437 research outputs found
Geophysical study of the hydrothermal reservoir in the Panza area (Ischia, Italy)
The aim of the present work is the reconstruction of the main geometric pattern and the
characterisation with geophysical parameters of geological structures lying at small
and medium depths in an area of the Ischia island (Italy), where a sensible hydrothermal
activity is present
ZNF521 Enhances MLL-AF9-Dependent Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transformation in Acute Myeloid Leukemias by Altering the Gene Expression Landscape
Leukemias derived from the MLL-AF9 rearrangement rely on dysfunctional transcriptional networks. ZNF521, a transcription co-factor implicated in the control of hematopoiesis, has been proposed to sustain leukemic transformation in collaboration with other oncogenes. Here, we demonstrate that ZNF521 mRNA levels correlate with specific genetic aberrations: in particular, the highest expression is observed in AMLs bearing MLL rearrangements, while the lowest is detected in AMLs with FLT3-ITD, NPM1, or CEBPα double mutations. In cord blood-derived CD34(+) cells, enforced expression of ZNF521 provides a significant proliferative advantage and enhances MLL-AF9 effects on the induction of proliferation and the expansion of leukemic progenitor cells. Transcriptome analysis of primary CD34(+) cultures displayed subsets of genes up-regulated by MLL-AF9 or ZNF521 single transgene overexpression as well as in MLL-AF9/ZNF521 combinations, at either the early or late time points of an in vitro leukemogenesis model. The silencing of ZNF521 in the MLL-AF9 + THP-1 cell line coherently results in an impairment of growth and clonogenicity, recapitulating the effects observed in primary cells. Taken together, these results underscore a role for ZNF521 in sustaining the self-renewal of the immature AML compartment, most likely through the perturbation of the gene expression landscape, which ultimately favors the expansion of MLL-AF9-transformed leukemic clones
Caratterizzazione geofisica dell'acquifero idrotermale dell'area di Panza (Ischia)
Gli obiettivi di questo lavoro sono quelli di ricostruire, con metodologie geofisiche integrate, le
principali geometrie tettoniche ed idrogeologiche del territorio di Panza nell’isola di Ischia. La zona è
stata scelta in quanto caratterizzata da un’intensa attività idrotermale e deformativa connessa con la
presenza di un reservoir geotermico
Global Architecture of Planetary Systems (GAPS), a project for the whole Italian Community
The GAPS project is running since 2012 with the goal to optimize the science return of the HARPS-N instrument mounted at Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. A large number of astronomers is working together to allow the Italian community to gain an international position adequate to the HARPS-N capabilities in the exoplanetary researches. Relevant scientific results are being obtained on both the main guidelines of the collaboration, i.e., the discovery surveys and the characterization studies. The planetary system discovered around the southern component of the binary XO-2 and its characterization together with that of the system orbiting the northern component are a good example of the completeness of the topics matched by the GAPS project. The dynamics of some planetary systems are investigated by studying the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, while host stars are characterized by means of asteroseismology and star-planet interaction
The GAPS Project: First Results
The GAPS programme is an Italian project aiming to search and characterize extra-solar planetary systems around stars with different characteristics (mass, metallicity, environment). GAPS was born in 2012, when single research groups joined in order to propose a long-term multi-purpose observing program for the exploitation of the extraordinary performances of the HARPS-N spectrograph, mounted at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. Now this group is a concerted community in which wide range of expertise and capabilities are shared in order to reach a more important role in the wider international context. We present the results achieved up to now from the GAPS radial velocity survey: they were obtained in both the two main objectives of the project, the planet detection and the characterization of already known exoplanetary systems. With GAPS we detected, for instance, the first confirmed binary system in which both components host planets (Desidera et al. 2014), the first planetary system around a star in an open cluster (Malavolta et al. 2016), a system of Super-Earths orbiting an M-dwarf star (Affer et al. 2016)
Five carbon- and nitrogen-bearing species in a hot giant planet's atmosphere
The atmospheres of gaseous giant exoplanets orbiting close to their parent
stars (hot Jupiters) have been probed for nearly two decades. They allow us to
investigate the chemical and physical properties of planetary atmospheres under
extreme irradiation conditions. Previous observations of hot Jupiters as they
transit in front of their host stars have revealed the frequent presence of
water vapour and carbon monoxide in their atmospheres; this has been studied in
terms of scaled solar composition under the usual assumption of chemical
equilibrium. Both molecules as well as hydrogen cyanide were found in the
atmosphere of HD 209458b, a well studied hot Jupiter (with equilibrium
temperature around 1,500 kelvin), whereas ammonia was tentatively detected
there and subsequently refuted. Here we report observations of HD 209458b that
indicate the presence of water (H2O), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen cyanide
(HCN), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3) and acetylene (C2H2), with statistical
significance of 5.3 to 9.9 standard deviations per molecule. Atmospheric models
in radiative and chemical equilibrium that account for the detected species
indicate a carbon-rich chemistry with a carbon-to-oxygen ratio close to or
greater than 1, higher than the solar value (0.55). According to existing
models relating the atmospheric chemistry to planet formation and migration
scenarios, this would suggest that HD 209458b formed far from its present
location and subsequently migrated inwards. Other hot Jupiters may also show a
richer chemistry than has been previously found, which would bring into
question the frequently made assumption that they have solar-like and
oxygen-rich compositions.Comment: As part of the Springer Nature Content Sharing Initiative, it is
possible to access a view-only version of this paper by using the following
SharedIt link: https://rdcu.be/cifr
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