Effects of four Fusarium toxins (fumonisin B(1), alpha-zearalenol, nivalenol and deoxynivalenol) on porcine whole-blood cellular proliferation.

The in vitro effects of four Fusarium toxins, fumonisin B1 (FB1), a-zearalenol (a-ZEA), nivalenol (NIV) and deoxynivalenol (DON), on mitogen-induced cell proliferation were determined in swine whole-blood cultures. Considering the lack of sufficient toxicological data both on single and in combination effects, in vitro studies may contribute to risk assessment of these toxins. Incubation with increasing concentrations of FB1 did not produce any consequence on proliferation; in contrast a-ZEA, NIV and DON showed an inhibitory effect. Dose–response curves for each mycotoxin were generated. NIV was found to be the most potent toxin followed by DON and a-ZEA. The effects of both FB1 þ a-ZEA and NIVþ DON mixtures were also analysed to investigate possible interactions. The results indicated that combination of FB1þ a-ZEA produces a synergistic inhibition of porcine cell proliferation; whereas there is no interaction between DON and NIV on porcine wholeblood proliferation, at tested concentrations

Use of phytotherapics in dogs and cats.

Phytotherapy is one of the most utilized non conventional medicines (NCM) both in human and veterinary medicine. It can be used to mitigate and prevent slight diseases and to support conventional medicine using allopathic drugs. In this paper the Authors report the phytoterapeutics most utilized in both dogs and cats, in which the use of phytotherapics is increasing, despite the prejudices of the academic world and of the veterinary practitioners. Laws regarding the use of non conventional medicines in veterinary practises are lacking in Italy, despite many other countries in Europe; yet National Federation of Italian Veterinaries (F.N.O.V.I.) asserted that the use of NCM has to be considered a veterinary practise at all. At the end of this paper, the Authors provided many examples of phytotheapic prescriptions to control different illness in both dogs and cats

Recent trends in diagnosing poisoning in domestic animals

In Veterinary Medicine, suspected poisoning often cannot be detected and certified by a Toxicology Laboratory due to many procedural errors and unclear requests for analysis. Therefore, the current study provides guidelines to obtain a definitive diagnosis on poisoning in domestic animals illustrating the multi-step approach to achieve such goal. The Authors describe the components and procedures needed for acquiring a good clinical anamnesis. Moreover, ,the utility and modality to perform a necropsy are described along with the method to collect and dispatch biological materials to Veterinary Toxicology Laboratory. At the end, the analytical techniques currently employed in detection of major toxic substances, responsible for frequent poisoning in domestic animals, are briefly described

Modeling Structural and Spectroscopic Properties of Doxorubicin in Complex Environments

The aim of the study that is here described is the modeling of structural and spectroscopic properties of doxorubicin (DOX) interacting with complex environments, in particular with water and DNA. The attention is especially focused on resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopy, which is widely used to probe the interaction between a molecular system and the external environment. In particular, RR has been reported to be able to provide information on the intercalation of DOX between DNA base pairs, through the comparison of RR spectra measured for DOX-DNA complexes and DOX in aqueous solution. Raman scattering can be defined as the inelastic scattering of an electromagnetic radiation by a molecular system. When the incident radiation is resonant with the sample, the RR spectroscopy is obtained. Both resonant and non-resonant Raman can be regarded as vibro-electronic phenomenona: both provide information on the vibrational structure of the molecular system. To obtain a reliable modeling of RR spectra, a physically consistent description of the target molecule (the solute), of the solvent and of the interaction between the solvated system and the external radiation are needed. In the framework that we have adopted, DOX is treated at the quantum mechanical (QM) level, by exploiting approaches rooted in the Density Functional Theory (DFT), as implemented in a widely used computational chemistry software. The presence of the external environment (either an aqueous solution or DNA) has been taken into account through a continuous description. In particular, the Polarizable Continuum Model (PCM) has been employed, in which the environment is treated as a continuum polarizable dielectric medium surrounding the solute molecule, treated quantum mechanically, and which is hosted within a molecule-shaped cavity. The comparison between the calculated results with experimental findings taken from the literature shows that our approach is able to describe the main features of vibrational RR spectra, as well as vibrational infrared (IR) and absorption UV-Vis spectra. As a further test of the effectiveness of the continuous description of the aqueous environment, and to possibly explain some of the discrepancies between calculated and experimental results, the solvation of DOX in aqueous solution has also been studied by means of simulations techniques rooted in the Molecular dynamics (MD), where an atomistic description of the solvent is exploited

