Martina Meola is already considered a phenomenon in more than one European country she started her piano studies in the capital at the age of 6 and has since then collected quite an impressive number of first prizes in international competitions Martina now studies at the Milan Conservatory while pursuing a packed schedule of recitals and concerts with orchestra She selected an appealing recital program based on Chopin and Beethoven with a small but significant excursion into the 20th century with the Sonatine of Maurice Ravel she reveals a remarkable personality that seems to be born to stay on stage She visibly enjoys the contact with the public and as she told me in a short interview I was able to have with her this contact charges her with energy and willingness to play The recital started with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No one of his most dramatic and emotionally charged works Composed in 1801-1802 during Beethoven’s middle period it reflects his growing maturity and experimentation with form The “Tempest” Sonata is marked by its dramatic contrasts from stormy intensity to lyrical introspection While this latter went perfectly well under Martina Meola’s hands the dramatic element was somehow limited by the less-than-perfect Fazioli piano which allowed only a small range of expressive possibilities she shaded her dynamic nuances with great care and did her best to obtain at least some degree of singing tone the sonata was perhaps the less fortunate part of the whole recital and playing with the tiniest details is clearly her strong point Maurice Ravel’s Sonatine followed — a three-movement work composed between 1903 and 1905 making it challenging for pianists to execute with finesse It has three movements: “Modéré,” “Mouvement de menuet” and “Animé.” Meola’s transparent textures and delicate use of pedal As one of the organizers underlined at the concert’s end she seems to connect with the composer to the point of seemingly dialoguing with him which must be carefully balanced to obtain a silk and rhythmic subtlety with irregular phrasing with a restrained elegance characteristic of 18th-century dance forms but infused with Ravel’s harmonic language Some more Chopin followed: two Mazurkas from Op Martina Meola tackled this difficult score with energy and an astonishing command of virtuosity played with no intermission and no real moments to get at least some rest was a lesser-known Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt Meola was astonishing with her flawless technique and bravura Two encores followed: a short Sonata of Scarlatti and a brief arrangement of some Puccini seemingly fresh and without visible signs of fatigue I had the occasion to pose her a few questions right after the concert where she described to me her personal perception of the public which she sees as an essential part of a recital giving her energy to the point that she would be ready to start the concert once again She also expressed her intention to add some more composers to her repertoire this talent should remain well followed in the future in order to see her growth and development   Giorgio Koukl is a Czech-born pianist/harpsichordist and composer who resides in Lugano Among his many recordings are the complete solo piano works and complete piano concertos of Bohuslav Martinů on the Naxos label He has also recorded the piano music of Tansman Welcome to packagingeurope.com. 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Read our policy IMA has announced its acquisition of OMAS Tecnosistemi a supplier of high-tech customized solutions in the cosmetics The agreement provides for the purchase of a majority of OMAS’s shares a mechanical workshop specializing in the production of contract dosing systems for installation on automatic filling machines in 1973. Savino Giudici then founded OMAS Tecnosistemi in 1987 which was transformed into a supplier of high-tech customized solutions.  specializes in solutions for fully automatic filling and capping lines for the cosmetics personal care and pharmaceutical industries Its range of machines was already included product preparation but the secondary packaging part of a complete line down to the pallet was missing.  IMA says this was where the two companies combined to become the “one-stop partner” in the cosmetics for filling and packaging lines of all kinds.  In 2023, Wild and Morrama packaged liquid cosmetics in aluminum casing and bamboo-based refills Morrama developed a new refillable bottle – and refills claimed to be 100% plastic-free and compostable – for Wild’s liquid cosmetics in a bid to drive down single-use plastic waste.  Report: The ultimate guide to global plastic sustainability regulation  The Brief: Oxo-(bio)degradables: the who, what, and why of breaking down fossil-based plastics  Sustainable Packaging Summit: How Kraft-Heinz uses collaboration to drive innovation  The Brief: Using ocean-bound plastic in packaging – how, why and should we? Site powered by Webvision Cloud HILLSDALE—Villa Gianazza was a countryside restaurant with attached boarding rooms at Clinton Avenue and Evergreen Street in Hillsdale the establishment was owned by Italian immigrants Frank and Argentina Gianazza and was run by the couple and other family members the Pascack Historical Society received an email from the Gianazzas’ great-grandson Mr Villa Gianazza has been saddled as a ‘bordello’ with the expected residential ‘madame,’” Roell said “It was a countryside restaurant with boarding rooms when the weather permitted the boarding rooms were closed and the second floor became the indoor restaurant,” explains Roell “I’d like to set the record straight about what I consider a rather disingenuous portrayal of my late relatives and their enterprise.” The Pascack Historical Society was happy to