Impaired Oxidative Status Is Strongly Associated with Cardiovascular Risk Factors

The main target of primary prevention is the identification of cardiovascular risk factors aimed at reducing of the adverse impact of modifiable factors, such as lifestyle and pharmacological treatments. In humans, an alteration of the oxidative status has been associated with several pathologies, including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. However, the prognostic relevance of circulating oxidative stress biomarkers remains poorly understood. Our study explored, in a healthy population (n=322), the relationship between oxidative status and cardiovascular risk factors. Here, we were successful in demonstrating that plasmatic oxidative status is significantly associated with traditional cardiovascular risk factors. We revealed a significant depletion in the efficacy of total plasma antioxidant barrier in high cardiovascular risk categories, and we confirmed an age-related alteration of oxidative status. The efficacy of total plasma antioxidant barrier is significantly depleted in relation to metabolic disorders. Interestingly, the cholesterol imbalance is the main factor in depleting the efficacy of total plasma antioxidant barrier. The oxidative status is also influenced by hypertension, and a slight increase in systolic blood pressure determines a highly significant effect. We showed that the first detectable event of a redox disturbance is the repairing intervention of the antioxidant barrier that is thus decreased as overutilized

The potential mechanism of black crust development on the historic buildings in Cairo and Venice

The development of black crusts on natural stones of historic buildings is mainly related to the surrounded polluted atmosphere. The blackening of surfaces is caused, in fact, by the accumulation of air pollutants produced by human activity, especially carbon particles originating from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuel. Investigations of the chemical composition of such layers in the monuments can be the basis for planning suitable strategies for the protection and conservation of the built cultural heritage. Cairo (Egypt) and Venice (Italy) are two cities with a large amount of cultural heritage buildings; moreover, they suffer high level of air pollution. Black crust with the hosted stones from different sites in Historic Cairo, as well as samples of different archaeological sites in Venice city, were collected and analyzed by using several techniques: polarizing optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS), infrared spectroscopic techniques (FT-IR) and laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The characterization of such samples provided information on the chemical composition of black crusts, the state of conservation of the substrates and the crust-stone interactions. The chemical study highlighted a different pattern of elements within the two cities. Regarding the black crusts of Cairo, results suggest that the air pollution in Cairo is mainly related to vehicular traffic. Indeed, in the city there is high vehicular traffic almost 24 h a day and the direct impact of vehicle emissions is particularly severe. Samples from the Venice show different composition in terms of heavy metals with respect to Cairo that can be explained with the emission from several industries sited in the near industrial center of Porto Marghera and Island of Murano. Moreover, the fuels used for marine transportation, which is abundant into the area, have a slight different fingerprinting in terms of metals with respect to the vehicles

Study of The Corrosion Processes On Roman And Byzantine Glasses From Northern Tunisia

The present investigation focuses on some glass objects among those discovered in an area around the ancient city of Thugga in northern Tunisia, particularly flourishing during the Roman and Byzantine periods (1). The Late Roman-Byzantine time is not characterised by elaborate vessel shapes derived from precious metal prototypes, but rather by simpler multifunctional forms, as beakers, goblets, and dishes with similar features in the whole Mediterranean world. Also the glass composition seems to change between the 4th and the 5th century, turning to a yellowish-green or olive green colouration of the glass instead of the typical Roman blue-greenish colouration of earlier times. This new glass colouration varies further drastically in the 7th century, when a characteristic light blue-turquoise glass becomes the most widespread. A complete chemical characterization of these objects was carried out in a previous study (2) aimed to investigate the production technology including the chromophores responsible for the different shades. In the present work we have investigated the degradation and corrosion processes affecting some of these shards. It is worth to note that to ascertain the composition of the glass surfaces the analyses have been carried out by means of non-destructive techniques such as XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), SEM-EDX (scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis) and laser-ablation ICP-MS ((Inductively Coupled Plasma \u2013 Mass Spectrometry)

New data on the exploitation of obsidian in the mediterranean basin: The harbour of pyrgi and the trade in neolithic age

