A modular X-ray scanning system was developed, to fill in the gap between portable instruments (with a limited analytical area) and mobile instruments (with large analytical areas, and sometimes bulky and difficult to transport). The scanner has been compared to a commercial tabletop instrument, by analysing a Portuguese tile (azulejo) from the 17th century. Complementary techniques were used to achieve a throughout characterisation of the sample in a complete non-destructive approach. The complexity of the acquired X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectra, due to inherent sample stratigraphy, has been resolved using Monte Carlo simulations, and Raman spectroscopy, as the most suitable technique to complement the analysis of azulejos colours, yielding satisfactory results. The colouring agents were identified as cobalt blue and a Zn-modified Naples-yellow. The stratigraphy of the area under study was partially modelled with Monte Carlo simulations. The scanners performance has been compared by evaluating the images outputs and the global spectrum.

Ionizing radiation (IR) can induce some associated pathological conditions due to numerous cell damages. The influence of sex is scarcely known, and even less known is whether the effect of antioxidants is sex-dependent. Given the increased use of IR, we investigated whether male human umbilical vein endothelial cells (MHUVECs) and female human umbilical vein endothelial cells (FHUVECs) respond differently to IR exposure and whether the antioxidants 10 mM taurine (TAU) and 5 mM N-acetylcysteine (NAC) can prevent IR-induced damage in a sex-dependent way. In untreated cells, sex differences were observed only during autophagy, which was higher in FHUVECs. In non-irradiated cells, preincubation with TAU and NAC did not modify viability, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, migration, or autophagy, whereas only NAC increased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in FHUVECs. X-ray irradiation increased LDH release and reduced viability and migration in a sex-independent manner. TAU and NAC did not affect viability while reduced LDH release in irradiated cells: they have the same protective effect in FHUVECs, while, TAU was more protective than NAC in male cells.. Moreover, TAU and NAC significantly promoted the closure of wounds in both sexes in irradiated cells, but NAC was more effective at doing this in FHUVECs. In irradiated cells, TAU did not change autophagy, while NAC attenuated the differences between the sexes. Finally, NAC significantly decreased MDA in MHUVECs and increased MDA in FHUVECs. In conclusion, FHUVECs appear to be more susceptible to IR damage, and the effects of the two antioxidants present some sex differences, suggesting the need to study the influence of sex in radiation mitigators.