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In many European regions, both local metallic and non-metallic raw materials are poorly exploited due to their low quality and the lack of technologies to increase their economic value. In this context, the development of low cost and eco-friendly approaches, such as bioleaching of metal impurities, is crucial. The acidophilic strain Acidiphilium sp. SJH reduces Fe(III) to Fe(II) by coupling the oxidation of an organic substrate to the reduction of Fe(III) and can therefore be applied in the bioleaching of iron impurities from non-metallic raw materials. In this work, the physiology of Acidiphilium sp. SJH and the reduction of iron impurities from quartz sand and its derivatives have been studied during growth on media supplemented with various carbon sources and under different oxygenation conditions, highlighting that cell physiology and iron reduction are tightly coupled. Although the organism is known to be aerobic, maximum bioleaching performance was obtained by cultures cultivated until the exponential phase of growth under oxygen limitation. Among carbon sources, glucose has been shown to support faster biomass growth, while galactose allowed highest bioleaching. Moreover, Acidiphilium sp. SJH cells can synthesise and accumulate Poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) during the process, a polymer with relevant application in biotechnology. In summary, this work gives an insight into the physiology of Acidiphilium sp. SJH, able to use different carbon sources and to synthesise a technologically relevant polymer (PHB), while removing metals from sand without the need to introduce modifications in the process set up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key aspect of adaptation to cold environments is the production of cold‐active enzymes by psychrophilic organisms. These enzymes not only have high activity at low temperatures, but also exhibit remarkable structural flexibility and thermolability. In this context, the role of metal ions has been little explored, and the few available studies seem to suggest that metal binding counteracts structural flexibility. This article reports an investigation into the role of the binding of manganese ion (Mn2+) in the thermal adaptation of an esterase (M‐Est) of the GDSx family, identified in the genome of the Antarctic bacterium Marinomonas sp. ef1. M‐Est is specific for esters containing acetate groups and turned out to be a highly thermolabile cold‐active enzyme, with a catalysis optimum temperature of 5 °C and a melting temperature of 31.7 °C. A combination of biochemical and computational analyses, including molecular dynamics simulations, revealed that M‐Est binds Mn2+ ions via a single binding site located on the surface of the enzyme, close to the active site. Although the interaction between M‐Est and Mn2+ induces only local conformational changes involving the active site, quite surprisingly they trigger an improvement in both thermal stability and catalytic efficiency under mild temperature conditions. These results, together with the conservation of the Mn2+ binding site among psychrophilic and psychrotolerant homologues, suggest that Mn2+ binding may be a useful, albeit atypical, strategy to mitigate the detrimental effects of temperature on true cold‐active enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycoside hydrolases (GHs) are pivotal in the hydrolysis of the glycosidic bonds of sugars, which are the main carbon and energy sources. The genome of Marinomonas sp. ef1, an Antarctic bacterium, contains three GHs belonging to family 3. These enzymes have distinct architectures and low sequence identity, suggesting that they originated from separate horizontal gene transfer events. M-GH3_A and M-GH3_B, were found to differ in cold adaptation and substrate specificity. M-GH3_A is a bona fide cold-active enzyme since it retains 20 % activity at 10 °C and exhibits poor long-term thermal stability. On the other hand, M-GH3_B shows mesophilic traits with very low activity at 10 °C (< 5 %) and higher long-term thermal stability. Substrate specificity assays highlight that M-GH3_A is a promiscuous β-glucosidase mainly active on cellobiose and cellotetraose, whereas M-GH3_B is a β-xylosidase active on xylan and arabinoxylan. Structural analysis suggests that such functional differences are due to their differently shaped active sites. The active site of M-GH3_A is wider but has a narrower entrance compared to that of M-GH3_B. Genome-based prediction of metabolic pathways suggests that Marinomonas sp. ef1 can use monosaccharides derived from the GH3-catalyzed hydrolysis of oligosaccharides either as a carbon source or for producing osmolytes. • The genome of Marinomonas sp. ef1 contains three GHs belonging to family 3 (M-GH3s). • M-GH3_A is a promiscuous β-glucosidase active on cellulose oligosaccharides. • M-GH3_B is a β-xylosidase active on xylan and arabinoxylan. • Differences in substrate specificity of M-GH3s are due to different evolutionary histories. • Characterization of M-GH3 helps to understand how Antarctic bacteria metabolize sugars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iodination has long been employed as a successful labelling strategy to gain structural insights into proteins and other biomolecules via several techniques, including Small Angle X‐ray Scattering, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP‐MS), and single‐crystal crystallography. However, when dealing with smaller biomolecular systems, interactions driven by iodine may significantly alter their self‐assembly behaviour. The engineering of amyloidogenic peptides for the development of ordered nanomaterials has greatly benefitted from this possibility. Still, to date, iodination has exclusively been applied to aromatic residues. In this work, an aliphatic bis‐iodinated amino acid was synthesized and included into a custom pentapeptide, which showed enhanced fibrillogenic behaviour. Peptide single crystal X‐ray structure and powder X‐ray diffraction on its dried water solution demonstrated the key role of iodine atoms in promoting intermolecular interactions that drive the peptide self‐assembly into amyloid fibrils. These findings enlarge the library of halogenated moieties available for directing and engineering the self‐assembly of amyloidogenic peptides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geothermal field of Torre Alfina is located in central Italy at the northern edge of the Vulsini Volcanic District, the northernmost area of the so-called Quaternary Roman Co-Magmatic Province. In the framework of a medium-enthalpy geothermal exploitation project, INGV installed a local seismic network close to the future geothermal production site for monitoring natural local seismicity. In this paper, we show the results of a study of the microseismicity recorded from June 2014 to May 2016 in a small area of about 10 km2 around Torre Alfina. Analyzing seismic signals recorded by a local temporary network of ten short-period stations and by four permanent stations of the INGV national seismic network, we detected 846 local earthquakes. Then, we accurately relocated 799 events using HypoDD code. Our results show that the region of Torre Alfina is characterized by intense microseismicity, with hypocentral depths between 3 and 7 km and with moderate magnitudes between Md = 0.1 and ML = 2.8. Moreover, more than half of the earthquakes are grouped into six main swarm-like clusters each lasting few days. Furthermore, we computed 36 well-constrained fault plane solutions, which show a clear transtensional deformation regime in the whole study area. Three main tectonic directions have been evidenced from the focal mechanisms analysis: E-W, WSW-ENE, and NW-SE. The understanding of the seismogenic structural setting of the Torre Alfina geothermal field, and the study of its background natural seismicity can be of great importance in recognizing any possible future seismicity induced by the exploitation of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main challenges in traditional soil mapping is the identification of land components (LCs) - suitable combinations of morphology, lithology and land use - representing a fundamental step in the definition of soil typological units. LCs are traditionally used by pedologists to correlate different soils and to identify the relationships between soil and geography. The recognition of the various soil characteristics for LCs definition is usually performed considering a number of classes for each feature (e.g. slope classes), defined a priori at a national scale. Such classes tend by nature to generalize and to flatten the actual local variability. Moreover, when dealing with large areas, taking into account a very fragmented layout is very difficult. To reduce subjectivity in interpretation, the choice of features defining soil associated LCs should be performed in an automatic or semi-automatic way. Digital Soil Mapping techniques can help to overcome these limits. In this work we propose a procedure to define the soil LCs for the territory of Latium administrative region (Central Italy), starting from a dataset of about 1500 fully described and analysed soil profiles and associated land surface parameters. The main soil diagnostic characteristics - depth, internal drainage, topsoil and subsoil texture, gravel, organic carbon content, cation exchange capacity, calcium carbonate content - were used, together with auxiliary information derived from existing thematic maps (geology, land use, pedoclimate), and from Digital Elevation Model (geomorphometric parameters). Some indices derived from remotely sensed high resolution images were also introduced to improve the estimate in areas with uniform land characteristics (i.e. flat alluvial valleys and coastal plains). Classes for the measured characteristics were defined based on their frequency distribution and of the WRB classification diagnostic thresholds. The covariates were chosen by an ANOVA, and a Principal Component Analysis was performed to avoid multicollinearity effects. Resulting principal components were used as predictors in a Multinomial logistic regression to build a raster layer for each considered soil characteristic. From all these layers, a final map of LCs was derived by means of a clustering operation. The final map represents the basis to map Soil Typological Units for the whole Latium region. • Land components are important in the definition of soil typological units. • A procedure to define land components for Latium Region (Central Italy) is proposed. • Maps of soil diagnostic features were generated by MLR with auxiliary information. • A final map of clusters representing land components was obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the spatial and temporal dynamics of carbon (C) at regional scale induced by land use and soil type, we performed a simulation study, based on a bio-physical model (RothC10N) combined with a spatially explicit database including soil, land use and climate. RothC10N was linked to GIS and outputs were interpolated using Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK) to estimate the C stocks and CO 2 emissions in the Mediterranean area of Foggia province in Southern Italy. The typical cropping systems of the area, i.e. arable rainfed (ACR) and irrigated crops (ACI) (cereals in rotation with irrigated tomato), vines (VIN), olives (OLI), and grasslands (GL) were considered. RothC10N simulations showed that OLI and VIN were able to store a considerable amount of C. Conversely, arable crops led to a reduction which was higher when the rotation included the irrigated tomato. The transition from arable to permanent crops (A2P) showed higher SOC stock increases than that from permanent to arable (P2A). The CO 2 -C released to the atmosphere was higher in ACI, P2A, and VIN, and lower in OLI and GL. Overall, in the year 2013 the total soil C stock in agricultural land across the province of Foggia was 19 Tg C, while the total GHG emission was 16.9 Tg CO 2 -C. The proposed methodology has proved to be effective to estimate the C stocks and emissions in the Mediterranean area and can be applied to assess the effect of specific land uses and land use change. Main land management recommendations to prevent soil organic C decline in the study area are: conservation tillage of arable lands, improvement of crop rotations, e.g. from continuous wheat to cropping systems including alfalfa or other legume crops, retention of crop residues into the field, rational use of irrigation for the summer crop, use of cover crops during the winter season to replace fallow periods, and supply of organic fertilizers (compost or manure). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Starting from late May 2012, the Emilia region (Northern Italy) was severely shaken by an intense seismic sequence, originated from a ML 5.9 earthquake on May 20th, at a hypocentral depth of 6.3km, with thrust-type focal mechanism. In the following days, the seismic rate remained high, counting 50 ML ≥2.0 earthquakes a day, on average. Seismicity spreads along a 30km east–west elongated area, in the Po river alluvial plain, in the nearby of the cities Ferrara and Modena. Nine days after the first shock, another destructive thrust-type earthquake (ML 5.8) hit the area to the west, causing further damage and fatalities. Aftershocks following this second destructive event extended along the same east-westerly trend for further 20km to the west, thus illuminating an area of about 50km in length, on the whole. After the first shock struck, on May 20th, a dense network of temporary seismic stations, in addition to the permanent ones, was deployed in the meizoseismal area, leading to a sensible improvement of the earthquake monitoring capability there. A combined dataset, including three-component seismic waveforms recorded by both permanent and temporary stations, has been analyzed in order to obtain an appropriate 1-D velocity model for earthquake location in the study area. Here we describe the main seismological characteristics of this seismic sequence and, relying on refined earthquakes location, we make inferences on the geometry of the thrust system responsible for the two strongest shocks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Two different geostatistical methods, OK and RK, allowed to map soil characters. [•] Maps are used for agricultural and environmental assessment and for regional planning. [•] Maps estimated both by OK and RK showed similar accuracy for all the variables. [•] Spatializing soil variables provide decision makers with a useful reference tool. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Soil surveys are an essential source of information for land management although a limited budget often reduces the amount of data available. Even if the dataset is limited, geostatistics can provide a valid estimation tool through a weighted moving average interpolation (kriging). Often, however, the spatial variability of soil properties appears smoothed and short range variability is underestimated by this kind of interpolation technique. A more realistic distribution of a given variable on the territory can be obtained through models based on stochastic simulation. The study area was located in Abruzzo region, Central Italy, in the Soil Region 61.3 as defined by the European Soil Bureau, and includes an economically relevant viticulture district (Controguerra “DOCG area of Colline Teramane”). Relationships between soil type distribution and terrain attributes – slope, incoming solar radiation, NDVI, TWI, etc. – were established, and the most significant were used in a multinomial logistic regression to generate simulated maps. These maps, derived from a set of measured point data, auxiliary information from a Digital Terrain Model and Landsat images, were compared with the soil subsystem map 1:250,000, realized by ARSSA. The comparison indicated that the simulated distribution of the soil classes is consistent with the pedological map and fits better with the local morphology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Within the program of holographic renormalization, we discuss the computation of three-point correlation functions along RG flows. We illustrate the procedure in two simple cases. In an RG flow to the Coulomb branch of N=4 SYM theory we derive a compact and finite expression for the three-point function of lowest CPOs dual to inert scalars. In the GPPZ flow, that captures some features of N=1 SYM theory, we identify two new logarithmically divergent counterterms and compute the three-point function with insertion of two inert scalars and one active scalar that mixes with the stress tensor. By amputating the external legs at the mass poles we extract the finite and scheme independent trilinear couplings of the corresponding superglueballs. Finally we outline the procedure for computing three-point functions with insertions of the stress tensor as well as of (broken) R-symmetry currents. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Porous hydroxyapatite (HA) matrices with high porosity were prepared through a high temperature sintering method by using HA powder as raw material, polystyrene (PS) microspheres as pore-forming agents and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution as adhesive. The characterization of HA was carried out by a series of techniques including XRD, FT-IR, FESEM and BET, and showed that the morphology and structure of porous HA material were closely related to the amount of PS and PVA. The adsorption capability for Cu2+, Cd2+ and Pb2+ in aqueous solution showed that the porous HA possessed a selective and strong uptake of Pb2+ ions and the adsorption efficiency reached 99.8% in 10 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on band-selective cross-polarization in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. It states that solid state NMR becomes a more preferred tool for structural and dynamical characterization of an area of extremely pertinent biomolecular systems. It also mentions that the band selective spectrally induced filtering in combination with cross-polarization (SPECIFIC-CP) is a key method in controlling the spin angle coherence transfer.

Photocatalytic reduction with sunlight is an economical and promising advanced approach for reducing the excessive emissions of CO2 from the combustion of fossil fuels. Aimed at practical applications, a type of inexpensive colored anatase material was used to evaluate CO2 photoreduction performance on a platform with a continuous flow of gas mixtures (10 vol % CO2, 90% N2), which resembles realistic flue gas conditions. The results showed an enhanced photocatalytic activity compared with standard P25 and significant improvement over pristine anatase. Based on a series of characterization techniques, we propose that the oxygen vacancies and surface hydroxyl groups on colored anatase can reduce the bandgap and assist the binding of CO2 molecules. Our results showed that photoreduction of CO2 is feasible under practical conditions, and the efficiency could be improved through modification of catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the integration of sentiment analysis in ALCIDE, an online platform for historical content analysis. A prior polarity approach has been applied to a corpus of Italian historical texts, and a new lexical resource has been developed with a semi-automatic mapping starting from two English lexica. This article also reports on a first experiment on contextual polarity using both expert annotators and crowdsourced contributors. The long-term goal of our research is to create a system to support historical studies, which is able to analyse the sentiment in historical texts and to discover the opinion about a topic and its change over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid State 2H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was applied to the structural and orientational studies of a selectively labelled ‘de Vries’ liquid crystal compound. Measurements were performed at five values of the magnetic field, ranging from 4.70 to 18.80 T. The trend of the orientational order S and tilt angle θ of the 2H-labeled moiety in the SmA and SmC* phases at different magnetic fields confirms previous results and allows us to better characterize the SmA-SmC* transition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Graphical abstract Highlights • NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) was successfully water-based synthesized. • The nano-sized NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) particles possess rod-like shape and narrow size distribution. • The NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) matrix displays enhanced elimination of methyl blue in aqueous solution. Abstract Nano-sized NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) particles were conveniently synthesized in aqueous solution at ambient temperature with a widely applicable mixing method, and the morphology and character were examined with a series of techniques. XRD patterns and TEM images showed that the obtained NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) material possessed rod-like shape, which is different from those obtained from N, N-dimethyl formamide (DMF). This nano-sized NH 2 -MIL-53(Al) matrix displayed enhanced efficiency for adsorptive elimination of methyl blue molecules in aqueous solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface-modified hydroxyapatite (HA) nanocomposites