21 research outputs found
Integrated three-dimensional models for noninvasive monitoring and valorization of the Morgantina silver treasure (Sicily)
The Morgantina silver treasure belonging to the Archaeological Museum of Aidone (Sicily) was
involved in a three-dimensional (3-D) survey and diagnostics campaign for monitoring the collection over
time in anticipation of their temporary transfer to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for a period
of 4 years. Using a multidisciplinary approach, a scientific and methodological protocol based on noninvasive
techniques to achieve a complete and integrated knowledge of the precious items and their conservation state,
as well as to increase their valorization, has been developed. All acquired data, i.e., 3-D models, ultraviolet
fluorescence, x-ray images, and chemical information, will be made available, in an integrated way, within a
web-oriented platform, which will present an in-progress tool to deepen existing archaeological knowledge
and production technologies and to obtain referenced information of the conservation state before and after
moving of the collection from its exposure site
Prevalence of anatomical variants and coronary anomalies in 543 consecutive patients studied with 64-slice CT coronary angiography
The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of variants and anomalies of the coronary artery tree in patients who underwent 64-slice computed tomography coronary angiography (CT-CA) for suspected or known coronary artery disease. A total of 543 patients (389 male, mean age 60.5 ± 10.9) were reviewed for coronary artery variants and anomalies including post-processing tools. The majority of segments were identified according to the American Heart Association scheme. The coronary dominance pattern results were: right, 86.6%; left, 9.2%; balanced, 4.2%. The left main coronary artery had a mean length of 112 ± 55 mm. The intermediate branch was present in the 21.9%. A variable number of diagonals (one, 25%; two, 49.7%; more than two, 24%; none, 1.3%) and marginals (one, 35.2%; two, 46.2%; more than two, 18%; none, 0.6%) was visualized. Furthermore, CT-CA may visualize smaller branches such as the conus branch artery (98%), the sinus node artery (91.6%), and the septal branches (93%). Single or associated coronary anomalies occurred in 18.4% of the patients, with the following distribution: 43 anomalies of origin and course, 68 intrinsic anomalies (59 myocardial bridging, nine aneurisms), three fistulas. In conclusion, 64-slice CT-CA provides optimal visualization of the variable and complex anatomy of coronary arteries because of the improved isotropic spatial resolution and flexible post-processing tool
Emerging ensembles of kinetic parameters to identify experimentally observed phenotypes
Background: Determining the value of kinetic constants for a metabolic system in the exact physiological conditions
is an extremely hard task. However, this kind of information is of pivotal relevance to effectively simulate a biological
phenomenon as complex as metabolism.
Results: To overcome this issue, we propose to investigate emerging properties of ensembles of sets of kinetic
constants leading to the biological readout observed in different experimental conditions. To this aim, we exploit
information retrievable from constraint-based analyses (i.e. metabolic flux distributions at steady state) with the goal to
generate feasible values for kinetic constants exploiting the mass action law. The sets retrieved from the previous step
will be used to parametrize a mechanistic model whose simulation will be performed to reconstruct the dynamics of
the system (until reaching the metabolic steady state) for each experimental condition. Every parametrization that is
in accordance with the expected metabolic phenotype is collected in an ensemble whose features are analyzed to
determine the emergence of properties of a phenotype. In this work we apply the proposed approach to identify
ensembles of kinetic parameters for five metabolic phenotypes of E. Coli, by analyzing five different experimental
conditions associated with the ECC2comp model recently published by Hädicke and collaborators.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that the parameter values of just few reactions are responsible for the emergence
of a metabolic phenotype. Notably, in contrast with constraint-based approaches such as Flux Balance Analysis, the
methodology used in this paper does not require to assume that metabolism is optimizing towards a specific goal
Archaeometric characterization and 3D survey: new perspectives for monitoring and valorisation of Morgantina silver Treasure (Sicily)
The Morgantina silver Treasure
belonging to the collections of the Archaeological
Museum of Aidone (Sicily) were involved in a 3D
survey and diagnostics campaign for monitoring
over time of the finds, in anticipation of their
temporary transfer to the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York, for a period of four years.
According to a multidisciplinary approach, it has
been developed a scientific and methodological
protocol based on non-invasive techniques to
achieve a complete and integrated knowledge of the
precious items, of their conservation state and
increasing their valorisation. All acquired data, i.e.
3D models, UV fluorescence and X-Ray images and
chemical information, will be made available, in a
integrated way, within a web oriented platform,
that will represent a in progress tool to deepen the
existing archaeological knowledge and technologies
of production and to obtain referenced information
of the state of preservation, before and after moving
of the finds from their exposure site