Pump-and-probe optical transmission phase shift as a quantitative probe of the Bogoliubov dispersion relation in a nonlinear channel waveguide

We theoretically investigate the dispersion relation of small-amplitude optical waves superimposing upon a beam of polarized monochromatic light propagating along a single-mode channel waveguide characterized by an instantaneous and spatially local Kerr nonlinearity. These small luminous fluctuations propagate along the waveguide as Bogoliubov elementary excitations on top of a one-dimensional dilute Bose quantum fluid evolve in time. They consequently display a strongly renormalized dispersion law, of Bogoliubov type. Analytical and numerical results are found in both the absence and the presence of one- and two-photon losses. Silicon and silicon-nitride waveguides are used as examples. We finally propose an experiment to measure this Bogoliubov dispersion relation, based on a stimulated four-wave mixing and interference spectroscopy techniques.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

Tomato ionomic approach for food fortification and safety.

Food fortification is an issue of paramount of importance for people living both in developed and in developing countries. Among substances listed as "nutriceuticals", essential minerals have been recognised for their involvement in several healthy issues, involving all ages. In this frame, food plants are playing a pivotal role since their capability to compartmentalise ions and proteinmetal complexes in edible organs. Conversely, the accumulation of high metal levels in those organs may lead to safety problems. In the recent years, thanks to the availability of new and improved analytical apparatus in both ionic and genomic/transcrittomics areas, it is became feasible to couple data coming from plant physiology and genetics. Ionomics is the discipline that studies the cross-analysis of both data sets. Our group, in the frame of GenoPom project granted by MiUR, is interested to study the ionomics of tomatoes cultivars derived by breeding programmes in which wild relatives have been used to transfer several useful traits, such as resistance to biotic or abiotic stresses, fruit composition and textiture, etc. The introgression of the wild genome into the cultivated one produces new gene combinations. They might lead to the expression of some traits, such as increased or reduced adsorption of some metals and their exclusion or loading into edible organs, thus strongly involving the nutritional food value. Our final goal is to put together data coming from ions homeostasis and gene expression analyses, thus obtaining an ionomic tomato map related to ions absorption, translocation and accumulation in various plant organs, fruits included. To follow our hypothesis, we are studying the ionome of Solanum lycopersicum cv. M82 along with 76 Introgression Lines (ILs) produced by interspecific crosses between this cultivar and the wild species S. pennellii. These ILs are homozygous for small portions of the wild species genome introgressed into the domesticated M82 one. They are used as a useful tool for mapping QTL associated with many traits of interest. It is worthy to note that, until now, little information is available on QTL for ions accumulation in tomato. Moreover, as our knowledge, effects of new gene combinations in introgressed lines on ions uptake related to food safety have not been extensively studied. In this presentation we show results coming from the ionome analysis, carried out on S . lycopersicum M82 and several ILs. Plants were grown in pots in a greenhouse and watered with deionised water Thirty day-old plants were left to grow for 15 days in the presence of non-toxic concentration of Cd, Pb, As, Cr and Zn given combined. Leaves of all plants were then harvested and stored at -80°C for ionome and gene expression analyses. Preliminary results of ionome analysis of S. lycopersicum M82 and several ILs, carried out using an ICP-MS, showed that traits correlated to toxic metals and micronutrients accumulation in apical leaves were significantly modified in response to specific genetic backgrounds. Those results are perhaps due to the introgression of traits linked to uptake, translocation and accumulation of useful and/or toxic metal into plant apical leaves and to interactions of the wild type introgressed genomic regions with the cultivated genome. Also, data are shown on the identification and isolation of Solanum gene sequences related to ions uptake, translocation and accumulation, useful for further real-time gene expression evaluation in both cultivated and ILs during the treatments with the above-mentioned metals

Sustained response to infliximab treatment in two cases of early rheumatoid arthritis that has been maintained after drug withdrawal

The authors report two cases of active seropositive rheumatoid arthritis who were treated in an early phase of the disease with infliximab plus methotrexate obtaining a clinical remission. The benefit was maintained after the discontinuation of the anti-TNF alpha inhibitor for adverse events, indicating that the early administration of the drug may be followed by a sustained remission

Pain in systemic sclerosis

Chronic pain is a healthcare problem that significantly affects the mental health, and the professional and private life of patients. It can complicate many disorders and represents a common symptom of rheumatologic diseases, but the data on its prevalence is still limited. Pain is a ubiquitous problem in systemic sclerosis (SSc). SSc-related pain has been studied on the basis of biomedical models and is considered a symptom caused by the disease activity or previous tissue damage. Effective pain management is a primary goal of the treatment strategy, although this symptom in SSc has not yet been investigated in detail. However, these patients do not all respond adequately to pharmacological pain therapies, therefore in these cases a multimodal approach needs to be adopted

O que mudou no cenário canavieiro 30 anos após o levante de Guariba?

Em 1984, em Guariba, SP, ocorreu um grande protesto de boias-frias que resultou em mudanças das condições enfrentadas nas lavouras de cana-de-açúcar. Neste trabalho, para avaliar o que mudou nos últimos 30 anos na paisagem, na forma de manejo da cana-de-açúcar, na vida dos trabalhadores rurais e do município, mapeou-se a mudança de uso e cobertura das terras usando imagens de satélite de 1988 e 2013, que foram interpretadas usando o software ArcGis 10.1 e as ferramentas de análise do ArcToolbox. Há 30 anos, a área de cana-de-açúcar tomava 81% do município (22.037 ha) e atualmente ocupa em torno de 23 mil ha, portanto não houve mudança expressiva, qualitativa e quantitativamente, na paisagem rural. Porém, houve aumento expressivo na área urbana do município, que passou de 581 ha para 1.190 ha, provavelmente em decorrência do êxodo da população rural para a cidade e da fixação, no município, dos antigos migrantes sazonais do Nordeste, que se dedicavam à colheita manual da cana-de-açúcar. A mudança gradativa, nos últimos 30 anos, no sistema da colheita manual de cana queimada para a colheita mecanizada sem queima reduziu de 7.000 para 970 o número de boias-frias e fortaleceu o sindicalismo na região. Trinta anos depois da maior greve rural do setor canavieiro, o transporte dos trabalhadores é feito em ônibus, há equipamentos de proteção, as empresas fornecem facões e os salários melhoraram. Entretanto, novas questões trabalhistas surgiram, como terceirização e jornadas de trabalho irregulares, horas extras ilegais, ausência de intervalos de descanso e trabalho noturno