10 research outputs found
Le pale di San Paolo in Campo Marzio e di San Giorgio in Braida. Nuovi studi e ricerche
No full textEsito della diagnostica non invasiva su dipinti di Paolo Veronese studiati in occasione delle mostre a Londra e Veron
Recovery of a medieval Brucella melitensis genome using shotgun metagenomics
No full textShotgun metagenomics provides a powerful assumption-free approach to the recovery of pathogen genomes from contemporary and historical material. We sequenced the metagenome of a calcified nodule from the skeleton of a 14th-century middle-aged male excavated from the medieval Sardinian settlement of Geridu. We obtained 6.5-fold coverage of a Brucella melitensis genome. Sequence reads from this genome showed signatures typical of ancient or aged DNA. Despite the relatively low coverage, we were able to use information from single-nucleotide polymorphisms to place the medieval pathogen genome within a clade of B. melitensis strains that included the well-studied Ether strain and two other recent Italian isolates. We confirmed this placement using information from deletions and IS711 insertions. We conclude that metagenomics stands ready to document past and present infections, shedding light on the emergence, evolution, and spread of microbial pathogens
The Iceman's Last Meal Consisted of Fat, Wild Meat, and Cereals
No full textThe history of humankind is marked by the constant adoption of new dietary habits affecting human physiology, metabolism, and even the development of nutrition-related disorders. Despite clear archaeological evidence for the shift from hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture in Neolithic Europe [1], very little information exists on the daily dietary habits of our ancestors. By undertaking a complementary -omics approach combined with microscopy, we analyzed the stomach content of the Iceman, a 5,300-year-old European glacier mummy [2, 3]. He seems to have had a remarkably high proportion of fat in his diet, supplemented with fresh or dried wild meat, cereals, and traces of toxic bracken. Our multipronged approach provides unprecedented analytical depth, deciphering the nutritional habit, meal composition, and food-processing methods of this Copper Age individual. Maixner et al. report the dietary reconstruction of the Iceman's last meal using a combined multi-omics approach. The stomach content analysis of the 5,300-year-old glacier mummy shows that the Iceman's diet preceding his death was a mix of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, well adjusted to the energetic requirements of his high-altitude trekking
Corpo e subjetividade: estudo sobre body modifcation e suspensão corporal
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências da Educação. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, Florianópolis, 2015O presente trabalho se propôs a pensar a relação entre corpo e subjetividade na contemporaneidade, direcionando a atenção para os fenômenos da body modification e suspensão corporal como expressão de uma pedagogia do corpo presente em nossa sociedade. Para isso, foram feitas incursões e observações sistemáticas de feiras e convenções de tatuagem e body piercing que aconteceram nas regiões sul e sudeste do país, associadas a entrevistas com entusiastas dessas práticas. Os aspectos teórico-metodológicos desta pesquisa se assentam em autores da Teoria Crítica da Sociedade da Escola de Frankfurt, em diálogo com outras tradições do pensamento social contemporâneo. Inicialmente, identificou-se que as feiras e convenções coincidem fortemente com espaços sociais nos quais se verificam algum grau de engajamento na dinâmica simbólica por parte de seus participantes. A organização de tais eventos parece ser sustentada por uma demanda social de intervenção sobre o corpo pautada em uma composição mercadológica dessas práticas verificada pela sazonalidade desses eventos; pela existência de profissionais que trabalham exclusivamente com body modification e suspensão corporal e que se utilizam daqueles espaços para o aperfeiçoamento profissional; pela ampliação e produção em larga escala dos adornos corporais. Em um segundo momento, os dados produzidos conduziram à elaboração de quatro eixos de análise, nos quais se abordam as vicissitudes dos processos de subjetivação vinculados a essas práticas. Os resultados apontam para um movimento contraditório de recusa e adesão, fuga e capitulação, que se apresentam nessas práticas e que se refletem nas subjetividades dos adeptos. Buscou-se explorar esse movimento por meio do uso que fizemos de conceitos como phatos e vício, grotesco e logotipo, e dos sentidos que os adeptos conferem à dor, à memória e à fantasia, especialmente, no caso dessas duas últimas, na sua relação com a prática da tatuagem. Os aspectos discutidos aqui evidenciam que essas práticas de modificação e manipulação do corpo não constituem formas avessas de organização da corporalidade, mas antes suas nuances agregam novos elementos para se refletir sobre as pedagogias do corpo contemporâneas.Abstract : The present paper aim to investigate the relationship between body and subjectivity in contemporary times, directing attention to the phenomena of body modification and body suspension, both practices understood as an expression of a body pedagogy present in our society. The research was developed using ethnographic visits and systematic observations of tattoos and body piercing fairs that took place in South and Southeast regions of Brazil, associated with interviews with enthusiasts of these practices. The theoretical and methodological aspects of this research rely on authors of the Critical Theory of Society, dialoguing with authors from others traditions of thought. Initially, it was identified that the fairs and conventions strongly coincide with social spaces, at which it was observed some level of engagement in the symbolic dynamics of