First report of the presence of Necrodes littoralis (L.) (Coleoptera: Silphidae) on a human corpse in Italy

The colonization of a human body by Necrodes littoralis (L.) (Coleoptera: Silphidae) is reported for the first time in Italy. This species is both necrophagous and predator of necrophagous fauna. The body colonized by the coleopteran was found indoors, in an advanced decomposition stage, in a suburban area of Cosenza (Calabria, Southern Italy) in November. Insects (adults, puparia and larvae) were collected on and around the body. Puparia and larvae were raised in the laboratory until the adult stage for morphological identification, which was carried out through taxonomical keys. Besides N. littoralis, also the presence of Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy, Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Hydrotaea dentipes (Fabricius) (Diptera: Muscidae), and Creophilus maxillosus (L.) (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) was detected. Necrodes littoralis is a species of forensic interest because it may colonize human and vertebrate corpses and has been reported elsewhere in Europe

Comparative analysis of objective and subjective outcomes of two different intraocular lenses: trifocal and extended range of vision

Objective: To evaluate objective and subjective outcomes after bilateral implantation of two different multifocal intraocular lenses, which correct pseudophakic presbyopia in an adequate and homogeneous population court. Methods and analysis: Fifty patients were evaluated at 3 months after bilateral implantation, at the Eye Clinic of University of Verona and at the Carones Ophthalmology Center Milano, as follows: Tecnis Symfony (25 patients), Alcon PanOptix (25 patients). Main outcomes were uncorrected and best-corrected distance visual acuity (UDVA and BCVA) at 4 m, 60 cm (best distance corrected intermediate visual acuity (BDCIVA) and uncorrected intermediate visual acuity), 40 cm (best distance corrected near visual acuity (BDCNVA) and uncorrected near visual acuity (UNVA)), objective refractive outcome, defocus curve, contrast sensitivity (Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) cut-off), optical quality (Strehl ratio), aberrometry (root mean square RMS 4 mm), subjective quality of life (National Eye Institute Refractive Error Quality of Life score (NEI-RQL-42 score) test). Results: Symfony and PanOptix showed BCVA and UDVA comparable results. Symfony presented significant better outcomes at BDCIVA (p=0.001), while PanOptix showed better performances at BDCNVA and UNVA (p=0.01). Symfony achieved better results in RMS 4 mm (p=0.024) and in MTF cut-off (p=0.041). In the questionnaire NEI-RQL-42, PanOptix presented better scores in 'near vision' and 'spectacles independence', whereas Symfony in 'symptoms' and 'clarity of vision'. Conclusion: Both intraocular lenses are valid options to avoid pseudophakic presbyopia, even though they present different features which make them unique. Symfony allows patients to achieve a better objective and subjective quality of vision and contrast sensitivity; PanOptix provides better outcomes in near vision and spectacles independence requirements

Multi-Criteria Analysis of a Developed Prefabricated Footing System on Reactive Soil Foundation

The need for advancements in residential construction and the hazard induced by the shrink–swell reactive soil movement prompted the development of the prefabricated footing system of this study, which was assessed and compared to a conventional waffle raft using a multi-criteria analysis. The assessment evaluates the structural performance, cost efficiency, and sustainability using finite element modelling, life cycle cost analysis, and life cycle assessment, respectively. The structural performance of the developed prefabricated system was found to have reduced the deformation and cracking by approximately 40%. However, the cost, GHG emission, and embodied energy were higher in the prefabricated footing system due to the greater required amount of concrete and steel than that of the waffle raft. The cost difference between the two systems can be reduced to as low as 6% when prefabricated systems were installed in a highly reactive sites with large floor areas. The life cycle assessment further observed that the prefabricated footing systems consume up to 21% more energy and up to 18% more GHG emissions. These can significantly be compensated by reusing the developed prefabricated footing system, decreasing the GHG emission and energy consumption by 75–77% and 55–59% with respect to that of the waffle raft

Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Nutritionally Relevant Concentrations of Oleuropein and Hydroxytyrosol on Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells: An Age-Related Analysis

