Assessing the (In)Stability of Urban Art Paints: From Real Case Studies to Laboratory Investigations of Degradation Processes and Preservation Possibilities

Urban art as a shared expression of street art between artists, citizenship and municipalities has always had an important role in the social life and appearance of modern cities. However, the durability of urban and street artworks is susceptible to the degradation processes that the employed commercial paint formulations undergo once outdoors. These are complex mixtures of compounds, differently sensitive to environmental agents according to their chemical nature. Starting from the colorimetric analysis of murals created in 2010, 2011 and 2018 in Reggio Emilia, Italy, documenting their degradation already after a few months, this study aimed at understanding the stability of the most unstable paints used by the artists in these artworks. A multi-analytical approach evaluated the commercial products under the chemical point of view, after natural and accelerated ageing. Additionally, two manufactured anti-UV varnishes were evaluated for their possible use as coatings. The results pinpointed the weaknesses of the selected paints and highlighted how the application of an anti-UV coating might slightly affect the visual aspect of the artwork, though ensuring a greater resistance to the outdoor conditions due to their minor chemical sensitivity to environmental agents

The High Resolution Structure of GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase

GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase is a bifunctional enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of cell-surface structures, such as blood group antigens. Each subunit in the homodimeric enzyme consists of two domains. The N-terminal domain displays a Rossmann-fold topology and binds the NADP+ coenzyme. The C-terminal domain is held to bind the substrate. The holo-enzyme structure has been refined at 1.45 Å resolution, based on synchrotron data, to a final R-factor of 0.127 (Rfree = 0.167). The refined protein model highlights several residues involved in coenzyme recognition and binding and suggests that the enzyme belongs to the short-chain dehydrogenase protein homology family. Implications of the catalytic mechanism are discussed

Analysis of Polyphenolic Compounds in Water-Based Extracts of Vicia faba L.: A Potential Innovative Source of Nutraceutical Ingredients

The water-based extract of broad bean hulls contains several bioactive molecules, including polyphenols well-known to exert antioxidant activity, which could justify its use in nutraceutical formulations. Hence, the current investigation aimed to establish the polyphenolic profile of water-based extracts from broad bean hulls through UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS analysis. The findings highlighted that p-coumaric acid, chlorogenic acid, and epicatechin were the most common compounds found in the tested extracts, being quantified at a mean concentration of 42.1, 32.6, and 31.2 mg/100 g, respectively. Moreover, broad bean hull extracts were encapsulated into a nutraceutical formulation, after which the antioxidant properties and the bioaccessibility of phenolic compounds during the simulated gastrointestinal (GI) process were investigated and compared with the digested non-encapsulated extract. The data highlighted that following the GI process, the capsules were able to preserve active compounds from the adverse effects of digestion, resulting in a greater antioxidant capacity and polyphenol bioaccessibility in the duodenal and colonic phases, compared with the non-encapsulated extract. Our results showed that the water extract from broad bean hulls may be considered a valuable source of natural polyphenolic compounds; in addition, the use of a gastric-resistant capsule could be a suitable alternative to transport these bioactive compounds to the target tissues

Recent changes in rainfalland air temperature at Agnone(Molise - Central Italy)

An exhaustive daily rainfall and extreme air temperature series (1883-2000) was reconstructed for Agnone, a small town in Molise (Central Italy). Long-term analysis identified an increasing trend of 1.3 ± 0.4°C per 100 years, statistically confident at the 95% level, only for minimum air temperature, and of a seasonal march, reasonably stationary along the entire investigated interval, explaining more than 50% of the corresponding monthly variance, with maxima in November and July for rainfall and air temperature, respectively. Daily clustering analysis evidenced scale-invariant properties, largely dependent on the threshold value, for all the investigated parameters

Definition of physical-dynamic parameters in circular kick in Muay Thai through latest generation inertial sensors with a critical review of the literature

In recent years, the study of movement analysis with the application of dedicated advanced technologies, such as inertial technologies, has also become essential in scientific research of sports disciplines such as martial arts and combat sports, to better define the real dynamics of technical components in order to adapt the training design. A great number of studies in the literature have focused on the kinematics of circular kick in combat sport and martial arts but a relatively small number have focused on the kinetic and kinematic analysis of Muay Thai and especially its circular kick technique. This study aims to highlight instrumentally the quality of circular kick gesture and through which segmental motor dynamics it achieves its greatest effectiveness, evaluating the accelerations and execution times of the different body segments involved in technical execution itself obviously in a performative sense. It is important to note that the inertial data shows that both knee and ankle have an increasing linear velocity greater than the hip in the preparation and execution phase, while for the angular velocity in the execution phase it is the hip that has higher acceleration than the knee and ankle. These results, therefore, highlight the basic importance of intra-articular and intramuscular coordination processes that allow or not linearity and fluidity of movements that are the basis to obtain maximum intersegmental performance in order to deliver maximum acceleration in the apical point of the shot and thus have the maximum effectiveness of hit and therefore the optimal performance

Transcriptional Repressors of Fetal Globin Genes as Novel Therapeutic Targets in Beta-Thalassemia

