New insight into the Pleistocene deposits of Monte delle Piche, Rome, and remarks on the biochronology of Hippopotamus (Mammalia, Hippopotamidae) and Stephanorhinus etruscus (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) in Italy

Several large mammal assemblages have been collected in the Roman basin since the XIX century, but they usually lack any stratigraphic datum or details about the fossiliferous localities. In this work, the stratigraphic provenance of large mammal remains discovered at Monte delle Piche (Rome) is investigated. The systematic revision of these specimens allows the recording of the presence of Hippopotamus sp., Stephanorhinus sp. and Stephanorhinus etruscus. On the basis of micropalaeontological analysis performed on sediment sampled from the studied specimens and considering the stratigraphy of the area, two fossiliferous levels are recognised at Monte delle Piche. The remain of the hippopotamus was collected in fluvial gravels and sand deposits, in which the presence of Cyprideis is also recorded. This deposit is chronologically related to the latest Early-early Middle Pleistocene. Hippopotamus was present in Italy and Western Europe from the latest Villafranchian to MIS 4/3. The mandible of S. etruscus was collected in marine deposits along with abundant foraminifera and ostracods, which correlate with the late Early Pleistocene. Stephanorhinus etruscus occurred in Western Europe at the beginning of the Villafranchian, and it was documented until the end of the Villafranchian in Italy and until the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition in the Iberian Peninsula

Finite-Size and Illumination Conditions Effects in All-Dielectric Metasurfaces

Dielectric metasurfaces have emerged as a promising alternative to their plasmonic counterparts due to lower ohmic losses, which hinder sensing applications and nonlinear frequency conversion, and their larger flexibility to shape the emission pattern in the visible regime. To date, the computational cost of full-wave numerical simulations has forced the exploitation of the Floquet theorem, which implies infinitely periodic structures, in designing such devices. In this work, we show the potential pitfalls of this approach when considering finite-size metasurfaces and beam-like illumination conditions, in contrast to the typical infinite plane-wave illumination compatible with the Floquet theorem

Benthic foraminifera as environmental indicators in extreme environments. The marine cave of Bue Marino (Sardinia, Italy)

The coast of the Gulf of Orosei (Sardinia, Italy) consists of impressive cliffs set up on dolostones and limestones characterized by wide karst systems connected to the sea. Marine caves, which are part of these system flooded by seawater through marine entrances, may be considered as extreme environments because of wide spatial and temporal environmental variability due to changing marine and terrestrial contributions. This study presents the results of the third survey carried out in summer 2016 in the Bue Marino cave, as part of a research project started in 2014 aimed at the application of Benthic Foraminifera (BF) as ecological indicators in Mediterranean marine caves for the identification of different habitats and their environmental interpretation. Sediment and water samples were collected from a total of 25 stations from two distinct sectors of the cave (North Branch and Middle Branch); sediments were analysed for living and dead BF and grain size, while Temperature, Salinity, pH and Dissolved Oxygen were measured in water samples collected close to sediment water interface. Two main foraminiferal assemblages, with distinct characteristics with respect to the typical Mediterranean shallow-water ones, were recognized by means of Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling, and a Canonical Correspondence Analysis deduced their environmental significance. A well oxygenated, less saline environment with coarse bottom sediment, correlated with a mixed calcareous-agglutinated assemblage (Gavelinopsis praegeri, Rosalina spp., Eggerelloides advenus and Reophax dentaliniformis) with high species diversity (H-index 2.32–3.57) and low foraminiferal density, was exclusive of the North Branch. A scarcely oxygenated, more saline environment with fine bottom sediment enriched in vegetal debris was related to a prevalently agglutinated assemblage characterized by low species diversity (H-index 1.60–2.68), with high dominance of E. advenus (up to 83.6%) associated to Ammonia tepida, and high foraminiferal density, recognized in the Middle Branch. These different environments were interpreted considering the different modes of feeding the karst systems of the two branches. They also corresponded to two distinct ecozones, Entrance and Confluence, already recognized in earlier studies. The environmental significance of the foraminiferal ecozones recognized in this study and their comparison with the ones identified in the previous years, helped to consider the ecological zonation as a tool for detecting seasonal and, possibly, long term annual environmental variability in the marine system

