The structural and diagenetic evolution of injected sandstones: examples from the Kimmeridgian of NE Scotland

Abstract: Injected sandstones occurring in the Kimmeridgian of NE Scotland along the bounding Great Glen and Helmsdale faults formed when basinal fluids moved upward along the fault zones, fluidizing Oxfordian sands encountered at shallow depth and injecting them into overlying Kimmeridgian strata. The orientation of dykes, in addition to coeval faults and fractures, was controlled by a stress state related to dextral strike-slip along the bounding fault zones. Diagenetic studies of cements allow the reconstruction of the fluid flow history. The origin of deformation bands in sandstone dykes and sills was related to the contraction of the host-rocks against dyke and sill walls following the initial stage of fluidized flow, and these deformation bands are the earliest diagenetic imprint. Early non-ferroan calcite precipitated in injection structures at temperatures between 70 and 100 8C, indicating that it precipitated from relatively hot basinal fluids that drove injection. Coeval calcite-filled fractures show similar temperatures, suggesting that relatively hot fluids were responsible for calcite precipitation in any permeable pathway created by dextral simple shear along the faults. During progressive burial, percolating sea water was responsible for completely cementing the still relatively porous injected sandstones with a second generation of ferroan calcite, which contains fluid inclusions with homogenization temperatures below 50 8C. During this phase, depositional host sandstones were also cemented

Total synthesis of natural disaccharide sambubiose

A practical and robust synthetic method to obtain the natural disaccharide sambubiose (2O-β-D-xylopyranosyl-D-glucopyranose) is reported, exploring the key step in the synthesis, i.e., stereoselective O-glycosylation. Specifically, the best combinations of glycoside donors and acceptors were identified, stereospecific control of the reaction was achieved by screening several catalysts and protection/deprotection steps were evaluated and improved. The best result was obtained by coupling allyl 3,5,6-tri-O-benzyl-β-D-glucofuranoside with 2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-Dxylopiranosyl-α-trichloro acetimidate in the presence of trimethylsilyl triflate as a catalyst giving the corresponding protected target compound as a correct single isomer. The latter was transformed accordingly into the desired final product by deprotection steps (deallylation, deacetylation, and debenzylation). Sambubiose was synthesized into a satisfactory and higher overall yield than previously reported and was also characterized

Effect of Udder Health Status and Lactation Phase on the Characteristics of Sardinian Ewe Milk

Mammary involution and inflammation are known to negatively affect milk quality. A trial was carried out to elucidate the mechanism by which udder health status and lactational phase determine compositional modifications in ovine milk. A total of 60 individual milk samples was collected from a group of 20 pluriparous Sardinian ewes from mid to late lactation. Each sample was assessed for its chemical characteristics, quantitative distribution of casein fractions, lactodynamographic characteristics, and enzymatic activity. Udders were classed as healthy, doubtful, or infected on the basis of repeated somatic cell counts, and samples were grouped in 3 classes of days in milk. Results indicated that both udder inflammation and mammary involution can increase plasmin (PL) activity (15.6 vs. 18.4 U/mL in healthy vs. infected udders; 14.0 vs. 20.2 U/mL in phase 1 vs. 3), which is responsible for an evident protein breakdown in milk. Significant differences between groups were observed for several characteristics. With regard to udder heath status, casein index was lower in the infected vs. healthy udders (74.8 vs. 76.6%), and beta(tot)-casein showed a similar trend (43.9 vs. 46.6%). As a consequence of protein degradation, gamma-casein (5.78 vs. 2.82%) and proteolysis index (7.60 vs. 3.82) increased in the infected group with respect to the healthy group. Udder health status also affected milk technological traits. Udder inflammation resulted in longer clotting time (20.7 vs. 16.5 min for infected vs. healthy, respectively) and in poorer curd firmness (35.6 vs. 47.6 mm for infected vs. healthy, respectively). Frequency of samples reactive to rennet was 100, 93, and 67%, respectively, for healthy, doubtful, and infected groups. With regard to lactational phase, a decrease in alpha(s1)-casein (39.13 vs. 29.36%) and beta(1)-casein (23.41 vs. 19.36%) occurred during phase 1 vs. 3, whereas kappa + alpha(s2)-casein increased (12.30 vs. 21.56%, phase 1 vs. 3). Correlation coefficients confirmed the role of PL in protein degradation. It was concluded that PL activity was strongly affected by both lactational phase and udder health status and, in turn, could be an important agent enhancing milk quality detriment

Synthesis and Properties of Sucrose- and Lactose-Based Aromatic Ester Surfactants as Potential Drugs Permeability Enhancers

