Cherchez la femme : Power and Female Agency in Bactriaat the dawn of the Hellenistic Age

Due prominently to the scanty nature of evidence on the ground attesting to an imperial presence which, however, historiographical sources claim to have been real and lasting over time, the satrapy of Bactria (roughly embracing northeastern Afghanistan, southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan) to this day still struggles to free itself of some prejudices, despite some extremely important discoveries and a more general scholarly reevaluation of previous conclusions. Possibly the most stubborn among these is the image of an ungovernable province, constantly on the brink of dynastic revolts (cf. Hdt. 9.113) or threatened by northern barbarians (against whom Cyrus found his end and whom Darius boasts of having subjected in the famous Bīsutūn inscription. With the recently published Aramaic Documents from Ancient Bactria, however, we have acquired an incredibly valuable source regarding the functioning of the satrapy at a crucial period in its history (the late 4th century BCE until the years immediately following Alexander). The present study is based primarily on the following: 1) this documentation, 2) the results of some recent and very significant studies on the Persepolis archive and 3) some methodological reflections on the relationship between empire and the local élite(s) suggested by the comparative analysis of the functioning of this relationship in a different phase of Central Asia's imperial history (the 1930s). The study is intended, on the one hand, as a first step towards a new appreciation of the role Bactria and Sogdiana played in the delicate transitional phase from Achaemenid to Macedonian hegemony in the upper satrapies. On the other hand, it seeks to raise some hypotheses about the reasons behind the position held during the stormy years of Alexander's Bactrian campaign and in the subsequent, no less troubled years by two protagonists of these crucial events, who are however still relatively unrecognized in their role as historical agents: the Bactrio-Sogdian princesses Roxane and Apama.Debido a la escasa naturaleza de las pruebas sobre el terreno que atestiguan una presencia imperial que, sin embargo, las fuentes historiográficas afirman haber sido real y duradera en el tiempo, la satrapía de Bactria (que abarca aproximadamente el noreste de Afganistán, el sur de Uzbekistán y el oeste de Tayikistán) a día de hoy todavía lucha por liberarse de algunos prejuicios, a pesar de algunos descubrimientos extremadamente importantes y una reevaluación académica más general de las conclusiones anteriores. Posiblemente, la más obstinada de todas es la imagen de una provincia ingobernable, al borde constantemente de revueltas dinásticas (cf. Hdt. 9.113) o amenazada por los bárbaros del norte (contra quienes Ciro encontró su fin y a quien Darío se jacta de haber sometido en el famoso Inscripción Bīsutūn. Con los Documentos arameos de la antigua Bactria publicados recientemente, sin embargo, hemos adquirido una fuente increíblemente valiosa sobre el funcionamiento de la satrapía en un período crucial de su historia (finales del siglo IV a. C. hasta los años inmediatamente posteriores a Alejandro). El presente estudio se basa principalmente en lo siguiente: 1) esta documentación, 2) los resultados de algunos estudios recientes y muy significativos sobre el archivo de Persépolis y 3) algunas reflexiones metodológicas sobre la relación entre el imperio y las élites locales sugeridas por el análisis comparativo del funcionamiento de esta relación en una fase diferente de la historia imperial de Asia Central (la década de 1930). El estudio pretende, por un lado, ser un primer paso hacia una nueva apreciación del papel que jugaron Bactria y Sogdiana en la delicada fase de transición de la hegemonía aqueménida a macedonia en las satrapías superiores. Por otro lado, busca plantear algunas hipótesis sobre las razones detrás de la posición ocupada durante los tormentosos años de la campaña bactriana de Alejandro y en los años subsiguientes, no menos convulsos, por dos protagonistas de estos cruciales hechos, que sin embargo todavía son relativamente desconocidos en su papel como agentes históricos: las princesas bactrio-sogdianas Roxana y Apama

Design and functional testing of a multichamber perfusion platform for three-dimensional scaffolds

