Focus

Oil eating marine bacteria, new perspectives for bioremediation

2004
However, there are many sources of oil pollution in the ocean other than tanker and oil rig accidents. Human activity on the land and natural seeps as well as municipal and industrial waste discharge. Progress in bioremediation have allowed the discovery of a fascinating new group of marine bacteria, namely the hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (HCB), that play a critical role in the natural cleansing of marine systems and obviously have a biotechnological potential. The HCB are marine obligate ...

Identificazione di Geni associati a Malattie Multifattoriali attraverso lo studio di isolati genetici

2004
L'Istituto di Genetica delle Popolazioni del CNR conduce dal 1995 un progetto di ricerca multidisciplinare per l'identificazione di geni predisponenti alle malattie multifattoriali e ai tratti complessi attraverso lo studio di isolati genetici della Sardegna ed in particolare la regione Ogliastra. Tali isolati sono stati caratterizzati dal punto di vista epidemiologico, genealogico e genetico. L'identificazione di geni associati a fenotipi patologici in tali popolazioni non è solo importante ...

Identification of genes associated to multifactorial diseases and Quantitative Traits through the study of genetic isolates

2003
The Population Genetics Institute carries on since 1995 a multidisciplinary project for the identification of genes predisposing to multifactorial diseases and to complex traits. This project is conducted in the villages of the Ogliastra geographic isolate of central-eastern Sardinia. These villages are examined under the epidemiological, genealogical, genetic, molecular and statistical profile. The identification of genes associated with pathological phenotypes in such populations is ...

Caenorhabditis elegans as a model to study bitter taste: identification of neurons and molecules involved in detection and avoidance of repellent stimuli

2003
Detection of water-soluble substances present in the environment is commonly defined as taste and is crucial for animal's survival. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans repellents trigger an avoidance reaction, consisting in a reversal of the forward movement. We developed a quantitative single worm assay for this behavior and showed that many repellents, which induce an avoidance reaction in the nematode, are toxic to animals, are recognized as bitter by humans and are discarded in double ...

Clinical Application of Laser Welding in Cornea Transplant

2003
Welding of biological tissues induced by laser radiation can integrate or substitute traditional suturing procedures employed in various surgical fields, with remarkable advantages, such as simplification of the surgical technique, reduction of the surgery time, and faster healing process of the wound, without the typical foreign-body reaction caused the presence of the suture wire. Regarding development and application of laser welding techniques in ophthalmic surgery studies were started in ...

An Early Warning System for Light Damage in Museums and Exhibitions

2003
Works of art cannot be appreciated without light, but light is also one of the most powerful parameters in altering colour and so causing irreversible damage. Therefore, a compromise has to be found that can balance visitor's requirements and object's safety. It is known that the damage increases with the length of exposure and the irradiance. Rather than limiting the time of exposure for each object, it is advisable to monitor the lighting conditions on site. A continuous monitoring program for ...

Development of nitrogen fixing root nodules: the rhizobium-legume symbiotic interaction

2003
Plants normally acquire nitrogen from the soil, but leguminous plants are almost independent of soil N due to a beneficial association with rhizobia bacteria that induce the formation of N fixing root nodules. During symbiosis bacteria invade developing nodules and within a group of invaded plant cells, differentiate into intracellular bacteroids. A single or few bacteroids surrounded by a plant membrane form organelle-like structures, the symbiosome, which convert the unusable N2 of the air ...

Autofluorescence as an intrinsic parameter of cell and tissue suitable for diagnostic purposes

2003
Most of the substances involved both in the organization and the functional-metabolic aspects of biological material can act as fluorophores, giving rise to a fluorescence emission under excitation at suitable wavelengths. The properties of this fluorescence signal are strictly related to the chemical nature and the concentration of the endogenous fluorophores, to their distribution inside the biological substrate, and to the physico-chemical characteristics of their microenvironment. On ...

-

2003
La comprensione dei processi geodinamici e l'analisi dei fattori che ne influenzano l'evoluzione rappresenta un traguardo fondamentale nell'ambito delle Scienze della Terra. Tra i vari processi, l'estensione continentale e la formazione delle rift valleys riveste un ruolo di notevole importanza in quanto precede la formazione dei bacini oceanici. L'importanza delle aree di estensione crostale è inoltre legata alla presenza di giacimenti minerari e idrocarburi ed all'elevato impatto sociale ...

BVOC (Biogenic volatile organic compound) emission responses to climate change

2003
All plants emit a wide range of volatile compounds such as nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, and non-methane volatile organic compounds, the so-called biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC). BVOC emissions have received increased scientific attention in the last two decades because BVOCs are highly reactive and, thus, may profoundly influence the chemical and physical properties of the atmosphere. The global carbon emitted as BVOCs is about 1.1 Pg per year, and is believed to be of the same ...

