196,519 research outputs found
Erratum: Acute exacerbation of interstitial lung diseases secondary to systemic rheumatic diseases: A prospective study and review of the literature (Journal of Thoracic Disease (2019) 11 (1621-1628) DOI: 10.21037/jtd.2019.03.28)
No full textIn the article that appeared on Page 1621-1628, Vol 11, No 4 (April 2019) Issue of the Journal of Thoracic Disease (1), the given and family names of author “Fabrizio Pancaldi” was incorrectly published in the original. The author's name should be corrected as Fabrizio Pancaldi, instead of Pancaldi Fabrizio. The authors regret the error
Dallo scavo alla mostra. Le indagini sul sito altomedievale di S. Agata Bolognese
No full textNel 1994 durante gli scavi per l'allestimento di un settore della discarica intecomunale Nuova Geovis S.p.A. in loc. Crocetta a Sant'Agata Bolognese (Bo), sono venuti alla luce i resti di un villaggio altomedievale databile al X-XI secolo d.C., costituito da un nucleo abitato con strutture insediative e aree di produzione (focolari, officina per la lavorazione dei metalli, ecc.) circondato da un ampio fossato e da un terrapieno interno. Il presente volume, oltre a poter essere un utile quaderno didattico, illustra e riassume quanto svolto durante l'intervento archeologico di scavo e le metodologie adottate (gli operatori, il cantiere, le campagne di scavo, lo scavo stratigrafico, i rilievi, la strumentazione, la documentazione di scavo), le discipline utilizzate per la datazione (termoluminescenza, C14, dendrocronologia) e l'archeobiologia per la ricostruzione del contesto vegetale (attraverso l'archeopalinologia, archeocarpologia, archeoxilo-antracologia) ed animale (archeozoologia). L'ultima sezione è invece dedicata al restauro e alle relative tecniche per il recupero di ceramica, vetri e metalli, legni
La vite maritata. Storia, cultura, coltivazione ecologia della piantata nella pianura padana
No full textIl volume illustra la storia della coltivazione della vite e della cultura del vino nell'area Mediterranea attraverso le fonti storiche, i documenti e le testimonianze archeobotaniche. Inoltre vengono approfonditi gli aspetti legati alla diversa tipologia di piantata nel Bolognese e in particolare nell'area di Bentivoglio e di San Giovanni in Persiceto con testimonianze e documenti. Infine viene illustrata la trasformazione del paesaggio agrario e delineato il futuro della piantata
Purification rituals: reflections on the history of science in Italy
No full textAn assessment of the history of science as practiced in Italy over the past fourty years, based on a comparison with what has been going on in the field in the English-speaking countries over the same period. The interpretive model suggested is based on a purification rituals hypothesis, inspired by Mary Douglas's "Purtity and Danger"
Impure cultures. Interfacing science, technology, and humanities
No full textIn 2008 the University of Bologna has launched a new
international Ph.D. program in Science, Technology, and Humanities
(from 2010: Science, Cognition, and Technology), in cooperation with the universities of Exeter, in England, and Konstanz, in Germany. This is the first academic program in Italy that opens up a space for the dialogue between humanities, science studies, and the sciences. The program is sustained by the international collaboration
of faculty from a broad spectrum of disciplines, from the sciences
to the humanities. This volume documents the early activity of
the Bologna doctoral program by collecting work-in-progress essays by
some of its graduate students and by some of their colleagues based at the University of Exeter
Space-Time Block Coding for Noncoherently Detected CPFSK
No full textPublication in the conference proceedings of EUSIPCO, Florence, Italy, 200
Merkel Cell Polyomavirus (MCV) in Buffy Coats of Healthy Blood Donors.
No full textBackground.
Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV), a DNA tumor virus, has been found to be associated with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). MCV sequences have also been detected in various normal tissues in tumor affected patients. Immunologic studies have detected MCV antibodies in as many as 80% of healthy blood donors. This high seroprevalence suggests that MCV infection is widespread in humans.
