NETWORK THROUGH CENTURIES: FROM THE BYZANTINE ERA TO PRESENT DAYS

Over the centuries, the Roman Empire enlarge and restrict its borders, as a consequence of many factors, like different emperor’s policies, wars and conquests.In a general view, we can identify them and we can consider the Danubian Limes as one of the most important one.This Limes was mostly characterized by the fact that it was corresponded with the path of the Danube river, from Germany till the Black Sea.Those lands, through centuries, were always threaten by the risk of barbarians’ incursions and this is the reason why the Danubian Limes had always been considered as a fragile border.During the sixth century, in the midst Byzantine Era, Justinian the I was the first emperor able to consider the problem of the military protection not even “site by site”. He felt the need of an (absolutely modern) idea of considering the limes as a network of sites, who need each other to guarantee a strong and efficient result.Speaking about the architectonical choices, the system of military camps and fortress starts to change its identity, becoming cities with specific relations.Focusing on the case study of Serbia, the aim of the work is to map the specific location of each archaeological site, trying to use this network as an index of places. The research would like to highlight the important value of those sites as Cultural Heritage, considering the necessity of their preservation and valorization as historical evidence in a new European and common scenario.</p

A Constraint Solver for Flexible Protein Models

This paper proposes the formalization and implementation of a novel class of constraints aimed at modeling problems related to placement of multi-body systems in the 3-dimensional space. Each multi-body is a system composed of body elements, connected by joint relationships and constrained by geometric properties. The emphasis of this investigation is the use of multi-body systems to model native conformations of protein structures---where each body represents an entity of the protein (e.g., an amino acid, a small peptide) and the geometric constraints are related to the spatial properties of the composing atoms. The paper explores the use of the proposed class of constraints to support a variety of different structural analysis of proteins, such as loop modeling and structure prediction. The declarative nature of a constraint-based encoding provides elaboration tolerance and the ability to make use of any additional knowledge in the analysis studies. The filtering capabilities of the proposed constraints also allow to control the number of representative solutions that are withdrawn from the conformational space of the protein, by means of criteria driven by uniform distribution sampling principles. In this scenario it is possible to select the desired degree of precision and/or number of solutions. The filtering component automatically excludes configurations that violate the spatial and geometric properties of the composing multi-body system. The paper illustrates the implementation of a constraint solver based on the multi-body perspective and its empirical evaluation on protein structure analysis problems

Brillouin scattering of phonons in complex materials

Initially, the theory of propagation of long-wavelength acoustic phonons and Brillouin scattering of laser light in condensed matter is concisely summarized. Then, the case of two relevant classes of complex materials in which Brillouin scattering can be measured is reviewed. First, in lowdensity, low-dimensional, disordered materials, the crossover between confinement and propagation is discussed on the basis of experimental findings. Moreover, the possibility of measuring the local mechanical properties of these materials at the mesoscale by Brillouin scattering is critically discussed. Second the application of Brillouin scattering to biological materials, a rather hot topic, is presented

A two-step immunomagnetic microbead-based method for the isolation of human primary skin telocytes/CD34+ stromal cells

Telocytes (TCs), commonly referred to as TCs/CD34+ stromal cells, are a peculiar type of interstitial cells with distinctive morphologic traits that are supposed to exert several biological functions, including tissue homeostasis regulation, cell-to-cell signaling, immune surveillance, and reparative/regenerative effects. At present, the majority of studies investigating these cells are mainly descriptive and focus only on their morphology, with a consequent paucity of functional data. To gain relevant insight into the possible functions of TCs, in vitro analyses are clearly required, but currently, the protocols for TC isolation are only at the early stages and not fully standardized. In the present in vitro study, we describe a novel methodology for the purification of human primary skin TCs through a two-step immunomagnetic microbead-based cell separation (i.e., negative selection for CD31 followed by positive selection for CD34) capable of discriminating these cells from other connective tissue-resident cells on the basis of their different immunophenotypic features. Our experiments clearly demonstrated that the proposed method allows a selective purification of cells exhibiting the peculiar TC morphology. Isolated TCs displayed very long cytoplasmic extensions with a moniliform silhouette (telopodes) and presented an immunophenotypic profile (CD31&minus;/CD34+/PDGFR&alpha;+/vimentin+) that unequivocally differentiates them from endothelial cells (CD31+/CD34+/PDGFR&alpha;&minus;/vimentin+) and fibroblasts (CD31&minus;/CD34&minus;/PDGFR&alpha;+/vimentin+). This novel methodology for the isolation of TCs lays the groundwork for further research aimed at elucidating their functional properties and possible translational applications, especially in the field of regenerative medicine

One-dimensional fermionic systems after interaction quenches and their description by bosonic field theories

We show that the dynamics of quenches in one dimension far off equilibrium can be described by power laws, but with exponents differing from the fully renormalized ones at lowest energies. Instead they depend on the initial state and its excitation energy. Furthermore, we found that for quenches to strong interactions unexpected similarities between systems in one and in infinite dimensions occur, indicating the dominance of local processes.Comment: This is a distinctly revised version which is focussed on the description of the dynamics by bosonization technique

Impact of Age and Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate on the Glycemic Efficacy and Safety of Canagliflozin: A Pooled Analysis of Clinical Studies.

