Escherichia coli specific secretory IgA and cytokines in human milk from mothers of different ethnic groups resident in northern Italy.

Breast milk supplies many bioactive components. Neonates protection from pathogenic bacteria is mainly attributable to secretory IgA antibodies present in human milk in an amount depending on previous antigenic exposure. To bring new details into the field of immunological memory in secretory immunity, we evaluated the production of s-IgA specific for E. coli (E. coli s-IgA), and of proinflammatory (IL-6 and IL-8) or anti-inflammatory (IL-10) cytokines in the milk of mothers of different ethnic groups exposed in the past to poor conditions, but nowadays living in Italy in adequate conditions. Mothers from Italy, Africa, Asia and Eastern European Countries were included in the study. Anti- E. coli s-IgA, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 were determined by ELISA. Breast milk of all the foreign mothers presented higher levels of E. coli s-IgA than Italians, and for Asian and African mothers were significative (p=0.031 and p=0.015, respectively). Milk from women of Eastern European Countries revealed the highest IL-8 levels (p=0.026), while milk from Asian women presented the greatest concentration of IL-6 (p=0.04); however, the Africans reported the lowest concentrations of IL-10 (p=0.045). Since all the mothers had been living in Italy for some time, we believe that the presence of high levels of E. coli s-IgA, supported by high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine, is part of a persisting immunological secretory memory

Aggiornamento tecnologico e test funzionali del gravimetro da fondo LaCoste&Romberg modello U-HG24

Nel presente lavoro viene descritto l’aggiornamento tecnologico, effettuato in collaborazione con la società Tecnomare SpA, di un gravimetro da fondo LaCoste & Romberg modello U, serie H (numero HG24), di proprietà dell'Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. Sono inoltre descritti e brevemente discussi i primi test in laboratorio ed i risultati di misure gravimetriche di fondo mare effettuate dal 19 al 22 Luglio 2010 nell'Area Marina Protetta del Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre. L'acquisizione di dati gravimetrici rientrava nelle attività specifiche del progetto di ricerca InSAS promosso e finanziato da eni Spa. La campagna a mare InSAS si è svolta in collaborazione con il NURC (NATO Undersea Research Centre) utilizzando come vettore marino il Coastal Research Vessel (CRV) ‘Leonardo’. Contestualmente all'attività di misure di gravità di fondo, sono stati acquisiti ed elaborati dal Politecnico di Milano diversi set di dati interferometrici Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) su alcuni riflettori attivi e passivi localizzati nell'area di indagine. La campagna di misure a mare è stata preceduta da una serie di test in laboratorio al fine di valutare la piena funzionalità dello strumento in esame. In questa fase sono state acquisite diverse serie temporali allo scopo di valutare la qualità della misura e la sua ripetibilità

Monitoring of a methane-seeping pockmark by cabled benthic observatory (Patras Gulf, Greece)

A new seafloor observatory, the gas monitoring module (GMM), has been developed for continuous and long-term measurements of methane and hydrogen sulphide concentrations in seawater, integrated with temperature (T), pressure (P) and conductivity data at the seafloor. GMM was deployed in April 2004 within an active gas-bearing pockmark in the Gulf of Patras (Greece), at a water depth of 42 m. Through a submarine cable linked to an onshore station, it was possible to remotely check, via direct phone connection, GMM functioning and to receive data in nearreal time. Recordings were carried out in two consecutive campaigns over the periods April–July 2004, and September 2004–January 2005, amounting to a combined dataset of ca. 6.5 months. This represents the first long-term monitoring ever done on gas leakage from pockmarks by means of CH4+H2S+T+P sensors. The results show frequent T and P drops associated with gas peaks, more than 60 events in 6.5 months, likely due to intermittent, pulsation-like seepage. Decreases in temperature in the order of 0.1–1°C (up to 1.7°C) below an ambient T of ca. 17°C (annual average) were associated with short-lived pulses (10–60 min) of increased CH4+H2S concentrations. This seepage “pulsation” can either be an active process driven by pressure build-up in the pockmark sediments, or a passive fluid release due to hydrostatic pressure drops induced by bottom currents cascading into the pockmark depression. Redundancy and comparison of data from different sensors were fundamental to interpret subtle proxy signals of temperature and pressure which would not be understood using only one sensor.Published297-302JCR Journalreserve