ORAL LESIONS DUE TO ACINETOBACTER BAUMANNII INFECTION IN A PATIENT AFFECTED BY AUTOIMMUNE HEMOLYTIC ANEMIA (AIHA): FIRST CLINICAL REPORT

Aim. Acinetobacter Baumannii (coming from the Greek “akinetos,” i.e. non-motile) is an opportunistic bacterial pathogen primarily associated with hospital-acquired infections. Commonly associated with aquatic environments, A. Baumannii easily contaminates the surrounding environment and it colonizes acute ill patients in which can survive for several days. Generally, A. Baumannii is able to damage mucous membranes or exposed skin after accident or injury; it may be responsible of many diseases such as pneumonia, bacteremia, meningitis, urinary tract infections, peritonitis and infections of skin and soft tissues. Tissues infected by A. Baumannii initially present “orange peel” appearance followed by sandpaper-like presentation, when there is a disruption, hemorrhagic bullae can be seen with a visible necrotizing process followed by bacteremia. Current therapy is based on intravenous administration of tigecycline 100-200 mg (first dose) and 50-100 mg every 12 h for up to 14 days, unless complications. If untreated, this infection can lead to septicemia and death. The mortality rate of this infection is high, especially in case of bacteremia (52%) and pneumonia (23–73%). A. Baumannii is resistant to many drugs and represents an important nosocomial pathogen that particularly infects critically ill patients. At the best of our knowledge, no case of oral infection has been reported. to present the first one case characterized by oral soft tissue infection due to A. Baumannii responsive to imipenem. Materials and methods. a 78 years male was hospitalized in August of 2013 at the Hematology unit of the A.O.U.P. “P. Giaccone” of Palermo with a diagnosis of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA). He was treated per os with corticosteroids (Prednisone) and immunosuppressants (Rituximab and Cyclophosphamide), also IVIG (Intra Venous Immuno-Globulin) was administreted. In November 2013, the patient was treated with piperacillin IV (Tazocin) for treating an urinary tract infection; four days after, multiple oral ulcerative bullous lesions on the lingual and buccal mucosa and crusted lesions on the lip vermilion appeared, associated with intense pain. An oral swab for bacteria research was carried out; topical therapy (chlorhexidine rinses and hyaluronic acid gel) has been prescribed and piperacillin therapy was stopped. Oral swab outcome resulted positive for A. Baumannii and Enterococcus Faecalis, both sensitive only to imipenem, that was administrated (500 mg IV every 8h) for 10 days. The patient was immediately isolated in a single room for preventing and controlling the spread of A. Baumannii. Results. From diagnosis, every 3 days clinical examination of the oral cavity was performed, revealing the progressive regression within thirty days until complete healing without leaving scars. After, a second oral swab confirmed the absence of any bacteria. Conclusions. The World Health Organization has recently identified antimicrobial resistance as one of the three most important problems facing human health and among the most common and serious pathogens, including A. Baumannii. It is an emerging potentially drug-resistant micro-organism and its isolation must alert physicians to carry on all preventive measures for avoiding contamination of other patients, especially those immunosuppressed, at risk for severe persistent infections or death. This precaution should be continued for all the duration of hospitalization and until the negativization of culture samples was obtained. It is important that physicians and dentists recognize suspicious lesions in unusual locations, such as oral mucosa, in absence of other known etiological factors in a timely manner before the diffusion among other patients in order to avoid the spread of a nosocomial outbreak

Loose Leaf Lettuce Quality Grown in Two Production Systems

Horticultural crops have a strong impact on human nutrition. Lettuce is the most important leafy vegetable in Argentina and it is cultivated mainly in green belts, in greenhouses or open field. The aim of this study was to evaluate growth and phytonutrients concentration of leaf lettuce under greenhouse and field production. Crop establishment was made from seedlings produced in a commercial greenhouse. Loose lettuce cv. Brisa was used for field and greenhouse growth. Experimental design with complete random block with 4 replicates per treatment was used. Fresh and dry weights of shoot, number of leaves, color, ascorbic acid, chlorophyll content were measured. Absolute and relative growth rate and commercial yield were calculated. Lettuce grown under greenhouse system showed, as expected, a higher value of fresh and dry weight, number of leaves, leaf area, yield and absolute and relative growth rate. Ascorbic acid value of the leaves decreased during lettuce growth in both production systems. Chlorophyll content was higher in the greenhouse cultivation but the antioxidant capacity was lower in lettuce leaves from greenhouse than the leaves grown on open field

