Variations in oral responsiveness associate with specific signatures in the gut microbiota and modulate dietary habits - Leonardo Menghi; Danny Cliceri; Francesca Fava; Massimo Pindo; Giulia Gaudioso; Erika Stefani; Davide Giacalone; Flavia Gasperi (Food Quality and Preference, 2023)

Probiotic lactobacilli attenuate oxysterols-induced alteration of intestinal epithelial cell monolayer permeability: Focus on tight junction modulation - Emanuela Casula; Maria Barbara Pisano; Gabriele Serreli; Sonia Zodio; Maria Paola Melis; Giulia Corona; Adele Costabile; Sofia Cosentino; Monica Deiana (Food and Chemical Toxicology, 2023)

Prolonged heat waves reduce the condition index and alter the molecular parameters in the pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas - Antonina De Marco; Vito Antonio Baldassarro; Laura Calzà; Luciana Giardino; Francesco Dondi; Maria Giulia Ferrari; Giorgia Bignami; Luca Parma; Alessio Bonaldo (Fish & Shellfish Immunology, 2023)

Measurement of airborne nicotine, as a marker of secondhand smoke exposure, in homes with residents who smoke in 9 European countries - Elisabet Henderson; Luis A. Rodriguez Guerrero; Xavier Continente; Esteve Fernández; Olena Tigova; Nuria Cortés-Francisco; Sean Semple; Ruaraidh Dobson; Anna Tzortzi; Vergina K. Vyzikidou; Giuseppe Gorini; Gergana Geshanova; et al. (Environmental Research, 2023)

Application of transcriptome profiling to inquire into the mechanism of nanoplastics toxicity during Ciona robusta embryogenesis - Maria Concetta Eliso; Elisa Bergami; Lisa Bonciani; Roberto Riccio; Giulia Belli; Mattia Belli; Ilaria Corsi; Antonietta Spagnuolo (Environmental Pollution, 2023)

Meat extenders from different sources as protein-rich alternatives to improve the technological properties and functional quality of meat products - Gabriele Rocchetti; Giulia Ferronato; Viive Sarv; Kristi Kerner; Petras R Venskutonis; Luigi Lucini (Current Opinion in Food Science, 2023)

An exopolysaccharide from Leuconostoc mesenteroides showing interesting bioactivities versus foodborne microbial targets - Giulia Bisson; Clara Comuzzi; Elisa Giordani; Denise Poletti; Marta Boaro; Marilena Marino (Carbohydrate Polymers, 2023)

Correction to: Two firing modes and well‑resolved Na+, K+, and Ca2+ currents at the cell‑microelectrode junction of spontaneously active rat chromaffin cell on MEAs - Andrea Marcantoni; Giuseppe Chiantia; Giulia Tomagra; Enis Hidisoglu; Claudio Franchino; Valentina Carabelli; Emilio Carbone (Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology, 2023)

Two firing modes and well-resolved Na+, K+, and Ca2+ currents at the cell-microelectrode junction of spontaneously active rat chromaffin cell on MEAs - Andrea Marcantoni; Giuseppe Chiantia; Giulia Tomagra; Enis Hidisoglu; Claudio Franchino; Valentina Carabelli; Emilio Carbone (Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology, 2023)
We recorded spontaneous extracellular action potentials (eAPs) from rat chromaffin cells (CCs) at 37 °C using microelectrode arrays (MEAs) and compared them with intracellularly recorded APs (iAPs) through conventional patch clamp recordings at 22 °C. We show the existence of two distinct firing modes on MEAs: a ~ 4 Hz irregular continuous firing and a frequent intermittent firing mode where periods of high-intraburst frequency (~ 8 Hz) of ~ 7 s duration are interrupted by silent periods of ~ 12 s. eAPs occurred either as negative- or positive-going signals depending on the contact between cell and microelectrode: either predominantly controlled by junction-membrane ion channels ( negative-going ) or capacitive/ohmic coupling ( positive-going ). N egative-going eAPs were found to represent the trajectory of the Na + , Ca 2+ , and K + currents passing through the cell area in tight contact with the microelectrode during an AP ( point-contact junction ). The inward Nav component of eAPs was blocked by TTX in a dose-dependent manner (IC 50 ~ 10 nM) while the outward component was strongly attenuated by the BK channel blocker paxilline (200 nM) or TEA (5 mM). The SK channel blocker apamin (200 nM) had no effect on eAPs. Inward Nav and Cav currents were well-resolved after block of Kv and BK channels or in cells showing no evident outward K + currents. Unexpectedly, on the same type of cells, we could also resolve inward L-type currents after adding nifedipine (3 μM). In conclusion, MEAs provide a direct way to record different firing modes of rat CCs and to estimate the Na + , Ca 2+ , and K + currents that sustain cell firing and spontaneous catecholamines secretion.

Development of Educational Print Materials for Physical Activity in Cancer: Evaluation of Readability and Suitability - Alice Avancini; Giulia Benato; Daniela Tregnago; Ilaria Trestini; Michele Milella; Massimo Lanza; Sara Pilotto (Journal of Cancer Education, 2023)
Educational health materials may be important tools to increase physical activity in cancer patients. Nevertheless, most of the available resources regarding physical activity for cancer patients were found not suitable, had a low grade of readability, and thus, represent a significant barrier to behavior change. To date, little data about development criteria and evaluation of physical activity resources for cancer before their spread exist. The purposes of this study were (i) to describe the development of a physical activity guidebook designed for cancer patients and (ii) to test its readability and suitability. The guidebook was developed through multi-step passages, including group discussions, a literature review, identification of a motivational theory, and using previous research on exercise preferences, barriers, and facilitators to target the information. Two validated formulae were used to assess the readability, whereas thirty-four judges completed the Suitability of Assessment Materials questionnaire to evaluate the suitability of the guidebook. The guidebook was found readable for patients having at least a primary education, and the judges scored it as “superior” material. Our guidebook, following a rigorous method in the development phase, was considered to be suitable and readable. Further evaluations through clinical trials could investigate its effectiveness for behavior change and its impact on cancer patients.

Effect of feed restriction and refeeding on body condition, digestive functionality and intestinal microbiota in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) - Maria Messina; Lucilla Iacumin; Giulia Pascon; Francesca Tulli; Emilio Tibaldi; Gloriana Cardinaletti (Fish Physiology and Biochemistry, 2023)
The aim of the present work was to investigate the influence of fasting and refeeding on body condition, gut physiology and microbiota in reared O. mykiss . Ninety-six fish were randomly allotted among three groups subjected to different feeding plan: C (control, fed for 5 weeks); R (restricted ration over 3 weeks followed by 2 weeks feeding); F (fasted over 3 weeks followed by 2 weeks feeding) in a well’s fresh water flow-through rearing plan. Sampling occurred at 0, 1, 2, 4, 7, 14 days during the refeeding period. At day 0 and throughout the feeding period until day 14, the weight of the fish was significantly affected by the feeding restriction. Feed deprivation reduced significantly the viscerosomatic and hepatosomatic indexes. Brush border membrane enzymes’ specific activity was modulated by feeding regimes until day 7, to level in all experimental groups at day 14. At the end of the restricted/fasted period, the microbiota of the C group was made up of 70% of Actinobacteria, 24% of Proteobacteria, 4.2% of Firmicutes and < 1% of Bacteroides, while the restricted and fasted group were characterized by a strong reduction of Actinobacteria, and a significant increase in Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. The feed deprivation determined a dysbiosis, allowing the development of different commensal or pathogenic bacteria. In conclusion, the effects of 2 weeks of feed deprivation, excluding those related to body weight, are gradually mitigated by refeeding, which allows the restoration of digestive functions and a healthy intestinal microbiota.

A review of the effects of COVID-19 on food waste - Giulia Borghesi; Piergiuseppe Morone (Food Security, 2023)

The reef-building coral Galaxea fascicularis: a new model system for coral symbiosis research - Giulia Puntin; Jamie Craggs; Róisín Hayden; Kara E. Engelhardt; Shelby McIlroy; Michael Sweet; David M. Baker; Maren Ziegler (Coral Reefs, 2023)
Reef-building corals owe their evolutionary success to their symbiosis with unicellular algae (Symbiodiniaceae). However, increasingly frequent heat waves lead to coral mass-bleaching events and pose a serious threat to the survival of reef ecosystems. Despite significant efforts, a mechanistic understanding of coral–algal symbiosis functioning, what leads to its breakdown and what can prevent it, remains incomplete. The main obstacles are low amenability of corals to experimental handling and, owing to its obligatory nature, the difficulties of manipulating the coral–algal association. Indeed, many studies on the symbiotic partnership are conducted on other cnidarian model organisms and their results may therefore not be fully transferable to tropical reef-building corals. Here, we identify the tropical stony coral species Galaxea fascicularis as a novel candidate coral model system. Individual polyps of this species can be separated, enabling highly replicated genotype studies, and are well suited to experimental investigation of the symbiosis as they can be easily and effectively rid of their algal symbionts (bleached). We show that bleached adult individuals can reestablish symbiosis with non-native symbionts, and we report the completion of the gametogenic cycle ex situ , with the successful spawning in aquaria over multiple years. These achievements help overcome several of the major limitations to direct research on corals and highlight the potential of G. fascicularis as an important new model system for investigations of symbiosis functioning and manipulation.

The genetic structure and connectivity in two sympatric rodent species with different life histories are similarly affected by land use disturbances - Roberto Biello; Andrea Brunelli; Giulia Sozio; Katja Havenstein; Alessio Mortelliti; Valerio Ketmaier; Sibelle Torres Vilaça; Giorgio Bertorelle (Conservation Genetics, 2023)
The negative impact of habitat fragmentation due to human activities may be different in different species that co-exist in the same area, with consequences on the development of environmental protection plans. Here we aim at understanding the effects produced by different natural and anthropic landscape features on gene flow patterns in two sympatric species with different specializations, one generalist and one specialist, sampled in the same locations. We collected and genotyped 194 wood mice (generalist species) and 199 bank voles (specialist species) from 15 woodlands in a fragmented landscape characterized by different potential barriers to dispersal. Genetic variation and structure were analyzed in the two species, respectively. Effective migration surfaces, isolation-by-resistance (IBR) analysis, and regression with randomization were used to investigate isolation-by-distance (IBD) and the relative importance of land cover elements on gene flow. We observed similar patterns of heterozygosity and IBD for both species, but the bank vole showed higher genetic differences among geographic areas. The IBR analysis suggests that (i) connectivity is reduced in both species by urban areas but more strongly in the specialist bank vole; (ii) cultivated areas act as dispersal corridors in both species; (iii) woodlands appear to be an important factor in increasing connectivity in the bank vole, and less so in the wood mouse. The difference in dispersal abilities between a generalist and specialist species was reflected in the difference in genetic structure, despite extensive habitat changes due to human activities. The negative effects of fragmentation due to the process of urbanization were, at least partially, mitigated by another human product, i.e., cultivated terrains subdivided by hedgerows, and this was true for both species.

Resting state fMRI analysis of pseudobulbar affect in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS): motor dysfunction of emotional expression - Francesca Trojsi; Federica Di Nardo; Giulia D’Alvano; Giuseppina Caiazzo; Carla Passaniti; Antonella Mangione; Minoo Sharbafshaaer; Antonio Russo; Marcello Silvestro; Mattia Siciliano; Mario Cirillo; Gioacchino Tedeschi; et al. (Brain Imaging and Behavior, 2023)
Pseudobulbar affect (PBA), referring to exaggerated or inappropriate episodes of laughing and/or crying without an apparent motivating stimulus, has been mainly attributed to bilateral degeneration of corticobulbar tracts. We aimed at exploring brain functional connectivity (FC) correlates of PBA in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common motor neuron disease, frequently associated with PBA. Resting state functional MRI (RS-fMRI) independent component (ICA) and seed-based analyses and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) whole-brain analysis were performed on 27 ALS patients (13 with PBA; 14 without PBA) and 26 healthy controls (HC), for investigating functional and structural abnormalities in ALS patients compared to HC and in patients with PBA compared to patients without PBA. Between-patient analysis revealed different FC patterns, especially regarding decreased FC in several areas of cognitive (default mode, frontoparietal, salience) and sensory-motor networks in patients with PBA compared to those without PBA. However, no significant differences were found in gray matter atrophy. Seed-based analysis showed increased FC between middle cerebellar peduncles and posterior cingulate cortex and decreased FC between middle cerebellar peduncles and left middle frontal gyrus in patients with PBA compared to patients without PBA. Our findings suggest that some alterations of fronto-tempo-parietal-cerebellar circuits could be related to PBA in ALS. In particular, the abnormal FC between cerebellum and posterior cingulate cortex and left middle frontal gyrus in patients with PBA compared to patients without PBA highlights a crucial role of the cerebellum in regulating emotion expression in patients with ALS.

