198 research outputs found
MODELLING IN HBIM TO DOCUMENT MATERIALS DECAY BY A THEMATIC MAPPING TO MANAGE THE CULTURAL HERITAGE: THE CASE OF "CHIESA DELLA PIETÀ" IN FERMO
Abstract. Relevant, historically, it is the role of the Diocese of Fermo (Italy) in the Vatican organization dedicated to vast ecclesiastical patrimony on the territory of the Marche region. In this context, for the peculiarity of its identity and its property, the object of this study is the "Chiesa della Pietà". This research starts with the photogrammetric survey to document and analyse the existing condition of the church. The data acquisition provides many scans following a network schema and the photographic survey allows to create orthoimages to make more realistic the 3D representation. Once acquired the geometric and material survey, a series of investigations have been carried out to assess the surface degradation and the material decay of the external façades and internal environments. Furthermore, some structural problems have been occurred, investigating and verifying the presence of advanced stages of deterioration of the wooden structures and the restoration of these structural elements must be mandatory. To take under control the decay and to propose a restoration step, we have arranged the 3D model in HBIM software with different LOD, according to the BIM Forum Level of Development Specification (2016), suitable to develop a well-structured information system. Before the 3D modelling phase, a decomposition of the building is useful to implement a semantic classification of the architectural elements. Basing on a hierarchy of classes and subclasses, the dedicated database organizes the building components assigning an ID-code to the features, putting in evidence materials decay by a thematic mapping.</p
Familial Transmission of a Serious Disease—Producing Group A Streptococcus Clone: Case Reports and Review
Invasive group A streptococcus (GAS) infections are emerging diseases; however, person-to-person transmission of invasive GAS producing life-threatening infection has been observed rarely. We report a small intrafamilial cluster of life-threatening GAS infections. A previously healthy 47-year-old father developed necrotizing fasciitis of the neck. Two days later, his 16-year-old daughter developed streptococcal angina, pneumonia, and pleural empyema. Both patients had signs of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis revealed that the M6 strains of GAS isolated from the father and daughter had identical patterns. Cases of person-to-person transmission of invasive GAS infection reported in the literature are also reviewe
Discontinuation of primary prophylaxis against Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in HIV-1-infected adults treated with combination antiretroviral therapy. Swiss HIV Cohort Study
BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether primary prophylaxis against Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia can be discontinued in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who are successfully treated with combination antiretroviral therapy. We prospectively studied the safety of stopping prophylaxis among patients in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. METHODS: Patients were eligible for our study if their CD4 counts had increased to at least 200 cells per cubic millimeter and 14 percent of total lymphocytes while they were receiving combination antiretroviral therapy, with these levels sustained for at least 12 weeks. Prophylaxis was stopped at study entry, and patients were examined every three months thereafter. The development of P. carinii pneumonia was the primary end point, and the development of toxoplasmic encephalitis the secondary end point. RESULTS: Of the 262 patients included in our analysis, 121 (46.2 percent) were positive for IgG antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii at base line. The median CD4 count at study entry was 325 per cubic millimeter (range, 210 to 806); the median nadir CD4 count was 110 per cubic millimeter (range, 0 to 240). During a median follow-up of 11.3 months (range, 3.0 to 18.8), prophylaxis was resumed in nine patients, and two patients died. There were no cases of P. carinii pneumonia or toxoplasmic encephalitis. The one-sided upper 99 percent confidence limit for the incidence of P. carinii pneumonia was 1.9 cases per 100 patient-years (based on 238 patient-years of follow-up). The corresponding figure for toxoplasmic encephalitis was 4.2 per 100 patient-years (based on 110 patient-years of follow-up). CONCLUSIONS: Stopping primary prophylaxis against P. carinii pneumonia appears to be safe in HIV-infected patients who are receiving combination antiretroviral treatment and who have had a sustained increase in their CD4 counts to at least 200 cells per cubic millimeter and to at least 14 percent of total lymphocytes
HySenS data exploitation for urban land cover analysis
This paper addresses the use of HySenS airborne hyperspectral data for environmental urban monitoring. It is
known that hyperspectral data can help to characterize some of the relations between soil composition, vegetation
characteristics, and natural/artificial materials in urbanized areas. During the project we collected DAIS and
ROSIS data over the urban test area of Pavia, Northern Italy, though due to a late delivery of ROSIS data only
DAIS data was used in this work. Here we show results referring to an accurate characterization and classification
of land cover/use, using different supervised approaches, exploiting spectral as well as spatial information.