oblige and information passed down in Roell’s family Situated in the Manor section of Hillsdale was well located to receive summer vacationers It might be difficult to envision from a 21st-century perspective was a resort destination for those seeking to escape the stifling heat of larger cities like New York was a popular summer retreat for the city’s wealthy Isolated from greater Hillsdale by untouched forest Hillsdale Manor had its own distinct personality—a town within a town The Manor encompassed lands in northeastern Hillsdale Knickerbocker and Piermont avenues to the south this is the neighborhood behind ShopRite on Broadway The fieldstone construction once prevalent in the Manor can still be found on some buildings in the area Census records tell us that Frank and Argentina Gianazza came to America from Northern Italy Frank was in his mid-30s and Argentina in her mid-20s A land division map from 1923 shows that their large property was equivalent to 22 building lots The 1915 New Jersey State Census records Frank and Argentina with a full house Then there were 11-year-old Ernesta (Ernestine) and 18-year-old Louis Frank and Josephine’s half-siblings from their father’s third marriage Being 30 years older than Louis and 37 years older than Ernesta Frank and Argentina had raised Ernesta since infancy Everyone under the roof at 179 Evergreen had varying degrees of English fluency depending on the age at which they came to America of which about 80 percent were American-born The vast majority of immigrants to the U.S Records indicate that the Gianazza family originated in Cerro Maggiore While Italian-American influence is ubiquitous in today’s Pascack Valley it was a far different scene in the early 20th century the region’s population had historically been Dutch with an assortment of other northern and central European ethnicities An influx of Catholic Italians at the beginning of the 1900s was met with disdain construction of the Woodcliff Reservoir had brought in a workforce of Italians News reports from the time reflected the cultural friction One Bergen Record article from April 1904 reported that as the water company’s 400 Italian laborers roamed about the village of Hillsdale when not at work the Township Council appointed constables to keep an eye on them Reports chastised the workers for being too loud contaminating the water supply as they washed their clothes “Hillsdale’s Constable Rawson saw a Dago with a dead rabbit last Sunday but the fellow dodged into his bungaloo in which were about 40 of the same tribe of foreigners another report stated: “The residents of the fashionable section of Hillsdale are breathing easy now Their fears that an Italian colony was to be established near them by the Italians employed on the road improvement in the vicinity have been quieted for the large barn-like dwelling has been removed It is understood that a financial consideration caused the padrone to agree to the removal.” Such was the climate in Hillsdale Manor when the Gianazzas moved there but it would get worse before it got better the Ku Klux Klan had an active presence in town counting many white Protestant community members among its ranks The Klan’s hooded members intimidated Jewish holding cross burnings at several sites across Hillsdale What is now a cul-de-sac at the end of Parkview Drive near Church Road and the Woodcliff Reservoir it was a wooded clearing where the Klan held meetings and kept horses they rode around town in full hood and robe regalia a sand and gravel pit at Piermont Avenue and Kinderkamack Road provided a hilltop that was a preferred site for cross burnings The sight of the fiery cross atop the hill created a frightening and unforgettable vision for Hillsdale’s Jewish and Catholic residents—just three blocks Villa Gianazza was a combination of a boarding house and hotel Business was especially busy in the summertime when the area was frequented by vacationers but there were also long-term renters—sometimes for years The Gianazza family members worked together to run the place handling tasks that ranged from the pleasant (checking in guests and serving meals) to the mundane (cleaning rooms and commodes) On the first floor was a kitchen with a dumbwaiter for lifting dishes up to the second-floor restaurant and the fourth floor contained a private apartment Boarding rooms were built as an extension to the second floor of the main house The restaurant also had a bar where beer and liquor were served dining was al fresco under the boarding rooms shaded by thick grapevines that provided relief from the sun living in the Gianazza family home in 1915 were Joseph Gianazza and his wife The couple had been married about five years when Joseph fathered a child was kept in the family but not raised by Joseph and Theresa she grew up in the household of Josephine and her common-law husband The child was raised as their own; she never knew she was adopted until adulthood when she applied for a marriage certificate Frank Gianazza died in August 1921 at just 53 years old we see widowed Argentina living alone at Villa Gianazza A search of the Hillsdale Herald newspaper from that era shows her name in the classified advertisements in 1930 and 1931 offering the rental of a five-room house at $35 per month Argentina Gianazza had the boarding rooms knocked down The last time he was in the house was on his 14th birthday in 1967 The year of Argentina Gianazza’s death and the place of her burial remain a mystery She appears to have died in the late 1930s Argentina Gianazza owed her husband’s sister money and either sold or gave 179 Evergreen to her as repayment Giuseppina and Corrado were living there with their 19-year-old daughter Argentina Assunta (Sue) and a boarder Giuseppina sold the old Villa Gianazza in 1943 she bought a house at 198 