A multivariate approach for a comparison of big data matrices. Case study: thermo-hygrometric monitoring inside the Carcer Tullianum (Rome) in the absence and in the presence of visitors.

In the last decades, the very fast improvement of the analytical instrumentation has led to the possibility of quickly and easily getting a lot of data; in turn, the need of advanced statistical methods suitable to extract the full information furnished by instruments has increased. Such kind of data treatments is particularly important in any case of continuous monitoring of one or more parameters, so the microclimate monitoring is a typical example for this application. Microclimate control is essential in the conservation of Cultural Heritage (CH), but decisions on optimal conservation parameters cannot base only on existing norms that do not take into account the environment's history.

Second campaign of microclimate monitoring in the carcer tullianum: temporal and spatial correlation and gradients evidenced by multivariate analysis.

Background: This paper discusses results obtained in the second monitoring campaign of the Carcer Tullianum, a particular hypogeum environment located in the historical centre of Rome (Italy). In the first paper we stressed the need to apply chemometric tools to this kind of studies in order to obtain full and significant information; really information on sampling design, sensors (type, number, position) and instrument validation seems to be not easy to find in literature for researches dealing with monitoring of indoor environments.Also in this case three main parameters (temperature, humidity, illuminance) were monitored in the complex construction by an inexpensive self-assembled system along some horizontal and vertical vectors together with some measurements of oxygen, carbon dioxide and barometric pressure.

Microclimate monitoring in the Carcer Tullianum: temporal and spatial correlation and gradients evidenced by multivariate analysis; first campaign.

Too often microclimate studies in the field of cultural heritage are published without any or scarce information on sampling design, sensors (type, number, position) and instrument validation. Lacking of this fundamental information does not allow an open discussion in the scientific community. This work aims to be an invitation for a different approach.

Reference values of blood cell counts in the first days of life.

The lack of updated neonatal reference values for hematological parameters impacts significantly with clinical management of both healthy and sick newborns. The present pilot study was thus aimed at assessing updated hematological Italian reference values in late preterm and term newborns. From January 2004 to December 2008 hematological laboratory tests were performed in 1175 newborns (820 healthy and 355 sick controls) between 33-41 weeks of gestation, during the first four days after birth.

Serum iron and matrix metalloproteinase-9 variations in limbs affected by chronic venous disease and venous leg ulcers.

Background: Severe chronic venous disease (CVD) is characterized by both dermal hemosiderin accumulation and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) hyperactivation. The iron-driven pathway is one of the recognized mechanisms of MMP hyperactivation.

Objective: To investigate the potential consequences of leg hemosiderin deposits on both iron metabolism and activation of MMPs.

Possible human sacrifice at the origins of Rome: novel skeletal evidences.

Recent archaeological excavations at the Carcer/Tullianum, in the Roman Forum, allowed the unexpected recovery of human burials associated with the very early foundations of the monument, at the beginning of the iron age. The study of these burials resulted in interesting paleopathological discoveries, concerning the skeleton of a strongly-built male, radiocarbon-dated between 830 and 780 BC. The telltale posture of the skeleton and the presence of a massive perimortal blunt force trauma of the skull shed light on the mode and circumstances of the death of this subject, and are suggestive of ritual sacrifice.

MVK mutations and associated clinical features in Italian patients affected with autoinflammatory disorders and recurrent fever.

Autosomal recessive autoinflammatory disorder caused by mutations of the mevalonate kinase gene (MVK), leading to mild, incomplete MK enzyme deficiency (MKD), has been known so far as Hyper-IgD and periodic fever syndrome (HIDS) and regarded as mostly occurring in Northern Europe. Here we report the results of the molecular characterization of the first Italian series of patients affected with autoinflammatory disorders and periodic fever. A total of 13 different mutations, scattered throughout the MVK coding region, were identified in either homozygous or compound heterozygous state in 15 patients.