Linking human impacts to community processes in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems - Ian R. McFadden; Agnieszka Sendek; Morgane Brosse; Peter M. Bach; Marco Baity‐Jesi; Janine Bolliger; Kurt Bollmann; Eckehard G. Brockerhoff; Giulia Donati; Friederike Gebert; Shyamolina Ghosh; Hsi‐Cheng Ho; et al. (Ecology Letters, 2023)
Human impacts such as habitat loss, climate change and biological invasions are radically altering biodiversity, with greater effects projected into the future. Evidence suggests human impacts may differ substantially between terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, but the reasons for these differences are poorly understood. We propose an integrative approach to explain these differences by linking impacts to four fundamental processes that structure communities: dispersal, speciation, species‐level selection and ecological drift. Our goal is to provide process‐based insights into why human impacts, and responses to impacts, may differ across ecosystem types using a mechanistic, eco‐evolutionary comparative framework. To enable these insights, we review and synthesise (i) how the four processes influence diversity and dynamics in terrestrial versus freshwater communities, specifically whether the relative importance of each process differs among ecosystems, and (ii) the pathways by which human impacts can produce divergent responses across ecosystems, due to differences in the strength of processes among ecosystems we identify. Finally, we highlight research gaps and next steps, and discuss how this approach can provide new insights for conservation. By focusing on the processes that shape diversity in communities, we aim to mechanistically link human impacts to ongoing and future changes in ecosystems.

Design flood hydrographs: a regional analysis based on flood reduction functions - Daniele Ganora; Giulia Evangelista; Silvia Cordero; Pierluigi Claps (Hydrological Sciences Journal, 2023)

Symbiont-Bearing Colonial Corals and Gastropods: An Odd Couple of the Shallow Seas - Giovanni Coletti; Alberto Collareta; Andrea Di Cencio; Giulia Bosio; Simone Casati (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2023)
In order to investigate the serendipitous find of a gastropod encrusted by the symbiont-bearing colonial coral Oculina patagonica, we examined several specimens of cnidarian-encrusted gastropods, ranging in age from the Pliocene to the Recent, and characterized in detail their sclerobiont cover. The results of our analysis suggest that gastropod shells can be encrusted by symbiont-bearing colonial corals at various times: (1) when the gastropod is alive; (2) when the shell is being used by a secondary inhabitant (e.g., hermit crabs or sipunculid worms); (3) when the shell is discarded but yet to be buried. The relationship between the symbiont-bearing coral and the inhabitant(s) of the encrusted shell is an example of facultative mutualism, i.e., it is non-obligate yet beneficial for both ends as the former obtains the capability to move, and the latter improves the resistance and resilience of its armor, thus obtaining extra protection from predators. Being able to move could prove particularly useful for a symbiont-bearing coral because, in addition to removing the risk of being smothered by sediment, it would also favor the photosynthetic activity of its algal endosymbionts by allowing the coral to be always clean of sedimentary particles. Although the resulting epibiotic association would be limited in size by the ability of either the gastropod or the secondary inhabitant of the shell to move at the seafloor, these small and easy-to-miss benthic islands might become the seeds that allow sessile carbonate producers such as hermatypic colonial corals to colonize unconsolidated substrates.

Initial results on the variation of whistle characteristics of bottlenose dolphins from two neighbouring regions of the Mediterranean Sea: Northern Ionian and Southern Adriatic Sea - Aylin Akkaya; Tim Awbery; Kirsty Medcalf; Patrick Lyne; Giulia Cipriano; Morgana Alvarenga; Leyla İsrapilova; Yağmur Atalan; Olivier Eikelenboom; Pasquale Ricci; Roberto Crugliano; Elena Papale; et al. (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2023)
Bottlenose dolphins have a complex vocal repertoire that varies depending on behavioral context, social structure, group composition, and anthropogenic pressures. This current study describes the whistle characteristics of bottlenose dolphins for the first time in the South Adriatic Sea while assessing the potential differences between whistle characteristics of geographically separated dolphins within neighbouring waters of the North Ionian Sea. The results show that whistle characteristics were similar between Taranto Gulf (Italy) and Boka Bay (Montenegro), despite their spatial differences. The mean peak frequency was 10kHz for each study location while the mean minimum and maximum frequency ranged from 7 to 14kHz. The average duration of whistles was 500 milliseconds. These results share similarities with previous literature, although several studies reported slightly different mean peak frequencies, ranging up to 15kHz in the neighbouring waters of Croatia and Italy. Further, harmonics were produced and formed in 40% of the whistles in Taranto Gulf and 30% of the whistles in Boka Bay. A high incidence of harmonics has previously been associated with behavioral states (i.e., travelling) and with certain types of marine traffic (i.e., fishing vessels). Therefore, it is important to collect simultaneous data on the visual behavior of the focal group as well as document the type and density of marine traffic within the proximity of the dolphins to have an in-depth understanding of vocal behavior. Despite the similarities of whistle characteristics of Taranto and Boka Bay, the whistle contours showed notable variations. Upsweep whistles were the most regularly produced whistle type in each location, which coincides with previous studies in the Mediterranean Sea. However, the least produced whistle had a concave contour in Taranto and was flat in Boka Bay. Previous studies have confirmed that flat whistles account for the least produced whistle contour in the Mediterranean Basin. Examining the whistle characteristics and the variation in whistle contours provides an in-depth understanding of the behavioral complexity as well as its plasticity in the presence of pressure. Therefore, future studies need to include behavior, group composition, noise levels, and human presence to enable an effective understanding of variation in whistle characteristics of bottlenose dolphins.

Benthic Foraminifera and Productivity Regimes in the Kveithola Trough (Barents Sea)—Ecological Implications in a Changing Arctic and Actuopaleontological Meaning - Anna Sabbatini; Matteo Bazzaro; Francesca Caridi; Cinzia De Vittor; Valentina Esposito; Renata Giulia Lucchi; Alessandra Negri; Caterina Morigi (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2023)
The rapid response of benthic foraminifera to organic carbon flux to the seafloor makes them promising bioindicators for evaluating the organic carbon stored in marine sediments. Fjords have been described as hotspots for carbon burial, potentially playing a key role within the carbon cycle as climate regulators over multiple timescales. Nevertheless, little is known about organic carbon-rich sediments in Arctic open shelves and their role in global carbon sequestration. To this aim, four sites have been sampled along a W-E transect across the Kveithola Trough located in the NW Barents Sea. Living (stained) benthic foraminiferal density, biodiversity and vertical distribution in the sediment were analysed together with the biogeochemical and sedimentological data. We identified two main depositional environments based on the relationship between benthic foraminiferal assemblages and carbon content in the sediments: (1) an oligotrophic land-derived organic matter region located in the outer part of the trough influenced by the warm and saline Atlantic Water; and (2) a stressed eutrophic environment, with high-content of metabolizable organic matter in the inner part of the trough, which comprises the main drift and the Northern flank of the trough. The freshness and good nutritional quality of the organic matter detected in the inner region could be the result of the better preservation of the organic matter itself, basically driven by the rapid burial of fine-grained organic-rich sediments enhanced by the cold and less saline Arctic Water coming from the Barents Sea. We conclude that foraminifera provide a tool to describe the Kveithola depositional environment as a carbon burial hotspot in a changing Arctic area subjected to a pulse of fresh food intended as biopolymeric carbon.

Quantitative Oculomotor Assessment in Hereditary Ataxia: Discriminatory Power, Correlation with Severity Measures, and Recommended Parameters for Specific Genotypes - Pilar Garces; Chrystalina A. Antoniades; Anna Sobanska; Norbert Kovacs; Sarah H. Ying; Anoopum S. Gupta; Susan Perlman; David J. Szmulewicz; Chiara Pane; Andrea H. Németh; Laura B. Jardim; Giulia Coarelli; et al. (The Cerebellum, 2023)
Characterizing bedside oculomotor deficits is a critical factor in defining the clinical presentation of hereditary ataxias. Quantitative assessments are increasingly available and have significant advantages, including comparability over time, reduced examiner dependency, and sensitivity to subtle changes. To delineate the potential of quantitative oculomotor assessments as digital-motor outcome measures for clinical trials in ataxia, we searched MEDLINE for articles reporting on quantitative eye movement recordings in genetically confirmed or suspected hereditary ataxias, asking which paradigms are most promising for capturing disease progression and treatment response. Eighty-nine manuscripts identified reported on 1541 patients, including spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA2, n = 421), SCA3 ( n = 268), SCA6 ( n = 117), other SCAs ( n = 97), Friedreich ataxia (FRDA, n = 178), Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC, n = 57), and ataxia-telangiectasia ( n = 85) as largest cohorts. Whereas most studies reported discriminatory power of oculomotor assessments in diagnostics, few explored their value for monitoring genotype-specific disease progression ( n = 2; SCA2) or treatment response ( n = 8; SCA2, FRDA, NPC, ataxia-telangiectasia, episodic-ataxia 4). Oculomotor parameters correlated with disease severity measures including clinical scores ( n = 18 studies (SARA: n = 9)), chronological measures (e.g., age, disease duration, time-to-symptom onset; n = 17), genetic stratification ( n = 9), and imaging measures of atrophy ( n = 5). Recurrent correlations across many ataxias (SCA2/3/17, FRDA, NPC) suggest saccadic eye movements as potentially generic quantitative oculomotor outcome. Recommendation of other paradigms was limited by the scarcity of cross-validating correlations, except saccadic intrusions (FRDA), pursuit eye movements (SCA17), and quantitative head-impulse testing (SCA3/6). This work aids in understanding the current knowledge of quantitative oculomotor parameters in hereditary ataxias, and identifies gaps for validation as potential trial outcome measures in specific ataxia genotypes.

First report of leaf spots caused by Alternaria alternata on Hydrangea paniculata in Italy - Angelo Garibaldi; Domenico Bertetti; Giulia Tabone; Incoronata Luongo; Maria Lodovica Gullino (Journal of Plant Pathology, 2023)

Special issue on building and infrastructure response to ground movement: Bridging the gap between geotechnical and structural modelling of SSI - Daniela Boldini; Wout Broere; Andrea Franza; Giulia M.B. Viggiani (Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, 2023)

Innovative models for teaching reproduction in small animals: The experience at DIMEVET of Bologna University - Daniele Zambelli; Marco Canova; Giulia Ballotta; Anna Ferrari; Marco Cunto (Theriogenology, 2023)

Progress toward species-tailored prematuration approaches in carnivores - Alberto Maria Luciano; Federica Franciosi; Pritha Dey; Magdalena Ladron De Guevara; Noemi Monferini; Sai Kamal Nag Bonumallu; Giulia Musmeci; Fernanda Fagali Franchi; Rodrigo Garcia Barros; Martina Colombo; Valentina Lodde (Theriogenology, 2023)

Social footprint of European food production and consumption - Lucia Mancini; Antonio Valente; Giulia Barbero Vignola; Esther Sanyé Mengual; Serenella Sala (Sustainable Production and Consumption, 2023)

From city to sea: Spatiotemporal dynamics of floating macrolitter in the Tiber River - Giulia Cesarini; Roberto Crosti; Silvia Secco; Luca Gallitelli; Massimiliano Scalici (Science of The Total Environment, 2023)

Nitrate leaching losses and the fate of 15N fertilizer in perennial intermediate wheatgrass and annual wheat — A field study - Alexandra Huddell; Maria Ernfors; Timothy Crews; Giulia Vico; Duncan N.L. Menge (Science of The Total Environment, 2023)

Mapping snow density through thermal inertia observations - Roberto Colombo; Greta Pennati; Giulia Pozzi; Roberto Garzonio; Biagio Di Mauro; Claudia Giardino; Sergio Cogliati; Micol Rossini; Antonino Maltese; Paolo Pogliotti; Edoardo Cremonese (Remote Sensing of Environment, 2023)

Evaluating a species phylogeny using ddRAD SNPs: Cyto-nuclear discordance and introgression in the salmonid genus Thymallus (Salmonidae) - Giulia Secci-Petretto; Gernot K. Englmaier; Steven J. Weiss; Alexander Antonov; Henri Persat; Gael P.J. Denys; Tamara Schenekar; Vladimir I. Romanov; Eric B. Taylor; Elsa Froufe (Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 2023)

Laterally-continuous dolomite layers of the Miocene Pisco Formation (East Pisco Basin, Peru): A window into past cyclical changes of the diagenetic environment - Elisa Malinverno; Giulia Bosio; Anna Gioncada; Raffaella Cimò; Sergio Andò; Luca Mariani; Giovanni Coletti; Chiara Boschi; Karen Gariboldi; Lucia Galimberti; Giovanni Bianucci; Mario Urbina; et al. (Marine and Petroleum Geology, 2023)

Spatio-temporal modelling of phenotypic heterogeneity in tumour tissues and its impact on radiotherapy treatment - Giulia L. Celora; Helen M. Byrne; P.G. Kevrekidis (Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2023)

