MAPPING OF SHEEP TRACKS AND PATHS OF TRANSHUMANCE IN THE BASILICATA: THE OLD SHEEP-TRACK-MATERA MONTESCAGLIOSO

La presente proposta parte dalla tutela e valorizzazione dei tratturi, sentieri erbosi, pietrosi o in terra battuta, sempre a fondo naturale, originatisi dal passaggio e dal calpestio degli armenti ed utilizzati dai pastori per compiere la transumanza, ossia per trasferire con cadenza stagionale le greggi da un pascolo all'altro. Tali tratturi sono definiti, ai sensi delle disposizioni di legge, "beni di interesse archeologico", e sono soggetti, come ogni opera anche di pubblico interesse, a parere vincolante della soprintendenza archeologica e per i beni architettonici e per il paesaggio. La pubblicazione si sviluppa con un inquadramento del bene, storico, normativo e cartografico, partendo dalla carta generale dei tratturi in scala 1:500.000 del 1912 a cura dell'Ufficio Tecnico di Finanza di Foggia, rivista come Mappa dei tratturi nel 1959 sulla precedente edizione del 1912, terminando al web GIS Tratturi del Centro Cartografico Dipartimentale della Regione Basilicata. L’attenzione è quindi posta sull’antico tratturo Matera – Montescaglioso, percorso che si svolge lungo il ciglio della Gravina passando per Cristo la Selva, il guado Passarelli e le chiese rupestri del Vallone della Loe. L'ultimo tratto percorre il tratturo regio di Montescaglioso e si conclude nell’abbazia benedettina di San Michele Arcangelo. La percorrenza di questo tratturo consente di trarre informazioni su un tratto di territorio materano ricco di storia umana e di evidenze artistiche e naturali. Approfondimenti conoscitivi specifici sui diversi tratturi che interessano il comune di Matera, come il tratturo qui dettagliato, possono portare ad una pianificazione, articolazione e attuazione di obiettivi di tutela e valorizzazione. Le tipologie di intervento, in relazione alle caratteristiche locali, possono avere un diverso grado di trasformabilità, di godimento e tutela, e consentire, nel rispetto della conservazione dell’integrità, il miglioramento della visitabilità e della leggibilità dei tracciati tratturali, tale da ottenere, attraverso il recupero delle residue testimonianze, un riuso compatibile del sedime tratturale attraverso funzioni di potenziamento del sistema del verde e dei percorsi pedonali educativi e ludici.This proposal is part of the protection and enhancement of the tracks, grassy paths, rocky or clay, always natural background, originated by the transition and by the trampling of cattle and used by shepherds to make transhumance, to transfer every season the flocks from one pasture to another. These sheep tracks are defined in accordance with the provisions of the law as "goods of archaeological interest", and are subject, like any work in public interest, in the opinion of the archaeological and architectural Superintendent. The publication is developed in a framework of historical and recent cartography and of legal history, starting from the general map of the sheep tracks in scale of 1:500,000 created in 1912 by the Technical Office of Finance of Foggia towards to the most recent cartography. The focus is then placed on the old sheep-track Matera - Montescaglioso that starts from Matera centre and ends at the Benedictine abbey of St. Michael the Archangel in Montescaglioso. The sheep-track allows to get information on a stretch of Matera area rich in human history with artistic and natural evidence. Specific cognitive insights on the different sheep-tracks that affect the municipality of Matera can lead to action for planning, articulation and implementation of objectives of protection and enhancement

Single-photon sub-Rayleigh precision measurements of a pair of incoherent sources of unequal intensity

