M. Gulino

Reactive oxygen species levels and DNA fragmentation on astrocytes in primary culture after acute exposure to low intensity microwave electromagnetic field

The exposure of primary rat neocortical astroglial cell cultures to acute electromagnetic fields (EMF) in the microwave range was studied. Differentiated astroglial cell cultures at 14 days in vitro were exposed for 5, 10, or 20min to either 900MHz continuous waves or 900MHz waves modulated in amplitude at 50Hz using a sinusoidal waveform and 100% modulation index. The strength of the electric field (rms value) at the sample position was 10V/m. No change in cellular viability evaluated by MTT test and lactate dehydrogenase release was observed. A significant increase in ROS levels and DNA fragmentation was found only after exposure of the astrocytes to modulated EMF for 20min. No evident effects were detected when shorter time intervals or continuous waves were used. The irradiation conditions allowed the exclusion of any possible thermal effect. Our data demonstrate, for the first time, that even acute exposure to low intensity EMF induces ROS production and DNA fragmentation in astrocytes in primary cultures, which also represent the principal target of modulated EMF. Our findings also suggest the hypothesis that the effects could be due to hyperstimulation of the glutamate receptors, which play a crucial role in acute and chronic brain damage. Furthermore, the results show the importance of the amplitude modulation in the interaction between EMF and neocortical astrocytes.

A Novel Approach to Measure the Cross Section of the 18O(p, α)15N Resonant Reaction in the 0-200 keV Energy Range

The 18O(p, ?)15N reaction is of primary importance to pin down the uncertainties, due to nuclear physics input, affecting present-day models of asymptotic giant branch stars. Its reaction rate can modify both fluorine nucleosynthesis inside such stars and oxygen and nitrogen isotopic ratios, which allow one to constrain the proposed astrophysical scenarios. Thus, an indirect measurement of the low-energy region of the 18O(p, ?)15N reaction has been performed to access, for the first time, the range of relevance for astrophysical application. In particular, a full, high-accuracy spectroscopic study of the 20 and 90 keV resonances has been performed and the strengths deduced to evaluate the reaction rate and the consequences for astrophysics.

First application of the Trojan horse method with a radioactive ion beam: Study of the 18 F(p,α)15 O reaction at astrophysical energies

Measurement of nuclear cross sections at astrophysical energies involving unstable species is one of the most challenging tasks in experimental nuclear physics. The use of indirect methods is often unavoidable in this scenario. In this paper the Trojan Horse Method is applied for the first time to a radioactive ion beam induced reaction studying the

New measurement of the 11B(p,α0)8Be bare-nucleus S(E) factor via the Trojan horse method

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Measurement of the 20 and 90 keV resonances in the 18O(p,alpha)15N reaction via the Trojan horse method.

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Role of water content in dielectric properties and delayed luminescence of bovine Achilles’ tendon

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Measurement of the 20 and 90 keV resonances in the

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{}^{18}{\rm O}(p,\alpha){}^{15}

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N reaction via THM

O process at low energies relevant to astrophysics via the three body reaction

Suppression of the centrifugal barrier effects in the off-energy-shell neutron + 17 O interaction

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