DİAZEPAM DEGRADATİON USİNG SOLAR PHOTOCATALYSİS

Benzodiazepine drugs are used all over the world for anxiety disorders, as anticonvulsants and anti-epileptics, and for terminally ill people as part of essential medicines list from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO list includes diazepam, which is frequently found as residual pollutant in secondary effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Aiming at the complete removing of this substance from the aqueous environments, two experiments were carried out using Advanced Oxidation Process (AOPs) by simulated solar irradiation with or without TiO2 as catalyst. Photocatalysis was much efficient (half-life = 6 hours) than photolysis (half-life = 34 hours) giving a series of byproduct that were identified by an LC system coupled to a hybrid linear quadrupole ion trap (LTQ)-Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectromete

Simulating the development and progression of Chronic Kidney Disease and osteoporosis in people living with HIV

The "chronicization" of HIV infection brings about a growing necessity to attentively evaluate current and potential complications when prescribing the individual therapeutic regimen. Starting from this need, we developed two HIV-comorbidity simulators that, basing on the evidence available in medical literature and starting from the current clinical and demographic features of the individual patient, project and compare the risks of developing and worsening of nephropathy and osteopathy associated with possible ARV regimens. These simulators are embedded in a desktop, user-friendly software thought to be used by the treating physician during prescription discussion with his/her patients, in order to highlight expected clinical outcomes and healthcare resource consumption that may differ according to the therapeutic strategy selected. In this article we present the sources and methods used in developing the mathematical models, alongside a set of examples and the results of cohort-level validation runs

Complex ancient genetic structure and cultural transitions in Southern African populations

The characterization of the structure of southern African populations has been the subject of numerous genetic, medical, linguistic, archaeological, and anthropological investigations. Current diversity in the subcontinent is the result of complex events of genetic admixture and cultural contact between early inhabitants and migrants that arrived in the region over the last 2000 years. Here, we analyze 1856 individuals from 91 populations, comprising novel and published genotype data, to characterize the genetic ancestry profiles of 631 individuals from 51 southern African populations. Combining both local ancestry and allele frequency based analyses, we identify a tripartite, ancient, Khoesan-related genetic structure. This structure correlates neither with linguistic affiliation nor subsistence strategy, but with geography, revealing the importance of isolation-by-distance dynamics in the area. Fine-mapping of these components in southern African populations reveals admixture and cultural reversion involving several Khoesan groups, and highlights that Bantu speakers and Coloured individuals have different mixtures of these ancient ancestries

Loss of Either Rac1 or Rac3 GTPase Differentially Affects the Behavior of Mutant Mice and the Development of Functional GABAergic Networks

Rac GTPases regulate the development of cortical/hippocampal GABAergic interneurons by affecting the early development and migration of GABAergic precursors. We have addressed the function of Rac1 and Rac3 proteins during the late maturation of hippocampal interneurons. We observed specific phenotypic differences between conditional Rac1 and full Rac3 knockout mice. Rac1 deletion caused greater generalized hyperactivity and cognitive impairment compared with Rac3 deletion. This phenotype matched with a more evident functional impairment of the inhibitory circuits in Rac1 mutants, showing higher excitability and reduced spontaneous inhibitory currents in the CA hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Morphological analysis confirmed a differential modification of the inhibitory circuits: deletion of either Rac caused a similar reduction of parvalbumin-positive inhibitory terminals in the pyramidal layer. Intriguingly, cannabinoid receptor-1-positive terminals were strongly increased only in the CA1 of Rac1-depleted mice. This increase may underlie the stronger electrophysiological defects in this mutant. Accordingly, incubation with an antagonist for cannabinoid receptors partially rescued the reduction of spontaneous inhibitory currents in the pyramidal cells of Rac1 mutants. Our results show that Rac1 and Rac3 have independent roles in the formation of GABAergic circuits, as highlighted by the differential effects of their deletion on the late maturation of specific populations of interneurons

The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit: a consolidated design for the system requirement review of the preliminary definition phase

