THE BOUNDARY ALPINE LANDSCAPE FROM HISTORICAL MAPS TO GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS: CASE STUDY OF THE CONTADO OF ARCO (TN)

Il presente lavoro costituisce il frutto di una collaborazione interdisciplinare nata nell’ambito del progetto APSAT (Ambiente e Paesaggi dei Siti d’Altura Trentini, coordinato dal prof. G. P. Brogiolo dell’Università di Padova) fra le unità di ricerca di geografia storica e archeologia. Il contributo si propone di leggere l’evoluzione/mutamento delle dinamiche territoriali caratterizzanti il paesaggio alpino di confine dell’antico Contado di Arco, a partire dalla disamina di un documento cartografico tardo seicentesco correlato a fonti documentali coeve e tematicamente connesse. Dall’analisi documentale e cartografica vengono sviluppate le prime considerazioni critiche sulla “narrazione” del tema confinario nelle fonti geo-storiche. In seguito, viene operata l’analisi comparata con cartografie dei secoli successivi, con ortofoto a colori e all'infrarosso, oltre che con scansioni LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) che restituiscono il microrilievo locale. Tutti questi strumenti saranno integrati all'interno di un sistema informativo geografico (GIS), creando una piattaforma virtuale multitemporale che ci consentirà di impostare un'analisi telerilevata del territorio in questione. Essa renderà possibile una ricostruzione diacronica dell'evoluzione del paesaggio, con l’obiettivo di leggere ed interpretare il confine sia in chiave retrospettiva che prospettica. L'integrazione disciplinare si palesa, quindi, fondamentale ai fini dell’individuazione di siti/sedi scomparse, di definizione cronologica e funzionale dei moduli dell’architettura rurale, di riscoperta del patrimonio toponomastico locale, di ricostruzione dell’uso dei suoli e della viabilità storica, infine, di riemersione dei valori identitari. Tale convergenza metodologica potrebbe rivelarsi estremamente fruttuosa nella prospettiva di una gestione consapevole delle risorse e di una pianificazione sostenibile del territorio a scale diverse.This paper is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration that has started within the APSAT Project (Ambiente e Paesaggi dei Siti d'Altura Trentini; director Prof. G. P. Brogiolo, University of Padova), between the research unit of historical geography and that of archaeology. This paper aims to read the evolution/changing of territorial dynamics of the boundary Alpine landscape of the ancient Contado di Arco (TN), starting from the analysis of a late XVIIth – early XVIIIth century large scale historical map linked to contemporary documents. From this analysis first reflections about the “narration” of the boundary subject on historical geography sources have been developed. Then, a compared analysis with later cartography, as well as with aerial photographies and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) images that show the local morphology, has been carried out. All these instruments have been integrated inside a Geographical Information System (GIS), and a virtual multi-temporal platform has been created, as it is useful to implement a remote- sensing analysis of the studied territory. This will allow a diachronic reconstruction of the evolution of landscape, with the purpose of reading and interpreting the border in a retrospective and prospective way. The subject integration has then shown its importance in order to find out archaeological sites, to interpret function and chronology of rural architecture features, to re-discover the local thoponyms, to reconstruct land-use and historical roads, as well as to reinterpret the identitary values of landscape. This integration is supposed to be very fruitful, especially to manage the local resources and to propose a sustainable planning of the territory, with a multiple scale approach

Cues to opening mechanisms from in silico electric field excitation of cx26 hemichannel and in vitro mutagenesis studies in HeLa transfectans

Connexin channels play numerous essential roles in virtually every organ by mediating solute exchange between adjacent cells, or between cytoplasm and extracellular milieu. Our understanding of the structure-function relationship of connexin channels relies on X-ray crystallographic data for human connexin 26 (hCx26) intercellular gap junction channels. Comparison of experimental data and molecular dynamics simulations suggests that the published structures represent neither fully-open nor closed configurations. To facilitate the search for alternative stable configurations, we developed a coarse grained (CG) molecular model of the hCx26 hemichannel and studied its responses to external electric fields. When challenged by a field of 0.06 V/nm, the hemichannel relaxed toward a novel configuration characterized by a widened pore and an increased bending of the second transmembrane helix (TM2) at the level of the conserved Pro87. A point mutation that inhibited such transition in our simulations impeded hemichannel opening in electrophysiology and dye uptake experiments conducted on HeLa tranfectants. These results suggest that the hCx26 hemichannel uses a global degree of freedom to transit between different configuration states, which may be shared among the whole connexin family

Distanze euclidee e superfici di costo in ambiente montano: applicazione di Grass e R a diversa scala in ambito trentino