Materials and methods
DNA from buffy coats (n=60) of healthy blood donors was investigated by two PCR rounds, 35 cycles each, for two different MCV Tag regions, nt 571-879 and nt 1709-1846, respectively. To quantify the MCV DNA load, positive samples were further analyzed by RQ-PCR for Tag sequences. To determine the human cell equivalents of each sample under analysis, RQ-PCR assays were carried out simultaneously with the cellular RNase P gene. The specificity of PCR amplified products, 10 amplicons from the MCV Tag regions, were DNA sequenced.
Results
PCR re-amplifications showed that 13 out of 60 (22%) DNA samples were positive for MCV Tag coding sequences. Buffy coats under analysis indicated that the viral DNA copy numbers were very low, ranging from 10 to 100 copies/100,000 cells. The sequencing result of the PCR amplicons, for both strands, nt 571-879 and nt 1709-nt 1846, identified as belonging to the MCV genome, MKL-1 strain.
Conclusions
MCV sequences were detected in buffy coats from healthy blood donors. This result suggests that MCV is able to infect specific blood leukocyte cells, where it remains in a latent/persistent state in the PBMCs of immune-competent individuals. In the long term, viral persistent infection may allow MCV to generate mutants which can participate in the cell transformation process. Indeed, large T antigen MCV deletion mutants have been detected in CLL or integrated into MCC. This oncogenic process, together with the immune impairment of the host and other factors, is a well-known multistep cell transformation mechanism employed by other DNA tumor viruses, such as human papillomaviruses, which are closely related to the Merkel cell polyomavirus.
Acknowledgements
We thank Prof. Tobias Allander, Karolinska Instituten, Stockolm, Sweden, for his generous gift of the recombinant plasmid pMCV-LT.1
Reference
Pancaldi C, Corazzari V, Maniero S, Mazzoni E, Comar M, Martini F, Tognon M. Merkel cell polyomavirus DNA sequences in the buffy coats of healthy blood donors. Blood 2011, 117:7099-7101
A Deficiency at the Gene Coding for z-Carotene Desaturase Characterizes the Sunflower non dormant-1 Mutant
No full textThe non dormant-1 (nd-1)mutant of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is characterized by an albino and viviparous phenotype. Pigment analysis by spectrophotometer
and HPLC demonstrated in nd-1 cotyledons the absence of
β-carotene, lutein and violaxanthin. Additionally, we found
a strong accumulation of ζ-carotene and, to a lesser extent,
of phytofluene and cis-phytoene in nd-1 seedlings grown in
very dim light (1 μmol m–2 s–1). These results suggested that
ζ-carotene desaturation was impaired in the mutant plants.
To understand the molecular basis of the nd-1 mutation, we
cloned and characterized the ζ-carotene desaturase (Zds)
gene from sunflower. A reconstructed full-length sequence
(1,916 bp) of the Zds cDNA was obtained from homozygous
Nd-1/Nd-1 wild-type plants. It contains a 1,761-bp CDS, 62
nucleotides of 5′-untranslated region (UTR), and 77 nucleotides
of 3′-UTR. The predicted protein (64.9 kDa) consists
of 587 amino acid residues with a putative transit sequence
for plastid targeting in the N-terminal region and a typical
amino oxidase domain that includes the flavin adenosine
dinucleotide (FAD) binding motif. The phylogenetic analysis
demonstrated that the sunflower Zds was clustered to
marigold (Tagetes) Zds gene, for which it showed an overall
aminoacidic identity of 96.6% and resulted strictly correlated
with other Zds sequences of higher plants. Interestingly,
RT-PCR analyses showed that nd-1 plants were
unable to accumulate Zds transcripts. Sequence information
from the Zds cDNA was used to design specific primers
and to isolate the full-length exons/introns region of the
gene. The sunflower Zds gene (HaZds) comprises 14 exons
and 13 introns scattered in a ca. 5.0-kb region. Also, HaZds
showed a high conservation of the distribution and size of
the exons with rice Zds gene. Based on genomic Southern
analysis, the nd-1 genome disclosed a large deficiency at the
Zds locus
Per una storia sociale degli esperti
No full textAlcune proposte storiografiche, centrate sull'idea di una storia sociale degli esperti. Le proposte prendono spunto dagli studi condotti dall'autore sull'intreccio fra storia della fisica e storia della telegrafia nell'opera di William Thomson (Lord Kelvin)
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