Interferometric methods have been recently investigated to achieve sub-Rayleigh imaging and precision measurements of faint incoherent sources up to the ultimate quantum limit. Here we consider single-photon imaging of two point-like emitters of unequal intensity. This is motivated by the fact that pairs of natural emitters will typically have unequal brightness, as for example binary star systems and exoplanets. We address the problems of estimating the transverse separation $d$ and the relative intensity $\epsilon$. Our theoretical analysis shows that the associated statistical errors are qualitatively different from the case of equal intensity. We employ multi-plane light conversion technology to experimentally implement Hermite-Gaussian (HG) spatial-mode demultiplexing (SPADE), and demonstrate sub-Rayleigh measurement of two emitters with Gaussian point-spread function. The experimental errors are comparable with the theoretical bounds. The latter are benchmarked against direct imaging, yielding a $\epsilon^{-1/2}$ improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio, which may be significant when the primary source is much brighter than the secondary one, as for example for imaging of exoplanets. However, achieving this improved scaling requires low noise in the implementation of SPADE, which is typically affected by crosstalk between HG modes.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, comments welcom

Fourier-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography and Microperimetry Findings in Retinitis Pigmentosa

PURPOSE: To investigate the relation between the optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings and retinal sensitivity in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) by assessing the retinal thickness and retinal function using Fourier-domain OCT (FD-OCT) and microperimetry, respectively. DESIGN: Observational case series. METHODS: Fifty-nine patients (118 eyes) were enrolled, mean age 47 +/- 14.8 years. Thirty-two healthy subjects (HS) were enrolled as a control group. Patients were assessed by means of FD-OCT and microperimetry. We analyzed the average foveal thickness (diameter of 1 mm centered on the point of fixation), the value of the retinal sensitivities corresponding to the 4 degrees centered on the fixation point, and logMAR visual acuity for regression analysis converted from Snellen chart. RESULTS: We distinguished 4 groups of RP patients according to the macular pattern seen on OCT images. The first group of 36 eyes, mean age of 33.5 +/- 7.4 years, had no macular changes, mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 0.95 +/- 0.07, mean foveal thickness of 256.3 +/- 9.14 mu m, and mean retinal sensitivities inside the central 4 degrees of 19.27 +/- 0.87 dB (P > .05 for all the values). The second group of 28 eyes, mean age 35.4 +/- 6.3 years, showed clinical macular edema (CME) on OCT images with mean BCVA of 0.72 +/- 0.22, mean foveal thickness of 363.5 +/- 93.45 mu m, and mean retinal sensitivity inside the central 4 degrees of 15.94 +/- 3.6 dB (P < .01 for all the values). The third group of 26 eyes, mean age 50.8 +/- 8.7 years, showed macular vitreoretinal traction on OCT images with a mean BCVA of 0.5 +/- 0.2, mean foveal thickness of 337.1 +/- 71.7 mu m, and mean retinal sensitivity inside the central 4 degrees of 11.78 +/- 3.09 dB (P < .01 for all the values). The last group of 28 eyes, mean age 52.1 +/- 13.6 years, showed macular retinal thinning on OCT images with mean BCVA of 0.36 +/- 0.15, mean foveal thickness of 174.2 +/- 24.40 mu m, and mean retinal sensitivity inside the central 4 degrees of 10.22 +/- 3.82 dB (P < .01 for all the values). CONCLUSIONS: MP-1 and FD-OCT showed high sensitivity for identifying functional and structural macular abnormalities, respectively. Future studies should investigate the relationships among photoreceptor cell loss, retinal sensitivity, and fixation in patients with RP. (Am J Ophthalmol 2011;151:106-111. (C) 2011 by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Inhibition of heparanase protects against chronic kidney dysfunction following ischemia/reperfusion injury

Renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury occurs in patients undergoing renal transplantation and with acute kidney injury and is responsible for the development of chronic allograft dysfunction as characterized by parenchymal alteration and fibrosis. Heparanase (HPSE), an endoglycosidase that regulates EMT and macrophage polarization, is an active player in the biological response triggered by ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. I/R was induced in vivo by clamping left renal artery for 30 min in wt C57BL/6J mice. Animals were daily treated and untreated with Roneparstat (an inhibitor of HPSE) and sacrificed after 8 weeks. HPSE, fibrosis, EMT-markers, inflammation and oxidative stress were evaluated by biomolecular and histological methodologies together with the evaluation of renal histology and measurement of renal function parameters. 8 weeks after I/R HPSE was upregulated both in renal parenchyma and plasma and tissue specimens showed clear evidence of renal injury and fibrosis. The inhibition of HPSE with Roneparstat-restored histology and fibrosis level comparable with that of control. I/R-injured mice showed a significant increase of EMT, inflammation and oxidative stress markers but they were significantly reduced by treatment with Roneparstat. Finally, the inhibition of HPSE in vivo almost restored renal function as measured by BUN, plasma creatinine and albuminuria. The present study points out that HPSE is actively involved in the mechanisms that regulate the development of renal fibrosis arising in the transplanted organ as a consequence of ischemia/reperfusion damage. HPSE inhibition would therefore constitute a new pharmacological strategy to reduce acute kidney injury and to prevent the chronic pro-fibrotic damage induced by I/R