The first archaeological spatial analyses were bidimensional and they didn’t take into account the environmental and morphological characteristics that might influence the length of paths or the spatial relationships between features. This approach is particularly misleading in a mountain environment where the difference in altitude between two points in the landscape is more constrictive than the “air distance”. Though the current technological means allow us to deal with these methodological issues, there are still a lot of studies that calculate the distance between two features as the simple minimum distance between two points. In this paper two archaeological case studies from Trentino province are proposed, in order to verify if the linear distances are so misleading in an Alpine environment, as previously suggested. The first one is a medium-scale case study (the whole Trentino), where the linear distances from locations have been compared with the least cost paths. The second one is a big-scale case study (Val di Fiemme), where the linear distances and the morphology- calibrated distances between upland pastoral sites (malghe) and upland lakes have been statistically evaluated. These two examples have confirmed that, in a mountain environment (and at regional scale), the interpretation of movements and spatial relationships in an “euclidean” framework is fundamentally incorrect. Therefore, they suggest that the cost-surface estimation of a sample area is an unavoidable step for the interpretation of mobility and settlement strategies in the Alps

A Human-Derived Monoclonal Antibody Targeting Extracellular Connexin Domain Selectively Modulates Hemichannel Function

Connexin hemichannels, which are plasma membrane hexameric channels (connexons) composed of connexin protein protomers, have been implicated in a host of physiological processes and pathological conditions. A number of single point pathological mutations impart a "leaky" character to the affected hemichannels, i.e., make them more active or hyperactive, suggesting that normal physiological condition could be recovered using selective hemichannel inhibitors. Recently, a human-derived monoclonal antibody named abEC1.1 has been shown to inhibit both wild type and hyperactive hemichannels composed of human (h) connexin 26 (hCx26) subunits. The aims of this work were (1) to characterize further the ability of abEC1.1 to selectively modulate connexin hemichannel function and (2) to assess its in vitro stability in view of future translational applications. In silico analysis of abEC1.1 interaction with the hCx26 hemichannel identified critically important extracellular domain amino acids that are conserved in connexin 30 (hCx30) and connexin 32 (hCx32). Patch clamp experiments performed in HeLa DH cells confirmed the inhibition efficiency of abEC1.1 was comparable for hCx26, hCx30 and hCx32 hemichannels. Of note, even a single amino acid difference in the putative binding region reduced drastically the inhibitory effects of the antibody on all the other tested hemichannels, namely hCx30.2/31.3, hCx30.3, hCx31, hCx31.1, hCx37, hCx43 and hCx45. Plasma membrane channels composed of pannexin 1 were not affected by abEC1.1. Finally, size exclusion chromatography assays showed the antibody does not aggregate appreciably in vitro. Altogether, these results indicate abEC1.1 is a promising tool for further translational studies

Etnoarcheologia dei paesaggi alpini di alta quota nelle Alpi occidentali: un bilancio preliminare

The study of the interaction between human groups and mountain environment is crucial for archaeological research. Ethnoarchaeology contributes the analysis of this interaction in modern and contemporary contexts, aimed at creating analogical models for interpreting the past and understanding human strategies in historical and modern periods. The EthWAL project (Ethnoarchaeology of Western Alpine upland Landscapes), started in 2013, and aims to be a reference for the study of human activities in the alpine uplands during the modern and contemporary age. This is a multidisciplinary (associating archaeological methods to ethnography, historiography, spatial analysis and soil analysis) and multiscalar project (small to large scale). Specific attention is given to traditional pastoral huts. The results of this project will be useful for archaeology and contribute to the management of cultural heritage in high altitude landscapes

Transient Effects of Snow Cover Duration on Primary Growth and Leaf Traits in a Tundra Shrub

With the recent climate warming, tundra ecotones are facing a progressive acceleration of spring snowpack melting and extension of the growing season, with evident consequences to vegetation. Along with summer temperature, winter precipitation has been recently recognised as a crucial factor for tundra shrub growth and physiology. However, gaps of knowledge still exist on long-living plant responses to different snowpack duration, especially on how intra-specific and year-to-year variability together with multiple functional trait adjustments could influence the long-term responses. To fill this gap, we conducted a 3 years snow manipulation experiment above the Alpine treeline on the typical tundra species Juniperus communis, the conifer with the widest distributional range in the north emisphere. We tested shoot elongation, leaf area, stomatal density, leaf dry weight and leaf non-structural carbohydrate content of plants subjected to anticipated, natural and postponed snowpack duration. Anticipated snowpack melting enhanced new shoot elongation and increased stomatal density. However, plants under prolonged snow cover seemed to compensate for the shorter growing period, likely increasing carbon allocation to growth. In fact, these latter showed larger needles and low starch content at the beginning of the growing season. Variability between treatments slightly decreased over time, suggesting a progressive acclimation of juniper to new conditions. In the context of future warming scenarios, our results support the hypothesis of shrub biomass increase within the tundra biome. Yet, the picture is still far from being complete and further research should focus on transient and fading effects of changing conditions in the long term

