96 research outputs found
Detection of Landscape patterns in airborne LIDAR data in the Nature Reserve of Castelporziano (Rome)
Detection of Landscape patterns in airborne LIDAR data in the Nature Reserve of Castelporziano (Rome)
During the last decades the protection of nature has become a very important aspect due to the anthropogenic interference and structural alteration of the environment, especially in the peri-urban areas. Therefore, for a sustainable forest planning it is fundamental to get information about the actual state and the variation in landscape patterns concerning the forest layers. To this aim, an airborne laser scanning (LIDAR), a type of sensor which explicitly measures canopy height, was used to detect landscape patterns of broadleaf oak forest and for detecting the monumental trees in a peri-urban Natural Reserve: the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano (Rome)
Hipk2 cooperates with p53 to suppress γ-ray radiation-induced mouse thymic lymphoma
A genome-wide screen for genetic alterations in radiation-induced thymic lymphomas generated from p53+/− and p53−/− mice showed frequent loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on chromosome 6. Fine mapping of these LOH regions revealed three non-overlapping regions, one of which was refined to a 0.2 Mb interval that contained only the gene encoding homeobox-interacting protein kinase 2 (Hipk2). More than 30% of radiation-induced tumors from both p53+/− and p53−/− mice showed heterozygous loss of one Hipk2 allele. Mice carrying a single inactive allele of Hipk2 in the germline were susceptible to induction of tumors by γ-radiation, but most tumors retained and expressed the wild-type allele, suggesting that Hipk2 is a haploinsufficient tumor suppressor gene for mouse lymphoma development. Heterozygous loss of both Hipk2 and p53 confers strong sensitization to radiation-induced lymphoma. We conclude that Hipk2 is a haploinsufficient lymphoma suppressor gene
Technical Design Report EuroGammaS proposal for the ELI-NP Gamma beam System
The machine described in this document is an advanced Source of up to 20 MeV
Gamma Rays based on Compton back-scattering, i.e. collision of an intense high
power laser beam and a high brightness electron beam with maximum kinetic
energy of about 720 MeV. Fully equipped with collimation and characterization
systems, in order to generate, form and fully measure the physical
characteristics of the produced Gamma Ray beam. The quality, i.e. phase space
density, of the two colliding beams will be such that the emitted Gamma ray
beam is characterized by energy tunability, spectral density, bandwidth,
polarization, divergence and brilliance compatible with the requested
performances of the ELI-NP user facility, to be built in Romania as the Nuclear
Physics oriented Pillar of the European Extreme Light Infrastructure. This
document illustrates the Technical Design finally produced by the EuroGammaS
Collaboration, after a thorough investigation of the machine expected
performances within the constraints imposed by the ELI-NP tender for the Gamma
Beam System (ELI-NP-GBS), in terms of available budget, deadlines for machine
completion and performance achievement, compatibility with lay-out and
characteristics of the planned civil engineering
Stretch-activated ion channel TMEM63B associates with developmental and epileptic encephalopathies and progressive neurodegeneration
By converting physical forces into electrical signals or triggering intracellular cascades, stretch-activated ion channels allow the cell to respond to osmotic and mechanical stress. Knowledge of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying associations of stretch-activated ion channels with human disease is limited. Here, we describe 17 unrelated individuals with severe early-onset developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE), intellectual disability, and severe motor and cortical visual impairment associated with progressive neurodegenerative brain changes carrying ten distinct heterozygous variants of TMEM63B, encoding for a highly conserved stretch-activated ion channel. The variants occurred de novo in 16/17 individuals for whom parental DNA was available and either missense, including the recurrent p.Val44Met in 7/17 individuals, or in-frame, all affecting conserved residues located in transmembrane regions of the protein. In 12 individuals, hematological abnormalities co-occurred, such as macrocytosis and hemolysis, requiring blood transfusions in some. We modeled six variants (p.Val44Met, p.Arg433His, p.Thr481Asn, p.Gly580Ser, p.Arg660Thr, and p.Phe697Leu), each affecting a distinct transmembrane domain of the channel, in transfected Neuro2a cells and demonstrated inward leak cation currents across the mutated channel even in isotonic conditions, while the response to hypo-osmotic challenge was impaired, as were the Ca2+ transients generated under hypo-osmotic stimulation. Ectopic expression of the p.Val44Met and p.Gly580Cys variants in Drosophila resulted in early death. TMEM63B-associated DEE represents a recognizable clinicopathological entity in which altered cation conductivity results in a severe neurological phenotype with progressive brain damage and early-onset epilepsy associated with hematological abnormalities in most individuals. Genetics of disease, diagnosis and treatmen
Reducing urban entropy employing nature-based solutions: The case of urban stormwater management
Despite numerous studies on urban resilience, few practical applications
of spatial explicit and quantitative resilience indicators in green infrastructure planning
are present in literature. This paper presents a methodological framework to
assess the hydrological resilience of an urban context employing modelling approach.
The proposed resilience index is then used to support the definition of nature-based
and engineered solutions aimed to increase resilience to floods as well as to enhance
the green infrastructure multi-functionality in a densely populated district of Bari.
The paper aims then to contribute to the introduction of resilience assessment and sustainable
storm water management in practice urban planning in a context of climate
adaptation plans
Energy supply, thermodynamics and territorial processes as a new paradigm of sustainability in planning science and practice
Despite numerous studies on urban resilience, few practical applications
of spatial explicit and quantitative resilience indicators in green infrastructure planning
are present in literature. This paper presents a methodological framework to
assess the hydrological resilience of an urban context employing modelling approach.
The proposed resilience index is then used to support the definition of nature-based
and engineered solutions aimed to increase resilience to floods as well as to enhance
the green infrastructure multi-functionality in a densely populated district of Bari.
The paper aims then to contribute to the introduction of resilience assessment and sustainable
storm water management in practice urban planning in a context of climate
adaptation plans
Reducing Urban Entropy Employing Nature-Based Solutions: The Case of Urban StormWater Management
This paper presents the theory behind the concept of low-entropy cities
based on the second law of thermodynamics. This concept aims to provide a bridge
among different approaches on city sustainability studies, highlighting the links
between natural processes and the socio-ecological complexity of urban systems.
A practical low-entropy application is then proposed for urban storm water management,
examining the planning of nature-based solutions with the support of a
modelling approach. A further novelty of this work is the attempt to combine entropy
with resilience assessment for urban green infrastructure planning
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