mysterious psychological phenomenon investigated by philosophers, psychologists, psychiatrists and neurologists. However, until now there is not a clear scientific theory able to explain this phenomenon. The Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology-CNR of Catanzaro, in collaboration with the Institute of Neurology of the Policlinico "Magna Graecia" Catanzaro, has shed new light on the neurobiological correlates underlying Dejà-vù. This research has been ...

A ruthenium catalyst for the efficient production of hydrogen from methanol. Elisabetta Alberico, ICB-CNR Hydrogen is an ideal fuel as its combustion releases energy and water as the sole by-product. Its widespread use would allow to successfully tackle several issues, the increasing demand for energy, the pollution and green-house gases arising from the use of fossil fuels. However, mainly because of its physical and chemical properties, hydrogen is not an ideal energy vector: it is a flammable ...

Bernd Pulverer, Chief Editor of the EMBO Journal, will give an overview on the peer reviewed research paper which remains the main conduit for the exchange of research discoveries. With the growth and diversification of global research, publishing in selected journals and citation metrics are increasingly employed as surrogates for quality in research assessment. Consequently, the pressures to publish in only a handful of journals have increased, with the risk of hampering scientific progress. ...

La proteina p53 è stata identificata nel 1979 da Arnold Levine della Princeton University (USA) e da David Lane, dell'Imperial Cancer Research Fund (Regno Unito), ma solo dopo dieci anni si è scoperta la sua importante funzione di gene soppressore tumorale indicandola una delle più interessanti nell'elaborazione delle terapie anticancro. Si attiva infatti ogni volta che le nostre cellule subiscono un alterazione, fermando la divisione delle cellule e consentendo la riparazione del Dna. Se il ...

New natural-like agrochemicals and fungicides for agrofood application Giovanna Delogu, ICB-CNR The new chemistry has a key role to play in maintaining and improving the quality of life, such as protection of the environment and development of sustainable synthetic techniques to solve environmental problems and to produce compounds selective and active at low concentration, with decreasing toxicity and side effects to humans, animals and vegetation. Chemical challenger includes the discovery ...

On its website, Google describes PageRank as follows: "PageRank reflects our view of the importance of web pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that are considered important receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results." The PageRank algorithm was introduced by the cofounders of Google in the late 1990s and has been implemented on the search engine of Google from the time of its launching. It continues to ...

"Metabolic Profiling": a new strategy for the study of metabolic diseases. Debora Paris, ICB-CNR Metabolomics describes the chemical profile of an organism in terms of metabolites, which are the end products of all chemical reactions of metabolism. The metabolic profile can be defined as a 'fingerprint' as it characterizes the biochemical phenotype of a biological system as a whole, by taking a snapshot of the overall metabolic levels. The study of the alterations induced by a disease, for ...

Joining techniques permit to build complex and potentially multimaterial structures that cannot be obtained directly with the densification process. Bonding is necessary to fully exploit the potential of several hi-tech ceramics.

L'attività è dedicata allo sviluppo di impianti porosi con struttura gerarchicamente organizzata in grado di mimare le caratteristiche morfologico-strutturali dell'osso e di esibire adeguate proprietà biomeccaniche. Recenti studi avanzati indirizzati allo sviluppo di strutture porose consistono nell'applicazione di processi di trasformazione morfo-sintetica di templanti naturali, con cui si possono ottenere impianti ossei a base calcio-fosfatica con proprietà rigenerative, che riproducono in ...

Smart cities are nowadays subject of many innovation projects, as well as on the political agenda of many (local) governments. Often, in the design of smart services, and discussions in this regard, the emphasis is mainly on the importance of data collection and of communications, particularly with respect to the Internet of things. Less attention is instead directed to the necessary interactions between the various parts (humans, things, programs, communications systems, etc..) and to the need ...

The development of hydraulic mortars by using as binder slaked lime, historic material, and natural hydraulic lime, that, at the present time, is the most lime typology used in the restoration and building fields. Metakaolin is obtained by calcinating at 650°C a commercial kaolin and it is used as pozzolanic admixture. Our study is focalised on the realisation of: 1) injection mortars for consolidation or re-adhesion systems previously disconnected or detached; 2)structural mortars that ...

3D hybrid biomimetic and bio-resorbable scaffolds for the complete regeneration of multi-functional regions like osteochondral and periodontal sites are developed by a well-established bio-inspired synthesis mimicking the biologic neo-ossification process, thus providing the new devices with very high regenerative ability. The scaffolds are based on Type I collagen fibers that assemble, organize and mineralize with biomimetic, ion-substituted hydroxyapatite nano-nuclei upon pH variation at ...

