L’ipotesi di Giulio Magli del Politecnico di Milano

I primi di novembre 2017 Nature ha pubblicato i risultati del progetto ScanPyramids degli archeologi guidati da Mehdi Tayoubi (Hip Institute, Parigi) e Kunihiro Morishima (Università di Nagoya, Giappone): esiste una “stanza segreta” lunga almeno 30 metri all’interno della Piramide di Cheope. Scoprirne la funzione e il contenuto sarà la sfida più appassionante in assoluto per gli archeologi. Giulio Magli, Direttore del Dipartimento di Matematica e docente di Archeoastronomia del Politecnico di Milano, ha formulato una delle prime ipotesi. “La Piramide di Cheope, costruita attorno al 2550 aC., e' uno dei monumenti piu' grandi e complessi della storia dell'architettura. Le sue camere interne sono accessibili tramite stretti condotti uno dei quali pero', prima di giungere alla camera funeraria, si allarga e si alza mprovvisamente formando la cosiddetta Grande Galleria – spiega Magli - La camera appena scoperta non ha una funzione pratica di "scarico del peso" che grava sopra la Grande Galleria, perchè il tetto della stessa fu gia' costruito con una tecnica a spiovente proprio per questo motivo”. Allora, che cosa significa? “Esiste una possibile interpretazione che e' in ottimo accordo con quanto sappiamo della religione funeraria egizia testimoniata nei Testi delle Piramidi. Nei testi infatti si legge che il faraone, prima di raggiungere le stelle del nord, dovra' passare le "porte del cielo" e sedere sul suo "trono di ferro"- continua. All’interno della Piramide ci sono quattro stretti canali, delle dimensioni di un fazzoletto, diretti verso le stelle. L'aldila' del faraone era infatti, secondo i "Testi delle Piramidi", nel cielo, e in particolare tra le stelle del nord, come l'Orsa e il Drago.

Inflammation processes are responsible for the failure of insulin production in diabetes patients. The patients’ own immune systems can contribute to treatment of this disease: researchers at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel have found a feedback mechanism that could help maintain insulin production in overweight sufferers, as they report in the journal Immunity. In their study, the Basel-based researchers focused specifically on recently discovered ILC2 immune cells in the pancreas, where, under diabetic conditions, the protein IL33 is activated, among others. This protein stimulates the ILC2 cells, which trigger the release of insulin in overweight individuals using retinoic acid and could therefore be used to inhibit the failure of insulin production. The research conducted by scientists at the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at University Hospital Basel and the University of Basel’s Department of Biomedicine gives an insight into an inflammatory network that could contribute to the maintenance of insulin production in diabetics. The complex interactions between endocrine cells and immune cells are clearly significant for the maintenance of insulin release.

Antibiotics are commonly used around the world to cure diseases caused by bacteria. But as the World Health Organization and other international bodies have pointed out, the global increase of antibiotic resistance is a rapidly worsening problem. And since antibiotics are also an essential part of modern medicine, as prophylactic treatment during surgeries and cancer therapy, rising resistance of bacteria presents even more of a danger. That's why researchers are busy devising strategies to address this threat to human health – and Université de Montréal is at the forefront of the fight. One of the ways antibiotic resistance genes spread in hospitals and in the environment is that the genes are coded on plasmids that transfer between bacteria. A plasmid is a DNA fragment found in bacteria or yeasts. It carries genes useful for bacteria, especially when these genes encode proteins that can make bacteria resistant to antibiotics.Now a team of scientists at UdeM's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine has come up with a novel approach to block the transfer of resistance genes. The study by Bastien Casu, Tarun Arya, Benoit Bessette and Christian Baron was published in early November in Scientific Reports.