We demonstrate the possibility to extract from the hyperspectral data information which is very useful for environmental
characterization of urban areas
HySenS data exploitation for urban land cover analysis
This paper addresses the use of HySenS airborne hyperspectral data for environmental urban monitoring. It is
known that hyperspectral data can help to characterize some of the relations between soil composition, vegetation
characteristics, and natural/artificial materials in urbanized areas. During the project we collected DAIS and
ROSIS data over the urban test area of Pavia, Northern Italy, though due to a late delivery of ROSIS data only
DAIS data was used in this work. Here we show results referring to an accurate characterization and classification
of land cover/use, using different supervised approaches, exploiting spectral as well as spatial information.
We demonstrate the possibility to extract from the hyperspectral data information which is very useful for environmental
characterization of urban areas
Two Antagonistic MALT1 Auto-Cleavage Mechanisms Reveal a Role for TRAF6 to Unleash MALT1 Activation.
The paracaspase MALT1 has arginine-directed proteolytic activity triggered by engagement of immune receptors. Recruitment of MALT1 into activation complexes is required for MALT1 proteolytic function. Here, co-expression of MALT1 in HEK293 cells, either with activated CARD11 and BCL10 or with TRAF6, was used to explore the mechanism of MALT1 activation at the molecular level. This work identified a prominent self-cleavage site of MALT1 isoform A (MALT1A) at R781 (R770 in MALT1B) and revealed that TRAF6 can activate MALT1 independently of the CBM. Intramolecular cleavage at R781/R770 removes a C-terminal TRAF6-binding site in both MALT1 isoforms, leaving MALT1B devoid of the two key interaction sites with TRAF6. A previously identified auto-proteolysis site of MALT1 at R149 leads to deletion of the death-domain, thereby abolishing interaction with BCL10. By using MALT1 isoforms and cleaved fragments thereof, as well as TRAF6 WT and mutant forms, this work shows that TRAF6 induces N-terminal auto-proteolytic cleavage of MALT1 at R149 and accelerates MALT1 protein turnover. The MALT1 fragment generated by N-terminal self-cleavage at R149 was labile and displayed enhanced signaling properties that required an intact K644 residue, previously shown to be a site for mono-ubiquitination of MALT1. Conversely, C-terminal self-cleavage at R781/R770 hampered the ability for self-cleavage at R149 and stabilized MALT1 by hindering interaction with TRAF6. C-terminal self-cleavage had limited impact on MALT1A but severely reduced MALT1B proteolytic and signaling functions. It also abrogated NF-κB activation by N-terminally cleaved MALT1A. Altogether, this study provides further insights into mechanisms that regulate the scaffolding and activation cycle of MALT1. It also emphasizes the reduced functional capacity of MALT1B as compared to MALT1A
Truncation of the constant domain drives amyloid formation by immunoglobulin light chains
AL amyloidosis is a life-threatening disease caused by deposition of immunoglobulin light chains. While the mechanisms underlying light chains amyloidogenesis in vivo remain unclear, several studies have highlighted the role that tissue environment and structural amyloidogenicity of individual light chains have in the disease pathogenesis. AL natural deposits contain both full-length light chains and fragments encompassing the variable domain (VL) as well as different length segments of the constant region (CL), thus highlighting the relevance that proteolysis may have in the fibrillogenesis pathway. Here, we investigate the role of major truncated species of the disease-associated AL55 light chain that were previously identified in natural deposits. Specifically, we study structure, molecular dynamics, thermal stability, and capacity to form fibrils of a fragment containing both the VL and part of the CL (133-AL55), in comparison with the full-length protein and its variable domain alone, under shear stress and physiological conditions. Whereas the full-length light chain forms exclusively amorphous aggregates, both fragments generate fibrils, although, with different kinetics, aggregate structure, and interplay with the unfragmented protein. More specifically, the VL-CL 133-AL55 fragment entirely converts into amyloid fibrils microscopically and spectroscopically similar to their ex vivo counterpart and increases the amorphous aggregation of full-length AL55. Overall, our data support the idea that light chain structure and proteolysis are both relevant for amyloidogenesis in vivo and provide a novel biocompatible model of light chain fibrillogenesis suitable for future mechanistic studies
A COMPARISON OF PRE-PROCESSING APPROACHES FOR REMOTELY SENSED TIME SERIES CLASSIFICATION BASED ON FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
