Study of oral cavity lesions by infrared spectroscopy.

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy is considered a useful tool in the biomedical field, for analysing in situ and at cellular level, very small areas of tissues and cells, with minimal sample preparation and without the use of stains or probes. This spectroscopic technique has been successfully applied to analyse biological samples from patients affected by tumoral pathologies, with particular attention to oral cavity lesions. In this study, we describe the application of FTIR microspectroscopy to characterize and discriminate the most recurrent benign and malignant diseases of oral cavity compartment. Infrared maps were acquired on tissues affected by the following pathologies: squamous cell carcinoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma, polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma, squamous dysplasia, keratocystic odontogenic tumor, radicular cyst, residual cyst, unicystic ameloblastoma, and ameloblastic fibroma, together with healthy tissue samples (used as control group). The epithelial and connective components of all samples were distinguished and submitted to multivariate analysis. The results were in agreement with histological suggestions.

Heterogeneous catalytic degradation of phenolic substrates: catalysts activity.

This review article explored the catalytic degradation of phenol and some phenols derivates by means of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). Among them, only the heterogeneous catalyzed processes based on catalytic wet peroxide oxidation, catalytic ozonation and catalytic wet oxidation were reviewed. Also selected recent examples about heterogeneous photocatalytic AOPs will be presented. In details, the present review contains: (i) data concerning catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of phenolic compounds over metal-exchanged zeolites, hydrotalcites, metal-exchanged clays and resins. (ii) Use of cobalt-based catalysts, hydrotalcite-like compounds, active carbons in the catalytic ozonation process. (iii) Activity of transition metal oxides, active carbons and supported noble metals catalysts in the catalytic wet oxidation of phenol and acetic acid. The most relevant results in terms of catalytic activity for each class of catalysts were reported.

Degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by Rigidoporus lignosus and its laccase in the presence of redox mediators.

The metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was studied in vivo and in vitro in systems consisting of Rigidoporus lignosus and its laccase, in the presence of so-called "mediator" compounds. The static culture of the native fungal strain was able to metabolize anthracene and 2-methylanthracene, but not 9-nitroanthracene. The addition of redox mediators 2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT) or violuric acid (VA) led to a significant increase in the degradation of substrates. The oxidation of PAHs was not significant when purified laccase was used without the addition of mediators. The addition of these compounds increased the oxidation of all substrates by approximately 70-80% after 72 h of incubation. The degradation rate was highest for 2-methylanthracene in the presence of VA.

Supercritical fluid extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from marine sediments and soil samples.

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) was used to extract polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from a certified sample of marine sediment. This sample contains a great number of organic pollutants that are present in low concentrations. The extractions were carried out at 50 and 80 degrees C, at a pressure varying from 230 to 600 bar and using CO2 in the supercritical phase and the effect of three organic modifiers (methanol, n-hexane and toluene), added at 5%/vol, at the same temperature and pressure conditions, were then considered. PAHs were characterized by GC-MS and the recover yield was estimated for 6 PAHs that were representative of those present in the sample, according to their molecular weight and to the number of condensed rings. The analytical conditions giving the best recovery efficiency were used on an unpolluted soil sample spiked with 11 PAHs of environmental importance at a concentration similar to that certified for the sediment sample. An increase in the yield of recovered PAHs, using methanol as co-solvent, was observed while higher temperatures caused a negative effect on the quantity of recovered pollutants. The recovery yield for PAHs from the spiked soil sample was measured and found to be greater than 90%. Better recoveries were obtained for those compounds with higher molecular weight.

Aerosol formation and reaction pathways of atmospheric oxidation of dimethylsulfide.

This paper concerns with three series of experiments about dimethylsulfide gas phase oxidation, carried out at increasing NOx level (< 20 ppb, 1 ppm, 10 ppm) to show the relation between the amounts of nitrogen oxides and the molar yields of sulfur containing products. DMSO, DMSO2, HCHO, HCOOH and SO2 were found as main reaction products. From these experiments and from preceding studies, a sensitive decrease in the quantity of total sulfur products in aerosol phase is underlined. This result derives from the reaction of NOx with CH3S(O)O2 and CH3S(O)OO radicals, which leads to stable intermediates as methylsulphonylperoxynitrate, MSPN, with a characteristic PAN-like structure.