Broadway in Hillsdale for $4,000 Argentina Assunta grew up to marry Wilbert R They raised a family in Hillsdale that included four children: Michael She was a Gold Star Mother of PFC Michael C one mystery that might never be solved is the burial place of his great-grandmother While it is believed she died in the 1930s records of her death and burial have proven elusive “but the whereabouts of Argentina Gianazza remains a mystery there is an unidentified casket atop her son’s casket with no identification on the gravestone.” On the backside of Frank Gianazza’s pedestal is engraved the death of his son While the boarding rooms were demolished in the 1930s the Gianazza family home at 179 Evergreen St Editor’s note: Read the story on PDF This feature appeared in the July 2024 edition of the Pascack Historical Society’s quarterly newsletter If you enjoy your weekly local history feature in Pascack Press consider becoming a PHS member so you can receive Relics—Kristin Beuscher writes both Delay request in borough’s ‘Block 419’ trial All content on this website is the property of The Press Group and is protected by copyright. Reproduction, distribution, or use of any material without prior written permission is strictly prohibited, unless otherwise stated. To report any misuse, please contact us at PascackPress@ThePressGroup.net Metrics details To effectively translate bioactive scaffolds into a preclinical setting proper sterilization techniques and storage conditions need to be carefully considered as the chosen sterilization technique and storage condition might affect the structural and mechanical properties of the scaffolds as well as the bioactivity and release kinetics of the incorporated biomolecules we show here in a proof-of-concept study how these parameters are affected by UV sterilization and one week storage at different temperatures using bioactive electrospun DegraPol scaffolds that were specifically designed for application in the field of tendon rupture repair Even though UV sterilization and the different storage conditions did not impact the morphology or the physicochemical properties of the bioactive scaffolds UV sterilization caused significant attenuation of the growth factor release kinetics here platelet derived growth factor (PDGF-BB) release (by approx 85%) and slight decrease in ascorbic acid release (by approx 4 °C and −20 °C storage did not have a major effect on the release kinetics of PDGF-BB while storage at room temperature caused increase in PDGF-BB released All storage conditions had little effect on ascorbic acid release neither UV sterilization nor storage affected the bioactivity of the released PDGF-BB suggesting stability of the bioactive scaffolds for at least one week and showing potential for bioactive DegraPol scaffolds to be translated into an off-the-shelf available product These parameters are expected to be scaffold and protein-dependent it is essential to develop standard protocols to quantify how sterilization and storage conditions affect the scaffold properties as well as the bioactivity and the release kinetics of incorporated biomolecules not only the material properties should be taken into account but also the stability of the incorporated biomolecule and potential changes in its release profile when choosing the sterilization technique as well as the duration and temperature of storage To further develop this or other bioactive scaffolds to be used in preclinical in vivo studies sterilization and storage of the bioactive scaffolds would be crucial factors to be examined we explored the effects of UV sterilization and storage at different temperatures of the bioactive scaffolds with incorporated platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) or ascorbic acid (as a further model biomolecule) and produced by emulsion electrospinning Morphology and physicochemical properties of UV treated scaffolds or stored scaffolds at room temperature 4 °C or −20 °C were compared to non-treated scaffolds the release kinetics of PDGF-BB and ascorbic acid and later the bioactivity of the released PDGF-BB from the sterilized and stored scaffolds were studied These results would give an initial idea of how the release profile or bioactivity of molecules incorporated in electrospun scaffolds might be affected by different storage conditions and would aid in future design and development of other bioactive scaffolds FTIR and DSC characterization of differently stored and UV sterilized bioactive DP scaffolds (A) FTIR absorbance spectra for bioactive DP scaffolds incorporating PDGF-BB or ascorbic acid (B,C) DSC thermograms (not to absolute scale) of first heating for non-stored stored and UV sterilized bioactive DP scaffolds with PDGF-BB or ascorbic acid compared to pure DP scaffolds and bioactive scaffolds before release study the data shows that within the 30 days release period the differently stored DP scaffolds did not undergo a major degradation process which could have affected the thermal properties of the scaffolds Scaffold morphology of non-stored and stored bioactive DP scaffolds (A) SEM micrographs of non stored DP scaffolds with incorporated ascorbic acid before or after 30 days in vitro release in water or 1xPBS (B) SEM micrographs of non-stored and differently stored DP scaffolds with incorporated ascorbic acid Scale bars: 40 μm (lower magnification) and 4 μm (higher magnification) PDGF-BB and ascorbic acid release from differently stored and UV sterilized bioactive DP scaffolds (A,B) In vitro cumulative release of ascorbic acid and PDGF-BB from differently stored (not stored room temperature/+4 °C/−20 °C stored) emulsion electrospun DP scaffolds (C,D) In vitro cumulative release of ascorbic acid and PDGF-BB from non-sterilized or UV sterilized emulsion electrospun DP scaffolds These results show