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T Bellini

Publications and source records attributed to T Bellini.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Optical and electro-optical derivation of the pretransitional behavior of orientational and shear viscosities in the isotropic phase of liquid crystals.

The pretransitional equilibrium properties of isotropic liquids in the proximity of the isotropic-nematic phase transition are well known and successfully modeled. Much less is known about the dynamic behavior, and in particular about the pretransitional viscosity. In this work we combine two techniques [dynamic light scattering (DLS) and electric birefringence spectroscopy (EBS)] offering complementary insights into both static and dynamic pretransitional behavior of the homologous nCB family (n-alkyl cyanobiphenyl). EBS explores the single molecule flipping dynamics retarded by a paranematic potential barrier and enables extracting the associated transport coefficient, which is found to be of Arrhenius type in the whole temperature range explored. DLS reflects the collective dynamics of correlated domains and depends on the viscous damping of the orientational order. Such a viscosity displays Arrhenius behavior only sufficiently far from the transition temperature, with deviations growing as a power law of the appropriate reduced temperature with exponents around 0.1.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Memory effects in nematics with quenched disorder.

We present a combined experimental and Monte Carlo study of a nematic phase in the presence of quenched disorder. The turbidity of a nematic liquid crystal embedded in a porous polymer membrane is measured under different applied field conditions for field-cooled and zero-field-cooled samples. We find that a significant permanent alignment of the nematic can be induced by fields as low as 0.1 V/microm applied during the isotropic to nematic transition. An analogous effect and dependence on sample history is found by studying the order parameter of a sprinkled disorder Lebwohl-Lasher spin model, indicating that dilute quenched randomness is sufficient to produce memory effects in nematics. The large memory induced by field cooling appears to be written in the system during the transition as a result of the field action on freely oriented nematic nuclei. At lower temperature the nuclei consolidate into permanent nematic textures developed from the interaction with quenched disorder.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Cerebrospinal fluid and serum levels and intrathecal production of active matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) as markers of disease activity in patients with multiple sclerosis.

In this study, we employed a sensitive activity assay system to measure cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum levels of active matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in 37 relapsing-remitting (RR), 15 secondary progressive (SP) and nine primary progressive (PP) multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, grouped according to clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence of disease activity. We also studied, as neurological controls, 48 patients with other inflammatory neurological disorders (OIND) and 48 with non-inflammatory neurological disorders (NIND). To assess active MMP-9/TIMP-1 circuit, CSF and serum levels of MMP-9 tissue inhibitor TIMP-1 were quantified by ELISA in the same patient population. CSF mean levels of active MMP-9, CSF active MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratios and intrathecal active MMP-9 synthesis, as indicated by specific index, were more elevated in MS than in NIND (P < 0.05, < 0.02 and < 0.02, respectively), serum active MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio was higher in MS (P < 0.01) and OIND (P < 0.02) than in NIND, and serum TIMP-1 concentrations were lower in MS than in NIND (P<0.05). More importantly, serum active MMP-9 mean levels, serum active MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio and intrathecal production of active MMP-9 were increased in MS patients with clinical (P < 0.001, < 0.001 and < 0.05, respectively) and MRI (P < 0.001, < 0.001 and < 0.02, respectively) disease activity, whereas CSF mean concentrations of active MMP-9 and CSF active MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio were enhanced only in MS patients with MRI evidence of disease activity (P < 0.02 and < 0.01, respectively). Altogether, these findings suggest that a shift in MMP-9/TIMP-1 balance towards proteolytic activity of MMP-9 could be relevant in MS immune dysregulation. In addition, our results indicate that CSF and serum levels of active MMP-9 may represent a potential surrogate biomarker for monitoring MS disease activity. In particular, serum active MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio seems to be a very appropriate indicator of ongoing MS inflammation, since it is easily measurable.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Light scattered by model phantom bacteria reveals molecular interactions at their surface.

