9,007 research outputs found
Role of X-ray microtomography in tissue engineering
No full textThe structure and architecture of scaffolds are crucial factors in scaffolds-based tissue engineering since they affect the functionality of the tissue engineering construct and the eventual application in health care. Therefore, effective scaffold assessment techniques are required right at the initial stages of research and development so as to select or design scaffolds with suitable properties. Furthermore, since the biological performances of a scaffold is evaluated with respect to its capacity of favouring cell adhesion, proliferation as well as production of extracellular matrix, it is important to have an analytical technique able to monitor the various stages of cell culture both in vitro and especially in vivo. Finally, the development of a vascular network inside the cell scaffold construct is a fundamental requisite for achieving a full integration of the developing tissue with the host tissue. Also in this respect it is mandatory to assess the propensity of the scaffold to be permeated by blood vessels. In the review, it will be shown how X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) can give fundamental information regarding all the three aspects outlined above
Andrea Bacová
No full textAndrea Bacová focuses on research and teaching in the field of residential architecture. Her work includes systematic research on residential buildings and their urban context. She actively participates in promoting Slovak architecture and is the author of several publications and exhibitions
PL10 DEAD-Box Protein is Expressed during Germ Cell Differentiation in the Reptile Podarcis sicula (Family Lacertidae)
No full textAmong genes involved in the regulation of germ cell differentiation, those of DDX4/Vasa and the Ded1/DDX3 subfamilies encode for DEAD-box ATP-dependent RNA helicases, proteins involved in many mechanisms related to RNA processing. For the first time in reptiles, using specific antibodies at confocal microscopy, we analysed the localization pattern of a Ded1/DDX3 subfamily member in testis and ovary of Podarcis sicula (Ps-PL10) during the reproductive cycle. In testis, Ps-PL10 is expressed in the cytoplasm of spermatocytes and it is not detected in spermatogonia. Differently from Ps-VASA, in round spermatids, Ps-PL10 is not segregated in the chromatoid body but it accumulates in the cytoplasm of residual bodies, and mature spermatozoa are unstained. These observations suggest that in males, Ps-PL10 (1) is involved in spermatogenesis and (2) is then eliminated with residual bodies. In the ovary, Ps-PL10 is present with granules in the cytoplasm of early meiotic cells of the germinal bed (GB), while it is not present in oogonia and somatic cells of the GB stroma. In follicular cells of ovarian follicles, Ps-PL10 expression starts after their fusion with the oocyte. Numerous Ps-PL10 spots are visible in pyriform (nurse-like) cells concomitantly with the protein accumulation in the cytoplasm of differentiating oocyte. In pyriform cells, Ps-PL10 spots are present in the cytoplasm and nuclei, as observed for Ps-VASA, and in the nucleoli, suggesting for Ps-PL10 a role in rRNA processing and in the transport of molecules from the nucleus to cytoplasm and from nurse cells to the oocyte
Viewer-, Author-, and Ownership in the Work of Andrea Zittel
No full textAndrea Zittel invites others to collapse the distinctions between artist, viewer, and collaborator by interacting with her usable works. This thesis explores the process of interacting with Zittel\u27s works, and how it affects viewer-, author- and ownership
Gas-in-Liquid Foam Templating as a Method for the Production of Highly Porous Scaffolds
No full textIn the present work, a novel synthetic methodology for the preparation of scaffold of biopolymeric nature is described. In particular, a porous gelatin scaffold was prepared by foam templating. The gas phase, nitrogen, was
generated by means of the reaction between sulfamic acid and sodium nitrite in situ a concentrated solution of gelatin and in the presence of a suitable polymeric surfactant in association with sodium dodecyl sulfate. The
foam was prepared at a temperature of 45 °C and then let gel at 5 °C. After purification, the physical gel was auto-cross-linked with EDC and freeze-dried. The scaffold synthesized with this technique presents a morphology
characterized by voids of spherical symmetry highly interconnected by a plurality of interconnects, and, as a consequence, is particularly suited for cell culturing. In more quantitative terms, voids and interconnects are
characterized by an average diameter of 230 and 90 μm, respectively. Preliminary tests of cell culturing demonstrated the suitability of such a scaffold for tissue engineering applications
Porous gelatin-hydroxyapatite composite scaffolds via gas-in-liquid foam templating
No full textGelatin and hydroxyapatite (HAp) sponges because of their biocompatibility and biodegradability have the potential to be used as scaffolds to support osteoblasts and to promote bone regeneration in defective areas. In this work, gelatin and HAp composites were fabricated in a foam type via a novel foam templating technique.Gelatin and hydroxyapatite (HAp) sponges because of their biocompatibility and biodegradability have the potential to be used as scaffolds to support osteoblasts and to promote bone regeneration in defective areas. In this work, gelatin and HAp composites were fabricated in a foam type via a novel foam templating technique
EXPRESSION OF PL10 PROTEIN IN MALE GERM CELLS OF PODARCIS SICULA (REPTILIA, LACERTIDAE) DURING THE REPRODUCTIVE-CYCLE PHASES
No full textPL10 is a DEAD-box protein that functions as ATP-dependent RNA helicase. DEAD-box proteins are involved in many processes related to RNA metabolism. In particular, some of them regulate the translation of multiple mRNAs allowing specific molecules to direct the process of differentiation in male and female germ cells. VASA, PL10, and P68 DEAD-box proteins are members of three closely related subfamilies: Vasa, in several animals, is exclusively expressed to the germ cell lineage, while PL10 and P68 expression are documented also in somatic tissues. In mouse, three PL10 related genes are identified: DDX3 and DDX3Y located on chromosomes X and Y and expressed in germ and somatic cells and the autosomal retrogene PL10 specifically expressed in testicular tissues at the pachytene stage of male meiosis. In non-mammal animals, PL10 is the sole member of the subfamily and in Xenopus and in Danio rerio PL10 expression is well documented in male and female germ cells but also in most embryonic and adult tissues. At the moment, there is no available data regarding PL10 in reptiles.
