Multiple stellar populations in Galactic globular clusters: observational evidence

An increasing number of both photometric and spectroscopic observations over the last years have shown the existence of distinct sub-populations in many Galactic globular clusters and shattered the paradigm of globulars hosting single, simple stellar populations. These multiple populations manifest themselves in a split of different evolutionary sequences in the cluster color-magnitude diagrams and in star-to-star abundance variations. In this paper we will summarize the observational scenario.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings SF2A 201

YaDT-Drb : Yet another Decision Tree Domain Rule builder

Viene presentata la progettazione e l'implementazione di un algortimo per la classficazione che integra conoscenza deduttiva. Particolare attenzione è stata posta alla performance con l'uso delle tecniche di base implementate nell'algoritmo YaDT del Prof. Salvatore Ruggieri

The role of Attachment Insecurity in the emergency of anxiety symptoms in children and adolescent with migraine: an empirical study

Background: It is widely recognised that there are associations between headache, psychiatric comorbidity and attachment insecurity in both adults and children. The aims of this study were: 1) to compare perceived attachment security and anxiety in children and adolescents with migraine without aura and a healthy control group; 2) to test whether the child’s perceived security of attachment to the mother and the father mediated the association between migraine and anxiety. Methods: One hundred children and adolescents with Migraine without Aura were compared with a control group of 100 children without headache. The Security Scale (measures perceived security of attachments) and the Self-Administered Psychiatric Scales for Children and Adolescents, a measure of anxiety symptoms, were administered to all participants. Results: The clinical group had lower attachment security than the control group and higher scores on all anxiety scales. Anxiety was negatively correlated with attachment. Children’s attachment to their mother mediated the increase in global anxiety in the clinical group. Insecure paternal attachment was associated with greater insecurity in maternal attachment, suggesting that there is a complex pathway from migraine to anxiety symptoms mediated by perceived insecurity of paternal attachment and hence also by perceived insecurity of maternal attachment. Conclusion: These results suggest that insecure parental attachment may exacerbate anxiety in children and adolescents with migraine and point to the importance of multimodal interventions, perhaps taking account of family relationships, for children and adolescents with migraine

Liouville theory, accessory parameters and 2+1 dimensional gravity

We prove a relation between the asymptotic behavior of the conformal factor and the accessory parameters of the SU(1,1) Riemann- Hilbert problem. Such a relation shows the hamiltonian nature of the dynamics of N particles coupled to 2+1 dimensional gravity. A generalization of such a result is used to prove a connection between the regularized Liouville action and the accessory parameters in presence of general elliptic singularities. This relation had been conjectured by Polyakov in connection with 2-dimensional quantum gravity. An alternative proof, which works also in presence of parabolic singularities, is given by rewriting the regularized Liouville action in term of a background field.Comment: 32 pages LaTe

Heat Shock Proteins in Vascular Diabetic Complications: Review and Future Perspective

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are a large family of proteins highly conserved throughout evolution because of their unique cytoprotective properties. Besides assisting protein refolding and regulating proteostasis under stressful conditions, HSPs also play an important role in protecting cells from oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis. Therefore, HSPs are crucial in counteracting the deleterious effects of hyperglycemia in target organs of diabetes vascular complications. Changes in HSP expression have been demonstrated in diabetic complications and functionally related to hyperglycemia-induced cell injury. Moreover, associations between diabetic complications and altered circulating levels of both HSPs and anti-HSPs have been shown in clinical studies. HSPs thus represent an exciting therapeutic opportunity and might also be valuable as clinical biomarkers. However, this field of research is still in its infancy and further studies in both experimental diabetes and humans are required to gain a full understanding of HSP relevance. In this review, we summarize current knowledge and discuss future perspective

The comparison of the proteomic profile of periodontal pocket and of corresponding gingival crevicular fluid to study periodontal disease biomarkers: feasibility study. biomarkers: feasibility study

