732 research outputs found
Anti-BVDV activity evaluation of naphthoimidazole derivatives compared with parental imidazoquinoline compounds.
Background: Pestivirus genus includes animal pathogens which are involved in economic impact for the livestock industry. Among others, Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV) establish a persistent infection in cattle causing a long list of symptoms and a high mortality rate. In the last decades, we synthesised and reported a certain number of anti-BVDV compounds. Methods: In them, imidazoquinoline derivatives turned out as the most active. Their mechanism of actions has been deeply investigated, BVDV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RpRd) resulted as target and the way of binding was predicted in silico through three main H-bond interaction with the target. The prediction could be confirmed by target or ligand mutation. The first approach has already been performed and published confirming the in silico prediction. Results: Here, we present how the ligand chemical modification affects the anti-BVDV activity. The designed compounds were synthesised and tested against BVDV as in silico assay negative control. Conclusion: The antiviral results confirmed the predicted mechanism of action, as the newly synthesised compounds resulted not active in the in vitro BVDV infection inhibitio
Evolution of the Mass-Metallicity relations in passive and star-forming galaxies from SPH-cosmological simulations
We present results from SPH-cosmological simulations, including
self-consistent modelling of SN feedback and chemical evolution, of galaxies
belonging to two clusters and twelve groups. We reproduce the mass-metallicity
(ZM) relation of galaxies classified in two samples according to their
star-forming activity, as parametrized by their sSFR, across a redshift range
up to z=2.
Its slope shows irrelevant evolution in the passive sample, being steeper in
groups than in clusters. However, the sub-sample of high-mass passive galaxies
only is characterized by a steep increase of the slope with redshift, from
which it can be inferred that the bulk of the slope evolution of the ZM
relation is driven by the more massive passive objects. (...ABRIDGED...)
The ZM relation for the star-forming sample reveals an increasing scatter
with redshift, indicating that it is still being built at early epochs. The
star-forming galaxies make up a tight sequence in the SFR-M_* plane at high
redshift, whose scatter increases with time alongside with the consolidation of
the passive sequence. We also confirm the anti-correlation between sSFR and
stellar mass, pointing at a key role of the former in determining the galaxy
downsizing, as the most significant means of diagnostics of the star formation
efficiency. Likewise, an anti-correlation between sSFR and metallicity can be
established for the star-forming galaxies, while on the contrary more active
galaxies in terms of simple SFR are also metal-richer.
We discuss these results in terms of the mechanisms driving the evolution
within the high- and low-mass regimes at different epochs: mergers,
feedback-driven outflows and the intrinsic variation of the star formation
efficiency.Comment: Emended list of author
Environmental assessment of light weighting solutions for automotive components: results, tradeâoff and challenges from real case studies
In the last few decades, the automotive industry is facing the most deal with sustainability programs due to the increase of legislate limits on CO2 emissions and vehicle recyclability rate. Consequently, decisions on products design and development go together with environmental considerations, by starting to look for the employment of lighter materials, thus reducing vehicle mass weight and therefore fuel consumption and CO2 emissions during the dominant operation stage of a vehicleâs life cycle. To tackle this problem many of today automotive components are made of alternative materials like plastics, polymer composites, lighter metals which should lead to weight reduction with the same mechanical performances. Magneti MarelliÂź designs and produces hi-tech systems and components for the automotive sector representing a significant contribution on vehicle mass weight with a roughly 15% portion of incidence. So, in accordance to the environmental regulations, the Company has started to get involved into sustainability programs by focusing attention on the environmental impact of its products. In particular since 2012 Magneti Marelli has included in its mission the âimprovement of environmental and energy performances of products and relatives processes during their whole life cycle, through innovative methodologies that assess the potential impacts in a quantitative wayâ, in this way highlighting the importance of meeting the increasing stakeholdersâ expectations and their requests for transparency in resultsâ communication.
This work addresses the main outcomes stemmed from the several LCA studies carried out over different components in terms of materials and technologies production allowing a wider environmental conscious related to the usage of different materials and manufacturing processes.
Results showed that the materials employed offer the major contribution on the total impact especially for raw materials extraction and production and for the vehicle use phase, with a further substantial difference connected to the use of virgin instead of recycled materials.
The main discussed points will be: i) the trade-off between production phase and use phase impacts; ii) End-of-Life analysis at component level beside the ISO 22628:2002 for the whole vehicle; iii) critical analysis and selection of environmental indicators significant for the automotive sector.
Keywords Automotive sector, Life Cycle Assessment, vehicle component, Sustainable Manufacturing, Design for Environment, composites, light weightin
An X-ray and optical study of the cluster A33
We report the first detailed X-ray and optical observations of the
medium-distant cluster A33 obtained with the Beppo-SAX satellite and with the
UH 2.2m and Keck II telescopes at Mauna Kea. The information deduced from X-ray
and optical imaging and spectroscopic data allowed us to identify the X-ray
source 1SAXJ0027.2-1930 as the X-ray counterpart of the A33 cluster. The faint,
F_{2-10 keV} \approx 2.4 \times 10^{-13} \ergscm2, X-ray source
1SAXJ0027.2-1930, arcmin away from the optical position of the cluster
as given in the Abell catalogue, is identified with the central region of A33.
