Silver colloidal pastes for dye analysis of reference and historical textile fibers using direct, extractionless, non-hydrolysis surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is an ideal tool for analyzing dyes on historical textiles because it requires very little sample compared to other available analytical methods and analysis can be done directly on the fiber. This paper reports on the first systematic study of the use of citrate-reduced silver colloidal pastes for the direct, extractionless, non-hydrolysis detection of dyes directly on wool, silk, cotton, and flax fibers. This type of study provides greater insight into the optimal conditions required for accurate analysis of dyes in historical samples.

Spores of lichen-forming fungi in the mycoaerosol and their relationships with climate factors.

Fungal particulates are a dominant component of the bioaerosol, but aerobiological studies traditionally focused on a limited set of fungi having relevance as allergens or plant pathogens. This study first analyzes the occurrence of lichen meiospores in the mycoaerosol, quantitatively evaluating in the atmosphere of an alpine environment the occurrence of polar diblastic spores, unequivocally attributable to the lichen family Teloschistaceae. The analysis of air-samples collected one week per month for one year with a Hirst-type sampler displayed a low percentage occurrence of polar-diblastic spores (<0.

Combined use of FORS, XRF and Raman spectroscopy in the study of mural paintings in the Aosta Valley (Italy).

Mural paintings which decorate the external façade and the internal apsidal wall of a chapel dedicated to St. Maxime and located at Challand St. Victor in the Aosta Valley (Italy) have been analysed with a combined approach involving high-resolution fibre-optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy.

Protein expression profile of celiac disease patient with aberrant T cell by two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis.

One complication of celiac disease (CD) is refractory CD. These patients frequently show aberrant intraepithelial T cell clones and an increasing risk of evolution into enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma (EATL). There is debate in the literature whether these cases are actually a smoldering lymphoma from the outset.

Compositional and technological features of glazed pottery from Aosta Valley (Italy): a SEM-EDS investigation.

Twelve finds from archaeological excavations carried out in the Aosta region (Italy) were studied by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray detection (SEM-EDS). The archaeological samples were shards of glazed pottery dating from the fourth to the seventh century AD. Analysis of ceramic bodies revealed a general homogeneity in composition among the studied samples and the use of a noncalcareous clay for their manufacture; however, two shards stand out due to their high iron contents.