GPR and IRT Tests in two Historical Buildings in Gravina in Puglia

This paper describes a noninvasive investigation conducted in two important churches, namely the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and the church Santa Croce, both placed in Gravina in Puglia (close to Bari, southern Italy). The church of Santa Croce, now deconsecrated, lies below the Cathedral. Therefore, indeed the two churches constitute a unique building body. Moreover, below the church of Santa Croce there are several crypts, only partially known. The prospecting was performed both with a pulsed commercial GPR system and with a prototypal reconfigurable stepped frequency system. The aim was twofold, namely to achieve some information about the monument and to test the prototypal system. The GPR measurements have been also integrated with an IRT investigation performed on part of the vaulted ceiling of the church of Santa Croce, in order to confirm or deny a possible interpretation of some GPR results

Prospective study of the meaning of indeterminate results of the Recombinant Immunoblot Assay for hepatitis C virus in blood donors

Background. The interpretation of "indeterminate" results of the recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA) is a particularly sensitive issue for Transfusion Services, and donors with such a serological condition require long-term follow-up. Materials and methods. In the Immunohaematology and Transfusion Medicine Division of Umberto I University Hospital (Rome, Italy), 102,979 donor blood units were screened for hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) over a 5-year period (01.01.2000 - 31.12.2004). Since 24.10.2001, HCV-RNA testing was added. All samples repeatedly reactive by ELISA were then submitted to a HCV confirmatory assay (RIBA). Results. Among the 102,979 donors we found 271 positive to HCV ELISA testing. The results of the RIBA assay for these donors were negative in 178 (65.7%) cases, positive in 28 (10.3%) and indeterminate in 65 (24.0 %). Of the 65 subjects with an indeterminate pattern, 24 completed a sufficient follow-up (median 25 months; range, 6 - 52), during which some (n=8; 33%) converted to a negative status, some (n=16; 67%) maintained their reactivity pattern, but none became seropositive for HCV. Conclusions. The HCV-RIBA indeterminate status may indicate either a non-specific reaction (false positive) or a real pre-existing or initial infection and does not, therefore, enable a prediction of outcome. The use of HCV genomic assays (nucleic acid amplification testing), which are more specific than antibody-based assays (ELISA, RIBA), therefore improves HCV blood donor testing by allowing an accurate interpretation of such primary assays

Daily variability at milli-arcsecond scales in the radio-quiet NLSy1 Mrk 110

The origin of radio emission in the majority of active galactic nuclei is still poorly understood. Various competing mechanisms are likely involved in the production of radio emission and precise diagnostic tools are needed to disentangle them, of which variability is among the most powerful. For the first time, we show evidence for significant radio variability at 5 GHz at milli-arcsecond scales on days to weeks time-scales in the highly accreting and extremely radio-quiet (RQ) Narrow Line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) Mrk 110. The simultaneous Swift/XRT light curve indicates stronger soft than hard X-ray variability. The short-term radio variability suggests that the GHz emitting region has a size smaller than ∼180 Schwarzschild radii. The high brightness temperature and the radio and X-ray variability rule out a star-formation and a disc wind origin. Synchrotron emission from a low-power jet and/or an outflowing corona is then favoure

Methylation alteration of SHANK1 as a predictive, diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a clinically heterogeneous disease characterized by the clonal expansion of malignant B cells. To predict the clinical course of the disease, the identification of diagnostic biomarkers is urgently needed. Aberrant methylation patterns may predict CLL development and its course, being very early changes during carcinogenesis. Our aim was to identify CLL specific methylation patterns and to evaluate whether methylation aberrations in selected genes are associated with changes in gene expression. Here, by performing a genome-wide methylation analysis, we identified several CLL-specific methylation alterations. We focused on the most altered one, at a CpG island located in the body of SHANK1 gene, in our CLL cases compared to healthy controls. This methylation alteration was successfully validated in a larger cohort including 139 CLL and 20 control in silico samples. We also found a positive correlation between SHANK1 methylation level and absolute lymphocyte count, in particular CD19+ B cells, in CLL patients. Moreover, we were able to detect gains of methylation at SHANK1 in blood samples collected years prior to diagnosis. Overall, our results suggest methylation alteration at this SHANK1 CpG island as a biomarker for risk and diagnosis of CLL, and also in the personalized quantification of tumor aggressiveness