The Athena X-ray Integral Unit (X-IFU) is the high resolution X-ray spectrometer, studied since 2015 for flying in the mid-30s on the Athena space X-ray Observatory, a versatile observatory designed to address the Hot and Energetic Universe science theme, selected in November 2013 by the Survey Science Committee. Based on a large format array of Transition Edge Sensors (TES), it aims to provide spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy, with a spectral resolution of 2.5 eV (up to 7 keV) over an hexagonal field of view of 5 arc minutes (equivalent diameter). The X-IFU entered its System Requirement Review (SRR) in June 2022, at about the same time when ESA called for an overall X-IFU redesign (including the X-IFU cryostat and the cooling chain), due to an unanticipated cost overrun of Athena. In this paper, after illustrating the breakthrough capabilities of the X-IFU, we describe the instrument as presented at its SRR, browsing through all the subsystems and associated requirements. We then show the instrument budgets, with a particular emphasis on the anticipated budgets of some of its key performance parameters. Finally we briefly discuss on the ongoing key technology demonstration activities, the calibration and the activities foreseen in the X-IFU Instrument Science Center, and touch on communication and outreach activities, the consortium organisation, and finally on the life cycle assessment of X-IFU aiming at minimising the environmental footprint, associated with the development of the instrument. Thanks to the studies conducted so far on X-IFU, it is expected that along the design-to-cost exercise requested by ESA, the X-IFU will maintain flagship capabilities in spatially resolved high resolution X-ray spectroscopy, enabling most of the original X-IFU related scientific objectives of the Athena mission to be retained. (abridged).Comment: 48 pages, 29 figures, Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy with minor editin

The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit: a consolidated design for the system requirement review of the preliminary definition phase

The Athena X-ray Integral Unit (X-IFU) is the high resolution X-ray spectrometer studied since 2015 for flying in the mid-30s on the Athena space X-ray Observatory. Athena is a versatile observatory designed to address the Hot and Energetic Universe science theme, as selected in November 2013 by the Survey Science Committee. Based on a large format array of Transition Edge Sensors (TES), X-IFU aims to provide spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy, with a spectral resolution of 2.5 eV (up to 7 keV) over a hexagonal field of view of 5 arc minutes (equivalent diameter). The X-IFU entered its System Requirement Review (SRR) in June 2022, at about the same time when ESA called for an overall X-IFU redesign (including the X-IFU cryostat and the cooling chain), due to an unanticipated cost overrun of Athena. In this paper, after illustrating the breakthrough capabilities of the X-IFU, we describe the instrument as presented at its SRR (i.e. in the course of its preliminary definition phase, so-called B1), browsing through all the subsystems and associated requirements. We then show the instrument budgets, with a particular emphasis on the anticipated budgets of some of its key performance parameters, such as the instrument efficiency, spectral resolution, energy scale knowledge, count rate capability, non X-ray background and target of opportunity efficiency. Finally, we briefly discuss the ongoing key technology demonstration activities, the calibration and the activities foreseen in the X-IFU Instrument Science Center, touch on communication and outreach activities, the consortium organisation and the life cycle assessment of X-IFU aiming at minimising the environmental footprint, associated with the development of the instrument. Thanks to the studies conducted so far on X-IFU, it is expected that along the design-to-cost exercise requested by ESA, the X-IFU will maintain flagship capabilities in spatially resolved high resolution X-ray spectroscopy, enabling most of the original X-IFU related scientific objectives of the Athena mission to be retained. The X-IFU will be provided by an international consortium led by France, The Netherlands and Italy, with ESA member state contributions from Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, with additional contributions from the United States and Japan.The French contribution to X-IFU is funded by CNES, CNRS and CEA. This work has been also supported by ASI (Italian Space Agency) through the Contract 2019-27-HH.0, and by the ESA (European Space Agency) Core Technology Program (CTP) Contract No. 4000114932/15/NL/BW and the AREMBES - ESA CTP No.4000116655/16/NL/BW. This publication is part of grant RTI2018-096686-B-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”. This publication is part of grant RTI2018-096686-B-C21 and PID2020-115325GB-C31 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033