different trends for the effect of storage on the release of PDGF-BB or ascorbic acid DP scaffolds might undergo small changes in the scaffolds structure (initial minimal degradation which might be happening faster under room temperature conditions when compared to 4 °C or −20 °C conditions Due to these initial changes (not observed in the scaffold morphology) the release profile of molecules incorporated within the fibers might change since the release is diffusion based and depended on how closely the molecules are to the fiber surface not only the stability and changes in DP scaffolds might affect the release profile measured but also the stability of the incorporated molecule Depending on how stable the incorporated molecule is overtime the measured quantities of the same might change the different trend of ascorbic acid release from stored scaffolds might be due to a decreased stability of incorporated ascorbic acid which has degraded overtime and was not quantified during the measurement the stability of PDGF-BB does not seem to be affected due to different storage conditions which could have affected the PDGF-BB release post UV treatment suggest that optimal treatment conditions may vary for different materials and should be explored and optimized for different delivery systems since UV sterilization is routinely used for in vitro experiments involving bioactive scaffolds results point to the fact that care needs to be taken when UV sterilization is performed on scaffolds later used for cell seeding proliferation and other types of in vitro assays since the release or bioactivity of biomolecules might differ from the ones observed from non-sterilized scaffolds The same is true for UV sterilized scaffolds intended to be applied in preclinical animal models Our data suggests decrease in release kinetics upon UV treatment of bioactive scaffolds but it has to be emphasized that the release behavior of any other biomolecule upon UV sterilization may differ from the one observed for this specific pair of scaffold/biomolecule Depending on the interaction between the two components and on their individual constitution release kinetics and UV impact on release kinetics might differ from our model system here While UV sterilization (30 min) had no impact on the physicochemical characteristics or morphology of the bioactive electrospun DP scaffolds it impacted the release of PDGF-BB by significantly decreasing the cumulative PDGF-BB amount released over a period of 30 days Also the storage temperature (room temperature 4 °C or −20 °C) affected the biomolecule release with the effect much more pronounced for the growth factor PDGF-BB than for ascorbic acid both sterilization and the 1-week storage did not impact the bioactivity of the incorporated and released PDGF-BB which was tested by its ability to activate the PDGFR/PI3K/Akt pathway and was shown to be bioactive upon release these data are promising as they show the potential for bioactive DegraPol scaffolds to be translated into an off-the-shelf available product It is expected though that each of the parameters tested here depends on the material properties how it is processed into a scaffold and on the biochemical and biophysical properties of the drug that is released Not only is the chemical composition of the molecules a crucial factor to be considered with respect to hydrolysis or other degradation processes but also the interaction between the (polymer) scaffold and the biomolecule in terms of Van der Waals forces Quantifying how UV sterilization and storage affects bioactive scaffolds is crucial prior to designing preclinical studies with bioactive scaffolds for diverse tissue engineering applications It should be pointed out that the sterilization and storage of another scaffold/biomolecule combination might be more significantly affected than what is observed here for bioactive DP scaffolds the effect of combination of storage and sterilization subsequently might not be additive Our objective here is to show the importance of evaluating these important factors during fabrication and pre-clinical applications of any bioactive scaffold 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFP) and L-ascorbic acid 2-phosphate sesquimagnesium salt hydrate phosphatase inhibitors and 0.5 M EDTA solution were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Recombinant human PDGF-BB and PDGF-BB ELISA kit were purchased from PeproTech amphotericin B and Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) were bought from Biowest Pierce micro BCA protein assay and Pierce ECL Western Blotting Substrate were purchased from Thermo Scientific PrimariaTM tissue culture plates were purchased from Corning Primary antibodies used for western blot included rabbit anti Akt (9272 S Cell Signaling Technology) and rabbit anti GAPDH (G9545 Donkey anti rabbit antibody conjugated with HRP (Jackson) was used as secondary antibody for western blot 4–20% gradient polyacrylamide gels were purchased from Bio-Rad DegraPol polymer solutions of 12 wt% were prepared by dissolving the polymer overnight at room temperature in a mixture of chloroform/HFP (80:20 wt/wt) For emulsion preparation before electrospinning PDGF-BB was diluted into 0.1% bovine serum albumin (BSA) in MilliQ water at a concentration of 40 μg/mL while ascorbic acid was dissolved in MilliQ water at a concentration of 50 mg/mL 200 μL of PDGF-BB or AA stock solution were added drop-wise to 5 g of 12 wt% DP polymer solution while stirring at 500 rpm for 2 min the emulsions were sonicated with a probe ultrasonicator (Sonoplus HD 2070 in-house assembled electrospinning device was used consisting of a spinning head with a blunt end made of stainless steel tube (1 mm inner diameter and 0.3 mm wall thickness a DC high voltage supply (Glassman High Voltage Inc. hollow