Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Scientific Advances Pour Forth from Italy- Fresco Sensor & Stem Cell Advances

 

The Annotico Report

 

I seldom Report on Scientific Advances poring forth from Italy, because of the frequency, and the fact that they are Not "glamorous" or "riveting” reading.

 

But I was reminded today, that in one day in two disparate areas, Italian Scientists made significant breakthroughs, and that because these type reports do not get much attention in the US Media, and/or even if they did, and despite the Italian Peninsula being the foundation of Western Civilization, that the first association people respond to with when the word Italian comes up, is Mafia. Try it sometime.  It goes to show you the Power of the Media and the Ignorance of the typical American!!!!!! 

 

The more I learn about Italian/European Culture, the more I realize what a "beer and bowling" mentality Americans have. 

 

Rich obviously doesn't necessarily make you smart.

 

Today’s Italian Scientific  discoveries involve a Micro-wave scanner that detects humidity and mineral content , AND  Stem Cells aiding Regeneration in Human Vital Organs. This is an alternative to the use of embryonic stem cells, which would permit science to advance, yet would quell the acrimonious debate that rages. 

 

 

 

Italians develop fresco sensor

ANSA

Rome,

September 6, 2006Micro-wave scanner detects humidity and mineral content 

 

Italian scientists have developed a sensor that bounces rays through frescos to see whether they risk getting discoloured, fading or falling off walls .

The camera-sized sensor is important because it is non-invasive, measuring humidity and mineral content without having to take samples of works .

The new sensor is run across fresco surfaces, sending micro-waves that can penetrate as far as two centimetres. "Frescoes are threatened by two things: too much humidity and an over-rich mineral content," said Roberto Olmi of the National Research Council's Applied Physics Institute in Florence, which developed the gizmo over two years .

"Humidity can make pigments runny and minerals can crystallise so that the frescos fade or begin to crumble," Olmi told the journal Measurement Science Technology .

The sensor goes under the acronym SUSI, for Sensore di Umidita' e Salinita' Integrato (Integrated Humidity and Salinity Sensor). A! prototype of SUSI was successfully tested on specially prepared samples at Florence's famous art heritage lab l'Opificio delle Pietre Dure .

It was subsequently used on frescos by Giotto and other painters in Florence churches .

SUSI is more versatile than first thought .

"For instance, we've used her to gauge the water and mineral content of famous Della Robbia ceramics," Olmi said .

Now the challenge facing Olmi's team is to develop the instrument further to examine parchment and canvas, which are too thin for the current version of SUSI to be safely used .

 

http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-09-06_1068441.html

 

 

Italians in stem-cell advances

 

Adult kidney, liver cells can repair organs, studies say 

 

ANSA

Florence,

September 6, 2006

 

Two teams of Italian scientists have made important advances in stem-cell research that could pave the way for new treatments for kidney and liver disease .

What is more, the researchers say the cells appear able to turn into an array of other body cells .

Importantly, amid controversy over the use of embryos for stem-cell research, both discoveries were made in adults .

A Florence team led by top immunologist Sergio Romagnani has identified kidney stem cells that have proved capable of helping damaged kidneys repair themselves .

The discovery is of particular importance because kidney disease is growing to critical mass in modern society, striking the overweight and obese whose problems are now viewed as an epidemic .

"Chronic renal diseases and terminal renal insufficiency are viewed as the medical emergency of the new century," Romagnani told a press conference after the publication of his team's findings in th! e Journal of the American Society of Nephrology .

In mice affected by kidney degeneration, Romagnani explained, the stem cells proved effective in repairing the damaged organs .

"This is particularly important because the drugs we currently have are only able to slow down kidney damage" .

Furthermore, he went on, the cells can be cultivated in the lab so as to "multi-differentiate" into other types of cells: bone cells, adipose (fatty tissue) cells and even nerve cells .

This, Romagnani said, held out hope of reversing degenerative diseases that hit those organs too .

A day after Romagnani's press conference in Florence, Turin scientists announced a remarkably similar discovery involving adult stem cells in livers .

Their study, published in the latest edition of the journal Stem Cells, showed that the cells can not only be used to repair livers but are also capable of becoming "pluri-potent", lead researcher Benedetta Bussolati said .!

Until now, such cells had only been identified in specially treated lab animals .

"The progenitor cells identified by our team are able to differentiate into liver cells, bone cells, blood cells and even pancreatic cells that produce insulin," she said .

"The diffentiating capacity of these cells holds promise that they can be used in regenerative medicine such as cell therapy, an alternative to the use of embryonic stem cells" .

http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/

english/news/2006-09-06_1065056.html

 

 

 

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