Archaeobotanical interpretation of a Middle Bronze Age (1914-1641 cal BC) cave site in south-western Sardinia (Italy)

The Monte Meana karst cave is located in the Sulcis region, 5 km far from Santadi (SW Sardinia, Italy). The cave opens at 168 meters on the south-western side of Meana Mt. and the Murrecci river flows below. From the Middle Neolithic to the Middle Bronze age the cave has been inhabited. In the 1960s an alabaster quarry destroyed several archaeological strata. In the northern side of the cave, a small opening, here called ‘grottino’, was discovered under 1.50 m. of quarry's debris. Within it, an undamaged stratigraphy 1 m. depth and a sequence of four layers has been excavated in a 4mq area. At the top, a sandy layer, originated by quarrying activity, was also identified. Below, a dark brown deposit of 15-20 cm of thickness, characterized by several archaeological remains as pottery fragments, obsidian, copper slags, burnt bones, shells and a large amount of charcoals and carbonized seeds, has been investigated as well. In the underlying layers no archaeological remains have been found. The dark brown deposit (SU22) was protected and sealed by a recent sandy layer thus its sediment was uncontaminated. This fact has represented a lucky opportunity to identify some palaeoenvironmental features. Therefore, palynological and carpological analysis and characterization of palynofacies have been performed. The results bear out the presence of an open area around the site that included herbaceous plants and shrublands. Different agriculture practices as cereals and legumes cultivations are attested as well. The limited presence of pollen grains that are representative of arboreal plants during Middle Bronze Age is probably climate induced and linked to anthropic activities: for example, deforestation, burning for the cultivation of cereal crops, and the development of grazing areas

An Algerian perspective on non-typhoidal Salmonella infection

Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) represents a leading cause of food-borne disease worldwide. It is a global public health concern: more than 94 million cases and 115,000 deaths are reported every year, with a disproportionate impact in developing countries. The prevalence of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella strains is another major health concern which affects antimicrobial treatment, as many studies report that infections caused by MDR strains are more severe than those caused by susceptible strains. In Algeria, NTS represent one of the primary causes of salmonellosis in both humans and food animal production, especially poultry. Epidemiological surveillance systems and monitoring programs for Salmonella infections are essential requirements to provide data useful for the effective detection and control of Salmonella outbreaks. The present review will supply a perspective on NTS infection, pathogenesis and antimicrobial resistance with a focus on the epidemiology of salmonellosis in Algeria

The advantages of using a Geographic Information System to evaluate risk in highly contaminated sites

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Dental pathology in present-day and copper age samples

Dental paleopathology has become an excellent discipline to reconstruct the oral health of ancient populations and its trend from the past to the present day, especially regarding dietary habits. Our preliminary research aims to perform a comparative analysis on dental health status of two widely chronologically distant samples from Sardinia: the first one dates back to the Copper Age (III mill. B.C.) and comes from a collective hypogean burial named Scab’e Arriu (Siddi, SU), the second one is composed by extracted teeth of present-day individuals, collected during some traineeships at the Department of Surgical Science of the Dentistry School, in Cagliari

Evaluation of an automatic HPLC analyser for thalassemia and haemoglobin variants screening

In this paper the authors report the evolution of a new automatic HPLC analyser for screening haemoglobinopathies. HbA2 and F determinations are accurate and reproducible. The analysis time is short (6.5 min) and there is a good separation between the HbA2 values of β-thalassemia carriers from normals and α-thalassemia carriers, with no overlap between these groups. In addition, the system is also able to detect and quantitate most of the haemoglobin variants, particularly those (HbS, HbC, HbE and Hb Lepore) able to interact with β-thalassemia and could make haemoglobin electrophoresis unnecessary in all samples. The ease of operation and the limited technical work make this system especially suitable for laboratories with a high workload and allow the cost of screening to be reduced

Proteasome stress sensitizes malignant pleural mesothelioma cells to bortezomib-induced apoptosis

Abstract Based on promising results in preclinical models, clinical trials have been performed to evaluate the efficacy of the first-in-class proteasome inhibitor bortezomib towards malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), an aggressive cancer arising from the mesothelium of the serous cavities following exposure to asbestos. Unexpectedly, only minimal therapeutic benefits were observed, thus implicating that MPM harbors inherent resistance mechanisms. Identifying the molecular bases of this primary resistance is crucial to develop novel pharmacologic strategies aimed at increasing the vulnerability of MPM to bortezomib. Therefore, we assessed a panel of four human MPM lines with different sensitivity to bortezomib, for functional proteasome activity and levels of free and polymerized ubiquitin. We found that highly sensitive MPM lines display lower proteasome activity than more bortezomib-resistant clones, suggesting that reduced proteasomal capacity might contribute to the intrinsic susceptibility of mesothelioma cells to proteasome inhibitors-induced apoptosis. Moreover, MPM equipped with fewer active proteasomes accumulated polyubiquitinated proteins, at the expense of free ubiquitin, a condition known as proteasome stress, which lowers the cellular apoptotic threshold and sensitizes mesothelioma cells to bortezomib-induced toxicity as shown herein. Taken together, our data suggest that an unfavorable load-versus-capacity balance represents a critical determinant of primary apoptotic sensitivity to bortezomib in MPM

