Tecniche di fotomodellazione 3d e impiego dei SAPR. Il caso della media valle del Sinni (Basilicata meridionale)

Abstract: Research activities and the use of new and recent technologies, in quality of innovative methodology for archaeological research, they are all experiments carried out in the three years 2015-2017 in the middle valley of Sinni in Basilicata (Southern Italy). The aim of these new investigations was the study of the settlement system and the organization of the medieval landscape of the valley where yet significant traces of settlements and structures are preserved; its chronological limits take into consideration the central centuries of the Middle Ages, from the end of the ninth to the fifteenth century. A.D. The documentation procedures developed during this research follow some solutions to optimize data survey techniques. To these problems they have recently solved all three-dimensional photo-modeling software, which, in addition to creating 3D models, provide orthophotopians of the area to be investigated. The three-dimensional models constitute a unique document of the current state of individual goods characterized by metric, geometric and material information, useful for reconstruction and for the archaeological and architectural stratigraphic documentation. The 3D modeling procedures are to be counted among the methods recently applied to the cognitive study of a site. The recent possibilities of using RPA systems (drones), moreover, allow to obtain aerofotograms of any aerial in reduced times and economically advantageous.   Riassunto: Le attività di ricerca e l’impiego di nuove e recenti tecnologie, in qualità di metodologia innovativa per la ricerca archeologica sul campo, sono tutte sperimentazioni effettuate nel triennio 2015-2017 nella media valle del Sinni in Basilicata (Italia Meridionale). Obiettivo di tali nuove indagini è stato lo studio del sistema insediativo e dell’organizzazione del paesaggio medievale della vallata in cui ancora si conservano significative tracce di insediamenti e strutture; i suoi limiti cronologici prendono in considerazione i secoli centrali del medioevo, dalla fine del IX al XV sec. d.C. Le procedure di documentazione sviluppate durante questa ricerca seguono alcune soluzioni per ottimizzare le tecniche di rilievo dei dati. A questi problemi hanno ovviato recentemente tutti i software di fotomodellazione tridimensionale, i quali, oltre a realizzare modelli 3d forniscono ortofotopiani dell’area da indagare. I modelli tridimensionali costituiscono un documento unico dello stato attuale dei singoli beni caratterizzato da informazioni metriche, geometriche e materiche, utili alla ricostruzione e alla documentazione stratigrafica archeologica e architettonica. Le procedure di modellazione 3d sono da annoverare tra i metodi recentemente applicabili allo studio conoscitivo di un sito. Le possibilità recenti di impiego di sistemi APR (droni), inoltre, permettono di ottenere aerofotogrammi di qualsiasi aerea in tempi ridotti ed economicamente vantaggiosi

Phase I trial of viral vector based personalized vaccination elicits robust neoantigen specific antitumor T cell responses

Purpose: Personalized vaccines targeting multiple neoantigens (nAgs) are a promising strategy for eliciting a diversified antitumor T cell response to overcome tumor heterogeneity. NOUS-PEV is a vector based personalized vaccine, expressing 60 nAgs and consists of priming with a non-human Great Ape Adenoviral vector (GAd20) followed by boosts with Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA). Here, we report data of a phase Ib trial of NOUS-PEV in combination with pembrolizumab in treatment naïve metastatic melanoma patients (NCT04990479). Experimental Design: The feasibility of this approach was demonstrated by producing, releasing and administering to six patients 11 out of 12 vaccines within 8 weeks from biopsy collection to GAd20 administration. Results: The regimen was safe, with no treatment-related serious adverse events observed and mild vaccine-related reactions. Vaccine immunogenicity was demonstrated in all evaluable patients receiving the prime/boost regimen, with detection of robust neoantigen specific immune responses to multiple neoantigens comprising both CD4 and CD8 T cells. Expansion and diversification of vaccine-induced TCR clonotypes was observed in the post-treatment biopsies of patients with clinical response providing evidence of tumor infiltration by vaccine-induced neoantigen-specific T cell. Conclusions: These findings indicate the ability of NOUS-PEV to amplify and broaden the repertoire of tumor reactive T cells to empower a diverse, potent and durable antitumor immune response. Finally, a gene signature indicative for reduced presence of activated T cells together with very poor expression of the antigen processing machinery (APM) genes has been identified in pre-treatment biopsies as a potential biomarker of resistance to the treatment