A library of molecules

The researchers screened a library of small chemical molecules for those that bind to the TraE protein, an essential component of the plasmid transfer machinery. Analysis by X-ray crystallography revealed the exact binding site of these molecules on TraE. Having precise information on the binding site enabled the researchers to design more potent binding molecules that, in the end, reduced the transfer of antibiotic-resistant, gene-carrying plasmids. Baron hopes the strategy can be used to discover more inhibitors of the transfer of resistant genes. "You want to be able to find the 'soft spot' on a protein, and target it and poke it so that the protein cannot function," said Baron, the Faculty of Medicine's vice-dean of research and development. "Other plasmids have similar proteins, some have different proteins, but I think the value of our study on TraE is that by knowing the molecular structure of these proteins we can devise methods to inhibit their function."

Working with IRIC

Building on their encouraging new data, Baron and his colleagues are now working with the medicinal chemists at UdeM's IRIC (Institut de recherche en immunologie et cancérologie) to develop the new molecules into powerful inhibitors of antibiotic resistance gene transfer. Such molecules could one day be applied in clinics in hospitals that are hotbeds of resistance, Baron hopes. Ultimately, reducing the transfer of antibiotic-resistance plasmids could help preserve the potency of antibiotics, contributing to an overall strategy to help improve human health, he added. "The beauty of what we are working on here is that the proteins are very similar to proteins that bacteria use to cause disease. So from what we learned about the TraE protein and about finding its 'soft spot,' we can actually apply this approach to other bacteria that cause diseases. One of those is Helicobacter pylori, which is a gastric pathogen that causes ulcers and stomach cancers. We're working on that one specifically now, but there are many others."

Four years of work

It took the UdeM team four years to arrive at the findings being published now – enough time for antibiotic resistance to grow into an ever-more worrisome global problem. UdeM pediatric physician Joanne Liu, the international president of Doctors Without Borders, has called it "a tsunami," and Baron believes she's not exaggerating. "It's a very good image to use, because we all know it's coming. It's not like a splash in your face every single day, but we all see the tide is rising. "They say that by 2050, 50 million people will die from antibiotic resistant infections," said the Toronto-born, German-raised researcher. "The day when we can't treat infections with antibiotics is coming. Nevertheless, people should have hope. Science will bring new ideas and new solutions to this problem. There's a big mobilization now going on in the world on this issue. I wouldn't say I feel safe, but it's clear we're making progress."

Internal movement in the Achilles tendon is related to the tendon anatomy. The structure of the rat Achilles tendon in the image. Abbreviations: SOL = soleus muscle, LG = lateral gastrocnemius and MG = medial gastrocnemius.

The Achilles tendon is the strongest tendon in the human body. It can bear loads exceeding over 900 kilograms during running. Despite its strength, it is prone to injuries and it is not yet well known what factors predict good or bad recovery from injuries. Studies with the measurement of Achilles tendon forces have proved that loading may not be distributed evenly throughout the entire cross-sectional area of the tendon. This is possible because the Achilles serves as a common tendon for three calf muscles, which all have different properties and functions. The soleus muscle extends and flexes only the ankle joint but the gastrocnemius muscle (medial and lateral heads) also flexes the knee. Due to this, different parts of the Achilles tendon may move in relation to each other. The investigation of movements within the Achilles tendon helps to understand its normal and abnormal function and give insight on research related to tendon injuries.

European researchers have discovered that genetic factors play a role in some cases of tinnitus, particularly in men who have the condition in both ears. “This result is surprising and unexpected as it shows that, unlike the conventional view of tinnitus being driven by environmental factors, there is a genetic influence for bilateral tinnitus which is more pronounced in men,” says Dr Christopher R Cederroth at Karolinska Institutet's Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. Tinnitus is a brain condition that affects around 10 per cent of the population. It causes constant ringing or buzzing in the ears and for some it can be debilitating, leading to insomnia, anxiety, depression and even severe psychiatric problems. There is no cure for tinnitus and the many sub types of the condition make it difficult to treat.