cylindrical rotating aluminum mandrel as a collector and a syringe pump (SP210cZ The prepared DP polymer emulsion was loaded into 2 mL syringe (B Germany) and pumped into the spinning head 12.5 kV applied voltage and 15 cm working distance were used Electrospinning was performed at room temperature (22–24 °C) and less than 35% humidity Bioactive emulsion electrospun scaffolds with incorporated PDGF-BB or ascorbic acid were produced with emulsion electrospinning and were dried overnight under vacuum scaffolds were either stored under different conditions or directly used for subsequent experiments scaffolds were enclosed in plastic dishes and stored for a period of 1 week at room temperature UV sterilization of 30 min was performed to dry non-stored scaffolds and the sterilized scaffolds were used directly for further experiments small pieces of the scaffolds were mounted on metal stubs with conductive double-sided tape Bal-tec) with 10 nm platinum coating and then examined by SEM (Zeiss SUPRA 50 VP Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was carried out on a Cary 670 Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer (Agilent Technologies) equipped with a SPECAC attenuated total reflection (ATR) diamond accessory emulsion electrospun DP scaffolds not sterilized or UV sterilized without and with incorporated PDGF-BB or ascorbic acid were characterized with FTIR Spectra were collected within the wavenumber range of 500–4000 cm−1 and the interferometer was scanned with an acquisition rate of 37.5 kHz at 2 cm−1 resolution A total of 64 scans were averaged to obtain one spectrum whereas three regions of the scaffold per condition were scanned The spectral data was pre-processed by applying rubber band baseline correction in Python normalization was performed to the C=O peak at 1720 cm−1 Thermal analysis was performed using a differential scanning calorimeter Emulsion electrospun DP scaffolds loaded with PDGF-BB or ascorbic acid UV sterilized or not sterilized were analyzed Scaffolds which were stored under the various conditions and which have undergone an in vitro release experiment for 30 days DSC thermograms were recorded under a nitrogen flow by heating the samples from −10 °C to 150 °C with heating and cooling rate of 10 °C/min Two heating cycles were performed with an intermittent cooling cycle To determine the properties of the actual scaffolds used throughout the study only the first heating cycle was taken into consideration The glass transition temperature of DegraPol was determined as the midpoint temperature of the glass transition event Emulsion electrospun DP scaffolds loaded with PDGF-BB were cut in small pieces (10–30 mg) shortly wetted in 50% ethanol and rinsed in MilliQ water as well as stored scaffolds (n = 9) were placed in low protein binding microtubes and 500 μL of 0.1% BSA in 1xPBS were added as release medium The samples were incubated at 37 °C and 5% CO2 under mild shaking samples were taken out and placed in new microtubes and 500 μL of fresh release medium were added The release samples collected were stored at −20 °C until further quantification Released PDGF-BB was quantified with PDGF-BB ELISA kit according to the manufacturer’s protocol The release of PDGF-BB is represented as cumulative release normalized to the weight of DP scaffolds as pg/mg of DP scaffold Results are shown as mean ± standard deviation Non stored UV sterilized scaffolds were compared with non-stored and non-sterilized scaffolds Stored scaffolds were compared with non-stored scaffolds Emulsion electrospun DP scaffolds loaded with ascorbic acid were cut in small pieces (10–30 mg) as well as stored scaffolds (n = 6) were placed in low protein binding microtubes and 500 μL of MilliQ water were added as release medium samples were taken out and placed in new microtubes and 500 μL of fresh MilliQ water were added while the concentration of ascorbic acid was determined spectrophotometrically at 260 nm (Infinite200 The release of ascorbic acid is represented as cumulative release normalized to the weight of DP scaffolds as μg/mg of DP scaffold To test whether the released PDGF-BB from the non-stored stored and UV sterilized bioactive DP scaffolds is still bioactive its ability to promote phosphorylation of Ser473 in the serine/threonine kinase Akt was tested In order to test the bioactivity of released PDGF rabbit tenocytes from Achilles tendons of New Zealand White rabbits were used as an in vitro model Cells were isolated from the tendons using the migration method tendons were extracted and washed with Hank’s Balanced Salt Solution (1x HBSS with Ca2+ and Mg2+) with 200 μg/mL gentamicin and 2.5 μg/mL amphotericin B The tendons were cleaned from the surrounding tissue the central part of the tendons was cut into very small pieces (<2 mm) and they were washed three times in the 1x HBSS buffer Multiple tissue pieces were placed into each tissue culture plate (PrimariaTM) and a small amount of cell culture medium (Ham’s F12 200 µg/mL gentamicin and 2.5 µg/mL amphotericin B) was added onto each tissue piece Tissues were allowed to attach onto the cell culture plates for 2 hours at 37 °C and 5% CO2 before adding 10 mL of cell culture media in each plate The plates with the tissues were not moved for the first 5 days to decrease tissue detachment upon plate movement and to allow cells to start migrating out from the tissues and subsequently culture medium was changed every third day tissue pieces were removed from the plates and cells were allowed to proliferate for 1 week more before cryopreservation Cryopreserved rabbit tenocytes were thawed resuspended in culture medium (Ham’s F12 with 10% FBS and 50 µg/mL gentamicin) and cultured at 37 °C and 5% CO2 with media being changed every second day Tenocytes at passage 3 were used for the experiments