| 1. |
- Fougeres, Chloe, et al.
(author)
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Search for Na-22 in novae supported by a novel method for measuring femtosecond nuclear lifetimes
- 2023
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In: Nature Communications. - : Springer Nature. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Classical novae are thermonuclear explosions in stellar binary systems, and important sources of Al-26 and Na-22. While ? rays from the decay of the former radioisotope have been observed throughout the Galaxy, Na-22 remains untraceable. Its half-life (2.6 yr) would allow the observation of its 1.275 MeV ?-ray line from a cosmic source. However, the prediction of such an observation requires good knowledge of its nucleosynthesis. The Na-22(p, ?)Mg-23 reaction remains the only source of large uncertainty about the amount of Na-22 ejected. Its rate is dominated by a single resonance on the short-lived state at 7785.0(7) keV in Mg-23. Here, we propose a combined analysis of particle-particle correlations and velocity-difference profiles to measure femtosecond nuclear lifetimes. The application of this method to the study of the Mg-23 states, places strong limits on the amount of Na-22 produced in novae and constrains its detectability with future space-borne observatories. The authors report a particle-particle correlation and velocity-difference profile method to measure nuclear lifetime. The results obtained for excited states of 23Mg are used to constrain the production of 22Na in the astrophysical novae explosions.
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| 2. |
- Ginja, Catarina, et al.
(author)
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Iron age genomic data from Althiburos - Tunisia renew the debate on the origins of African taurine cattle
- 2023
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In: iScience. - : Cell Press. - 2589-0042. ; 26:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Maghreb is a key region for understanding the dynamics of cattle dispersal and admixture with local aurochs following their earliest domestication in the Fertile Crescent more than 10,000 years ago. Here, we present data on autosomal genomes and mitogenomes obtained for four archaeological specimens of Iron Age (∼2,800 cal BP–2,000 cal BP) domestic cattle from the Eastern Maghreb, i.e. Althiburos (El Kef, Tunisia). D-loop sequences were obtained for an additional eight cattle specimens from this site. Maternal lineages were assigned to the elusive R and ubiquitous African-T1 haplogroups found in two and ten Althiburos specimens, respectively. Our results can be explained by post-domestication hybridization of Althiburos cattle with local aurochs. However, we cannot rule out an independent domestication in North Africa considering the shared ancestry of Althiburos cattle with the pre-domestic Moroccan aurochs and present-day African taurine cattle.
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| 3. |
- Agnoletti, Davide, et al.
(author)
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Microbiota, Diet, Oral Health and Vascular Aging
- 2024. - 2
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In: Early Vascular Aging (EVA) : New Directions in Cardiovascular Protection - 2nd Edition - New Directions in Cardiovascular Protection - 2nd Edition. - 9780443155123
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)
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| 4. |
- Blaschikoff, Ludmilla, et al.
(author)
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A multidisciplinary study of Iberian Chalcolithic dogs
- 2022
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In: Journal of Archaeological Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-409X .- 2352-4103. ; 42
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Domesticated dogs have been present in the Iberian Peninsula long before other domesticated species, back to the late Palaeolithic period. Their origin is still uncertain, but dogs were already well established during the Chalcolithic period (ca. 5000-4000 BP). This study employed a multidisciplinary approach comprising osteometric, radiographic and palaeogenomic analyses to characterize Chalcolithic Iberian Canis remains. Two Chalcolithic archaeological sites - Leceia, Oeiras, in Portugal, and El Caset ' on de la Era, Villalba de los Alcores, Valladolid, in Spain - were the main focus of this study. Osteometric and odontometric data from eleven other sites in Iberia were also included. Osteometric results show signs of phenotypic variability, likely the result of human-driven selective pressure. Dental radiographic and dental wear analyses allowed age at death estimation for four individuals (two juvenile and two adults). Three Chalcolithic Iberian dogs had their mitogenomes resequenced and the mitochondrial DNA analysis allowed to assign each individual to two of the major known haplogroups - A and C. Molecular sex infered by the chromosomeX/chromosome1 coverage ratio allowed to identify one female and two males. This study unveils some aspects of the Iberian Chalcolithic dogs: these dogs already exhibited various morphotypes whose profiles might be associated to the performance of certain tasks, as well as mitogenomes of two distinct lineages that help tracking the evolutionary paths of Iberian dogs.
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| 5. |
- Sarmento, Cindy, et al.
(author)
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A Study on Burrows-Wheeler Aligner’s Performance Optimization for Ancient DNA Mapping
- 2022
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In: Practical Applications of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, 15th International Conference (PACBB 2021). - Cham : Springer. - 9783030862572 - 9783030862589 ; , s. 105-114
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The high levels of degradation characteristic of ancient DNA molecules severely hinder the recovery of endogenous DNA fragments and the discovery of genetic variation, limiting downstream population analyses. Optimization of read mapping strategies for ancient DNA is therefore essential to maximize the information we are able to recover from archaeological specimens. In this paper we assess Burrows-Wheeler Aligner (BWA) effectiveness for mapping of ancient DNA sequence data, comparing different sets of parameters and their effect on the number of endogenous sequences mapped and variants called. We also consider different filtering options for SNP calling, which include minimum values for depth of coverage and base quality in addition to mapping quality. Considering our results, as well as those of previous studies, we conclude that BWA-MEM is a good alternative to the current standard BWA-backtrack strategy for ancient DNA studies, especially when the computational resources are limited and time is a constraint.
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