have been synthesized from D-fructose-1,6-phosphate trisodium salt octahydrate (DFP) via a simple and green hydrothermal process. Comprehensive X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Thermal gravimetrical analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) characterizations revealed that the HA nanocomposite adopt a rod-like core/shell morphology in which the inorganic HA core is covered with an organic shell of polyalcohol species. The HA nanocomposite exhibits a large surface area of 203.18 m 2 /g, and enhanced adsorption capacities of organic dyes such as Methyl orange (MO) and Congo red (CR). Remarkably, the adsorption processes were particularly fast in which the equilibriums are reached within minutes. The adsorption kinetics can be well described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. These experimental results demonstrated that such HA nanocomposites are promising adsorbents for the efficient removal of organic dyes from water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the framework of a medium-enthalpy geothermal exploitation project, seismicity and soil gas emissions have been monitored in the area of Castel Giorgio–Torre Alfina (central Italy) since 2014. A dedicated local seismic network, called ReMoTA, allows deepening of the knowledge of the natural local seismicity in terms of source mechanisms, high-quality event localization and magnitude estimation. From November 2014 to May 2016, ReMoTA recorded 846 seismic events with a magnitude range from M d 0.1 to M L 2.8 and with hypocentres between 4 and 8 km depth. Most of these events occurred in six short lasting clusters. On the 30 th May 2016 a M w 4.3 earthquake occurred near Castel Giorgio, followed by almost 1700 aftershocks. The moment tensor solution for the main shock depicts a WNW-ESE oriented normal fault with small right-lateral strike component. An overview of the epicentral distribution of the different clusters recorded since 2014 highlights that the active tectonic structures are orientated principally along the NE–SW and WNW-ESE directions. The relocation of the 1957 M e 4.9 earthquake suggests that this event occurred in the same fault system as of the 2016 seismic sequence. In the study area, there is only one natural emergence (Solfanare) emitting a CO 2 dominated gas, having the same chemical and isotopic composition of the gas contained in a cap at the summit of the geothermal reservoir. Apart from small perturbations, no significant compositional variations were recorded during the 2016 seismic sequence in the gas of the Solfanare vents that was analyzed continuously by an automatic gas-chromatographic station. The diffuse soil CO 2 flux is monitored since 2013 in six target areas located around the future production and reinjection wells, in order to assess the level of background natural degassing. In all target areas the maximum value of soil CO 2 flux has been recorded during the 2016 seismic sequence. However, values remained relatively low (maximum 112 g ⋅m −2 ⋅d −1 ) and the values of δ 13 C of the emitted CO 2 (−25.25 to −24.22‰ vs. PDB) indicated a shallow biological origin of the gas (by soil respiration). Only at Solfanare high values of diffuse soil CO 2 flux were recorded up to a maximum of 20125 g ⋅m −2 ⋅d −1 ). All the seismicity of the May–June 2016 sequence is located above the M L 4.1 main event and is distributed on small distinct faults (such as at San Lorenzo Nuovo and Acquapendente) and triggered by the main shock. The source mechanism provided by the full moment tensor indicates that rupture processes at depth probably deviate from a pure normal fault. The significant contribution of CLVD and isotropic components suggest a possible opening of fluid cracks below the geothermal reservoir hosted in fractured Mesozoic limestones. In spite of the increase of the CO 2 flux, no significant changes have been observed in the chemical and isotopic composition of the Solfanare gas. The seismo-tectonic scenario indicates that the Solfanare fault was not activated. Kinematics and orientation of the activated faults suggest a relationship with the Bolsena caldera collapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation of pine-dendritic vaterite with microwave-assisted technique in ethylene glycol (EG)/water solution was investigated. The samples were characterized with a broad range of techniques, including FESEM, XRD, TGA and HRTEM. Results show that the combination of microwave radiation and EG/water solution conduced to the formation of pine-dendritic crystals with the assembling of vaterite sheets. The inhibition of EG molecules on the {0 0.1} faces of vaterite contributed to the formation of vaterite sheets, and mutually electrostatic attraction of vaterite polar {0 0.1} faces promoted the assembly of vaterite sheets into pine-dendritic microcrystals. This study can serve as a successful paradigm for fabrication of hierarchical structure materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monodispersed zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) were prepared with a simple method using dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) as solvent. This method yields ZIF-8 nanoparticles with a narrow particle size distribution of 90–110 nm and the dispersion is highly stable against agglomeration. These particles have larger nanosized porosity and enhanced CO 2 adsorption capability