Design and experimental validation of an optimized microalgae-bacteria consortium for the bioremediation of glyphosate in continuous photobioreactors - Lisa Borella; Giulia Novello; Matteo Gasparotto; Giancarlo Renella; Marco Roverso; Sara Bogialli; Francesco Filippini; Eleonora Sforza (Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2023)

Supporting sustainability projects at neighbourhood scale: Green visions for the San Salvario district in Turin guided by a combined assessment framework - Federico Dell’Anna; Giulia Pederiva; Giulia Vergerio; Cristina Becchio; Marta Bottero (Journal of Cleaner Production, 2023)

Association between short-term exposure to air pollutants and cause-specific daily mortality in Italy. A nationwide analysis - Claudio Gariazzo; Matteo Renzi; Alessandro Marinaccio; Paola Michelozzi; Stefania Massari; Camillo Silibello; Giuseppe Carlino; Paolo Giorgi Rossi; Sara Maio; Giovanni Viegi; Massimo Stafoggia; Sandra Baldacci; et al. (Environmental Research, 2023)

Effects of benzo[a]pyrene on the reproductive axis: Impairment of kisspeptin signaling in human gonadotropin-releasing hormone primary neurons - Giulia Guarnieri; Matteo Becatti; Roberta Squecco; Paolo Comeglio; Rachele Garella; Lara Tamburrino; Sara Marchiani; Linda Vignozzi; Gabriella Barbara Vannelli; Mario Maggi; Annamaria Morelli (Environmental Pollution, 2023)

Shellfish as a bioremediation tool: A review and meta-analysis - Giulia Filippini; Katherine A. Dafforn; Ana B. Bugnot (Environmental Pollution, 2023)

Exposure to Bisphenol A increases malignancy risk of thyroid nodules in overweight/obese patients - Vincenzo Marotta; Lucia Grumetto; Ilaria Neri; Giacomo Russo; Anna Tortora; Giulia Izzo; Ilaria Panariello; Domenico Rocco; Luciano Pezzullo; Mario Vitale (Environmental Pollution, 2023)

Practical differences in operating buildings across countries and climate zones: Perspectives of building managers/operators - Maíra André; Karol Bandurski; Arkasama Bandyopadhyay; Mateus Bavaresco; Carolina Buonocore; Luiza de Castro; Jakob Hahn; Michael Kane; Carola Lingua; Benedetta Pioppi; Cristina Piselli; Giorgia Spigliantini; et al. (Energy and Buildings, 2023)

Combined effect of black locust invasion and fire on soils of Mediterranean shrublands and pine forests - Anna De Marco; Pasquale Napoletano; Speranza Claudia Panico; Valeria Memoli; Lucia Santorufo; Anna Gabriella Ruggiero; Claudio Colombo; Rossella Barile; Giulia Maisto (CATENA, 2023)

Antibacterial activity of cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) female inflorescence and root extract against Paenibacillus larvae, causal agent of American foulbrood - Fuentes Giselle; Iglesias Azucena; Orallo Dalila; Fangio Florencia; Ramos Facundo; Mitton Giulia; Fuselli Sandra; Matias Maggi; Cristina L. Ramirez (Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology, 2023)

Utility and prognostic significance of leukocyte ratios in dogs with Primary Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia - Chiara Alaimo; Giulia De Feo; George Lubas; Alessandra Gavazza (Veterinary Research Communications, 2023)

Isotopic signature in isolated south-western populations of European brown bear (Ursus arctos) - Ana García-Vázquez; Denise A. Crampton; Angela L. Lamb; George A. Wolff; Kostas Kiriakoulakis; Giulia Guidarelli; Anna Loy; Paolo Ciucci; Claudio Groff; Ana C. Pinto-Llona; Aurora Grandal-d’Anglade; Carlo Meloro (Mammal Research, 2023)
Stable isotope analysis of animal tissue samples is increasingly used to study the trophic ecology of target species. The isotopic signatures respond to the type of diet, but also to the environmental conditions of their habitat. In the case of omnivorous, seasonal or opportunistic feeding species, the interpretation of isotopic values is more complex, as it is largely determined by food selection, either due to individual choice or because of availability. We analysed C and N isotopes in brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) hair from four isolated populations of south-western Europe (Cantabrian, Pyrenees, Central Apennines and Alpine) accounting for the geographical and climatic differences among the four areas. We found inter-population differences in isotopic signatures that cannot be attributed to climatic differences alone, indicating that at least some bears from relatively higher altitude populations experiencing higher precipitation (Pyrenees) show a greater consumption of animal foods than those from lower altitudes (Cantabrian and Apennines). The quantification of isotopic niche space using Layman’s metrics identified significant similarities between the Cantabrian and Central Apennine samples that markedly differ from the Pyrenean and Alpine. Our study provides a baseline to allow further comparisons in isotopic niche spaces in a broad ranged omnivorous mammal, whose European distribution requires further conservation attention especially for southern isolated populations.

Phenotypic Plasticity in Sargassum Forests May Not Counteract Projected Biomass Losses Along a Broad Latitudinal Gradient - Lidiane P. Gouvêa; Paulo A. Horta; Eliza Fragkopoulou; Carlos F. D. Gurgel; Leticia M. C. Peres; Eduardo Bastos; Fernanda Ramlov; Giulia Burle; Gabrielle Koerich; Cintia D. L. Martins; Ester A. Serrão; Jorge Assis (Ecosystems, 2023)

Inter and intra-population variability of the migratory behaviour of a short-distance partial migrant, the Eurasian Stone-curlew Burhinus oedicnemus (Charadriiformes, Burhinidae) - Valentina Falchi; Giulia Cerritelli; Andrea Barbon; Carlo Catoni; Alice Cutroneo; Giacomo dell’Omo; Marco Dragonetti; Pietro Giovacchini; Angelo Meschini; Lucio Panzarin; Angela Picciau; Dimitri Giunchi (Journal of Ornithology, 2023)
Migratory behaviour in birds shows a remarkable variability at species, population and individual levels. Short-distance migrants often adopt a partial migratory strategy and tend to have a flexible migration schedule that allows a more effective response to extreme environmental variations. Weather seasonality and environmental heterogeneity have been reported as significant factors in the diversification of migratory behaviour for Mediterranean migrants, but relatively few studies investigated the migration patterns of non-passerine birds migrating within the Mediterranean basin. In this study, we investigated the migratory strategy of 40 Eurasian Stone-curlews Burhinus oedicnemus tagged with geolocators and GPS-GSM tags and belonging to continental and Mediterranean populations of the Italian peninsula. The proportion of migrants was higher in continental populations, but we observed a significant variability also within Mediterranean populations. All birds spent the winter within the Mediterranean basin. Continental Stone-curlews departed earlier in spring and later in autumn and covered longer distances than those from Mediterranean areas. The speed of migration did not change between seasons for continental birds, while Mediterranean individuals migrated faster in spring. The likelihood of departure for autumn migration of GPS-tagged birds increased when temperatures were near or below 0 °C suggesting that Stone-curlews tend to delay departure until weather conditions worsen abruptly. As a consequence of global warming in the Mediterranean, the frequency of migratory birds in the considered populations might decrease in the near future. This could affect the distribution of species throughout the year and should be taken into account when targeting conservation measures.

Correction to: Archaeometric study of wall rock paintings from the Sant’Angelo in Criptis cave, Santeramo in Colle, Bari: insights on the rupestrian decorative art in Apulia (Southern Italy) - Giovanna Fioretti; Anna Garavelli; Giulia Germinario; Daniela Pinto (Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2023)

A Credibility Assessment Plan for an In Silico Model that Predicts the Dose–Response Relationship of New Tuberculosis Treatments - Cristina Curreli; Valentina Di Salvatore; Giulia Russo; Francesco Pappalardo; Marco Viceconti (Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2023)
Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death in several developing countries and a public health emergency of international concern. In Silico Trials can be used to support innovation in the context of drug development reducing the duration and the cost of the clinical experimentations, a particularly desirable goal for diseases such as tuberculosis. The agent-based Universal Immune System Simulator was used to develop an In Silico Trials environment that can predict the dose–response of new therapeutic vaccines against pulmonary tuberculosis, supporting the optimal design of clinical trials. But before such in silico methodology can be used in the evaluation of new treatments, it is mandatory to assess the credibility of this predictive model. This study presents a risk-informed credibility assessment plan inspired by the ASME V&V 40‐2018 technical standard. Based on the selected context of use and regulatory impact of the technology, a detailed risk analysis is described together with the definition of all the verification and validation activities and related acceptability criteria. The work provides an example of the first steps required for the regulatory evaluation of an agent-based model used in the context of drug development.

Emission estimates and air quality simulation on Lombardy during lockdown - Alessandro Marongiu; Elisabetta Angelino; Giulia Malvestiti; Marco Moretti; Giuseppe Fossati; Edoardo Peroni (Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, 2023)

Ghosts of the Holobiont: Borings on a Miocene Turtle Carapace from the Pisco Formation (Peru) as Witnesses of Ancient Symbiosis - Alberto Collareta; Rafael Varas-Malca; Giulia Bosio; Mario Urbina; Giovanni Coletti (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2022)
In spite of the widespread occurrence of epibiotic turtle barnacles (Coronuloidea: Chelonibiidae and Platylepadidae) on extant marine turtles (Chelonioidea: Cheloniidae and Dermochelyidae), and although the association between these cirripedes and their chelonian hosts has existed for more than 30 million years, only a few studies have investigated the deep past of this iconic symbiotic relationship on palaeontological grounds. We describe probable platylepadid attachment scars in the form of hemispherical/hemiellipsoidal borings on an Upper Miocene (Tortonian) fragmentary turtle carapace, identified herein as belonging to Cheloniidae, from the Pisco Lagerstätte (East Pisco Basin, southern Peru). When coupled with the available molecular data, this and other similar ichnofossils allow for hypothesising that platylepadid symbionts were hosted by sea turtles as early as in early Oligocene times and became relatively widespread during the subsequent Miocene epoch. Chelonian fossils that preserve evidence of colonisation by platylepadid epibionts in the form of pits on the turtle shell should be regarded as fossil holobionts, i.e., palaeontological witnesses of discrete communal ecological units formed by a basibiont and the associated symbionts (including the epibiota). A greater attention to the bone modifications that may be detected on fossil turtle bones is expected to contribute significantly to the emerging field of palaeosymbiology.

Social Structure and Temporal Distribution of Tursiops truncatus in the Gulf of Taranto (Central Mediterranean Sea) - Giulia Cipriano; Francesca Cornelia Santacesaria; Carmelo Fanizza; Carla Cherubini; Roberto Crugliano; Rosalia Maglietta; Pasquale Ricci; Roberto Carlucci (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2022)
This study aims to provide information on the site fidelity, residency patterns and the social structures of bottlenose dolphins occurring in the Gulf of Taranto in order to supply effective indications supporting the future management and conservation measures of the species. Out of 141 photo-identified individuals about 76% were re-sighted from 2 up to 31 times. The site fidelity analysis of photo-identified individuals highlighted the occurrence of 20 seasonal residents, 62 visitors and 59 transient individuals that were included in a local population in which emigration and reimmigration events occurred, as suggested by the residency-pattern analysis. The association pattern, performed using SOCPROG 2.9, highlighted a relatively low mean value of the overall half-weight association index (0.11 ± 0.04). However, the test for the null hypothesis of ‘random association’ was rejected and the temporal analysis made with SLAR suggested the presence of both extremely fluid and stable associations between individuals, describing a fission fusion social structure with a certain degree of social organization. Moreover, the cluster and social network analysis showed two geographically and socially segregated units. Thus, more investigations are needed and the development of a specific conservation plan for bottlenose dolphins in the whole area is required.

Investigation of Carnivore protoparvovirus 1 and Amdoparvovirus infections in red fox populations of the Italian Dolomites - Laura Grassi; Maria Luisa Menandro; Federica Obber; Michele Drigo; Matteo Legnardi; Daniela Pasotto; Claudia Maria Tucciarone; Giulia Faustini; Carlo Citterio; Mattia Cecchinato; Giovanni Franzo (Veterinary Research Communications, 2022)

Neural-Symbolic Ensemble Learning for early-stage prediction of critical state of Covid-19 patients - Arnaud Nguembang Fadja; Michele Fraccaroli; Alice Bizzarri; Giulia Mazzuchelli; Evelina Lamma (Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 2022)
Recently, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have been successfully applied to many domains of interest including medical diagnosis. Due to the availability of a large quantity of data, it is possible to build reliable AI systems that assist humans in making decisions. The recent Covid-19 pandemic quickly spread over the world causing serious health problems and severe economic and social damage. Computer scientists are actively working together with doctors on different ML models to diagnose Covid-19 patients using Computed Tomography (CT) scans and clinical data. In this work, we propose a neural-symbolic system that predicts if a Covid-19 patient arriving at the hospital will end in a critical condition. The proposed system relies on Deep 3D Convolutional Neural Networks (3D-CNNs) for analyzing lung CT scans of Covid-19 patients, Decision Trees (DTs) for predicting if a Covid-19 patient will eventually pass away by analyzing its clinical data, and a neural system that integrates the previous ones using Hierarchical Probabilistic Logic Programs (HPLPs). Predicting if a Covid-19 patient will end in a critical condition is useful for managing the limited number of intensive care at the hospital. Moreover, knowing early that a Covid-19 patient could end in serious conditions allows doctors to gain early knowledge on patients and provide special treatment to those predicted to finish in critical conditions. The proposed system, entitled Neural HPLP, obtains good performance in terms of area under the receiver operating characteristic and precision curves with values of about 0.96 for both metrics. Therefore, with Neural HPLP, it is possible not only to efficiently predict if Covid-19 patients will end in severe conditions but also possible to provide an explanation of the prediction. This makes Neural HPLP explainable, interpretable, and reliable.