All experiments were carried out in accordance with relevant Swiss regulations and guidelines the University Hospital Zurich approved all experimental protocols In order to determine whether the released PDGF-BB from stored non-stored or UV sterilized scaffolds is still bioactive its ability to promote phosphorylation of the serine/threonine kinase Akt was tested Scaffolds were stored or UV sterilized and put for release in serum-free medium (Ham’s F12 Release samples (1.5 mL total volume) were taken at respective time points over a period of 3 days (Day 1 2 and 3) and stored at −20 °C until further use Rabbit tenocytes cultured in complete medium (Ham’s F12 with 10% FBS and 50 μg/mL gentamicin) were seeded into 6-well plates (TPP the culture medium was exchanged for a serum-free medium (Ham’s F12 1xRPMI vitamins solution and 50 μg/mL gentamicin) and cells were starved overnight the serum-free medium was replaced with the respective release samples collected earlier and cells were incubated for 30 minutes before cell lysis was performed A fresh PDGF-BB with known concentrations (0.1 10 and 50 ng/mL in serum free medium) were used as positive controls while serum-free medium without any supplements served as a negative control whole cell lysate extracts were collected by scraping the cells on ice using 100 μL of RIPA buffer combined with protease and phosphatase inhibitors and 5 mM EDTA Collected lysates were incubated on an end-over-end shaker for 20 minutes at 4 °C and then centrifuged at 12,000 x g for 15 min to remove cell debris The total protein content of the samples was measured by the Pierce micro BCA protein assay equal amounts of protein per sample (10 μg) were incubated with loading buffer (5x protein loading buffer with 100 mM dithithreitol) at 95 °C for 10 min before loading them onto the gel Protein samples were run on 4–20% gradient polyacrylamide gels The data were analyzed with Origin (OriginLab Values are expressed as means ± standard deviations One-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) was performed to test the differences between groups in all the experiments using comparison post hoc test (Bonferroni) for significance p values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant and are indicated with an asterisk within graphs (*p < 0.05 Delivery of growth factors for tissue regeneration and wound healing Advanced Growth Factor Delivery Systems in Wound Management and Skin Regeneration Bone tissue engineering via growth factor delivery: from scaffolds to complex matrices The influence of storage and heat treatment on a magnesium-based implant material: an in vitro and in vivo study Effects of sterilization and storage on the properties of ALP-grafted biomaterials for prosthetic and bone tissue engineering applications An Epigenetic Bioactive Composite Scaffold with Well-aligned Nanofibers for Functional Tendon Tissue Engineering Aligned core-shell nanofibers delivering bioactive proteins Bioactive electrospun scaffolds delivering growth factors and genes for tissue engineering applications Blended electrospinning with human liver extracellular matrix for engineering new hepatic microenvironments Morphology and Properties of Electrospun PCL and Its Composites for Medical Applications: A Mini Review Recent advances in electrospun polycaprolactone based scaffolds for wound healing and skin bioengineering applications Electrospun Nanofibers for Tissue Engineering with Drug Loading and Release Conducting Polymers for Tissue Engineering Impact of sterilization methods on electrospun scaffolds for tissue engineering Effects of sterilisation method on surface topography and in-vitro cell behaviour of electrostatically spun scaffolds The effect of sterilization methods on electronspun poly(lactide-co-glycolide) and subsequent adhesion efficiency of mesenchymal stem cells Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials 102 Comparative study of different techniques for the sterilization of poly-L-lactide electrospun microfibers: effectiveness vs The International journal of artificial organs 33 Sterilisation and Storage of Biodegradable Electrospun PLGA Membranes for Delivery of Limbal Stem Cells to the Cornea Radiation sterilization of enzyme hybrids with biodegradable polymers Electrospun nanofibrous polymeric scaffold with targeted drug release profiles for potential application as wound dressing International journal of pharmaceutics 364 Cellular response of healing tissue to DegraPol tube implantation in rabbit Achilles tendon rupture repair: an in vivo histomorphometric study Journal of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine 7 characterization and histomorphometric analysis of cellular response to a new elastic DegraPol® polymer for rabbit Achilles tendon rupture repair Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine 9 Prevention of peritendinous adhesions using an electrospun DegraPol polymer tube: a histological and Biodegradable Emulsion Electrospun DegraPol Tube Delivering PDGF-BB for Tendon Rupture Repair Manufacturing of biodegradable polyurethane scaffolds based on polycaprolactone using a phase separation method: physical properties and in vitro assay Chitosan-modified PLGA nanoparticles with versatile surface for improved drug delivery Effect of Sterilization Methods on Electrospun Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) Fiber Alignment for Biomedical Applications Evaluation of Sterilisation Techniques for Regenerative Medicine Scaffolds Fabricated with Polyurethane Nonbiodegradable and Bioabsorbable Nanocomposite Hybrid Randomly Electrospun Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid):Poly(ethylene oxide) (PLGA:PEO) Fibrous Scaffolds Enhancing Myoblast Differentiation and Alignment Tissue-compatible multiblock copolymers for medical applications