Use of GIS and Remote Sensing to detect change along the coastline segment between Shkumbini and Semani rivers, central Albania

To τμήμα της ακτογραμμής μεταξύ των ποταμών Shkumbini και Semani, στην κεντρική Αλβανία, αποτελεί ένα δυναμικό παράκτιο ιζηματογενές περιβάλλον. Η θέση της ακτογραμμής για την περίοδο 1978-2001 ερευνάται με βάση χρονική σειρά δορυφορικών δεδομένων Landsat που ενσωματώνονται σε ένα γεωγραφικό σύστημα πληροφοριών. Η ανάλυση των στοιχείων τηλεπισκόπησης δείχνει ότι η ακτογραμμή υπόκειται σε σημαντικές μεταβολές κατά τη διάρκεια αυτού του σύντομου χρονικού διαστήματος. Η μελέτη καταδεικνύει τη δυνατότητα εφαρμογής και τη χρήση των ιστορικών δεδομένων Landsat στη μελέτη ανίχνευσης μεταβολών των παράκτιων περιβαλλόντων.The coastline segment between Shkumbini and Semani rivers, in central Albania, is a very dynamic accumulative coastal environment. The position of the coastline in this segment is investigated with multi-temporal Landsat data of the years 1978-2001 integrated in a geographic information system. The analysis of the multitemporal remote sensing data shows that the coastline of this segment is subject to important changes during this short time interval. The study demonstrates the applicability and usefulness of historical Landsat data for change detection studies of the coastal environment

Quantitative Systems Pharmacology and Biased Agonism at Opioid Receptors: A Potential Avenue for Improved Analgesics

Chronic pain is debilitating and represents a significant burden in terms of personal and socio-economic costs. Although opioid analgesics are widely used in chronic pain treatment, many patients report inadequate pain relief or relevant adverse effects, highlighting the need to develop analgesics with improved efficacy/safety. Multiple evidence suggests that G protein-dependent signaling triggers opioid-induced antinociception, whereas arrestin-mediated pathways are credited with modulating different opioid adverse effects, thus spurring extensive research for G protein-biased opioid agonists as analgesic candidates with improved pharmacology. Despite the increasing expectations of functional selectivity, translating G protein-biased opioid agonists into improved therapeutics is far from being fully achieved, due to the complex, multidimensional pharmacology of opioid receptors. The multifaceted network of signaling events and molecular processes underlying therapeutic and adverse effects induced by opioids is more complex than the mere dichotomy between G protein and arrestin and requires more comprehensive, integrated, network-centric approaches to be fully dissected. Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) models employing multidimensional assays associated with computational tools able to analyze large datasets may provide an intriguing approach to go beyond the greater complexity of opioid receptor pharmacology and the current limitations entailing the development of biased opioid agonists as improved analgesics

Correlated Component Analysis for diffuse component separation with error estimation on simulated Planck polarization data

We present a data analysis pipeline for CMB polarization experiments, running from multi-frequency maps to the power spectra. We focus mainly on component separation and, for the first time, we work out the covariance matrix accounting for errors associated to the separation itself. This allows us to propagate such errors and evaluate their contributions to the uncertainties on the final products.The pipeline is optimized for intermediate and small scales, but could be easily extended to lower multipoles. We exploit realistic simulations of the sky, tailored for the Planck mission. The component separation is achieved by exploiting the Correlated Component Analysis in the harmonic domain, that we demonstrate to be superior to the real-space application (Bonaldi et al. 2006). We present two techniques to estimate the uncertainties on the spectral parameters of the separated components. The component separation errors are then propagated by means of Monte Carlo simulations to obtain the corresponding contributions to uncertainties on the component maps and on the CMB power spectra. For the Planck polarization case they are found to be subdominant compared to noise.Comment: 17 pages, accepted in MNRA

Hyaluronan Hydrogels: Rheology and Stability in Relation to the Type/Level of Biopolymer Chemical Modification

BDDE (1,4-butanediol-diglycidylether)-crosslinked hyaluronan (HA) hydrogels are widely used for dermo-aesthetic purposes. The rheology and stability of the gels under physiological conditions greatly affect their clinical indications and outcomes. To date, no studies investigating how these features are related to the chemistry of the polymeric network have been reported. Here, four available HA-BDDE hydrogels were studied to determine how and to what extent their rheology and stability with respect to enzymatic hydrolysis relate to the type and degree of HA structural modification.1 H-/13 C-NMR analyses were associated for the quantification of the “true” HA chemical derivatization level, discriminating between HA that was effectively crosslinked by BDDE, and branched HA with BDDE that was anchored on one side. The rheology was measured conventionally and during hydration in a physiological medium. Sensitivity to bovine testicular hyaluronidase was quantified. The correlation between NMR data and gel rheology/stability was evaluated. The study indicated that (1) the gels greatly differed in the amounts of branched, crosslinked, and overall modified HA, with most of the HA being branched; (2) unexpectedly, the conventionally measured rheological properties did not correlate with the chemical data; (3) the gels’ ranking in terms of rheology was greatly affected by hydration; (4) the rheology of the hydrated gels was quantitatively correlated with the amount of crosslinked HA, whereas the correlations with the total HA modification level and with the degree of branched HA were less significant; (5) increasing HA derivatization/crosslinking over 9/3 mol% did not enhance the stability with respect to hyaluronidases. These results broaden our knowledge of these gels and provide valuable information for improving their design and characterization

Estimating the spectral indices of correlated astrophysical foregrounds by a second-order statistical approach