Tissue expression of Squamous Cellular Carcinoma Antigen (SCCA) is inversely correlated to tumor size in HCC

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study aimed to investigate squamous cellular carcinoma antigen (SCCA) in serum and in tumoral and paired peritumoral tissues. We studied 27 patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) and 55 with HCC: 20 with a single nodule < 3 cm (s-HCC) and 35 with a single nodule > 3 cm or multifocal (l-HCC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Serum SCCA was measured by the ELISA kit, and in frozen tissues by immunohistochemistry, quantified with appropriate imaging analysis software and expressed in square microns. Continuous variables are reported as means and 95% confidence intervals. Comparisons between independent groups were performed with a generalized linear model and Tukey grouping. Pearson's correlation coefficients were determined to evaluate relations between markers. Qualitative variables were summarized as count and percentage. Statistical significance was set at p-value < 0.05.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serum SCCA values in LC patients were 0.41 (0.31–0.55) ng/ml and statistically different from both HCC groups: 1.6 (1.0–2.6) ng/ml in s-HCC, 2.2 (1.28–2.74) ng/ml in l-HCC. SCCA in hepatic tissue was 263.8 (176.6–394.01) μm²in LC patients, statistically different from values in s-HCC: 1163.2 (863.6–1566.8) μm²and l-HCC: 625.8 (534.5–732.6). All pairwise comparisons between groups yielded statistically significant differences. Tumoral SCCA resulted linearly related with nodule size, showing a statistically significant inverse relation between the two variables (b = -0.099, p = 0.024).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There was no statistically significant correlation between tissue and serum levels of SCCA. The significantly stronger expression of SCCA in smaller compared to larger HCC could be important for early HCC detection. However, the increased expression in peritumoral tissue could affect the significance of serological detection.</p

Evidence of electron wave function delocalization in CdSe/CdS asymmetric nanocrystals

Abstract We studied the delocalization of electron wave function in asymmetric CdSe/CdS nanocrystals, consisting of a spherical CdSe dot embedded in an elongated CdS shell, by means of a pump–probe technique. By comparing the transient spectra obtained upon pumping the band edge transition of the CdSe in CdSe/CdS heterostructure and in a bare CdSe dot, we observed the delocalization of electron wave function at the CdSe/CdS interface

The Evolving Role of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of most common cancers and the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Commonly, HCC development occurs in a liver that is severely compromised by chronic injury or inflammation. Liver transplantation, hepatic resection, radiofrequency ablation (RFA), transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE), and targeted therapies based on tyrosine protein kinase inhibitors are the most common treatments. The latter group have been used as the primary choice for a decade. However, tumor microenvironment in HCC is strongly immunosuppressive; thus, new treatment approaches for HCC remain necessary. The great expression of immune checkpoint molecules, such as programmed death-1 (PD-1), cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4), lymphocyte activating gene 3 protein (LAG-3), and mucin domain molecule 3 (TIM-3), on tumor and immune cells and the high levels of immunosuppressive cytokines induce T cell inhibition and represent one of the major mechanisms of HCC immune escape. Recently, immunotherapy based on the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), as single agents or in combination with kinase inhibitors, anti-angiogenic drugs, chemotherapeutic agents, and locoregional therapies, offers great promise in the treatment of HCC. This review summarizes the recent clinical studies, as well as ongoing and upcoming trials