Mouse Panx1 Is Dispensable for Hearing Acquisition and Auditory Function

Panx1 forms plasma membrane channels in brain and several other organs, including the inner ear. Biophysical properties, activation mechanisms and modulators of Panx1 channels have been characterized in detail, however the impact of Panx1 on auditory function is unclear due to conflicts in published results. To address this issue, hearing performance and cochlear function of the Panx1−/− mouse strain, the first with a reported global ablation of Panx1, were scrutinized. Male and female homozygous (Panx1−/−), hemizygous (Panx1+/−) and their wild type (WT) siblings (Panx1+/+) were used for this study. Successful ablation of Panx1 was confirmed by RT-PCR and Western immunoblotting in the cochlea and brain of Panx1−/− mice. Furthermore, a previously validated Panx1-selective antibody revealed strong immunoreactivity in WT but not in Panx1−/− cochleae. Hearing sensitivity, outer hair cell-based “cochlear amplifier” and cochlear nerve function, analyzed by auditory brainstem response (ABR) and distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) recordings, were normal in Panx1+/− and Panx1−/− mice. In addition, we determined that global deletion of Panx1 impacts neither on connexin expression, nor on gap-junction coupling in the developing organ of Corti. Finally, spontaneous intercellular Ca2+ signal (ICS) activity in organotypic cochlear cultures, which is key to postnatal development of the organ of Corti and essential for hearing acquisition, was not affected by Panx1 ablation. Therefore, our results provide strong evidence that, in mice, Panx1 is dispensable for hearing acquisition and auditory function

New criteria for the molecular identification of cereal grains associated with archaeological artefacts.

The domestication and transmission of cereals is one of the most fundamental components of early farming, but direct evidence of their use in early culinary practices and economies has remained frustratingly elusive. Using analysis of a well-preserved Early Bronze Age wooden container from Switzerland, we propose novel criteria for the identification of cereal residues. Using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we identified compounds typically associated with plant products, including a series of phenolic lipids (alkylresorcinols) found only at appreciable concentration in wheat and rye bran. The value of these lipids as cereal grain biomarkers were independently corroborated by the presence of macrobotanical remains embedded in the deposit, and wheat and rye endosperm peptides extracted from residue. These findings demonstrate the utility of a lipid-based biomarker for wheat and rye bran and offer a methodological template for future investigations of wider range of archaeological contexts. Alkylresorcinols provide a new tool for residue analysis which can help explore the spread and exploitation of cereal grains, a fundamental component of the advent and spread of farming

Agricultural terraces in the Mediterranean:Medieval intensification revealed by OSL profiling and dating

The history of agricultural terraces remains poorly understood due to problems in dating their construction and use. This has hampered broader research on their significance, limiting knowledge of past agricultural practices and the long-term investment choices of rural communities. The authors apply OSL profiling and dating to the sediments associated with agricultural terraces across the Mediterranean region to date their construction and use. Results from five widely dispersed case studies reveal that although many terraces were used in the first millennium AD, the most intensive episodes of terrace-building occurred during the later Middle Ages (c. AD 1100–1600). This innovative approach provides the first large-scale evidence for both the longevity and medieval intensification of Mediterranean terraces

Chemical analysis of pottery demonstrates prehistoric origin for high-altitude alpine dairying

The European high Alps are internationally renowned for their dairy produce, which are of huge cultural and economic significance to the region. Although the recent history of alpine dairying has been well studied, virtually nothing is known regarding the origins of this practice. This is due to poor preservation of high altitude archaeological sites and the ephemeral nature of transhumance economic practices. Archaeologists have suggested that stone structures that appear around 3,000 years ago are associated with more intense seasonal occupation of the high Alps and perhaps the establishment of new economic strategies. Here, we report on organic residue analysis of small fragments of pottery sherds that are occasionally preserved both at these sites and earlier prehistoric rock-shelters. Based mainly on isotopic criteria, dairy lipids could only be identified on ceramics from the stone structures, which date to the Iron Age (ca. 3,000 - 2,500 BP), providing the earliest evidence of this practice in the high Alps. Dairy production in such a marginal environment implies a high degree of risk even by today’s standards. We postulate that this practice was driven by population increase and climate deterioration that put pressure on lowland agropastoral systems and the establishment of more extensive trade networks, leading to greater demand for highly nutritious and transportable dairy products