We present the first tests of a new method, the Correlated Component Analysis (CCA) based on second-order statistics, to estimate the mixing matrix, a key ingredient to separate astrophysical foregrounds superimposed to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). In the present application, the mixing matrix is parameterized in terms of the spectral indices of Galactic synchrotron and thermal dust emissions, while the free-free spectral index is prescribed by basic physics, and is thus assumed to be known. We consider simulated observations of the microwave sky with angular resolution and white stationary noise at the nominal levels for the PLANCK satellite, and realistic foreground emissions, with a position dependent synchrotron spectral index. We work with two sets of PLANCK frequency channels: the low frequency set, from 30 to 143 GHz, complemented with the Haslam 408 MHz map, and the high frequency set, from 217 to 545 GHz. The concentration of intense free-free emission on the Galactic plane introduces a steep dependence of the spectral index of the global Galactic emission with Galactic latitude, close to the Galactic equator. This feature makes difficult for the CCA to recover the synchrotron spectral index in this region, given the limited angular resolution of PLANCK, especially at low frequencies. A cut of a narrow strip around the Galactic equator (|b|<3 deg), however, allows us to overcome this problem. We show that, once this strip is removed, the CCA allows an effective foreground subtraction, with residual uncertainties inducing a minor contribution to errors on the recovered CMB power spectrum.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures and 1 table accepted by MNRA

Joint Bayesian separation and restoration of CMB from convolutional mixtures

We propose a Bayesian approach to joint source separation and restoration for astrophysical diffuse sources. We constitute a prior statistical model for the source images by using their gradient maps. We assume a t-distribution for the gradient maps in different directions, because it is able to fit both smooth and sparse data. A Monte Carlo technique, called Langevin sampler, is used to estimate the source images and all the model parameters are estimated by using deterministic techniques.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to MNRA

Square-planar vs. Trigonal bipyramidal geometry in Pt(II) complexes containing triazole-based glucose ligands as potential anticancer agents

This article describes the synthesis, characterization, and biological activity of novel square-planar cationic platinum(II) complexes containing glucoconjugated triazole ligands and a comparison with the results obtained from the corresponding five-coordinate complexes bearing the same triazole ligands. Stability in solution, reactivity with DNA and small molecules of the new compounds were evaluated by NMR, fluorescence, and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, together with their cytotoxic action against pairs of immortalized and tumorigenic cell lines. The results show that the square-planar species exhibit greater stability than the corresponding five-coordinate ones. Furthermore, although the square-planar complexes are less cytotoxic than the latter ones, they exhibit a certain selectivity. These results simultaneously demonstrate that overall stability is a fundamental prerequisite for preserving the performance of the agents and that coordinative saturation constitutes a point in favor of their biological action

Carnauba wax enhances the insecticidal activity of entomopathogenic fungi against the blowfly Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

Blowfly, Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae), is a problematic synanthropic insect pest, a vector of microbial pathogens, and the causal agent of secondary myiasis. Fungal biopesticides are considered eco-friendly tools, alternative to synthetic pesticides, for the control of arthropod pests; however, to date, little is known about their bioactivity against blowflies. In this study, we assessed the insecticidal activity of three well-known entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana, Beauveria pseudobassiana and Akanthomyces muscarius against L. sericata. In addition, we tested powdered carnauba wax as an electrically charged dust carrier in an attempt to enhance the virulence of fungal spores. Pathogenicity tests on adult flies, by adult immersion in conidial suspension (108 conidia mL−1), showed that the median lethal time (LT50) was 5.3, 5.9, and 6.2 days for B. bassiana, A. muscarius and B. pseudobassiana, respectively. In topical tests, when 108 dry conidia were mixed with or without carnauba wax, the LT50 was 7.7, 10.2, and 14 days without this carrier and 6.9, 8.6, and 13.8 days with it for B. bassiana, B. pseudobassiana and A. muscarius, respectively. Overall, our findings showed that, among the tested fungi, B. bassiana was the most virulent when formulated as a dry powder with carnauba wax, which greatly improved fungal efficacy against the blowfly. We discuss the utility of carnauba wax for electrostatic formulation powder of fungal spores in the integrated management of blowflies as an environmentally sustainable tool to reduce the over-reliance on chemical insecticides and their risk of resistance

Microbiological-chemical sourced chondroitin sulfates protect neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells against oxidative stress and are suitable for hydrogel-based controlled release

Chondroitin sulfates (CS) are a class of sulfated glycosaminoglycans involved in many biological processes. Several studies reported their protective effect against neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. CS are commonly derived from animal sources, but ethi-cal concerns, the risk of contamination with animal proteins, and the difficulty in controlling the sulfation pattern have prompted research towards non-animal sources. Here we exploited two microbiological-chemical sourced CS (i.e., CS-A,C and CS-A,C,K,L) and Carbopol 974P NF/agarose semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (i.e., P.NaOH.0 and P.Ethanol.0) to set up a release system, and tested the neuroprotective role of released CS against H2 O2-induced oxidative stress. After assessing that our CS (1–100 µM) require a 3 h pre-treatment for neuroprotection with SH-SY5Y cells, we evaluated whether the autoclave type (i.e., N-or B-type) affects hydrogel viscoelastic properties. We selected B-type autoclaves and repeated the study after loading CS (1 or 0.1 mg CS/0.5 mL gel). After loading 1 mg CS/0.5 mL gel, we evaluated CS release up to 7 days by 1,9-dimethylmethylene blue (DMMB) assay and verified the neuroprotective role of CS-A,C (1 µM) in the supernatants. We observed that CS-A,C exhibits a broader neuroprotective effect than CS-A,C,K,L. Moreover, sulfation pattern affects not only neuroprotection, but also drug release