Testing molecular interactions is an ubiquitous need in modern biology and molecular medicine. Here, we present a qualitative and quantitative method rooted in the basic properties of the scattering of light, enabling detailed measurement of ligand-receptor interactions occurring on the surface of colloids. The key factor is the use of receptor-coated nanospheres matched in refractive index with water and therefore optically undetectable ("phantom") when not involved in adhesion processes. At the occurrence of ligand binding at the receptor sites, optically unmatched material adsorbs on the nanoparticle surface, giving rise to an increment in their scattering cross section up to a maximum corresponding to saturated binding sites. The analysis of the scattering growth pattern enables extracting the binding affinity. This label-free method has been assessed through the determination of the binding constant of the antibiotic vancomycin with the tripeptide l-Lys-d-Ala-d-Ala and of the vancomycin dimerization constant. We shed light on the role of chelate effect and molecular hindrance in the activity of this glycopeptide.

Bacteria↗
PubMed2005

Pretransitional behavior of a water in liquid crystal microemulsion close to the demixing transition: evidence for intermicellar attraction mediated by paranematic fluctuations.

We present a study of a water-in-oil microemulsion in which surfactant coated water nanodroplets are dispersed in the isotropic phase of the thermotropic liquid-crystal penthyl-cyanobiphenyl (5CB). As the temperature is lowered below the isotropic to nematic phase transition of pure 5CB, the system displays a demixing transition leading to a coexistence of a droplet-rich isotropic phase with a droplet-poor nematic. The transition is anticipated, in the high T side, by increasing pretransitional fluctuations in 5CB molecular orientation and in the nanodroplet concentration. The observed phase behavior supports the notion that the nanosized droplets, while large enough for their statistical behavior to be probed via light scattering, are also small enough to act as impurities, disturbing the local orientational ordering of the liquid crystal and thus experiencing pretransitional attractive interaction mediated by paranematic fluctuations. The pretransitional behavior, together with the topology of the phase diagram, can be understood on the basis of a diluted Lebwohl-Lasher model which describes the nanodroplets simply as holes in the liquid crystal.

Biphenyl Compounds↗
PubMed2005

Nematics with quenched disorder: pinning out the origin of memory.

Memory effects and glassy behavior have been repeatedly observed in disordered nematic liquid crystals but the connection between these effects and the system topology remained unrevealed. We present an analysis of the local and global topology of the nematic ordering in the presence of quenched disorder and we show that nematics with quenched disorder can be mapped into a system of pinned defect lines and that the memory of the system stems from the pinning of these strings.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Isotropic to nematic transition of aerosil-disordered liquid crystals.

We present a high-resolution study of the isotropic to nematic phase transition of a low birefringence liquid-crystal compound incorporating an aerosil gel. Calorimetry, light scattering, and microscopy data coherently combine to allow for an accurate determination of the temperature dependence of the onset of the nematic state. The nematic order develops on cooling through two distinct processes while the nematic correlation length mildly decreases. We understand the doubling of the phase transition as due to a crossover from a random-dilution regime, where the silica gel couples to the scalar part of the nematic order parameter, to a low-T random-field regime, where the coupling induces distortions in the director field.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Fluctuation mediated interaction and phase separation of nanoparticles in a liquid crystal solvent.

Water-in-oil microemulsions of nanodroplets in the isotropic phase of a thermotropic liquid crystal exhibit, with decreasing temperature and in anticipation of a demixing transition, enhanced correlation in fluctuations of both molecular orientation and droplet concentration. Mean field modeling of this pretransition behavior, on the basis of a lattice in which the nanodroplets are introduced as holes, shows that the observed interdroplet attractive interaction is produced by the disordering effect of the droplets on the liquid crystal and mediated solely by paranematic fluctuations.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Nematics with quenched disorder: how long will it take to heal?

Nematics with quenched disorder have been repeatedly predicted to form glass phases. Here we present turbidity experiments and computer simulations aimed at studying glass key features such as dynamics and history dependence in randomly perturbed nematics. Electric field-cooling alignment has been employed to prepare samples in suitably oriented starting states. Remarkable remnant order and slow dynamics are found both by experiment and simulations, indicating that random disorder can, by itself, induce a nematic glass state even without perturber restructuring.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Universality and scaling in the disordering of a smectic liquid crystal.