Time- and dose-dependent biological effects of a sub-chronic exposure to realistic doses of salicylic acid in the gills of mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis - Giuseppe De Marco; Sabrine Afsa; Mariachiara Galati; Giulia Guerriero; Angela Mauceri; Hedi Ben Mansour; Tiziana Cappello (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022)

Oxidative Stress Induced by 30 Days of Mercury Exposure Accelerates Hypertension Development in Prehypertensive Young SHRs - Graziele Zandominegue Ronchetti; Maylla Ronacher Simões; Ingridy Reinholz Grafites Schereider; Marcos André Soares Leal; Giulia Alessandra Wiggers Peçanha; Alessandra Simão Padilha; Dalton Valentim Vassallo (Cardiovascular Toxicology, 2022)

The impact of aging on human brain network target controllability - Giulia Bassignana; Giordano Lacidogna; Paolo Bartolomeo; Olivier Colliot; Fabrizio De Vico Fallani (Brain Structure and Function, 2022)

Brain gyrification in bipolar disorder: a systematic review of neuroimaging studies - Alessandro Miola; Giulia Cattarinussi; Maria Lavinia Loré; Niccolò Ghiotto; Enrico Collantoni; Fabio Sambataro (Brain Imaging and Behavior, 2022)
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe mental illness with a strong genetic component. Genetic variations have been involved in the risk of this disorder, including those mediating brain function and neurodevelopment. Early neurodevelopment and neuroprogression processes could be reflected in brain gyrification patterns and help optimize the prediction and diagnosis of such disorders that is often delayed. Previous neuroimaging studies using this measure in patients with bipolar disorder revealed controversial results. This systematic review aimed to summarize available neuroimaging investigations on gyrification in BD compared to healthy controls (HC) and/or other psychiatric groups. Fourteen studies including 733 patients with BD, 585 patients with schizophrenia (SCZ), 90 with schizoaffective disorder (SZA), and 1380 healthy subjects were identified. Overall, a heterogeneous pattern of gyrification emerged between patients with BD and HC. Interestingly, increased gyrification or no differences were also observed in patients with BD compared to those with the schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Furthermore, relatives of patients with BD showed lower or no differences in gyrification compared to healthy subjects without a family history of affective illness. Differences in the design and in methodological approaches could have contributed to the heterogeneity of the findings. The current review supports an altered brain gyrification pattern that underlies the pathophysiology of BD spanning large anatomical and functional neural networks, associated with altered cognitive functioning, difficulties in processing and affective regulation, and clinical symptoms. Longitudinal studies are needed to test different bipolar phenotypes and pharmacological effects on gyrification.

Impact of Sars-CoV-2 pandemic on the Veneto Region multitissue bank activity - Giulia Montagner; Rudy De Vettor; Francesca Favaretto; Daniela Vici; Claudia Del Vecchio; Elisa Franchin; Diletta Trojan; Giuseppe Feltrin (Cell and Tissue Banking, 2022)
Covid pandemic affected donation activities worldwide, especially for living donation due to the lack of elective surgery. Moreover, the number of heart-beating and non-heart beating donors has recorded a decrease. Fondazione Banca dei Tessuti di Treviso (FBTV) is a non-profit healthcare organisation, located in Veneto Region, tasked with procurement, processing, preserving, validating and distributing human tissue for clinical use. During Covid-19 outbreak, operations in FBTV have never stopped and a great effort was required to maintain a standard trend of activity. The aim of this study was to describe the impact of Sars-CoV-2 on the activity of a multitissue bank in Italy. Moreover, we investigated the presence of the virus in tissues retrieved from two Sars-CoV-2 positive cadaver donors. Our survey demonstrated that the transplantation network of Veneto Region has positively reacted to the pandemic scenario, thanks to the effort of all personnel involved. Statistical analyses underlined that most of the activities of the tissue bank were unaffected during the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic.

Validation and Verification of High-Fidelity Simulations of Thoracic Stent-Graft Implantation - Anna Ramella; Francesco Migliavacca; Jose Felix Rodriguez Matas; Frederic Heim; Francesca Dedola; Stefania Marconi; Michele Conti; Sara Allievi; Tim J. Mandigers; Daniele Bissacco; Maurizio Domanin; Santi Trimarchi; et al. (Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2022)
Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR) is the preferred treatment option for thoracic aortic pathologies and consists of inserting a self-expandable stent-graft into the pathological region to restore the lumen. Computational models play a significant role in procedural planning and must be reliable. For this reason, in this work, high-fidelity Finite Element (FE) simulations are developed to model thoracic stent-grafts. Experimental crimp/release tests are performed to calibrate stent-grafts material parameters. Stent pre-stress is included in the stent-graft model. A new methodology for replicating device insertion and deployment with explicit FE simulations is proposed. To validate this simulation, the stent-graft is experimentally released into a 3D rigid aortic phantom with physiological anatomy and inspected in a computed tomography (CT) scan at different time points during deployment with an ad-hoc set-up. A verification analysis of the adopted modeling features compared to the literature is performed. With the proposed methodology the error with respect to the CT is on average 0.92 ± 0.64%, while it is higher when literature models are adopted (on average 4.77 ± 1.83%). The presented FE tool is versatile and customizable for different commercial devices and applicable to patient-specific analyses.

Designation of optimal reference strains representing the infant gut bifidobacterial species through a comprehensive multi‐omics approach - Federico Fontana; Giulia Alessandri; Chiara Tarracchini; Massimiliano Giovanni Bianchi; Sonia Mirjam Rizzo; Leonardo Mancabelli; Gabriele Andrea Lugli; Chiara Argentini; Laura Maria Vergna; Rosaria Anzalone; Giulia Longhi; Alice Viappiani; et al. (Environmental Microbiology, 2022)
The genomic era has resulted in the generation of a massive amount of genetic data concerning the genomic diversity of bacterial taxa. As a result, the microbiological community is increasingly looking for ways to define reference bacterial strains to perform experiments that are representative of the entire bacterial species. Despite this, there is currently no established approach allowing a reliable identification of reference strains based on a comprehensive genomic, ecological, and functional context. In the current study, we developed a comprehensive multi‐omics approach that will allow the identification of the optimal reference strains using the Bifidobacterium genus as test case. Strain tracking analysis based on 1664 shotgun metagenomics datasets of healthy infant faecal samples were employed to identify bifidobacterial strains suitable for in silico and in vitro analyses. Subsequently, an ad hoc bioinformatic tool was developed to screen local strain collections for the most suitable species‐representative strain alternative. The here presented approach was validated using in vitro trials followed by metagenomics and metatranscriptomics analyses. Altogether, these results demonstrated the validity of the proposed model for reference strain selection, thus allowing improved in silico and in vitro investigations both in terms of cross‐laboratory reproducibility and relevance of research findings.

A New Method to Speed Up Nannofossil Picking for Monospecific Geochemical Analyses - Manuela Bordiga; Claudia Lupi; Mario Zanoni; Stefania Bianco; Marina Cabrini; Giulia Fiorentino; Silvia Garagna; Maurizio Zuccotti; Andrea Di Giulio (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2022)
Investigating the trace elements contained in the coccoliths, i.e., the carbonate exoskeleton, of unicellular marine phytoplankton called coccolithophores, is fundamental for calibrating environmental climate proxies, which are key tools for studying past and future climate changes. To date, lab-cultivated coccolithophores have been mainly used for measuring the elements retained within the coccoliths, whereas geochemical studies in fossil records have been limited by the difficulty in isolating monospecific samples from sediments containing highly diversified fossil assemblages. Since a comparison of the geochemical data collected from both fossil and living species is fundamental for calibrating the environmental proxies, an improvement of coccolith-picking methodology should be envisaged. Here, we present a significant advancement in the isolation of fossil species-specific coccolith achieved using a hydraulic micromanipulation system together with wet samples, never applied before on coccoliths. Our technique allows the picking of around 100 monospecific coccoliths per h, a number never achieved before with other isolation methodologies. This method opens up new possibilities in applying monospecific geochemical analyses to the fossil record not attainable before (e.g., the use of the mass spectrometer), leading to an increase in knowledge of environmental proxy calibration and coccolithophore element incorporation strategies.

Protective treatments for copper alloy artworks: preliminary studies of sodium oxalate and limewater effectiveness against bronze disease - Giulia Monari; Monica Galeotti; Mauro Matteini; Barbara Salvadori; Roberto Stifanese; Pierluigi Traverso; Silvia Vettori; Paola Letardi (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022)
Nantokite (CuCl) locked inside subsurface micro-pits has been recognised as the driving force to the form of corrosion called bronze disease. The use of the traditional corrosion inhibitor benzotriazole is questioned because of toxicity. So there is a need for alternative conservation treatments. This work is focused on the experimental design to test the effectiveness of sodium oxalate followed by treatment with limewater to face bronze disease on outdoor bronzes. A number of foundry bronze coupons were exposed to weathering at Genoa Experimental Marine Station (GEMS) exposure site and sprayed twice a week with a 5% NaCl solution for the first 124 days. After 562 days of natural weathering, the patinas on coupons were characterised with non-destructive techniques (NDT) and the presence of nantokite was verified. We designed a workflow, as similar as possible to conservation treatments on real artworks, to test a 3% w/v sodium oxalate treatment with two different application times, with or without limewater, on the coupons. The effectiveness of the treatments was analysed by comparison of surface properties by several NDT measurements. A statistical approach and XRD measurements directly on the corroded bronze surfaces are suggested as an effective way to characterise and compare the overall behaviour of bronze disease treatments for conservation.

First report of Neofusicoccum parvum causing stem cankers on Schinus molle in France - Domenico Bertetti; Andrea Rettori; Roberto Martinis; Vladimiro Guarnaccia; Giulia Tabone; Angelo Garibaldi; Maria Lodovica Gullino (Journal of Plant Pathology, 2022)

Chemical composition, cytotoxic effects, antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity of Artemisia arborescens (Vaill.) L. growing wild in the province of Agrigento, Sicily, Italy - Fabiana Plescia; Fabio Venturella; Marianna Lauricella; Valentina Catania; Giulia Polito; Domenico Schillaci; Antonio Palumbo Piccionello; Daidone Giuseppe; Antonella D’Anneo; Demetrio Raffa (Plant Biosystems, 2022)

Phytochemical-rich extracts of Helianthemum lippii possess antimicrobial, anticancer, and anti-biofilm activities - Fabiana Plescia; Fabio Venturella; Antonella D’Anneo; Valentina Catania; Maria Letizia Gargano; Giulia Polito; Domenico Schillaci; Antonio Palumbo Piccionello; Marianna Lauricella; Giuseppe Venturella; Demetrio Raffa (Plant Biosystems, 2022)

Asymmetrical copper root pruning may improve root traits for reforesting steep and/or windy sites - Antonio Montagnoli; R. Kasten Dumroese; Giulia Negri; Gabriella Stefania Scippa; Donato Chiatante; Mattia Terzaghi (New Forests, 2022)
Our research demonstrates that plant material can be produced in the nursery with asymmetrical root systems, which may have utility for reforestation of difficult planting sites characterized by steep slopes and/or windy conditions. Such a root system can be generated using chemical root pruning by applying cupric carbonate (Cu) that can arrest the development of, or cause mortality to, root apical meristems resulting in the formation of new lateral roots with an overall increase in the biomass, length, and volume of the root system. Our objective was to investigate the effect of chemical root pruning on the morphological and architectural traits of adventitious roots produced by poplar cuttings ( Populus nigra L.) grown in containers coated with Cu in various symmetrical (Side, Bottom, Side + Bottom) and asymmetrical (half side + half bottom) patterns. After six weeks, roots of the cuttings were extracted from different container depths (Top, Middle, and Bottom) and portions (non-coated, Cu-coated), and analyzed. The root systems reacted to all coating patterns by increasing length, biomass, volume, and average diameters, but magnitude of increase was further affected by depth. In particular, root growth was unaffected at the Top of the container, and length was the highest at the Bottom depth. The Middle depth had a significant increment in both biomass and volume. Also, the root population increased in diameter as a possible response to Cu exposure. Interestingly, in the asymmetrically coated containers this depth response in the non-coated portions was of higher magnitude than in the Cu-coated portions.

