The hydrogeological role of an aquitard in preventing drinkable water well contamination: a case study.

Groundwater pollution has become a worrisome phenomenon, mainly for aquifers underlying industrialized areas. In order to evaluate the risk of pollution, a model of the aquifer is needed. Herewith, we describe a quasi-tridimensional model, which we applied to a multilayered aquifer where a phreatic aquifer was coupled to a confined one by means of an aquitard. This hydrogeological scheme is often met in practice and, therefore, models a number of situations. Moreover, aquitards play and important role in the management of natural resources of this kind. The model we adopted contains some approximations: the flow within the aquifers is assumed to be horizontal, whereas leakage is assumed vertical. The effect of some wells drilled in these aquifers is also taken into account. In order to evaluate the leakage fluxes that correspond to different exploitation conditions, we numerically solve a system of quasilinear and time-dependent partial differential equations. This model has been calibrated by the hydrogeological data from a water supply station of the Milan Water Works, where water is polluted by some halocarbons. Our simulations account for several experimental facts, both from the hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical viewpoints. Maxima of computed downward leakage rates are found to correspond with measured pollutant concentration maxima. Other results show how the aquitard can help in minimizing the contamination of drinkable water

Non-invasive tool to assess heart rhythm in Zebrafish embryos

In the last years the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has emerged as model organism for cardiac research, in spite of the morphological differences with the human heart. In consequence of the similarity to humans in the early function, the zebrafish embryo has been suggested as an ideal model i) to study the molecular mechanism of cardiac development, and ii) to identify genes related to congenital cardiac defects in human [1]. The overall similarity of zebrafish embryos and human, in responses to human cardiotoxic drugs, was demonstrated, for example, in drug-induced cardiac arrhythmia [2]. For this reason, several methods have been developed to assess cardiac functions in zebrafish embryos [3,4]. Unfortunately, all these techniques suffer from drawbacks (time consuming, skillful operator are ended to perform the experiments) which limit their applications for large scale studies. The development in digital imaging has recently made analysis of cardiac functions in genetically modified transparent zebrafish embryos easier. This allowed to assess non-invasively heart rate variability in zebrafish embryos from videos of beating heart, but without measuring heartbeat rhythm, an important indicator of the cardiac function (heartbeat regularity is associated with cardiotoxicity in humans [1]), from power spectrum of heart signal. In the present study, we present a simple, non-invasive method that, by video-recording embryo images using confocal microscopy, and integrating image processing and power spectral analysis, allows to measure the heartbeat rhythm in zebrafish embryos heart chambers (atrium, ventricle, bulb) (Figure 1). The reliability of the herein proposed method was verified. Some embryos undergone treatment by tricaine, a cardiac anaesthetizing drug, in consequence of which a decrease of the heart rate is expected: the heartbeat regularity in tricaine- treated embryos determined from power spectral analysis decreased as compared to no-treated embryos. The results demonstrated that our method is able to assess the cardiac physiology, in term of heart rhythm, in zebrafish embryos

A quasi three dimensional model of water flow in the subsurface of Milano (Italy): the stationary flow

International audienceA quasi three-dimensional model is developed to simulate the behaviour of the aquifer system which is the resource of drinkable water for the town of Milano (Italy). Non continuous semipermeable layers locally separate permeable levels in a multilayered system, consisting of a phreatic and three confined aquifers. The numerical model is a conservative finite difference scheme based on the discretisation of the water balance equation for stationary flow. The grid spacing is 500 m and has been chosen, taking into account the distribution of the data in an area of about 400 km2. The model has been calibrated with a "trial and error" procedure, by comparison of the results of the model with the observations for three years (1950, 1974 and 1982) which correspond to different flow situations. Once calibrated, the model has been used as a predictive tool, to forecast the behaviour of the aquifer system for other years of the 20th century; the comparison between the model forecasts and observations is good. The model is capable of describing both the strong drawdown of the water table in the 1970s, when the water demand for domestic and industrial needs was very high, and the rise of the water table in the 1990s, when water extraction decreased. The results of the model confirm that the phreatic level is controlled largely by the local extraction of water; moreover, the aquifer system reacts to an increasing water demand with a small increase of the inflow and with a strong decrease of the outflow from its boundaries

Star Architecture as Socio-Material Assemblage

Taking inspiration from new materialism and assemblage, the chapter deals with star architects and iconic buildings as socio-material network effects that do not pre-exist action, but are enacted in practice, in the materiality of design crafting and city building. Star architects are here conceptualized as part of broader assemblages of actors and practices ‘making star architecture’ a reality, and the buildings they design are considered not just as unique and iconic objects, but dis-articulated as complex crafts mobilizing skills, technologies, materials, and forms of knowledge not necessarily ascribable to architecture. Overcoming narrow criticism focusing on the symbolic order of icons as unique creations and alienated repetitions of capitalist development, the chapter’s main aim is to widen the scope of critique by bridging culture and economy, symbolism and practicality, making star architecture available to a broad, fragmented arena of (potential) critics, unevenly equipped with critical tools and differentiated experiences

Profiling Dopamine-Induced Oxidized Proteoforms of β-synuclein by Top-Down Mass Spectrometry

The formation of multiple proteoforms by post-translational modifications (PTMs) enables a single protein to acquire distinct functional roles in its biological context. Oxidation of methionine residues (Met) is a common PTM, involved in physiological (e.g., signaling) and pathological (e.g., oxidative stress) states. This PTM typically maps at multiple protein sites, generating a heterogeneous population of proteoforms with specific biophysical and biochemical properties. The identification and quantitation of the variety of oxidized proteoforms originated under a given condition is required to assess the exact molecular nature of the species responsible for the process under investigation. In this work, the binding and oxidation of human β-synuclein (BS) by dopamine (DA) has been explored. Native mass spectrometry (MS) has been employed to analyze the interaction of BS with DA. In a second step, top-down fragmentation of the intact protein from denaturing conditions has been performed to identify and quantify the distinct proteoforms generated by DA-induced oxidation. The analysis of isobaric proteoforms is approached by a combination of electron-transfer dissociation (ETD) at each extent of modification, quantitation of methionine-containing fragments and combinatorial analysis of the fragmentation products by multiple linear regression. This procedure represents a promising approach to systematic assessment of proteoforms variety and their relative abundance. The method can be adapted, in principle, to any protein containing any number of methionine residues, allowing for a full structural characterization of the protein oxidation states

Rare occurrence of pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) syndrome arising from a malignant transformed ovarian primary mature cystic teratoma treated by cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC: a case report

Background: Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) syndrome is a disease process that typically occurs from ruptured appendiceal mucocele neoplasms. PMP syndrome arising from malignant transformation of an ovarian primary mature cystic teratoma (MCT) is a pathogenesis rarely encountered. Case presentation: Herein, we report a 28-year-old patient evaluated and treated for a right ovarian mass and large volume symptomatic abdominopelvic mucinous ascites. Molecular profiling and genetic analysis revealed mutations in ATM, GNAS, and KRAS proteins while IHC demonstrated gastrointestinal-specific staining for CK20, CDX2, CK7, and SATB2. Peritoneal cytology showed paucicellular mucin. Diffuse peritoneal adenomucinosis (DPAM) variant of PMP arising from a ruptured ovarian primary MCT after malignant transformation to a low-grade appendiceal-like mucinous neoplasm was ultimately confirmed. Treatment included staged therapeutic tumor debulking and right salpingo-oophorectomy followed by cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). Conclusions: Our report builds upon the existing literature supporting this aggressive treatment option reserved for advanced abdominal malignancies utilized in this patient with a rare clinical entity