Perfusion culture systems are widely used in tissue engineering applications for enhancing cell culture viability in the core of three-dimensional scaffolds. In this work, we present a multichamber confined-flow perfusion system, designed to provide a straightforward platform for three-dimensional dynamic cell cultures. The device comprises 6 culture chambers allowing independent and simultaneous experiments in controlled conditions. Each chamber consists of three parts: a housing, a deformable scaffold-holder cartridge, and a 7 mL reservoir, which couples water-tightly with the housing compressing the cartridge. Short-term dynamic cell seeding experiments were carried out with MC3T3-E1 cells seeded into polycaprolactone porous scaffolds. Preliminary results revealed that the application of flow perfusion through the scaffold favored the penetration of the cells to its interior, producing a more homogeneous distribution of cells with respect to dropwise or injection seeding methods. The culture chamber layout was conceived with the aim of simplifying the user operations under laminar flow hood and minimizing the risks for contamination during handling and operation. Furthermore, a compact size, a small number of components, and the use of bayonet couplings ensured a simple, fast, and sterility-promoting assembling. Finally, preliminary in vitro tests proved the efficacy of the system in enhancing cell seeding efficiency, opening the way for further studies addressing long-term scaffold colonization

Analysis of metabolomic data: tools, current strategies and future challenges for omics data integration

Metabolomics is a rapidly growing field consisting of the analysis of a large number of metabolites at a system scale. The two major goals of metabolomics are the identification of the metabolites characterizing each organism state and the measurement of their dynamics under different situations (e.g. pathological conditions, environmental factors). Knowledge about metabolites is crucial for the understanding of most cellular phenomena, but this information alone is not sufficient to gain a comprehensive view of all the biological processes involved. Integrated approaches combining metabolomics with transcriptomics and proteomics are thus required to obtain much deeper insights than any of these techniques alone. Although this information is available, multilevel integration of different 'omics' data is still a challenge. The handling, processing, analysis and integration of these data require specialized mathematical, statistical and bioinformatics tools, and several technical problems hampering a rapid progress in the field exist. Here, we review four main tools for number of users or provided features (MetaCore(TM), MetaboAnalyst, InCroMAP and 3Omics) out of the several available for metabolomic data analysis and integration with other 'omics' data, highlighting their strong and weak aspects; a number of related issues affecting data analysis and integration are also identified and discussed. Overall, we provide an objective description of how some of the main currently available software packages work, which may help the experimental practitioner in the choice of a robust pipeline for metabolomic data analysis and integration

Chasing genetic structure in coralligenous reef invertebrates: patterns, criticalities and conservation issues

Conservation of coastal habitats is a global issue, yet biogenic reefs in temperate regions have received very little attention. They have a broad geographic distribution and are a key habitat in marine ecosystems impacted by human activities. In the Mediterranean Sea coralligenous reefs are biodiversity hot spots and are classified as sensitive habitats deserving conservation. Genetic diversity and structure influence demographic, ecological and evolutionary processes in populations and play a crucial role in conservation strategies. Nevertheless, a comprehensive view of population genetic structure of coralligenous species is lacking. Here, we reviewed the literature on the genetic structure of sessile and sedentary invertebrates of the Mediterranean coralligenous reefs. Linear regression models and meta-analytic approaches are used to assess the contributions of genetic markers, phylum, pelagic larval duration (PLD) and geographical distance to the population genetic structure. Our quantitative approach highlight that 1) most species show a significant genetic structure, 2) structuring differs between phyla, and 3) PLD does not appear to be a major driver of the structuring. We discuss the implication of these finding for the management and conservation, suggesting research areas that deserve attention, and providing recommendations for broad assessment and monitoring of genetic diversity in biogenic reefs specie

Herodotus on Bactria between Achaemenid Mobility and Alexander’s campaign. Some reflections

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Effect of Predation on Fouling Communities in an Italian Hotspot of Non-Indigenous Species

The role of native predators in controlling or facilitating non-indigenous species (NIS) growing in a fouling assemblage was investigated with a 70-day caging experiment in a marina inside the Gulf of La Spezia (Italy). Submerged PVC panels were divided into three experimental treatment levels: “control panels”, “open-caged panels” and “caged panels”, to assess the predation effect on the fouling assemblages growing on the panels. Predation effect was observed for two investigated variables. The Shannon Index was significantly higher in caged panels in comparison with controls, while an opposite trend was observed for the coverage area of native species. When testing single NIS abundance, both facilitation and limitation of individual NIS settlement has been observed. Mean coverage of the sabellid Branchiomma luctuosum was significantly higher in caged than in uncaged or open-caged panels, while the ascidian Styela plicata was prevalent in open-caged panels. In general, a predation effect was observed when considering the whole fouling assemblage, including different trends in NIS coverage among treatment levels. The results of this first attempt performed in the Mediterranean Sea encourage further experiments to investigate the biotic resistance provided by native predators against NIS

