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Digital Twin is conceived as a tool designed to monitor the effects of climate change and human activity on a global scale by integrating Earth Observation with local information. When applied to Cultural Heritage and built environment, this concept requires a detailed analysis to decode the richness of sites and context, highlighting specific local features. This paper aims to contribute to the preservation of the complexity of natural, agricultural, and designed landscapes, including the architectural scale. The case study is the Villa Arconati site in Castellazzo of Bollate, in the metropolitan-peri-urban area of Milan, which is a monumental 16th Century complex, with a significant historical and cultural value and an exceptional green biomass resource in a densely built area. The analysis is carried out at two scales, which complement each other: (i) an environmental-scale study that uses historical maps and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) analysis from the last two decades to monitor biodiversity transformations and highlight the level of conservation; (ii) a local-scale multi-sensor survey, which uses experimental equipment, such as a spherical camera, to extract 3D vegetation models - referred to historical views - to set conservation criteria of the landscape layout. The multi-temporal-scale analysis helps to define sustainable future management practices (such as FAR and PAS) and raises awareness among the community and the visitors about the importance of preserving both the historical and architectural value and the site's biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential of non-invasive in situ analytical techniques such as portable Raman, portable X-ray fluorescence, portable optical microscope and fibre optics reflectance spectroscopy has been shown studying painted layers of Renaissance terracotta polychrome sculptures belonging to the statuary of Santo Sepolcro Church in Milan. The results obtained allowed pointing out the contribution of these techniques to the compositional diagnostic, providing complete information, in some cases, better than micro-destructive techniques, on the kind of pigments used on the external painted layers. Moreover, a comparison with the results obtained before the last conservation work (2009) with micro-destructive techniques allowed ascertaining the removal of the external painted layers during the conservation operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study regarding the formations of various black layers on candoglia marble in the façade of the Milan, Italy Cathedral. Black layers were compared using optical and electron microscopy, x-ray spectrometry and micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It showed that there were 3 main types of black crusts such as black crust with decayed substrate, compact deposit, and black encrustation due to exogenic materials deposition.

Many tumors of endodermal origin are composed of highly secretory cancer cells that must adapt endoplasmic reticulum (ER) activity to enable proper folding of secreted proteins and prevent ER stress. We found that pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs) overexpress the myelin regulatory factor (MYRF), an ER membrane-associated transcription factor (TF) released by self-cleavage. MYRF was expressed in the well-differentiated secretory cancer cells, but not in the poorly differentiated quasi -mesenchymal cells that coexist in the same tumor. MYRF expression was controlled by the epithelial identity TF HNF1B, and it acted to fine-tune the expression of genes encoding highly glycosylated, cysteine-rich secretory proteins, thus preventing ER overload. MYRF-deficient PDAC cells showed signs of ER stress, impaired proliferation, and an inability to form spheroids in vitro , while in vivo they generated highly secretory but poorly proliferating and hypocellular tumors. These data indicate a role of MYRF in the control of ER homeostasis in highly secretory PDAC cells. • Human PDACs contain both well- and poorly differentiated cancer cells • Well-differentiated PDAC cells display high secretory activity and ER stress • The transcription factor MYRF is selectively expressed in well-differentiated PDACs • MYRF protects PDAC cells from ER overload and maintains homeostasis Milan, Balestrieri et al. show that high secretory activity is a distinctive feature of well-differentiated pancreatic cancer cells. In this context, the ER-associated transcription factor MYRF, which is released by autocatalytic cleavage, maintains ER integrity and prevents ER stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]