A systemic design application for resources management in urban green spaces

Urban green spaces are often analyzed by the quantity of provided services, the kind of benefits they supply for the community and the human actions that modify the urban ecosystems. Moreover, urban green spaces and green infrastructures can produce important resources, even if these latter are not always considered during the preparation of management plans. To this extent, the Systemic Design can help to show the qualitative aspects of these resources and how they can be managed. Aim of this study is therefore to illustrate how a holistic approach like the Systemic Design can be applied to the management of urban green infrastructure, their ecosystem services and the raw materials and resources useful for the community.With an application to a real case, we will show how a Systemic Design approach is able to state resources' availability in a green urban area with the consequent identification of the area in which these resources can be employed. This identification is the essential prerequisite for the creation of a plan that stress the links among ecosystem services, resources and urban dwellers and the consequent best management practices, with particular emphasis on challenges related to climate changes and increasing urbanization.When necessary, Systemic Design can also provide viable indications to redesign a new context with different fluxes of materials and energy and can contribute to the creation of a set of new activities deeply connected with local green spaces. The final results can be identified in the creation of work tools for administrators and urban designers interested in the integrated management of green infrastructures and the suggestion of a new urban model, with stronger connections between society and territory, for more sustainable and resilient cities

Asymmetric conjugate additions of dialkylzinc reagents to enones promoted by new purely atropisomeric phosphoramidite ligands

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A Vibrational Circular Dichroism Approach To The Determination Of The Absolute Configuration Of Flexible And Transparent Molecules: Fluorenone Ketals Of 1,N-Diols

The infrared absorption (IR) and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra for five ketal molecules, three of which obtained from 1,2-diols and two from 1,3-diols, were recorded in the mid-IR region. The spectra have been satisfactorily reproduced by DFT calculations, even with not too large wavefunction basis sets, especially due to the low number of conformers to be considered. The mobility of some moieties provides a recognizable signature. A characteristic couplet of VCD bands attributed to normal modes involving the methine and a phenyl ring bonded to the stereogenic carbon atom is evidenced for two ketals of the series as a signature of the absolute configuration; due comparison with existing literature is made. A relation is discussed of the present VCD data with the literature VCD data of simple alcohols and diols

A Rapid, Scalable Method for the Isolation, Functional Study, and Analysis of Cell-Derived Extracellular Matrix

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is recognized as a diverse, dynamic, and complex environment that is involved in multiple cell-physiological and pathological processes. However, the isolation of ECM, from tissues or cell culture, is complicated by the insoluble and cross-linked nature of the assembled ECM and by the potential contamination of ECM extracts with cell surface and intracellular proteins. Here, we describe a method for use with cultured cells that is rapid and reliably removes cells to isolate a cell-derived ECM for downstream experimentation. Through use of this method, the isolated ECM and its components can be visualized by in situ immunofluorescence microscopy. The dynamics of specific ECM proteins can be tracked by tracing the deposition of a tagged protein using fluorescence microscopy, both before and after the removal of cells. Alternatively, the isolated ECM can be extracted for biochemical analysis, such as sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and immunoblotting. At larger scales, a full proteomics analysis of the isolated ECM by mass spectrometry can be conducted. By conducting ECM isolation under sterile conditions, sterile ECM layers can be obtained for functional or phenotypic studies with any cell of interest. The method can be applied to any adherent cell type, is relatively easy to perform, and can be linked to a wide repertoire of experimental designs

Eye-Light on Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Targeting Nrf2-Pathway as a Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Retinal Pigment Epithelium

