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Dual‐energy X‐ray computed tomography consists of imaging objects using two incident X‐ray beams of different energy to distinguish the different compounds within a sample based on their density (electron density, ρe) and elemental composition (effective atomic number, Zeff). The stoichiometric calibration for dual‐energy X‐ray computed tomography was already successfully implemented to identify single and homogeneous minerals easily and non‐destructively. It is here applied for the first time to a more complex and heterogeneous sample, a varved sediment core with three distinct facies. The output of dual‐energy X‐ray computed tomography was compared against elemental geochemistry obtained at the same resolution using a micro‐XRF core scanner. The three individual facies can be successfully differentiated using dual‐energy X‐ray computed tomography because their range of ρe and Zeff values allow their discrimination. Correlations with elemental geochemistry are also discussed but are less conclusive, probably because of variations in grain size and porosity, and because these high resolution analyses were not performed at the exact same location. The paper not only eventually discusses the limitations when using dual‐energy X‐ray computed tomography on sediments but also demonstrates its potential to quantitatively study sediment cores in a non‐destructive way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Numerous studies showed that methylation analysis represents a newly developed urinary marker based on DNA methylation changes in a panel of genomic biomarkers and it could represent a valid tool in terms of the diagnosis and prediction of high-grade urothelial carcinoma recurrences. One of the limits of the use of this new molecular method during a follow-up is represented by the number of invalid tests in routine practice. Method: A total of 782 patients with a diagnosis of non-muscle-invasive high-grade carcinoma (NMIBC) was studied. The Bladder EpiCheck test (BE) was performed together with cytology in all cases within 1 year after the end of treatment. In 402 patients, the urinary samples were voided urine (UV), while, in 380 cases, the samples were collected after bladder washing (IU). For all the patients with invalid BE results, a second BE test was performed following the instructions for use that indicated the test should be repeated with a new urinary sample in the case of an invalid result. Results: Analyzing the two different groups (UV and IU), we found the invalid BE results seemed to be not related to urinary samples (p = 0.13 Fisher's exact test), suggesting that the collection method was not relevant in order to reduce the number of invalid tests. Conclusions: In the follow-up for NMIBC, for patients for whom a BE test is planned, a combined approach of cytology and a methylation test is recommended in order to repeat the BE test with an invalid result only in those cases with a cytological diagnosis of atypical urothelial cells (AUC) suspicious for high-grade urothelial carcinoma (SHGUC) and high-grade urothelial carcinoma (HGUC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is renowned for its high yield as forage and is primarily cultivated by small-scale farmers to nourish their livestock. When harvested at the recommended age, it can offer premium-quality feed. Conversely, sweet potato vines (SPV) are often treated as agricultural residue due to being underutilized, despite their potential nutritional benefits. This disregard for Sweet Potato vines stems from a lack of interest in further processing them into feed. This study aimed to assess the chemical composition and physical attributes of ensiled napier grass mixed with different proportions of Sweet Potato vines for 30 days. The experimental groups included 100% NG, 75% NG:25% SPV, 50% NG:50% SPV, 25% NG:75% SPV, and 100% SPV. The research utilized ordinary Napier grass and Bukit Naga Sweet Potato vines, both harvested at 6 weeks old during the second harvesting cycle. The quality of silage was evaluated through physical characteristics such as colour and pH. All treatments displayed optimal pH levels for quality silage, falling within the range of 3.5 to 4.0. The colour assessment indicated that all treatments had a greenish-brown hue with a discernible structure. Chemical composition analysis was performed using proximate analysis procedures. In conclusion, incorporating SPV elevated OM and CP content, demonstrating the potential benefits of combined ensiling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most challenging issues with the sources of ancient medicine is to be able to identify the correspondence between the diseases we know today and those reported in ancient medical texts. Ancient diseases' definitions rarely help us, and the symptoms described often correspond to more than one disease. This is especially true about tuberculosis, a disease that historians of medicine habitually associates with the Greek words phthi(n)o (φθίνω), verb, phthisis/phthoe (φθίσις/φθόη), noun, phthinodes/phthisikos (φθινώδης/φθισικός), adjective, all etymologically linked to an Indo-European root that expresses the idea of consumption in a broad sense. This article aims to analyze a group of Greek words, branchos/branchia (βράγχος/βράγχια), krauros/kraurao (κραῦρος/κραυράω), and katarreo (καταρρέω), that appear in nosological contexts very close to the infectious disease that today we call tuberculosis. Moreover, the paper aims to focus on the transmission pathways of TB being via animal-human contact and some ancient strategies to cure it. The symptoms, transmission pathways and therapeutic approach of tuberculosis belong to a homogeneous pathological picture that emerges from a set of texts that date back to the period between the fifth century BC and the second century AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Podocyte injury leading to albuminuria is a characteristic feature of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Hyperglycemia and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are major determinants of DN. However, the underlying mechanisms of podocyte injury remain poorly understood. The cytosolic protein TNFAIP2/M-Sec is required for tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) formation, which are membrane channels that transiently connect cells, allowing organelle transfer. Podocytes express TNFAIP2 and form TNTs, but the potential relevance of the TNFAIP2-TNT system in DN is unknown. We studied TNFAIP2 expression in both human and experimental DN and the renal effect of tnfaip2 deletion in streptozotocin-induced DN. Moreover, we explored the role of the TNFAIP2-TNT system in podocytes exposed to diabetes-related insults. TNFAIP2 was overexpressed by podocytes in both human and experimental DN and exposre of podocytes to high glucose and AGEs induced the TNFAIP2-TNT system. In diabetic mice, tnfaip2 deletion exacerbated albuminuria, renal function loss, podocyte injury, and mesangial expansion. Moreover, blockade of the autophagic flux due to lysosomal dysfunction was observed in diabetes-injured podocytes both in vitro and in vivo and exacerbated by tnfaip2 deletion. TNTs allowed autophagosome and lysosome exchange between podocytes, thereby ameliorating AGE-induced lysosomal dysfunction and apoptosis. This protective effect was abolished by tnfaip2 deletion, TNT inhibition, and donor cell lysosome damage. By contrast, Tnfaip2 overexpression enhanced TNT-mediated transfer and prevented AGE-induced autophagy and lysosome dysfunction and apoptosis. In conclusion, TNFAIP2 plays an important protective role in podocytes in the context of DN by allowing TNT-mediated autophagosome and lysosome exchange and may represent a novel druggable target. Abbreviations: AGEs: advanced glycation end products; AKT1: AKT serine/threonine kinase 1; AO: acridine orange; ALs: autolysosomes; APs: autophagosomes; BM: bone marrow; BSA: bovine serum albumin; CTSD: cathepsin D; DIC: differential interference contrast; DN: diabetic nephropathy; FSGS: focal segmental glomerulosclerosis; HG: high glucose; KO: knockout; LAMP1: lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1; LMP: lysosomal membrane permeabilization; MAP1LC3/LC3: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3; PI3K: phosphoinositide 3-kinase; STZ: streptozotocin; TNF: tumor necrosis factor; TNFAIP2: tumor necrosis factor, alpha-induced protein 2; TNTs: tunneling nanotubes; WT: wild type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image-based monitoring has emerged as a prevalent technique for sensing mountain environments. Monoscopic time-lapse cameras, which rely on digital image correlation to quantify glacier motion, have limitations due to the need for a Digital Elevation Model for deriving 3D flow velocity fields. Multi-camera systems overcome this limitation, as they allow for a 3D reconstruction of the scene. This paper presents a replicable low-cost stereoscopic system designed for 4D glacier monitoring. The system consists of independent and autonomous units, built from off-the-shelves components, such as a DSLR camera, an Arduino microcontroller, and a Raspberry Pi Zero, reducing costs compared to pre-built time-lapse cameras. The units are energetically self-sufficient and resistant to harsh alpine conditions. The system was successfully tested for more than a year to monitor the northwest terminus of the Belvedere Glacier (Italian Alps). Daily stereo-pairs acquired were processed with Structure-from-Motion to derive 3D point clouds of the glacier terminus and estimate glacier retreat and ice volume loss. By combining the information about ice volume loss with ablation estimates and ice flow velocity information, e.g., derived from monoscopic-camera time series, a multi-camera system enables a comprehensive understanding of sub-seasonal glacier dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon aging and exposure to ambient conditions, acrylic colors get dry and the degree of polymerization of the polymer matrix increases due to progressive cross-linking. When interested in studying acrylic colors, separation of the different components, namely matrix, pigments, and fillers, may be particularly useful for their identification and characterization. In the case of aged acrylic colors, as found in artworks themselves or in materials present in artist studios, the separation approaches requiring chemical treatments of fluid samples cannot be applied. To overcome this limit, here a controlled combustion strategy is developed for eliminating the polymer matrix from the color and then recovering a powder made of pigments and fillers, which is analyzed by optical spectroscopy and demonstrated to display the same chromatic/chemical properties of the original color. As a case study, the new method is successfully applied to acrylic colors used by the Italian artist Domenico "Ico" Parisi (1916–1996), found in the original tubes in his studio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the geomatics domain the use of deep learning, a subset of machine learning, is becoming more and more widespread. In this context, the 3D semantic segmentation of heritage point clouds presents an interesting and promising approach for modelling automation, in light of the heterogeneous nature of historical building styles and features. However, this heterogeneity also presents an obstacle in terms of generating the training data for use in deep learning, hitherto performed largely