compared to ZIF-8 prepared with different solvents such as methanol or N , N -dimethyl formamide. Their uniform size and surface chemistry also lead to superior performance in the Knoevenagel condensation reactions. The ZIF-8 nanoparticles possess high thermal stability up to 550 °C and the preparation steps are easy for scaling up which are favorable for industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of systematic compost addition or cover cropping throughout the agricultural land of the Foggia province (Southern Italy) on the soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and the CO 2 -C emissions were predicted over a period of 20 years (1994–2013). Therefore, the bio-physical model RothC10N was used in combination with spatially explicit input data including soil types, soil textures, land use and climate. Actual crop successions and crop types on a grid with a resolution of 30-arc sec (1 km at the equator) were included in the input data. Compost application and cover cropping were not adopted as a general input to all soils and land use classes, but according to applicability in the particular cropping systems, therefore representing a realistic input scenario under given soil use practices in the area. The results of the modelling process were spatialized with regression kriging, using soil maps, land use maps and satellite images as co-variates. While the control scenario led to a SOC depletion of 0.81 Tg and a total CO 2 -C emission of 21.1 Tg over 20 years in the Foggia province, systematic compost addition could reduce the loss of SOC to 0.56 Tg C while slightly increasing CO 2 -C emissions to 21.6 of Tg C. Cover cropping led to an overall SOC accumulation of 0.61 Tg and cumulated CO 2 -C emissions of 24.6 of Tg. Cover cropping therefore represents the most promising tool for carbon sequestration in the Foggia province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of the Apennines thrust-and-fold belt is related to heterogeneous process of subduction and continental delamination that generates extension within the mountain range and compression on the outer front of the Adria lithosphere. While normal faulting earthquakes diffusely occur along the mountain chain, the sparse and poor seismicity in the compressional front does not permit to resolve the ambiguity that still exists about which structure accommodates the few mm/yr of convergence observed by geodetic data. In this study, we illustrate the 2012 Emilia seismic sequence that is the most significant series of moderate-to-large earthquakes developed during the past decades on the compressional front of the Apennines. Accurately located aftershocks, along with P-wave and Vp/Vs tomographic models, clearly reveal the geometry of the thrust system, buried beneath the Quaternary sediments of the Po Valley. The seismic sequence ruptured two distinct adjacent thrust faults, whose different dip, steep or flat, accounts for the development of the arc-like shape of the compressional front. The first shock of May 20 (Mw 6.0) developed on the middle Ferrara thrust that has a southward dip of about 30°. The second shock of May 29 (Mw 5.8) ruptured the Mirandola thrust that we define as a steep dipping (50–60°) pre-existing (Permo-Triassic) basement normal fault inverted during compression. The overall geometry of the fault system is controlled by heterogeneity of the basement inherited from the older extension. We also observe that the rupture directivity during the two main-shocks and the aftershocks concentration correlate with low Poisson ratio volumes, probably indicating that portions of the fault have experienced intense micro-damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. A screening program was proposed for the village of Carcare (population 5700), located in a region of Italy with an apparently low prevalence of coeliac disease (CD): only 1 patient diagnosed out of 2557 inhabitants. The study group comprised 1002 individuals (568 F, 434 M, age range 13–90 years) recruited from blood donors, secondary school pupils and people referred to the local outpatient facilities for routine blood chemistry. Material and methods. Total IgA, IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG) (ELISA, recombinant human antigen) and IgA antiendomysium (EMA) (IFI, umbilical cord substrate) antibodies were measured in the serum of all participants. All patients with IgA deficiency were investigated for IgG tTG antibodies, and in the case of disagreement between tTG and EMA, they were typed for HLA DQ2-DQ8 haplotypes. Results. Thirteen subjects were positive and 988 negative for autoantibodies (3/988 had IgA deficiency). One serum sample was positive for tTG antibodies but negative for EMA. Ten out of 13 positive subjects consented to undergo duodenal biopsy, which invariably produced evidence of CD despite the absence of clinical signs/symptoms. A post-diagnostic clinical investigation provided evidence showing mild iron deficiency (4 subjects) and osteoporosis (2 subjects). After counselling, all subjects accepted a gluten-free diet. Conclusions. The prevalence of CD in the study group was 1:100 (1.0%; 95% CI: 0.5–1.8%): this indicates that CD is largely underdiagnosed in Carcare. Our results suggest that the low prevalence of CD observed in some regions is likely to be due to underdiagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last years, nanogels have emerged as one of the most promising classes of novel drug delivery vehicles since they can be employed in multiple fields, such as various therapeutics or diagnostics, and with different classes of compounds and active molecules. Their features, such as a high volume to surface ratio, excellent drug loading and release ability, as well as biocompatibility and tunable behavior, are unique, and, nowadays, great efforts are made to develop new formulations that can be employed in a wider range of applications. Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-polyethylenimine (PEI) nanogels probably represent the baseline of this class of biomaterials and they are still largely employed and studied. In any way, the possibility to exploit new core formulations for nanogels is certainly very interesting in order to understand the influence of different polymer chains on the final properties of the system. In this research, we explore and make a comparison between PEG-PEI nanogels and two other different formulations: pluronic F127-PEI nanogels and PEG-Jeffamine nanogels. We propose nanogels synthesis methods, their chemical and physical characterization, as well as their stability analysis, and we focus on the different drug delivery ability that these structures exhibit working with different typologies of drug mimetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Here we performed a SOC distribution model in soil with different occupation. • We performed a comparison of two different SOC mapping technics. • The morphology and soil texture play the major role on SOC distribution. • Our introduction of variables related to SOC improve the interpolation results. • Soil organic carbon sequestration is the best under soil with dense vegetation. Soils of semi-arid climates undergo organic carbon loss, which in turn affects their agricultural potential. Geostatistics is often used as an interpolation tool to thoroughly describe SOC spatial distribution. To focus on soil organic carbon (SOC) depletion, the Tiffech watershed (Northeast of Algeria), an economically important agricultural area, was chosen due to intensive agricultural practices, decline of forests and occurrence of erosion. The present study aimed to predict the spatial variation of SOC in Tiffech watershed using geostatistics and a Geographical Information System (GIS) software, comparing the performance of two geostatistical methods—Ordinary Kriging (OK) and Regression Kriging (RK)—also assessing the role of auxiliary variables in improving the prediction accuracy and highlighting the role of land cover in SOC storage. The SOC content in Tiffech soils was determined on 42 soil samples from the surface layer (0–10 cm) collected all over the study area and the results were used to estimate SOC density in non-sampled locations. The prediction efficiency of the two methods was evaluated by calculating the Mean Error (ME), the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and the Root Mean Square Standardized Error (RMSSE). The interpolation results showed that SOC distribution in the study area was correlated to the topography, the clay index, and general landscape features. SOC content increased northwards in the area, ranging from 0.53 to 6.9 kg·m−2 in relation to land use. As expected, maps figured a good conservation status of SOC stocks in areas with dense vegetation; conversely poor SOC contents were estimated where land degradation factors take place. Cross-validation results showed an outperformance in the interpolation accuracy of RK on OK after the introduction of environmental variables, with an RMSE value of 0.02 versus 0.81. This suggests a higher efficiency of RK in predicting SOC content across the Tiffech area in comparison with OK, confirming that introducing some auxiliary data correlated to the target variable in SOC estimation, considerably improved the interpolation accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first high-quality catalog of early aftershocks of the three mainshocks of the 2016 central Italy Amatrice-Visso-Norcia normal faulting sequence. We located 10,574 manually picked aftershocks with a robust probabilistic, non-linear method achieving a significant improvement in the solution accuracy and magnitude completeness with respect to previous studies. Aftershock distribution and relocated mainshocks give insight into the complex architecture of major causative and subsidiary faults, thus providing crucial constraints on multi-segment rupture models. We document reactivation and kinematic inversion of a WNW-dipping listric structure, referable to the inherited Mts Sibillini Thrust (MST) that controlled segmentation of the causative normal faults. Spatial partitioning of aftershocks evidences that the MST lateral ramp had a dual control on rupture propagation, behaving as a barrier for the Amatrice and Visso mainshocks, and later as an asperity for the Norcia mainshock. We hypothesize that the Visso mainshock re-activated also the deep part of an optimally oriented preexisting thrust. Aftershock patterns reveal that the Amatrice Mw5.4 aftershock and the Norcia mainshock ruptured two distinct antithetic faults 3–4 km apart. Therefore, our results suggest to consider both the MST cross structure and the subsidiary antithetic fault in the finite-fault source modelling of the Norcia earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]