: Immunosenescence and inflammaging facilitate the insurgence of chronic diseases. The Mediterranean diet is a non-invasive intervention to improve the chronic low-grade inflammatory status associated with aging. Olive oil oleuropein (OLE) and hydroxytyrosol (HT) demonstrated a controversial modulatory action on inflammation in vitro when tested at concentrations exceeding those detectable in human plasma. We studied the potential anti-inflammatory effects of OLE and HT at nutritionally relevant concentrations on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as regards cell viability, frequency of leukocyte subsets, and cytokine release, performing an age-focused analysis on two groups of subjects: Adult (age 18–64 years) and Senior (age ≥ 65 years). OLE and HT were used alone or as a pre-treatment before challenging PBMCs with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Both polyphenols had no effect on cell viability irrespective of LPS, but 5 µM HT had an LPS-like effect on monocytes, reducing the intermediate subset in Adult subjects. OLE and HT had no effect on LPS-triggered release of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8, but 5 µM HT reduced IL-10 secretion by PBMCs from Adult vs. Senior group. In summary, nutritionally relevant concentrations of OLE and HT elicit no anti-inflammatory effect and influence the frequency of immune cell subsets with age-related different outcomes

Visual field loss and vision-related quality of life in the Italian Primary Open Angle Glaucoma Study

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between visual field (VF) loss, vision-related quality of life (QoL) and glaucoma-related symptoms in a large cohort of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients. POAG patients with or without VF defects or "glaucoma suspect" patients were considered eligible. QoL was assessed using the validated versions of the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) and glaucoma-related symptoms were assessed using the Glaucoma Symptom Scale (GSS). Patients were classified as having VF damage in one eye (VFD-1), both eyes (VFD-2), or neither eye (VFD-0). 3227 patients were enrolled and 2940 were eligible for the analysis. 13.4% of patients were classified in the VFD-0, 23.7% in the VFD-1, and 62.9% in the VFD-2 group. GSS visual symptoms domain (Func-4) and GSS non-visual symptoms domain (Symp-6) scores were similar for the VFD-0 and VFD-1 groups (p = 0.133 and p = 0.834 for Func-4 and Symp-6, respectively). VFD-0 group had higher scores than VFD-2 both in Func-4 (p < 0.001) and Symp-6 domains (p = 0.035). Regarding the NEI-VFQ-25, our data demonstrated that bilateral VF defects are associated with vision-related QoL deterioration, irrespective of visual acuity

Human matrix metalloproteinases: An ubiquitarian class of enzymes involved in several pathological processes

Human matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) belong to the M10 family of the MA clan of endopeptidases. They are ubiquitarian enzymes, structurally characterized by an active site where a Zn(2+) atom, coordinated by three histidines, plays the catalytic role, assisted by a glutamic acid as a general base. Various MMPs display different domain composition, which is very important for macromolecular substrates recognition. Substrate specificity is very different among MMPs, being often associated to their cellular compartmentalization and/or cellular type where they are expressed. An extensive review of the different MMPs structural and functional features is integrated with their pathological role in several types of diseases, spanning from cancer to cardiovascular diseases and to neurodegeneration. It emerges a very complex and crucial role played by these enzymes in many physiological and pathological processes

Utilizzo di Roslyn per l'analisi e il refactoring di codice C#

Microsoft ha introdotto nella versione 2015 di Visual Studio un nuovo compilatore per i linguaggi C# e Visual Basic chiamato Roslyn. Oltre che un compilatore, Roslyn è una piattaforma che mette a disposizione degli sviluppatori servizi per analizzare e modificare progetti .NET, interagire con le varie fasi della compilazione e creare applicazioni per l'analisi e generazione di codice sorgente. Obiettivo della tesi vuole essere lo studio della suddetta piattaforma ed il suo utilizzo nello sviluppo di estensioni per Visual Studio. La tesi si pone pertanto nel contesto delle tecniche di analisi e generazione di codice sorgente. Il lavoro di tesi ha previsto lo sviluppo di due applicazioni facenti uso delle API di Roslyn. La prima applicazione consiste in un analizzatore di codice C# che provvede alla segnalazione di warning riguardanti l'errato utilizzo del costrutto var e all'esplicitazione del tipo relativo. La seconda applicazione riguarda un generatore di codice C# che utilizza i servizi di Roslyn per semplificare e automatizzare la scrittura di codice nel contesto del framework Phoenix. I risultati ottenuti possono essere d'aiuto per un successivo studio della piattaforma Roslyn ed essere usati come punto di partenza per la creazione dei propri applicativi per l'analisi e generazione di codice sorgente

