Over the last 50 years, the incidence of human thyroid cancer disease has seen a significative increment. This comes along with an even higher increment of surgery, since, according to the international guidelines, patients are sometimes addressed to surgery also when the fine needle aspiration gives undetermined cytological diagnosis. As a matter of fact, only 30% of the thyroid glands removed for diagnostic purpose have a post surgical histological report of malignancy: this implies that about 70% of the patients have suffered an unnecessary thyroid removal. Here we show that Raman spectroscopy investigation of thyroid tissues provides reliable cancer diagnosis. Healthy tissues are consistently distinguished from cancerous ones with an accuracy of $$\sim $$∼ 90%, and the three cancer typology with highest incidence are clearly identified. More importantly, Raman investigation has evidenced alterations suggesting an early stage of transition of adenoma tissues into cancerous ones. These results suggest that Raman spectroscopy may overcome the limits of current diagnostic tools.

Manganese oxides are important geomaterials, used in a large number of applications. For instance, as pigments in art works or in the treatment and removal of heavy metals from drinking water. Particularly, ramsdellite [Mn⁴⁺O₂] and groutellite [(Mn_0.5 ⁴⁺,Mn_0.5 ³⁺)O_1.5(OH)_0.5], because of their 2 × 1 frameworks that enable proton diffusion, are very important cathode materials. Manganese oxides commonly occur as crypto-crystalline and very fine mixtures of different Mn-phases, iron oxides, silicates and carbonates. Thus, proper characterization can be a difficult task using XRPD. The lack of Raman data on groutellite and the little and conflicting data on ramsdellite do not allow their proper identification by Raman spectroscopy. In this work we characterize natural mixtures of ramsdellite and groutellite by combining SEM-EDS, XRPD, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy, to provide reference Raman spectra. Our data show that they have a typical and unmistakable spectra, allowing clear recognition. Moreover, we have investigated their laser-induced degradation. Our data show that groutellite transforms into ramsdellite, by the loss of H⁺ and the oxidation of Mn³⁺ to Mn⁴⁺, already at a very low laser power. Further increasing the laser power the formation of hausmannite [Mn²⁺Mn₂ ³⁺O₄] occurs via the reduction of Mn cations. Our data can be used to study the discharge mechanism in cathodic battery materials, by monitoring the Mn reduction from ramsdellite to groutellite, and finally to groutite [α-Mn³⁺OOH]. Moreover, Raman mapping allows the study of their distribution in all the investigated samples and, indirectly, those of H⁺ and Mn³⁺, which plays a key-role in electrochemical activity of these compounds.

While rivers are known to be the main vectors of plastics to the sea, it seems surprising that studies on interactions (e.g. colonisation/entrapment and drift) between macroplastics and biota continue to remain largely neglected, notwithstanding they represent unexpected threats to freshwater biota and riverine habitats. To fill these gaps, here we focused on the colonisation of plastic bottles by freshwater biota. To do so, we collected 100 plastic bottles from the River Tiber in summer 2021. Overall, 95 bottles were colonised externally and 23 internally. Specifically, biota mainly occurred within and outside the bottles rather than plastic pieces and organic debris. Moreover, while bottles were externally covered mainly by vegetal organisms (i.e. macrophytes), they internally entrapped more animal organisms (i.e. invertebrates). The taxa most occurring within and outside the bottles belonged to pool and low water quality-associated taxa (e.g. Lemna sp., Gastropoda, and Diptera). In addition to biota and organic debris, plastic particles also occurred on bottles reporting the first observation of 'metaplastics' (i.e. plastics encrusted on bottles). Furthermore, we observed a significant positive correlation between the colonising taxa abundance and the bottle degree degradation. In this regard, we discussed how bottle buoyancy may change due to the organic matter on the bottle, affecting bottle sinking and transport along rivers. Our findings might be crucial for understanding the underrepresented topic of riverine plastics and their colonisation by biota, given that these plastics may act as vectors and cause biogeographical, environmental, and conservation issues to freshwater habitats.