The present PhD thesis aims to discover new natural lipid A structures and to obtain semi-synthetic derivatives thereof to be tested as candidates for the pharmacological use as vaccine adjuvants.
Recently, many researchers focused on the development of effective innate immunity ligands as vaccine adjuvants. However, most of innate immunity ligands including LPS, one of the bacterial cell surface component that is a main topic in this thesis, involve undesired effects typified by a strong inf...
The study carried out during the present Ph.D. program aimed at investigating succinic acid production by fermentation. The work was carried out at the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, dei Materiale e della Produzione Industriale of the Università degli Studi di Napoli ‘Federico II’. The commercial strain Actinobacillus succinogenes DSM 792 was selected for its ability to produce succinic acid at high concentration and yield from a broad variety of carbon source. The activities were articu...
Primary Immunodeficiencies (PIDs) represent a group of rare inborn errors of immunity due to defects in the development and/or function in various components of the innate and adaptive immune system. PIDs are traditionally considered rare conditions, however, recent reports suggest that they are more common than previously believed, with an estimated prevalence of 2.3 per 100,000 persons. These disorders are characterized by a wide range of clinical symptoms, including an increased rate and s...
The possibility to translate real-world practice treatment strategies in psychosis to preclinical settings gives the opportunity to dissect at a molecular level the putative modifications that occur and concur to synaptic plasticity rearrangements. Dopamine-glutamate interplay dysfunctions have been suggested as key factors in psychosis pathophysiology and for the most part, synaptic interactions between dopamine and glutamate signaling pathways take part at the post-synaptic density (PSD). T...
La governance e il sistema dei controlli interni degli intermediari finanziari sono di recente al centro del dibattito: è ormai pacifica la convinzione che lacune e inefficienze riscontrate in questi ambiti hanno contribuito a determinare la situazione di crisi o a ritardare l’adozione di tempestive misure correttive. Eppure, negli anni precedenti la crisi, vi era un ampio consenso sul fatto che l’assetto del sistema finanziario e quello di gran parte, se non di tutti, gli intermediari fosse ...
Vertical breakwaters are frequently employed for the protection of harbors in many areas around the world. Their success is due to the fact that they represent, especially in relatively deep water, a better alternative in terms of performances, construction speed, and maintenance costs compared to traditional rubble mound breakwaters. However, they have suffered in the past from severe damage caused by storms, which have led, in some cases, to catastrophic failures. In such seas, where the la...
Questo lavoro di ricerca intende aggiornare le interpretazioni sul fenomeno dell'oligopolio elettrico, indagando sulla struttura, sui vertici, sulle élite e sulle tecniche di spartizione territoriale tra i vari gruppi che seppero costruire un sistema chiuso difficile da scardinare. Grazie alla stretta relazione tra banca, industria e Stato, le capofila di monopoli elettrici regionali prosperarono, ottenendo anche il sostegno delle istituzioni nelle varie fasi politiche italiane, dalla fine de...
The proposed research is situated in the field of design, management and optimisation in railway network operations. Rail transport has in its favour several specific features which make it a key factor in public transport management, above all in high-density contexts. Indeed, such a system is environmentally friendly (reduced pollutant emissions), high-performing (high travel speeds and low values of headways), competitive (low unitary costs per seat-km or carried passenger-km) and presents...
The aim of the present study was to investigate oleuropein effects on microvascular responses.
First, we investigated the in vivo effects of oleuropein on rat pial microcirculation submitted to hypoperfusion-reperfusion injury. Therefore, we studied acute microvascular responses such as arteriolar vasodilation, permeability increase, leukocyte adhesion and capillary perfusion, by fluorescence microscopy. The working hypothesis was that this polyphenol may induce nitric oxide (NO) release from...
During the last decades, solutions of wormlike micelles have been successfully used in a number of diverse applications, for instance as proppants in oil industry, drag-reduction agents, heat-transfer fluids, and carrier in drug-delivery systems.
One of the most extensive use of wormlike micelles is as additives in a wide variety of consumer goods, including hard-surface cleaners, dish-wash and laundry-detergents, body-soaps and shampoos. In fact, thanks to their reological properties, they a...