A method for the analysis of the oligomerization profile of the Huntington’s disease-associated, aggregation-prone mutant huntingtin protein by isopycnic ultracentrifugation

Conformational diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases as well as ataxias and fronto-temporal disorders, are part of common class of neurological disorders characterised by the aggregation and progressive accumulation of mutant proteins which display aberrant conformation. In particular, Huntington’s disease (HD) is caused by mutations leading to an abnormal expansion in the polyglutamine (poly-Q) tract of the huntingtin protein (HTT), leading to the formation of inclusion bodies in neurons of affected patients. Furthermore, recent experimental evidence is challenging the conventional view of the disease by revealing the ability of mutant HTT to be transferred between cells by means of extracellular vesicles (EVs), allowing the mutant protein to seed oligomers involving both the mutant and wild type forms of the protein. There is still no successful strategy to treat HD. In addition, the current understanding of the biological processes leading to the oligomerization and aggregation of proteins bearing the poly-Q tract has been derived from studies conducted on isolated poly-Q monomers and oligomers, whose structural properties are still unclear and often inconsistent. Here we describe a standardised biochemical approach to analyse by isopycnic ultracentrifugation the oligomerization of the N-terminal fragment of mutant HTT. The dynamic range of our method allows one to detect large and heterogeneous HTT complexes. Hence, it could be harnessed for the identification of novel molecular determinants responsible for the aggregation and the prion-like spreading properties of HTT in the context of HD. Equally, it provides a tool to test novel small molecules or bioactive compounds designed to inhibit the aggregation of mutant HTT

Apigliano. Un villaggio bizantino e medievale in Terra d’Otranto. I Reperti

Vari articoli che trattano le ricerche sul sito del villaggio medievale abbandonato di Apigliano, Martano (LE

Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array for probing cosmology and fundamental physics with gamma-ray propagation

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), the new-generation ground-based observatory for $\gamma$-ray astronomy, provides unique capabilities to address significant open questions in astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. We study some of the salient areas of $\gamma$-ray cosmology that can be explored as part of the Key Science Projects of CTA, through simulated observations of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and of their relativistic jets. Observations of AGN with CTA will enable a measurement of $\gamma$-ray absorption on the extragalactic background light with a statistical uncertainty below 15% up to a redshift $z=2$ and to constrain or detect $\gamma$-ray halos up to intergalactic-magnetic-field strengths of at least 0.3pG. Extragalactic observations with CTA also show promising potential to probe physics beyond the Standard Model. The best limits on Lorentz invariance violation from $\gamma$-ray astronomy will be improved by a factor of at least two to three. CTA will also probe the parameter space in which axion-like particles could constitute a significant fraction, if not all, of dark matter. We conclude on the synergies between CTA and other upcoming facilities that will foster the growth of $\gamma$-ray cosmology

Southern African Large Telescope Spectroscopy of BL Lacs for the CTA project

In the last two decades, very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy has reached maturity: over 200 sources have been detected, both Galactic and extragalactic, by ground-based experiments. At present, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) make up about 40% of the more than 200 sources detected at very high energies with ground-based telescopes, the majority of which are blazars, i.e. their jets are closely aligned with the line of sight to Earth and three quarters of which are classified as high-frequency peaked BL Lac objects. One challenge to studies of the cosmological evolution of BL Lacs is the difficulty of obtaining redshifts from their nearly featureless, continuum-dominated spectra. It is expected that a significant fraction of the AGN to be detected with the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory will have no spectroscopic redshifts, compromising the reliability of BL Lac population studies, particularly of their cosmic evolution. We started an effort in 2019 to measure the redshifts of a large fraction of the AGN that are likely to be detected with CTA, using the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). In this contribution, we present two results from an on-going SALT program focused on the determination of BL Lac object redshifts that will be relevant for the CTA observatory

Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array for probing cosmology and fundamental physics with gamma-ray propagation