Survivin expression in ovarian cancer

Aim: To examine the expression of survivin in benign ovarian tumors, ovarian carcinomas of different stages. Methods: We screened the expression of survivin mRNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in 114 ovarian tissue samples. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to estimate survivin mRNA levels in the samples with positive survivin expression. Results: No survivin mRNA was expressed in all normal ovarian specimens, while it appeared in 73% of ovarian carcinomas, 47% of borderline ovarian carcinomas and 19% of benign ovarian tumors. The survivin mRNA expression rate was positively associated with clinical stage (P = 0.026) and differentiation grade (P = 0.049). There was notably statistically significant difference in the survivin mRNA expression rate dependent on different histological types (serous, mucinous, endometrioid, P = 0.008), but not – dependent on lymph node metastasis (P = 0.921) and ascites (P = 0.87). In tissues with positive expression of survivin, we also found that mean survivin mRNA expression levels were higher in ovarian carcinomas than that in benign ovarian tumors and borderline ovarian carcinoma tissues (P < 0.001). Among ovarian carcinomas, the high survivin mRNA expression levels correlated with the clinical stages, differentiation grade, lymph node metastasis, but not — with ascites and histological type. Conclusion: Our study suggest that survivin is associated with progression of ovarian carcinoma.Цель: исследовать экспрессию сурвивина в доброкачественных и злокачественных новообразованиях яичника. Методы: экспрессия мРНК сурвивина исследована методом RT-PCR в 114 образах ткани яичника человека. Для установления уровня экспресии мРНК сурвивина применяли количественный PCR в режиме реального времени. Результаты: экспрессия мРНК сурвивина не выявлена в образцах нормальной ткани яичника, но зарегистрирована в 73% случаев рака яичника, 47% случаев серозных опухолей яичника серозного типа и 19% образцов доброкачественных опухолей. Установлена положительная зависимость между уровнем экспрессии мРНК сурвивина и клинической стадией заболевания (P = 0,026), и степенью дифференцировки опухоли (P = 0,049). Выявлена статистически значимая зависимость уровня экспрессии мРНК сурвивина от гистологического типа опухоли (серозного, мукозного, эндометриоидного, P = 0,008) и отсутствие таковой от наличия метастазов в лимфатических узлах (P = 0.921) или асцита (P = 0.87). Также установлено, что средние уровни экспрессии мРНК сурвивина выше при раке яичника, чем в ткани доброкачественных новобразований или серозных опухолей яичника пограничного типа (P < 0,001). При раке яичника высокий уровень экспрессии мРНК сурвивина коррелировал с клинической стадией заболевания, степенью дифференцировки опухолевых клеток, но не коррелировал с гистологическим типом новообразования. Выводы: результаты свидетельствуют о том, что экспрессия сурвивина ассоциирована с прогрессией рака яичника. Ключевые слова: сурвивин, рак яичника, опухолевая прогрессия

NaNet: a Low-Latency, Real-Time, Multi-Standard Network Interface Card with GPUDirect Features

While the GPGPU paradigm is widely recognized as an effective approach to high performance computing, its adoption in low-latency, real-time systems is still in its early stages. Although GPUs typically show deterministic behaviour in terms of latency in executing computational kernels as soon as data is available in their internal memories, assessment of real-time features of a standard GPGPU system needs careful characterization of all subsystems along data stream path. The networking subsystem results in being the most critical one in terms of absolute value and fluctuations of its response latency. Our envisioned solution to this issue is NaNet, a FPGA-based PCIe Network Interface Card (NIC) design featuring a configurable and extensible set of network channels with direct access through GPUDirect to NVIDIA Fermi/Kepler GPU memories. NaNet design currently supports both standard - GbE (1000BASE-T) and 10GbE (10Base-R) - and custom - 34~Gbps APElink and 2.5~Gbps deterministic latency KM3link - channels, but its modularity allows for a straightforward inclusion of other link technologies. To avoid host OS intervention on data stream and remove a possible source of jitter, the design includes a network/transport layer offload module with cycle-accurate, upper-bound latency, supporting UDP, KM3link Time Division Multiplexing and APElink protocols. After NaNet architecture description and its latency/bandwidth characterization for all supported links, two real world use cases will be presented: the GPU-based low level trigger for the RICH detector in the NA62 experiment at CERN and the on-/off-shore data link for KM3 underwater neutrino telescope