The delivery of therapeutics across biological membranes (e.g., mucosal barriers) by avoiding invasive routes (e.g., injection) remains a challenge in the pharmaceutical field. As such, there is the need to discover new compounds that act as drug permeability enhancers with a favorable toxicological profile. A valid alternative is represented by the class of sugar-based ester surfactants. In this study, sucrose and lactose alkyl aromatic and aromatic ester derivatives have been synthesized with the aim to characterize them in terms of their physicochemical properties, structure–property relationship, and cytotoxicity, and to test their ability as permeability enhancer agents across Calu-3 cells. All of the tested surfactants showed no remarkable cytotoxic effect on Calu-3 cells when applied both below and above their critical micelle concentration. Among the explored molecules, lactose p-biphenyl benzoate (URB1420) and sucrose p-phenyl benzoate (URB1481) cause a reversible ~30% decrease in transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) with the respect to the basal value. The obtained result matches with the increased in vitro permeability coefficients (Papp) calculated for FTIC-dextran across Calu-3 cells in the presence of 4 mM solutions of these surfactants. Overall, this study proposes sucrose- and lactose-based alkyl aromatic and aromatic ester surfactants as novel potential and safe permeation enhancers for pharmaceutical applications

UWB device for breast microwave imaging: phantom and clinical validations

Microwave imaging has received increasing attention in the last decades, motivated by its application in diagnostic imaging. Such effort has been encouraged by the fact that, at microwave frequencies, it is possible to distinguish between tissues with different dielectric properties. In such framework, a novel microwave device is presented here. The apparatus, consisting of two antennas operating in air, is completely safe and non-invasive since it does not emit any ionizing radiation and it can be used for breast lesion detection without requiring any breast crushing. We use Huygens Principle to provide a novel understanding into microwave imaging; specifically, the algorithm based on this principle provides images which represent homogeneity maps of the dielectric properties (dielectric constant and/or conductivity). The experimental results on phantoms having inclusions with different dielectric constants are presented here. In addition, the capability of the device to detect breast lesions has been verified through clinical examinations on 51 breasts. We introduce a metric to measure the non-homogeneous behaviour of the image, establishing a modality to detect the presence of inclusions inside phantoms and, similarly, the presence of a lesion inside a breast

Penetrating particle ANalyzer (PAN)

PAN is a scientific instrument suitable for deep space and interplanetary missions. It can precisely measure and monitor the flux, composition, and direction of highly penetrating particles ($> \sim$100 MeV/nucleon) in deep space, over at least one full solar cycle (~11 years). The science program of PAN is multi- and cross-disciplinary, covering cosmic ray physics, solar physics, space weather and space travel. PAN will fill an observation gap of galactic cosmic rays in the GeV region, and provide precise information of the spectrum, composition and emission time of energetic particle originated from the Sun. The precise measurement and monitoring of the energetic particles is also a unique contribution to space weather studies. PAN will map the flux and composition of penetrating particles, which cannot be shielded effectively, precisely and continuously, providing valuable input for the assessment of the related health risk, and for the development of an adequate mitigation strategy. PAN has the potential to become a standard on-board instrument for deep space human travel. PAN is based on the proven detection principle of a magnetic spectrometer, but with novel layout and detection concept. It will adopt advanced particle detection technologies and industrial processes optimized for deep space application. The device will require limited mass (~20 kg) and power (~20 W) budget. Dipole magnet sectors built from high field permanent magnet Halbach arrays, instrumented in a modular fashion with high resolution silicon strip detectors, allow to reach an energy resolution better than 10\% for nuclei from H to Fe at 1 GeV/n

Estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women: The role of body composition and physical exercise

Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women worldwide and the most common cause of cancer-related death. To date, it is still a challenge to estimate the magnitude of the clinical impact of physical activity (PA) on those parameters producing significative changes in future BC risk and disease progression. However, studies conducted in recent years highlight the role of PA not only as a protective factor for the development of ER+ breast cancer but, more generally, as a useful tool in the management of BC treatment as an adjuvant to traditional therapies. In this review, we focused our attention on data obtained from human studies analyzing, at each level of disease prevention (i.e., primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary), the positive impact of PA/exercise in ER+ BC, a subtype representing approximately 70% of all BC diagnoses. Moreover, given the importance of estrogen receptors and body composition (i.e., adipose tissue) in this subtype of BC, an overview of their role will also be made throughout this review

evaluation of ovine milk clotting aptitude

A comparative study of the lactodynamographic parameters was carried out on ovine milk. Besides evaluating the repeatability and reproducibility of the analytical method, the influence of some variables such as the genetic type (three breeds), the kind of milk (whole or skimmed), and its concentration after reconstitution (12g or 20g /100 ml) was evaluated. The working plan involved 6 laboratories for the final statistic analyses, by the use of freeze-dried milk samples (adequately reconstituted on the basis of established methods) from Sardinia, Comisana, and Massese ewes. All the considered variability factors showed a highly significant effect (P<0.001) on the lactodynamographic parameters considered. In particular, Massese ewe milk showed the shortest curd speed (k20) and the best coagulum strength (a30 and a45), although clotting time (CT) was the highest one. The same trend was registered for skimmed milk and for the most concentrated one (20g). Repeatability values within laboratories were 96% and 97% for CT and k20, lowering for a30 e a45, (respectively 87% and 85%). Much lower coefficients were found for the among laboratories reproducibility, ranging from a maximum of 58% for CT to a minimum of 18% for k20. The wide variability observed indicates that lactodynamographic parameters are comparable only within the same lab. Further investigation is needed to compare different labs in order to obtain more homogeneous results