The Italian Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (I-ADNI): validation of structural MR imaging.

Background: The North American Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (NA-ADNI) was the first program to develop standardized procedures for Alzheimer's disease (AD) imaging biomarker collection.

Objective: We describe the validation of acquisition and processing of structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in different Italian academic AD clinics following NA-ADNI procedures.

Methods: 373 patients with subjective memory impairment (n = 12), mild cognitive impairment (n = 92), Alzheimer's dementia (n = 253), and frontotemporal dementia (n = 16) were enrolled in 9 Italian centers.

Micro-Raman study of copper hydroxychlorides and other corrosion products of bronze samples mimicking archaeological coins.

Three bronze samples created by CNR-ISMN (National Research Council-Institute of Nanostructured Materials) to be similar to Punic and Roman coins found in Tharros (OR, Sardinia, Italy) were studied to identify the corrosion products on their surfaces and to evaluate the reliability of the reproduction process. Micro-Raman spectroscopy was chosen to investigate the corroded surfaces because it is a non-destructive technique, it has high spatial resolution, and it gives the opportunity to discriminate between polymorphs and to correlate colour and chemical composition. A significant amount of green copper hydroxychlorides (Cu(2)(OH)(3)Cl) was detected on all the coins.

The influence of superplasticizers on the first steps of tricalcium silicate hydration studied by NMR techniques.

The influence of superplasticizer sulfonated naphthalene formaldehyde (SNF) on the hydration process of tricalcium silicate (C3S) paste was investigated by (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance spin-spin and spin lattice relaxation times. The addition of SNF superplasticizer to C3S paste clearly affects the morphology and growth rates of the hydration products, mainly by increasing the dormant period length, which lasts for several hours more than in conventional C3S hydrated paste, while reducing the acceleration period length. The relaxation data indicated that a pronounced delay occurs in the C3S hardening when sulfonated polymers are added to the makeup water.

DTI of trabecular bone marrow.

The development of NMR diffusion imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has offered the possibility of studying the porous structures beyond anatomical imaging. In fact, random molecular motions, within tissue components, probe tissue microstructures. Up to now, the DTI method was mainly used to investigate cerebral morphology and study white matter diseases.