Monica Marini

Accurate characterization of the elastic properties of soft cantilevers used in Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Lateral Force Microscopy (LFM) is essential for improving the reliability of force/displacement measurements and quantitative nanomechanical characterization. AFM and LFM are well-established techniques for nanoscale surface topography, morphology, and mechanical property evaluation. Soft cantilevers, widely employed in biomedical and low-force applications, are particularly sensitive to uncertainties arising from geometrical tolerances, material properties, and non-ideal boundary conditions, which may produce significant deviations between nominal and effective stiffness values.This work presents an integrated methodology for the characterization of soft AFM/LFM cantilevers combining experimental calibration, analytical modelling, and Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations. Experimental investigations are performed using micro-Laser Doppler Velocimetry (μ-LDV) to determine effective spring constants from the resonant behaviour of cantilevers under controlled operating conditions. Experimental results are compared with analytical predictions based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory for flexural behaviour and Saint-Venant theory for torsion, including numerical corrections accounting for relevant physical parameters. Three-dimensional FEM simulations are then employed to investigate the dynamic mechanical response, including modal frequencies, stress distribution, and sensitivity to dimensional variations. Agreement between experimental measurements, analytical models, and numerical simulations is evaluated considering the associated measurement uncertainties through rigorous uncertainty budget analysis. The proposed methodology provides a consistent metrological framework for improving the calibration reliability of soft cantilevers and supports the development of standardized calibration procedures for high-sensitivity quantitative AFM/LFM applications.

The proliferation of nanotechnology faces a critical bottleneck: the lack of comparable and reliable nanoscale dimensional measurements across diverse instruments and laboratories that undermines reproducibility and innovation in nanoscale materials, devices and systems. In this work, we show that the periodicity of nanostructures obtained through self-assembled block copolymer templating can be exploited as a universal traceable measurand for nanoscale metrology. Overcoming main challenges of nanoscale metrology - i.e., method-dependent dimensional definitions, probe-sample interaction effects, and technique-specific artifacts - we demonstrate through traceable measurements and a worldwide international comparison that the periodicity of these reference materials enables the establishment of a technique-agnostic reference value that can be used for instrument calibration and for the detection/correction of measurement artifacts. The reliability, stability and biocompatibility of these reference materials enable the realization of nanoscale rulers allowing the generation of traceable, machine learning-ready data as required for data-driven advancement of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

L'orticoltura può influire positivamente sul benessere delle persone anziane, contrastando il declino fisico e cognitivo e migliorando la qualità della vita. Le moderne tecnologie fornisco-no un valido supporto per incoraggiare lo svolgimento di tali attività e promuovere uno stile di vita attivo. Il presente studio esplorativo si propone di valutare gli effetti di attività di orticultura comunitaria supportate da una piattaforma digitale in un campione misto di partecipanti over 60 durante il periodo della pandemia da COVID-19. I partecipanti di età superiore ai sessanta anni hanno preso parte ad un percorso della durata di sei mesi, diviso in due periodi. Durante i primi tre mesi i partecipanti si sono limitati a rispondere ai test che indagavano le seguenti va-riabili psicologiche: autostima, solitudine, depressione, qualità della vita, affetti, supporto sociale e funzionamento cognitivo. Nei successivi tre mesi i partecipanti sono stati coinvolti in attività di orticoltura, supportate da applicazioni digitali accessibili tramite smartphone, cui ha fatto seguito la rilevazione delle stesse variabili psicologiche. Gli effetti dell'orticultura sono stati valutati confrontando le due serie di rilevazioni. I risultati mostrano un incremento della qualità della vita degli anziani, delle funzioni cognitive e, in misura minore, del benessere soggettivo. Gli anziani che risultano spo-sati o conviventi manifestano in genere una migliore qualità della vita e a seguito dell'intervento sono meno propensi ad esprimere stati affettivi negativi. Non sono stati evidenziati segni di depressione. L'orticultura assistita digitalmente può migliorare la qualità della vita degli anziani durante la pandemia da COVID-19.

The necessity to improve in vitro cell screening assays is becoming ever more important. Pharmaceutical companies, research laboratories and hospitals require technologies that help to speed up conventional screening and therapeutic procedures to produce more data in a short time in a realistic and reliable manner. The design of new solutions for test biomaterials and active molecules is one of the urgent problems of preclinical screening and the limited correlation between in vitro and in vivo data remains one of the major issues. The establishment of the most suitable in vitro model provides reduction in times, costs and, last but not least, in the number of animal experiments as recommended by the 3Rs (replace, reduce, refine) ethical guiding principles for testing involving animals. Although two-dimensional (2D) traditional cell screening assays are generally cheap and practical to manage, they have strong limitations, as cells, within the transition from the three-dimensional (3D) in vivo to the 2D in vitro growth conditions, do not properly mimic the real morphologies and physiology of their native tissues. In the study of human pathologies, especially, animal experiments provide data closer to what happens in the target organ or apparatus, but they imply slow and costly procedures and they generally do not fully accomplish the 3Rs recommendations, i.e., the amount of laboratory animals and the stress that they undergo must be minimized. Microfluidic devices seem to offer different advantages in relation to the mentioned issues. This review aims to describe the critical issues connected with the conventional cells culture and screening procedures, showing what happens in the in vivo physiological micro and nano environment also from a physical point of view. During the discussion, some microfluidic tools and their components are described to explain how these devices can circumvent the actual limitations described in the introduction.

In designing a new drug, considering the preferred route of administration, various requirements must be fulfilled. Active molecules pharmacokinetics should be reliable with a valuable drug profile as well as well-tolerated. Over the past 20 years, nanotechnologies have provided alternative and complementary solutions to those of an exclusively pharmaceutical chemical nature since scientists and clinicians invested in the optimization of materials and methods capable of regulating effective drug delivery at the nanometer scale. Among the many drug delivery carriers, lipid nano vesicular ones successfully support clinical candidates approaching such problems as insolubility, biodegradation, and difficulty in overcoming the skin and biological barriers such as the blood–brain one. In this review, the authors discussed the structure, the biochemical composition, and the drug delivery applications of lipid nanovesicular carriers, namely, niosomes, proniosomes, ethosomes, transferosomes, pharmacosomes, ufasomes, phytosomes, catanionic vesicles, and extracellular vesicles.

Superhydrophobic surfaces display an extraordinary repulsion to water and water-based solutions. This effect emerges from the interplay of intrinsic hydrophobicity of the surface and its morphology. These surfaces have been established for a long time and have been studied for decades. The increasing interest in recent years has been focused towards applications in many different fields and, in particular, biomedical applications. In this paper, we review the progress achieved in the last years in the fabrication of regularly patterned superhydrophobic surfaces in many different materials and their exploitation for the manipulation and characterization of biomaterial, with particular emphasis on the issues affecting the yields of the fabrication processes and the quality of the manufactured devices.