We isolated Podarcis sicula PL10 homologue gene (Ps-PL10), developed a specific antibody (anti-Ps-PL10) and analyzed, at confocal microscopy, the expression pattern of PL10 during spermatogenesis in all phases of adult reproductive cycle of P. sicula (1- full gonadal activity in the spring, 2- complete regression in the summer, and 3- slow autumnal recrudescence without spermiation) with the aim to identify when PL10 is expressed during the differentiation process of male germ cells. Moreover, to verify if this protein is also expressed in the somatic tissue of the testis, this analysis was extend to young testes when the walls of the seminiferous tubules were forming. The obtained results show that PL10 expression is present from spermatocytes I to spermatids. During full gonadal activity (spring), PL10 expression increases in spermatids in the final steps of spermiogenesis, the strong immunostaining accumulates in the cytoplasm of residual bodies. No stained is observed in spermatogonia and in spermatozoa as well as in the somatic cells of seminiferous epithelium in all phases of the reproductive cycle analyzed. The specific expression of PL10 in meiotic cells suggests that this protein is involved in the differentiation of germ cells, in particular, during the differentation process from spermatid to spermatozoa, given the massive expression observed in the cytoplasm of residual bodies
The Lettere of Andrea Calmo: authorial artifices and historical reality
No full textopenNonostante l’edizione di Vittorio Rossi del 1888, la raccolta di "ingegnosi cheribizzi" e di "fantastiche fantasie" di Andrea Calmo è ancora avvolta da un certo mistero. L’autore, dissimulando la propria identità dietro alla “maschera” dell’umile pescatore veneziano, è stato in grado di offrire uno spaccato della cultura e della società nella Venezia cinquecentesca.
In particolare, è il quarto libro delle Lettere ad aver suscitato maggiore interesse tra gli studiosi ed i lettori: pubblicato nel 1566, a diversi anni di distanza dai primi tre, questo libro si distingue per il fatto che tutte le epistole sono indirizzate a delle donne immaginarie o realmente esistite.
In questa sede si propone, in primo luogo, uno studio della biografia del Calmo accompagnata da un’analisi del contesto storico-culturale della Venezia cinquecentesca; in secondo luogo, invece, viene proposto un commento di alcune lettere dell’ultimo libro dell’opera calmiana, che cerchi di far luce principalmente sull’aspetto linguistico e contenutistico del testo.Despite Vittorio Rossi's 1888 edition, Andrea Calmo's collection of "ingegnosi cheribizzi" and "fantastiche fantasie" is still shrouded in a certain mystery. The author, dissimulating his own identity behind the "mask" of the humble Venetian fisherman, was able to offer a cross-section of culture and society in sixteenth-century Venice.
In particular, it is the fourth book of the Letters that has aroused greater interest among scholars and readers: published in 1566, several years after the first three, this book stands out for the fact that all the epistles are addressed to women imaginary or actually existed.
Here we propose, first of all, a study of Calmo's biography accompanied by an analysis of the historical-cultural context of sixteenth-century Venice; secondly, however, a commentary on some letters from the last book of Calmo's work is proposed, which seeks to shed light mainly on the linguistic and content aspect of the text
Trusted Tales: Creating Authenticity in Literary Representations from Ex-Yugoslavia
No full textThis research deals with questions of authority and authenticity and how they are expressed, constructed, and appropriated within the Anglophone book market. It considers the body of literature written about ex-Yugoslavia since the 1990s Balkan conflicts by exiled writers from the region which has entered the international literary canon. Books’ routes from original publishers into English translation are discussed through practices of trust, one of the crucial social devices underpinning their exchange. Within these cross-cultural processes, the role of cultural brokers is crucial. Symbolic and cultural resources are specifically mobilised through their powerful author brands.
By exploring authenticity in the context of book publishing, I further look at how ideas and practices of community are employed and negotiated by writers and those who promote their books. My field is multi-sited and fluid, reflecting how different individual and national positions are enacted and performed through strategies ranging from unconscious dispositions to deliberate intentions. This research thus brings together ideas of the author as an authentic, representative voice together with exile as a position that grants them a new lease of relevancy in the post-socialist context.
Although ex-Yugoslav books occupy a ‘high end’ niche of the UK market, constrained by commercial as well as political, cultural, and institutional forces, in public discourse ideas of the ‘free market’ and ‘free speech’ are mobilised to produce various types of modernisation narratives. The (post)socialist production of literature is perceived as having to ‘evolve’ into a capitalist model: this would allow not only healthy competition and consumer choice but guarantee an individual writer ‘free speech’ as a basic human right. Therefore, the most general question this research raises is what kind of foreign literature gets translated into English, under what socio-cultural conditions and which politics of representation it serves within the project of world literature
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