217 research outputs found
Start 2024 by asking: 'Why do science?'
No full textStep back from the usual lab-meeting format, and ask yourself and your colleagues why you all do what you do, say Mirko Treccani and Laura Veschetti
Functionalized Surfaces and Interactions with Biomolecules
No full textOne of the first crucial reactions of any artificial material exposed to biological environments is the materials' surface interaction with biomolecules. The interaction is widely dependent on the material properties and the chemical functionalities and structures exposed on its surface. Tailoring the surface properties of ceramics and other materials is a manner to guide biomolecular interactions, to prevent or reduce them, to specifically evoke them, and hence use them to stimulate a certain subsequent reaction. This provides an opportunity to also control the interactions and tune materials by surface functionalization for a variety of applications. In this chapter, we give a concise overview of the most crucial principles that govern the complex biomolecule-surface interactions focusing on fundamental forces and which structures from materials, biomolecules, and their environments influence the interaction in complex biological media. A special focus is on surface functionalizations for ceramic substrates that can be used to tune biomolecular interactions with the material surfaces as an important design principle for materials in various applications in biomedical, environmental, and pharmaceutical areas
The Interplay between Microbiota and Human Complex Traits
No full textMicroorganisms have been one of the most influential drivers propelling some of the greatest environmental and evolutionary changes in the landscape and biology of the entire planet [...]
Brescia e l’Agenda 2030: politiche e strategie per una città sempre più inclusiva, sicura e sostenibile
No full textBrescia, seconda città della Lombardia per dimensione demografica, è stata interessata
negli ultimi vent’anni da una profonda trasformazione. Da città conosciuta esclusivamente
come importante polo produttivo manifatturiero italiano, Brescia è lentamente ma
profondamente mutata, nella sua struttura fisica e sociale, e anche nel modo in cui si
pone come polo di riferimento per i 205 comuni della sua provincia.
La forte vocazione industriale della città ha fatto sì che fosse interessata negli anni Ottanta
e Novanta del XX secolo da processi di immigrazione che ne hanno fatto la prima città
in Italia per la presenza percentuale di cittadini immigrati, oggi superiore al 18% della
popolazione totale, nonostante il forte rallentamento impresso dalla crisi produttiva
dell’ultimo decennio. La forte tradizione produttiva non ha solamente concorso alla
costruzione di una comunità multietnica, ma ha anche lasciato sul territorio profonde
ferite di carattere ambientale, con aree estese all’interno del tessuto urbano consolidato
che necessitano di interventi di bonifica, laddove l’attività produttiva è stata dismessa;
criticità che si vanno ad aggiungere a quelle che la accomunano a molte altre realtà
urbane della pianura padana, quali l’inquinamento dell’aria e delle acque superficiali e
sotterranee, il rumore, il rischio idrogeologico e il progressivo consumo di suolo legato
alle previsioni di trasformazione.