Based on six cluster galaxy redshifts, we determine the redshift of A33,
; this is lower than the value derived by Leir and Van Den Bergh
(1977). The source X-ray luminosity, L_{2-10 keV} = 7.7 \times 10^{43} \ergs,
and intracluster gas temperature, keV, make this cluster interesting
for cosmological studies of the cluster relation at intermediate
redshifts. Two other X-ray sources in the A33 field are identified. An AGN at
z0.2274, and an M-type star, whose emission are blended to form an extended
X-ray emission arcmin north of the A33 cluster. A third possibly
point-like X-ray source detected arcmin north-west of A33 lies close
to a spiral galaxy at z0.2863 and to an elliptical galaxy at the same
redshift as the cluster.Comment: 9 pages, 6 Figures, Latex (using psfig,l-aa), to appear in Astronomy
and Astrophysics S. (To get better quality copies of Figs.1-3 send an email
to: [email protected]). A&AS, in pres
Antiviral activity of benzotriazole based derivatives
Background: For the last thirty years, the benzotriazole scaffold has been the object of our group interest and we have already presented some results on the antiviral activity of our compounds. Objective: In this article, we conclude the exploration of N-(4-(R-2H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazol-2-yl)phenyl)-4-Râ-benzamides and 1-(4-(R-2H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazol-2-yl)phenyl)-3-Râ-ureas by synthesizing further modified derivatives, in order to have more elements for SARs evaluation. Methods: Here, we reported the synthesis and the antiviral screening results of 38 newly synthesized benzotriazole derivatives against a panel of DNA and RNA viruses. We also analyse SARs in comparing these compounds with previously published benzotriazole analogues, taking stock of the situation. Results: Among the newly presented derivatives, compounds 17 and 18 were the most active with EC50 6.9 and 5.5 ”M, respectively against Coxsackievirus B5 (CV-B5) and 20.5 and 17.5 ”M against Poliovirus (Sb-1). Conclusion: we can conclude that N-(4-(2H-benzo[d] [1-3] triazol-2-yl)phenyl-R-amide is a good chemical scaffold for the development of new antiviral molecules
A Computer Aided Detection system for mammographic images implemented on a GRID infrastructure
The use of an automatic system for the analysis of mammographic images has
proven to be very useful to radiologists in the investigation of breast cancer,
especially in the framework of mammographic-screening programs. A breast
neoplasia is often marked by the presence of microcalcification clusters and
massive lesions in the mammogram: hence the need for tools able to recognize
such lesions at an early stage. In the framework of the GPCALMA (GRID Platform
for Computer Assisted Library for MAmmography) project, the co-working of
italian physicists and radiologists built a large distributed database of
digitized mammographic images (about 5500 images corresponding to 1650
patients) and developed a CAD (Computer Aided Detection) system, able to make
an automatic search of massive lesions and microcalcification clusters. The CAD
is implemented in the GPCALMA integrated station, which can be used also for
digitization, as archive and to perform statistical analyses. Some GPCALMA
integrated stations have already been implemented and are currently on clinical
trial in some italian hospitals. The emerging GRID technology can been used to
connect the GPCALMA integrated stations operating in different medical centers.
The GRID approach will support an effective tele- and co-working between
radiologists, cancer specialists and epidemiology experts by allowing remote
image analysis and interactive online diagnosis.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the 13th
IEEE-NPSS Real Time Conference 2003, Montreal, Canada, May 18-23 200
Synthesis, Antitumor and Antiviral In Vitro Activities of New Benzotriazole-Dicarboxamide Derivatives
Cancer and viral infections continue to threaten humankind causing death worldwide. Hence, the discovery of new anticancer and antiviral agents still represents a major scientific goal. Heterocycles designed to mimic the chemical structure of natural pyrimidines and purines have been designed over the years, exerting their activity acting as false substrates on several different targets. We reported a series of bis-benzotriazole-dicarboxamide derivatives which inhibit viral helicase of poliovirus, and hence we planned structure modifications to obtain different series of new dicarboxamides. Here, the synthesis and characterization of 56 new compounds: 31 bis-benzotriazole dicarboxamides and 25 mono-substituted acidic derivatives are reported. The synthesized compounds were tested for their antiviral and antitumor activity. Mostly, compounds 4a, 4c and 4d showed antiviral activity against tested Picornaviruses, Coxsackievirus B5 and Poliovirus-1. Likewise, four derivatives (3b, 3d, 4d, 9b) showed notable antiproliferative activity inhibiting cell growth in two distinct antitumor screenings. Compound 3b was selected as the antitumor lead compound for the wide range of activity and the potency proved. The lead compound was proved to induce apoptosis in SK-MES1 tumor cells, in a dose-dependent manner
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