Le vieillissement des contacts entre particules colloïdales et son effet sur la rhéologie des suspensions macroscopiques concentrées

Dense colloidal suspensions (or pastes) constitute a broad class of materials found in areas ranging from environmental systems (e.g. silts, clays), to industry (ceramics, drilling muds, slurries), construction (plaster, cements), foodstuff, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals (toothpaste, medical ceramics). Their most remarkable feature is thixotropy: a slow evolution of their mechanical properties when switching from rest to flow (at fixed density, in the absence of drainage). Thus, their viscosity under flow, or their shear modulus and yield stress at rest, depend both on time and strain history. Thixotropy enables these systems to switch reversibly between solid- and liquid-like states with sharply contrasted properties. At rest, it is usually accompanied with aging---slow, non-exponential dynamics at long times. In recent decades, tremendous progress has been made towards understanding the dynamics of so-called "stabilized" suspensions, in which the formation of interparticle adhesive contacts is fully avoided by tuning inter-particle interactions (via double-layer polarization, or polymer depletion effects). Confocal microscopy was instrumental to such progresses, yet may only be applied to transparent, i.e. nearly index matched, systems, hence is limited to systems in which van der Waals forces are absent. Meanwhile, studies of "non-stabilized" suspensions have tended to focus on very dilute systems (i.e. packing fractions at most a few percent) where a structural evolution (the formation of flocs) could be imaged and thus analyzed, e.g., using light scattering techniques. The tremendous success of these studies has created an observational bias as, today, classical works on suspensions only mention structural dynamics as the root cause of thixotopy. But the pastes of civil and environmental engineering, are dense and generally contain significant concentrations of ions; these screen Coulombic repulsion and allow attractive van der Waals forces to bring particles into solid-solid contacts, which are likely to impact macroscopic properties and their evolution by a number of mechanisms. Indeed, it is well-known that, the macroscopic response of non-colloidal granular materials, is affected by contact friction, which is time- dependent. In cements, the formation of hydrate gels between grains, which determines the late-time strength and mechanical properties of solid concrete, was proposed to play a role in thixotropy. In fact, it remains unclear how solid-solid contacts may affect just the elastic modulus of colloidal systems. By designing an optical trap three-point bending test, Pantina and Furst showed that beams of PMMA and polystyrene particles present a finite flexural modulus, which entails that the contacts formed between particles resist rotation. The flexural modulus of polystyrene particle rods was later shown to evolve in time. These two elements lead us to ask whether the evolution of the contact bending stiffness could be responsible for mechanical aging in pastes, without invoking changes in the network structure. This work aims to investigate the potential existence of a link between contact and macroscopic aging, by combining measurements performed at the particle level, through optical-trap three-point bending tests and confocal microscopy, and at the macroscopic scale, through rheometry. To achieve it, we study the aging behavior of model dense colloidal suspensions composed of silica (SiO2) and PMMA particles suspended in divalent electrolyte aqueous solutions, at moderate concentrations. The use of model ionic systems enables us to carefully control a number of parameters expected to affect the rheology of real suspensions in the dense regime, such as the volume fraction, the size and the shape of the particles and the magnitude of the interactionsLes suspensions (ou pâtes) colloïdales denses constituent une vaste catégorie de matériaux utilisés dans des domaines allant des systèmes environnementaux (tels que les limons, les argiles) à l'industrie (céramique, boues de forage, boues), à la construction (plâtre, ciments), aux produits alimentaires, aux cosmétiques, aux produits pharmaceutiques. Leur caractéristique la plus remarquable est la thixotropie: une lente évolution des propriétés mécaniques lors du passage du repos à l'écoulement (à densité fixe et sains drainage). Ainsi, leur viscosité sous écoulement, ou leur module de cisaillement et leur limite d'élasticité au repos, dépendent à la fois du temps et de l'histoire de chargement. Au repos, nous parlons généralement de vieillissement - une dynamique lente et non exponentielle pour des temps longs. Au cours des dernières décennies, des progrès considérables ont été réalisés dans la compréhension de la dynamique des suspensions dites "stabilisées", dans lesquelles la formation de contacts adhésifs est totalement évitée via la polarisation à double couche ou les effets d'épuisement des polymères. La microscopie confocale a joué un rôle déterminant dans ces progrès, mais ne peut être appliquée qu'aux systèmes transparents, et est donc limitée aux systèmes dans lesquels les forces de van der Waals sont absentes. Pendant ce temps, les études sur les suspensions "non stabilisées" ont eu tendance à se concentrer sur des systèmes très dilués (c.-à-d. quelques pour cent) où une évolution structurelle pourrait être imagée et ainsi analysée, par exemple par diffusion de lumière. L’énorme succès de ces études a créé un biais d’observation dans la mesure où, aujourd’hui, les travaux classiques sur les suspensions ne mentionnent que les dynamiques structurelles comme cause fondamentale de la thixotopie. Mais les pâtes de génie civil et environnemental sont denses et contiennent généralement des concentrations importantes d’ions; ils réduisent la répulsion coulombienne et permettent à des forces de van der Waals attrayantes d'amener des particules dans des contacts solide-solide susceptibles d'avoir un impact sur les propriétés macroscopiques et leur évolution par divers mécanismes. En effet, il est bien connu que la réponse macroscopique de matériaux granulaires non colloïdaux est affectée par le frottement par contact, qui dépend du temps. Dans les ciments, il a été proposé que la formation de gels hydratés entre les grains, qui détermine la résistance et les propriétés mécaniques du béton massif, joue un rôle dans la thixotropie. En fait, on ignore comment les contacts solide-solide peuvent affecter la rhéologie des systèmes colloïdaux. En concevant un test de flexion en trois points à piège optique, Pantina et Furst ont montré que les poutres de particules de PMMA et de polystyrène présentent un module de flexion fini, ce qui implique que les contacts formés entre les particules résistent à la rotation. Le module de flexion des barres de particules de polystyrène s'est ensuite révélé évoluer dans le temps. Ces deux éléments nous amènent à nous demander si l'évolution de la rigidité en flexion des contacts pourrait être responsable du vieillissement mécanique des pâtes, sans provoquer de modification de la structure du réseau. L'objectif de ce travail est d'étudier l'existence potentielle d'un lien entre le contact et le vieillissement macroscopique, en combinant des mesures effectuées au niveau des particules, par des tests de flexion à trois points à piège optique et par microscopie confocale, et à l'échelle macroscopique, par rhéométrie. Pour y parvenir, nous étudions des suspensions denses modèles composées de particules de silice et de PMMA dans des solutions aqueuses. Cela nous permet de bien contrôler un certain nombre de paramètres susceptibles d'affecter la rhéologie des suspensions réelles en régime dense, tels que la fraction volumique, la taille et la forme des particules ainsi que leurs interaction

