1,721,004 research outputs found
Il trasporto pubblico locale a dieci anni dalla riforma: equilibri precari tra labirinti normativi e atteggiamenti reazionari
No full textThe digital geological map of a treasure chest of geodiversity: the Lavagnina Lakes area (Alessandria, Italy)
No full textWe present the digital geological map of an area located in the Regional Natural Park of “Capanne di Marcarolo” (http://www.areeprotetteappenninopiemontese.it/, Alessandria, Italy), that has a great number of standing features both for its geodiversity and biodiversity. The aim of this work is to illustrate the geodiversity of an area that is not yet a geopark, but that has all the potentiality to become one.
We performed a detailed geological mapping at 1:10000 scale and collected data that have been subsequently integrated into a GIS map as geometries and alphanumeric data. We used Open Source software QuantumGIS, with Qgis2threejs plugin for DEM and 3D model management.
For this work we particularly focused on the Lavagnina Lakes area, that has been studied by several researchers of different branches, focusing on the occurrence of alkaline springs, of floral endemic species and others. This area has driven also the attention of mining companies, because of the gold mineralization and the past gold mining exploitation.
For such reasons this area, beyond the scientific research activity, can also be interesting for geoturism, geoarcheology, outreach for schools, and for gold panning activities.
The gold occurrences were known since the Roman age, and the area was site of mining exploitation with the presence of a metallurgical plant, dedicated to the manufacturing of gold ingots, and a mining village (1589 until the end of 1800). After the depletion of mines, the construction of the two dams, that gave rise to artificial lakes, caused metallurgical plant and the mining village to be submerged.
From the geological point of view, the area is located at the north-eastern boundary of the metaophiolitic Voltri Massif, close to the Sestri-Voltaggio Line, at the contact with the Tertiary Piedmont Basin.
The main remarkable geological features of the area are the occurrence of: i) various lithologies and geologic units derived from different paleogeographic environments: i.e. from the Jurassic oceanic lithosphere, from a continental margin Triassic carbonate platform, and from Eocene-Oligocene sedimentary continental to marine deposits; ii) fossil-bearing rocks; iii) fault systems, characterised by intense and widespread carbonation, that represent the natural analogue of the industrial process of CO2 storage; iv) gold mineralization; v) serpentinization of ultramafic rocks, important for studing fluid-rock interactions, developed at the ocean floor or in subduction zones; vi) alkaline springs; and vii) geomorphological landscapes.
The databases associated to the map contain all the information that can be interesting from different points of views: i) research (i.e. structures, carbonated fault zone, geomorphology); ii) geoturism (i.e. trail network); and iii) geoarcheology (i.e. mine network).
Our map could be useful both for scientific purposes, and for outreach and dissemination in order to preserve the geo-biological diversity of the area
Evidence for paleo-seismic cycles in carbonated peridotite: microstructural analysis of carbonated-coated grains in fault damage zones (Voltri Massif, Ligurian Alps)
No full textMapping a HP belt and its sedimentary cover: interplay between tectonics and sedimentation (Ligurian Alps, Italy)
No full textCirculating follicular helper T cells (CD4+CXCR5+ICOS+) decrease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with abatacept
No full textLate orogenic tectonics in the Ligurian Alps (Italy): constraints from syntectonic sedimentary deposits at the top of an exhumed plate interface
No full textThis new map at 1:25,000 scale covers an area in the Western Alps (Italy), where the HP metamorphic basement is covered by a (predominantly clastic) late- and post-orogenic upper Eocene-lower Miocene cover. This provides unequivocal evidence that exhumation of the metamorphic units was accomplished by the lower Oligocene. The basement is made up of tectonic units with different metamorphic peaks that coupled during the exhumation path. Both basement and cover are affected by long-wavelength, asymmetric folds and thrust faults with top-to-E-NE vergence; this deformation phase has long been interpreted as linked to the rotation of the Corsica-Sardinia block and contemporary opening of the Liguro-Balearic basin and beginning of the Apennine orogeny. We particularly investigated some of these structures that crop out in the mapped area to give further constraints on their distribution, type and kinematics and to frame them in a larger picture of left-hand strike-slip tectonics
Circulating CD4+ T-cell number decreases in rheumatoid patients with clinical response to rituximab
No full textSerum levels of granzyme B decrease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis responding to abatacept.
No full textAbstract
OBJECTIVES:
A possible role of granzyme B (GZMB) in the pathogenesis of joint erosions in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been suggested. Since CD28neg T-cells may be an important source of GZMB, and we have previously shown that co-stimulation blockade by abatacept can prevent the generation of the CD28neg T-cell populations, we evaluated the effect of abatacept therapy on GZMB serum levels in patients with RA.
METHODS:
The serum levels of GZMB were evaluated by an indirect solid-phase enzyme immunoassay before the start of treatment with abatacept (T0) in 53 patients with RA and after 6 months of therapy (T6) in 25 patients.
RESULTS:
At T0, GZMB serum levels were correlated with disease activity measured by DAS28-CRP (p=0.0022) and percentages of circulating CD4+CD28neg and CD8+CD28neg T-cells (p=0.007; p=0.031). The levels of GZMB in 18 patients with a moderate or good EULAR clinical response to ABA significantly decreased from T0 to T6 (p=0.023), whereas no variation was observed in 7 non responders. The variation of GZMB levels was directly correlated with that of DAS28-PCR (p=0.040), but not with those of circulating CD28-neg T-cell subsets.
CONCLUSIONS:
Costimulation blockade by ABA can decrease the serum levels of GZMB in RA patients responding to the treatment, suggesting that this might be one of the mechanism by which abatacept can prevent radiographic erosions. However, the lack of correlation of such decrease with the numbers of circulating CD28-neg T cells suggests that these cells probably are not the main source of serum GZMB
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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