Hybrid porous nano-composites to be used as filtering devices and moisture exchange systems are developed with complex geometry contributing to the water and nano-particles trapping (including the unrestrainable particle with dimensions in the range of 30-100 nm) without excessive pressure drop. The hybrid composites are developed through a biomineralization process induced starting from a suspension of blended natural polymers (e.g. gelatine, chitosan, alginate) in the presence of Ca2+ and ...

Collagen based complex polymeric matrixes are prepared to be used for soft tissue regeneration such as heart, tendons/ligaments, meniscus and endocrine organs (thymus, thyroid gland). Biologically inspired processes of pH induced self-assembling and self-organization are applied to various polymeric blends of natural and/or bio-erodible polymers (collagen, cellulose, alginate, chitosan, PLLA, PCL, PGA PEG) to obtain 2-D and 3-D construct with high affinity with soft tissues. Collagen based ...

Bioactive hydroxyapatite nano-phases endowed with intrinsic superparamagnetism, designed to act as new stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems or to enhance cell homing and colonization of bone and osteochondral scaffolds thus enhancing tissue regeneration. The recent development of new intrinsically superparamagnetic hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (Fe-HA) was achieved through controlled substitution of Ca2+ ions with Fe2+/3+ ions, with specific Fe/Ca and Fe2+/Fe3+ ratios. Due to the bioactivity, ...

Hydroxyapatite (HA: Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) is a widely used biomaterial for the repair and regeneration of bone defects; however HA is also recognized as a very interesting material for environmental purification due to its ability to easily absorb a number of inorganic compounds as well as different organic substances such as proteins and bacteria. In this respect, specific ion substitutions in the lattice of HA can enable specific functionality so to open the way to multi-functional and ...

Presentazione del libro Laura Ambrosini - Vincent Jolivet (sous la direction de), Les potiers d'Étrurie et leur monde : contacts, échanges, transferts. Hommages à Mario A. Del Chiaro, Paris 2014, che si svolgerà a Roma, giovedi 5 giugno alle ore 16 presso l'Aula Marconi del CNR, Piazzale Aldo Moro 7.

In the restoration works, the use of products compatible with the materials composing the heritage artworks is important. The majority of materials of Cultural heritage (ceramics, mosaics, mortars, stones) is made of natural inorganic raw materials, so it is crucial in the conservative intervention to use inorganic non-metallic compounds, that in some cases are the same components of the cultural heritage. For this reasons, we are setting up products gotten by modification of inorganic raw ...

The joint efforts of Italian researchers, among which ISN-CNR researchers and American researchers from National Institute of Aging (NIA), NIH, Bethesda allowed the identification of a new gene ALS-related, Matrin 3 on Chromosome 5. MATR3 is an RNA- and DNA-binding protein that interacts with TDP-43, a disease protein linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia. The work is published on Nature Neuroscience. Mutations in the Matrin 3 gene cause familial amyotrophic ...

The regeneration of hard connective tissues (e.g. bone, teeth) is activated by the presence of specific chemical and morphological signals inducing new bone formation and organization. In this respect hydroxyapatite phases presenting bone-like composition (i.e. multiple ionic substitutions such as Mg2+, CO32-, Na+, K+, SiO44-, Sr2+), nanosized microstructure and low crystal order can be synthesized by wet methods at room temperature. These new phases closely mimic the inorganic part of bone and ...

The regeneration of critical-size bone defects requires the implantation of porous scaffolds exchanging suitable chemical, morphological and mechanical signals with cells so as to activate new bone formation and colonization of the whole scaffold. Pore size and morphology must be designed to achieve cell penetration and the establishment of a suitable vascular network to sustain the bone metabolism. The mechanical strength of the scaffolds should be sufficient for early physical stabilization ...

Approda a Roma, al Palazzo delle Esposizioni, la grande mostra archeologica "Gli Etruschi e il Mediterraneo. La città di Cerveteri", già allestita al Louvre-Lens con grande successo di pubblico e critica. Organizzata in partenariato dall'Azienda Speciale Palaexpo e dal Louvre-Lens, la mostra è stata curata dal CNR-ISMA, dal Louvre e dalla Soprintendenza per i Beni archeologici dell'Etruria meridionale. Un'ampia selezione di temi e oggetti (oltre 450) illustrano la nascita e lo sviluppo fino ...