NEMO-SN1 (Western Ionian Sea, off Eastern Sicily): A Cabled Abyssal Observatory with Tsunami Early Warning Capability

The NEMO-SN1 (NEutrino Mediterranean Observatory - Submarine Network 1) seafloor observatory is located in the central Mediterranean, Western Ionian Sea, off Eastern Sicily Island (Southern Italy) at 2100 m water depth, 25 km from the harbour of the city of Catania. It is a prototype of cabled deep-sea multiparameter observatory, and the first operating with real-time data transmission in Europe since 2005. NEMO-SN1 is also the first-established node of EMSO (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory, http://emso-eu.org), one of the European large-scale research infrastructures. EMSO will address long-term monitoring of environmental processes related to marine ecosystems, climate change and geo-hazards. NEMO-SN1 will perform geophysical and environmental long-term monitoring by acquiring seismological, geomagnetic, gravimetric, accelerometric, physico-oceanographic, hydro-acoustic, bio-acoustic measurements to study earthquake and tsunami generation, and to characterize ambient noise which includes marine mammal sounds, and environmental and anthropogenic sources. NEMO-SN1 is also equipped with a prototype tsunami detector, based on the simultaneous measurement of the seismic and bottom pressure signals and a new high performance tsunami detection algorithm. NEMO-SN1 will be a permanent tsunami early warning node in Western Ionian Sea, an area where very destructive earthquakes have occurred in the past, some of them tsunamigenic (e.g., 1693, M=7.5; 1908, M=7.4). Another important feature of NEMO-SN1 is the installation of a low frequency-high sensibility hydrophone and two (scalar and vector, respectively) magnetometers. The objective is to improve the tsunami detection capability of SN1 through the recognition of tsunami-induced hydro-acoustic and electro-magnetic precursors.SubmittedRhodes, Greece3A. Ambiente Marinorestricte

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment

GEMS (Gamma Energy Marine Spectrometer) is a prototype of an autonomous radioactivity sensor for underwater measurements, developed in the framework for a development of a submarine telescope for neutrino detection (KM3NeT Design Study Project). The spectrometer is highly sensitive to gamma rays produced by 40K decays but it can detect other natural (e.g., 238U,232Th) and anthropogenic radio-nuclides (e.g., 137Cs). GEMS was firstly tested and calibrated in the laboratory using known sources and it was successfully deployed for a long-term (6 months) monitoring at a depth of 3200 m in the Ionian Sea (Capo Passero, offshore Eastern Sicily). The instrument recorded data for the whole deployment period within the expected specifications. This monitoring provided, for the first time, a continuous time-series of radioactivity in deep-sea.In press4.5. Studi sul degassamento naturale e sui gas petroliferiJCR Journalope

Tsunami Warning prototype in the frame of the EC NEAREST project.

Nell' ambito del progetto NEAREST finanziato dalla EC sono stati sviluppati alcuni elementi di un sistema di allerta per tsunami, fra i quali un prototipo di detector di onde anomale istallato a bordo dell' osservatorio abissale GEOSTAR: l' osservatorio con il detector di onde anomale ha operato per un anno nel Golfo di Cadice, a 3200m di profonditàPublishedSassari1.8. Osservazioni di geofisica ambientaleope

GEMS: Underwater spectrometer for long-term radioactivity measurements

GEMS (Gamma Energy Marine Spectrometer) is a prototype of an autonomous radioactivity sensor for underwater measurements, developed in the framework for a development of a submarine telescope for neutrino detection (KM3NeT Design Study Project). The spectrometer is highly sensitive to gamma rays produced by 40K decays but it can detect other natural (e.g., 238U,232Th) and anthropogenic radio-nuclides (e.g., 137Cs). GEMS was firstly tested and calibrated in the laboratory using known sources and it was successfully deployed for a long-term (6 months) monitoring at a depth of 3200 m in the Ionian Sea (Capo Passero, offshore Eastern Sicily). The instrument recorded data for the whole deployment period within the expected specifications. This monitoring provided, for the first time, a continuous time-series of radioactivity in deep-sea