2,699 research outputs found
Host-pathogen interaction: Aedes spp. mosquitoes and arboviruses
No full textArboviruses such as the flavivirus Zika, Dengue and Usutu viruses, and the alphavirus Chikungunya represent resurging or emerging public health threats worldwide. In Europe, arboviral risk is dependent on the presence of the competent vector Ae. albopictus, a mosquito that arrived from South East Asia only 30 years ago.
At the moment, control of vector populations is the primary tool to prevent arboviral transmission because no drugs and limited vaccines are available for these diseases.
Mosquito response to arboviral infection is a complex and evolving phenotype dependent primarily on the activity of RNAi pathways. Among RNAi, the piRNA pathway has been shown to have a significant role in mosquito immunity. However, the function of this pathway is still enigmatic because it was characterized only recently and it has been mostly studied in the model insect D. melanogaster, where it does not have antiviral activity, but functions in germ cells through small RNAs, called piRNAs, to silence TEs and preserve genome integrity.
Recently, we discovered that the Ae. albopictus genome carries numerous integrations from viral genomes that are integrated mainly in loci producing piRNAs. On this basis, we hypothesized a functional link between the piRNA pathway and viral integrations.
During my PhD, I developed a program with three specific aims to test the above-mentioned hypothesis. Briefly, I aimed to 1) characterize the genes of the piRNA pathway in Ae. albopictus 2) study the involvement of viral integrations in virus-host interactions in connection with the siRNA and piRNA pathways; 3) analyse Ae. albopictus fitness traits.
The main questions I address in Aim 1 the piRNA pathway of Ae. albopictus concern the Piwi gene copy number, structure, variability, their protein architecture and expression profile, both throughout the mosquito development and following arboviral infection. I also set up experiments at different growth temperatures to analyze the effects on the expression profile of Piwi genes caused by temperature variations similar to the ones encountered in the newly invaded temperate regions.
For aim 2 NIRVS and arboviral infection, I performed a comprehensive analysis of the expression profile of small RNAs whose sequences match the infecting viruses or NIRVS, in an attempt to shed light on the role of small RNAs of both viral and endogenous origin in the establishment of persistent infections. This analysis was done across carcasses and ovaries.
For aim 3 Life history trains of Aedes albopictus, I carried out comparative analyses of fitness traits of two reference strains and three natural populations of Ae. albopictus paving the way for future studies on the analyses of the life history traits of this invasive mosquito species.
Over-all results gained through my PhD activities will enhance our understanding of unexplored functions of the piRNA pathway beyond the model organism D. melanogaster, will give new insights into the evolution of the proteins of the piRNA pathway in Ae. albopictus and will provide novel insights on mosquito-vector interactions.
As side projects I also contributed to the analyses of the Ae. albopictus genome, based on long-sequencing approaches and Hi-C data; I was involved in a project to test the biological function of NIRVS in Ae. aegypti and I contributed to population genetics analyses of Ae. albopictus populations in the context of studying the widespread of resistance to pyrethroid insecticides, one of the most-used tools of vector control
sj-pdf-1-tmj-10.1177_03008916231179251 – Supplemental material for Outcomes in patients with BRAFV600–mutated melanoma and brain metastases at baseline treated with dabrafenib plus trametinib
No full textSupplemental material, sj-pdf-1-tmj-10.1177_03008916231179251 for Outcomes in patients with BRAFV600–mutated melanoma and brain metastases at baseline treated with dabrafenib plus trametinib by Massimo Aglietta, Vanna Chiarion-Sileni, Paolo Fava, Massimo Guidoboni, Roberta Depenni, Alessandro Minisini, Francesca Consoli, Paolo Antonio Ascierto, Gaetana Rinaldi, Maria Banzi, Riccardo Marconcini, Rossana Gueli, Virginia Ferraresi, Marco Tucci, Giuseppe Tonini, Giovanni Lo Re, Michele Guida, Michele Del Vecchio, Ilaria Gioia Marcon and Paola Queirolo in Tumori Journal</p
sj-pdf-2-tmj-10.1177_03008916231179251 – Supplemental material for Outcomes in patients with BRAFV600–mutated melanoma and brain metastases at baseline treated with dabrafenib plus trametinib
No full textSupplemental material, sj-pdf-2-tmj-10.1177_03008916231179251 for Outcomes in patients with BRAFV600–mutated melanoma and brain metastases at baseline treated with dabrafenib plus trametinib by Massimo Aglietta, Vanna Chiarion-Sileni, Paolo Fava, Massimo Guidoboni, Roberta Depenni, Alessandro Minisini, Francesca Consoli, Paolo Antonio Ascierto, Gaetana Rinaldi, Maria Banzi, Riccardo Marconcini, Rossana Gueli, Virginia Ferraresi, Marco Tucci, Giuseppe Tonini, Giovanni Lo Re, Michele Guida, Michele Del Vecchio, Ilaria Gioia Marcon and Paola Queirolo in Tumori Journal</p
Leishmaniosi canina: controlli sierologici e sintomatologici in cani sottoposti a terapia
No full textMichele Taruffo: el magisterio y la obra ejemplares del genial procesalista «todoterreno»
No full textThe author reflects on Michele Taruffo’s extraordinarily important contribution to the renewal of both conventional procedural law scholarship and the theoretical background of law-court professionals. Taruffo’s contribution was achieved by means of introducing to mainstream culture in those circles the necessary knowledge of the underlying epistemic dimension, which was traditionally suppressed by the strictly legal one.El autor discurre acerca de la importantísima contribución de Michele Taruffo a la renovación del procesalismo convencional y del bagaje teórico de los profesionales de la jurisdicción, mediante la incorporación a la cultura dominante en tales medios del imprescindible conocimiento de la dimensión epistémica subyacente y tradicionalmente sofocada por la propiamente jurídica
Looking for Japan in contemporary Italy
No full textPh. D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Michele Monserrat
The Author Reply. Letter to the Editor
No full textThe Author reply to the Letter sent to the Editor about a previus article on low anterior resection
Il trionfo della morte di Palermo. Un'allegoria della modernità
No full textOriginariamente collocato nel cortile dell’Ospedale Grande e Nuovo in Palazzo Sclafani, il Trionfo della morte – ora custodito nella Galleria di Palazzo Abatellis, a Palermo – è una straordinaria enciclopedia iconografica medievale e moderna, di cui non conosciamo l’autore.
Il libro di Michele Cometa è una guida all’interpretazione del tessuto narrativo di questo formidabile affresco. Le molteplici fonti pittoriche e letterarie che ne costituiscono la trama convergono nel tratteggiare – evocando la peste nera che imperversava in Europa da più di un secolo – una sorta di confutazione iconologica del retribuzionismo medievale. Le pene mondane, infatti, non sono qui più riconducibili al peccato, ma si stemperano in una melanconia tutta modernaOriginally located in the courtyard of the Great and New Hospital in Palazzo Sclafani, the Triumph of Death - now housed in the Gallery of Palazzo Abatellis, in Palermo - is an extraordinary medieval and modern iconographic encyclopedia, of which we do not know the author.
Michele Cometa's book is a guide to interpreting the narrative fabric of this formidable fresco. The multiple pictorial and literary sources that make up the plot converge in outlining - evoking the black plague that raged in Europe for more than a century - a sort of iconological refutation of medieval retribution. In fact, worldly pains are no longer attributable to sin, but are dissolved in a wholly modern melancholy
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