Thalamocortical bistable switch as a theoretical model of fibromyalgia pathogenesis inferred from a literature survey - Ilaria Demori; Giulia Giordano; Viviana Mucci; Serena Losacco; Lucio Marinelli; Paolo Massobrio; Franco Blanchini; Bruno Burlando (Journal of Computational Neuroscience, 2022)
Fibromyalgia (FM) is an unsolved central pain processing disturbance. We aim to provide a unifying model for FM pathogenesis based on a loop network involving thalamocortical regions, i.e., the ventroposterior lateral thalamus (VPL), the somatosensory cortex (SC), and the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). The dynamics of the loop have been described by three differential equations having neuron mean firing rates as variables and containing Hill functions to model mutual interactions among the loop elements. A computational analysis conducted with MATLAB has shown a transition from monostability to bistability of the loop behavior for a weakening of GABAergic transmission between TRN and VPL. This involves the appearance of a high-firing-rate steady state, which becomes dominant and is assumed to represent pathogenic pain processing giving rise to chronic pain. Our model is consistent with a bulk of literature evidence, such as neuroimaging and pharmacological data collected on FM patients, and with correlations between FM and immunoendocrine conditions, such as stress, perimenopause, chronic inflammation, obesity, and chronic dizziness. The model suggests that critical targets for FM treatment are to be found among immunoendocrine pathways leading to GABA/glutamate imbalance having an impact on the thalamocortical system.

Novel Method for the Production, Purification, and Characterization of Recombinant Lunasin: Identification of Disulfide Cross-Linked Dimers - Stephanny Miranda Alves de Souza; Talita Stelling de Araújo; Giulia Diniz da Silva Ferretti; Dário Eluan Kalume; Yraima Cordeiro; Marcius da Silva Almeida; Theo Luiz Ferraz de Souza (International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics, 2022)

High-yield production in Escherichia coli and convenient purification of a candidate vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 - Giulia Maltoni; Lorenzo Scutteri; Francesca Mensitieri; Fabrizio Dal Piaz; Alejandro Hochkoeppler (Biotechnology Letters, 2022)
Objectives The aim of the present work was to identify a time-saving, effective, and low-cost strategy to produce in Escherichia coli a protein chimera representing a fusion anti-SARS-CoV-2 candidate vaccine, consisting of immunogenic and antigenic moieties. Results We overexpressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) a synthetic gene coding for CRM197-RBD, and the target protein was detected in inclusion bodies. CRM197-RBD was solubilized with 1 % (w/v) of the anionic detergent N-lauroylsarcosine (sarkosyl), the removal of which from the protein solution was conveniently accomplished with Amberlite XAD-4. The detergent-free CRM197-RBD was then separated from contaminating DNA using polyethylenimine (PEI), and finally purified from PEI by salting out with ammonium sulfate. Structural (CD spectrum) and functional (DNase activity) assays revealed that the CRM197-RBD chimera featured a native and active conformation. Remarkably, we determined a yield of purified CRM197-RBD equal to 23 mg per litre of culture. Conclusions To produce CRM197-RBD, we devised the use of sarkosyl as an alternative to urea to solubilize the target protein from E. coli inclusion bodies, and the easy removal of sarkosyl by means of Amberlite XAD-4.

TFEB controls integrin-mediated endothelial cell adhesion by the regulation of cholesterol metabolism - Camilla Ariano; Chiara Riganti; Davide Corà; Donatella Valdembri; Giulia Mana; Elena Astanina; Guido Serini; Federico Bussolino; Gabriella Doronzo (Angiogenesis, 2022)
The dynamic integrin-mediated adhesion of endothelial cells (ECs) to the surrounding ECM is fundamental for angiogenesis both in physiological and pathological conditions, such as embryonic development and cancer progression. The dynamics of EC-to-ECM adhesions relies on the regulation of the conformational activation and trafficking of integrins. Here, we reveal that oncogenic transcription factor EB (TFEB), a known regulator of lysosomal biogenesis and metabolism, also controls a transcriptional program that influences the turnover of ECM adhesions in ECs by regulating cholesterol metabolism. We show that TFEB favors ECM adhesion turnover by promoting the transcription of genes that drive the synthesis of cholesterol, which promotes the aggregation of caveolin-1, and the caveolin-dependent endocytosis of integrin β1. These findings suggest that TFEB might represent a novel target for the pharmacological control of pathological angiogenesis and bring new insights in the mechanism sustaining TFEB control of endocytosis.

Clinical and Histological Findings of Non-Experimentally Induced Seminomas in Adult Zebrafish - Antonella Tinelli; Claudia Zizzadoro; Nicola Pugliese; Rosa Leone; Giuseppe Crescenzo; Monia Perugini; Michele Amorena; Giulia Caioni; Carmine Merola (Fishes, 2022)
The present study investigated the macroscopical and histological features of two spontaneous seminomas developed by zebrafish adults. Two wild-type male zebrafish of AB/TU strain aged 2 and 3 years, respectively, developed gross pathological signs consisting of asymmetrical swollen abdomens. In one fish, named fish 1, the testicular alteration is referred to as one testis (the right one), while in fish 2, both testes were altered in their size and shape. No signs of invasion were reported. The histological analysis revealed an extensive differentiation of germ cells in various developmental stages without any oocyte, and both lesions were compatible with spermatocytic and intratubular seminomas. The etiology and the pathogenesis of the reported lesions could be related to an intricate and interconnected network of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, including the housing condition, diet, genetic background, and operator training.

Application of a multi-species bio-economic modelling approach to explore fishing traits within eligible cetacean conservation areas in the Northern Ionian Sea (Central Mediterranean Sea) - Roberto Carlucci; Giulia Cipriano; Daniela Cascione; Maurizio Ingrosso; Tommaso Russo; Alice Sbrana; Carmelo Fanizza; Pasquale Ricci (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022)
The assessment of the spatial overlap between eligible cetacean conservation areas (CCAs) and fishing grounds could be a strategic element in the implementation of effective conservation measures in the pelagic offshore areas. A multi-species bio-economic modelling approach has been applied to estimate the fishing traits in eligible CCAs in the Northern Ionian Sea (NIS, Central Mediterranean Sea) between 10-800 m of depth, adopting the Spatial MAnagement of demersal Resources for Trawl fisheries model (SMART). Four possible CCAs were defined according to the distribution of cetacean species, their bio-ecological needs, as well as socio-economic needs of human activities, identifying a Blue, Red, Orange and Green CCAs in the NIS. SMART spatial domain was a grid with 500 square cells (15×15 NM). The analysis was conducted for the period 2016-2019, considering the Otter Trawl Bottom (OTB) fleet activities in the study areas through the Vessel Monitoring System. The spatial extension of fishing activities, hourly fishing effort (h), landings (tons) and economic value (euros) for each CCA and the NIS were estimated as yearly median values. Fishing activities were absent in the Blue CCA, where the presence of the submarine canyon head does not offer accessible fishing grounds. The hourly fishing effort in the Green area accounted for about 22% (3443 h) of the total hourly effort of the NIS, while the Orange and Red areas were about 8% (1226 h) and 2% (295 h), respectively. The Green CCA corresponded to about 14% (36 tons) of the total landings in the NIS, whereas the Orange and Red areas represented about 9% (22 tons) and 6% (16 tons), respectively. The Green CCA accounted for about 13% (156 thousand euros) of the total economic value of the NIS, while the Orange and Red areas represented about 6% (69 thousand euros) and 4% (44thousand euros), respectively. Results showed no or negligible negative effects on trawl activities by potential spatial restrictions due to the establishment of CCAs highlighting the importance to consider spatially integrated information during the establishment process of conservation areas for cetacean biodiversity according to the principles of Ecosystem Based Management.

The Mediterranean bioconstructor Lithophyllum stictiforme shows adaptability to future warming - Federico Pinna; Annalisa Caragnano; Luigi Piazzi; Federica Ragazzola; Patrizia Stipcich; Fabio Rindi; Giulia Ceccherelli (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022)
Understanding how coralline algae may acclimatize to ocean warming is important to understand their survival over the coming century. Taking advantage of natural differences in temperature conditions between coastal areas in Sardinia (Italy) and between depths, the responses in terms of biological traits to warming of the crustose coralline alga Lithophyllum stictiforme , a key bioconstructor of coralligenous reefs in the Mediterranean, were evaluated in the field by two innovative transplant experiments where translocated specimens were used as controls. Results of the first experiment (algae cross transplanted between a cold and a warm site at two depths, 23 and 34 m) showed that the marginal growth of the alga and production of conceptacles were higher in the cold site, regardless of the treatment (transplant and translocation) and depth. However, growth in thickness in algae transferred from the cold to the warm site was higher at 34 m of depth, where they had a better performance than the local (translocated) algae. Results of the second experiment (algae transplanted from 34 m to 15 m of depth under different light irradiance manipulations) evidenced that the increase in temperature of +4°C was tolerated by thalli transplanted at 15 m, but that thallus growth and conceptacles production was negatively affected by the higher light irradiance. These results suggest an overall good adaptability of L. stictiforme under warmer conditions, even those due to thermocline deepening. Overall, these results encourage consideration of the use of transplants of this bioconstructor in future restoration actions of coralligenous habitats.

Assessment of Posidonia oceanica traits along a temperature gradient in the Mediterranean Sea shows impacts of marine warming and heat waves - Patrizia Stipcich; Eugenia T. Apostolaki; Niki Chartosia; Pavlos Theofilos Efthymiadis; Carlos E. Jimenez; Gabriella La Manna; Arianna Pansini; Elena Principato; Vasilis Resaikos; Giulia Ceccherelli (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022)
Global warming and Marine Heat Waves (MHWs) are having large-scale impacts on the seagrasses and their effects on the Mediterranean endemic Posidonia oceanica need to be properly defined. This research aimed to sharpen the knowledge on P. oceanica response to the warming by correlating the shoot morphology and the productivity of the seagrass to temperature conditions and MHW occurrence. Two correlative studies, along a Mediterranean temperature range (sites at the same latitude), were conducted: one explored the associations of summer 2021 Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and MHWs on P. oceanica morphology and the other used a reconstruction technique (lepidochronological analysis) to relate past temperature conditions and MHW occurrence to proxies of seagrass productivity for the corresponding periods. The results showed that the mean summer temperature affected the P. oceanica leaf necrosis and that MHWs occurrence changed the morphology of the plant by lowering the leaf area and increasing leaf necrosis. Interesting results were also found relating the past thermal environment, since rhizome biomass has been negatively affected by the number of MHWs and rhizome length by the temperature range. This research provides fundamental insights about P. oceanica changes linked to warming and MHWs, identifying the potential plant indicators assisting future experimental and modelling studies. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a reconstruction technique is used to evaluate the effects of past MHWs on the morphology and productivity of a plant species.

Epiplastic microhabitats for epibenthic organisms: a new inland water frontier for diatoms - Davide Taurozzi; Giulia Cesarini; Massimiliano Scalici (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022)
Plastic pollution is widespread in each type of ecosystems. However, the colonization events of microorganisms on plastics seem to be neglected in inland waters. Therefore, in this study we analyze the possible colonization on the surface (hereafter epiplastic microhabitats) of two typology of plastic supports by diatom community. Specifically, we located 20 supports in expanded polystyrene and 20 in polyethylene terephthalate both floating and dipped (~ 1 m) in a central Italian shallow water pond, in order to evaluate the diachronic colonization of diatoms from November 2019 to August 2020. Our result showed the tendency in colonizing both epiplastic microhabitats without significant differences in number of species; additionally, depth does not appear to affect the number of species. As regard the temporal colonization, the number of species tends to increase over time from autumn-winter to spring-summer in both types of epiplastic microhabitats and depth. Instead, increase in dominance of some species over time has been demonstrated: only a few species keep a high number of individuals compared to the others; therefore, the number of individuals within the species is not uniformly distributed. These results suggest the tendency of diatom community to colonize plastic supports in lentic waters, and this evidence can be very important because artificial supports can increase the surface available for the settlement of the algae community with an increase of productivity and the colonization of new communities of different taxa. Further studies are mandatory to investigate the possible effects on the epiplastic community and the ecological implications in freshwater environments.

