Collecting built environment information using UAVs: Time and applicability in building inspection activities

The Italian way of thinking about maintenance is too often one-sided. Indeed, it is considered not so much as a useful practice to prevent the occurrence of a fault (ex ante), but as an intervention to solve it (ex post). Analyzing the legislation relating to the construction sector, it can be seen that it does not clearly define the responsibilities, timescales and methods in which maintenance interventions must be planned and carried out. For this reason, this practice is still very weak compared, for example, to the industrial sector, where it is an established practice. Currently, the complexity of reading the maintenance plans drawn up by designers and the considerable costs associated with maintenance operations discourage owners and managers from even carrying out preliminary inspection operations. This research aims to stimulate these stakeholders to carry out inspection operations regularly, highlighting their costs and benefits. In particular, working on a case study in Piedmont, the costs of visual inspections carried out in the traditional way are compared with those that would be incurred if unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were used. Finally, the collateral benefits of inspections carried out with UAVs are highlighted

La vegetación de ribera como indicadora de calidad ambiental en ríos serranos de la provincia de San Luis (Argentina)

The quality of the rivers can be analyzed using the characteristics of the vegetation of its banks. Nowadays, these habitats are being degraded at an accelerated rate by human disturbance. The aim of this study was to use the riparian vegetation of three rivers of the Sierra de San Luis (Argentina) as an indicator of the quality of aquatic environments. Fourteen phytosociological inventories were conducted in randomly selected sites on the banks of Potrero, El Volcán and El Trapiche rivers. In addition to the inventories, an anthropization index was calculated and a total of 23 alterations were identified. Each of these were assigned a value 0 (zero), 1 (low), 2 (medium) and 3 (high). These values were summed up to obtain a final score for each site. The results indicated that areas with higher anthropization possess a higher richness and coverage of invasive plants species, which are characteristic of disturbed sites. The site with the highest human disturbance was located on the banks of river El Volcán, while the lowest value was found in Potrero river. It can be inferred that invasive plants and the riparian communities’ characteristics are good indicators of the environmental quality of these rivers.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

La vegetación de ribera como indicadora de calidad ambiental en ríos serranos de la provincia de San Luis (Argentina)

The quality of the rivers can be analyzed using the characteristics of the vegetation of its banks. Nowadays, these habitats are being degraded at an accelerated rate by human disturbance. The aim of this study was to use the riparian vegetation of three rivers of the Sierra de San Luis (Argentina) as an indicator of the quality of aquatic environments. Fourteen phytosociological inventories were conducted in randomly selected sites on the banks of Potrero, El Volcán and El Trapiche rivers. In addition to the inventories, an anthropization index was calculated and a total of 23 alterations were identified. Each of these were assigned a value 0 (zero), 1 (low), 2 (medium) and 3 (high). These values were summed up to obtain a final score for each site. The results indicated that areas with higher anthropization possess a higher richness and coverage of invasive plants species, which are characteristic of disturbed sites. The site with the highest human disturbance was located on the banks of river El Volcán, while the lowest value was found in Potrero river. It can be inferred that invasive plants and the riparian communities’ characteristics are good indicators of the environmental quality of these rivers.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

First Report of CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing in Castanea sativa Mill

CRISPR/Cas9 has emerged as the most important tool for genome engineering due to its simplicity, design flexibility, and high efficiency. This technology makes it possible to induce point mutations in one or some target sequences simultaneously, as well as to introduce new genetic variants by homology-directed recombination. However, this approach remains largely unexplored in forest species. In this study, we reported the first example of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing in Castanea genus. As a proof of concept, we targeted the gene encoding phytoene desaturase (pds), whose mutation disrupts chlorophyll biosynthesis allowing for the visual assessment of knockout efficiency. Globular and early torpedo-stage somatic embryos of Castanea sativa (European chestnut) were cocultured for 5 days with a CRISPR/Cas9 construct targeting two conserved gene regions of pds and subsequently cultured on a selection medium with kanamycin. After 8 weeks of subculture on selection medium, four kanamycin-resistant embryogenetic lines were isolated. Genotyping of these lines through target Sanger sequencing of amplicons revealed successful gene editing. Cotyledonary somatic embryos were maturated on maltose 3% and cold-stored at 4°C for 2 months. Subsequently, embryos were subjected to the germination process to produce albino plants. This study opens the way to the use of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in European chestnut for biotechnological application

Risk factors and incidence of long-COVID syndrome in hospitalized patients: does remdesivir have a protective effect?

