The grey wolf (Canis lupus) and coyote (C. latrans) are highly mobile carnivores that disperse over great distances in search of territories and mates. Previous genetic studies have shown little ...geographical structure in either species. However, population genetic structure is also influenced by past isolation events and population fluctuations during glacial periods. In this study, control region sequence data from a worldwide sample of grey wolves and a more limited sample of coyotes were analysed. The results suggest that fluctuating population sizes during the late Pleistocene have left a genetic signature on levels of variation in both species. Genealogical measures of nucleotide diversity suggest that historical population sizes were much larger in both species and grey wolves were more numerous than coyotes. Currently, about 300 000 wolves and 7 million coyotes exist. In grey wolves, genetic diversity is greater than that predicted from census population size, reflecting recent historical population declines. By contrast, nucleotide diversity in coyotes is smaller than that predicted by census population size, reflecting a recent population expansion following the extirpation of wolves from much of North America. Both species show little partitioning of haplotypes on continental or regional scales. However, a statistical parsimony analysis indicates local genetic structure that suggests recent restricted gene flow.
The Muon Spectrometer of the ATLAS experiment is made of large toroidal magnets, arrays of high-pressure drift tubes for precise tracking and dedicated fast detectors for the first-level trigger. All ...the detectors in the barrel toroid have been installed and commissioning has started with cosmic rays. These detectors are arranged in three concentric rings and the total area is about 6000 square meters. During the installation and commissioning of the detectors, data are usually taken with the magnet off, but a dedicated run took place with the magnetic field of the barrel toroid turned on. We present the procedure to control the response of the single detectors installed in the barrel toroid, Monitored Drift Tubes and Resistive Plate Chambers, and results of the first tests done with cosmic rays triggered by the first-level processor and read-out trough the ATLAS data acquisition. Details on the installation and commissioning schedule will be given in view of the completion of the instrumentation of the muon spectrometer for the first period of data taking with proton-proton collisions.
The goal of the CYGNO project is to deploy at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) an high resolution Time Projection Chamber (TPC) with Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) amplification and ...optical 3D readout of an Helium/Fluorine based gas mixture for directional Dark Matter (DM) searches at low 1-10 GeV WIMP masses. The determination of the incoming direction of WIMP particles can in fact offer not only additional handles for discrimination of the annoying backgrounds, but especially an unique key for a positive, unambiguous identification of a DM signal.
A quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (Q-ICP-MS) equipped with a dynamic reaction cell (DRC) and coupled with a desolvating nebulization system (APEX-IR) was employed to determine ...17 elements (Al, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr, V, and Zr) in blood samples. Ammonia (for Al, Cr, Mn, and V) and O
2 (for As and Se) were used as reacting gases. Selection of the best flow rate of the gases and optimization of the quadrupole dynamic bandpass tuning parameter (RP
q) were carried out, using digested blood diluted 1
+
9 with deionized water and spiked with 1
μg
L
−1 of Al, Cr, Mn, V and 5
μg
L
−1 of As and Se. Detection limits were determined in digested blood using the 3
σ criterion. The desolvating system allowed a sufficient sensitivity to be achieved to determine elements at levels of ng
L
−1 without detriment of signal stability. The accuracy of the method was tested with the whole blood certified reference material (CRM), certified for Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, and V, and with indicative values for Ba, Li, Sn, Sr, and Zr. The addition calibration approach was chosen for analysis. In order to confirm the DRC data, samples were also analyzed by means of sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS), operating in medium (
m/Δ
m
=
4000) and high (
m/Δ
m
=
10,000) resolution mode and achieving a good agreement between the two techniques.
The diagnostic investigations are an important resource in the studies on Cultural Heritage to enhance the knowledge on execution techniques, materials and conservation status of a work of art. In ...this field, due to the great historical and artistic value of the objects, preservation is the main concern; for this reason, new technological equipment has been designed and developed in the Physics Departments of the Universities of Ferrara and Bologna to enhance the non-invasive approach to the study of pictorial artworks and other objects of cultural interest. Infrared (IR) reflectography, X-ray radiography and computed tomography (CT), applied to works of art, are joined by the same goal: to get hidden information on execution techniques and inner structure pursuing the non-invasiveness of the methods, although using different setup and physical principles. In this work transportable imaging systems to investigate large objects in museums and galleries are presented. In particular, 2D scanning devices for IR reflectography and X-ray radiography, CT systems and some applications to the Cultural Heritage are described.
