The management of residual sludge from dimension stone processing activities (EWC 010,413) represents a large concern for stone industry. Such sludges are characterised by a fine size distribution, ...high heavy metal contents and, potentially, TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon) contents. The objects of the present study are represented by gang-saw with abrasive shot (GSS), diamond frame-saw (DSS) and mixed (MS) sludges. The first one is high in Cr, Ni, Cu and TPH, the second presents high contents in Co, Cr and TPH, and the third represents a mix of the first two ones. Present legislation indicates that they can be disposed of in landfills or can be recovered (R5-R10) as filling material for environmental rehabilitation or as feeding materials for cement production.
The sampled materials were obtained from the Verbano Cusio Ossola (VCO) and Luserna Stone quarry basins (Piedmont, Northern Italy). These materials were physically and chemically characterised, and magnetic separation was performed to rapidly evaluate the heavy metal contents in the sludge. Afterwards, three different experiments were carried out for environmental and civil applications. The first one, for substrate production, was carried out using GSS, DSS and MS from VCO area. The second one, for CLSM and plaster production, was performed on materials from VCO and Luserna stone quarry basins (CLSM using GSS from VCO and plaster using DSS from Luserna stone quarry basin). The results here reported are promising for the three applications.
•Ornamental stone processing waste, management and recovery.•Foresee the correct reuse, exploiting the intrinsic characteristics of the sawing sludge.•Cost reduction and energy saving.•Sawing sludge environmental application as substrate and civil application as plaster and CLSM.
This contribution presents a precise measurement of the excitation energy of the lowest (0+, T=2) state in 32S. Combined with the mass excesses of the 32S ground state and of the four other members ...of the (A=32,T=2) quintet of analogue states, it allows to test the validity of the Isobaric Multiplet Mass Equation to the third order in Tz, which renders it highly sensitive to the mechanisms inducing isospin mixing in the involved sd-shell nuclei. The (0+, T=2) isobaric analogue state in 32S was resonantly populated in the 31P(p, γ) reaction at ~3.3 MeV incident energy. The measurement procedure, involving high-purity germanium detectors, is described and the preliminary result obtained with a digital data acquisition system is presented.
Non-human primates (NHPs) for biomedical research are commonly infected with
spp. that can cause acute dysentery or chronic episodic diarrhea. These animals are often prophylactically and clinically ...treated with quinolone antibiotics to eradicate these possible infections. However, chromosomally- and plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance has become an emerging concern for species in the family
. In this study, five individual isolates of multi-drug resistant
were isolated from the feces of three macaques. Antibiotic susceptibility testing confirmed resistance or decreased susceptibility to ampicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, cephalosporins, gentamicin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, levofloxacin, and nalidixic acid.
isolates were susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and this drug was used to eradicate infection in two of the macaques. Plasmid DNA from all isolates was positive for the plasmid-encoded quinolone resistance gene
, but not
and
. Conjugation and transformation of plasmid DNA from several
isolates into antibiotic-susceptible
strains conferred the recipients with resistance or decreased susceptibility to quinolones and beta-lactams. Genome sequencing of two representative
isolates identified the
gene on a plasmid-like contig. These contigs showed >99% homology to plasmid sequences previously characterized from quinolone-resistant
2a and
strains. Other antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factor genes were also identified in chromosome and plasmid sequences in these genomes. The findings from this study indicate macaques harbor pathogenic
strains with chromosomally- and plasmid-encoded antibiotic resistance genes. To our knowledge, this is the first report of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance in
isolated from NHPs and warrants isolation and antibiotic testing of enteric pathogens before treating macaques with quinolones prophylactically or therapeutically.
‘Honeycrisp’ is a popular apple cultivar, but it is prone to several disorders, especially bitter pit. Previously reported models for predicting bitter pit are biased, indicating that the models are ...missing one or more important predictor variables. To identify additional variables that may improve bitter pit prediction, a study was undertaken to investigate the influence of canopy position, spur characteristics, and individual fruit characteristics on bitter pit development. ‘Honeycrisp’ trees from two orchards over 2 years provided four combinations of orchards and years. Fruits were sampled from spurs at different canopy positions and with varying bourse shoot lengths and numbers of fruits and leaves. Following cold storage, bitter pit was assessed in three ways: 1) bitter pit severity was recorded as the number of pits per fruit, 2) bitter pit was recorded as a binomial response (yes, no) for each fruit, and 3) the incidence of bitter pit was recorded as the proportion of fruit developing bitter pit. As a result of the high fruit-to-fruit variation, bitter pit severity was associated with canopy position or spur characteristics to a lesser extent than bitter pit incidence. Bitter pit incidence was generally greater for fruits developing on spurs with only one fruit and spurs from the lower canopy. Binomial data were analyzed with a generalized linear mixed model. Fruit harvested from trees with heavy crop loads, and those developing on spurs with multiple fruit and spurs with long bourse shoots had the lowest probability of developing bitter pit. Regardless of how bitter pit was assessed, bitter pit related positively to fruit weight (FW), but the relationship usually depended on other variables such as canopy position, fruit per spur, and leaves per spur. The advantages of fitting binomial data with logistic regression models are discussed.