A framework for implementing outsourcing schemes

En esta tesis se aborda el problema de la externalización segura de servicios de datos y computación. El escenario de interés es aquel en el que el usuario posee datos y quiere subcontratar un servidor en la nube (“Cloud”). Además, el usuario puede querer también delegar el cálculo de un subconjunto de sus datos al servidor. Se presentan dos aspectos de seguridad relacionados con este escenario, en concreto, la integridad y la privacidad y se analizan las posibles soluciones a dichas cuestiones, aprovechando herramientas criptográficas avanzadas, como el Autentificador de Mensajes Homomórfico (“Homomorphic Message Authenticators”) y el Cifrado Totalmente Homomórfico (“Fully Homomorphic Encryption”). La contribución de este trabajo es tanto teórica como práctica. Desde el punto de vista de la contribución teórica, se define un nuevo esquema de externalización (en lo siguiente, denominado con su término inglés Outsourcing), usando como punto de partida los artículos de [3] y [12], con el objetivo de realizar un modelo muy genérico y flexible que podría emplearse para representar varios esquemas de ”outsourcing” seguro. Dicho modelo puede utilizarse para representar esquemas de “outsourcing” seguro proporcionando únicamente integridad, únicamente privacidad o, curiosamente, integridad con privacidad. Utilizando este nuevo modelo también se redefine un esquema altamente eficiente, construido en [12] y que se ha denominado Outsourcinglin. Este esquema permite calcular polinomios multivariados de grado 1 sobre el anillo Z2k . Desde el punto de vista de la contribución práctica, se ha construido una infraestructura marco (“Framework”) para aplicar el esquema de “outsourcing”. Seguidamente, se ha testado dicho “Framework” con varias implementaciones, en concreto la implementación del criptosistema Joye-Libert ([18]) y la implementación del esquema propio Outsourcinglin. En el contexto de este trabajo práctico, la tesis también ha dado lugar a algunas contribuciones innovadoras: el diseño y la implementación de un nuevo algoritmo de descifrado para el esquema de cifrado Joye-Libert, en colaboración con Darío Fiore. Presenta un mejor comportamiento frente a los algoritmos propuestos por los autores de [18];la implementación de la función eficiente pseudo-aleatoria de forma amortizada cerrada (“amortized-closed-form efficient pseudorandom function”) de [12]. Esta función no se había implementado con anterioridad y no supone un problema trivial, por lo que este trabajo puede llegar a ser útil en otros contextos. Finalmente se han usado las implementaciones durante varias pruebas para medir tiempos de ejecución de los principales algoritmos.---ABSTRACT---In this thesis we tackle the problem of secure outsourcing of data and computation. The scenario we are interested in is that in which a user owns some data and wants to “outsource” it to a Cloud server. Furthermore, the user may want also to delegate the computation over a subset of its data to the server. We present the security issues related to this scenario, namely integrity and privacy and we analyse some possible solutions to these two issues, exploiting advanced cryptographic tools, such as Homomorphic Message Authenticators and Fully Homomorphic Encryption. Our contribution is both theoretical and practical. Considering our theoretical contribution, using as starting points the articles of [3] and [12], we introduce a new cryptographic primitive, called Outsourcing with the aim of realizing a very generic and flexible model that might be employed to represent several secure outsourcing schemes. Such model can be used to represent secure outsourcing schemes that provide only integrity, only privacy or, interestingly, integrity with privacy. Using our new model we also re-define an highly efficient scheme constructed in [12], that we called Outsourcinglin and that is a scheme for computing multi-variate polynomials of degree 1 over the ring Z2k. Considering our practical contribution, we build a Framework to implement the Outsourcing scheme. Then, we test such Framework to realize several implementations, specifically the implementation of the Joye-Libert cryptosystem ([18]) and the implementation of our Outsourcinglin scheme. In the context of this practical work, the thesis also led to some novel contributions: the design and the implementation, in collaboration with Dario Fiore, of a new decryption algorithm for the Joye-Libert encryption scheme, that performs better than the algorithms proposed by the authors in [18]; the implementation of the amortized-closed-form efficient pseudorandom function of [12]. There was no prior implementation of this function and it represented a non trivial work, which can become useful in other contexts. Finally we test the implementations to execute several experiments for measuring the timing performances of the main algorithms

Dynamic investigation on the Mirandola bell tower in post-earthquake scenarios

After the seismic events of the 20th and 29th of May 2012 in Emilia (Italy), most of the monumental and historic buildings of the area were severely damaged. In a few structures, partial collapse mechanisms were observed (e.g. façade tilting, out-of-plane overturning of panels…). This paper presents the case-study of the bell tower of the Santa Maria Maggiore cathedral, located in Mirandola (Italy). The dynamic response of the structure was evaluated through operational modal analysis using ambient vibrations, a consolidated non-destructive procedure that estimates the dynamic parameters of the bell-tower. The dynamic tests were carried out in pre-intervention and post-intervention conditions in order to understand the sensitivity of dynamic measurements to safety interventions. Furthermore, a comparative study is made with similar cases of undamaged masonry towers up to the 6th mode. Finally, an investigation on the state of connections and of the building itself is carried out via FE model updating