The contribution shows the first results of ongoing research on the origins and prehistoric assumptions of the well-known Etruscan and Roman harbour of Pyrgi, an ancient Ceretan harbour in southern Etruria. In the light of recent land and submarine investigations, traces of ancient frequentations and contacts dating back to the Neolithic era are emerging when the coastal morphology and environmental characteristics of the site were very different from the current ones. The Etruscan port of Pyrgi, which continues its historical history in Roman and Medieval times, appears as the heir of one or more landing points frequented perhaps already in the Middle Neolithic. As part of this contribution, around 60 obsidian finds (waste resulting from the manufacture of arrowheads) were analyzed using the LA-ICP-MS technique (Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry). The comparison between the data obtained on the archaeological finds and the bibliographic data relating to the geological obsidians of the peri-Tyrrhenian area allowed the identification of the provenance of the finds. In particular, most of the finds can be attributed to the Aeolian area, highlighting the leading role played by the Aeolian archipelago in the development of trade of this material. Other sources of supply have been identified on the island of Palmarola and in Sardinia (Monte Arci) although with a lower incidence. The discovery of numerous findings in obsidian from overseas, which took place in the area immediately surrounding Pyrgi, offers different suggestions about the origin of the docking place, with traces of centuries-old frequentation, extended from the Neolithic to the modern era

Immune response to tick-borne hemoparasites: Host adaptive immune response mechanisms as potential targets for therapies and vaccines

Tick-transmitted pathogens cause infectious diseases in both humans and animals. Different types of adaptive immune mechanisms could be induced in hosts by these microorganisms, triggered either directly by pathogen antigens or indirectly through soluble factors, such as cytokines and/or chemokines, secreted by host cells as response. Adaptive immunity effectors, such as antibody secretion and cytotoxic and/or T helper cell responses, are mainly involved in the late and long-lasting protective immune response. Proteins and/or epitopes derived from pathogens and tick vectors have been isolated and characterized for the immune response induced in different hosts. This review was focused on the interactions between tick-borne pathogenic hemoparasites and different host effector mechanisms of T-and/or B cell-mediated adaptive immunity, describing the efforts to define immunodominant proteins or epitopes for vaccine development and/or immunotherapeutic purposes. A better understanding of these mechanisms of host immunity could lead to the assessment of possible new immunotherapies for these pathogens as well as to the prediction of possible new candidate vaccine antigens

Archaeometric approach for the study of mortars from the underwater archaeological site of Baia (Naples) Italy: Preliminary results

This work was aimed to evaluate the features of mortar samples taken from the underwater archaeological area of Baia (Naples, Italy), an important site, where the remains of the ancient Roman city of Baiae and Portus Iulius are submerged after bradyseism events, started from 4th century AD. Several architectural structures are still preserved into the submerged environment, such as: luxurious maritime villas, imperial buildings, private houses, thermae, tabernae and warehouses. In particular, some samples were collected from the masonry walls belonging to a building of the underwater area called Villa a Protiro. A first archaeometric approach has been applied to analyse twelve archaeological mortars samples in order to define: textural features, chemical composition and raw materials used for their production. For this purpose different analytical methods were used, such as, polarizing optical microscope (POM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS).This work was financially supported by national national research project “COMAS” (Planned COnservation, “in situ”, of underwater archaeological artifacts), funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR).Peer reviewe

Rapamycin promotes autophagy cell death of Kaposi’s sarcoma cells through P75NTR activation

The mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor (mTOR-I) Rapamycin, a drug widely used in kidney transplantation, exerts important anti-cancer effects, particularly in Kaposi's Sarcoma (KS), through several biological interactions. In this in vivo and in vitro study, we explored whether the activation of the autophagic pathway through the low-affinity receptor for nerve growth factor, p75NTR, may have a pivotal role in the anti-cancer effect exerted by Rapamycin in S. Our Kimmunohistochemistry results revealed a significant hyper-activation of the autophagic pathway in KS lesions. In vitro experiments on KS cell lines showed that Rapamycin exposure reduced cell viability by increasing the autophagic process, in the absence of apoptosis, through the transcriptional activation of p75NTR via EGR1. Interestingly, p75NTR gene silencing prevented the increase of the autophagic process and the reduction of cell viability. Moreover, p75NTR activation promoted the upregulation of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), a tumour suppressor that modulates the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. In conclusion, our in vitro data demonstrated, for the first time, that in Kaposi's sarcoma, autophagy triggered by Rapamycin through p75NTR represented a major mechanism by which mTOR inhibitors may induce tumour regression. Additionally, it suggested that p75NTR protein analysis could be proposed as a new potential biomarker to predict response to Rapamycin in kidney transplant recipients affected by Kaposi's sarcoma

Anti-CRISPR-mediated control of gene editing and synthetic circuits in eukaryotic cells.

