Protein Profiling of Arabidopsis Roots Treated With Humic Substances: Insights Into the Metabolic and Interactome Networks

Background and Aim: Humic substances (HSs) influence the chemical and physical properties of the soil, and are also known to affect plant physiology and nutrient uptake. This study aimed to elucidate plant metabolic pathways and physiological processes influenced by HS activity. Methods: Arabidopsis roots were treated with HS for 8 h. Quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomics analysis of root proteins was performed using the iTRAQ (Isobaric Tag for Relative and Absolute Quantification) technique. Out of 902 protein families identified and quantified for HS treated vs. untreated roots, 92 proteins had different relative content. Bioinformatic tools such as STRING, KEGG, IIS and Cytoscape were used to interpret the biological function, pathway analysis and visualization of network amongst the identified proteins. Results: From this analysis it was possible to evaluate that all of the identified proteins were functionally classified into several categories, mainly redox homeostasis, response to inorganic substances, energy metabolism, protein synthesis, cell trafficking, and division. Conclusion: In the present study an overview of the metabolic pathways most modified by HS biological activity is provided. Activation of enzymes of the glycolytic pathway and up regulation of ribosomal protein indicated a stimulation in energy metabolism and protein synthesis. Regulation of the enzymes involved in redox homeostasis suggest a pivotal role of reactive oxygen species in the signaling and modulation of HS-induced responses

POLITICHE DI SVILUPPO TERRITORIALE E MODELLISTICA AMBIENTALE: CENSIMENTO, ANALISI E VALUTAZIONE DEGLI IMPATTI POTENZIALI DI FONTI INQUINANTI SU SCALA COMUNALE

Questo studio descrive il progetto implementato dal Comune di Maniago (Pordenone) per censire, strutturare e analizzare i dati relativi alle fonti emissive di tipo industriale presenti nel territorio. I dati sono stati acquisiti esaminando documenti autorizzativi di pubblico accesso e rapporti di prova relativi alle misure di emissione. L’analisi dei dati ha permesso di sviluppare una base di dati contenente l’elenco dei punti emissivi (identificati come rilevanti in fase di autorizzazione) completi di portata autorizzata e concentrazione limite ammessa allo scarico. Queste quantità permettono di definire il flusso emissivo corrispondente allo “scenario di massima emissione autorizzata”, ovvero la peggiore condizione di emissione compatibile con l’autorizzazione ambientale in essere. Analizzare l’impatto in queste condizioni è conservativo per la valutazione dello stato della qualità dell’aria, perché non possono verificarsi, a norma di legge, condizioni peggiori. Questo scenario è stato adottato come riferimento per valutare il “margine ambientale” per la sostenibilità di nuovi insediamenti. Per questo, è stato sviluppato un modello a scala locale della dispersione e trasporto degli inquinanti, che permette di mettere in relazione emissioni autorizzate (attuali e future) e impatti. Il modello fornisce un’architettura che potrà essere utilizzata anche per mettere in relazione emissioni reali (valorizzate sulla base di misure effettuate in occasione dei monitoraggi periodici) e livello di qualità dell’aria: il modello potrà essere interrogato in modo sistematico per valutare l’opportunità/i rischi legati all’insediamento di nuove aziende; potrà anche servire per identificare le migliori azioni da implementare per gestire criticità ambientali come il superamento di soglie critiche di concentrazione per alcuni inquinanti

Organic waste biorefineries: looking towards implementation

The concept of biorefinery expands the possibilities to extract value from organic matter in form of either bespoke crops or organic waste. The viability of biorefinery schemes depends on the recovery of higher-value chemicals with potential for a wide distribution and an untapped marketability. The feasibility of biorefining organic waste is enhanced by the fact that the biorefinery will typically receive a waste management fee for accepting organic waste. The development and implementation of waste biorefinery concepts can open up a wide array of possibilities to shift waste management towards higher sustainability. However, barriers encompassing environmental, technical, economic, logistic, social and legislative aspects need to be overcome. For instance, waste biorefineries are likely to be complex systems due to the variability, heterogeneity and low purity of waste materials as opposed to dedicated biomasses. This article discusses the drivers that can make the biorefinery concept applicable to waste management and the possibilities for its development to full scale. Technological, strategic and market constraints affect the successful implementations of these systems. Fluctuations in waste characteristics, the level of contamination in the organic waste fraction, the proximity of the organic waste resource, the markets for the biorefinery products, the potential for integration with other industrial processes and disposal of final residues are all critical aspects requiring detailed analysis. Furthermore, interventions from policy makers are necessary to foster sustainable bio-based solutions for waste management