Mesonephric-Like Adenocarcinomas a Rare Tumor: The Importance of Diagnosis

Mesonephric-like adenocarcinomas (MLA) are rare neoplasms that arise in the uterine body and ovary and have been added to the World Health Organisation’s recent 2020 classification of female genital cancers. The pathogenesis of MLA is unknown and it remains debated whether they represent mesonephric carcinomas (Wolffian) arising in the endometrium/ovary or endometrioid carcinomas (Müllerian) closely mimicking mesonephric carcinomas. Here we report the case of a 57-year-old woman with an initial misdiagnosis of endometrioid adenocarcinoma on diagnostic biopsy. The patient came to our clinical evaluation for the appearance of menometrorrhagia complicated by anemia for several months. Therefore, she underwent pelvic echo-flowmetry, with indication for diagnostic hysteroscopy with endometrial biopsy, which yielded a positive result for endometrioid endometrial adenocarcinoma. Following staging CT scan and targeted examinations on pulmonary findings, the patient underwent surgery with surprise of definitive diagnosis deponent for endometrial MLA. Our intention is to establish a brief review of the scientific evidence in the literature and the tools available for a correct histological diagnosis, in the light of the scant anatomopathological evidence. Our question gives rise to the motive for the publication: is immunohistochemistry the right way to resolve the diagnostic error at histology, which is usually the only source of diagnostic certainty? This case is intended to alert of diagnostic error that risked having the patient treated as a neoplasm with a favorable prognosis and low degree of aggressiveness instead of for a very aggressive and poor prognosis tumor such as MLA

Relationship between Antibody Susceptibility and Lipopolysaccharide O-Antigen Characteristics of Invasive and Gastrointestinal Nontyphoidal Salmonellae Isolates from Kenya

Background: Nontyphoidal Salmonellae (NTS) cause a large burden of invasive and gastrointestinal disease among young children in sub-Saharan Africa. No vaccine is currently available. Previous reports indicate the importance of the O-antigen of Salmonella lipopolysaccharide for virulence and resistance to antibody-mediated killing. We hypothesised that isolates with more O-antigen have increased resistance to antibody-mediated killing and are more likely to be invasive than gastrointestinal. Methodology/Principal findings: We studied 192 NTS isolates (114 Typhimurium, 78 Enteritidis) from blood and stools, mostly from paediatric admissions in Kenya 2000-2011. Isolates were tested for susceptibility to antibody-mediated killing, using whole adult serum. O-antigen structural characteristics, including O-acetylation and glucosylation, were investigated. Overall, isolates were susceptible to antibody-mediated killing, but S. Enteritidis were less susceptible and expressed more O-antigen than Typhimurium (p\u3c0.0001 for both comparisons). For S. Typhimurium, but not Enteritidis, O-antigen expression correlated with reduced sensitivity to killing (r = 0.29, 95% CI = 0.10-0.45, p = 0.002). Both serovars expressed O-antigen populations ranging 21-33 kDa average molecular weight. O-antigen from most Typhimurium were O-acetylated on rhamnose and abequose residues, while Enteritidis O-antigen had low or no O-acetylation. Both Typhimurium and Enteritidis O-antigen were approximately 20%-50% glucosylated. Amount of S. Typhimurium O-antigen and O-antigen glucosylation level were inversely related. There was no clear association between clinical presentation and antibody susceptibility, O-antigen level or other O-antigen features. Conclusion/Significance: Kenyan S. Typhimurium and Enteritidis clinical isolates are susceptible to antibody-mediated killing, with degree of susceptibility varying with level of O-antigen for S. Typhimurium. This supports the development of an antibody-inducing vaccine against NTS for Africa. No clear differences were found in the phenotype of isolates from blood and stool, suggesting that the same isolates can cause invasive disease and gastroenteritis. Genome studies are required to understand whether invasive and gastrointestinal isolates differ at the genotypic level

Anti-Corruption Disclosures as part of CSR reporting in Europe: Initial Insights

This study investigates the change in the corporate practice of disclosing information on anti-corruption in CSR reports consequent to the EU Directive on non-financial reporting. In order to improve corporate reporting and, particularly, the disclosures on anti-corruption, the EU issued in 2014 a directive requiring member states to mandate disclosure on anti-corruption as part of non financial reporting. Against this development, this study empirically examines, for a sample of 55 European listed companies, whether there is a change in such voluntary disclosures from period previous to the directive (2012) in comparison to period after the issuing of the directive and before its transposition in national legislation (2015). Following a legitimacy theory perspective, we expected companies to improve the amount and quality of disclosures. Further, we expected disclosures to be associated with legitimacy variables i.e.: negative disclosures, exposure to corruption and firm size. We assessed and compared the quantity, breadth and informational quality of the disclosures and conducted the analysis on the whole sample and on two sub-samples including respectively firms exposed and not exposed to corruption. Results show a growth of the quantity, scope and informational quality of the disclosures on anti-corruption and a positive association of quantity, scope and informational quality of anti-corruption disclosure with time effect, propensity of a firm towards voluntary negative disclosure on corruption information, corruption-risk exposure and firm size

A Matter of Time. Digital-Financial Consumers' Vulnerability in the Retail Payments Market

This Article aims to conceptualize the figure of the digital-financial payment consumer, which combines two separate - and ex se relevant - sources of vulnerability: digital vulnerability and financial vulnerability