Piloting Activities for the Design of a Large-scale Biobarrier Involving In Situ Sequential Anaerobic–aerobic Bioremediation of Organochlorides and Hydrocarbons - Giulia Casiraghi; Daniele Pedretti; Giovanni P. Beretta; Martina Bertolini; Gerardo Bozzetto; Lucia Cavalca; Laura Ferrari; Marco Masetti; Jacopo Terrenghi (Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 2022)
In situ bioremediation (ISB) is a widely accepted method for eradicating petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) and chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAHs) from contaminated aquifers. To achieve full removal of all toxic compounds that originated from microbial degradation, sequential anaerobic/aerobic bioremediation systems are recommended. While several works based on laboratory analyses targeting sequential bioremediation have been documented, examples of sequential ISB are limited. The purpose of this study is to report and analyze the results obtained from the multiscale characterization activities propaedeutic to the construction of Italy’s largest (> 400 m long) sequential ISB system. The rich wealth of information produced during this study provides a useful example that can be followed for the construction of new sequential ISBs. The system was set up to remediate a solute plume containing PHCs and CAHs in an alluvial aquifer in Italy. Microcosm experiments were carried out to determine the biodegradation potential under anaerobic and aerobic conditions. In situ tests were performed by installing two 40-m-long pilot biobarriers for sequential anaerobic and aerobic degradation intercepting part of the contamination plume. These experiments pointed out the need of adding biostimulating compounds to accelerate the biodegradation process, under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. In situ tests showed removal efficiencies of up to 95 and 99% for total CAHs and PHCs, respectively, proving the feasibility of the full-scale ISB system. Apparent discrepancies between laboratory and in situ tests can be ascribed to scale effects and aquifer heterogeneities.

Adolescent self-administration of the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist JWH-018 induces neurobiological and behavioral alterations in adult male mice - Giulia Margiani; Maria Paola Castelli; Nicholas Pintori; Roberto Frau; Maria Grazia Ennas; Antonio C. Pagano Zottola; Valeria Orrù; Valentina Serra; Edoardo Fiorillo; Paola Fadda; Giovanni Marsicano; Maria Antonietta De Luca (Psychopharmacology, 2022)
Rationale The use of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) is growing among adolescents, posing major medical and psychiatric risks. JWH-018 represents the reference compound of SCRA-containing products. Objectives This study was performed to evaluate the enduring consequences of adolescent voluntary consumption of JWH-018. Methods The reinforcing properties of JWH-018 were characterized in male CD1 adolescent mice by intravenous self-administration (IVSA). Afterwards, behavioral, neurochemical, and molecular evaluations were performed at adulthood. Results Adolescent mice acquired operant behavior (lever pressing, Fixed Ratio 1–3; 7.5 µg/kg/inf); this behavior was specifically directed at obtaining JWH-018 since it increased under Progressive Ratio schedule of reinforcement, and was absent in vehicle mice. JWH-018 IVSA was reduced by pretreatment of the CB1-antagonist/inverse agonist AM251. Adolescent exposure to JWH-018 by IVSA increased, at adulthood, both nestlet shredding and marble burying phenotypes, suggesting long-lasting repetitive/compulsive-like behavioral effects. JWH-018 did not affect risk proclivity in the wire-beam bridge task. In adult brains, there was an increase of ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 (IBA-1) positive cells in the caudate-putamen (CPu) and nucleus accumbens (NAc), along with a decrease of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunoreactivity in the CPu. These glial alterations in adult brains were coupled with an increase of the chemokine RANTES and a decrease of the cytokines IL2 and IL13 in the cortex, and an increase of the chemokine MPC1 in the striatum. Conclusions This study suggests for the first time that male mice self-administer the prototypical SCRA JWH-018 during adolescence. The adolescent voluntary consumption of JWH-018 leads to long-lasting behavioral and neurochemical aberrations along with glia-mediated inflammatory responses in adult brains.

Chronic social stress disrupts the intracellular redistribution of brain hexokinase 3 induced by shifts in peripheral glucose levels - Michael A. van der Kooij; Liliana Rojas-Charry; Maryam Givehchi; Christina Wolf; Diones Bueno; Sabine Arndt; Stefan Tenzer; Lorenzo Mattioni; Giulia Treccani; Annika Hasch; Michael J. Schmeisser; Caterina Vianello; et al. (Journal of Molecular Medicine, 2022)
Chronic stress has the potential to impair health and may increase the vulnerability for psychiatric disorders. Emerging evidence suggests that specific neurometabolic dysfunctions play a role herein. In mice, chronic social defeat (CSD) stress reduces cerebral glucose uptake despite hyperglycemia. We hypothesized that this metabolic decoupling would be reflected by changes in contact sites between mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum, important intracellular nutrient sensors, and signaling hubs. We thus analyzed the proteome of their biochemical counterparts, mitochondria-associated membranes (MAMs) from whole brain tissue obtained from CSD and control mice. This revealed a lack of the glucose-metabolizing enzyme hexokinase 3 (HK3) in MAMs from CSD mice. In controls, HK3 protein abundance in MAMs and also in striatal synaptosomes correlated positively with peripheral blood glucose levels, but this connection was lost in CSD. We conclude that the ability of HK3 to traffic to sites of need, such as MAMs or synapses, is abolished upon CSD and surmise that this contributes to a cellular dysfunction instigated by chronic stress. Key messages Chronic social defeat (CSD) alters brain glucose metabolism CSD depletes hexokinase 3 (HK3) from mitochondria-associated membranes (MAMs) CSD results in loss of positive correlation between blood glucose and HK3 in MAMs and synaptosomes

Regional Characterization of the Gottingen Minipig Brain by [18 F]FDG Dynamic Pet Modeling - Santarelli Maria Filomena; Pasini Elena; Baroni Carlotta; De Santi Lisa Anita; Furini Giulia; Terlizzi Domiziana; Cavaleri Samuele; Bertasi Michelangelo; Grasso Enrico; Genovesi Dario; Positano Vincenzo; Lionetti Vincenzo; et al. (Journal of Medical and Biological Engineering, 2022)
Purpose To determine the best kinetic model to be applied on dynamic brain [ 18 F]FDG PET images by characterizing the regional brain glucose metabolism of normal Göttingen minipigs. Methods Nine Göttingen minipigs were scanned with a clinical PET/CT tomograph, starting from the injection of an intravenous bolus of [ 18 F]FDG, for about 25 min. Dynamic images were reconstructed and nine brain regions of interest (ROI), plus a vascular region, were defined and time-activity curves (TAC) were determined. Three kinetic models were considered for fitting with experimental TACs: one-tissue compartment model 1TC, two-tissue irreversible compartment model 2TCi and two-tissue reversible model 2TC. Akaike Information Criterion was considered to evaluate the goodness of each model fitting. Regional and global kinetic parameter values were evaluated, in addition to the partition coefficient, net influx rate and retention index (RI). Results Both 2TCi and 2TC models turned out to be good choices for the next analysis. Parameter values were very similar between the different brain regions, with similar values to when the brain as a whole is considered (kinetic parameters mean values, from 2TCi model: K 1 = 1.0 ml/g/min, k 2 = 0.49 min − 1 , k 3 = 0.034 min − 1 , K 1 /k 2 = 2.14ml/g, K i =0.069 ml/g/min; from 2TC model: K 1 = 1.10 ml/g/min, k 2 = 0.54 min − 1 , k 3 = 0.058 min − 1 , k 4 = 0.039 min − 1 , K 1 /k 2 = 2.18 ml/g, K i = 0.10 ml/g/min; RI mean ± sd: 0.147 ± 0.037 min − 1 ), with the exception of the cerebellum (mean values from the 2TCi model: K 1 = 0.52 ml/g/min, k 2 = 0.56 min − 1 , k 3 = 0.025 min − 1 , K 1 /k 2 = 0.98ml/g, K i = 0.022 ml/g/min; from 2TC model: K 1 = 0.54 ml/g/min, k 2 = 0.61 min − 1 , k 3 = 0.044 min − 1 , k 4 = 0.038 min − 1 , K 1 /k 2 = 0.95ml/g, K i =0.032 ml/g/min; RI mean ± sd: 0.071 ± 0.018 min − 1 ). Conclusion The two-tissue model is able to describe the regional brain metabolism in Göttingen minipigs. Compared to the 2TCi model, in the 2TC model the k 4 micro-parameter was also evaluated. This led to adjustments of the other microparameters, especially k 3 and consequently the net influx rate K i . For healthy minipigs, the glucose metabolism was similar in all of the brain regions analyzed, with the exception of the cerebellum, where the FDG uptake was lower.

A Qualitative Study on the Needs of Women with Metastatic Breast Cancer - Sara Alfieri; Cinzia Brunelli; Giuseppe Capri; Augusto Caraceni; Giulia V. Bianchi; Claudia Borreani (Journal of Cancer Education, 2022)

Unprecedented erosion of Mussismilia harttii, a major reef-building species in the Southwestern Atlantic, after the 2019 bleaching event - Giulia B. Braz; Carlos H. F. Lacerda; Heitor Evangelista; Arthur Z. Güth; Anelize M. B. Rumbelsperger; Kátia C. C. Capel; Paola L. Dall’Occo; Miguel Mies (Coral Reefs, 2022)

Microstructural white matter alterations associated with migraine headaches: a systematic review of diffusion tensor imaging studies - Rahil Rahimi; Mahsa Dolatshahi; Fatemeh Abbasi-Feijani; Sara Momtazmanesh; Giulia Cattarinussi; Mohammad Hadi Aarabi; Lorenzo Pini (Brain Imaging and Behavior, 2022)
The pathophysiology of migraine as a headache disorder is still undetermined. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has significantly improved our knowledge about brain microstructure in this disease. Here, we aimed to systematically review DTI studies in migraine and survey the sources of heterogeneity by investigating diffusion parameter changes associated with clinical characteristics and migraine subtypes. Microstructural changes, as revealed by widespread alteration of diffusion metrics in white matter (WM) tracts, subcortical and cortical regions, were reported by several migraine DTI studies. Specifically, we reported changes in the corpus callosum, thalamic radiations, corona radiata, and brain stem. These alterations showed high variability across migraine cycle phases. Additionally, migraine associated with depressive/anxiety symptoms revealed significant changes in the corpus callosum, internal capsule, and superior longitudinal fasciculus. No significant WM microstructural differences were observed between migraine patients with and without aura. Overall, differences between chronic and episodic migraine showed inconsistency across studies. Migraine is associated with microstructural changes in widespread regions including thalamic radiations, corpus callosum, and brain stem. These alterations can highlight neuronal damage and neuronal plasticity mechanisms either following pain stimulations occurring in migraine cycle or as a compensatory response to pain in chronic migraine. Longitudinal studies applying advanced modalities may shed new light on the underlying microstructural changes in migraine subtypes.

Juvenile polyposis diagnosed with an integrated histological, immunohistochemical and molecular approach identifying new SMAD4 pathogenic variants - Andrea Mafficini; Lodewijk A. A. Brosens; Maria L. Piredda; Cristian Conti; Paola Mattiolo; Giulia Turri; Maria G. Mastrosimini; Sara Cingarlini; Stefano F. Crinò; Matteo Fassan; Paola Piccoli; Michele Simbolo; et al. (Familial Cancer, 2022)
Juvenile polyposis (JP) is a rare familial syndrome characterized by the development of numerous hamartomatous polyps of the gastrointestinal tract and by an increased risk of developing gastrointestinal cancers. It follows a pattern of autosomal dominant inheritance and is associated with germline variants of SMAD4 or BMPR1A genes. Differential diagnosis may be difficult based on histology alone, due to morphological similarities to other familial syndromes. Here we report a case of familial JP diagnosed in a 50-years woman with a familial history positive for gastrointestinal cancers and other tumor types. The patient presented with severe iron deficiency anemia and showed numerous polyps in the stomach and jejunum according to endoscopy and imaging. She underwent an intra-gastric laparoscopic removal of the major gastric polyp, followed by jejunal exploration and resection of a segment with multiple neoformations. Histological examination revealed the presence of hamartomatous polyposis. Gastric and intestinal samples were analyzed with next-generation sequencing. Molecular analysis showed that the patient harbored a germline splicing site variant of SMAD4 , c.1139 + 3A > G, which was complemented by different somatic variants of the same gene in the different polyps. Immunohistochemistry for SMAD4 confirmed loss of protein expression in the polyps, with regular expression in normal cells. cDNA sequencing further confirmed the findings. We thus definitively diagnosed the woman as having JP thanks to an integrated approach based on histology, immunohistochemistry and molecular analysis. The identified variants, all previously reported as variants of unknown significance, were classified as pathogenic as they complemented each other leading to SMAD4 loss.