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

Following the selection of The Gravitational Universe by ESA, and the successful flight of LISA Pathfinder, the LISA Consortium now proposes a 4 year mission in response to ESA's call for missions for L3. The observatory will be based on three arms with six active laser links, between three identical spacecraft in a triangular formation separated by 2.5 million km. LISA is an all-sky monitor and will offer a wide view of a dynamic cosmos using Gravitational Waves as new and unique messengers to unveil The Gravitational Universe. It provides the closest ever view of the infant Universe at TeV energy scales, has known sources in the form of verification binaries in the Milky Way, and can probe the entire Universe, from its smallest scales near the horizons of black holes, all the way to cosmological scales. The LISA mission will scan the entire sky as it follows behind the Earth in its orbit, obtaining both polarisations of the Gravitational Waves simultaneously, and will measure source parameters with astrophysically relevant sensitivity in a band from below $10^{-4}\,$Hz to above $10^{-1}\,$Hz.Comment: Submitted to ESA on January 13th in response to the call for missions for the L3 slot in the Cosmic Vision Programm

Lopinavir/Ritonavir and Darunavir/Cobicistat in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: Findings From the Multicenter Italian CORIST Study

Background: Protease inhibitors have been considered as possible therapeutic agents for COVID-19 patients. Objectives: To describe the association between lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) or darunavir/cobicistat (DRV/c) use and in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients. Study Design: Multicenter observational study of COVID-19 patients admitted in 33 Italian hospitals. Medications, preexisting conditions, clinical measures, and outcomes were extracted from medical records. Patients were retrospectively divided in three groups, according to use of LPV/r, DRV/c or none of them. Primary outcome in a time-to event analysis was death. We used Cox proportional-hazards models with inverse probability of treatment weighting by multinomial propensity scores. Results: Out of 3,451 patients, 33.3% LPV/r and 13.9% received DRV/c. Patients receiving LPV/r or DRV/c were more likely younger, men, had higher C-reactive protein levels while less likely had hypertension, cardiovascular, pulmonary or kidney disease. After adjustment for propensity scores, LPV/r use was not associated with mortality (HR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.13), whereas treatment with DRV/c was associated with a higher death risk (HR = 1.89, 1.53 to 2.34, E-value = 2.43). This increased risk was more marked in women, in elderly, in patients with higher severity of COVID-19 and in patients receiving other COVID-19 drugs. Conclusions: In a large cohort of Italian patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in a real-life setting, the use of LPV/r treatment did not change death rate, while DRV/c was associated with increased mortality. Within the limits of an observational study, these data do not support the use of LPV/r or DRV/c in COVID-19 patients

Design concepts for the Cherenkov Telescope Array CTA: an advanced facility for ground-based high-energy gamma-ray astronomy

Ground-based gamma-ray astronomy has had a major breakthrough with the impressive results obtained using systems of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. Ground-based gamma-ray astronomy has a huge potential in astrophysics, particle physics and cosmology. CTA is an international initiative to build the next generation instrument, with a factor of 5-10 improvement in sensitivity in the 100 GeV-10 TeV range and the extension to energies well below 100 GeV and above 100 TeV. CTA will consist of two arrays (one in the north, one in the south) for full sky coverage and will be operated as open observatory. The design of CTA is based on currently available technology. This document reports on the status and presents the major design concepts of CTA

Supplement: "Localization and broadband follow-up of the gravitational-wave transient GW150914" (2016, ApJL, 826, L13)

This Supplement provides supporting material for Abbott et al. (2016a). We briefly summarize past electromagnetic (EM) follow-up efforts as well as the organization and policy of the current EM follow-up program. We compare the four probability sky maps produced for the gravitational-wave transient GW150914, and provide additional details of the EM follow-up observations that were performed in the different bands

Multi-wavelength observations of blazar AO 0235+164 in the 2008-2009 flaring state

The blazar AO 0235+164 (z = 0.94) has been one of the most active objects observed by Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) since its launch in Summer 2008. In addition to the continuous coverage by Fermi, contemporaneous observations were carried out from the radio to γ-ray bands between 2008 September and 2009 February. In this paper, we summarize the rich multi-wavelength data collected during the campaign (including F-GAMMA, GASP-WEBT, Kanata, OVRO, RXTE, SMARTS, Swift, and other instruments), examine the cross-correlation between the light curves measured in the different energy bands, and interpret the resulting spectral energy distributions in the context of well-known blazar emission models. We find that the γ-ray activity is well correlated with a series of near-IR/optical flares, accompanied by an increase in the optical polarization degree. On the other hand, the X-ray light curve shows a distinct 20 day high state of unusually soft spectrum, which does not match the extrapolation of the optical/UV synchrotron spectrum. We tentatively interpret this feature as the bulk Compton emission by cold electrons contained in the jet, which requires an accretion disk corona with an effective covering factor of 19% at a distance of 100 R g. We model the broadband spectra with a leptonic model with external radiation dominated by the infrared emission from the dusty torus. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved