56 research outputs found
La Gerusalemme evocata: l’Aquila e gli Abruzzi nel Medioevo
No full textIl mito della fondazione dell’Aquila sulla pianta di Gerusalemme sembra definirsi soltanto nella prima metà del Seicento. Eppure ben più antichi indizi figurativi e architettonici, evocativi della Città Santa e degli episodi della Passione, emergono in tutto il territorio abruzzese. La fortuna locale del gemino portale della basilica crociata del Santo Sepolcro è attestata dalla diffusione di alcuni temi di scultura architettonica nella Marsica a cavallo tra la fine del XII e gli inizi del XIII secolo, nonché dalla plausibile configurazione del perduto thalamus da cui Celestino V impartì la benedizione alla folla radunata davanti alla basilica di Collemaggio nel giorno dell’incoronazione papale. Del resto, l’Abruzzo fu direttamente coinvolto nei flussi dei pellegrini diretti verso i Luoghi Santi. Ne è riprova l’affascinante storia della chiesa di Santa Gerusalemme nell’antica città di Aternum, esemplata sulla tradizione dell’effigie lignea di Cristo profanata dagli ebrei di Beirut. Alla diffusione europea della leggenda beritense si collega il Volto Santo di Lucca, che è rappresentato in Abruzzo da affreschi distribuiti fra l’interno e la costa a partire dalla seconda metà del Trecento. La stessa Veronica vanta nella regione testimonianze figurative molto risalenti rispetto alla seicentesca donazione ai cappuccini di Manoppello del velo tuttora venerato
Novità sul Pontificale Calderini e sulle vicende della miniatura fra l’Aquila e l’Urbe negli anni del Grande Scisma (con una traccia su Zacara da Teramo “scriptore et miniatore”)
No full textNew Light on Calderini Pontifical and Manuscript Decoration between L’Aquila and Rome during the Great Schism (with a Mention of Zacara da Teramo, “scriptore et miniatore”)
This article focuses on the lavishly decorated Calderini Pontifical (Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Typ 1), which gets its name from an inscription and the heraldry of Andrea Calderini from Bologna – hitherto erroneously assumed to be the bishop of Ceneda in 1378-1385 – who held that episcopal see in the third quarter of the 15th century. Heraldic and iconographic evidence prove that the Pontifical was originally intended for the chapel of Pope Innocent VII Migliorati (1404- 1406). Having remained unfinished, the decoration of the manuscript was completed by the Florentine illuminator Bartolomeo Varnucci at
the expense of Andrea Calderini. Consequently, the papal triregnum and Migliorati escutcheons were covered up with the coat of arms of the bishop of Ceneda. This conclusion allows us to rearrange the dating of the entire career of the outstanding calligrapher Stephanus de Aquila – documented in the papal chancery from 1380 to 1407 – who is partly credited with the magnificent pen-work repertoire of the first phase of the Pontifical. On this occasion he was accompanied by an illuminator from Abruzzo who can be identified as the author of the decoration of f. 2r in the first volume of a Gradual from the church of Santa Maria Paganica in L’Aquila (1382-1385). After being trained in the tradition of manuscript illumination that flourished in Teramo in the 14th century, this anonymous master enriched his repertoire with the stylistic motifs of Bolognese illumination before moving to Rome during the years of the Great Schism, where other scribes and illuminators from the Abruzzi were working in the papal chancery. Among them, the celebrated ars nova composer Zacara da Teramo – active as a scribe and miniaturist – may be considered to be the person responsible
DNA-Based Taxonomy in Ecologically Versatile Microalgae: A Re-Evaluation of the Species Concept within the Coccoid Green Algal Genus Coccomyxa (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta).
No full textCoccomyxa is a genus of unicellular green algae of the class Trebouxiophyceae, well known for its cosmopolitan distribution and great ecological amplitude. The taxonomy of this genus has long been problematic, due to reliance on badly-defined and environmentally variable morphological characters. In this study, based on the discovery of a new species from an extreme habitat, we reassess species circumscription in Coccomyxa, a unicellular genus of the class Trebouxiophyceae, using a combination of ecological and DNA sequence data (analyzed with three different methods of algorithmic species delineation). Our results are compared with those of a recent integrative study of Darienko and colleagues that reassessed the taxonomy of Coccomyxa, recognizing 7 species in the genus. Expanding the dataset from 43 to 61 sequences (SSU + ITS rDNA) resulted in a different delimitation, supporting the recognition of a higher number of species (24 to 27 depending on the analysis used, with the 27-species scenario receiving the strongest support). Among these, C. melkonianii sp. nov. is described from material isolated from a river highly polluted by heavy metals (Rio Irvi, Sardinia, Italy). Analyses performed on ecological characters detected a significant phylogenetic signal in six different characters. We conclude that the 27-species scenario is presently the most realistic for Coccomyxa and we suggest that well-supported lineages distinguishable by ecological preferences should be recognized as different species in this genus. We also recommend that for microbial lineages in which the overall diversity is unknown and taxon sampling is sparse, as is often the case for green microalgae, the results of analyses for algorithmic DNA-based species delimitation should be interpreted with extreme caution
High-capacity resource sharing schemes for broadband wireless networks
No full textThe unique capabilities of new cellular systems are expected to provide users with integrated multimedia services. Since the air interface still represents the system bottleneck, this paper proposes novel scheduling techniques to integrate efficiently the support of real-time traffic (i.e. voice and video) and data bursty traffic under quality of service (QoS) guarantees. Prioritization among traffic classes is adopted and a polling service discipline is employed within a class, where the permission rights of each traffic source are determined on the basis of token bucket regulators. Two polling-based approaches are compared to serve the sources of a class: (i) when a source is enabled to transmit, a burst of packets is sent at once; (ii) within the time interval destined to a traffic class, a cyclic service of the sources is allowed on a packet basis. With realistic assumptions on both radio channel conditions and protocol signaling overhead, this paper compares these two different approaches and the dynamic slot assignment++ (DSA++) scheme appeared in the literature. The obtained results highlight that our second scheme (case ii) allows increasing the number of supported video traffic sources of many units with respect to DSA++. Finally, an analytical approach has been proposed for our second polling scheme. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Association between RAD 51 rs1801320 and susceptibility to glioblastoma
No full textGlioblastoma is the most common and aggressive malignant primary brain tumor. Despite decades of research and the advent of new therapies, patients with glioblastoma continue to have a very poor prognosis. Radiation therapy has a major role as adjuvant treatment for glioblastoma following surgical resection. Many studies have shown that polymorphisms of genes involved in pathways of DNA repair may affect the sensitivity of the cells to treatment. Although the role of these polymorphisms has been investigated in relation to response to radiotherapy, their role as predisposing factors to glioblastoma has not been clarified yet. In the present study, we evaluated the association between polymorphisms in DNA repair genes, namely: XRCC1 rs25487, XRCC3 rs861539 and RAD51 rs1801320, with the susceptibility to develop glioblastoma. Eighty-five glioblastoma patients and 70 matched controls were recruited for this study. Data from the 1000 Genomes Project (98 Tuscans) were also downloaded and used for the association analysis. Subjects carrying RAD51 rs1801320 GC genotype showed an increased risk of glioblastoma (GC vs GG, χ2 = 10.75; OR 3.0087; p = 0.0010). The C allele was also significantly associated to glioblastoma (χ2 = 8.66; OR 2.5674; p = 0.0032). Moreover, RAD51 rs1801320 C allele increased the risk to develop glioblastoma also when combined to XRCC1 rs25487 G allele and XRCC3 rs861539 C allele (χ2 = 6.558; p = 0.0053)
Proposal of a new composite score (DAMADECO) to simultaneously evaluate asthma and CRSwNP severity in comorbid patients
No full textBackground: Asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) are chronic respiratory conditions that frequently coexist. However, an integrated assessment tool for both conditions is currently lacking. This study aimed to develop and preliminarily evaluate a composite score capable of simultaneously assessing asthma and CRSwNP in comorbid patients. Methods: An expert panel comprising three pulmonologists, one allergist/clinical immunologist, and four ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists developed a tool to capture asthma and CRSwNP severity. The tool (D'Amato-De Corso score, or DAMADECO score) incorporates eight parameters, four specific to asthma and four specific to CRSwNP, to assign individual scores for each condition. A composite score is then calculated to reflect the overall disease burden (ranging from -8: poor control and +8: optimal control). A retrospective pilot study was conducted to evaluate the tool. Results: The DAMADECO composite score was applied to 21 comorbid patients. The mean partial scores for asthma and CRSwNP were -1.57 and -1.67, respectively, with a mean total composite score of -3.24. A total of 13 out of 21 patients had uncontrolled domains in both diseases, while fewer patients had only uncontrolled domains in asthma (1/21) or CRSwNP (6/21). The DAMADECO score also allows researchers to track disease progression and monitor treatment effectiveness. Conclusions: The preliminary results suggest that the DAMADECO score is a promising tool for simultaneously assessing asthma and CRSwNP, addressing the unmet need for an integrated approach to comorbid respiratory diseases. Further validation studies are needed to validate the tool in larger patient populations
Pharmacokinetics of azithromycin in serum, bronchial washings, alveolar macrophages and lung tissue following a single oral dose of extended or immediate release formulations of azithromycin
No full textObjectives: Antibacterial efficacy of azithromycin could be improved by achieving higher concentrations at the sites of infection. Azithromycin extended release (azithromycin-ER) formulation was developed to enable a higher dosage of 2 g to be administered as a single oral dose without decreasing the safety profile. The aim of this study was to compare the pharmacokinetics of azithromycin in serum, epithelial lining fluid (ELF), alveolar macrophages (AMs) and lung tissue following a single oral dose of azithromycin-ER or azithromycin immediate release (azithromycin-IR) formulation. Patients and methods: A total of 64 patients, diagnosed with lung cancer, requiring open-chest surgery for lung resection, completed the study. Subjects were randomized to receive oral administration of either a single 2 g dose of azithromycin-ER (32 subjects) or a single 500 mg dose of azithromycin-IR (32 subjects). Simultaneously, subjects within each treatment group were randomized to one of eight specific nominal post-dose time points for bronchoalveolar lavage and lung tissue sampling. Results: For azithromycin-IR formulation, the AUC0-24in serum, ELF, AMs and lung tissue was 3.1, 2.3, 1674 mg·h/L and 130 mg·h/kg, respectively. For azithromycin-ER formulation, the AUC0-24in serum, ELF, AMs and lung tissue were 10.0, 17.6, 7028 mg·h/L and 505 mg·h/kg, respectively. The AUC0-24ratio following administration of azithromycin-ER relative to azithromycin-IR was 3.2, 7.7, 4.2 and 3.9 in serum, ELF, AMs and lung tissue, respectively. Conclusions: Within the first 24 h, a single 2 g azithromycin-ER dose produced dose-related increase in systemic exposure compared with a single 500 mg azithromycin-IR dose, which resulted in higher levels of azithromycin in ELF, AMs and lung tissue. Both formulations had similar safety profiles. By achieving high azithromycin exposure early in the course of treatment, without compromising tolerability, azithromycin-ER shows the potential for improved antibacterial efficacy compared with azithromycin-IR. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved
Molecular portrait of a rare case of metastatic glioblastoma: somatic and germline mutations using whole-exome sequencing
No full textMotor cortex plasticity predicts recovery in acute stroke
No full textRepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the brain given as intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) can induce long-term potentiation (LTP)-like changes in the stimulated hemisphere and long-term depression (LTD)-like changes in the opposite hemisphere. We evaluated whether LTP-and LTD-like changes produced by iTBS in acute stroke correlate with outcome at 6 months. We evaluated the excitability of affected hemisphere (AH) and unaffected hemisphere (UH) by measuring motor threshold and motor-evoked potential (MEP) amplitude under baseline conditions and after iTBS of AH in 17 patients with acute ischemic stroke. Baseline amplitude of MEPs elicited from AH was significantly smaller than that of MEPs elicited from UH, and baseline motor threshold was higher for the AH. Higher baseline MEP values in UH correlated with poor prognosis. iTBS produced a significant increase in MEP amplitude for AH that was significantly correlated with recovery. A nonsignificant decrease in MEP amplitude was observed for the UH. When the decrease in the amplitude of UH MEPs was added to the regression model, the correlation was even higher. Functional recovery is directly correlated with LTP-like changes in AH and LTD-like changes in UH and inversely correlated with the baseline excitability of UH. © The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
Cortico-muscular coherence as an index of fatigue in multiple sclerosis
No full textBackground: Highly common in multiple sclerosis (MS), fatigue severely impacts patients' daily lives. Previous findings of altered connectivity patterns led to the hypothesis that the distortion of functional connections within the brain-muscle circuit plays a crucial pathogenic role. Objective: The objective of this paper is to identify markers sensitive to fatigue in multiple sclerosis. Methods: Structural (magnetic resonance imaging with assessment of thalamic volume and cortical thickness of the primary sensorimotor areas) and functional (cortico-muscular coherence (CMC) from simultaneous electroencephalo- and surface electromyographic recordings during a weak handgrip task) measures were used on 20 mildly disabled MS patients (relapsing-remitting course, Expanded Disability Status Scale score = 2) who were recruited in two fatigue-dependent groups according to the Modified Fatigue Index Scale (MFIS) score. Results: The two groups were similar in terms of demographic, clinical and imaging features, as well as task execution accuracy and weariness. In the absence of any fatigue-dependent brain and muscular oscillatory activity alterations, CMC worked at higher frequencies as fatigue increased, explaining 67% of MFIS variance (p=.002). Conclusion: Brain-muscle functional connectivity emerged as a sensitive marker of phenomena related to the origin of MS fatigue, impacting central-peripheral communication well before the appearance of any impairment in the communicating nodes. © The Author(s) 2012
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