In Silico Meta-Analysis of Boundary Conditions for Experimental Tests on the Lumbar Spine - Simone Borrelli; Giovanni Putame; Giulia Pascoletti; Mara Terzini; Elisabetta M. Zanetti (Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2022)
The study of the spine range of motion under given external load has been the object of many studies in literature, finalised to a better understanding of the spine biomechanics, its physiology, eventual pathologic conditions and possible rehabilitation strategies. However, the huge amount of experimental work performed so far cannot be straightforwardly analysed due to significant differences among loading set-ups. This work performs a meta-analysis of various boundary conditions in literature, focusing on the flexion/extension behaviour of the lumbar spine. The comparison among range of motions is performed virtually through a validated multibody model. Results clearly illustrated the effect of various boundary conditions which can be met in literature, so justifying differences of biomechanical behaviours reported by authors implementing different set-up: for example, a higher value of the follower load can indeed result in a stiffer behaviour; the application of force producing spurious moments results in an apparently more deformable behaviour, however the respective effects change at various segments along the spine due to its natural curvature. These outcomes are reported not only in qualitative, but also in quantitative terms. The numerical approach here followed to perform the meta-analysis is original and it proved to be effective thanks to the bypass of the natural variability among specimens which might completely or partially hinder the effect of some boundary conditions. In addition, it can provide very complete information since the behaviour of each functional spinal unit can be recorded. On the whole, the work provided an extensive review of lumbar spine loading in flexion/extension.

Contribution of cacao agroforestry versus mono-cropping systems for enhanced sustainability. A review with a focus on yield - Giulia Mattalia; Alexander Wezel; Pierre Costet; Patrick Jagoret; Olivier Deheuvels; Paola Migliorini; Christophe David (Agroforestry Systems, 2022)

Marine heatwaves drive recurrent mass mortalities in the Mediterranean Sea - Joaquim Garrabou; Daniel Gómez‐Gras; Alba Medrano; Carlo Cerrano; Massimo Ponti; Robert Schlegel; Nathaniel Bensoussan; Eva Turicchia; Maria Sini; Vasilis Gerovasileiou; Nuria Teixido; Alice Mirasole; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2022)
Climate change is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves (MHWs) and mass mortality events (MMEs) of marine organisms are one of their main ecological impacts. Here, we show that during the 2015–2019 period, the Mediterranean Sea has experienced exceptional thermal conditions resulting in the onset of five consecutive years of widespread MMEs across the basin. These MMEs affected thousands of kilometers of coastline from the surface to 45 m, across a range of marine habitats and taxa (50 taxa across 8 phyla). Significant relationships were found between the incidence of MMEs and the heat exposure associated with MHWs observed both at the surface and across depths. Our findings reveal that the Mediterranean Sea is experiencing an acceleration of the ecological impacts of MHWs which poses an unprecedented threat to its ecosystems' health and functioning. Overall, we show that increasing the resolution of empirical observation is critical to enhancing our ability to more effectively understand and manage the consequences of climate change.

Static and Fatigue Full-Scale Tests on a Lightweight Ship Balcony Overhang with Al/Fe Structural Transition Joints - Giulia Palomba; Pasqualino Corigliano; Vincenzo Crupi; Gabriella Epasto; Eugenio Guglielmino (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2022)
Combination of lightweight and sustainable marine structures represents a crucial step to accomplish weight reduction and improve structural response. A key point when considering the reliability of innovative structural solutions, which should not be neglected, is represented by large-scale experimental investigations and not only by small-scale specimen analysis. The present research activity deals with the experimental assessment of a lightweight ship balcony overhang, which incorporates an aluminium honeycomb sandwich structure and Al/Fe structural transition joints obtained by means of the explosion welding technique. The ship balcony overhang was formerly designed with the aim of proposing the replacement of ordinary marine structures with green and lightweight options. Experimental investigations of a large-scale structure were performed to validate the design procedure and to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed solution. Large-scale bending tests of the ship balcony overhang were performed considering representative configurations of severe loading conditions. The experimental analysis allowed the evaluation of the structure’s strength, stiffness and failure modes. Comparisons with analogous structures reported in the literature were performed with the aim of assessing the benefits and drawbacks of the proposed lightweight structure. Fatigue tests were also performed in order to evaluate the hardening and the hysteresis loops. The collapse modes of the structure were investigated using X-ray radiography. The structural transition joints have experienced no cracks during the static and fatigue tests. The results clearly indicated that the proposed solution can be integrated in new and existing ships, even if made of steel, as the Al/Fe structural transition joints produced by explosion welding can be used to connect the ship structure to the Al honeycomb balcony. The systematic analysis of the experimental results gave valuable data to enhance the design methodology of such structures.

Plasticity of the Anemonia viridis microbiota in response to different levels of combined anthropogenic and environmental stresses - Giorgia Palladino; Simone Rampelli; Carles Galià-Camps; Daniel Scicchitano; Giulia Trapella; Enrico Nanetti; Valeria Angelini; Daniela Cleo; Silvia Turroni; Cinzia Corinaldesi; Marco Candela (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022)
Despite their recognized primary importance, marine coastal ecosystems around the globe are currently under threat, being subject to continuous local and global anthropogenic stressors. In this frame, understanding the response of coastal habitat-forming species to multiple stressors and their resilience is fundamental for the sustainable management of coastal ecosystems. In the present study, to provide some glimpses in this direction, we explored the response of the Anemonia viridis -associated microbiota to the combined anthropogenic stressors, which typically affect touristic hotspots at Mediterranean coastal sites. To this aim, two case studies have been carried out, the first in the Riccione coastal site (Italy, Center Mediterranean) and the second at Cap de Creus (Spain, North-western Mediterranean), where the A. viridis microbiota was assessed under the conditions of both high and low anthropogenic pressure. According to our findings, the A. viridis microbiota showed a relevant degree of plasticity in response to combined anthropogenic and environmental stressors, with changes that also mirrored variations in the surrounding seawater, thus indicating a close connection with the environment, from which potential symbiotic partners are selected. However, this potentially adaptive process also has a limitation, as observed in the highly anthropogenic impact site of Cap de Creus, where A. viridis -associated microbiota appeared completely unstructured, as demonstrated by an increased dispersion according to the Anna Karenina principle. This raises the question about the resilience of the A. viridis -associated microbiota under combined climate and anthropogenic threats, as well as of the anthropogenic factors driving the observed dysbiosis changes.

Biological and Proteomic Characterization of the Anti-Cancer Potency of Aqueous Extracts from Cell-Free Coelomic Fluid of Arbacia lixula Sea Urchin in an In Vitro Model of Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma - Claudio Luparello; Rossella Branni; Giulia Abruscato; Valentina Lazzara; Simon Sugár; Vincenzo Arizza; Manuela Mauro; Vita Di Stefano; Mirella Vazzana (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2022)
Echinoderms are an acknowledged source of bioactive compounds exerting various beneficial effects on human health. Here, we examined the potential in vitro anti-hepatocarcinoma effects of aqueous extracts of the cell-free coelomic fluid obtained from the sea urchin Arbacia lixula using the HepG2 cell line as a model system. This was accomplished by employing a combination of colorimetric, microscopic and flow cytometric assays to determine cell viability, cell cycle distribution, the possible onset of apoptosis, the accumulation rate of acidic vesicular organelles, mitochondrial polarization, cell redox state and cell locomotory ability. The obtained data show that exposed HepG2 cells underwent inhibition of cell viability with impairment of cell cycle progress coupled to the onset of apoptotic death, the induction of mitochondrial depolarization, the inhibition of reactive oxygen species production and acidic vesicular organelle accumulation, and the block of cell motile attitude. We also performed a proteomic analysis of the coelomic fluid extract identifying a number of proteins that are plausibly responsible for anti-cancer effects. Therefore, the anti-hepatocarcinoma potentiality of A. lixula’s preparation can be taken into consideration for further studies aimed at the characterization of the molecular mechanism of cytotoxicity and the development of novel prevention and/or treatment agents.

Mediterranean spreading of the bicolor purse oyster, Isognomon bicolor, and the chicken trigger, Malleus sp., vs. the Lessepsian prejudice - MATTEO GARZIA; GIULIA FURFARO; WALTER RENDA; ALESSANDRA-MARIA ROSATI; PAOLO MARIOTTINI; SALVATORE GIACOBBE (Mediterranean Marine Science, 2022)
The introduction rate of alien species in the Mediterranean Sea is rapidly growing, and their taxonomical identification is increasingly challenging. This uncertain identification often leads to an incorrect estimation of the number of alien species, their route of introduction, and their potential negative effects. This is particularly true for some bivalves, which are characterized by high variation in their shells, resulting in uncertain morphological identification. This is the case for two alien bivalves, i.e., an Isognomonidae and a Malleidae species, both characterized by confused historical colonization records in the Mediterranean Sea, misidentifications, and controversial and changing nomenclatures that have insofar negatively affected our knowledge on their geographical distributions. In this respect, molecular approaches provide a strategy that is especially useful when traditional taxonomy fails, and DNA barcoding is a powerful and well-known tool to obtain reliable identifications through efficient molecular markers. In this work, we used the 16S rRNA marker to assess the preliminary identification of Isognomon sp. and Malleus sp. specimens from different localities in the Southern Mediterranean Sea. Bayesian inference (BI) and maximum likelihood (ML) methods were applied to test the monophyly of the phylogenetic linages and to clarify their taxonomic positions, allowing a complete overview of the colonization and spreading of these two alien bivalves in the Mediterranean Sea. In particular, the Isognomon sp. specimens were identified as the Atlantic I. bicolor, highlighting that previously suggested invasive migration patterns, (i.e., the Lessepsian migration), must be reconsidered with stronger critical attention in light of currently occurring global changes.

Toward a diagnostic CART model for Ischemic heart disease and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy based on heart rate total variability - Agostino Accardo; Luca Restivo; Miloš Ajčević; Aleksandar Miladinović; Katerina Iscra; Giulia Silveri; Marco Merlo; Gianfranco Sinagra (Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 2022)
Diagnosis of etiology in early-stage ischemic heart disease (IHD) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients may be challenging. We aimed at investigating, by means of classification and regression tree (CART) modeling, the predictive power of heart rate variability (HRV) features together with clinical parameters to support the diagnosis in the early stage of IHD and DCM. The study included 263 IHD and 181 DCM patients, as well as 689 healthy subjects. A 24 h Holter monitoring was used and linear and non-linear HRV parameters were extracted considering both normal and ectopic beats (heart rate total variability signal). We used a CART algorithm to produce classification models based on HRV together with relevant clinical (age, sex, and left ventricular ejection fraction, LVEF) features. Among HRV parameters, MeanRR, SDNN, pNN50, LF, LF/HF, LFn, FD, Beta exp were selected by the CART algorithm and included in the produced models. The model based on pNN50, FD, sex, age, and LVEF features presented the highest accuracy (73.3%). The proposed approach based on HRV parameters, age, sex, and LVEF features highlighted the possibility to produce clinically interpretable models capable to differentiate IHD, DCM, and healthy subjects with accuracy which is clinically relevant in first steps of the IHD and DCM diagnostic process. Graphical abstract

Federating young researchers in microbial ecotoxicology: EcotoxicoMicYR 2021, the first international webinar organized for and by young microbial ecotoxicology researchers - Nicolas Gallois; Roxane Dhommée; Paul Braylé; Lauris Evariste; Idrissa Soumaoro; Camila Diaz-Vanegas; Floriane Larras; Giulia Cheloni (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022)

Tap water as a natural vehicle for microorganisms shaping the human gut microbiome - Gabriele Andrea Lugli; Giulia Longhi; Leonardo Mancabelli; Giulia Alessandri; Chiara Tarracchini; Federico Fontana; Francesca Turroni; Christian Milani; Douwe van Sinderen; Marco Ventura (Environmental Microbiology, 2022)
Summary Fresh potable water is an indispensable drink which humans consume daily in substantial amounts. Nonetheless, very little is known about the composition of the microbial community inhabiting drinking water or its impact on our gut microbiota. In the current study, an exhaustive shotgun metagenomics analysis of the tap water microbiome highlighted the occurrence of a highly genetic biodiversity of the microbial communities residing in fresh water and the existence of a conserved core tap water microbiota largely represented by novel microbial species, representing microbial dark matter. Furthermore, genome reconstruction of this microbial dark matter from water samples unveiled homologous sequences present in the faecal microbiome of humans from various geographical locations. Accordingly, investigation of the faecal microbiota content of a subject that daily consumed tap water for 3 years provides proof for horizontal transmission and colonization of water bacteria in the human gut.