BACKGROUND: The definition of 'long-COVID syndrome' (LCS) is still debated and describes the persistence of symptoms after viral clearance in hospitalized or non-hospitalized patients affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). AIM: In this study, we examined the prevalence and the risk factors of LCS in a cohort of patients with previous COVID-19 and followed for at least 6 months of follow-up. DESIGN: We conducted a prospective study including all hospitalized patients affected by COVID-19 at our center of Infectious Diseases (Vercelli, Italy) admitted between 10 March 2020 and 15 January 2021 for at least 6 months after discharge. Two follow-up visits were performed: after 1 and 6 months after hospital discharge. Clinical, laboratory and radiological data were recorded at each visit. RESULTS: A total of 449 patients were included in the analysis. The LCS was diagnosed in 322 subjects at Visit 1 (71.7%) and in 206 at Visit 2 (45.9); according to the post-COVID-19 functional status scale we observed 147 patients with values 2-3 and 175 with values >3 at Visit 1; at Visit 2, 133 subjects had the score between 2-3 and 73 > 3. In multivariate analysis, intensive care unit (ICU) admission (OR = 2.551; 95% CI = 1.998-6.819; P = 0.019), time of hospitalization (OR = 2.255; 95% CI = 1.018-6.992; P = 0.016) and treatment with remdesivir (OR = 0.641; 95% CI = 0.413-0.782; P < 0.001) were independent predictors of LCS. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with remdesivir leads to a 35.9% reduction in LCS rate in follow-up. Severity of illness, need of ICU admission and length of hospital stay were factor associated with the persistence of PCS at 6 months of follow-up

FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A TOMATO GLUTHATHIONE S TRANSFERASE GENE AND ITS IMPLICATION IN THE PLANT RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSES

Mitigating the negative effects of abiotic stresses on crop productivity is pivotal in order to meet the global demand for food and other agricultural commodities. Abiotic stresses caused by deficiencies or excesses in environmental factors such as water, salt, light, and temperature can substantially reduce plant growth and productivity and even survival. Abiotic stresses were estimated to cause an overall yield loss of ~70% in key agricultural crops and global warming is even expected to further worsen food security. Abiotic stresses induce in plant cells increasing levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are critical for stress signaling and mainly affect chloroplast protein synthesis and photosystem II repair. A plethora of antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes protect plant cells from oxidative stresses caused by an excess of ROS accumulation, thus engineering the cell redox cycle for enhancing the ROS-scavenging capacity might contribute to empower plant stress tolerance. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) is a multigene superfamily with diverse cellular mechanisms and metabolic functions and has been considered as one of the key members of plant stress modulation pathways. Our goal is to investigates the role of a tomato glutathione S-transferase (GST - Solyc07g056420) gene in controlling plant stress response. Tobacco lines overexpressing the Solyc07g056420 coding sequence (OE) accumulated significantly higher levels of hydrogen peroxide in leaves and decreased leaf levels of flavonoids, chlorophyll A and antioxidant capacity compared with control plants. OE 40 days old plants underwent differential watering treatments, i.e. full reintegration of water lost by evapo transpiration (FWR) and restitution of 50% of lost water (HWR). Under HWR conditions, OE plants showed a reduced occurrence of leaf injuries and responded to drought with a significantly higher increase in leaf chlorophyll A, chlorophyll B, hydrogen peroxide and antioxidant capacity compared to control plants. These results suggested that the hyper-accumulation of H2O2 induced in leaves by the overexpression of the Solyc07g056420 coding sequence and compensated by the adjusting the antioxidant capacity might lead to an enhancement of plant responsiveness to drought. Ongoing experiments will further investigate the functional role of the tomato Solyc07g056420 within the stress signaling network and its possible involvement in the modulation of plant response to other environmental stresses