Craniofacial superimposition studies on a set of cosimo i de’ medici’s (1519-1574) and eleonora di toledo’s (1522-1562) portraits

A set of portraits of the Florentine grand duke Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519-1574) and of his wife Eleonora di Toledo (1522–1562) painted by two major representatives of Florentine Mannerism (Italian Late Renaissance), Pontormo and Bronzino was compared with the skulls of the two subjects utilizing the forensic technique of craniofacial superimposition. The results show that, in the case of Cosimo I, both a painting (Pontormo, workshop of, Cosimo I de’ Medici, 1537) and a drawing (Pontormo, Cosimo I de’ Medici in Profile, 1537) show lack of fit with the skull in four points (the glabellar outline, the depth of the nasal bridge, the bony lateral wall of the orbit, and the outline of the frontal process of the zygomatic bone). The drawing, therefore, seems to contradict the well established idea that Renaissance painters prepared lifelike sketches of their sitters which were then modified when transferred to the painting. In the case of Eleonora di Toledo, on the other hand, craniofacial superimposition analysis reveals that Bronzino, possibly as the result of a desperate search for the “best angle” of the sitter, adopted an unusual perspective to portray the duchess (Bronzino, Eleonora di Toledo, c. 1539) possibly looking down the sitter, by standing, while the sitter was seated in front of him. The face of the sitter was subsequently, in another painting (Bronzino, Eleonora di Toledo and Her Son Giovanni, c. 1544-45) “transplanted” onto the rest of the body given the impression that the duchess “looks” at the viewer from above. © 2016 Romanian Society of Legal Medicine

Tracking matricellular protein SPARC in extracellular vesicles as a non-destructive method to evaluate lipid-based antifibrotic treatments.

Uncovering the complex cellular mechanisms underlying hepatic fibrogenesis could expedite the development of effective treatments and noninvasive diagnosis for liver fibrosis. The biochemical complexity of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their role in intercellular communication make them an attractive tool to look for biomarkers as potential alternative to liver biopsies. We developed a solid set of methods to isolate and characterize EVs from differently treated human hepatic stellate cell (HSC) line LX-2, and we investigated their biological effect onto naïve LX-2, proving that EVs do play an active role in fibrogenesis. We mined our proteomic data for EV-associated proteins whose expression correlated with HSC treatment, choosing the matricellular protein SPARC as proof-of-concept for the feasibility of fluorescence nanoparticle-tracking analysis to determine an EV-based HSCs' fibrogenic phenotype. We thus used EVs to directly evaluate the efficacy of treatment with S80, a polyenylphosphatidylcholines-rich lipid, finding that S80 reduces the relative presence of SPARC-positive EVs. Here we correlated the cellular response to lipid-based antifibrotic treatment to the relative presence of a candidate protein marker associated with the released EVs. Along with providing insights into polyenylphosphatidylcholines treatments, our findings pave the way for precise and less invasive diagnostic analyses of hepatic fibrogenesis

Experiencias de la diversidad

El libro reúne parte de los trabajos presentados en las V Jornadas Experiencias de la Diversidad y IV Encuentro de Discusión de Avances de Investigación sobre Diversidad Cultural, celebradas en la Facultad de Humanidades y Artes de la Universidad Nacional de Rosario los días 15 y 16 de Agosto de 2012. Las Jornadas, organizadas por el Centro de Estudios sobre Diversidad Cultural, son un punto de encuentro ya tradicional en el ámbito académico argentino, donde se trabajan temáticas diversas privilegiando una aproximación interdisciplinaria. Si bien los artículos se basan en las exposiciones realizadas durante las Jornadas, los mismos fueron reelaborados ya que todos los textos presentados han pasado referato y, por tanto, esta es una publicación peer-review.Fil: Di Bennardis, Cristina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Rovira, Leticia. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Luciani, Federico. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Koldorf, Ana Esther. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; Argentin

Formulating elafibranor and obeticholic acid with phospholipids decreases drug-induced association of SPARC to extracellular vesicles from LX-2 human hepatic stellate cells.

Chronic hepatic diseases often compromise liver function and are directly responsible for up to two million yearly deaths world-wide. There are yet no treatment options to solve this global medical need. Experimental drugs elafibranor (Ela) and obeticholic acid (OA) appeared promising in numerous earlier studies, but they recently struggled to show significant benefits in patients. Little is known on the drugs' impact on hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), key players in liver fibrogenesis. We recently reported a beneficial effect of polyenylphosphatidylcholines (PPCs)-rich formulations in reverting fibrogenic features of HSCs, including differences in their extracellular vesicles (EVs). Here, we newly formulated Ela and OA in PPC liposomes and evaluated their performance on the LX-2 (human HSC) cell line through our rigorous methods of EV-analysis, now expanded to include lipidomics. We show that direct treatments with Ela and OA increase EV-associated secreted protein acidic and cysteine rich (SPARC), a matricellular protein overexpressed in fibrogenesis. However, our results suggest that this potentially damaging drugs' action to HSCs could be mitigated when delivering them with lipid-based formulations, most notably with a PPC-rich phospholipid inducing specific changes in the cellular and EV phospholipid composition. Thus, EV analysis substantially deepens evaluations of drug performances and delivery strategies

The socioeconomic impact of seismic events on animal breeding A questionnaire-based survey from Central Italy

