111 research outputs found
Study of semi-synthetic plastic objects of historic interest using non-invasive total reflectance FT-IR
A significant proportion of modern and contemporary artifacts and objects of historical interest, are composed of materials in the form of synthetic, semi-synthetic, and natural polymers. Each class of polymer and corresponding composite plastics are subject to different degradation processes. This means that conservators and curators of 20th century collections are faced with varied, nontrivial preservation issues. An unresolved problem is the identification of early plastics based on semi-synthetic polymers such as cellulose nitrate, cellulose acetate, and casein formaldehyde, which were often used to imitate the more valuable natural materials such as ivory, tortoiseshell, ebony, and bone. This exemplifies the need for non-invasive methods specifically tailored for identification of plastic materials in collections, so as to provide conservators with a means of materials classification to support preventive conservation strategies and interventive treatments. The present work is aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of non-invasive Total Reflectance (TR) FT-IR spectroscopy, coupled with a custom reference spectral TR FT-IR library, for the identification of materials comprising a series of unknown objects. A set of ten heritage objects made from early semi-synthetic materials was used as a training test set to validate the proposed methodological approach. The FT-IR data acquired on the test objects were pre-processed and finally classified using commercial software tools used for the automatic classification of spectra in FT-IR spectroscopy. The procedure was successfully applied to several cases, although residual uncertainties remained in a few examples. The results obtained are critically analyzed and discussed in the perspective of proposing a robust method for in-field prescreening of the chemical composition of plastic artistic and historical objects
THE SAN PIETRO MARTIRE TRIPTYCH BY BEATO ANGELICO: MATERIALS CHARACTERIZATION BY MEANS OF INTEGRATED NON-INVASIVE SPECTROSCOPIC MEASUREMENTS.
Natural Diagonal Riemannian Almost Product and Para-Hermitian Cotangent Bundles
We obtain the natural diagonal almost product and locally product structures
on the total space of the cotangent bundle of a Riemannian manifold. We find
the Riemannian almost product (locally product) and the (almost) para-Hermitian
cotangent bundles of natural diagonal lift type. We prove the characterization
theorem for the natural diagonal (almost) para-K\"ahlerian structures on the
total spaces of the cotangent bundle.Comment: 10 pages, will appear in Czechoslovak Mathematical Journa
Superconformal N=2, D=5 matter with and without actions
We investigate N=2, D=5 supersymmetry and matter-coupled supergravity
theories in a superconformal context. In a first stage we do not require the
existence of a Lagrangian. Under this assumption, we already find at the level
of rigid supersymmetry, i.e. before coupling to conformal supergravity, more
general matter couplings than have been considered in the literature. For
instance, we construct new vector-tensor multiplet couplings, theories with an
odd number of tensor multiplets, and hypermultiplets whose scalar manifold
geometry is not hyperkaehler.
Next, we construct rigid superconformal Lagrangians. This requires some extra
ingredients that are not available for all dynamical systems. However, for the
generalizations with tensor multiplets mentioned above, we find corresponding
new actions and scalar potentials. Finally, we extend the supersymmetry to
local superconformal symmetry, making use of the Weyl multiplet. Throughout the
paper, we will indicate the various geometrical concepts that arise, and as an
application we compute the non-vanishing components of the Ricci tensor of
hypercomplex group manifolds. Our results can be used as a starting point to
obtain more general matter-couplings to Poincare supergravity.Comment: 67 pages; v2: title of reference changed and small editing
corrections; v3: small typing errors corrected, version published in JHEP;
v4: typos corrected; v5: additional term in (2.109) and (4.11); v6: change of
order of indices in (2.89
Polymorphisms in the RNASE3 Gene Are Associated with Susceptibility to Cerebral Malaria in Ghanaian Children
BACKGROUND: Cerebral malaria (CM) is the most severe outcome of Plasmodium falciparum infection and a major cause of death in children from 2 to 4 years of age. A hospital based study in Ghana showed that P. falciparum induces eosinophilia and found a significantly higher serum level of eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) in CM patients than in uncomplicated malaria (UM) and severe malaria anemia (SA) patients. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been described in the ECP encoding-gene (RNASE3) of which the c.371G>C polymorphism (rs2073342) results in an arginine to threonine amino acid substitution p.R124T in the polypeptide and abolishes the cytotoxicity of ECP. The present study aimed to investigate the potential association between polymorphisms in RNASE3 and CM. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The RNASE3 gene and flanking regions were sequenced in 206 Ghanaian children enrolled in a hospital based malaria study. An association study was carried out to assess the significance of five SNPs in CM (n=45) and SA (n=56) cases, respectively. The two severe case groups (CM and SA) were compared with the non-severe control group comprising children suffering from UM (n=105). The 371G allele was significantly associated with CM (p=0.00945, OR=2.29, 95% CI=1.22-4.32) but not with SA. Linkage disequilibrium analysis demonstrated significant linkage between three SNPs and the haplotype combination 371G/*16G/*94A was strongly associated with susceptibility to CM (p=0.000913, OR=4.14, 95% CI=1.79-9.56), thus, defining a risk haplotype. The RNASE3 371GG genotype was found to be under frequency-dependent selection. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The 371G allele of RNASE3 is associated with susceptibility to CM and forms part of a risk associated haplotype GGA defined by the markers: rs2073342 (G-allele), rs2233860 (G-allele) and rs8019343 (A-allele) respectively. Collectively, these results suggest a hitherto unrecognized role for eosinophils in CM pathogenesis
Eculizumab treatment: stochastic occurrence of C3 binding to individual PNH erythrocytes
C5 blockade by eculizumab prevents complement-mediated intravascular hemolysis in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). However, C3-bound PNH red blood cells (RBCs), arising in almost all treated patients, may undergo extravascular hemolysis reducing clinical benefits. Despite the uniform deficiency of CD55 and of CD59, there are always two distinct populations of PNH RBCs, with (C3+) and without (C3-) C3 binding
A histological method for quantifying Plasmodium falciparum in the brain in fatal paediatric cerebral malaria
Human malarial disease: a consequence of inflammatory cytokine release
Malaria causes an acute systemic human disease that bears many similarities, both clinically and mechanistically, to those caused by bacteria, rickettsia, and viruses. Over the past few decades, a literature has emerged that argues for most of the pathology seen in all of these infectious diseases being explained by activation of the inflammatory system, with the balance between the pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines being tipped towards the onset of systemic inflammation. Although not often expressed in energy terms, there is, when reduced to biochemical essentials, wide agreement that infection with falciparum malaria is often fatal because mitochondria are unable to generate enough ATP to maintain normal cellular function. Most, however, would contend that this largely occurs because sequestered parasitized red cells prevent sufficient oxygen getting to where it is needed. This review considers the evidence that an equally or more important way ATP deficency arises in malaria, as well as these other infectious diseases, is an inability of mitochondria, through the effects of inflammatory cytokines on their function, to utilise available oxygen. This activity of these cytokines, plus their capacity to control the pathways through which oxygen supply to mitochondria are restricted (particularly through directing sequestration and driving anaemia), combine to make falciparum malaria primarily an inflammatory cytokine-driven disease
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