Radionuclides for theranostic applications

High Specific Activity Radionuclides (HSARNs), obtained by either proton, deuteron or alpha cyclotron irradiation, followed by selective radiochemical separation from the irradiated target in No Carrier Added (NCA) form represent a powerful analytical tool in pure and applied sciences and technologicies. One of the main applications of HSARNs concern medical radiodiagnostics and metabolic radiotherapy in the relatively novel theranostic paradigm that involves individual \u201cdual-purpose\u201d radionuclides or radionuclide pairs with emissions suitable for both imaging and therapy in the contest of the age-long dream of personalized medicine. We present some examples of radionuclides produced by deuteron beams irradiation, suitable for theranostics applications

Genetic Variability in the Italian Heavy Draught Horse from Pedigree Data and Genomic Information

This study aimed to investigate the genetic diversity in the Italian Heavy Horse Breed from pedigree and genomic data. Pedigree information for 64,917 individuals were used to assess inbreeding level, effective population size (Ne), and effective numbers of founders and ancestors (fa /fe). Genotypic information from SNP markers were available for 267 individuals of both sexes, and it allowed estimating genomic inbreeding in two methods (observed versus expected homozygosity and from ROH) to study the breed genomic structure and possible selection signatures. Pedigree and genomic inbreeding were greatly correlated (0.65 on average). The inbreeding trend increased over time, apart from periods in which the base population enlarged, when Ne increased also. Recent bottlenecks did not occur in the genome, as fa /fe have shown. The observed homozygosity results were on average lower than expected, which was probably due to the use of French Breton stallions to support the breed genetic variability. High homozygous regions suggested that inbreeding increased in different periods. Two subpopulations were distinguished, which was probably due to the different inclusion of French animals by breeders. Few selection signatures were found at the population level, with possible associations to disease resistance. The almost low inbreeding rate suggested that despite the small breed size, conservation actions are not yet required

Animal models of hepatocellular carcinoma prevention

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a deadly disease and therapeutic efficacy in advanced HCC is limited. Since progression of chronic liver disease to HCC involves a long latency period of a few decades, a significant window of therapeutic opportunities exists for prevention of HCC and improve patient prognosis. Nonetheless, there has been no clinical advancement in instituting HCC chemopreventive strategies. Some of the major challenges are heterogenous genetic aberrations of HCC, significant modulation of tumor microenvironment and incomplete understanding of HCC tumorigenesis. To this end, animal models of HCC are valuable tools to evaluate biology of tumor initiation and progression with specific insight into molecular and genetic mechanisms involved. In this review, we describe various animal models of HCC that facilitate effective ways to study therapeutic prevention strategies that have translational potential to be evaluated in a clinical context © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Characterization of hydraulic mortars from archaeological complexes in Petra

In the sixth century B.C. Petra was conquered by the Nabataeans, who built an elaborated water system and turned a desert city into an artificial oasis and a prosperous centre controlling the main commercial routes of the region (100 B.C. - 100 A.D.). In 2007, it was added to UNESCO's prestigious list of World Heritage Sites, as one of the seven wonders of the world. The aim of this research is to characterize samples of mortars lining cisterns, reservoirs and pipelines collected from the archeological site of Petra, focusing in general on the identification of the possible raw materials employed and in particular on those components conferring hydraulicity. Specifically the specimens were sampled from different structures of the Great Temple (cistern and pipelines) and of the Garden and Pool Complex (cisterns and reservoir floor). A mineralogical and petrographic characterization was carried out by polarized light microscopy (PLM) observations to identify the texture and to highlight the hydraulic reaction areas, which underwent subsequently to a more detailed morphological and elemental analysis by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM-EDX). X-Ray Powder Diffraction analyses (XRPD) were also performed to complete the petrographic characterization, while Thermal Analyses (DTA-TGA) were carried out to classify the level of hydraulicity of each sample. The data obtained allowed us to achieve for the first time a mineralogical and petrographic characterization of the lining hydraulic mortars present in the two archaeological complexes under study and to provide preliminary hypotheses on the provenance of the raw materials employed for their production

Reconstruction of Acinetobacter johnsonii ICE_NC genome using hybrid de novo genome assemblies and identification of the 12α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase gene

Aims: The role of a Acinetobacter johnsonii strain, isolated from a soil sample, in the biotransformation of bile acids (BAs) was already described but the enzymes responsible for these transformations were only partially purified and molecularly characterized. Methods and Results: This study describes the use of hybrid de novo assemblies, that combine long-read Oxford Nanopore and short-read Illumina sequencing strategies, to reconstruct the entire genome of A. johnsonii ICE_NC strain and to identify the coding region for a 12α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (12α-HSDH), involved in BAs metabolism. The de novo assembly of the A. johnsonii ICE_NC genome was generated using Canu and Unicycler, both strategies yielded a circular chromosome of about 3.6 Mb and one 117 kb long plasmid. Gene annotation was performed on the final assemblies and the gene for 12α-HSDH was detected on the plasmid. Conclusions: Our findings illustrate the added value of long read sequencing in addressing the challenges of whole genome characterization and plasmid reconstruction in bacteria. These approaches also allowed the identification of the A. johnsonii ICE_NC gene for the 12α-HSDH enzyme, whose activity was confirmed at the biochemical level. Significance and impact or the study: At present, this is the first report on the characterization of a 12α-HSDH gene in an A. johnsonii strain able to biotransform cholic acid into ursodeoxycholic acid, a promising therapeutic agent for several diseases. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Applied Microbiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for Applied Microbiology