High-speed data transfer with FPGAs and QSFP+ modules

We present test results and characterization of a data transmission system based on a last generation FPGA and a commercial QSFP+ (Quad Small Form Pluggable +) module. QSFP+ standard defines a hot-pluggable transceiver available in copper or optical cable assemblies for an aggregated bandwidth of up to 40 Gbps. We implemented a complete testbench based on a commercial development card mounting an Altera Stratix IV FPGA with 24 serial transceivers at 8.5 Gbps, together with a custom mezzanine hosting three QSFP+ modules. We present test results and signal integrity measurements up to an aggregated bandwidth of 12 Gbps.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Published on JINST Journal of Instrumentation proceedings of Topical Workshop on Electronics for Particle Physics 2010, 20-24 September 2010, Aachen, Germany(R Ammendola et al 2010 JINST 5 C12019

Spaceship Earth. Space-driven technologies and systems for sustainability on ground

As awareness towards the problem is growing, eco-friendliness is today a paramount requirement for all space activities and in particular for the ground segment, fully comparable to other industrial sectors. The present work focuses on the assessment and the sustainable development enhancement of a ground-based space facility, the European Astronaut Centre (EAC), located in Germany. The project is framed within the European Space Agency development of an environmental outlook, which aims not only at the full compliance with the legislation and at assessing the impact of its activities, but also at laying the foundation for future evolution through innovation. Indeed, ESA promotes the sustainable use of space as a necessity and duty for Europe. As history teaches us, technical knowledge emerged within the space sector serves as innovation driver in other industrial branches: the goal of the project is to transform the EAC building into a spaceship integrated with the territory through the conscious management of this spontaneous process, fostering the combination between the space sector and the architecture and civil engineering fields. The work explores the potential of space technologies, processes and systems applied on ground and presents a range of space-driven innovative concepts which may improve the sustainability of the EAC building, focusing on different aspects of its resource demand – energy, water and waste management – and defining the integration with the pre-existing compound, the limitation of the impact on the surrounding landscape and the participation of the local community as additional fundamental requirements. Indeed, the project embraces the full concept of sustainability, which considers not only eco-friendliness but also its balance with economic and social aspects. Two factors – a certain urgency for action, which leaves little space for research and experimentation, and a call for ground-breaking solutions – guided the design activity: taking advantage of these conflicting requirements, a comparison between standard technologies and innovative space-related concepts was performed. When dealing with complex and uncertain scenarios, decision among the possible solutions is not straightforward and needs to be supported by appropriate methodologies: a multi-criteria and quantitative decision-making tool, able to concentrate on the main goal while considering all other relevant aspects – environmental, economic, social sustainability – was therefore developed. Furthermore, the project promotes local community participation in the decisional process, as a way to enhance knowledge, generate understanding and promote towards the EAC redesign, space activities and their potential innovative impact on sustainability

Benthic foraminiferal assemblages and rhodolith facies evolution in post-LGM sediments from the Pontine Archipelago shelf (Central Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)

The seabed of the Pontine Archipelago (Tyrrhenian Sea) insular shelf is peculiar as it is characterized by a mixed siliciclastic–carbonate sedimentation. In order to reconstruct the Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental evolution of the Pontine Archipelago, this study investigates the succession of facies recorded by two sediment cores. For this purpose, benthic foraminifera and rhodoliths assemblages were considered. The two cores (post-Last Glacial Maximum in age) were collected at 60 (CS1) and 122 m (Caro1) depth on the insular shelf off Ponza Island. The paleontological data were compared with seismo-stratigraphic and lithological evidence. The cores show a deepening succession, with a transition from a basal rhodolith-rich biodetritic coarse sand to the surface coralline-barren silty sand. This transition is more evident along core Caro1 (from the bottom to the top), collected at a deeper water depth than CS1. In support of this evidence, along Caro1 was recorded a fairly constant increase in the amount of planktonic foraminiferal and a marked change in benthic foraminiferal assemblages (from Asterigerinata mamilla and Lobatula lobatula assemblage to Cassidulina carinata assemblage). Interestingly, the dating of the Caro1 bottom allowed us to extend to more than 13,000 years BP the rhodolith record in the Pontine Archipelago, indicating the possible presence of an active carbonate factory at that time