During development the human β-globin gene cluster undergoes two switching processes at the embryo-fetal and fetal-adult stages, respectively, involving changes in chromatin remodeling and in transcriptional regulatory networks. In particular, during the perinatal period, the switch from fetal-to-adult globin gene expression leads to fetal globin genes silencing and progressive decline of fetal hemoglobin (HbF). Impaired hemoglobin switching is associated with hereditary persistence of HbF (HPFH), a condition in which the fetal globin genes fail to be completely silenced in adult red blood cells. This condition, when co-inherited with hemoglobinopathies, has great therapeutic potential because elevated HbF levels can ameliorate β-thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. Therefore, there is a growing interest about the complex network of factors that regulate fetal globin genes expression. Here we discuss the activity of transcriptional repressors of fetal globin genes and their potential role as novel therapeutic targets in β-thalassemia

ALLELE-SPECIFIC TRANSCRIPTIONAL ACTIVITY OF THE VARIABLE NUMBER OF TANDEM REPEATS OF THE INDUCIBLE NITRIC OXIDE SYNTHASE GENE IS ASSOCIATED WITH IDIOPATHIC ACHALASIA

Background: Polymorphisms of genes involved in the regulation of the immune response are risk factors for achalasia, but their contribution to disease pathogenesis is unknown. Nitric oxide is involved in both immune function and inhibitory neurotransmission. Objective: to assess the association and the functional relevance of the CCTTT inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS2) gene promoter polymorphism in achalasia. Methods: Genomic DNA was isolated from 181 achalasia patients and 220 controls. Genotyping of the (CCTTT)n repeats was performed by PCR and capillary electrophoresis, and data analyzed by considering the frequency of the different alleles. HT29 cells were transfected with iNOS luciferase promoter-reporter plasmids containing different (CCTTT)n. Results: The alleles’ distribution ranged from 7 to 18, with a peak frequency at 12 repeats. Analysis of the allele frequencies revealed that individuals carrying 10 and 13 CCTTT repeats were respectively less and more frequent in achalasia (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.5 and OR 1.6, 95% CI 1-2.4, all p<0.05). Long repeats were also significantly associated with an earlier onset of the disease (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.13-2.53, p=0.01). Transfection experiments’ revealed a similar allele-specific iNOS transcriptional activity. Conclusion: The functional polymorphism (CCTTT) of NOS2 promoter is associated with achalasia, likely by an allele-specific modulation of nitric oxide production

Biomarkers of myocardial injury with different energy sources for atrial fibrillation catheter ablation

Background: Our study aims to compare acute myocardial injury biomarker rise after atrial fibrillation ablation performed with different technologies.Methods and Results: One hundred and ten patients were treated with pulmonary vein isolation with 4 different technologies: open-irrigated tip radiofrequency (RF) catheter in35 patients (Group A), cryoballoon in 35 patients (Group B), visually guided laser balloon in 20 patients (Group C), open-irrigated tip RF catheter with contact-force-sensing technology in 20 patients (Group D). Post-procedure samples of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and creatinine kinase-MB (CK-MB) were collected at 19 ± 3 h and 43 ± 3 h after ablation. At the first postprocedural sample, cTnI and CK-MB levels were found elevated in all 110 patients with a median value of 2.11 ng/mL and 8.95 ng/mL, respectively. Group B showed cTnI levels increased (median 5.96 ng/mL) compared to other groups (median Group A: 1.72 ng/mL, Group C: 1.54 ng/mL, Group D: 2.0 ng/mL; p &lt; 0.001). Also CK-MB levels resulted higher in cryoablation (median 26.4 ng/mL) compared to other groups (median Group A: 6.40 ng/mL, Group C: 7.15 ng/mL, Group D: 6.50 ng/mL; p &lt; 0.001). No significant association was observed between biomarker levels and recurrences of atrial fibrillation after a mean follow-up of 369 ± 196 days.Conclusions: Highest markers for myocardial injury were observed in the cryoballoon group. It is possible that a longer delivery energy duration and other factors affecting lesion size resulted in higher amount of cardiac injury in cryoablation. The higher levels of cardiac biomarkers did not translate into a better outcome and its physiologic significance is unknown.

New advances in metabolic syndrome, from prevention to treatment. The role of diet and food

The definition of metabolic syndrome (MetS) has undergone several changes over the years due to the difficulty in establishing universal criteria for it. Underlying the disorders related to MetS is almost invariably a pro-inflammatory state related to altered glucose metabolism, which could lead to elevated cardiovascular risk. Indeed, the complications closely related to MetS are cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). It has been observed that the predisposition to metabolic syndrome is modulated by complex interactions between human microbiota, genetic factors, and diet. This review provides a summary of the last decade of literature related to three principal aspects of MetS: (i) the syndrome’s definition and classification, pathophysiology, and treatment approaches; (ii) prediction and diagnosis underlying the biomarkers identified by means of advanced methodologies (NMR, LC/GC-MS, and LC, LC-MS); and (iii) the role of foods and food components in prevention and/or treatment of MetS, demonstrating a possible role of specific foods intake in the development of MetS