We present experimental and theoretical studies of the effects of quenched disorder on one-dimensional crystal ordering in three dimensions. This fragile smectic liquid crystal layering, the material with the simplest positional order, is also the most easily deformed periodic structure and is, therefore, profoundly affected by disorder, introduced here by confinement in silica aerogel. Theory and experiment combine to characterize this system to an extraordinary degree, their close accord producing a coherent picture: crystal ordering is lost, giving way to extended short-range correlations that exhibit universal structure and scaling, anomalous layer elasticity, and glassy dynamics.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Thermal stability of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase from Sendai virus evidences two folding domains.

The domain structure of hemagglutinin-neuraminidase from Sendai virus (cHN) was investigated by studying the thermal stability in the 20-100 degrees C range. Differential scanning calorimetry evidences two conformational transitions. The first transition is apparently a reversible two-state process, with Tm 48.3 degrees C, and is shifted to 50.1 degrees C in the presence of the substrate analogue 2,3-dehydro-2-deoxy-N-acetyl neuraminic acid, meaning that the substrate binding domain is involved in the transition. The second transition, with apparent Tm 53.2 degrees C, is accompanied by irreversible loss of enzymatic activity of the protein, and the presence of the substrate analogue does not affect the Tm. The data indicate that cHN is composed of two independent folding domains, and that only one domain is involved in the binding of the substrate. Our results suggest that the paramyxovirus neuraminidases have the folding properties of a two-domain protein.

Calorimetry↗
PubMed2001

Long-term expression of highly differentiated functions by isolated porcine hepatocytes perfused in a radial-flow bioreactor.

To overcome the limitations of standard hollow-fiber module in ensuring efficient cell perfusion and long-term expression of highly differentiated hepatocyte functions, we developed a novel bioreactor in which a three-dimensional hepatocyte culture system was perfused in radial-flow geometry. Isolated porcine hepatocytes were cultured for 2 weeks in recirculating serum-free tissue culture medium, in which NH4Cl and lidocaine were repeatedly added, and ammonia removal, urea synthesis, monoethylglycinexylide (MEGX) production, albumin secretion, Po2, Pco2, O2 consumption, and pH were measured thereafter. During the whole duration of the study, ammonia removal was paralleled by urea production, while MEGX concentration was constantly increased. Our results indicated that hepatocytes remained differentiated and metabolically active throughout the duration of the study. The radial-flow bioreactor allowed physiological contact between recirculating fluid and cells by equalizing the concentration of the perfusing components, including O2, throughout the module, suggesting a potential use of this configuration for extracorporeal liver support.

Albumins↗
PubMed2000

Nematics with quenched disorder: what is left when long range order Is disrupted?

It is now generally accepted that even low amounts of quenched disorder disrupt long-range order in anisotropic systems with continuous symmetry. However, very little is known on the key item of the nature of the residual order, if any, and particularly if this has quasi-long-range or truly-short-range character. Here we address this problem both experimentally for the nematic 6CB in dilute aerosils and with computer simulations. We find that the residual order is short ranged and scales with disorder density in agreement with the Imry-Ma argument.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Thermal stabilities of lupin seed conglutin gamma protomers and tetramers.

Various experimental approaches have been used in this work to assess the thermal stabilities of lupin seed conglutin gamma at two pH values, 4.5 and 7.5, at which the protein exists as a protomer and a tetramer, respectively. The patterns of thermal unfolding at the two pH values differed significantly; the tetramer aggregated and became insoluble, whereas the protomer was still soluble after thermal treatment. Also, the midpoint transition temperatures were dramatically different, being 60.3 and 75.1 degrees C for the protomer and tetramer, respectively. The behavior of conglutin gamma at neutral pH was also affected by disulfide formation/interchange, in that some unfolded protein molecules became covalently stabilized. More detailed analyses by differential scanning calorimetry and indirect fluorescence measurements, using 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid as a probe, confirmed the remarkable differences observed in the thermal stabilities of the two protein forms and allowed models for their unfolding patterns to be drawn.