controllable in degradation rate and mechanical properties Electrospun micro- and nanofibers for sustained delivery of paclitaxel to treat C6 glioma in vitro Effects of humidity and solution viscosity on electrospun fiber morphology Sacrificial nanofibrous composites provide instruction without impediment and enable functional tissue formation Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109 Sustained viral gene delivery through core-shell fibers Journal of controlled release: official journal of the Controlled Release Society 139 A Method to Protect Sensitive Molecules from a Light‐Induced Polymerizing Environment Sustained release of TGFbeta3 from PLGA microspheres and its effect on early osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells Degradation of electrospun nanofiber scaffold by short wave length ultraviolet radiation treatment and its potential applications in tissue engineering Chondrogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cell aggregates via controlled release of TGF-beta1 from incorporated polymer microspheres Does UV irradiation affect polymer properties relevant to tissue engineering Effects of common sterilization methods on the structure and properties of poly(D,L lactic-co-glycolic acid) scaffolds Mechanism of Action and In Vivo Role of Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Role of platelet-derived growth factors in physiology and medicine characterization and histomorphometric analysis of cellular response to a new elastic DegraPol(R) polymer for rabbit Achilles tendon rupture repair Journal of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (2012) Download references We are thankful for the financial support from the Hartmann-Müller foundation the Wolfermann-Nägeli foundation and the Fonds für Medizinische Forschung der Universität Zürich for providing DegraPol and for financial support of O.E Division of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery designed and performed experiments for FTIR/DSC characterization in vitro release of PDGF-BB and ascorbic acid and performed Western blot experiments ascorbic acid release experiments and performed SEM imaging All authors approved the final version of the manuscript The authors declare no competing interests Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51513-1 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology Infineon and Marelli enter new era of automotive cockpit design with MEMS laser beam scanning at 2025 Auto Shanghai Trump’s Trade Bombshell: Tariffs on China Hit 245% India Aims to Capture 10% of Global Chip Demand by 2030 Cost of Semiconductor Chips per 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STMicroelectronics is Leading by Design Rewiring the Future of India’s Power Grid with Wirepas Pushing the Boundaries of Miniaturization with Texas Instruments’ New MCU Delta Electronics Fuels India’s Digital Ambitions with Scalable, Sustainable ICT Solutions How to engage young learners and introduce them to coding ST volunteers have developed a “Storyteller Robot” project and brought it to schools in the suburbs of Milan this project helps young students in kindergartens and primary schools understand what coding means is to promote knowledge of STEM subjects and careers in the scientific and technological fields These skills are increasingly in demand in the job market this type of activity helps develop soft skills such as communication and teamwork from an early age The project Narrativa digitale (“Digital storytelling”) was born in 2023 thanks to the idea of some ST employees (Achille Colombo with the support of the colleagues Luisa Fracassini Its main objective is the reduction of the digital divide – a goal to which ST has always been committed through various types of knowledge dissemination and training activities: Through these activities ST employees make their skills and time available excited by the idea of ​​transmitting their technical and cultural background built up during the years of work in the company Some of the volunteers of Narrativa Digitale have twenty years of experience in volunteering for ST Foundation and this helped them to design the “Storyteller Robot”  project for schools this activity aims to introduce coding to primary schools as part of the broader objective to expand the reach and audience of our events and instilling a love for technology and STEM subjects even in preschool age The idea of ​​creating a training opportunity in primary schools was sparked thanks to a fortuitous conversation that one of our volunteers had with a teacher from an elementary school in Milan. The goal was to inaugurate the project in 2024 and then expand it. The Storyteller Robot has not only been used for activities in schools but also during an ST event held in Monza in October 2024 which was mainly aimed at primary and secondary school students The trainers who took part in the project Narrativa Digitale are ST employees (Ramona Scaramuzzino, Luca Proverbio, Lavinia Fabrello, Achille Colombo and Bruno Zappia, Domenico Genova, Laura Bonini) and have several years of experience in school activities. They also followed specific training (dedicated to a previous project – Coding and Learning) which was the result of a collaboration between ST Foundation the project was submitted for approval to the teaching staff of the beneficiary schools At each meeting there were two trainers and the class teaching staff and gave useful advice on how to involve the children in the various activities the participants have been 8–9-year-old students from elementary schools (two classes from Cornaredo and one from Cerro Maggiore) and 5–6-year-old children from the last year of kindergarten (a class in Cerro Maggiore and one in San Vittore Olona) thus involving more than one hundred children Extending