Risalire il fiume. Cuoldi Ciastiel ad Andrazza e la tarda romanità nell'alta valle del Tagliamento

L'articolo discute due contesti archeologici indagati dall'Università Ca' Foscari: un castrum tardo romano e una necropoli di epoca altomedievale (VII secolo), ubicati nell'alta valle del Tagliamento (UD). Gli scavi sono stati eseguiti nel quadro di un progetto generale sulla transizione antichità-medioevo in una vallata alpina. I risultati consentono di ricostruire, a grandi linee, le dinamiche del popolamento in un momento cruciale per la storia della valle e indicano nel VI secolo un momento di forte cesura

L’abbazia di Nonantola alla luce dell’archeologia

Il monastero di Nonantola rappresenta uno dei maggiori complessi benedettini, di fondazione altomedievale, presenti sul territorio nazionale e, indubbiamente, uno dei cenobi più importanti dell’Europa medievale. Fondato nell’VIII secolo nell’orbita culturale longobarda, il monastero accrebbe i suoi possedimenti ed il suo prestigio nel tempo, arrivando a comprendere anche territori lontani (in Toscana, Lombardia e Veneto). Le indagini pluriennali condotte dall’Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia hanno restituito una cospicua mole di materiali eterogenei che dipingono un quadro particolarmente complesso delle fasi di frequentazione che si sono succedute non solo all’interno del complesso abbaziale, ma anche dell’intero borgo di Nonantola nei secoli compresi tra l’VIII e il XV. I dati desunti dagli scavi archeologici si inseriscono, poi, in un quadro interpretativo più ampio di carattere territoriale, grazie alle indagini di ricognizione di superficie condotte su un’ampia superficie del nonantolano e dei territori limitrofi. Il nostro intervento si concentrerà sui dati relativi all’età carolingia seguendo il duplice binario della ricostruzione del complesso monastico e del rapporto con gli insediamenti presenti nel territorio circostante

Preliminary non-invasive study of Roman glasses from Jesolo (Venice), Italy

Archaeological excavations at ‘Le Mure’ site (Jesolo, VE, Italy) have followed each other since the sixties, when the first evidence of an Early Medieval church (6th–7th century AD) was found under the ruins of a Medieval Cathedral (11th–12th AD). The last few years of investigations by Ca’Foscari University have led to the collection of large amounts of glass fragments, including many tesserae, dating between the 4th and the 12th centuries AD. A selection of glass fragments and mosaic tesserae taken from the excavations performed in 2013–14 at this site were studied by means of reflectance spectroscopy in order to identify their chromophore ions, in particular Cu0, Cu2+, Co2+, Fe2+ and Fe3+, which were detected in both transparent and opaque samples. In addition, the use of high resolution close-up images allowed for the attribution of surface characteristics to specific manufacturing techniques, while glass chemistry was studied in order to group them into known compositional classes. This study, carried out by non-invasive analytical techniques that allowed for the acquisition of preliminary data, will prove useful in driving further methodologies involving other non-invasive and micro-invasive analysis in order to obtain archaeometric information that can be related to concurrent archaeological results

The Influence of In Vitro Gastrointestinal Digestion on the Anticancer Activity of Manuka Honey

Manuka honey (MH) is a natural food with many beneficial properties to human health, thanks to its high variety of bioactive compounds; however, little is known about its bioaccessibility. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the polyphenol compounds, the antioxidant capacity and the anticancer activity of MH subjected to an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion in human HCT-116 colon cancer cells. Raw MH and digested MH (DMH) were assessed for total polyphenols and flavonoids by spectrophotometric and HPLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis, and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) using different methods. Cell viability, intracellular ROS production, apoptosis, cell cycle and colony formation capacity were tested after treatment with MH or DMH. Results showed that total polyphenols, total flavonoids and TAC were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced after in vitro digestion. In addition, MH and DMH at 8, 16 and 24 mg/mL had similar effects in inducing intracellular ROS production and in inhibiting the colon formation ability; MH induced a more marked apoptosis compared to DMH, while cell cycle was blocked in S phase by MH and in Sub G1 phase by DMH. Our results increase knowledge of the effect of gastrointestinal digestion on the biological effect of honey against colorectal cancer

Impacts of biomedical hashtag-based Twitter campaign: #DHPSP utilization for promotion of open innovation in digital health, patient safety, and personalized medicine

The open innovation hub Digital Health and Patient Safety Platform (DHPSP) was recently established with the purpose to invigorate collaborative scientific research and the development of new digital products and personalized solutions aiming to improve human health and patient safety. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of a Twitter-based campaign centered on using the hashtag #DHPSP to promote the visibility of the DHPSP initiative. Thus, tweets containing #DHPSP were monitored for five weeks for the period 20.10.2020–24.11.2020 and were analyzed with Symplur Signals (social media analytics tool). In the study period, a total of 11,005 tweets containing #DHPSP were posted by 3020 Twitter users, generating 151,984,378 impressions. Analysis of the healthcare stakeholder-identity of the Twitter users who used #DHPSP revealed that the most of participating user accounts belonged to individuals or doctors, with the top three user locations being the United States (501 users), the United Kingdom (155 users), and India (121 users). Analysis of co-occurring hashtags and the full text of the posted tweets further revealed that the major themes of attention in the #DHPSP Twitter-community were related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), medicine and health, digital health technologies, and science communication in general. Overall, these results indicate that the #DHPSP initiative achieved high visibility and engaged a large body of Twitter users interested in the DHPSP focus area. Moreover, the conducted campaign resulted in an increase of DHPSP member enrollments and website visitors, and new scientific collaborations were formed. Thus, Twitter campaigns centered on a dedicated hashtag prove to be a highly efficient tool for visibility-promotion, which could be successfully utilized by healthcare-related open innovation platforms or initiatives

Geophysical survey at Jesolo: interim report

Nel novembre 2017 gli spazi compresi tra il monastero di San Mauro e la cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta e tra l’area residenziale posta a sud della cattedrale e il cimitero sono stati sottoposti a rilievo gradiometrico (Fig.1). I’indagine ha interessato complessivamente una superficie di nove ettari ed è stato effettuata tramite il sistema fluxgate a 4 sensori Foerster Ferex (Fig.2). Le misure hanno risoluzione di 50 cm tra i profili e 5 cm lungo gli stessi. Entrambe le aree indagate hanno restituito misure di elevata qualità prive di eccessivi elementi di disturbo e quindi maggiormente favorevoli alla lettura e interpretazione archeologica. L’analisi dei risultati ha permesso di riconoscere in totale circa 300 anomalie che abbiamo ricondotto alle seguenti di macro categorie interpretative: argine, lotto di bonifica, magnetizzazione termo-rimanente, attività contemporanea e infine anomalie non identificabili

Jesolo/Equilo. Lunga storia sulla Laguna fra tarda antichità e Medioevo

In questo articolo si presentano in forma divulgativa i risultati delle ricerche archeologiche condotte nel sito di Jesolo, l'antica Equilo. I villeggianti che in estate affollanno la celebre località balneare nordadriatica non immaginano quanto complessa e affascinante sia la storia di questa “terra sull’acqua” fra una stazione di posta per i naviganti tardoantichi e ciò che resta di una grandiosa cattedrale romanica capace di suggerire da sola uno splendido passato