Search results for "sequence"

Rebuilding Palermo in the Middle Ages: A Virtual Approach

2020

A long sequence of demolitions, transformations, interpretative restorations eliminated or compromised a series of civil and religious buildings built between the XII and early XVI centuries in Palermo. For many of these architectures, graphic, photographic and documentary evidence exists and can be found. Within an extensive project of the Department of Architecture of the University of Palermo, based on the collaboration between different disciplines, we intend to offer an essay of the possible results that the synergy between historical research and representation can offer. Chosen case is a fifteenth-century civil building located in the San Francesco district, of which some fragments r…

Lactococcal 949 group phages recognize a carbohydrate receptor on the host cell surface

2015

ABSTRACT Lactococcal bacteriophages represent one of the leading causes of dairy fermentation failure and product inconsistencies. A new member of the lactococcal 949 phage group, named WRP3, was isolated from cheese whey from a Sicilian factory in 2011. The genome sequence of this phage was determined, and it constitutes the largest lactococcal phage genome currently known, at 130,008 bp. Detailed bioinformatic analysis of the genomic region encoding the presumed initiator complex and baseplate of WRP3 has aided in the functional assignment of several open reading frames (ORFs), particularly that for the receptor binding protein required for host recognition. Furthermore, we demonstrate th…

A Posture Sequence Learning System for an Anthropomorphic Robotic Hand

2003

The paper presents a cognitive architecture for posture learning of an anthropomorphic robotic hand. Our approach is aimed to allow the robotic system to perform complex perceptual operations, to interact with an human user and to integrate the perceptions by a cognitive representation of the scene and the observed actions. The anthropomorphic robotic hand imitates the gestures acquired by the vision system in order to learn meaningful movements, to build its knowledge by different conceptual spaces and to perform complex interaction with the human operator.

Vitamin A deficiency alters the structure and collagen IV composition of rat renal basement membranes.

2005

Retinoids can modulate the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins with variable results depending on other contributing factors. Because changes in these proteins may alter the composition and impair the function of specialized ECM structures such as basement membranes (BMs), we studied the effects of vitamin A deficiency on renal BMs during the growing period. Newborn male rats were fed a vitamin A-deficient (VAD) diet for 50 d. The ultrastructure of renal BMs was analyzed by electron microscopy. Total collagen IV, the different alpha(IV) chains, matrix degrading metalloproteinases (MMP), and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP) were quantified by immunocytochemistry a…

Dynamic properties of some β-chain mutant hemoglobins

1995

The thermal behavior of the Soret band relative to the carbonmonoxy derivatives of some beta-chain mutant hemoglobins is studied in the temperature range 300-10 K and compared to that of wild-type carbonmonoxy hemoglobin. The band profile at various temperatures is modeled as a Voigt function that accounts for homogeneous broadening and for the coupling with high- and low-frequency vibrational modes, while inhomogeneous broadening is taken into account with a gaussian distribution of purely electronic transition frequencies. The various contributions to the over-all bandwidth are singled out with this analysis and their temperature dependence, in turn, gives information on structural and dy…

Rate of clay mineral, poorly cristalline and crystalline oxy-hydroxide formation and humus development in volcanic soils of Etna (Sicily).

2006

Mosaic activating mutations in GNA11 and GNAQ are associated with phakomatosis pigmentovascularis and extensive dermal melanocytosis

2016

Common birthmarks can be an indicator of underlying genetic disease but are often overlooked. Mongolian blue spots (dermal melanocytosis) are usually localized and transient, but they can be extensive, permanent, and associated with extracutaneous abnormalities. Co-occurrence with vascular birthmarks defines a subtype of phakomatosis pigmentovascularis, a group of syndromes associated with neurovascular, ophthalmological, overgrowth, and malignant complications. Here, we discover that extensive dermal melanocytosis and phakomatosis pigmentovascularis are associated with activating mutations in GNA11 and GNAQ, genes that encode Gα subunits of heterotrimeric G proteins. The mutations were det…

Pyrosequencing vs. culture-dependent approaches to analyze lactic acid bacteria associated to chicha, a traditional maize-based fermented beverage fr…

2015

The diversity of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) associated with chicha, a traditional maize-based fermented alcoholicbeverage from Northwestern Argentina, was analyzed using culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches.Samples corresponding to 10 production steps were obtained from two local producers at Maimará(chicha M) and Tumbaya (chicha T). Whereas by culture-dependent approach a few number of species(Lactobacillus plantarum and Weissella viridescens in chicha M, and Enterococcus faecium and Leuconostocmesenteroides in chicha T) were identified, a higher quantitative distribution of taxa was found in both beveragesby pyrosequencing. The relative abundance of OTUs was higher in chic…

A mediterranean perspective of the neolithization process. The cave of Nerja in the context of andalusia (Spain)

2013

[EN] This paper offers an overview for the Early Neolithic of the southern coast of Andalusia (Spain). Analyses of materials recovered during the 1979-87 excavations in Nerja cave by professor Francisco Jordá Cerdá, including new radiocarbon dates on domestic taxa, allow us to examine the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. Paleoenvironmental and paleoeconomic data (stratigraphy and bioarcheological data) combined with archaeological data (ornaments, bone tools, lithics, and ceramics were analysed) to provide a regional perspective on the neolithisation of the western Mediterranean. There is an apparent 500-year gap between occupations by the last coastal foragers and the earliest Neolithic fa…

ViR: a tool to account for intrasample variability in the detection of viral integrations

2020

ABSTRACTLateral gene transfer (LT) from viruses to eukaryotic cells is a well-recognized phenomenon. Somatic integrations of viruses have been linked to persistent viral infection and genotoxic effects, including various types of cancer. As a consequence, several bioinformatic tools have been developed to identify viral sequences integrated into the human genome. Viral sequences that integrate into germline cells can be transmitted vertically, be maintained in host genomes and be co-opted for host functions. Endogenous viral elements (EVEs) have long been known, but the extent of their widespread occurrence has only been recently appreciated. Modern genomic sequencing analyses showed that e…