Battles of Himera (480 and 409 b.c.): Analysis of Biological Finds and Historical Interpretation. Experiences of Restoration in the Ruins of Himera 2008-2010

Excavations conducted in the western necropolis of Himera by the Superintendence of Palermo, between 2008 and 2011, made it possible to investigate more than 9,500 graves of the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. It is a study of great importance as it gives a detailed historic and archaeological view of the funerary context of a Greek colony. Taphonomic studies of the tombs are of great interest to know the composition of the bodies in the graves and the rituals associated with the burial. Finally, the examination of hundreds of skeletons of children has provided data on child mortality. This report, briefly, also aims to present the restoration of the artifacts discovered. The article describes the organization of the restoration laboratory, built and equipped directly in situ at the excavation, the materials used during the restoration, the main problems presented during the various phases of restoration and several results.Gli scavi condotti nella necropoli occidentale di Himera dalla Soprintendenza di Palermo, tra il 2008 e il 2011, hanno consentito di indagare oltre 9500 sepolture, del VII e il VI sec. a.C. Si tratta di uno studio di eccezionale importanza che consente di avere un quadro storico e archeologico molto dettagliato della sfera funeraria di una colonia greca. Si accennerà anche allo studio dei reperti biologici attraverso uno scheletro di un individuo affetto da nanismo e prove di interventi chirurgici al cranio. La lettura tafonomica delle sepolture, è di grande interesse per conoscere la composizione dei cadaveri nelle tombe e dei rituali connessi alla sepoltura. Infine, l’esame di centinaia di scheletri di bambini, ha fornito dati sulla mortalità infantile. Viene inoltre illustrato sinteticamente il lavoro svolto in occasione del restauro dei manufatti rinvenuti. In particolare vengono descritte l’organizzazione del laboratorio di restauro, realizzato ed attrezzato nell’area di scavo; i materiali utilizzati durante gli interventi; le principali criticità presentate dai manufatti sottoposti alle diverse fasi di restauro e alcuni risultati raggiunti

A new Bayesian discrepancy measure

A Bayesian Discrepancy Test (BDT) is proposed to evaluate the distance of a given hypothesis with respect to the available information (prior law and data). The proposed measure of evidence has properties of consistency and invariance. After having presented the similarities and differences between the BDT and other Bayesian tests, we proceed with the analysis of some multiparametric case studies, showing the properties of the BDT. Among them conceptual and interpretative simplicity, possibility of dealing with complex case studies.Comment: 20 pages 9 figure

Testing the equality of two coefficients of variation: a new Bayesian approach

The use of testing procedures for comparing two coefficients of variation (CVs) of independent populations is not extensively explored in the Bayesian context. We propose to address this issue through a test based on a measure of evidence, the Bayesian Discrepancy Measure, recently introduced in the literature. Computing the Bayesian Discrepancy Measure is straightforward when the CVs depend on a single parameter of the distribution. In contrast, it becomes more difficult when this simplification does not occur since more parameters are involved, requiring often the use of MCMC methods. We derive the Bayesian Discrepancy Measure and the related test by considering a variety of distribution assumptions with multiparametric CVs and apply them to real datasets. As far as we know, some of the examined problems have not yet been covered in the literature

The Emerging Role of Altered D-Aspartate Metabolism in Schizophrenia: New Insights From Preclinical Models and Human Studies

Besides D-serine, another D-amino acid with endogenous occurrence in the mammalian brain, D-aspartate, has been recently shown to influence NMDA receptor (NMDAR)-mediated transmission. D-aspartate is present in the brain at extracellular level in nanomolar concentrations, binds to the agonist site of NMDARs and activates this subclass of glutamate receptors. Along with its direct effect on NMDARs, D-aspartate can also evoke considerable L-glutamate release in specific brain areas through the presynaptic activation of NMDA, AMPA/kainate and mGlu5 receptors. D-aspartate is enriched in the embryonic brain of rodents and humans and its concentration strongly decreases after birth, due to the post-natal expression of the catabolising enzyme D-aspartate oxidase (DDO). Based on the hypothesis of NMDAR hypofunction in schizophrenia pathogenesis, recent preclinical and clinical studies suggested a relationship between perturbation of D-aspartate metabolism and this psychiatric disorder. Consistently, neurophysiological and behavioral characterization of Ddo knockout (Ddo−/−) and D-aspartate-treated mice highlighted that abnormally higher endogenous D-aspartate levels significantly increase NMDAR-mediated synaptic plasticity, neuronal spine density and memory. Remarkably, increased D-aspartate levels influence schizophrenia-like phenotypes in rodents, as indicated by improved fronto-hippocampal connectivity, attenuated prepulse inhibition deficits and reduced activation of neuronal circuitry induced by phencyclidine exposure. In healthy humans, a genetic polymorphism associated with reduced prefrontal DDO gene expression predicts changes in prefrontal phenotypes including greater gray matter volume and enhanced functional activity during working memory. Moreover, neurochemical detections in post-mortem brain of schizophrenia-affected patients have shown significantly reduced D-aspartate content in prefrontal regions, associated with increased DDO mRNA expression or DDO enzymatic activity. Overall, these findings suggest a possible involvement of dysregulated embryonic D-aspartate metabolism in schizophrenia pathophysiology and, in turn, highlight the potential use of free D-aspartate supplementation as a new add-on therapy for treating the cognitive symptoms of this mental illness