Successional patterns of the insect fauna on a pig carcass in southern Italy and the role of <i>Crematogaster scutellaris</i> (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) as a carrion invader

AbstractThe sarcosaprophagous fauna plays a key role in organic matter decomposition. Moreover, the biological, ecological and behavioral specificities of the taxa are useful to reconstruct the decay history of a corpse or carcass, often back to the lethal event. Here we report the seasonal succession of the insect fauna on a pig carcass exposed in a rural area in Calabria (southern Italy) during summer 2007 and 2008. The aim is to identify and qualitatively assess the major taxa of forensic importance in this region. The principal fly invaders were Lucilia caesar (L.), L. sericata (Meigen, 1826), Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann, 1819), Sarcophaga (Meigen, 1826) spp. and Amobia (Robineau‐Desvoidy, 1830) spp., Musca domestica (L.) and Muscina stabulans (Fallen, 1817). The primary beetle species collected in summer belonged to Dermestidae, Dermestes maculatus (De Geer, 1774) and Cleridae, Necrobia rufipes (De Geer, 1775). This paper also examined the ecological role of ants in the insect succession and describes the evidence of skin injuries directly inflicted by the acrobat ant Crematogaster (Acrocoelia) scutellaris (Olivier, 1791) (Hymenoptera Formicidae) while feeding on pig carrion. Ants belonging to two other species were also collected: Camponotus aethiops (Latreille, 1798) and Tetramorium semilaeve (André, 1881). Ants can invade carcasses and corpses directly, disrupting blowfly egg laying or preying on their larvae. Our data on the carrion faunal composition and role of ants as invaders should be useful for further forensic cases in Calabria (southern Italy). This is among the few reports of ants as forensically relevant species