Kale (Brassica oleracea L. convar. acephala (DC.) Alef.) seems to be the most ancient crop belonging to the B. oleracea vegetables. It is grown in European countries, mainly in home gardens and ...peri-urban farms, to satisfy the requirements of families and local communities. The produce is represented mainly by shoots, which are utilized to prepare several traditional foods, whereas the old leaves are utilized for feeding animals. Kale seems to be the ancestor of several B. oleracea vegetable crops because it is very similar to B. oleracea wild type and to several wild Brassica species (n=9). The landraces are disappearing as a consequence of changed social and economic conditions and of introduction of new Brassica cultivars and crops providing higher yields. Twenty-three accessions were characterized by the main IBPGR and UPOV Brassica descriptors at the Agricultural Experimental Farm (AEF) of Catania University. They data registered allowed their classification into in several distinctive groups. The diversity observed could be of great interest in view of potential crop improvement.
The relevance of accurate prediction of the thermal behavior of microelectronic systems has been increasing since the introduction of 3D integrated circuits (ICs). Different modeling strategies have ...been implemented to this scope, aiming both to increase accuracy and to reduce computational time. In this paper, a transient fast thermal model methodology for packaged 3D stacked ICs is presented. It can be considered as a multiscale strategy, whose core is constituted by a highly resolved, convolution-based algorithm. This allows to compute the temperature increase due to a generic, time varying, power map in a stack configuration. On top of this, the time-dependent package thermal spreading and capacitive effect is included via correction profiles. These corrections are based on the ratio between the thermal responses of the package and of the stack configurations to uniform, impulsive, power dissipation at different time steps. Validation with respect to finite-element method results shows good accuracy. An error metric, to estimate a priori the need to include the package impact on top of the convolution-based approach, has also been developed. Alternative but similar algorithms, which place themselves in between the solutions with and without the package impact, both from an accuracy and from a computational time point of view, are also shortly presented in this paper.
In southern Italy, landraces of leafy kales are grown in home gardens, some-times in close proximity to populations of wild relatives. Inter-crossing between wild and cultivated populations might ...affect allele frequency patterns of the respective populations. This has implications for genetic resource conservation and overall variability of the Brassica genepool currently in use. AFLP studies on wild Brassica and leafy kale landraces collected in Calabria and Sicily show evidence that inter-crossing between leafy kale and Brassica rupestris is a common phenomenon.
In this paper, the transient experimental validation of the convolution-based fast thermal model (FTM) for 3-D integrated circuits is presented. The methodology is proven to be applicable to analyze ...the temperature evolution of real devices. A low-power package configuration with two different power dissipation scenarios, hotspot (HS) in the corner and HS in the center of the active region, has been considered for the validation. In this way, the importance of the package thermal impact on the definition of the final temperature profiles is highlighted. The error between the measurement and the FTM results remains always below 2.3 °C/W. Moreover, the model has been validated with respect to case studies concerning duty cycles of different durations. This proves the applicability of the model in defining the allowed duration of the chip activity before a maximum threshold temperature is reached. Finally, in this paper, the possibility to use a variable time-step approach in the transient FTM is presented together with the option of computing the temperature in individual points only. This is possible maintaining the same accuracy as if the fully resolved temperature maps would be calculated.
Gene therapy is an attractive tool for the treatment of monogenic disorders, in particular for lysosomal storage diseases (LSD) caused by deficiencies in secretable lysosomal enzymes in which neither ...full restoration of normal enzymatic activity nor transduction of all affected cells are necessary. However, some LSD such as Mucopolysaccharidosis Type IIIB (MPSIIIB) are challenging because the disease's main target organ is the brain and enzymes do not efficiently cross the blood-brain barrier even if present at very high concentration in circulation. To overcome these limitations, we delivered AAV9 vectors encoding for α-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAGLU) to the Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) of MPSIIIB mice with the disease already detectable at biochemical, histological and functional level. Restoration of enzymatic activity in Central Nervous System (CNS) resulted in normalization of glycosaminoglycan content and lysosomal physiology, resolved neuroinflammation and restored the pattern of gene expression in brain similar to that of healthy animals. Additionally, transduction of the liver due to passage of vectors to the circulation led to whole-body disease correction. Treated animals also showed reversal of behavioural deficits and extended lifespan. Importantly, when the levels of enzymatic activity were monitored in the CSF of dogs following administration of canine NAGLU-coding vectors to animals that were either naïve or had pre-existing immunity against AAV9, similar levels of activity were achieved, suggesting that CNS efficacy would not be compromised in patients seropositive for AAV9. Our studies provide a strong rationale for the clinical development of this novel therapeutic approach as the treatment for MPSIIIB.
Angioedema without major urticarial flares (hives) is poorly understood. Its causes are diverse, and little is known about its pathogenic mechanisms. We report on our 11 years of experience with this ...condition and propose a classification of patients affected by angioedema unaccompanied by urticaria.
From 1993 through 2003 at our outpatient clinic, 929 consecutive patients were examined for recurrent angioedema unaccompanied by urticaria. A detailed history was taken to identify known causes of angioedema, with special attention to external allergenic agents. Each patient underwent a complete physical examination, routine laboratory tests (blood cell count, protein electrophoresis, erythrosedimentation rate, examination of stool for ova and parasites, pharyngeal and urine cultures, sinus and dental radiography, and measurements of antitissue autoantibodies and rheumatoid factor in plasma), and complement parameters (C1 inhibitor, C4 and C1q). Further testing was done when pertinent, based on clinical findings. When all results were negative, response to H1-antihistamine was considered.
Angioedema could not be classified in 153 patients who were lost to follow-up (16.4%). Among the 776 cases with adequate data, these types of angioedema were identified: 124 (16%) related to external agents such as a drug, insect bite or foodstuff; 85 (11%) related to treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor; 55 (7%) associated with an autoimmune disease or infection; and 197 (25%) caused by C1 inhibitor deficiency. In the other 315 cases (41%), the etiology was undiscovered: 254 cases (33% of the study sample) were idiopathic histaminergic; 40 (5%) were idiopathic nonhistaminergic; and 21 (3%) had other causes of peripheral or generalyzed edema.
Our data indicated that angioedema without urticaria could be classified according to specific clinical and pathogenic characteristics, and we have suggested a work-up for patients experiencing this condition.
Aim of this study was the identification of plasmatic markers to distinguish angioedema due to C1-INH deficiency. Since activation of fibrinolytic system and generation of thrombin occur during ...angioedema in C1-INH deficiency, we used commonly available methods to measure prothrombin fragment F1+2 and fibrin fragment D-Dimer as markers of thrombin generation and fibrinolysis.
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