The large landslides occurred in December 2002 on the Sciara del Fuoco (Stromboli)

2003
On December 30th 2002 the inhabited coastal areas of Stromboli Island were hit by a series of tsunami waves up to 10 metre high. Tsunami waves were the effect of at least two destructive landslides which involved the submarine and subaerial Sciara del Fuoco slope, respectively. Sciara del Fuoco is the NW flank of the Stromboli volcano, where the products of the volcanic activity accumulate. At present the NW flank looks like a regular slope above and below the sea level. Actually it is the ...

Stress evaluation in ornamental stone quarries

2003
Marble exploitation in the Apuane Alps gives rise to rock wall faces and underground voids of uncommon size and shape. The trend towards gigantism in quarry operations (the height of the faces increases up to 150m, the length of underground voids to 80-120m, their height to 30-50m and their span to 20-40m) is sustained by the higher outputs required and favored by the growing mechanization of the stopes. It is known however that ornamental stones exploitation, both surface and underground, is ...

Mercury Pollution

2003
Recent news of mercury contamination in the Priolo-Agusta-Melilli industrial zone (Sicily) brought to public attention the seriousness of mercury pollution on human health and ecosystems. Mercury pollution is a long standing environmental problem, going back to the 19th century, starting with mercury used in gold extraction in North America; this practice is still widely used in Laos, Vietnam, Tanzania and Venezuela today. Mercury is much used in the manufacturing industry (eg., chlor-alkali ...

RET AS A TARGET FOR THYROID CANCER

2003
Receptors for growth factors are membrane proteins that are activated by binding to the ligand. Ligand activation causes swichting on receptor enzimatic function, consisting in transfer of a phosphate group from ATP to specific tyrosine residues contained either on the receptor itself or on external protein substrates. The phosphorylation event induces a signal cascade that leads to cellular proliferation and/or survival. Therefore any perturbation of such a system can lead to neoplastic ...

SOCRATES & CO(MPUTER). New research.tools in ancient philosophy

2003
The ever more strong presence of information technology is decisive for the elaboration of new styles of research, for the production, storage and diffusion of texts and, last but not least, also for the modalities of teaching and learning in the field of Humanities. Such a radical change of perspectives and languages is obviously at work also for the possible interconnections between digital innovations and studies on ancient philosophy. Taken for granted such basic considerations, the 'Sezione ...

Integrated Laboratory of Surface Tensiometry

2003
In recent years, a specific Laboratory for Surface Tensiometry has been built and organised at IENI- Dept. of Genoa, with characteristics of a particular interest at an international level. In this infrastructure, which can be defined as an "Infrastructural Center open for services to a wide Scientific Community" can offer support both experimental and scientific for measurements of Surface and Interface tensions, wettability, elasticity and surface rheology in a temperature range which span ...

The first collection of G. W. Leibniz's scientific and philosophical essais

2003
Si conclude il progetto di raccogliere per la prima volta in un corpus unico i saggi scientifici e filosofici pubblicati da G. W. Leibniz durante la sua vita, con la loro pubblicazione da parte della casa editrice internazionale Olms (A. Lamarra, R. Palaia (ed.), G. W. Leibniz, Essais scientifiques et philosophiques. Les articles publiés dans les journaux savants. Avec une préface de Heinrich Schepers, Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim/New York, 3 voll.). Come è noto, il filosofo diede alle ...

R&D in the field of mm-waves applications to tokamak plasmas

2003
Introduction The European Fusion Development Agency (EFDA), in the strive to develop the first international reactor-tokamak experiment (ITER) of controlled fusion energy production is placing a large number of active (i.e. financially supported) scientific and technical study contracts to the Associated Laboratories within Europe. A specific very important subject concerns the auxiliary plasma heating system based on the injection of high power millimiter waves resonantly absorbed at the ...

Experiments and models of heat transport in tokamaks

2003
Introduction The fundamental problem of nuclear fusion research based on magnetic confinement of a plasma of Deuterium and Tritium is the achievement of a high temperature (~100 Million deg. Kelvin) to allow the energy yielding fusion reactions to occur, and keeping the temperature for a sufficiently long "energy confinement time". The problem motivates the study of both experimental techniques and first principle theories to improve the operation regimes of tokamaks in view of an optimal ...

Organic light emitting diodes (OLED): new limits to efficiency

2003
Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are considered as the next generation of light sources for illumination. They are lighter, thinner, more efficient and easier for large area applications than usual LEDs. In addition, OLEDS offer wide tunability over a broad spectral coverage, by varying the chemical structure of the emissive species or by modifying the device structures. This work identifies for the first time the fundamental process occurring in polymeric light emitting devices by ...