Repurposed CRISPR-Cas molecules provide a useful tool set for broad applications of genomic editing and regulation of gene expression in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Recent discovery of phage-derived proteins, anti-CRISPRs, which serve to abrogate natural CRISPR anti-phage activity, potentially expands the ability to build synthetic CRISPR-mediated circuits. Here, we characterize a panel of anti-CRISPR molecules for expanded applications to counteract CRISPR-mediated gene activation and repression of reporter and endogenous genes in various cell types. We demonstrate that cells pre-engineered with anti-CRISPR molecules become resistant to gene editing, thus providing a means to generate "write-protected" cells that prevent future gene editing. We further show that anti-CRISPRs can be used to control CRISPR-based gene regulation circuits, including implementation of a pulse generator circuit in mammalian cells. Our work suggests that anti-CRISPR proteins should serve as widely applicable tools for synthetic systems regulating the behavior of eukaryotic cells

Effects of different sources of air pollution on the carbonate stone surface of relevant European monuments

This contribution focuses on spectrometric analyses carried out on black crust samples, collected from buildings and churches belonging to the European built Heritage, i.e., the Corner Palace in Venice (Italy), the Cathedral of St. Rombouts in Mechelen (Belgium), the Church of St. Eustache in Paris (France) and the Tower of London (United Kingdom). Such monuments, all built in carbonate stones, were selected for their historic and artistic relevance, as well as for their location in different urban contexts (exposed to intense vehicular traffic or pedestrian areas). For a complete characterization of the black crusts, an approach integrating complementary techniques was used, including optical (OM) and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The complete characterization of the damage layers provided information on their chemical composition, the state of conservation of the underlying substrates and the interactions between crusts and stones. In particular, the geochemical study in terms of trace elements revealed that all crusts are enriched in heavy metals (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Sn, Ti, V, and Zn) compared to substrates. The different concentrations of such elements in all analyzed crust samples can be ascribed to several factors, such as: height of sampling, morphology of the sampled surfaces (vertical or horizontal), exposure to atmospheric agents, exposure to direct (road or boat traffic) or indirect (industries) sources of pollution, accumulation time of pollutants on the surfaces, wash out and particulate air pollution. Specifically, the crusts collected at lower heights (some samples of the Corner Palace, Cathedral of St. Rombouts and Tower of London) resulted to be mainly influenced by mobile sources of pollution (vehicular or boat traffic), while samples taken at higher heights (Church of St. Eustache and some samples of the Corner Palace) are generally mostly affected by stationary combustion sources. In some cases, the detailed analysis of multilayered crusts (Palazzo Corner) contributed to recognize the variation of combustion sources responsible for the deterioration of surfaces over time. In addition, the possibility of analyzing altered portions of the substrate (Tower of London) permitted to observe that some elements (Zn, Cu and Ni) show concentrations similar and, sometimes, higher than the overlying crusts. This result can be explained by the geochemical mobility of such elements (at specific environmental conditions), which accelerate the process of sulfating, rapidly creating new layers of crust In conclusion, the study of black crusts and altered substrates in terms of trace elements may provide information useful to understand the influence of the pollutants in the genesis of such degradation forms

New insights to assess the consolidation of stone materials used in built heritage: the case study of ancient graffiti (Tituli Picti) in the archaeological site of Pompeii

Tituli Picti are an ancient form of urban graffiti very common in the archaeological site of Pompeii (Naples, South—Italy). They are generally made of red pigments applied on walls of Campanian ignimbrite. This paper deals with a scientific investigation aimed to their conservation. This is a challenging task since it requires a multidisciplinary approach that includes restorers, archaeologists and conservation scientists. The study has provided suggestions on the proper way to conserve Tituli Picti over time. In the present work, several specimens of Campanian ignimbrite were painted with red earth pigment; lime and Arabic gum have been used as binders as well. Such painted stones were treated with three consolidants: a suspension of reactive nanoparticles of silica, ethyl silicate and an acrylic microemulsion. Treated and untreated specimens were subjected to thermal aging, artificial solar radiation and induced crystallization decay. It has been assessed the colorimetric variations induced by treatments. Moreover, the micromorphologic features of the consolidated surfaces have been highlighted by means of electron microscope observations. The scotch tape test allowed to compare the superficial cohesion induced by the three used products. According to the results, ethyl silicate seems to represent the most successful product