Strain wave acquisition by a fiber optic coherent sensor for impact monitoring

A novel fiber optic sensing technology for high frequency dynamics detection is proposed in this paper, specifically tailored for structural health monitoring applications based on strain wave analysis, for both passive impact identification and active Lamb wave monitoring. The sensing solution relies on a fiber optic-based interferometric architecture associated to an innovative coherent detection scheme, which retrieves in a completely passive way the high-frequency phase information of the received optical signal. The sensing fiber can be arranged into different layouts, depending on the requirement of the specific application, in order to enhance the sensor sensitivity while still ensuring a limited gauge length if punctual measures are required. For active Lamb wave monitoring, this results in a sensing fiber arranged in multiple loops glued on an aluminum thin panel in order to increase the phase signal only in correspondence to the sensing points of interest. Instead, for passive impact identification, the required sensitivity is guaranteed by simply exploiting a longer gauge length glued to the structure. The fiber optic coherent (FOC) sensor is exploited to detect the strain waves emitted by a piezoelectric transducer placed on the aluminum panel or generated by an impulse hammer, respectively. The FOC sensor measurements have been compared with both a numerical model based on Finite Elements and traditional piezoelectric sensors, confirming a good agreement between experimental and simulated results for both active and passive impact monitoring scenarios

Determination of perfluoroalkyl acids in different tissues of graminaceous plants

A method for the determination of 12 perfluoroalkylacids (PFAA) in vegetal samples was proposed. The analytical procedure was developed to optimize the detention of short-chain PFAA (C<8) due to their higher potential to be translocated and bioaccumulated in plants than long-chain congeners. The method, based on ultrasonic extraction, clean-up and HPLC-MS/MS analysis, determined PFAA in the different plant tissues allowing to study the PFAA distribution and partition in vegetal compartments. The performance of this analytical procedure was validated by analysing samples (root, stem and leaf) of reed grass. The validated method was then applied to graminaceous plants from an agricultural area impacted by a fluorochemical plant discharge (Northern Italy). The PFAA congeners were detected in the most of samples with PFAA concentrations in whole plant ranging from < LOD to 10.4 ng g-1 ww and with a greater rate of PFAA accumulation in corn cob than corn kernel. The proposed approach is particularly relevant in edible plant investigation because PFAA levels recorded in the comestible fractions provide information for human risk assessment due to vegetable consumption. Furthermore data on the remaining not edible parts, intended for breeding forage, are also useful for the assessment of the PFAA transfer in the breeding trophic chain

Nature Inspired Solutions for Polymers: Will Cutinase Enzymes Make Polyesters and Polyamides Greener?

5siThe polymer and plastic sectors are under the urge of mitigating their environmental impact. The need for novel and more benign catalysts for polyester synthesis or targeted functionalization led, in recent years, to an increasing interest towards cutinases due to their natural ability to hydrolyze ester bonds in cutin, a natural polymer. In this review, the most recent advances in the synthesis and hydrolysis of various classes of polyesters and polyamides are discussed with a critical focus on the actual perspectives of applying enzymatic technologies for practical industrial purposes. More specifically, cutinase enzymes are compared to lipases and, in particular, to lipase B from Candida antarctica, the biocatalyst most widely employed in polymer chemistry so far. Computational and bioinformatics studies suggest that the natural role of cutinases in attacking natural polymers confer some essential features for processing also synthetic polyesters and polyamides.openopenFerrario, Valerio; Pellis, Alessandro; Cespugli, Marco; Guebitz, Georg; Gardossi, LuciaFerrario, Valerio; Pellis, Alessandro; Cespugli, Marco; Guebitz, Georg; Gardossi, Luci