Search results for "Prospecting"
showing 10 items of 27 documents
Survival of immediately versus delayed loaded short implants: a prospective case series study
2015
Background: To assess and compare survival rates of immediately and delayed loaded short implants (7 mm) in free ends of a partially edentulous jaw with moderate-severe alveolar bone resorption. Material and Methods: 24 patients with atrophic edentulous free-ends were included in this prospective study. Four study groups were monitored monthly and their behavior was evaluated: bridges supported only by short implants and mixed short and long implant bridge groups, both with immediate and delayed loading. Failures, bone loss, probing depth and bleeding on probing were evaluated. Results: 54 Mk III Shorty TiU and 15 Brånemark System®MK III TiU implants with a length longer than 7mm were inclu…
Porifera a reference phylum for evolution and bioprospecting: the power of marine genomics
2005
The term Urmetazoa, as the hypothetical metazoan ancestor, was introduced to highlight the finding that all metazoan phyla including the Porifera [sponges] derived from one common ancestor. Analyses of sponge genomes, from Demospongiae, Calcarea and Hexactinellida have permitted the reconstruction of the evolutionary trail from Fungi to Metazoa. This has provided evidence that the characteristic evolutionary novelties of Metazoa existing in Porifera share high sequence similarities and in some aspects also functional similarities to related polypeptides found in other metazoan phyla. It is surprising that the genome of Porifera is large and comprises substantially more genes than Protostomi…
From genes to microbial consortia: multi-level bioprospecting of natural and artificial environments
2017
Microbial bioprospecting is the identification of microorganisms, genes, enzymes, and/or metabolic pathways with biotechnological applications in industry or in research itself. This thesis aimed at bioprospecting a range of unexplored, natural and artificial environments subjected to harsh physicochemical conditions by applying a multi-level strategy. The microbial communities were analyzed in a first step by means of metagenomic sequencing, which yielded an extensive catalog of the microbial species and/or genes occurring in the community, and allowed the ecological contextualization of new habitats. Culturing in artificial media was used as a complementary approach in order to isolate, s…
Tripotential data processing for HES interpretation
1994
In this paper some methods are proposed and compared to correct the experimental measurements for preliminary processing of tripotential data which are acquired for HES prospecting. However, the use of those methods should be based upon an accurate analysis of all experimental data. Such an analysis ought to involve: 1) an estimate of the averaged measurement errors with their variance and distribution in both the space and the three apparent-resistivities domains; 2) the choice of a resistivity model capable of describing the actual volume under study. The differences among the three values of apparent resistivity measured on a point are generally influenced both by the resistivity distrib…
Geoelectrical study of archaeological structures in the Himera plane (North-western Sicily)
1996
This paper presents the results obtained from a geoelectrical study carried out on the Himera plane for archaeological research. Both the tripotential method and the dipole-dipole profile method have been used on a 40 m ´ 40 m investigation area in order to obtain several resistivity maps. The latter show different geoelectrical anomalies, the shape of which allows us to interpret simple archaeological structures, consistent with current knowledge of ancient Himera sites. Furthermore, the study of the whole set of data in the resistivity domain has allowed us to infer some other characteristics from the subsequent geological process of alluvial covering of the site.
The structure of a hydrothermal system from an integrated geochemical, geophysical, and geological approach: The Ischia Island case study
2011
The complexity of volcano-hosted hydrothermal systems is such that thorough characterization requires extensive and interdisciplinary work. We use here an integrated multidisciplinary approach, combining geological investigations with hydrogeochemical and soil degassing prospecting, and resistivity surveys, to provide a comprehensive characterization of the shallow structure of the southwestern Ischia's hydrothermal system. We show that the investigated area is characterized by a structural setting that, although very complex, can be schematized in three sectors, namely, the extra caldera sector (ECS), caldera floor sector (CFS), and resurgent caldera sector (RCS). This contrasted structura…
"Imperial Networks, Colonial Bioprospecting and Burroughs Wellcome & Co.: The Case of Strophanthus Kombe from Malawi (1859-1915)"
2012
Recent research has begun to highlight the complex connections between colonialism, medical and scientific knowledge-production, and commercial interests. This article analyses colonial ‘bioprospecting’ through a case study of Strophanthus kombe. Used locally as an arrow poison, Strophanthus was ‘discovered’ in Malawi during David Livingstone’s Zambesi expedition. After investigation and experimentation it was subsequently used to produce a cardiac drug. The Malawian case study complements previous work on Strophanthus from West Africa. It uncovers the early Scottish-Central African networks that linked the Shire valley, (the source of Malawian kombe seeds) with medical research in Edinburg…
Bioprospecting the solar panel microbiome: High-throughput screening for antioxidant bacteria in a caenorhabditis elegansModel
2018
Microbial communities that are exposed to sunlight typically share a series of adaptations to deal with the radiation they are exposed to, including efficient DNA repair systems, pigment production and protection against oxidative stress, which makes these environments good candidates for the search of novel antioxidant microorganisms. In this research project, we isolated potential antioxidant pigmented bacteria from a dry and highly-irradiated extreme environment: solar panels. High-throughput in vivo assays using Caenorhabditis elegans as an experimental model demonstrated the high antioxidant and ultraviolet-protection properties of these bacterial isolates that proved to be rich in car…
A round trip to the desert: In situ nanopore sequencing informs targeted bioprospecting
2021
Bioprospecting expeditions are often performed in remote locations, in order to access previously unexplored samples. Nevertheless, the actual potential of those samples is only assessed once scientists are back in the laboratory, where a time-consuming screening must take place. This work evaluates the suitability of using Nanopore sequencing during a journey to the Tabernas Desert (Spain) for forecasting the potential of specific samples in terms of bacterial diversity and prevalence of radiation- and desiccation-resistant taxa, which were the target of the bioprospecting activities. Samples collected during the first day were analyzed through 16S rRNA gene sequencing using a mobile labor…
Out of the Abyss: Genome and Metagenome Mining Reveals Unexpected Environmental Distribution of Abyssomicins.
2020
AbstractNatural products have traditionally been discovered through the screening of culturable microbial isolates from all sort of environments. The sequencing revolution allowed the identification of dozens of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) within single bacterial genomes, either from cultured or uncultured strains. However, we are still far from fully exploiting the microbial reservoir, as most of the species are non-model organisms with complex regulatory systems and yet recalcitrant to be engineered. Today, genomic and metagenomic data produced by laboratories worldwide covering the most different natural and artificial environments on Earth, are an invaluable source of raw informat…