Aim: Periodontitis is a set of inflammatory disorders characterized by periodontal attachment loss by periodontal pocket development, leading to tooth loss if remain untreated. The etiology and progress of periodontal disease is complex and remains mostly unknown. So, periodontal disease therapy has considerable limitations. The easy, reliable and correct early detection and control of the disease, markedly reduces biological and social costs. However, the diagnosis of periodontitis is established exclusively by clinical criteria based on probing to assess periodontal pockets, which are the pathognomonic expression of periodontal disease. The -omic sciences acquired substantial significance of late years and, in particular, proteomic seemed to be the more promising in this initial stage. Most proteomic analysis regarding periodontal diseases have been performed on saliva, crevicular fluid samples, peripheral blood or periodontal plaque samples which are more easily to harvest than the tissue of the periodontal pocket. However, they failed to provide reliable results for clinical applications. On the contrary, very few studies were directly performed on the periodontal pocket. So, the aim of this study was to compare the proteomic profile of interproximal pocket tissues with that of GCF, and to analyze if they show a significant similarity in the proteomic profile. Methods: in this preliminary study, we enrolled 3 healthy subjects affected by severe periodontitis needing of periodontal surgery. Immediately before the surgery, GCF samples were taken by means of filter paper strips positioned in the gingival sulcus correspondent to periodontal pockets. Then, periodontal pocket tissue, harvested during surgery, was adequately stored for proteomic analyses. All samples were immediately frozen at \u201380\ub0C and maintained until further analysis. Tissue samples were mechanically disrupted and incubated in lysis buffer, while GCF was obtained incubating the collecting paper in phosphate buffered. In both cases, after centrifugation, the supernatant was precipitated in cold acetone overnight and protein content were pelleted by centrifugation and then dissolved in a rehydration buffer. Mono-dimensional gel electrophoresis was used to separate protein content. After staining gel images were acquired and compared. Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis was performed to allow protein spot identification. Results: 1-DE gels from periodontal pocket tissue and the correspondent GCF was analyzed by software Quantity One. Almost the same qualitative protein expression profile in pocket tissue and GCF was found from each patient. However, no statistical significant correlation between the quantitative proteomic profile of pocket tissue and GCF was found. Only one band (that of K immunoglobulin) resulted statistically significant between GCF and pocket tissue proteome in all patients. Conclusions To date, this is the first study comparing the proteome of periodontal pocket tissue and corresponding GCF. The periodontal pocket and the GCF are similar as proteomic networks, but the protein network of the periodontal pocket does not influence significantly the GCF protein network and the other way around. So, with the limitations of this study, the preliminary results seem to indicate that the GCF does not seem suitable to study on the pathogenesis of periodontal disease explaining the reason for the failure of studies based only on GCF to control the periodontal disease in real-time

An elusive dark central mass in the globular cluster M4

Recent studies of nearby globular clusters have discovered excess dark mass in their cores, apparently in an extended distribution, and simulations indicate that this mass is composed mostly of white dwarfs (respectively stellar-mass black holes) in clusters that are core-collapsed (respectively with a flatter core). We perform mass-anisotropy modelling of the closest globular cluster, M4, with intermediate slope for the inner stellar density. We use proper-motion data from Gaia EDR3 and from observations by the Hubble Space Telescope. We extract the mass profile employing Bayesian Jeans modelling, and check our fits with realistic mock data. Our analyses return isotropic motions in the cluster core and tangential motions ($\beta\approx -0.4$$\pm$$0.1$) in the outskirts. We also robustly measure a dark central mass of roughly $800\pm300 \,$M$_{\odot}$, but it is not possible to distinguish between a point-like source, such as an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH), or a dark population of stellar remnants of extent $\approx 0.016\,\rm pc \simeq 3300\,AU$. However, when removing a high-velocity star from the cluster centre, the same mass excess is found, but more extended ($\sim 0.034\, \rm{pc} \approx 7000\,\rm AU$). We use Monte Carlo $N$-body models of M4 to interpret the second outcome, and find that our excess mass is not sufficiently extended to be confidently associated with a dark population of remnants. Finally, we discuss the feasibility of these two scenarios (i.e., IMBH vs. remnants), and propose new observations that could help to better grasp the complex dynamics in M4's core.Comment: 19 page, 15 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Intraoperative β-Detecting probe for radio-guided surgery in tumour resection

The development of the β− based radio-guided surgery aims to extend the technique to those tumours where surgery is the only possible treatment and the assessment of the resection would most profit from the low background around the lesion, as for brain tumours. Feasibility studies on meningioma and gliomas already estimated the potentiality of this new treatment. To validate the technique, a prototype of the intraoperative probe detecting β− decays and specific phantoms simulating tumour remnant patterns embedded in healthy tissue have been realized. The response of the probe in this simulated environment is tested with dedicated procedures. This document discusses the innovative aspects of the method, the status of the developed intraoperative β− detecting probe and the results of the preclinical tests

An Intraoperative β−\beta^- Detecting Probe For Radio-Guided Surgery in Tumour Resection

The development of the $\beta^-$ based radio-guided surgery aims to extend the technique to those tumours where surgery is the only possible treatment and the assessment of the resection would most profit from the low background around the lesion, as for brain tumours. Feasibility studies on meningioma, glioma, and neuroendocrine tumors already estimated the potentiality of this new treatment. To validate the technique, prototypes of the intraoperative probe required by the technique to detect $\beta^-$ radiation have been developed. This paper discusses the design details of the device and the tests performed in laboratory. In such tests particular care has to be taken to reproduce the surgical field conditions. The innovative technique to produce specific phantoms and the dedicated testing protocols is described in detail.Comment: 7 pages, 15 figure