Anche la crisi del mercato immobiliare, che ha avuto negli anni 2012-2013 l’espressione
più forte, ha favorito l’avvio di una profonda revisione delle politiche di governo del
territorio, con l’obiettivo di tendere alla costruzione di una città ancora più verde e
con una migliore qualità della vita, dotata di una mobilità adeguata, sempre più sicura
e sostenibile, mantenendo comunque una grande attenzione al tema del lavoro e della
dotazione di servizi, sia di scala urbana che territoriale,
Obiettivo del presente paper è quello di illustrare sinteticamente processi di pianificazione
e progetti di rigenerazione urbana che sono maturati in tale contesto, volti a conciliare
la dimensione fisica delle trasformazioni con la dimensione sociale, per farne una città
ancora più aperta e inclusiva
The BioVRPi project: a valuable and sustainable alternative for genomic analysis
No full textSince 2012, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has started developing pocket-sized and low-cost devices, originally meant to teach computer science in developing Countries. Its growing interest and constant improvement led Raspberry Pi devices to find different applications and to suit the needs of various research areas. In the previous years, different researchers already reported applications of Raspberry Pi devices in bioinformatics, such as basic train- ing and proteomics. In the beginning of 2021, we gave birth to BioVRPi, a project which aims to develop and offer a low-cost and stable bioinformatic environment for students and re- searchers involved in the genomics and transcriptomics fields. We evaluated performances and software compatibilities of different scenarios, focusing on Genome-Wide Association Studies for complex traits in Homo sapiens, transcriptomic analyses on RNA-seq data from Strongyloides stercoralis samples and alignment of small organisms, such as SARS-CoV-2 (virus), Escherichia Coli (bacterium) and Caenorhabditis elegans (nematode). Results from both the bioinformatic and benchmarking analyses showed that Raspberry Pi devices are capable of accomplishing different bioinformatic tasks in terms of results and performances. Moreover, they proved to be a valuable low-cost and sustainable alternative, in accordance with the United Nation 2030 Agenda, to answer the needs and the challenges of the current socio-economic situation
PROCESS FOR OBTAINING A POROUS MATERIAL FROM POWDER MATERIALS, A POROUS MATERIAL AND USE THEREOF FOR THE CAPTURE OF ATMOSPHERIC PARTICULATE MATTER AND ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS
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LA COLLEZIONE DI DIPINTI DI GIOVANNI TRECCANI DEGLI ALFIERI.
No full textWe know that Giovanni Treccani bought and offered to Italy the Borso d’Este Bible in 1923, he financed the 1929-1937 edition of the Enciclopedia Italiana and the 1953-1961 edition of the Storia di Milano but nobody knows his activity as collector of modern and antique pictures which begins about in 1923.
The reconstruction of Treccani collection, now lost, has been based on the autobiography of Treccani himself: Nel cammino della mia vita (1960), printed in very few copies for his daughters and sons; on the article by Antonio Morassi issued in 1930-31 on the magazine “Dedalo” and on the recovery of the correspondence between Giovanni Treccani and Adolfo Venturi who has been consultant for Treccani to the purchases of antique art. In addition to these written sources I have put the photolibrary research of these authors in Venice and Rome, in that of the Milan Council Archivio Fotografico and in other Italian and foreign Photo Libraries. After the reconstruction of the collection I have studied each picture to catalogue them.
To reconstruct the contest in which the collection was born, I have considered first the background of the Milan collectionism world in the first two decades of the twentieth century, especially that of industry people in relationship with Treccani, then I analyzed the presence of the pictures of Treccani in several exhibitions between the 20s and the 50s. The borrowings of works reflect the relationship between the collector with the art historians who organized some exhibitions and allow us to hypothesize the contest in which Treccani purchased some paintings. The personality who emerges in the 20s and the 30s beside Venturi, is Ugo Ojetti. The probable responsible for the entrance in the collection of Francesco Paolo Michetti paintings and Vincenzo Gemito drawings.
In the 40s the work of Treccani is in Milan and is linked to the art historians who work in the city: Costantino Baroni, Gian Alberto dell’Acqua, Fernanda Wittgens.
The exhibitions of this period, some publications and the contribution of these historians for the Storia di Milano testify to this relationship.
The reconstruction of the Treccani collection also has taken account of the issues financed by the entrepreneur: the pages of Enciclopedia, of the Storia di Milano, and of the Enciclopedia del costume allow you to monitor the inputs of a number of paintings in the collection and to backdate the ownership of Treccani.
Finally, the study has also allowed us to identify several new works, among which should be noted a study by Pelizza da Volpedo and a painting by Adolfo Feragutti Visconti and donated by the author to the collector
Genomic Instability Evolutionary Footprints on Human Health: Driving Forces or Side Effects?
No full textIn this work, we propose a comprehensive perspective on genomic instability comprising not only the accumulation of mutations but also telomeric shortening, epigenetic alterations and other mechanisms that could contribute to genomic information conservation or corruption. First, we present mechanisms playing a role in genomic instability across the kingdoms of life. Then, we explore the impact of genomic instability on the human being across its evolutionary history and on present-day human health, with a particular focus on aging and complex disorders. Finally, we discuss the role of non-coding RNAs, highlighting future approaches for a better living and an expanded healthy lifespan
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