This paper investigates the socioeconomic impact of two large earthquakes (1997 and 2016) that occurred in Central Italy on the agricultural sector, and in particular on animal husbandry. Through a questionnaire-based field survey, involving 55 farm holdings located in Umbria (Assisano district), this work points out: i) the farmers' perception of the damage suffered with regard to residential buildings, agricultural facilities and animal husbandry activities; ii) the interventions carried out in the emergency phases; and iii) the reconstruction phases, as experienced by the farming households. Major vulnerabilities of these agricultural holdings have emerged: small-scale family-based farming, increased householders average age, little on-farm and off-farm diversification, persisting economic marginalisation. Recall and perception of the impact of the earthquakes in the Assisano district - direct damage and reconstruction interventions - are compared with the perception in the nearby mountainous area of the Marche Region, largely affected by the 2016 earthquake. In both areas, the experienced earthquakes have not acted as triggers for agents' mobilisation and change. Rather, the situation calls for a drastic, farsighted change of development policies by national and regional governments and for a convinced prompting for holistic local “building back better” initiatives

Análise prosódica de Segmentações não-convencionais de palavras em textos do sexto ano do Ensino Fundamental

Neste artigo, analisamos segmentações não-convencionais de palavra encontradas em textos de alunos de sexto ano do Ensino Fundamental. Por meio de análise quantitativa e qualitativa, descrevemos as características prosódicas que podem ter motivado as hiper e as hipossegmentações de palavras encontradas em 27,4% dos 606 textos investigados. Identificamos uma tendência em haver mais textos com hipossegmentação do que com hipersegmentação, característica semelhante ao que se encontra relatado sobre os textos infantis. Baseados no arcabouço teórico da Fonologia Prosódica, argumentamos acerca da relevância dos constituintes palavra prosódica e grupo clítico na descrição das regularidades observadas nos dados de segmentação não-convencional de palavra. Constatamos que (i) nos casos de hipossegmentação, predomina a juntura de um clítico seguido de uma palavra fonológica; (ii) nos casos de hipersegmentação, predomina a segmentação de uma palavra prosódica como se fosse um grupo clítico. Apresentamos evidências de ser a grafia dos elementos clíticos um desafio aos alunos estudados. Ao investigarmos a que classe gramatical pertenciam os clíticos grafados não-convencionalmente, constatamos que se tratam de preposições (“em, de, com”) e pronomes (“me, lhe, lo”), característica que particularizam os dados investigados em relação àqueles produzidos por alunos em fase inicial de aquisição da escrita infantil.This paper analyzes unconventional segmentation of word found in texts of the sixth grade of Elementary School. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, we describe the prosodic characteristics that may be motivated the hyper and hippossegmentation of words found in 27,4% of 606 investigated texts. We identified a tendency toward a more text with hippossegmentation than hypersegmentation, characteristic similar to what is reported about children’s text. Taking into account the theoretical framework of Prosodic Phonology, we argue about the relevance of prosodic word and clitic group in the description of the regularities observed in data of unconventional segmentation of word. we argue about the relevance of prosodic word and clitic group in the description of the regularities observed in. We note that (i) in cases of hipposegmentation, it predominates the hollow of a clitic followed by a phonological word, (ii) in cases of hypersegmentation, it predominates a segmentawe argue about the relevance of prosodic word and clitic group in the description of the regularities observed in tion of a prosodic word into a clitic group. We present evidences to be the spelling of clitic elements a challenge to students analyzed. By investigating in the grammatical class that owned the clitics spelled unconventionally, we verified that they are prepositions (“em, de, com”) and pronouns (“me, lhe, lo”), a characteristic that particularize these data in relation to data from students in the early stage of language acquisition. ­

VIII Jornadas de trabajo sobre historia reciente

La Historia Reciente se ha consolidado en forma significativa en la última década, en parte como producto de los avances y debates que hemos producido al interior del ámbito disciplinar quienes nos dedicamos a su estudio. No desconocemos, sin embargo, que las coyunturas políticas y sociales actuales presentan nuevos desafíos que convocan a la redefinición de ejes problemáticos, ampliación de perspectivas y recuperación de debates hasta hace un tiempo considerados saldados o estabilizados. Como parte de esa constante tarea, este libro reúne algunas de las ponencias presentadas en la VIII Jornadas de Trabajo sobre Historia Reciente realizadas en la Universidad Nacional de Rosario en el 2016. Como es habitual, los trabajos presentan balances y desarrollos en curso que evidencian el amplio crecimiento de la investigación en el campo. En esta ocasión se reúnen aquellas ponencias cuyxs autorxs han aceptado su publicación y refieren sólo a una parte de los ejes que se desarrollaron en el encuentro

Preliminary study of wear induced by granular soil on metallic parts of EPB tunnelling machines

Studio preliminare dell’usura indotta da terreno granuale sulle parti metalliche di machine di scavo a piena sezione. Il fenomeno dell’usura nelle mac-chine da scavo di gallerie a piena sezione non è di semplice descrizione in quanto vi sono molti i parametri che entrano in gioco durante il processo di usura che può estrinsecarsi sugli utensili di scavo, sulla testa di scavo, sullo scudo, nella camera di scavo e sulla coclea di estrazione. Nel presente lavoro viene descritta una prova sperimentale finalizzata a quantificare questo effetto e che cerca di riprodurre l’interazione tra utensili e materiale scavato, simulando le condizioni di scavo in termini sia di contenuto d’acqua sia di condizionamento del terreno. Inoltre vengono presentati i risultati preliminari dell’utilizzo di un nuovo agente antiusura per la riduzione dell’usura stessain termini di peso perso dell’elemento metallico usato per la prova