Search results for " SPECT"

A new method for the identification of archaeological soils by their spectral signatures in the vis-NIR region

2020

Abstract This paper introduces a statistical method to identify spectral signatures of buried archaeological remains and distinguish them from spectra of the background soil in the visible to near infrared region. The proposed method is based on the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The difference between an archaeological spectrum and non-archaeological soil spectra is quantified by a so-called R value. R values larger than 1 indicate that the spectrum represents an archaeological material. The method is successfully applied to samples from five study sites in Italy and Hungary with special conditions. The reflection spectra are taken in a time-efficient way with a field spectrometer. Th…

Effects of cooking on mollusk shell structure and chemistry: Implications for archeology and paleoenvironmental reconstruction

2016

Mollusk shells excavated from archeological sites have been used to reconstruct paleoenvironment, human foraging, and migratory patterns. To retrieve information on past environment or human behavior, chemical signatures such as oxygen stable isotopes (δ18Oshell) are analyzed. Shell archeological remains usually represent food waste. Thermal treatments such as boiling and roasting may influence shell structure and biochemical composition. However, little is known about the relationship between changes at macro-, microstructural and chemical levels. This work is a calibration study on modern Phorcus (Osilinus) turbinatus shells. A simulation of two different cooking methods (boiling and roas…

2017

We present a new multi-analytical approach to the characterization of black pigments in Spanish Levantine rock art. This new protocol seeks to identify the raw materials that were used, as well as reconstruct the different technical gestures and decision-making processes involved in the obtaining of these black pigments. For the first of these goals, the pictorial matter of the black figurative motifs documented at the Les Dogues rock art shelter (Ares del Maestre, Castellon, Spain) was characterized through the combination of physicochemical and archeobotanical analyses. During the first stage of our research protocol, in situ and non-destructive analyses were carried out by means of porta…

Burned bones forensic investigations employing near infrared spectroscopy

2017

The use of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was evaluated, by using chemometric tools, for the study of the environmental impact on burned bones. Spectra of internal and external parts of burned bones, together with sediment samples, were treated by Principal Component Analysis and cluster classification as exploratory techniques to select burned bone samples, less affected by environmental processes, to properly carry out forensic studies. Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis was used to build a model to classify bone samples based on their burning conditions, providing an efficient and accurate method to discern calcined and carbonized bone. Additionally, Partial Least Square regres…

Floral scent in a sexually deceptive Ophrys orchid: from headspace collections to solvent extractions

2018

Sexually deceptive orchid flowers use visual, tactile and olfactory cues of female insects in order to attract males of one or a few closely related species as pollinators. Ophrys L. is the most species-rich genus of sexually deceptive orchids in the Mediterranean Basin. Despite Ophrys pollinated by Andrena male bees use alkanes and mainly alkenes with specific double-bond positions as key signals that trigger pseudocopulatory behavior, some volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with low molecular weight were found as long-range attractants non-eliciting copulatory behavior. Since floral scents in Ophrys have been extensively studied by solvent extractions here we aimed to understand which flor…

Medicinal mushrooms: Valuable biological resources of high exploitation potential

2017

Higher Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes mushrooms possess various immunological and anticancer properties. They also offer important health benefits and exhibit a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, cytotoxic, immunomodulating, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antiallergic, antidepressive, antihyperlipidemic, antidiabetic, digestive, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, nephroprotective, osteoprotective, and hypotensive activities. This minireview summarizes the perspectives, recent advances, and major challenges of medicinal mushrooms with reference to their nutraceutical properties and dietary value, the production of mushroom biomass …

Mycorrhizal symbiosis primes the accumulation of antiherbivore compounds and enhances herbivore mortality in tomato

2021

Abstract Plant association with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can increase their ability to overcome multiple stresses, but their impact on plant interactions with herbivorous insects is controversial. Here we show higher mortality of the leaf-chewer Spodoptera exigua when fed on tomato plants colonized by the AMF Funneliformis mosseae, evidencing mycorrhiza-induced resistance. In search of the underlying mechanisms, an untargeted metabolomic analysis through ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) was performed. The results showed that mycorrhizal symbiosis had a very limited impact on the leaf metabolome in the absence of stress, but significantly m…

The problem of misidentification between edible and poisonous wild plants: Reports from the Mediterranean area

2018

Abstract Today, in many European countries, people are looking for wild edible plants to experience new tastes and flavors, by following the new trend of being green and environmentally friendly. Young borage and spinach leaves can be easily confused by inexpert pickers with those of other plants, including poisonous ones, such as Mandragora autumnalis Bertol. (mandrake) or Digitalis purpurea L. (foxglove), common in southern and northern Italy respectively. In the last twenty years, several cases of intoxication by accidental ingestion of mandrake and foxglove have been reported. The purpose of this work was to perform a pharmacognostic characterization of young leaves from borage, mandrak…

Fatty acids produced by Neofusicoccum vitifusiforme and N. Parvum, fungi associated with grapevine botryosphaeria dieback

2018

There is evidence that secondary metabolites are involved in the fungal pathogenicity and virulence of Neofusicoccum spp. Fatty acids may also influence the plant&ndash

The Odorant-Binding Proteins of the Spider Mite Tetranychus urticae

2021

Spider mites are one of the major agricultural pests, feeding on a large variety of plants. As a contribution to understanding chemical communication in these arthropods, we have characterized a recently discovered class of odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) in Tetranychus urticae. As in other species of Chelicerata, the four OBPs of T. urticae contain six conserved cysteines paired in a pattern (C1–C6, C2–C3, C4–C5) differing from that of insect counterparts (C1–C3, C2–C5, C4–C6). Proteomic analysis uncovered a second family of OBPs, including twelve members that are likely to be unique to T. urticae. A three-dimensional model of TurtOBP1, built on the recent X-ray structure of Varroa destruc…