the audience so much was a first for ST which before this occasion had never addressed kindergarten children A fundamental requirement of the organized activities is the small size of the groups involved which could not work properly if there is no effective communication between participants The small number of groups formed favored the collaboration and proactive participation of each student The Storyteller Robot is a little robot mouse with a button panel on its back and is programmed by children to move in space and tell a story This mouse is 10 cm long and can memorize 40 commands with the aim of proceeding from point A to point B while avoiding obstacles The “problem solving” work is done at the desk in a group on sheets of paper while the verification part is done on the carpet where the children take turns to impersonate the robot programming sections and subsequent verification of the code are carried out: all the children can try to insert the commands after having defined them on paper with their classmates Each meeting is characterized by a theoretical introduction given by our volunteers the activities are generally structured in four lessons: the goal is to introduce children to the concept of coding without the use of digital devices Children learn to write code on paper that will allow them to perform a mission and move in space Then a child impersonates the robot and moves on a modular foam mat: the moves are based on the instructions given by the classmates who read the code previously written together The “Robot Minstrel” device appears for the first time The children receive recipes for which ingredients are needed These ingredients are represented in a paper grid on which the mouse will then have to move In this case the children write the code together on paper and then validate it via the mouse who will have to move and collect all the ingredients for the recipe and it is the class teacher who leads the activity The goal is to stimulate creativity and group work through a real story The teacher tells a story and the children must produce drawings representing a part of the story for a total of 12 drawings to then apply on the paper grid that corresponds to 12 stages of the story ST volunteers return to integrate the coding with the story of the previous lesson write the code for the two stages of the story assigned to them (which correspond to the two drawings they created) Each group writes the code for their part of the story and checks it with the mouse on the grid After this planning and verification phase everyone reads the story together and moves the mouse joining the various parts of the code written by the different groups the movements of the mouse starting from the point where it had stopped in the previous stage collaboration and problem-solving are essential in case it is necessary to adjust the code along the way The results of the activities are multiple and touch different spheres of both learning and communication The children’s feedback was more than positive and 98% of them appreciated the proposed activities All the children were able to collaborate fruitfully with their classmates to create a successful outcome They learned to divide a problem into several parts and then tackle it as a whole and they experienced that what is planned on paper does not always work during the testing part They also learned that a mistake is not a failure but that sometimes it can even be an opportunity to improve something that already exists or create something new The answers to the questionnaire also revealed a surprising aspect: regardless of the class and school interacting and working with their classmates was the greatest challenge This analysis may provide ideas for the teachers who participated who could develop similar activities to foster cohesion among students The volunteers also learned from the training experiences they understood how fundamental it is to be able to manage the “dead time” between one shift and another: currently each group must wait its turn to interact with the robot it is necessary to optimize this wait and make it more productive and fun introducing secondary activities for the groups that are waiting their turn What moved us the most was seeing how this collective activity could create inclusion among children and involve those with disabilities Classmates helped each other to complete the activity and achieve the goals The main goal of this activity was to spark interest in scientific subjects but teachers and parents were also enthusiastic With this project we demonstrated how a single methodology can be used in different ways: coding can be taken out of the usual computer science class and mixed with other subjects such as language learning ELE Times provides a comprehensive global coverage of Electronics In addition to providing in depth articles The Società Filarmonika Nazionale La Valette AD 1874 is holding a choral and orchestral concert on the occasion of its 150th anniversary at the St Paul Shipwreck collegiate church Uno Stradivari per la Filarmonica La Valette will star violinist Lorenzo Meraviglia on a historic 1730 Omofobo Stradivarius the Accademia Concertante d’Archi of Milan directed by Maria Grazia Laino and the Schola Cantorum ‘Ars Nova’ of Cerro Maggiore The progamme includes Bach’s Concert BMV 140 in a Moll for violin soloist and strings choir and string orchestra and Mozart’s Sancta Maria The concert is being held in collaboration with the collegiate church please register for free or log in to your account Inserisci localitàchiudi Gestisci il tuo profilo utentee iscriviti a nuove newsletter Registrati oppure effettua il log in Connetti il tuo profilo di Facebook con Corriere.it Scambio di accuse tra organizzatori dello show di Peter Gabriel e amministrazione comunale