manually. The current generally low availability of labelled data also presents a motivation to aid the process of training data generation. In this paper, we propose the use of approaches based on geometric rules to automate to a certain degree this task. One object class will be discussed in this paper, namely the pillars class. Results show that the approach managed to extract pillars with satisfactory quality (98.5% of correctly detected pillars with the proposed algorithm). Tests were also performed to use the outputs in a deep learning segmentation setting, with a favourable outcome in terms of reducing the overall labelling time (−66.5%). Certain particularities were nevertheless observed, which also influence the result of the deep learning segmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of nucleon–nucleon correlations and meson exchange currents has been vividly debated in connection with the neutrino–nucleus cross sections. In this work we focus on nucleon–nucleon correlations by discussing a formal correspondence between the approaches based on independent particles and the ab initio approaches involving correlated wave functions. We use a general technique based on unitary transformation mapping the Fermion operators relative to bare nucleons into quasi-particle operators relative to dressed nucleons. We derive formulas for spectral functions, response functions, momentum distribution, separation energy, general enough to be applied with any kind of effective nucleon–nucleon interaction. We establish the relation between the non-energy-weighted sum rule and the Fermi sea depopulation. With our tools we evaluate whether approaches based on effective interactions are compatible with the expected amount of correlations coming from ab initio calculations. For this purpose we use as a test the Fermi sea depopulation and the value of the kinetic energy per nucleon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fugl–Meyer Assessment is the most used and highly recommended clinical assessment of sensorimotor function after stroke. A standardized use of the scale in different countries requires translation and cultural validation to the target language. The objective of the study was to develop an official Italian version of the scale by transcultural translation and validation. A standardized multistep translation protocol was adopted to achieve optimal conceptual and semantic equivalence. The developed Italian version was validated in 10 post-stroke hemiparetic patients. Items with low intra- and interrater agreement, quantified as percentage of agreement <70% and/or statistically significant disagreement in relative position or concentration, between different raters were identified and revised. All motor items received a high level of agreement with values well above 70%. Disagreements were observed in 6 items in the sensory, joint range and pain domains and 1 in one reflex item. Items showing disagreements were discussed and revised to establish the final Italian version. The culturally validated Italian Fugl–Meyer Assessment can reliably be used in research and in clinical practice. A standardized use will improve the quality of sensorimotor assessment in stroke across Italy and allow reliable comparisons of stroke populations internationally. The Fugl–Meyer Assessment is the gold standard for evaluation of sensorimotor impairment after stroke. Having access to a transculturally validated official Italian version of Fugl–Meyer Assessment will improve the quality of sensorimotor assessment after stroke among Italian health professionals and researchers. A wider standardized use of the Fugl–Meyer Assessment in Italy will allow reliable international comparison of stroke rehabilitation outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gramicidin S (GraS) is an amphiphilic peptide that has emerged as an effective alternative antibiotic. However, its applicability is restricted for clinical uses due to its effect on eukaryotic cells and low aqueous solubility. In this work, a novel water‐soluble peptide formulation with bactericidal activity is developed by the incorporation of Gramicidin S in the lipid bilayer of liposomes (L‐GraS). As a result, GraS included in the lipid vesicles is stabilized in aqueous medium and showed antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, L‐GraS reveals enhanced biocompatibility with mammalian cells in comparison with the free peptide. Molecular dynamics simulations shed light on the collective behavior between GraS peptides and liposomes from a molecular approach. The molecular dynamic simulations are in agreement with experimental results and further confirm the effective incorporation of GraS in the liposomes, letting understand the best formulation procedure of the vesicles. Therefore, the L‐GraS nanosystem presented here is an interesting alternative to conventional antibiotics, with less restrictions and promising features to improve current therapies. Practical Applications: Incorporation of GraS in liposomes is an interesting approach to increase the solubility of the peptide, thus expanding its therapeutic horizon as a promising alternative to combat bacterial colonization especially in wound infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global demand for food has always been on the increase due to the increase of the population in this world. Intercropping is one of the alternatives of agronomic practices that is widely practiced in ensuring food security and enhancing yield stability. Strip, mixed, and relay intercropping can be practiced to increase crop production. In addition to achieving a successful intercropping system, factors such as suitable crops, time of sowing, maturity of the crop, and plant density need to be considered before and during planting. Besides, practiced intercropping becomes a useful cropping system to increase efficient resource utilization, enhance biodiversity, promote soil health, enhance soil fertility, erosion control, yield advantage, weed, pest, and disease control, insurance against crop failure, ecosystem and modification of microclimate, market instability, and increase farmers income. Crop productivity in any types of cropping system implemented relies primarily on the interception of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) of crop canopy and conversion of intercepted radiation into biomass or known as radiation use efficiency (RUE). Both PAR and RUE are important measurements that have significant roles in crop growth and development in which the accessibility of these radiation dynamics is connected with the leaf area index and crop canopy characteristics in maximizing yield as well as total productivity of the crop component in intercropping systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anaesthesist is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab will search for the charged lepton flavor violating neutrino-less conversion of a negative muon into an electron in the field of an aluminum nucleus ,. The Mu2e detector is comprised of a tracker, an electromagnetic calorimeter, and an external veto for cosmic rays. The calorimeter plays an important role in providing excellent particle identification capabilities, a fast and online trigger filter while aiding the track reconstruction capabilities. The calorimeter requirements are to provide a large acceptance for 100-MeV electrons and reach: 1) a time resolution better than 0.5 ns at 100 MeV; 2) an energy resolution O(10%) at 100 MeV; and 3) a position resolution of about 1 cm. The calorimeter consists of two disks, each one made of 674 pure CsI crystals readout by two large-area 2 × 3 array of UV-extended silicon photomultipliers (Mu2e SiPMs) of 6 × 6 mm2 dimensions. A large-scale prototype has been constructed with 51 preproduction crystals readout by 102 Mu2e SiPMs. It has been tested at the beam test facility in Frascati, demonstrating satisfying results compared to the Mu2e requirements. At the moment of writing, the crystals production phase is halfway through the work, while the SiPM production has been completed. An overview of the characterization tests is also reported, together with a description of the final calorimeter design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Type 5 phosphodiesterase (PDE5) expression in the normal and pathological prostate is controversial. Objectives: This study aimed at identifying the cell type/s, if any, expressing PDE5 in human healthy or pathological prostate sections in order to further validate the rationale of PDE5 inhibitor (PDE5i) treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and their safety in the treatment of erectile dysfunction following prostate cancer (PCa) surgery. Materials and methods: By immunohistochemical analysis, we studied PDE5 expression in tissue microarrays containing sections obtained from healthy, BPH, and PCa samples. Results: Our results showed that PDE5 is barely expressed in the epithelial or stromal compartment of normal human prostates, but it is highly expressed in the stromal compartment of BPH sections. We also found that a low but significant number of PCa samples (22%) expressed PDE5 in the epithelial cancer cells but not in stromal cells and that such expression was not correlated with the tumor aggressiveness, according to their Gleason score. Discussion and conclusion: PDE5 overexpression in the stromal compartment of BPH samples supports the rationale of PDE5 as a target in lower urinary tract symptoms of BPH. PDE5 expression in a significant percentage of PCa samples but the lack of correlation with the Gleason score suggests that this enzyme is not correlated with tumor aggressiveness; however, a role of PDE5 in the minimal residual disease of PCa cannot be excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success encountered in the systematic studies of the electric and magnetic strength functions for almost all even-even nuclei proves the quality of our HFB+QRPA calculations which use the Gogny interaction within the whole nuclear chart. In this paper, we study the dipole electromagnetic strength distribution in 158-166Dy. The scalar or the vector nature, in the isospin as well as in the spin space, is analysed according to transition density for some of the M1 excitations in 162Dy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the agreement rate between intraoperative evaluation (IOE) and final diagnosis (FD) in a series of surgically resected endometrial carcinoma (EC), with a preoperative ambiguous or inconclusive diagnosis by endometrial biopsies and imaging.Methods: A retrospective study was performed selecting patients who underwent surgery with IOE for suspected EC at our institution from 2012 to 2018. A K coefficient was determined with respect to the histotype, tumor grade, myometrial infiltration and cervical involvement.Results: Data analysis has been performed on 202 women. The IOE evaluation was distributed as Endometrioid (n = 180) and Non-Endometrioid (n = 22). The comparison between the frozen section (FS) and the definitive histological subtype showed an overall agreement rate of 93,07% (k = 0.612) and an agreement of 97.2% for Endometrioid vs 59% for Non-Endometrioid tumors. The FIGO system grading was the same in 91,1% of patients, none was upgraded and in 8,9% downgraded. Observed agreements were 89,11% and 95,54% for myometrial and cervical involvement, respectively.Conclusions: The good agreement between intraoperative grading, myometrial invasion and their histological definition on permanent sections highlights that FS is a good predictor for surgical outcome, in particular in presence of a preoperative ambiguous or inconclusive diagnostic evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Failed transfer of passive immunity (FTPI) in dairy calves – which is often due to the low amount of colostrum provided within a few hours after birth – remains a crucial issue. Enabling dairy calves to nurse colostrum from their dams could be useful in increasing intake and thus avoiding FTPI, but further potential effects on the health and welfare of both calves and dams should also be considered. In this study, 107 calf-dam pairs from two Italian dairy farms were alternately assigned to one of the following colostrum provision methods (CPMs): 'hand-fed method' (HFM) – the calf was separated from the dam immediately after birth and colostrum was provided by nipple-bottle (n = 50); 'nursing method' (NM) – the calf nursed colostrum from the dam for the first 12 h of life without farmer assistance (n = 30); and 'mixed method' (MM) – the nursing calf received a supplementary colostrum meal by nipple-bottle (n = 27). Serum of calves (1 to 5 days of age) and samples of their first colostrum meal were analysed by electrophoresis to assess immunoglobulin (Ig) concentration. Additionally, behavioural indicators of separation distress (calf and dam vocalisations; calf refusal of the first meal after separation; undesirable dam behaviour at milking) in the following 24 h were recorded as binary variables (Yes/No), and the health status of calves (disease occurrence and mortality) and dams (postpartum disorders and mastitis occurrence) were monitored for the first 3 months of life and 7 days after parturition, respectively. The lowest FTPI occurrence (calf serum Ig concentration <10.0 g/l) was found in the MM (11.1%) and the HFM (22.0%) compared with the NM (60.0%) (P<0.05), and the highest percentage of calves with optimal transfer of passive immunity (serum Ig concentration ≥16.0 g/l) was observed in the MM (55.6%). The lowest calf–dam separation distress was observed in the HFM (P<0.05). The highest calf disease occurrence was recorded in the HFM (64.0%) and the lowest in the NM (33.3%), with an intermediate value for the MM (44.4%) (P<0.05). No effect of the CPM was observed on dam health or calf mortality (P>0.05). The results of this study indicated that providing calves with a supplementary colostrum meal in addition to nursing from the dam (MM) is truly effective in maximizing passive immunity transfer. Anyway, specific strategies should be studied to minimise calf-dam separation distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By systematically studying the evolution of the optical properties with the content of some doping elements (Eu and Tb) in cubic gadolinium oxide, we demonstrated that the luminescence quenching could be almost entirely suppressed by elaboration of the samples in the nanometer range. Indeed, even if the proportion of quenchers (here surface hydroxyl groups) does increase at this scale, each rare-earth cation possesses an electronic configuration that depends on its distance from the surface and then slightly differs from that of the surrounding atoms. This difference almost eliminates any resonant transfer of excitation between all the atoms within the particle and suppresses a significant proportion of non-radiative losses. As a consequence, the quantum yield is not affected by the phenomenon of luminescence quenching because of concentration that is usually encountered in macroscopic samples. The emission can then be increased by a factor of about 3 for Tb and 5 for Eu simply by increasing the doping content. Moreover, the lifetime is significantly increased compared to macroscopic samples and, contrary to what happens at the macroscopic scale, does not depend on the doping content. This result opens new strategies to increase the emission of many fluorophores already commercialized, provided that the bcc structure is effectively preserved in the desired application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dye quantum yield is generally measured using the method of Williams, which consists in comparing the absorbance and the emission of the dye to test with those of a reference. Unfortunately, this method is no more applicable when the sample presents some significant scattering which is, for instance, the case when the dyes are encapsulated in silica particles with a size below 100 nm. Indeed the photons scattered by the particles are further absorbed by the dyes and generate an additional light emission leading to an overestimation of the quantum yield. Nevertheless, the paper shows that the Williams’s method can be still applied if the sample is compared with a reference that has exactly the same scattering properties than those of the sample. In the case of a test sample consisting of dyes encapsulated within particles, such a reference can be easily realized by incorporating in a solution of reference dyes, an adequate proportion of particles with the same size than those of the test sample. We prove theoretically and experimentally that relevant values of quantum yield are then obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Point defects in thin (≈100 Å) SiO[sub 2] layers thermally grown on silicon were investigated by thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) and corona oxide characterization of semiconductor measurements. A comparison is proposed between layers grown by steam and N[sub 2] diluted steam processes. The effects of post-growth annealing treatments in N[sub 2]O, NO, and N[sub 2] atmospheres and of ion irradiation (As or P) have been investigated. A good correlation between the results obtained by the two different techniques has been found, suggesting a common structural origin of defects responsible for TSL active traps and total oxide charge. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of Nb codoping on the optical properties of the PbWO[sub 4]:Mo scintillator is investigated by radio- and thermoluminescence, scintillation decay, and light yield measurements. Steady-state radioluminescence efficiency of PbWO[sub 4]:Mo,Nb with optimized doping concentrations (2750 and 350 molar ppm, respectively) becomes up to 20 times higher with respect to that of undoped PbWO[sub 4] and is comparable to that of Bi[sub 3]Ge[sub 4]O[sub 12]. However, slow components down to several tens of microseconds appear in the time decay. Their existence may be related to the presence of traps monitored by thermoluminescence. © 2002 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present correlated measurements of radioluminescence, photoluminescence, and thermoluminescence, as well as the measurements of decay kinetics both under ultraviolet and [sup 22]Na(511 keV) photon excitations for Mo-doped and doubly (Mo,Y)-doped PbWO[sub 4] single crystals. A wide concentration range of Mo doping (200-50 000 ppm) is covered. Y codoping results in significant suppression of trapping states induced by the Mo doping. Consequently, an improvement of temporal characteristics, such as acceleration of the scintillation decay process, of doubly doped material with respect to Y-free crystals, is achieved. For the optimum Mo concentration (275010 000 ppm), the temporal characteristics are fully comparable to an undoped PbWO[sub 4], while the light yield is increased by a factor of 2.2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant increase of HF etching rate and mean surface roughness (monitored by atomic force microscopy) was observed after P ion implantation on thin thermal SiO[sub 2] films (150 Å). The dependence upon the ion fluence (in the range 3×10[sup 12]–5×10[sup 13] ions/cm[sup 2]) and energy (in the range 270–500 keV) was analyzed, together with the recovery effect of a postimplantation annealing in N[sub 2] atmosphere. Moreover, the impact of P implants on oxides grown by different sequences, considering postoxidation annealing in N[sub 2]O or N[sub 2] atmospheres, was also studied. The effect of ion irradiation was investigated by thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) above room temperature in order to obtain information on point defects present in the layers. The results showed that postoxidation annealing treatments in N[sub 2] atmosphere carried out not only after, but also before ion implantation, were particularly useful in order to lower the concentration of TSL active defects. This can be interpreted as a role of N[sub 2] annealing in favoring a structural rearrangement of the SiO[sub 2] layers. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-ray excited luminescence spectra, wavelength-resolved thermoluminescence glow curves, ultraviolet and [sup 22]Na excited emission decays, and [sup 60]Co excited light yield were measured on a set of high purity (99.9999%) PbWO[sub 4]:X (X=Lu[sup 3+], Y[sup 3+], Gd[sup 3+], Sc[sup 3+], Nb[sup 5+], Pb[sup 2+]) samples grown in an equivalent way. Positive influence of trivalent doping (Lu, Gd, Y) was noted, which consists in suppressing the deeper trapping states in the PbWO[sub 4] structure. Such states are related to the radiative recombination processes in the green and red part of the spectra. The presence of the green emission centers also results in the increase of the slow recombination decay components in the microsecond time scale. High concentration of the dopant ions (670 atomic ppm for PbWO[sub 4]:Nb) results in the creation of new nonradiative recombination sites, which suppress the recombination decay components and the light yield as well. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promotion of Cultural Heritage (CH) goods has become a major challenges over the last years. CH goods promote economic development, notably through cultural and creative industries and tourism. Thus, an effective planning of archaeological, cultural, artistic and architectural sites within the territory make CH goods easily accessible. A way of adding value to these services is making them capable of providing, using new technologies, a more immersive and stimulating fruition of information. In this light, an effective contribution can be provided by sentiment analysis. The sentiment related to a monument can be used for its evaluation considering that if it is positive, it influences its public image by increasing its value. This work introduces an approach to estimate the sentiment of Social Media pictures CH related. The sentiment of a picture is identified by an especially trained Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN); aftewards, we compared the performance of three DCNNs: VGG16, ResNet and InceptionResNet. It is interesting to observe how these three different architectures are able to correctly evaluate the sentiment of an image referred to a ancient monument, historical buildings, archaeological sites, museum objects, and more. Our approach has been applied to a newly collected dataset of pictures from Instagram, which shows CH goods included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural Heritage is a testimony of past human activity, and, as such, its objects exhibit great variety in their nature, size and complexity; from small artefacts and museum items to cultural landscapes, from historical building and ancient monuments to city centers and archaeological sites. Cultural Heritage around the globe suffers from wars, natural disasters and human negligence. The importance of digital documentation is well recognized and there is an increasing