MENGA: a new comprehensive tool for the integration of neuroimaging data and the Allen human brain transcriptome atlas

Brain-wide mRNA mappings offer a great potential for neuroscience research as they can provide information about system proteomics. In a previous work we have correlated mRNA maps with the binding patterns of radioligands targeting specific molecular systems and imaged with positron emission tomography (PET) in unrelated control groups. This approach is potentially applicable to any imaging modality as long as an efficient procedure of imaging-genomic matching is provided. In the original work we considered mRNA brain maps of the whole human genome derived from the Allen human brain database (ABA) and we performed the analysis with a specific region-based segmentation with a resolution that was limited by the PET data parcellation. There we identified the need for a platform for imaging-genomic integration that should be usable with any imaging modalities and fully exploit the high resolution mapping of ABA dataset.In this work we present MENGA (Multimodal Environment for Neuroimaging and Genomic Analysis), a software platform that allows the investigation of the correlation patterns between neuroimaging data of any sort (both functional and structural) with mRNA gene expression profiles derived from the ABA database at high resolution.We applied MENGA to six different imaging datasets from three modalities (PET, single photon emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging) targeting the dopamine and serotonin receptor systems and the myelin molecular structure. We further investigated imaging-genomic correlations in the case of mismatch between selected proteins and imaging targets

Defining the dialogue between sciences: A view on transdisciplinary perspective in the human sciences

The authors argue that interdisciplinarity, together with the more recent concept of transdisciplinarity, can be seen as a coherent attempt not so much to reas-semble the fragmented structure into a whole, as to create a fruitful collaboration and integration among different disciplines that takes into account their specificity. Background At the threshold of the Modern Age, a series of paradigm shifts in Western thought caused its fragmentation into a variety of academic subdisciplines. Such diversification can be considered the result of epistemological shifts and changes in the division of intellectual labor. Contribution Which semantic horizons can this new approach open, and on which theoretical foundations could a dialogue between disciplines be produced? The growing importance of this problem is evidenced by the emergence, during the last decades, of philosophical reflections on the interactions among different research fields. Findings The possibility of transdisciplinarity in modern science finds its theoretical premise in M. Foucault's seminal work on the organization of knowledge, The Order of Things, which hinted at the existence of gaps in the grid of knowledge, leading, as a result, to the possibility of creating transdisciplinary connections. Impact on Society The paper aims to contribute to the contemporary discussion of the need to overcome boundaries between disciplines. Consequently, it has both a methodo logical and theoretical impact, since all branches of knowledge aspiring to go beyond their traditional theoretical boundaries would benefit from a coherent theoretical perspective which tries to reconceptualize the transfer of knowledge from one field to another. Future Research The authors' critical discussion of transdisciplinarity aims to revive the French epistemological tradition that in the last decades has often been rejected by researchers as not being rigorous nor analytical. This choice is motivated by the belief that, despite such evident defects, at its bottom lies a genuine theoretical intention that does not take for granted the possibility of transcending the usual division of intellectual work. In addition, the authors offer a brief account of the Russian conception of transdisciplinarity, relatively little studied in the West, which is presumed to integrate and solve the difficulties of other similar mod-els

A new reading of the economic system of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany through the georeferencing of shops and factories at the time of the setting up of the Lorraine Land Registry (1835)

This paper focuses on the reconstruction of the social and economic conditions of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the mid eighteen thirties on the basis of recent geohistorical information. To perform this reconstruction, we georeferenced information relating to the nineteenth-century factories and shops recorded in the Land Registry. To date, this aspect has received little attention when considering the historiographic traditions of this area, firmly rooted in a sharecropping system based on the three main Mediterranean agricultural products.The use of geostatistical tools allowed us to determine the height and slope of each of the geometries in the two geodatabases. We were also able to create positive spatial data autocorrelations, determine specific production and trading areas and thus determine the anthropisation levels of these territories in the outlying areas of the State.The online publication of these geographical databases on the cartographic portal of the Tuscany Region through a dedicated WebGIS was the last phase of our study. Considering both the number and density of geometries surveyed, our work is an extraordinary example of how geohistorical research may be combined with new technologies for the purpose of studying geohistorical content and disseminating it to the general public

Capital’s humpback bridge: ‘financialisation’ and the rate of turnover in Marx’s economic theory

The article aims to shed light on the role played by the ‘rate of turnover’ of capital in Karl Marx’s economic theory. Oddly enough, such a concept has been neglected by the most part of Marx’s scholars and exegetes, as it is demonstrated by the small number of scientific works dealing with it. Yet, the rate of turnover is a key-category in Marxian analysis, as it enables Marx to address the impact of the improvement in finance and other unproductive industries on the capitalist process of creation (and realisation) of surplus-value. The evidence from the new philological edition of Marx and Engel’s writings (MEGA2) further strengthens this insight. The main goal of the paper is, therefore, threefold: first, to bridge the gap in the literature dealing with the Volume Two of Capital; second, to provide a re-definition of several Marxian concepts in the light of the role played by the rate of turnover of capital; third, to analyse the effect of the developments in the banking & finance industry on the turnover rate and, thereby, on the general rate of profit