AbstractObjectiveReduced efficacy has been reported in the elderly; it may be a consequence of an age-dependent decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) rather than ageing per se. We sought to determine the impact of these 2 parameters, as well as sex and baseline body mass index (BMI), on the efficacy and safety of canagliflozin, a sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor, in people with type 2 diabetes.MethodsData were pooled from 6 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies (18 or 26 weeks; N=4053). Changes in glycated hemoglobin (A1C) and systolic blood pressure (BP) from baseline with canagliflozin 100 mg and 300 mg and placebo were evaluated in subgroups by sex, baseline BMI, baseline age and baseline eGFR. Safety was assessed by reports of adverse events.ResultsPlacebo-subtracted reductions in A1C with canagliflozin 100 mg and 300 mg were similar in men and women. A1C reductions with canagliflozin were seen across BMI subgroups and in participants aged <65 years and ≥65 years. Significantly greater placebo-subtracted reductions in A1C were seen with both canagliflozin doses in participants with higher baseline eGFR (≥90 mL/min/1.73 m2). Reductions in systolic BP were seen with canagliflozin across subgroups of sex, BMI, age and eGFR. A1C reductions with canagliflozin were similar for participants aged <65 or ≥65 years who had baseline eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and were smaller in older than in younger participants with baseline eGFR 45 to <60 mL/min/1.73 m2. The overall incidence of adverse events was similar across treatment groups regardless of sex, baseline BMI, baseline age or baseline eGFR.ConclusionsCanagliflozin improved glycemic control, reduced BP and was generally well tolerated in people with type 2 diabetes across a range of ages, BMIs and renal functions

Quantum quench dynamics of the sine-Gordon model in some solvable limits

In connection with the the thermalization problem in isolated quantum systems, we investigate the dynamics following a quantum quench of the sine-Gordon model in the Luther-Emery and the semiclassical limits. We consider the quench from the gapped to the gapless phase as well as reversed one. By obtaining analytic expressions for the one and two-point correlation functions of the order parameter operator at zero-temperature, the manifestations of integrability in the absence of thermalization in the sine-Gordon model are studied. It is thus shown that correlations in the long time regime after the quench are well described by a generalized Gibbs ensemble. We also consider the case where the system is initially in contact with a reservoir at finite temperature. The possible relevance of our results to current and future experiments with ultracold atomic systems is also critically considered.Comment: 21 pages, no figures. To appear in New J. Phys

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF receptors in diabetic nephropathy: expression studies in biopsies of type 2 diabetic patients.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy but its role in diabetic nephropathy is only speculative so far. It has been shown that in renal cortex of normal kidneys, glomerular and tubular epithelial cells express VEGF and that VEGF 165 is the predominant isoform. Two VEGF receptors, KDR (kinase domain region) and Flt-1 (fms-like tyrosine kinase) are co-expressed by glomerular and peritubular capillary endothelial cells. However, VEGF and VEGF receptors are predominantly expressed at glomerular level. We recently demonstrated that in type 2 diabetic patients glomerular qualitative and quantitative changes of VEGF mRNA expression are associated with functional and structural renal changes. In the present work we focused on the tubulo-interstitial compartment; by reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction (RT/PCR) we evaluated the expression of VEGF, KDR, Flt-1 and the relationship between the two main type of VEGF isoforms, VEGF121 and VEGF165 in the tubulo-interstitium of type 2 diabetic patients. Patients were divided in three category on the basis of renal structure pattern: CI, with normal or near normal renal structure; CII, with glomerular and tubulo-interstitial lesions occurring in parallel (typical diabetic nephropathology); CIII, with atypical pattern of renal injury, i.e., more severe tubulo-interstitial and vascular than glomerular changes. Comparison between the two cortical compartments revealed that, both in glomeruli and in tubulo-interstitium. VEGF121 isoform exceed VEGF165 while Flt-1 was significantly lower in glomeruli. CIII patients had the lowest tubulo-interstitial level of VEGF and Flt-1 mRNAs. These results suggest that the transcriptional shifting from VEGF165 to VEGF121 isoform and the unbalanced FIt-1 expression between tubulo-interstitium and glomeruli could be involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. Furthermore, at least in CIII patients, down-regulation of the VEGF-Flt-1 system could be involved in the mechanisms leading to tubulointerstitial diabetic lesions

Immunolocalization of Nesfatin-1 in the Gastrointestinal Tract of the Common Bottlenose Dolphin Tursiops truncatus

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Nesfatin-1 (Nesf-1) is a neuropeptide that plays important roles in regulating food intake, mainly related to its anorexigenic effect, and it is mainly distributed in the digestive systems of all vertebrates. With this study, we expand knowledge on the localization of Nesf-1 in the digestive tract of an aquatic mammalian species, the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), allowing comparative study on terrestrial mammals. Dolphin tissue samples (three gastric chambers and intestine) were provided by the Mediterranean Marine Mammal Tissue Bank of the Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science of the University of Padova (Italy). ABSTRACT: First identified as an anorexigenic peptide, in the last decades, several studies have suggested that Nesfatin-1 (Nesf-1) is a pleiotropic hormone implicated in numerous regulatory processes in peripheral organs and tissues. In vertebrates, Nesf-1 is indeed expressed in the central nervous system and peripheral organs. In this study, we characterized the pattern of Nesf-1 distribution within the digestive tract of the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), composed of three gastric chambers and an intestine without a clear subdivision in the small and large intestine, also lacking a caecum. Our results indicated that Nesf-1 is widely distributed in cells of the mucosal epithelium of the gastric chambers. Most of the immunoreactivity was observed in the second chamber, compared to the first and third chambers. Immunopositivity was also found in nerve fibers and neurons, scattered or/and clustered in ganglion structures along all the examined gastrointestinal tracts. These observations add new data on the highly conserved role of Nesf-1 in the mammalian digestive system