Satellite remote sensing has gained a key role for vegetation mapping distribution. Given the availability of multi-temporal satellite data, seasonal variations in vegetation dynamics can be used trough time series analysis for vegetation distribution mapping. These types of data have a very high variability within them and are subjected by artifacts. Therefore, a pre-processing phase must be performed to properly detect outliers, for data smoothing process and to correctly interpolate the data. In this work, we compare four pre-processing approaches for functional analysis on 4-years of remotely sensed images, resulting in four time series datasets. The methodologies presented are the results of the combination of two outlier detection methods, namely tsclean and boxplot functions in R and two discrete data smoothing approaches (Generalized Additive Model ”GAM” on daily and aggregated data). The approaches proposed are: tsclean-GAM on aggregated data (M01), boxplot-GAM on aggregated data (M02), tsclean-GAM on daily data (M03), boxplot-GAM on daily data (M04). Our results prove that the approach which involves tsclean function and GAM applied to daily data (M03) is ameliorative to the logic of the procedure and leads to better model performance in terms of Overall Accuracy (OA) which is always among the highest when compared with the others obtained from the other three different approaches
Long-term hydroxyurea in combination with didanosine and stavudine for the treatment of HIV-1 infection
Objective and methods: In 1998 we reported on a randomized comparison between stavudine plus didanosine plus placebo versus stavudine plus didanosine plus hydroxyurea (HU), in patients with a CD4 count of 200±500 3 10 6 cells/l. After 3 months, the HU group had a higher proportion of patients with viral load , 200 3 10 6 cells/l. At the end of the 3 months blinded period, patients in the placebo group had the option to add HU if their viral load remained . 200 3 10 6 cells/l. We report results after 24 months. Results: Seventy-two patients were randomized to the HU arm, and a further 30 elected to add HU after 12 weeks. Twenty-four months after the start of the trial, only 25% of the 72 patients originally randomized to HU, and 20% of the 30 who added HU after week 12, were still taking it. The reasons for stopping HU were: lack of ef®cacy (45%), adverse events (37%) and patient or physician preference (18%). Side effects were more frequent in the didanosine/stavudine/HU group than in the didanosine/stavudine group: neuropathy (35 versus 15%, P , 0.02), fatigue (22 versus 7%, P , 0.01), and nausea or vomiting (26 versus 9%, P ,0.01). Of those who had discontinued HU, 73% were taking three drugs including a protease inhibitor. Patients who had started HU were compared with similar patients who had started protease inhibitors in the Swiss cohort. The probability of stopping HU was higher than the probability of stopping nel®navir or indinavir, and similar to the probability of stopping ritonavir. Conclusion: HU increased the antiviral effect of stavudine plus didanosine. However, side effects were more frequent, and after 24 months the majority of patients had switched to protease inhibitor regimens
Ras GTPase-like protein MglA, a controller of bacterial social-motility in Myxobacteria, has evolved to control bacterial predation by Bdellovibrio
Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus invade Gram-negative bacteria in a predatory process requiring Type IV pili (T4P) at a single invasive pole, and also glide on surfaces to locate prey. Ras-like G-protein MglA, working with MglB and RomR in the deltaproteobacterium Myxococcus xanthus, regulates adventurous gliding and T4P-mediated social motility at both M. xanthus cell poles. Our bioinformatic analyses suggested that the GTPase activating protein (GAP)-encoding gene mglB was lost in Bdellovibrio, but critical residues for MglABd GTP-binding are conserved. Deletion of mglABd abolished prey-invasion, but not gliding, and reduced T4P formation. MglABd interacted with a previously uncharacterised tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domain protein Bd2492, which we show localises at the single invasive pole and is required for predation. Bd2492 and RomR also interacted with cyclic-di-GMP-binding receptor CdgA, required for rapid prey-invasion. Bd2492, RomRBd and CdgA localize to the invasive pole and may facilitate MglA-docking. Bd2492 was encoded from an operon encoding a TamAB-like secretion system. The TamA protein and RomR were found, by gene deletion tests, to be essential for viability in both predatory and non-predatory modes. Control proteins, which regulate bipolar T4P-mediated social motility in swarming groups of deltaproteobacteria, have adapted in evolution to regulate the anti-social process of unipolar prey-invasion in the “lone-hunter” Bdellovibrio. Thus GTP-binding proteins and cyclic-di-GMP inputs combine at a regulatory hub, turning on prey-invasion and allowing invasion and killing of bacterial pathogens and consequent predatory growth of Bdellovibrio
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