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), the new-generation ground-based observatory for γ astronomy, provides unique capabilities to address significant open questions in astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. We study some of the salient areas of γ cosmology that can be explored as part of the Key Science Projects of CTA, through simulated observations of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and of their relativistic jets. Observations of AGN with CTA will enable a measurement of γ absorption on the extragalactic background light with a statistical uncertainty below 15% up to a redshift z=2 and to constrain or detect γ halos up to intergalactic-magnetic-field strengths of at least 0.3 pG . Extragalactic observations with CTA also show promising potential to probe physics beyond the Standard Model. The best limits on Lorentz invariance violation from γ astronomy will be improved by a factor of at least two to three. CTA will also probe the parameter space in which axion-like particles could constitute a significant fraction, if not all, of dark matter. We conclude on the synergies between CTA and other upcoming facilities that will foster the growth of γ cosmology.</p

L’acqua come fonte di reddito e di discordia. Le pertinenze dei monasteri di S. Maria del Sagittario e San Nicola in Valle: opifici idraulici nella media Valle del Sinni durante il medioevo / Water as a source of income and discord. Appurtenances of the monasteries of Santa Maria del Sagittario and San Nicola in Valle: hydraulic factories in the middle Valley of Sinni in the Middle Ages

Il contributo esamina la diffusione dei mulini ad acqua nella Basilicata medievale, cercando di delinearne lo sviluppo storico e la realtà materiale e tecnologica. Gli opifici idraulici hanno condizionato per secoli la vita degli insediamenti, in qualità di strumenti atti a trasformare l’energia idraulica in energia meccanica. La presenza dell’acqua nel medioevo era imposta da una molteplicità di usi, tra questi fondamentale l’impiego nei processi produttivi e nella produzione di energia idraulica per il funzionamento di mulini e frantoi, che conosceranno un notevole sviluppo nell’Europa di quell’epoca. Grande rilevanza venne conferita alla proprietà dei mulini che assicuravano una rendita notevole proveniente dal pagamento del diritto di macinato cui erano soggetti gli abitanti del luogo. Tale diritto lungo il fiume Sinni (Basilicata meridionale) e il diritto di sfruttare la acque dei suoi affluenti (Frido, Rubbio) dettero origine a lunghe controversie tra le sedi monastiche ivi stanziate e i signori dei vicini centri abitati. Il contributo, indagando topograficamente le pendici del monte Caramola, propaggine settentrionale del massiccio del Pollino, fa seguito all’analisi specifica degli opifici idraulici di questi luoghi. Propone, in definitiva, la ricostruzione del panorama insediativo e la comprensione delle dinamiche di sfruttamento delle risorse territoriali in un’area interna già così fortemente depressa, dominata dal bosco e dall’incolto. Detentori di questo potere economico, durante i secc. XII-XVI d.C., furono il monastero cistercense di Santa Maria del Sagittario e la certosa di San Nicola in Valle, fondazioni volute dalle famiglie comitali dei Clermont e dei Sanseverino nei territori della Contea di Chiaromonte.This paper examines the spread of water mills in Italy during the Middle Ages, trying to define its historical development and the technology and the architecture. The hydraulic factories have conditioned for centuries the life of the settlements, as a tools in order to transform the hydraulic energy into mechanical energy. The presence of water in the Middle Ages was imposed by a variety of uses, including essential use in production processes and in the production of hydraulic energy for the operation of mills and crushers, that know a significant development in medieval Europe. Great importance was given to the ownership of the mills that ensured a considerable income from the payment of the right of ground which were applied to the locals. The right of ground along the river Sinni (southern Basilicata) and the right to exploit the waters of its tributaries (Frido, Rubbio) gave rise to long disputes between the seats allocated monastic therein and the lords of the nearby towns. The contribution, topographically investigating the slopes of Mount Caramola, northernfoothills of the Pollino massif, followed by the specific analysis of hydraulic factories of these places. Proposes, in short, the reconstruction of the scene settlement and to understand the dynamics of lands exploitation of resources in an indoor area already so severely depressed, dominated by woods and the uncultivated.Holders of this economic power, during the buckets. XII-XVI AD, were the Cistercian monastery of Santa Maria of Sagittarius and the Certosa di San Nicola Valley, foundations willed by the families the Clermont and the Sanseverino in Count of Chiaromonte