In view of the broad potential biomedical applications of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) different studies were performed to assess their effect on the immune system. However, the work performed to date was able to give a restricted view looking only at some activation markers and cytokine expression. The immune system is rarely limited to few molecule interactions being instead always a balance of switching several genes on and off. Whole genome expression (microarray) is a technology able to give the full picture on genome expression. Here we describe a microarray genome-wide study on Jurkat cells, a T lymphocyte cell line, and THP1, a monocytic cell line, representative of both types of immune response, the adaptive and innate, respectively. Since any structure or molecule modification may lead to very different immune reactions, we treated the two cell lines with four types of functionalized multi-walled CNTs that differ in terms of functionalization and diameter. After having assessed the internalization and the lack of toxicity of CNTs in both cell types, we used the Affymetrix technology to analyze the expression of about 32,000 transcripts. Three of the tested nanotubes (i.e., ox-MWCNT-1, ox-MWCNT-NH3(+)-1, and ox-MWCNT-NH3(+)-2) activated immune-related pathways in monocytes but not in T cells. In view of these charateristics they were named as monocyte activating CNTs (MA-CNTs). Molecular pathways upregulated by MA-CNTs included IL6, CD40, dendritic cell maturation, tumor necrosis factor-(TNF)-α/TNFR1-2, NFKB signaling and T helper 1 chemokine pathways (CXCR3 and CCR5 ligand pathways). These pathways are commonly activated during acute inflammatory processes as those associated with immune-mediated tumor rejection and pathogen clearance. One of them (i.e., ox-MWCNT-2) downregulated genes associated with ribosomal proteins in both monocytes and T cells. We validated our findings at gene expression level by performing real-time PCR assessing the most highly modulated genes in monocytes. To confirm the results at protein level, the secretion of IL1β, TNFα, IL6 and IL10 by THP1 and primary monocytes was assessed by ELISA, corroborating gene-expression data. Our results provide new insights into the whole gene expression modulation by different CNTs on immune cells. Considering the well known drug carrier ability of CNTs, our findings demonstrate that MA-CNTs here behave as cell specific immunostimulatory systems, giving very interesting future perspectives for their application also as immunotherapeutic agents and/or vaccine adjuvants.

The analysis of students satisfaction for their university experience is important within the educational evaluation. In this study was explored the satisfaction of students to identify which aspects of teaching may be cause of dissatisfaction. A survey questionnaire contains items on motivations, teaching quality and services was compiled in anonymous by the students that attending the courses of the Faculty of Science (University of Sassari, Sardinia) during the second semester of the 2009/2010 academic year. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was assessed by Cronbach’s Alpha. A preliminary chi square test at stepwise logistic regression analysis was applied to evaluate the association between student satisfaction and motivation, quality of teacher and services, at a 0.05 significance level. Only 403 questionnaires were considered good with a response rate of 82.6%. The student’s satisfaction is significant different by gender (p = .009). Significant are the items on the interest for scientific studies, the acquisition of the degree as social prestige and future work (p < .05); also, the ability of teacher to stimulate and attract the student, the encouragement, the advice to the students and the his professionality are significantly associated with the students satisfaction (p < .05). In males the main factor associated to the satisfaction is to have achieved always good results in school (OR = 2.84, p = .036); instead, in females, the interest in science (OR = 4.75, p = .023), the title of degree to acquire a social prestige (OR = 2.00, p = .033) and the possibility of a future work (OR = 2.09, p = .028). Although good judgments made by students, however, require further attention, such as such as the abandonment of the university, the time of graduation degree, the future career, for better analysis of aspects related to the satisfaction of the quality of teaching. (Abstract

Introduction: In hospitals and other healthcare settings the presence of airborne and sedimented fungi is an extrinsic risk factor for opportunistic infections involving both immunocompromised and non-immunocompromised persons. In hospitalized patients, it is estimated that 9% of hospital-acquired infections are caused by fungi. Lethality rate varies from 40% to 100% depending on the immunosuppression degree of stakeholders. To prevent healthcare-associated infections, the control of environmental fungal contamination through use of sanitizing/disinfecting practices is basic. However, the widespread use of common disinfectants could promote the growth of antibiotic-resistant superbugs and cause environmental harm. These aspects stimulated the search of new antimicrobial agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of essential oils of Mentha insularis Req., Mentha pulegium L., Mentha requienii Bentham, Artemisia caerulescens L. ssp. densiflora (Viv), Rosmarinus officinalis L. var. albiflorus, Rosmarinus officinalis L. var. lavandulescens, and Ocotea puchury major Mart. against fungi species frequently found in hospitals and potentially responsible for opportunistic mycoses. Methods: The essential oils' antifungal activity was carried out by agar disc diffusion technique. Results: All tested essential oils are effective, though to a different degree, against both molds that yeasts assessed. The major antifungal activity was showed by Mentha oils. Particularly, Mentha requienii and Mentha insularis oils were active until 1:8 dilution against Rhodotorula spp. and 1:16 dilution against mixed molds, while M. pulegium was strongly active until 1:2 against both fungi. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, few or no data are available in literature on the activity of essential oils against hospital environmental isolates of fungi. Results suggest their potential application in sanitation procedures of the hospital, and in general, of the "care settings".

Background: In the last decades, there has been increased worldwide interest in the management of healthrisks from indoor radon.Methods: From 2006 to 2008, a survey on air radon levels was carried out in a total of 57 indoor gymnasiarespectively located in the urban area of Palermo (Sicily) and Sassari (Sardinia).Results: The indoor radon levels were generally low with different geometric means in the two geographicareas (14.3 Bq/m3 in Palermo and 36 Bq/m3 in Sassari, respectively). Overall, in both groups increasingvalues of radon were found during the night and the early morning, with radon concentrations significantlylower during working time than at other times. The analysis of structural parameters showed that directcontact with the soil significantly correlated with increased levels of radon in gymnasia located in Palermo’sarea (p<0.05). Furthermore, higher radon levels in Sicilian structures were also associated, although notsignificantly, with lack of sumps (19.3 vs 12.9 Bq/m3), location below the ground level (18.8 vs 8.7 Bq/m3),lack of windows (25 vs 13.2 Bq/m3), presence of forced ventilation (15.5 vs 7.3 Bq/m3) and with cracks ormoisture tracks (15.7 vs 13.2 Bq/m3).Conclusions: Radon tends to accumulate in indoor sites and it’s monitoring, especially in buildings withpotentially overcrowded conditions, could be of public health interest. Mitigation measures and minimizationof the number of structural and functional risk parameters should be strongly encouraged in order to limitradon accumulation especially in countries with higher radium concentration in the soil.