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• This study evaluates the assessment protocol of mesothelioma with SEM-EDS. • The quantity of asbestos fibres was evaluated by SEM. • The SEM-EDS allows to identify the mineralogical species of each fibre. • The microscopic analysis should be introduced in the evaluation protocol. This study evaluates the assessment protocol that allows the correlation between the development of mesothelioma to a specific exposure, with particular focus on investigations with Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersion Spectroscopy. This retrospective study includes 80 subjects who died from mesothelioma in the period 2001–2019. A judicial autopsy was performed for each case to confirm cause of death and correlate the disease with specific asbestos exposure. In 28 cases investigations were carried out to determine the pulmonary load of the asbestos fibres and corpuscles in the lung tissue through microscopic investigations, in order to confirm the suspicion of occupational exposure. Our data agree with the scientific literature reported, but it is interesting to underline how the present study uses a different systematic approach than others, which are mainly based on epidemiological and environmental studies without considering the lung content of fibres and corpuscles. It would be desirable that the use of the microscopic analysis was introduced in the evaluation protocol: it should always be carried out if the suspicion of asbestos-related disease is raised and not only as a possible integration to the less expensive anamnestic evaluation, even more so if the work or personal history should be suggestive of exposure to asbestos fibres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Analytical investigations using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), with Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (CP-MAS NMR), were carried out on white, yellow and red overpaintings on Apulian red-figured pottery fragments (4th century BC) from Altamura, Monte Sannace and Canosa – among the most relevant archaeological sites in ancient Peucetia – in order to outline technological features and define the nature of pigments. The results obtained allow us to highlight that Apulian objects have an external appearance which is very similar to Attic objects, but that they are nevertheless different, as they were made using locally available raw materials employing similar but not identical production technology. Perhaps familiarity, rather than real and proper continuity with the Attic pottery tradition, would explain the analytical results. Moreover, this paper proves that solid state nuclear magnetic spectroscopy (CP-MAS NMR) is a useful analytical tool for the examination of ancient pottery, which is also suitable for the identification of its firing temperature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We report the results of a study performed on several glass samples recovered after the destruction caused in Messina by the earthquake of 1908, and stored in the ‘Fiore’ deposit of the Regional Museum of Messina (Italy). The samples, still lacking a reliable classification, are glass cakes, some spare mosaic tesserae, and fragments of a well-dated mosaic (Mosaico dell’Angelo, XIII–XIV century A.D.). EPMA, SEM-EDS, XRPD and XAS were employed to provide a detailed chemical, mineralogical and spectroscopic characterization of the samples. The chemical analyses of major elements show high levels of K2O and MgO, as a result of the prevalent use of plant ashes as flux. The cakes are characterized by a large dispersion of Si, Al and Ca contents, suggesting the use of different starting raw materials. The most common crystalline phases used as opacifiers and colorants are quartz and wollastonite. Crystalline aggregates of SnO2 are present in the gray cakes, whereas PbSnO3 crystals are found in two green mosaic tesserae. All the red samples contain small clusters of metallic copper. On the basis of the chemical composition, it is possible to confirm that most of the samples were produced in the XIII–XIV century, while no specific conclusions were reached on the possible use of the glass cakes as raw glass materials for the production of the investigated mosaic tesserae. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]