EFFECTS OF NDL-PCB ON PORCINE MACROPHAGES: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) causing adverse effects on both humans and animals. Immune system is an important target organ for many environmental contaminants. Macrophages constitute an important component of the immune system of humans and animals, in fact, they are responsible for triggering innate immune responses and host defense. The aim of the current study was to assess the immunomodulatory effects of certain non dioxin like PCBs (PCB 138; PCB 153 and PCB 180) using porcine macrophage 3D4/31 cell line. We evaluated not only the effects induced by the individual congeners but also those deriving from mixtures of more contaminants, in consideration of the fact that co-contamination of the same substrate is common in natural conditions and the effects of simultaneous exposure to multiple contaminants are still little investigated. The results of the current study showed that ndl-PCBs reduced significantly cell viability only at the highest concentration (50 µM); such effect was not linked to apoptosis induction or cell cycle arrest. The contemporary presence of more than one contaminant (differently combined) did not induce any enhancement of effects on 3D4/31 cell line

NIVALENOLENOL AND DEOXYNIVALENOL INDUCE APOPTOSIS AND DYSREGULATE WOUND REPAIR IN RAT INTESTINAL EPITHELIAL CELLS

The gastrointestinal tract represents the first barrier against ingested chemicals, food contaminants and toxins thus its integrity represents a barrier between the internal and external environments. Fusarium mycotoxins, nivalenol (NIV) and deoxynivalenol (DON) are frequently on cereals and processed grains. Following their ingestion, intestinal epithelial cells are exposed to high concentrations of NIV and DON capable to induce mycotoxicosis (Yang et al., 2010). To investigate the effects of NIV and DON we used the intestinal epithelial cell line (IEC-6). The addition of NIV in the culture medium significantly reduced the rate of migration of IEC-6 cells into the denuded area of a model wound. Instead DON slightly reduced the rate of migration of IEC-6 cells into the denuded area compared to IEC-6 cells cultured alone. Interestingly a synergic activity on reducing the rate of migration was observed adding to IEC-6 cells NIV and DON mycotoxins together. Both NIV and DON, tested at higher concentrations (5-80µM) significantly affected IEC-6 cells viability. Moreover propidium iodide analysis revealed that the reduced cell viability was related to an apoptotic process. All together our results reported the effect of NIV and DON on intestinal epithelium highlighting the effect of the few studied NIV and the synergistic activity of both mycotoxins in reducing the IEC-6cell response to epithelial injury

Correlation between oesophageal acid exposure and dyspeptic symptoms in patients with nonerosive reflux disease.

Oesophageal acidification induces dyspeptic symptoms in healthy individuals. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between oesophageal acid exposure and dyspeptic symptoms in patients with nonerosive reflux disease. METHODS: A total of 68 patients with dominant symptoms of heartburn, negative upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and concomitant dyspeptic symptoms participated in the study. The severity of dyspepsia and reflux-related symptoms was evaluated, and 24-h gastro-oesophageal pH-monitoring study was performed in all patients at baseline and after 4 weeks of therapy with esomeprazole 40 mg. RESULTS: Oesophageal basal acid exposure was pathological in 43 patients and normal in 25 patients, with a similar prevalence and severity of individual dyspeptic symptoms in the two groups. A significant correlation between reflux and dyspepsia scores was observed in the subgroup of patients with normal, but not in those with abnormal pHmetry (r=0.4, P=0.04 and r=0.2 P=0.07, respectively). After esomeprazole, a reduction in severity of dyspepsia (>or=50% with respect to baseline) was observed, independent of improvement of reflux-associated symptoms. Improvement in dyspepsia was, however, similar in patients with normal and abnormal basal acid exposure (14/25 vs. 33/43, respectively, P=NS). CONCLUSION: Dyspeptic symptoms coexist in a subset of nonerosive reflux disease patients, but prevalence and severity of the symptoms seems to be independent of oesophageal acid exposure

Removing the division into categories between cycling and para-cycling (Handbike category H) by designing a single performance and training activity

Cycling and all categories of para-cycling including Handbike are cyclical sports, that is, sports characterized using a specific skill, continuous skill. To separate competitions between cyclists and paracyclists, there is a classification system. The study in aims to design one activity performance and training, to eliminate the division into categories between cycling and para-cycling (Handbike), since this does not favour the integration and sporting inclusion of the two groups of athletes. The differences in performance will be identified between: cyclists and paracyclists with spinal cord injury or amputation of the lower limbs (H). Then will proceed to design and verify an activity capable of making the two categories compete and train together, eliminating the differences in performance through the use of a "counterweight" and using a mixed training, HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and Endurance. The sample taken into consideration is composed of 5 cyclists and 5 paracyclists (H) aged between 19 and 38 years. To achieve the goal, the study was based on the method of analysing the scientific literature, detecting the various parameters in the race and using mathematical statistical methods, such as Multiple Regression and the T-Test for independent samples. The analysis of the results of this study shows that; between cyclists and para-cyclists who participated, there are substantial differences in performance, thanks to the data obtained from multiple regression, in which we find an R-squared value that is .999975008, also the only positive coefficient among the independent variables is that of power (6.760634791). This means that of all the reported values, it is the only one that directly affects performance