A recent study showed approximately one-fifth of patients with cancer experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) several months after diagnosis, and many of these patients continued to live with PTSD years later. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings highlight the need for early identification, careful monitoring, and treatment of PTSD in cancer survivors. Although PTSD is primarily known to develop in individuals following a traumatic event such as a serious accident or natural disaster, it can also occur in patients diagnosed with cancer. Because PTSD in cancer has not been explored thoroughly, Caryn Mei Hsien Chan, PhD, of the National University of Malaysia, and her colleagues studied 469 adults with various cancer types within one month of diagnosis at a single oncology referral center. Patients underwent additional testing after six months and again after four years..

La sperimentazione contro il melanoma di un prodotto derivato da componenti naturali presenti in microalghe e in piante terrestri ha dato risultati positivi. Messo a punto da un team di ricerca del quale fa parte anche l’Icb-Cnr, agisce stimolando il sistema immunitario a controllare la proliferazione delle cellule tumorali e degli agenti patogeni. Lo studio è pubblicato su Scientific Report

L’Istituto di chimica biomolecolare del Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche (Icb-Cnr), in collaborazione con il dipartimento di Clinica interna e sperimentale dell’Università della Campania e il Centro di eccellenza per le ricerche biomediche dell’Università di Genova, ha identificato un nuovo componente vegetale per la preparazione di vaccini e dimostrato la sua efficacia contro un modello sperimentale di melanoma. Il composto, denominato Sulfavant, deriva da prodotti naturali presenti in microalghe marine e in piante terrestri e agisce stimolando le cellule dendritiche, prima linea di difesa del sistema immunitario e responsabili del riconoscimento di agenti pericolosi per l’organismo. Lo studio è stato pubblicato su Scientific Reports, rivista del gruppo Nature. Il nuovo composto è stato brevettato e l’Istituto del Cnr ne sta progettando lo sviluppo attraverso un accordo con la società spin-off BioSEArch, nata dalla collaborazione con la Stazione Zoologica ‘A. Dohrn’.

The food allergy, which is related to birch pollen, is a very common attendant phenomenon associated with birch pollen allergy – indeed around 70% of those with a birch pollen allergy are also allergic to apples. That amounts to around 280,000 people in Austria. In those affected, eating apples leads to swelling and rashes or itching in the mouth and gullet, as well as in the ear area, and even to blistering.  Working in close collaboration with Tamar Kinaciyan at MedUni Vienna's Department of Dermatology, a research group led by Barbara Bohle at the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research has now proven in a Phase II trial that the apple allergen "Mal d 1" significantly reduces the symptoms of apple allergy and is therefore an effective and safe treatment option. Of the 60 volunteers with birch pollen-related apple allergy, 20 were treated with placebo, 20 with a birch pollen allergen and with the recombinant apple allergen Mal d 1, that is to say genetically manufactured, reproducible, very stable and therefore easily stored.

The overuse of veterinary antibiotics in animal production and the subsequent land applications of manure contribute to increased antibiotic resistance in soil. A new review published in the European Journal of Soil Science examines the results of recent studies on veterinary antibiotic use, the concentrations of antibiotics, and the abundance and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes in animal manure and in soil that receives manure or manure composts. The review also discusses the need for more stringent regulations on the use of veterinary antibiotics and future research directions on the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and resistance management.

“Recycling of animal manures to soil is good for soil quality, but the spread of antibiotic resistance needs to be tackled urgently,” said co-author Dr. Fang-Jie Zhao, of Nanjing Agricultural University, in China.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejss.12494/full

 Bioenergy is the most common renewable energy source in Europe - and it's expected to continue to make up a significant part of the energy mix in the future. However, its climate performance can vary significantly depending on the production and processing of forest or agriculture biomass and the final use for biofuel production or heat and power generation. Some bioenergy and biofuel pathways have higher (GHG) savings than others, according to the latest data published by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service. For example, electricity produced from maize in biogas plants can result in 80% GHG savings compared to fossil fuel alternatives, provided that gas-tight tanks are in place and agricultural manure is used in combination with the maize.