Hypertonic Saline in Conjunction with High-Dose Furosemide Improves Dose–Response Curves in Worsening Refractory Congestive Heart Failure

Introduction: Diuretic responsiveness in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) is better assessed by urine production per unit diuretic dose than by the absolute urine output or diuretic dose. Diuretic resistance arises over time when the plateau rate of sodium and water excretion is reached prior to optimal fluid elimination and may be overcome when hypertonic saline solution (HSS) is added to high doses of furosemide. Methods: Forty-two consecutively hospitalized patients with refractory CHF were randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to furosemide doses (125&nbsp;mg, 250&nbsp;mg, 500&nbsp;mg) so that all patients received intravenous furosemide diluted in 150&nbsp;ml of normal saline (0.9%) in the first step (0–24&nbsp;h) and the same furosemide dose diluted in 150&nbsp;ml of HSS (1.4%) in the next step (24–48&nbsp;h) as to obtain 3 groups as follows: Fourteen patients receiving 125&nbsp;mg (group&nbsp;1), fourteen patients receiving 250&nbsp;mg (group&nbsp;2), and fourteen patients receiving 500&nbsp;mg (group&nbsp;3) of furosemide. Urine samples of all patients were collected at 30, 60, and 90&nbsp;min, and 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 24&nbsp;h after infusion. Diuresis, sodium excretion, osmolality, and furosemide concentration were evaluated for each urine sample. Results: After randomization, 40 patients completed the study. Two patients, one in group&nbsp;2 and one in group&nbsp;3 dropped out. Patients in group&nbsp;1 (125&nbsp;mg furosemide) had a mean age of 77&nbsp;±&nbsp;17&nbsp;years, 43% were male, 6 (43%) had heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), and 64% were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class IV; the mean age of patients in group&nbsp;2 (250&nbsp;mg furosemide) was 80&nbsp;±&nbsp;8.1&nbsp;years, 15% were male, 5 (38%) had HFpEF, and 84% were in NYHA class IV; and the mean age of patients in group&nbsp;3 (500&nbsp;mg furosemide) was 73&nbsp;±&nbsp;12&nbsp;years, 54% were male, 6 (46%) had HFpEF, and 69% were in NYHA class IV. HSS added to furosemide increased total urine output, sodium excretion, urinary osmolality, and furosemide urine delivery in all patients and at all time points. The percentage increase was 18,14, and 14% for urine output; 29, 24, and 16% for total sodium excretion; 45, 34, and 20% for urinary osmolarity; and 27, 36, and 32% for total furosemide excretion in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. These findings were translated in an improvement in the furosemide dose–response curves in these patients. Conclusion: These results may serve as new pathophysiological basis for HSS use in the treatment of refractory CHF

Symplectic lattice gauge theories on Grid: approaching the conformal window

Symplectic gauge theories coupled to matter fields lead to symmetry enhancement phenomena that have potential applications in such diverse contexts as composite Higgs, top partial compositeness, strongly interacting dark matter, and dilaton-Higgs models. These theories are also interesting on theoretical grounds, for example in reference to the approach to the large-N limit. A particularly compelling research aim is the determination of the extent of the conformal window in gauge theories with symplectic groups coupled to matter, for different groups and for field content consisting of fermions transforming in different representations. Such determination would have far-reaching implications, but requires overcoming huge technical challenges. Numerical studies based on lattice field theory can provide the quantitative information necessary to this endeavour. We developed new software to implement symplectic groups in the Monte Carlo algorithms within the Grid framework. In this paper, we focus most of our attention on the Sp(4) lattice gauge theory coupled to four (Wilson-Dirac) fermions transforming in the 2-index antisymmetric representation, as a case study. We discuss an extensive catalogue of technical tests of the algorithms and present preliminary measurements to set the stage for future large-scale numerical investigations. We also include the scan of parameter space of all asymptotically free Sp(4) lattice gauge theories coupled to varying number of fermions transforming in the antisymmetric representation.Comment: 41 pages, 16 figure