Thromboelastography in mild, chronic liver disease: challenging conventional coagulation tests preceding liver biopsy

Patients presenting for liver biopsy may have a deficiency of the synthetic function of the liver. They commonly undergo testing of their INR, which is used to decide if there may be a bleeding risk and if that needs to be mitigated by the administration of clotting factors. This study aimed to observe the coagulation profile of these patients via a thromboelastogram (TEG), and to search for a relationship between the traditionally used INR and the R-time of the TEG.A prospective observational pilot study was conducted over a seven-month period. An FBC, INR and kaolin activated thromboelastogram were performed on each patient. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between the INR and the R-time of the TEG.The TEG was performed on 28 participants. Two were excluded from analysis as they had received Vitamin K. Twenty-three patients (88%) had abnormal liver function tests. Drug or toxins were responsible for liver injury in 15 (58%) participants. Twenty-two (85%) had normal platelet counts. Three (12%) were found to be hypocoagulable, four (15%) were hypercoagulable, and the remaining 19 (73%) had normal thromboelastography. The three (12%) participants who were hypocoagulable had a normal platelet count. No association was found between INR and the R-time of TEG (Spearman’s rho −0.20, p = 0.34). In the two participants (8%) with a raised INR (1.26 and 1.7 respectively), the TEG suggested a normal or hypercoagulable status.This study revealed that most patients with mild, chronic liver disease presenting for liver biopsy have a normal TEG. There was no association between INR and the R-time of the TEG. This suggests that INR may not be a reliable test of coagulation status in these patients with mild chronic liver disease, which is contrary to the traditional practice of using INR to infer coagulation status. Further larger studies looking specifically at patients with drug and toxin induced liver injury are warranted.Keywords: international normalised ratio, liver biopsy, liver disease, thromboelastography, viscoelastic coagulation testin

Magnesium in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Obesity, and Metabolic Syndrome

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Magnesium and hypertension in old age

Hypertension is a complex condition in which various actors and mechanisms combine, resulting in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications that today represent the most fre-quent causes of mortality, morbidity, disability, and health expenses worldwide. In the last decades, there has been an exceptional amount of experimental, epidemiological, and clinical studies confirm-ing a close relationship between magnesium deficit and high blood pressure. Multiple mechanisms may help to explain the bulk of evidence supporting a protective effect of magnesium against hypertension and its complications. Hypertension increases sharply with advancing age, hence older persons are those most affected by its negative consequences. They are also more frequently at risk of magnesium deficiency by multiple mechanisms, which may, at least in part, explain the higher frequency of hypertension and its long-term complications. The evidence for a favorable effect of magnesium on hypertension risk emphasizes the importance of broadly encouraging the intake of foods such as vegetables, nuts, whole cereals and legumes, optimal dietary sources of magnesium, avoiding processed food, which are very poor in magnesium and other fundamental nutrients, in order to prevent hypertension. In some cases, when diet is not enough to maintain an adequate magnesium status, magnesium supplementation may be of benefit and has been shown to be well tolerated

Dietary Patterns and Healthy or Unhealthy Aging

Background: The aging process is complex, comprising various contributing factors influencing late-life conditions and eventual occurrence of chronic diseases that generate high financial and human costs. These factors include genetic proneness, lifestyle conducted throughout life, environmental conditions, as well as dietary aspects, among others, all together modulating precise pathways linked to aging, making longevity a multidimensional event. Summary: Compelling evidence support the concept that nutritional determinants have major impact on the risk of age-associated non-communicable diseases as well as mortality. Nutrition research has turned in recent years from considering isolated nutrients or foods to focusing on combinations of foods in dietary patterns in relation to their associations with health outcomes. This narrative review focuses attention on dietary patterns that may contribute to healthy or unhealthy aging and longevity with examples of traditional dietary patterns associated with healthy longevity and reviewing the association of healthy plant-based and unhealthy ultra-processed diets with frailty, a condition that may be considered a hallmark of unhealthy aging. Key Message: There is currently accumulated evidence confirming the key role that dietary patterns mainly of plant origin may exert in modifying the risk of age-associated chronic diseases and healthy longevity. These types of dietary models, unlike those in which the use of ultra-processed food is frequent, are associated with a reduced risk of frailty and, consequently, with healthy aging

Can i take your subdomain? Exploring same-site attacks in the modern web

Related-domain attackers control a sibling domain of their target web application, e.g., as the result of a subdomain takeover. Despite their additional power over traditional web attackers, related-domain attackers received only limited attention from the research community. In this paper we define and quantify for the first time the threats that related-domain attackers pose to web application security. In particular, we first clarify the capabilities that related-domain attackers can acquire through different attack vectors, showing that different instances of the related-domain attacker concept are worth attention. We then study how these capabilities can be abused to compromise web application security by focusing on different angles, including cookies, CSP, CORS, postMessage, and domain relaxation. By building on this framework, we report on a large-scale security measurement on the top 50k domains from the Tranco list that led to the discovery of vulnerabilities in 887 sites, where we quantified the threats posed by related-domain attackers to popular web applications