The present study first examined whether ruin lizards Podarcis sicula are able to orientate using the e-vector direction of polarized light. Ruin lizards were trained and tested indoors, inside a ...hexagonal Morris water maze, positioned under an artificial light source producing plane polarized light with a single e-vector, which provided an axial cue. Lizards were subjected to axial training by positioning two identical goals in contact with the centre of two opposite side walls of the Morris water maze. Goals were invisible because they were placed just beneath the water surface, and water was rendered opaque. The results showed that the directional choices of lizards meeting learning criteria were bimodally distributed along the training axis, and that after 90 deg rotation of the e-vector direction of polarized light the lizards directional choices rotated correspondingly, producing a bimodal distribution which was perpendicular to the training axis. The present results confirm in ruin lizards results previously obtained in other lizard species showing that these reptiles can use the e-vector direction of polarized light in the form of a sky polarization compass. The second step of the study aimed at answering the still open question of whether functioning of a sky polarization compass would be mediated by the lizard parietal eye. To test this, ruin lizards meeting learning criteria were tested inside the Morris water maze under polarized light after their parietal eyes were painted black. Lizards with black-painted parietal eyes were completely disoriented. Thus, the present data show for the first time that the parietal eye plays a central role in mediating the functioning of a putative sky polarization compass of lizards.
To assess whether levels of trace metals and oxidative species are involved in Parkinson's disease (PD), Al, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb and V were measured in urine, serum, blood and ...cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum peroxides and antioxidant capacity were determined in 26 patients with PD and 13 control subjects. The quantification of metals was based on the 1+4 water dilution of CSF, serum and urine, the acid-assisted microwave digestion under atmospheric pressure of blood and final determination by sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS). Results indicated a significant increase of Pb and V concentrations in blood and urine (
P≤0.03, in both cases) related to the disease. Parkinson disease also seemed to be closely associated (
P≤0.003) with a reduction in levels of Al, Cd, Hg and Pb in serum and of Cd, Co, Cr, Hg, Pb in CSF. As regards Mn, a lower mean concentration was found in the CSF and whole blood of PD patients than in control group, although this trend was not statistically significant. Levels of peroxides were also increased (
P≤0.001), while antioxidant capacity was lower (
P≤0.002) in PD patients than in controls.
The optimal timing of surgery after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in locally advanced rectal cancer is still controversial. Aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of increasing time ...interval between the end of CRT and surgery on pathological outcomes. This is a retrospective analysis on 114 patients treated with long-course neoadjuvant RT with or without chemotherapy between January 2005 and September 2020. 43 patients underwent surgery within 10 weeks from the end of CRT (1st group), whereas 71 patients underwent total mesorectal excision with a time interval equal or greater than 10 weeks (2nd group). Primary endpoint was pCR (pathological complete response). Secondary endpoints were near pCR (ypT0–1 N0), tumor downstaging (ypT less than cT), nodal downstaging (ypN less than cN), and overall response comparing clinical with pathological TN stage. Overall, the pCR rate was 8.8%, whereas we observed no significantly difference in primary endpoint between the two groups. Considering near pCR, a trend toward significant difference in favor of 2nd group was seen (
p
= 0.072). Tumor and nodal downstaging rates were 39.5%, 41.9%, 59.2%, and 56.3% in the 1st and 2nd group, respectively, with a statistically significant difference for T category (
p
= 0.042). Overall response rates (TN stage) showed a trend toward significant difference in favor of patients of the ≥ 10 week group (
p
= 0.059). Our study suggests that a prolonged time interval between the end of CRT and surgery (≥ 10 weeks) increases pathological response rates.
Automotive catalytic converters, in which Pt, Pd and Rh (platinum-group elements; PGEs) are the active components for eliminating several noxious components from exhaust fumes, have become the main ...source of environmental urban pollution by PGEs. This work reports on the catalyst morphology through changes in catalyst surface by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) and laser-induced breakdown spectrometry (LIBS) from fresh to aged catalytic converters. The distribution of these elements in the fresh catalysts analysed (Pt–Pd–Rh gasoline catalyst) is not uniform and occurs mainly in a longitudinal direction. This heterogeneity seems to be greater for Pt and Pd. PGEs released by the catalysts, fresh and aged 30
000 km, were studied in parallel. Whole raw exhaust fumes from four catalysts of three different types were also examined. Two of these were gasoline catalysts (Pt–Pd–Rh and Pd–Rh) and the other two were diesel catalysts (Pt). Samples were collected following the 91441 EUDC driving cycle for light-duty vehicle testing. The results show that at 0 km the samples collected first have the highest content of particulate PGEs and although the general tendency is for the release to decrease with increasing number of samples taken, exceptions are frequent. At 30
000 km the released PGEs in gasoline and diesel catalysts decreased significantly. For fresh gasoline catalysts the mean of the total amount released was approximately 100, 250 and 50 ng km
−1 for Pt, Pd and Rh, respectively. In diesel catalysts the Pt release varied in the range 400–800 ng km
−1. After ageing the catalysts up to 30
000 km, the gasoline catalysts released amounts of Pt between 6 and 8 ng km
−1, Pd between 12 and 16 ng km
−1 and Rh between 3 and 12 ng km
−1. In diesel catalysts the Pt release varied in the range 108–150 ng km
−1. The soluble portion of PGEs in the HNO
3 collector solution represented less than 5% of the total amount for fresh catalysts. For 30
000 km the total amount of soluble PGEs released was similar or slightly higher than for 0 km.
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