Binding affinity of amyloid oligomers to cellular membranes is a generic indicator of cellular dysfunction in protein misfolding diseases

The conversion of peptides or proteins from their soluble native states into intractable amyloid deposits is associated with a wide range of human disorders. Misfolded protein oligomers formed during the process of aggregation have been identified as the primary pathogenic agents in many such conditions. Here, we show the existence of a quantitative relationship between the degree of binding to neuronal cells of different types of oligomers formed from a model protein, HypF-N, and the GM1 content of the plasma membranes. In addition, remarkably similar behavior is observed for oligomers of the Aβ(42) peptide associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Further analysis has revealed the existence of a linear correlation between the level of the influx of Ca(2+) across neuronal membranes that triggers cellular damage, and the fraction of oligomeric species bound to the membrane. Our findings indicate that the susceptibility of neuronal cells to different types of misfolded oligomeric assemblies is directly related to the extent of binding of such oligomers to the cellular membrane

Convegno \u201cElia Dalla Costa e gli aiuti agli ebrei a Firenze durante la Sho\ue0, Firenze 19-20 gennaio 2014

Elia Dalla Costa e gli aiuti agli ebrai italian

L\u2019aramaico del Libro di Ezra: storia degli studi e nuove prospettive

The Biblical Aramaic could be defined as the language of the parts of the Hebrew Bible written in Aramaic. In the Hebrew Bible the following are written in Aramaic: Ezra 4:8-6:18 and 7:12-26; Daniel 2:4-7:28; Jeremiah 10:11, and one word in Genesis 31:47. Within the Book of Ezra, in par- ticular, we would expect a specific linguistic style consistent with that of the study called Reichsara- ma \u308isch in which Aramaic is used as the bureaucratic language of the great Middle Eastern emperors. This language is fundamentally observed through papyri from Elephantine, documents from Her- moupolis, and the private letters edited by Driver, all of which are datable between the sixth to the fourth centuries B.C.E. The language of Ezra must be, in other words, that which was used by the chancellor Acha \u308menid. The aforementioned book contains some references to the great Persian sov- ereign, and the fact that he used Aramaic as the lingua franca could explain the presence in the Bible of these Aramaic pages. The scholars who believe in the historicity of Ezra necessarily admit the an- tiquity in all respects of the Aramaic portion of the Bible. Those who doubt the historicity of Ezra, however, note the artificial character of the language in which the book was written in relation to Re- ichsarama \u308isch / Imperial Aramaic

Recensione a \u201cGrammatica di Aramaico Biblico\u201d di P. Magnanini e P. P. Nava

Recensione a una Grammatica che considera l'aramaico biblico coevo agli avvenimenti che descrive nei libri di Ezra e Daniel