597 research outputs found
The contribution of experimental archaeology in addressing the analysis of residues on spindle-whorls
This contribution focuses on residues developing on spindle-whorls during spinning. Such a kind of tools is largelydiffused in archaeological contexts where spindle-whorls were used in textile activities or deposited in burials asgrave goods. Scholars recently approached the analysis of these objects through experimental archaeology to betterunderstand their wide variation in size and shape especially in relationship with the adoption of specific spinningtechniques or the quality of the fibres processed for producing different kinds of yarn. The method presented herehighlights the contribution of controlled experiments to identify and to study the formation of organic deposits onspindle-whorls after repeated and intentional use. Moreover, this article provides a preliminary reference collectionof experimental residues combining different techniques of observation and different magnifications (Optical LightMicroscopes - OLM and Scanning Electron Microscope - SEM) on ceramic replicas to address the residuesinvestigation on textile tools in archaeological contexts.
Editorial: Myokines, Adipokines, Cytokines in Muscle Pathophysiology.
[No abstract available
Editorial: myokines, adipokines, cytokines in muscle pathophysiology
Individual striated muscle fibers communicate in both a paracrine and endocrine fashion and are
also involved in the crosstalk with other tissues and organs such as the adipose tissue, immune
system, liver, pancreas, bones, and brain (Delezie andHandschin, 2018). The striatedmuscle, which
accounts for 40% of bodymass, presents high biosynthetic activity, and extensive vascularization,
features that endorse current thinking that muscle is the largest endocrine system of the body
(Benatti and Pedersen, 2015). There are hundreds of muscle secretory products, collectively
known as myokines, including proteins, miRNA, and exosomes (Barone et al., 2016). Muscle
secretion is significantly affected by muscle contraction (Son et al., 2018) due to the activation
of mechanotransduction pathways (Coletti et al., 2016a). It has been suggested that the adipose
tissue is also an endocrine organ, producing adipokines- leptin, and other hormones, in addition to
cytokines (Galic et al., 2010). The inflammatory infiltrate in fat depots affects the course of several
diseases, including cancer (Batista et al., 2012; Sawicka and Krasowska, 2016; Neto et al., 2018;
Opatrilova et al., 2018), and an extensive review on the role of adipokines in disease has been
published elsewhere (Orzechowski et al., 2014).
Myokines, adipokines, and cytokines are major therapeutic targets in both muscular and
non-muscular diseases (Lindegaard et al., 2013;Manole et al., 2018), and understanding of their role
in tissue crosstalk represents a subject of great interest in current biology.We have therefore chosen
to address this paradigm within this Frontiers special issue on “Myokines, Adipokines, Cytokines
in Muscle Pathophysiology.
Salophen and salen oxo vanadium complexes as catalysts of sulfides oxidation with H 2O 2: Mechanistic insights
The application of V(V) catalysts in oxidation of sulfides with peroxides offers an efficient procedure, that is compatible with different functional groups, and leads to good yields and selectivities. However, the understanding of the factors affecting the reactivity of different catalysts is still far to be complete. An experimental and theoretical study on a series of V(V) complexes containing variously substituted salen and salophen ligands is reported with the aim to correlate the activity of the catalysts with the electronic character of the vanadium center. The results obtained indicate that steric factors play a major role in determining the outcome of the reaction, often overcoming the electronic effects. Theoretical results suggest the intervention in the catalytic cycle of an hydroperoxo vanadium species
Radiation induces turbulence in particle-laden fluids.
When a transparent fluid laden with solid particles is subject to radiative heating, non-uniformities in particle distribution result in local fluid temperature fluctuations. Under the influence of gravity, buoyancy induces vortical fluid motion which can lead to strong preferential concentration, enhancing the local heating and more non- uniformities in particle distribution. By employing direct numerical simulations this study shows that the described feedback loop can create and sustain turbulence. The velocity and length scale of the resulting turbulence is not known a priori, and is set by balance between viscous forces and buoyancy effects. When the particle response time is comparable to a viscous time scale, introduced in our analysis, the system exhibits intense fluctuations of turbulent kinetic energy and strong preferential concentration of particle
Investigation of VO-salophen complexes electronic structure
Vanadyl N,N'-bis(salicylidene)-o-phenylenediamine (salophen) complexes have been extensively investigated by cyclic voltammetry, UV-visible spectroscopy and theoretical calculations in MeCN, THF (tetrahydrofuran) and DMF (N,N-dimethylformamide), in order to elucidate the overall factors that influence the electronic density of the metal and therefore the properties of these complexes in various applications. Different substituents were introduced into the salophen skeleton to change the vanadium electron density. Results obtained and here presented showed that the substituents influence the metal electronic character in a way that cannot be easily predicted by considering only the electronic effect. Similarly, the solvent polarity or coordination ability affects the metal complex properties in an unpredictable way. Therefore, experimental and theoretical data here collected are a powerful tool to a priori design salophen ligands to obtain vanadyl complexes having the specific electronic properties suitable for desired applications
Transport in strongly-coupled graphene-LaAlO3/SrTiO3 hybrid systems
We report on the transport properties of hybrid devices obtained by
depositing graphene on a LaAlO3/SrTiO3 oxide junction hosting a 4 nm-deep
two-dimensional electron system. At low graphene-oxide inter-layer bias the two
electron systems are electrically isolated, despite their small spatial
separation, and very efficient reciprocal gating is shown. A pronounced
rectifying behavior is observed for larger bias values and ascribed to the
interplay between electrostatic depletion and tunneling across the LaAlO3
barrier. The relevance of these results in the context of strongly-coupled
bilayer systems is discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Revealing the atomic structure of the buffer layer between SiC(0001) and epitaxial graphene
On the SiC(0001) surface (the silicon face of SiC), epitaxial graphene is
obtained by sublimation of Si from the substrate. The graphene film is
separated from the bulk by a carbon-rich interface layer (hereafter called the
buffer layer) which in part covalently binds to the substrate. Its structural
and electronic properties are currently under debate. In the present work we
report scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies of the buffer layer and of
quasi-free-standing monolayer graphene (QFMLG) that is obtained by decoupling
the buffer layer from the SiC(0001) substrate by means of hydrogen
intercalation. Atomic resolution STM images of the buffer layer reveal that,
within the periodic structural corrugation of this interfacial layer, the
arrangement of atoms is topologically identical to that of graphene. After
hydrogen intercalation, we show that the resulting QFMLG is relieved from the
periodic corrugation and presents no detectable defect sites
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