A Strategy analysis for genetic association studies with known inbreeding

Background: Association studies consist in identifying the genetic variants which are related to a specific disease through the use of statistical multiple hypothesis testing or segregation analysis in pedigrees. This type of studies has been very successful in the case of Mendelian monogenic disorders while it has been less successful in identifying genetic variants related to complex diseases where the insurgence depends on the interactions between different genes and the environment. The current technology allows to genotype more than a million of markers and this number has been rapidly increasing in the last years with the imputation based on templates sets and whole genome sequencing. This type of data introduces a great amount of noise in the statistical analysis and usually requires a great number of samples. Current methods seldom take into account gene-gene and gene-environment interactions which are fundamental especially in complex diseases. In this paper we propose to use a non-parametric additive model to detect the genetic variants related to diseases which accounts for interactions of unknown order. Although this is not new to the current literature, we show that in an isolated population, where the most related subjects share also most of their genetic code, the use of additive models may be improved if the available genealogical tree is taken into account. Specifically, we form a sample of cases and controls with the highest inbreeding by means of the Hungarian method, and estimate the set of genes/environmental variables, associated with the disease, by means of Random Forest. Results: We have evidence, from statistical theory, simulations and two applications, that we build a suitable procedure to eliminate stratification between cases and controls and that it also has enough precision in identifying genetic variants responsible for a disease. This procedure has been successfully used for the betathalassemia, which is a well known Mendelian disease, and also to the common asthma where we have identified candidate genes that underlie to the susceptibility of the asthma. Some of such candidate genes have been also found related to common asthma in the current literature. Conclusions: The data analysis approach, based on selecting the most related cases and controls along with the Random Forest model, is a powerful tool for detecting genetic variants associated to a disease in isolated populations. Moreover, this method provides also a prediction model that has accuracy in estimating the unknown disease status and that can be generally used to build kit tests for a wide class of Mendelian diseases

Fungicidal activity and PK/PD of caspofungin as tools to guide antifungal therapy in a fluconazole-resistant C. parapsilosis candidemia

Candida parapsilosis may be responsible for bloodstream infections (BSI) and it is characterised by an increased incidence of fluconazole resistance. A 75-year old woman with severe comorbidities received the insertion of a peripherally inserted central venous catheter. Fluconazole did not prevent a C. parapsilosis BSI hence caspofungin was started after a nephrotoxic first-line treatment with amphotericin B. The ratio of peak plasma concentration over the minimum inhibitory concentration (Cmax/MIC) was adopted to maximise efficacy of caspofungin. MIC and plasma Cmax values were obtained by broth microdilution and LC-MS, respectively. Interestingly, daily doses of 1 mg/kg (total daily dose, 50 mg) allowed the achievement of Cmax/MIC values > 10. The optimised regimen was safe and effective, leading to negative blood culture at day 8. The patient was discharged home at day 21. Therefore, individualised dosing regimens of caspofungin may be effective and safe even in the case of C. parapsilosis BSI

Intelligent Diagnostics for Aircraft Hydraulic Equipment

In aviation industry, unscheduled maintenance costs may vary in a large range depending on several factors, such as specific aircraft system, operational environment, aircraft usage and maintenance policy. These costs will become more noteworthy in the next decade, due to the positive growing of worldwide fleet and the introduction of more technologically advanced aircraft. New implemented technologies will bring new challenges in the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) companies, both because of the rising number of new technologies and high volume of well-established devices, such as Electro-Hydraulic Servo Actuators for primary flight control. Failures in aircraft hydraulic systems deeply influence the overall failure rate and so the relative maintenance costs. For this reason, overhaul procedures for these components still represents a profitable market share for all MRO stakeholders. Innovative solutions able to facilitate maintenance operations can lead to large cost savings. This paper proposes new methodologies and features of the Intelligent Diagnostic system which is being developed in partnership with Lufthansa Technik (LHT). The implementation of this innovative procedure is built on a set of failure detection algorithms, based on Machine Learning techniques. This development requires first to bring together the results from different parallel research activities: 1. Identification of critical components from historical data; 2. Designing and testing automatic and adaptable procedure for first faults detection; 3. High-fidelity mathematical modeling of considered test units, for deeper physics analysis of possible failures; 4. Implementation of Machine Learning reasoner, able to process experimental and simulated data

A framework for prioritising present and potentially invasive mammal species for a national list

The European Union (EU) has recently adopted a regulation on invasive alien species that foresees the possibility of developing lists of species of National Concern. We developed a prioritisation process for alien mammals already established in Italy, but not yet included in the EU list (n = 6 species) and a systematic horizon-scanning procedure to obtain ranked lists for those species that are already introduced worldwide or traded in Italy (n = 213). Experts were asked to score these species, by evaluating their likelihood of establishment and spread and the magnitude of their potential impacts on biodiversity, economy, human-health and society. The manageability of each species was also evaluated, both for the proritisation and the horizon-scanning processes. We produced five lists that ranked species according to their potential spread and impacts and their manageability. These will allow policy-makers to select outputs according to a balance between risk assessment and risk management, establishing priorities for alien species management at the national level