Calorimetry, Differential Scanning↗
PubMed1999

Anomeric specificity and protein-substrate interactions support the 3D model for the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase from sendai virus.

The 3D structure of paramyxovirus hemagglutinin-neuraminidase has not yet been resolved; however, a theoretical model has been built by using influenza virus and bacterial neuraminidases as template [V. C. Epa (1997) Proteins Struct. Funct. Gen. 29, 264-281]. Two common features of the catalytic mechanism of the neuraminidases of known 3D structure are the anomeric specificity and the involvement of a tyrosine residue in the stabilization of the transition state. These key features have been investigated on the water-soluble ectodomain of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase from Sendai virus (cHN). The anomeric specificity of the hydrolysis of the substrate by cHN has been investigated by NMR spectroscopy. The immediate product of the reaction was the alpha-anomer, meaning that cHN belongs between glycohydrolases retaining anomeric configuration like influenza virus neuraminidase. Measurements of the UV difference spectrum upon binding of the substrate analogue 2,3-dehydro 2-deossi N-acetyl neuraminic acid indicate the ionization of a tyrosine residue and decreased polarity in the environment of a tryptophan residue. Functional significance of the spectral data was derived from the known structure of influenza neuraminidase, where a tyrosinate ion is involved in the stabilization of the transition-state carbonium ion, and a tryptophan residue is involved in the binding of the acetyl moiety of the substrate. The data give experimental support to the 3D model of paramyxovirus neuraminidase.

Catalytic Domain↗
PubMed1999

Dielectric Dispersion of Colloidal Suspensions in the Presence of Stern Layer Conductance: Particle Size Effects.

In this work, we discuss the role that particle size plays in the manifestations of surface conduction on the dielectric response of colloidal dispersions. To that aim, experimental data on the dielectric constant of polystyrene suspensions of two different particle diameters (23 and 530 nm) are first compared to the predictions of a classical or standard model (E. H. B. DeLacey and L. R. White, J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. 2 77, 2007 (1983)), and it is found that, while the latter explains reasonably the dielectric behavior of the smallest particles, it considerably underestimates the phenomenon in the case of large particles. To explain these results in terms of contributions of ion motions in the inner region of the double layer of the particles, the approach followed by C. S. Mangelsdorf and L. R. White (J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. 86, 2859 (1990)) is used to incorporate surface conductance in the theory of dielectric response of suspensions. In ac fields it is found that the model considerably improves the comparison between theory and experiment, whereas its use seems unnecessary for the smallest particles, where, whatever the combination used for the parameters of the theory, its predictions do not differ from the standard theory. Only in the case of the larger particles studied does the introduction of surface conductance play any role. A comparison between both types of theoretical results in a wide range of particle sizes demonstrates that Stern layer conductance always increases the magnitude of the low-frequency dielectric constant of suspensions, but its effect is less important the smaller the particle size and the larger the zeta potential for fixed ionic conditions in the dispersion medium. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1998

Mild proteolysis induces a ready-to-fuse state on Sendai virus envelope.

The Sendai virus fuses with host cell membranes in a pH-independent manner through an unknown mechanism. Here we report that mild trypsin pre-treatments of Sendai virions, for example 15 min at 4 degrees C, give Sendai virions the ability to fuse at a rate up to 10-fold higher than control. By using human erythrocytes as host cell membranes, viral fusion was assessed by hemolysis as well as fluorescence dequenching of octadecyl rhodamine B chloride. The mild protease treatment strikingly shortens the lag time taken by the virus to start the fusion process. Similar data were obtained on reconstituted Sendai virus envelope. Among proteases, tested as fusion enhancer, trypsin is more effective than either endoproteinase Lys-C, chymotrypsin, or endoproteinase Arg-C. After removal of trypsin from treated virions the fusion rate enhancement remains for hours at room temperature. The lack of protease specificity, together with the impossibility to detect any new N-terminal products, suggests that only a small percentage of viral envelope components are cleaved, still a large enough number to set the envelope in a ready-to-fuse state.

Chymotrypsin↗