pressure to document our heritage both nationally and internationally. For this reason, the three-dimensional scanning and modeling of sites and artifacts of cultural heritage have remarkably increased in recent years. The semantic segmentation of point clouds is an essential step of the entire pipeline; in fact, it allows to decompose complex architectures in single elements, which are then enriched with meaningful information within Building Information Modelling software. Notwithstanding, this step is very time consuming and completely entrusted on the manual work of domain experts, far from being automatized. This work describes a method to label and cluster automatically a point cloud based on a supervised Deep Learning approach, using a state-of-the-art Neural Network called PointNet++. Despite other methods are known, we have choose PointNet++ as it reached significant results for classifying and segmenting 3D point clouds. PointNet++ has been tested and improved, by training the network with annotated point clouds coming from a real survey and to evaluate how performance changes according to the input training data. It can result of great interest for the research community dealing with the point cloud semantic segmentation, since it makes public a labelled dataset of CH elements for further tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The ability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to infect, proliferate, and survive during long periods in the human lungs largely depends on the rigorous control of gene expression. Transcriptome-wide analyses are key to understanding gene regulation on a global scale. Here, we combine 5′-end-directed libraries with RNAseq expression libraries to gain insight into the transcriptome organization and post-transcriptional mRNA cleavage landscape in mycobacteria during log phase growth and under hypoxia, a physiologically relevant stress condition. Using the model organism Mycobacterium smegmatis , we identified 6,090 transcription start sites (TSSs) with high confidence during log phase growth, of which 67% were categorized as primary TSSs for annotated genes, and the remaining were classified as internal, antisense, or orphan, according to their genomic context. Interestingly, over 25% of the RNA transcripts lack a leader sequence, and of the coding sequences that do have leaders, 53% lack a strong consensus Shine-Dalgarno site. This indicates that like M. tuberculosis , M. smegmatis can initiate translation through multiple mechanisms. Our approach also allowed us to identify over 3,000 RNA cleavage sites, which occur at a novel sequence motif. To our knowledge, this represents the first report of a transcriptome-wide RNA cleavage site map in mycobacteria. The cleavage sites show a positional bias toward mRNA regulatory regions, highlighting the importance of post-transcriptional regulation in gene expression. We show that in low oxygen, a condition associated with the host environment during infection, mycobacteria change their transcriptomic profiles and endonucleolytic RNA cleavage is markedly reduced, suggesting a mechanistic explanation for previous reports of increased mRNA half-lives in response to stress. In addition, a number of TSSs were triggered in hypoxia, 56 of which contain the binding motif for the sigma factor SigF in their promoter regions. This suggests that SigF makes direct contributions to transcriptomic remodeling in hypoxia-challenged mycobacteria. Taken together, our data provide a foundation for further study of both transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation in mycobacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Introduction: Several authors have underlined the limits of morphological analysis mostly in the diagnosis of follicular neoplasms (FN). The application of ancillary techniques, including immunocytochemistry (ICC) and molecular testing, contributes to a better definition of the risk of malignancy (ROM) and management of FN. According to literature, the application of models, including the evaluation of ICC, somatic mutations (ie, BRAFV600E), micro RNA analysis is proposed for FNs. This study discusses the validation of a diagnostic algorithm in FN with a special focus on the role of morphology then followed by ancillary techniques. Methods: From June 2014 to January 2016, we enrolled 37 FNs with histological follow‐up. In the same reference period, 20 benign nodules and 20 positive for malignancy were selected as control. ICC, BRAFV600E mutation and miR‐375 were carried out on LBC. Results: The 37 FNs included 14 atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance and 23 FN. Specifically, atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance resulted in three goitres, 10 follicular adenomas and one NIFTP whereas FN/suspicious for FN by seven follicular adenomas and 16 malignancies (nine non‐invasive follicular thyroid neoplasms with papillary‐like nuclear features, two invasive follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma [PTC] and five PTC). The 20 positive for malignancy samples included two invasive follicular variant of PTC, 16 PTCs and two medullary carcinomas. The morphological features of BRAFV600E mutation (nuclear features of PTC and moderate/abundant eosinophilic cytoplasms) were associated with 100% ROM. In the wild type cases, ROM was 83.3% in presence of a concordant positive ICC panel whilst significantly lower (10.5%) in a negative concordant ICC. High expression values of MirR‐375 provided 100% ROM. Conclusions: The adoption of an algorithm might represent the best choice for the correct diagnosis of FNs. The morphological detection of BRAFV600E represents the first step for the identification of malignant FNs. A significant reduction of unnecessary thyroidectomies is the goal of this application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the changes in the absorption spectra induced by Co60 irradiation and temperature annealing for selected PbWO4 crystals. Shaping of the absorption spectrum by four color centers; Thermoluminescence (TSL) glow curves above room temperature; Determination of trap levels resulting from irradiation; Correlation between results obtained by TSL and Co60 irradiation induced absorption changes.

Examines the radiation-induced conductivity (RIC) of as-grown and electrodiffused synthetic quartz. Comparison between RIC and phosphorescence time dependence; Details of several proposed annealing mechanism for RIC; Analysis of the effectiveness of electrodiffusion.

Summary: Paraguay has registered no human cases of rabies since 2004, and the last case in dogs, reported in 2009, was due to a variant maintained in the common vampire bat “Desmodus rotundus”. In 2014, a dog was diagnosed as positive for rabies with aggression towards a boy and all required measures of control were successfully adopted. Epidemiological investigation revealed that the dog was not vaccinated and had been attacked by a crab‐eating fox, “zorro” (Cerdocyon thous). The sample was diagnosed by the Official Veterinary Service of the Country and sent to the Center on Rabies Research from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, for antigenic and genetic characterization. A second sample from a dog positive for rabies in the same region in 2015 and 11 samples from a rabies outbreak from Asuncion in 1996 were also characterized. The antigenic profile of the samples, AgV2, was compatible with one of the variants maintained by dogs in Latin America. In genetic characterization, the samples segregated in the canine (domestic and wild species)‐related group in an independent subgroup that also included samples from Argentina. These results and the epidemiology of the case indicate that even with the control of rabies in domestic animals, the virus can still circulate in wildlife and may be transmitted to domestic animals and humans, demonstrating the importance of continuous and improved surveillance and control of rabies, including in wild species, to prevent outbreaks in controlled areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction:Sex workers and their customers are the high risk group population that potentially transmitting sexually transmitted diseases including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). This research aims to describe the preventive behavior of female sex workers in preventing transmission of STDs and HIV in Gambilangu Semarang Localization.Methods:This research was qualitative study, The 5 participants of this study were female sex workers who still active in Localization within the period of 2016-2017. Results: The behavior of female sex workers on the prevention of STDs and HIV, were identified as: all participants always offered condoms to cliens before sexual transactions, all the participants negotiated the clients to use condom before having sexual intercourse, all participants rejected firmly to have sex with the client suspected having STDs yet reluctan to use condoms, most participants washed the vagina using betel soap, consuming herbs and antibiotics without a medical prescription that they believed it could prevent STDs. Conclusion: Participants' behavior in prevention of STIs, HIV and AIDS ie, will try to seduce again when clients refuse to do the preventive activities and also the perception of the participants on STIs, HIV and AIDS is lack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work; we investigated the differential interaction of amphiphilic antimicrobial peptides with 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) lipid structures by means of extensive molecular dynamics simulations. By using a coarse-grained (CG) model within the MARTINI force field; we simulated the peptide-lipid system from three different initial configurations: (a) peptides in water in the presence of a pre-equilibrated lipid bilayer; (b) peptides inside the hydrophobic core of the membrane; and (c) random configurations that allow self-assembled molecular structures. This last approach allowed us to sample the structural space of the systems and consider cooperative effects. The peptides used in our simulations are aurein 1.2 and maculatin 1.1; two well-known antimicrobial peptides from the Australian tree frogs; and molecules that present different membrane-perturbing behaviors. Our results showed differential behaviors for each type of peptide seen in a different organization that could guide a molecular interpretation of the experimental data. While both peptides are capable of forming membrane aggregates; the aurein 1.2 ones have a pore-like structure and exhibit a higher level of organization than those conformed by maculatin 1.1. Furthermore; maculatin 1.1 has a strong tendency to form clusters and induce curvature at low peptide-lipid ratios. The exploration of the possible lipid-peptide structures; as the one carried out here; could be a good tool for recognizing specific configurations that should be further studied with more sophisticated methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 10-month-old, intact male domestic shorthair cat with gait abnormality was referred for anatomical tomographic characterisation of supernumerary hindlimbs. Laterally to the right obturator foramen the accessory limb was articulated with an abnormal second acetabular cavity ( I pygomelia i ) (Fig 1C, D). Laterally to the right obturator foramen the right complete accessory limb is articulated with an abnormal second acetabular cavity (pygomelia) (B - white arrow). [Extracted from the article]