those who participate in it. The organization of the events appears to be sustained by a social demand for body interventions which is based in the marketing composition of those body modification practices verified by the seasonality of those events; by the presence of professionals that work exclusively with these two practices and use those events to improve their work skills; by the market expansion of body adornment items. Secondly, the data guided the elaboration of four axes of analysis in which it deals with the vicissitudes of subjective processes linked to these practices. The results indicate a contradictory movement of refusal and adhesion, of escape and capitulation, that are present in those practices and that manifest itself in the subjectivity of their followers. That movement was explored throughout the use of the concepts of phatos and addiction, grotesque and logotype and by the meanings that its followers give to pain, memory and fantasy, those last two in their relationship with tattooing. The aspects presented evidence that practices of body modification and body suspension do not constitute opposite forms of organization of the corporality, on the contrary, their nuances add new elements to the reflection on the contemporaneous body pedagogy
Diagnostic metagenomics : potential applications to bacterial, viral and parasitic infections
No full textThe term 'shotgun metagenomics' is applied to the direct sequencing of DNA extracted from a sample without culture or target-specific amplification or capture. In diagnostic metagenomics, this approach is applied to clinical samples in the hope of detecting and characterizing pathogens. Here, I provide a conceptual overview, before reviewing several recent promising proof-of-principle applications of metagenomics in virus discovery, analysis of outbreaks and detection of pathogens in contemporary and historical samples. I also evaluate future prospects for diagnostic metagenomics in the light of relentless improvements in sequencing technologies
Culture-independent detection and characterisation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. africanum in sputum samples using shotgun metagenomics on a benchtop sequencer
No full textTuberculosis remains a major global health problem. Laboratory diagnostic methods that allow effective, early detection of cases are central to management of tuberculosis in the individual patient and in the community. Since the 1880s, laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis has relied primarily on microscopy and culture. However, microscopy fails to provide species- or lineage-level identification and culture-based workflows for diagnosis of tuberculosis remain complex, expensive, slow, technically demanding and poorly able to handle mixed infections. We therefore explored the potential of shotgun metagenomics, sequencing of DNA from samples without culture or target-specific amplification or capture, to detect and characterise strains from the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in smear-positive sputum samples obtained from The Gambia in West Africa. Eight smear- and culture-positive sputum samples were investigated using a differential-lysis protocol followed by a kit-based DNA extraction method, with sequencing performed on a benchtop sequencing instrument, the Illumina MiSeq. The number of sequence reads in each sputum-derived metagenome ranged from 989,442 to 2,818,238. The proportion of reads in each metagenome mapping against the human genome ranged from 20% to 99%. We were able to detect sequences from the M. tuberculosis complex in all eight samples, with coverage of the H37Rv reference genome ranging from 0.002X to 0.7X. By analysing the distribution of large sequence polymorphisms (deletions and the locations of the insertion element IS6110) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), we were able to assign seven of eight metagenome-derived genomes to a species and lineage within the M. tuberculosis complex. Two metagenome-derived mycobacterial genomes were assigned to M. africanum, a species largely confined to West Africa; the others that could be assigned belonged to lineages T, H or LAM within the clade of “modern” M. tuberculosis strains. We have provided proof of principle that shotgun metagenomics can be used to detect and characterise M. tuberculosis sequences from sputum samples without culture or target-specific amplification or capture, using an accessible benchtop-sequencing platform, the Illumina MiSeq, and relatively simple DNA extraction, sequencing and bioinformatics protocols. In our hands, sputum metagenomics does not yet deliver sufficient depth of coverage to allow sequence-based sensitivity testing; it remains to be determined whether improvements in DNA extraction protocols alone can deliver this or whether culture, capture or amplification steps will be required. Nonetheless, we can foresee a tipping point when a unified automated metagenomics-based workflow might start to compete with the plethora of methods currently in use in the diagnostic microbiology laboratory
The Mummy of Rosalia Lombardo at the end of 2022: an update on the status quaestionis and a reflection on the level of evidence
No full textIn this communication we present key new evidence on the story of the famous Salafia embalming manuscript that further clarifies the genesis of a series of studies on this topic and corroborates our assumptions published in previous articles on this matter. In the second part of the paper, we provide a concise ethical analysis of Rosalia Lombardo’s case and try to establish a level of evi- dence in the assessment of her preservation by comparing facts and interpretations. Finally, we call for an independent assess- ment of the mummy’s state of preservation and the disclosure of the full content of the Salafia manuscript.Published229-2343TM. ComunicazioneN/A or not JC