Many
strains are considered to be a component of the normal flora found in the human and animal intestinal tracts. While most
strains are commensal, some strains encode virulence factors that enable ...the bacteria to cause intestinal and extra-intestinal clinically-relevant infections. Colibactin, encoded by a genomic island (
island), and cytotoxic necrotizing factor (CNF), encoded by the
gene, are genotoxic and can modulate cellular differentiation, apoptosis and proliferation. Some commensal and pathogenic
+ and
+
strains have been associated with inflammation and cancer in humans and animals.
In the present study,
strains encoding colibactin and CNF were identified in macaque samples. We performed bacterial cultures utilizing rectal swabs and extra-intestinal samples from clinically normal macaques. A total of 239
strains were isolated from 266 macaques. The strains were identified biochemically and selected isolates were serotyped as O88:H4, O25:H4, O7:H7, OM:H14, and OM:H16. Specific PCR for
and
gene amplification, and phylogenetic group identification were performed on all
strains. Among the 239 isolates, 41 (17.2%) were
+
-, 19 (7.9%) were
-/
+, and 31 (13.0%) were
+/
+. One hundred forty-eight (61.9%)
isolates were negative for both genes (
-/
-). In total, 72 (30.1%) were positive for
genes, and 50 (20.9%) were positive for
. No
+ isolates were detected. Both
+ and
+
strains belonged mainly to phylogenetic group B2, including B2
. Colibactin and CNF cytotoxic activities were observed using a HeLa cell cytotoxicity assay in representative isolates. Whole genome sequencing of 10 representative
strains confirmed the presence of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance genes in rhesus macaque
isolates.
Our findings indicate that colibactin- and CNF-encoding
colonize laboratory macaques and can potentially cause clinical and subclinical diseases that impact macaque models.
The oviduct supports the transport and final maturation of gametes, and harbors fertilization and early embryo development. The oviductal epithelium is responsible for providing the correct ...environment for these processes. Deleted in malignant brain tumor 1 (DMBT1) is expressed by multiple organisms and several cell types, and the interaction of the rabbit ortholog of DMBT1 with galectin-3 (gal-3) modulates the polarity of epithelial cells. This interaction has not yet been shown in locations other than rabbit kidney and human-cultured endothelial cells. DMBT1 and gal-3 also protect epithelial layers from pathogens and trauma, and are innate immunity components. DMBT1 has been detected in the porcine oviduct, and gal-3 has been reported in the Fallopian tube and in the cow oviduct. Interaction between both proteins would show a probable physiological function in the female reproductive tract. This work describes the presence and co-localization of DMBT1 and gal-3 mainly in the apical region of the epithelial cells of the Fallopian tube and the porcine oviduct, and co-immunoprecipitation in membrane-enriched epithelial cell extracts from the porcine oviduct. The findings strongly support a functional interaction in the mammalian oviduct, suggestive of a role on epithelial protection and homeostasis, which might be related to epithelium–gamete interaction.
Proton-recoil detectors (PRDs), based on the well known standard H(n,p) elastic scattering cross section, are the preferred instruments to perform precise quasi-absolute neutron flux measurements ...above 1MeV. The limitations of using a single silicon detector as PRD at a continuous neutron beam facility are investigated, with the aim of extending such measurements to neutron energies below 1MeV. This requires a systematic investigation of the background sources affecting the neutron flux measurement. Experiments have been carried out at the AIFIRA facility to identify these sources. A study on the role of the silicon detector thickness on the background is presented and an energy limit on the use of a single silicon detector to achieve a neutron flux precision better than 1% is given.
Gastric
Helicobacter spp. are associated with chronic inflammation and neoplastic transformation in humans as well as domestic and laboratory species. The present study examined the association of
...Helicobacter heilmannii (
Hhe) infection in pet cats with feline gastric mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. Tissues were collected via gastric biopsy or at necropsy from 47 pet cats with clinical signs of gastrointestinal disease, including vomiting and inappetance, and classified as gastritis (14/47), lymphoma (31/37), or normal (2/47). Tissues positive for argyrophilic organisms with Warthin–Starry stain (29/47) were assessed by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) for the presence of
Hhe strains 1–4 as well as with a fifth probe that detected
Helicobacter salomonis,
Helicobacter bizzozeronii, or
Helicobacter felis. A significant association of positive Warthin–Starry status with
Hhe infection was found in cases of sick cats (22/29;
p
<
0.05 by Chi-square;
χ
2
=
7.034). Interestingly, a significant association between
Hhe status and a diagnosis of lymphoblastic or lymphocytic lymphoma was observed as well in a subset of 24 Warthin–Starry positive lymphoma cases: of lymphoblastic lymphoma cases, 13/17 were positive for
Hhe (
p
<
0.05;
χ
2
=
4.854).
Hhe strains 2 and 4 were most commonly found (18/29 and 17/29, respectively) among sick cats, although a higher than expected number of cats was also positive for
Hhe1, which initial reports have described as rare in cats and common in humans. The association found between a positive
Hhe status with the presence of feline gastric lymphoma, especially lymphoblastic lymphoma, argues for the need to conduct prospective studies to better identify the frequency and strain distribution of
Hhe infection in both healthy and clinically ill cats, particularly those cats with gastric lymphoma.
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