open6noThis work was supported by the University of Pavia [to MA, grant number BSR1744747; 2017] and the Italian Ministry of University and Research [to MA, FFABR2017]. The University of Bologna is acknowledged by MR [Grants from RFO].Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common disease with a multifactorial aetiology, still lacking effective and curative therapies. Among the early events triggering AMD is the deterioration of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), whose fundamental functions assure good health of the retina. RPE is physiologically exposed to high levels of oxidative stress during its lifespan; thus, the integrity and well-functioning of its antioxidant systems are crucial to maintain RPE homeostasis. Among these defensive systems, the Nrf2-pathway plays a primary role. Literature evidence suggests that, in aged and especially in AMD RPE, there is an imbalance between the increased pro-oxidant stress, and the impaired endogenous detoxifying systems, finally reverberating on RPE functions and survival. In this in vitro study on wild type (WT) and Nrf2-silenced (siNrf2) ARPE-19 cells exposed to various AMD-related noxae (H2O2, 4-HNE, MG132 + Bafilomycin), we show that the Nrf2-pathway activation is a physiological protective stress response, leading downstream to an up-regulation of the Nrf2-targets HO1 and p62, and that a Nrf2 impairment predisposes the cells to a higher vulnerability to stress. In search of new pharmacologically active compounds potentially useful for AMD, four nature-inspired hybrids (NIH) were individually characterized as Nrf2 activators, and their pharmacological activity was investigated in ARPE-19 cells. The Nrf2 activator dimethyl-fumarate (DMF; 10 μM) was used as a positive control. Three out of the four tested NIH (5 μM) display both direct and indirect antioxidant properties, in addition to cytoprotective effects in ARPE-19 cells under pro-oxidant stimuli. The observed pro-survival effects require the presence of Nrf2, with the exception of the lead compound NIH1, able to exert a still significant, albeit lower, protection even in siNrf2 cells, supporting the concept of the existence of both Nrf2-dependent and independent pathways mediating pro-survival effects. In conclusion, by using some pharmacological tools as well as a reference compound, we dissected the role of the Nrf2-pathway in ARPE-19 stress response, suggesting that the Nrf2 induction represents an efficient defensive strategy to prevent the stress-induced damage.openCatanzaro M.; Lanni C.; Basagni F.; Rosini M.; Govoni S.; Amadio M.Catanzaro M.; Lanni C.; Basagni F.; Rosini M.; Govoni S.; Amadio M

Glyphosate resistance by engineering the flavoenzyme glycine oxidase.

Glycine oxidase from Bacillus subtilis is a homotetrameric flavoprotein of great potential biotechnological use because it catalyzes the oxidative deamination of various amines and D-isomer of amino acids to yield the corresponding \u3b1-keto acids, ammonia/amine, and hydrogen peroxide. Glyphosate (N-phosphonomethylglycine), a broad spectrum herbicide, is an interesting synthetic amino acid: this compound inhibits 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase in the shikimate pathway, which is essential for the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids in plants and certain bacteria. In recent years, transgenic crops resistant to glyphosate were mainly generated by overproducing the plant enzyme or by introducing a 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase insensitive to this herbicide. In this work, we propose that the enzymatic oxidation of glyphosate could be an effective alternative to this important biotechnological process. To reach this goal, we used a rational design approach (together with site saturation mutagenesis) to generate a glycine oxidase variant more active on glyphosate than on the physiological substrate glycine. The glycine oxidase containing three point mutations (G51S/A54R/H244A) reaches an up to a 210-fold increase in catalytic efficiency and a 15,000-fold increase in the specificity constant (the kcat/Km ratio between glyphosate and glycine) as compared with wild-type glycine oxidase. The inspection of its three-dimensional structure shows that the \u3b12-\u3b13 loop (comprising residues 50-60 and containing two of the mutated residues) assumes a novel conformation and that the newly introduced residue Arg54 could be the key residue in stabilizing glyphosate binding and destabilizing glycine positioning in the binding site, thus increasing efficiency on the herbicide

Commercial hybrid yield of green asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L. var. altilis) processed in two spear-lengths, during the stable productivity stage, in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina

The perennial crop asparagus reaches maximum yield in its fifth season, exhibits marked genotype-environment interaction and requires productivity evaluation of its hybrids. To determine the behavior of green asparagus genotypes, a randomized complete block design trial (begun 16/11/11, density 23810 pl ha-1, area 1690 m2) was carried out in Azul (36°48’ S, lat. 59°51’ W, long.) within the framework of the ISHS’s Fourth International Asparagus Cultivar Trial, in which the following hybrids were harvested between 5/8/17 and 26/10/17 and evaluated for agronomic performance: ‘Italo’, ‘Vittorio’, ‘Eros’, ‘Ercole’, ‘Giove’, ‘Franco’, ‘Chino’, ‘Early-California’, ‘UC-157’, ‘Patrón’, ‘NJ-1189’, ‘NJ-1123’ and ‘NJ-1192’. Their response to pre-harvest diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilisation was also evaluated (100 kg ha-1 vs. control). Harvested spears were cut, conditioned to two lengths (long 22 cm, short 17 cm), weighed, counted, washed and calibrated. The following characters were evaluated: total fresh commercial productivity (TFP) and that of long and short commercial spears (CFP-L and CFP-S); total commercial spear number (TSN) and that of long and short commercial spears (CSN-L and CSN-S); mean spear weight (MSW); calibre distribution (CD): (J: Jumbo; XL: Extra-Large; L: Large; M: Medium; S: Small and A: Asparagine). ANOVA-LSD test P≥0.05 was employed. DAP fertilisation raised yield by 3-10%, though not significantly. The following mean values were obtained: TFP: 8678.46 kg ha-1; TSN: 440298 spears ha-1; MSW: 20 g; CFP-L: 3109; CFP-S: 1945 kg ha-1; CSN-L: 165857 and CSN-S: 130467 spears ha-1. The following hybrids performed well: for CFP-L: ‘Vittorio’: 4379(a); ‘Franco’: 4033(ab); ‘NJ-1123’: 3849(abc); for CFP-C: ‘NJ-1123’: 2726(a); ‘Ercole’: 2483(ab); ‘Vittorio’: 2325(abc); for CSN-L: ‘NJ-1123’: 225260(a); ‘Franco’: 214161(a); ‘Vittorio’: 204358(ab); ‘Giove’: 200229(abc); for CSN-C: ‘NJ-1123’: 2725(a); ‘Ercole’: 2482(ab); ‘Vittorio’: 2325(abc); for CD: J: ‘UC-157’: 12767(a); ‘Eros’: 9882(ab); ‘NJ-1123’: 9005(abc); for XL: ‘NJ-1123’: 41124(a); ‘Franco’: 38958(ab); ‘NJ-1192’: 37644(ab); for L: ‘Ercole’: 85083(a); ‘NJ-1123’: 84700(a); ‘Franco’: 83872(a); ‘Italo’: 83095(a); for M: ‘NJ-1123’: 118198(a); ‘Franco’: 116369(a); ‘Vittorio’: 109645(ab); ‘Ercole’: 105984(ab); for S: ‘Giove’: 102748(a); ‘NJ-1123’: 80530(ab). In summary, ‘NJ-1123’ would be chosen for spear number productivity and ‘Vittorio’ and ‘Franco’ for yield.Fil: Castagnino, Ana Maria. Cresca-faa-unicen; Argentina. Asaho; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Centro Regional de Estudios Sistémico de Cadenas Agroalimentarias; ArgentinaFil: Diaz, K. E.. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Centro Regional de Estudios Sistémico de Cadenas Agroalimentarias; ArgentinaFil: Rosini, M. B.. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Centro Regional de Estudios Sistémico de Cadenas Agroalimentarias; ArgentinaFil: Guisolis, Andrea Paola. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Centro Regional de Estudios Sistémico de Cadenas Agroalimentarias; ArgentinaFil: Dussi, M. C.. Universidad Nacional del Comahue; ArgentinaFil: Rogers, William John. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Centro Regional de Estudios Sistémico de Cadenas Agroalimentarias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Biotecnología; Argentin

Stability of Transonic Shock Solutions for One-Dimensional Euler-Poisson Equations

In this paper, both structural and dynamical stabilities of steady transonic shock solutions for one-dimensional Euler-Poission system are investigated. First, a steady transonic shock solution with supersonic backgroumd charge is shown to be structurally stable with respect to small perturbations of the background charge, provided that the electric field is positive at the shock location. Second, any steady transonic shock solution with the supersonic background charge is proved to be dynamically and exponentially stable with respect to small perturbation of the initial data, provided the electric field is not too negative at the shock location. The proof of the first stability result relies on a monotonicity argument for the shock position and the downstream density, and a stability analysis for subsonic and supersonic solutions. The dynamical stability of the steady transonic shock for the Euler-Poisson equations can be transformed to the global well-posedness of a free boundary problem for a quasilinear second order equation with nonlinear boundary conditions. The analysis for the associated linearized problem plays an essential role

Immunomodulators Inspired by Nature: A Review on Curcumin and Echinacea

The immune system is an efficient integrated network of cellular elements and chemicals developed to preserve the integrity of the organism against external insults and its correct functioning and balance are essential to avoid the occurrence of a great variety of disorders. To date, evidence from literature highlights an increase in immunological diseases and a great attention has been focused on the development of molecules able to modulate the immune response. There is an enormous global demand for new effective therapies and researchers are investigating new fields. One promising strategy is the use of herbal medicines as integrative, complementary and preventive therapy. The active components in medical plants have always been an important source of clinical therapeutics and the study of their molecular pharmacology is an enormous challenge since they offer a great chemical diversity with often multi-pharmacological activity. In this review, we mainly analysed the immunomodulatory/antinflammatory activity of Echinacea spp. and Curcuma longa, focusing on some issues of the phytochemical research and on new possible strategies to obtain novel agents to supplement the present therapies