Archivio istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi di Parma
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Sec61 translocon inhibitor flavitransin blocks selectively dengue virus polyprotein insertion in the ER with pan-orthoflavivirus antiviral potency
No full textTandem repeat expansions and copy number variations as risk factors and diagnostic tools for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
No full textAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder leading to upper and lower motoneurons degeneration. Although several mechanisms potentially involved in disease development have been identified, its pathogenesis is not fully understood. From the patient side, ALS diagnosis, still based on clinical criteria, can be difficult and may take up to 1 year. More than 30 genes have been associated to genetically inherited ALS, among which four (C9ORF72, SOD1, TARDBP and FUS) would explain around 60-70% of cases. However, familial ALS represents only 5-10% of ALS cases while the remaining are sporadic, with genetics explaining 6-10% of such cases only. In this context, short tandem repeats (STRs) expansions, have recently been found in clinically diagnosed ALS patients. In this review, we discuss the recent discoveries on ALS associated STRs and their potential as biomarkers as well as prognosis and therapy targets
Plant-based burgers: prototypes development, study of protein digestibility, and safety assessment
No full textIn recent years large switch to plant-based diets has brough to increase the market offer for meat-analogues. This led to high variability of products, with different nutritional characteristics that may introduce or increase dietary exposure to risks, such as mycotoxins occurrence. This work aims to deepen these aspects, exploring if soy-burgers can be an adequate and safe substitute to beef-burgers. Six different protypes – using combinations of soy-based textures (low and high moisture) and binders (methylcellulose and transglutaminase) – were developed miming meat in all its attributes and compared to high-quality beef. Samples were investigated to determine nutritional characteristics, protein quality, and digestibility. Results highlighted comparable nutritional profile of products (averagely 225 kcal, 15 g protein, 10 g total carbohydrates, 13 g of fat, on 100 g), nevertheless, new formulations had good amino acidic profile with great content in essential amino acids. The study showed good digestibility of products, with some differences according to the ingredients used. Protease inhibitors (Kunitz and Bowman-Birk) were also detected through UHPLC/ESI-MS/MS analysis, with a trend concordant with extrusion and cooking treatments. Moreover, occurrence of 11 mycotoxins was investigated. Only tentoxin (from Alternaria alternata) was detected, particularly in protein isolate (7.37 μg/kg)and, in lower amount, in textures (0.88–1.24 μg/kg) and burgers (1.21–2.27 μg/kg). Results obtained confirmed, above all, that beyond the nature of the product – whether it is animal or vegetable – a good choice of raw materials is needed. Furthermore, results on mycotoxins occurrence point out the importance of their evaluation
Fiumana I
No full textGli scavi condotti dall’Università degli Studi di
Parma nel sito della villa romana di Fiumana
(Predappio, FC) in soli due anni hanno cambiato
la storia di questo antico insediamento, aggiornando
in modo decisivo e sorprendente le precedenti
informazioni risalenti alle indagini effettuate negli
anni Sessanta del secolo scorso da Giovanna
Bermond. Questo libro, che raccoglie gli Atti del
Convegno tenutosi il 17 febbraio 2024 a Predappio,
dedicato alle “Nuove ricerche nell’area della villa
di Fiumana”, costituisce il primo dei volumi della
Serie sugli scavi fiumanesi e si configura come “il
punto di partenza” per i futuri studi
Seismic damages on fortified architectures: Lessons learned from three earthquakes (Emilia 2012, Central Italy 2016, Albania 2019)
No full textThe recent earthquakes that hit the Mediterranean Europe area have highlighted the fragility of our historical built heritage. Paradoxically, even if they look as massive structures, designed to stand exceptional stresses, the fortified architectures were among the most damaged. The paper focuses on a comparative analysis of the main building features of these peculiar buildings, damaged by the strongest earthquakes in Europe in the last ten years – Emilia 2012, Central Italy 2016 and Albania 2019 – with the aim of recognizing the typical vulnerabilities, which favour the recurrence of specific damages. The experience acquired through the observation of these damage mechanisms allowed to assess the frequency of their occurrence, thus identifying the priorities of the interventions in relation to the seismicity of the analysed areas. Indeed the observation and classification of the real damage is seen as the first step for a focused preventive restoration approach
Divergence cleaning for weakly compressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics
No full textThis paper presents a divergence cleaning formulation for the velocity in the weakly compressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) scheme. The proposed hyperbolic/parabolic divergence cleaning, ensures that the velocity divergence, div(u), is minimised throughout the simulation. The divergence equation is coupled with the momentum conservation equation through a scalar field ψ. A parabolic term is added to the time-evolving divergence equation, resulting in a hyperbolic/parabolic form, dissipating acoustic waves with a speed of sound proportional to the local Mach number in order to maximise dissipation of the velocity divergence, preventing unwanted diffusion of the pressure field. The div(u)-SPH algorithm is implemented in the open-source weakly compressible SPH solver DualSPHysics. The new formulation is validated against a range of challenging 2-D test cases including the Taylor-Green vortices, patch impact test, jet impinging on a surface, and wave impact in a sloshing tank. The results show that the new formulation reduces the divergence in the velocity field by at least one order of magnitude which prevents spurious numerical noise and the formation of unphysical voids. The temporal evolution of the impact pressures shows that the div(u)-SPH formulation virtually eliminates unwanted acoustic pressure oscillations. Investigation of particle resolution confirms that the new div(u)-SPH formulation does not reduce the spatial convergence rate
Your space or mine: Trait anxiety affects the peripersonal space plasticity in a social context
No full textPeripersonal space (PPS) is a plastic sector of space surrounding the body whose boundaries are mapped through multisensory integration and shifted by individual motor experiences. To date, nothing is known about PPS plasticity after a social motor interaction, and whether individual traits, such as anxiety, modulate it. Here, participants were instructed to manipulate small objects within their reaching space without tool-use, collaboratively helped by a confederate who employed a tool in her extrapersonal space. Social cooperative motor training shifts PPS's boundaries even if participants’ motor actions are confined within their reaching space. Crucially, trait anxiety steers the shift direction: engaging in a cooperative motor interaction with another unfamiliar person expands PPS in low anxiety people, whereas individuals with high anxiety show PPS shrinkage. Our results show that PPS, built from multisensory signals, plastically adapts to social cooperative interactions, to dynamically define self-other body boundaries
