The University of Foggia, located in Foggia, Italy, was founded in 1991 and was fully recognized in 1999. Although it has taken some time for the university to receive its entitlement and acknowledgement, through that timestamp it has branched off from five faculties to six: the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, the Faculty of Medical and Surgical Sciences, the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Food and Environment, and the Faculty of the Humanities: Literature, Cultural Heritage, and Educational Sciences. It has also been named as the best university of southern Italy by the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, which has full ownership of the Italian employers' federation.
Despite increasing use of waste-derived polymers in extrusion-based 3D printing (3DP), formulation-process relationships governing 3DP fidelity for food waste protein-based inks remain poorly understood. Addressing this gap, we aimed to study the development of 3DP ink using sodium caseinate recovered from expired pasteurized milk for sustainable packaging applications. A formulation-driven approach was adopted by varying sodium caseinate (11-13%), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (10-12%) and glycerol (15-20%). The inks were described for stability, steady-shear flow at 50 degrees C, syringe extrudability, mechanical properties at 50 and 25 degrees C, dimensional accuracy of printed constructs, and deposition cooling dynamics. All formulations exhibited shearthinning behavior, with concentration-dependent differences in viscosity and shear stress. 3DP fidelity was highest for formulations containing 12% hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, 13% sodium caseinate, and 15% glycerol, which produced constructs with dimensional deviation below 10%. In contrast, formulations with 20% glycerol and 10% hydroxypropyl methylcellulose content showed dimensional deviation exceeding 60%. The extrudability results showed that formulations exhibiting a stable force plateau enabled continuous material deposition, whereas formulations characterized by pronounced force peaks showed uneven extrusion and poor printing accuracy. Mechanical properties at printing temperature (50 degrees C) indicated that inks exhibiting intermediate hardness (153-224 g) retained their shape after deposition. Infrared thermography revealed deposited filaments exhibiting initial temperatures above 42 degrees C and cooling toward 30 degrees C within a layer. In contrast, delayed extrusion was characterized by lower initial layer temperatures, coinciding with reduced interlayer adhesion. This study provides a systematic demonstration of caseins from expired milk as ink for sustainable 3D printed materials.
Mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) lead to accumulation of proteins aggregates in airways. Mutated CFTR promotes transglutaminases-mediated crosslinking of beclin 1, a positive regulator of autophagy, to induce accumulation of LC3-binding protein p62 and prevent autophagic degradation of aggregates.
Second language (L2) learning is a complex process influenced by various factors, including emotions and metacognition (MC). While several studies examined these factors individually or focused on adult samples, little is known about the combined effect of MC and achievement emotions, and their long-term effects on L2 learning remain unknown, particularly among school-age learners. To address this gap, Italian primary school children were assessed longitudinally at four time points between 2021 and 2024. Children were evaluated on their English vocabulary, MC monitoring and control of their performance on the English vocabulary, and achievement emotions related to English as L2 (enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety). Results revealed a significant effect of time on English vocabulary and all other measured variables. MC monitoring and control, as well as anxiety, emerged as key predictors of English vocabulary. This study highlights the relevant role of MC and emotions in L2 learning over primary school.
This study investigates the dynamic impact of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) on regional GDP per capita in Italy—a country characterized by persistent North–South economic disparities. Employing a location-scale model, we find that both funds generate positive average effects and, crucially, negative scale effects, indicating a reduction in the dispersion of regional GDP per capita. This novel approach reveals that EU Structural Funds contribute to narrowing regional inequalities. While standard methods may obscure such distributional dynamics, our framework highlights the role of cohesion policy in promoting equitable regional convergence.
Dopamine (DA) and Grape Seed Extract (GSE), thanks to their role as neurotransmitter and antioxidant mixture, respectively, can be usefully co-administered for Parkinson disease (PD) treatment. This combination is intended to prevent the oxidative stress that occurs in PD patients to restore the levels of the missing neurotransmitter. Hence, the aim of the present study was focusing on the production and in vitro characterization of nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) based on Gelucire (R) 50/13 as solid lipid and Transcutol P (R) as liquid lipid coadministering DA and GSE. NLCs were obtained according to the method of melt emulsification. DA-GSE-NLCs showed a mean diameter of 186 +/- 14 nm and -9.6 +/- 0.4 mV as zeta potential value, whereas from Transmission Electron Microscopy visualization they showed spherical morphology. X-ray diffraction indicated a more ordered solid state for DA-NLCs instead of DA-GSE-NLCs, but both of NLCs released DA in low amount in Simulated Nasal Fluid (SNF) as release medium within 48 h. Such low amounts of DA delivered from DA-GSE-NLCs and DA-NLCs in SNF were consistent with the structure of such lipid nanocarriers characterized by a higher concentration of solid lipid than liquid lipid. From a biological viewpoint, we conceived our investigations using simple and reliable cell line-based models prior to performing in vivo studies. Therefore, Saccharomices cerevisiae yeast cells were assayed for cell growth after exposure to the NLCs and evidenced that only DA-NLCs allowed an improvement in cell growth. Next, the three types of NLCs (i.e., DA-NLCs, GSE-NLCs and DA-GSE-NLCs) were evaluated in the presence of Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells and we found that, by setting the DA concentration at 75 mu M instead of 150 mu M, all the tested NLCs were safer. Overall, the results obtained provide a robust foundation for future research on PD and may open new avenues concerning lipid nanoparticle-based therapeutics.