Silicon/germanium single electron transistor

2003
In this focus we will report on the first single electron transistors (SET) fabricated on silicon/germanium heterostructures whose critical dimensions are in the nanometer scale. The evolution of fabrication techniques in large scale integrated circuit (LSI) have lead to reduction of the size of the electronic devices into the submicron scale. In parallel a large increase in the circuit operating speed and device density is observed. CMOS technology is presently used in microelectronics and ...

High-enthalpy hypersonic tunnel

2003
A new pulse tunnel based on a free piston compressor is operative at CNR-IENI-Milano, in which flight conditions up to Mach 7 can be simulated. The facility allows experimental studies of combustion in supersonic flows and tests on small scale models of propulsion systems for hypersonic cruise vehicles or reusable launchers. A number of test have been scheduled for developing reliable end efficient design of ramjet and scramjet combustion chambers and studying the rocket plumes post-combustion ...

Induction of dendritic spines by an extracellular domain of AMPA receptor subunit GluR2

2003
The neurons in our brain communicate with one another through specialized structures called synapses. In certain types of neuron, synapses sit on spiny protrusions. These spines are more than just structural protuberances: it seems that spine growth can be induced by stimulating neurons, indicating that changes in spine density may reflect changes in the synaptic activity -- and hence the computational power -- of individual neurons. Spines are associated mainly with excitatory postsynaptic ...

Promotion and coordination of the GSOMEN project (EC FP6 STRP)

2003
Transition metal nanoclusters (i.e., self-assembled particles less than 10-100 nm in diameter) have gained increasing attention in science and application in the last several years, due to the observation of properties that are unique to the nanoscale domain. A considerable body of knowledge has been accumulated on these materials showing that they have many fascinating potential uses, including quantum dots, quantum computers and devices, data storage devices, nanoscale ferromagnets, ...

A LIGHT ON THE COLOURS OF THE PAST: SPECTROSCOPIC INVESTIGATION OF A ROMAN AMPHORYSKOS

2003
The use of coloured materials has represented the deep necessity for a more defined representation of reality and for an enrichment of images. This use improves as time goes together with the development of knowledge and experience until nowadays. A number of different coloured substances, organic and inorganic one, has been used in the time to realize decorations on every kind of objects: amphoras, glass materials, medieval manuscripts, wall paint and so on. Nevertheless, the ...

Non-linear FEM analysis of a Crawler Excavator Cab

2003
The investigation was aimed at evaluating the structural response of existing crawler excavator cab to the loads imposed by the ROPS test as proposed in the revision of ISO 12117 (TOPS) as drafted in Doc. ISO/TC 127/SC2 WG5 N4. Though it is clearly understood that the analysis shows limits imposed by the model size and that the geometry will be significantly simplified, this investigation should highlight problems, limits and constraints in the procedure proposed by the standards being ...

Development of the technological steps for the realization of a Si-based micro-fuel-cell.

2003
Conventional batteries are already unable to deliver power in more and more shrunk volumes maintaining the requirements of long duration and light weight. A possible solution to overcome these limits is the use of miniaturised fuel cell. The fuel cell offers a greater gravimetric energy density compared to conventional batteries. They are typically realised using an electrolyte material, usually a polymer membrane (proton exchange type), that is encapsulated between electrodes. Fuel cell ...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi: Snapshots 2004

2003
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM) are indeed mysterious and still surprising organisms. Plenty of papers have recently provided new insights on these organisms. The classification of AM fungi has been reviewed even if it's still under debate. The phosphate transporters in AM fungi and their impact on the phosphate transfer in plant is giving new exciting glances to a crucial step of plant physiology. Other fundamental aspects, such as lipids and carbohydrates metabolism and C translocation, have ...

BDNF PRESERVES THE PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF AXOTOMIZED GENICULATE NEURONS

2003
The neurotrophic factors of the nerve growth factor family (neurotrophins) have been shown to promote neuronal survival after brain injury and in various models of neurodegenerative conditions. However, delivery of neurotrophins to the brain is problematic because these factors do not cross the blood-brain barrier. In addition, it has never been determined whether neurotrophin treatment results in the maintenance of function of the rescued cells. In a paper appeared in the Journal of ...

The beginning of SRT construction

2003
Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) is the main project of the Istituto di Radioastronomia (IRA), aimed to build one of the world largest single dish radio telescopes. The instrument, a 64m dish of modern design, is intended to operate with multi focal postions in order to cover almost the full frequency spectrum between 300 MHz and 100 GHz. The site is about 30 km from Cagliari, main city in Sardinia Island. SRT will joint the Medicina (Bologna) and Noto (Siracusa) IRA radio telescopes to complete ...