First report of Stagonosporopsis ailanthicola causing leaf spot on Delphinium consolida in Italy - Angelo Garibaldi; Giulia Tabone; Incoronata Luongo; Maria Lodovica Gullino (Journal of Plant Pathology, 2022)

Resources and population traits modulate the association patterns in the common bottlenose dolphin living nearby the Tiber River estuary (Mediterranean Sea) - Daniela Silvia Pace; Sara Ferri; Giancarlo Giacomini; Chiara Di Marco; Elena Papale; Margherita Silvestri; Giulia Pedrazzi; Daniele Ventura; Edoardo Casoli; Giandomenico Ardizzone (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022)
Sociality and ecological drivers that can influence individual association patterns are infrequently considered in wildlife management, although they are essential aspects affecting animals’ responses to both human-related pressures and conservation strategies. In common bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ), sex-specific social dynamics and interactions with anthropogenic activities may affect grouping and induce changes in relationships between individuals. Out of a total of 347 individuals, we assessed the level of association among 68 bottlenose dolphins that have been sighted more than five times near the Roman coast (central Mediterranean Sea, Italy). The half-weight index (HWI) of dyadic associations, their network relations, and stability over time were investigated by using the SOCPROG software. Outcomes showed that females were more strongly associated than other individuals, with both preferred constant short-term associations and random long-term associations, possibly resulting in greater success in rearing young. Individuals interacting with the bottom trawl fishery showed weaker and short-term associations. Temporary disruption of individual associations during interaction with fishery and the relatively low number of females with calves participating in depredation seem to denote both the opportunistic nature of interactions with fishing vessels and the offspring-related protection strategy. The results show that the dolphins in this region maintain a complex but flexible social structure that varies with local biological requirements and is resilient to anthropogenic pressures.

Isolation and Identification of Luminescent Bacteria in Deep Sea Marine Organisms from Sicilian Waters (Mediterranean Sea) - Rosario Calogero; Carmen Rizzo; Erika Arcadi; Maria Giulia Stipa; Pierpaolo Consoli; Teresa Romeo; Pietro Battaglia (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2022)
Luminescent bacteria are a fascinating component of marine microbial communities, often related to the light emissions in deep sea marine organisms. They are mainly affiliated with specific phylogenetic groups, such as Photobacterium, Vibrio, and Photorhabdus, and are sometimes involved in symbiotic relationships. However, the luminescence of some marine organisms remains a poorly understood process, and it is not always certain whether their luminescence is attributable to associated luminescent bacteria. In this study, for the first time, luminescent bacteria were isolated from two deep sea organisms, namely, the cephalopod Neorossia caroli and the teleost Chlorophthalmus agassizi. The isolation was carried out on glycerol-supplemented medium, and the search for the luxAB gene was performed on all isolates as a complementary tool to the culture-dependent techniques to detect bioluminescence by molecular approach. The optimum of salinity, temperature, and pH was evaluated by physiological tests for all isolates. The production of extracellular polymeric substances was also preliminarily screened. A total of 24 luminescent isolates were obtained, with an abundance from C. agassizi specimens. All the isolates were taxonomically characterized and were related to different species of Photobacterium, with the exception of Vibrio sp. CLD11 that was from C. agassizi. The luxAB gene was detected in about the 90% of the analysed strains.

Potassium Channel KCNH1 Activating Variants Cause Altered Functional and Morphological Ciliogenesis - Giulia Napoli; Noemi Panzironi; Alice Traversa; Caterina Catalanotto; Valentina Pace; Francesco Petrizzelli; Agnese Giovannetti; Sara Lazzari; Carlo Cogoni; Marco Tartaglia; Massimo Carella; Tommaso Mazza; et al. (Molecular Neurobiology, 2022)
The primary cilium is a non-motile sensory organelle that extends from the surface of most vertebrate cells and transduces signals regulating proliferation, differentiation, and migration. Primary cilia dysfunctions have been observed in cancer and in a group of heterogeneous disorders called ciliopathies, characterized by renal and liver cysts, skeleton and limb abnormalities, retinal degeneration, intellectual disability, ataxia, and heart disease and, recently, in autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and epilepsy. The potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily H member 1 ( KCNH1 ) gene encodes a member of the EAG (ether-à-go-go) family, which controls potassium flux regulating resting membrane potential in both excitable and non-excitable cells and is involved in intracellular signaling, cell proliferation, and tumorigenesis. KCNH1 missense variants have been associated with syndromic neurodevelopmental disorders, including Zimmermann-Laband syndrome 1 (ZLS1, MIM #135500), Temple-Baraitser syndrome (TMBTS, MIM #611816), and, recently, with milder phenotypes as epilepsy. In this work, we provide evidence that KCNH1 localizes at the base of the cilium in pre-ciliary vesicles and ciliary pocket of human dermal fibroblasts and retinal pigment epithelial (hTERT RPE1) cells and that the pathogenic missense variants (L352V and R330Q; NP_002229.1) perturb cilia morphology, assembly/disassembly, and Sonic Hedgehog signaling, disclosing a multifaceted role of the protein. The study of KCNH1 localization, its functions related to primary cilia, and the alterations introduced by mutations in ciliogenesis, cell cycle coordination, cilium morphology, and cilia signaling pathways could help elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying neurological phenotypes and neurodevelopmental disorders not considered as classical ciliopathies but for which a significant role of primary cilia is emerging.

Senescent macrophages in the human adipose tissue as a source of inflammaging - Giulia Matacchione; Jessica Perugini; Eleonora Di Mercurio; Jacopo Sabbatinelli; Francesco Prattichizzo; Martina Senzacqua; Gianluca Storci; Christian Dani; Giovanni Lezoche; Mario Guerrieri; Antonio Giordano; Massimiliano Bonafè; et al. (GeroScience, 2022)
Obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes and a trigger of chronic and systemic inflammation. Recent evidence suggests that an increased burden of senescent cells (SCs) in the adipose tissue of obese/diabetic animal models might underlie such pro-inflammatory phenotype. However, the role of macrophages as candidate SCs, their phenotype, the distribution of SCs among fat depots, and clinical relevance are debated. The senescence marker β-galactosidase and the macrophage marker CD68 were scored in visceral (vWAT) and subcutaneous (scWAT) adipose tissue from obese patients ( n =17) undergoing bariatric surgery and control patients ( n =4) subjected to cholecystectomy. A correlation was made between the number of SCs and BMI, serum insulin, and the insulin resistance (IR) index HOMA. The monocyte cell line (THP-1) was cultured in vitro in high glucose milieu (60 mM D-glucose) and subsequently co-cultured with human adipocytes (hMADS) to investigate the reciprocal inflammatory activation. In obese patients, a significantly higher number of SCs was observed in vWAT compared to scWAT; about 70% of these cells expressed the macrophage marker CD68; and the number of SCs in vWAT, but not in scWAT, positively correlated with BMI, HOMA-IR, and insulin. THP-1 cultured in vitro in high glucose milieu acquired a senescent-like phenotype (HgSMs), characterized by a polarization toward a mixed M1/M2-like secretory phenotype. Co-culturing HgSMs with hMADS elicited pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in both cell types, and defective insulin signaling in hMADS. In morbid obesity, expansion of visceral adipose depots involves an increased burden of macrophages with senescent-like phenotype that may promote a pro-inflammatory profile and impair insulin signaling in adipocytes, supporting a framework where senescent macrophages fuel obesity-induced systemic inflammation and possibly contribute to the development of IR.

Non-destructive mercury exposure assessment in the Brandt’s hedgehog (Paraechinus hypomelas): spines as indicators of endogenous concentrations - Reza Dahmardeh Behrooz; Giulia Poma; Mandana Barghi (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022)

Divergent thinking and the core executive functions: a state-of-the-art review - Massimiliano Palmiero; Giulia Fusi; Maura Crepaldi; Virginia Maria Borsa; Maria Luisa Rusconi (Cognitive Processing, 2022)

Investigating how internet gaming disorder and bodily dissociation experiences vary by game genres - Silvia Casale; Giulia Fioravanti; Alessia Musicò (Cognitive Processing, 2022)

Does diet breadth affect the complexity of the phytophagous insect microbiota? The case study of Chrysomelidae - Matteo Brunetti; Giulia Magoga; Fabrizia Gionechetti; Alessio De Biase; Matteo Montagna (Environmental Microbiology, 2022)
Summary Chrysomelidae is a family of phytophagous insects with a highly variable degree of trophic specialization. The aim of this study is to test whether species feeding on different plants (generalists) harbour more complex microbiotas than those feeding on a few or a single plant species (specialists). The microbiota of representative leaf beetle species was characterized with a metabarcoding approach targeting V1–V2 and V4 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA. Almost all the analysed species harbour at least one reproductive manipulator bacteria (e.g., Wolbachia , Rickettsia ). Two putative primary symbionts, previously isolated only from a single species ( Bromius obscurus ), have been detected in two species of the same subfamily, suggesting a widespread symbiosis in Eumolpinae. Surprisingly, the well‐known aphid symbiont Buchnera is well represented in the microbiota of Orsodacne humeralis . Moreover, in this study, using Hill numbers to dissect the components of the microbiota diversity (abundant and rare bacteria), it has been demonstrated that generalist insect species harbour a more diversified microbiota than specialists. The higher microbiota diversity associated with a wider host‐plant spectrum could be seen as an adaptive trait, conferring new metabolic potential useful to expand the diet breath, or as a result of environmental stochastic acquisition conveyed by diet.

The nexus between traditional foraging and its sustainability: a qualitative assessment among a few selected Eurasian case studies - Muhammad Abdul Aziz; Giulia Mattalia; Naji Sulaiman; Adnan Ali Shah; Zbynek Polesny; Raivo Kalle; Renata Sõukand; Andrea Pieroni (Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2022)

Are moments of rainfall spatial variability useful for runoff modelling in operational hydrology? - Giulia Giani; Miguel A. Rico-Ramirez; Ross A. Woods (Hydrological Sciences Journal, 2022)

Cost, Energy Efficiency and Carbon Footprint Analysis of Hybrid Light-Weight Bulk Carrier - Giulia Palomba; Simone Scattareggia Marchese; Vincenzo Crupi; Yordan Garbatov (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2022)
Integrating innovative solutions for ship design has always been a great challenge for the maritime sector due to complex design and construction processes. With this scenario in mind, the objective of this study was to develop a procedure to evaluate the potential benefits arising from the integration of innovative light-weight structures in ship hull structural design. To achieve such an objective, a hybrid light-weight ship hull structural design solution, in which aluminium honeycomb sandwich panels were used to build the conventional steel inner side shell of the cargo holds, was adopted for a bulk carrier. The authors of this study used a multiple criteria decision-making approach. An optimal ship hull structural design solution was identified based on capital cost, voyage cost, annual cost, energy efficiency design index, dismantling–reselling cost, cargo transportation, energy consumption and carbon footprint. The optimal solution, identified with the multiple criteria decision-making approach, improved the ship’s efficiency and costs by combining the hybrid structural design with efficient cargo transportation. In addition, using recycled aluminium was found to be a promising strategy to reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint related to the shipbuilding process.

ClimateFish: A Collaborative Database to Track the Abundance of Selected Coastal Fish Species as Candidate Indicators of Climate Change in the Mediterranean Sea - Ernesto Azzurro; Tosca Ballerini; Chryssanthi Antoniadou; Giulia Domizia Aversa; Jamila Ben Souissi; Andrea Blašković; Valentina Cappanera; Marina Chiappi; Maria-Francesca Cinti; Francesco Colloca; Ivan Cvitković; Manuela D’Amen; et al. (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022)

Pharmacological modelling of dissociation and psychosis: an evaluation of the Clinician Administered Dissociative States Scale and Psychotomimetic States Inventory during nitrous oxide (‘laughing gas’)-induced anomalous states - Giulia G. Piazza; Georges Iskandar; Vanessa Hennessy; Hannah Zhao; Katie Walsh; Jeffrey McDonnell; Devin B. Terhune; Ravi K. Das; Sunjeev K. Kamboj (Psychopharmacology, 2022)
Rationale A significant obstacle to an improved understanding of pathological dissociative and psychosis-like states is the lack of readily implemented pharmacological models of these experiences. Ketamine has dissociative and psychotomimetic effects but can be difficult to use outside of medical and clinical-research facilities. Alternatively, nitrous oxide (N 2 O) — like ketamine, a dissociative anaesthetic and NMDAR antagonist — has numerous properties that make it an attractive alternative for modelling dissociation and psychosis. However, development and testing of such pharmacological models relies on well-characterized measurement instruments. Objectives To examine the factor structures of the Clinician Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS) and Psychotomimetic States Inventory (PSI) administered during N 2 O inhalation in healthy volunteers. Methods Secondary analyses of data pooled from three previous N 2 O studies with healthy volunteers. Results Effect sizes for N 2 O-induced dissociation and psychotomimesis were comparable to effects reported in experimental studies with sub-anaesthetic ketamine in healthy volunteers. Although, like ketamine, a three-factor representation of N 2 O-induced dissociation was confirmed, and a more parsimonious two-factor model might be more appropriate. Bayesian exploratory factor analysis suggested that N 2 O-induced psychosis-like symptoms were adequately represented by two negative and two positive symptom factors. Hierarchical cluster analysis indicated minimal item overlap between the CADSS and PSI. Conclusion N 2 O and ketamine produce psychometrically similar dissociative states, although parallels in their psychosis-like effects remain to be determined. The CADSS and PSI tap largely non-overlapping experiences under N 2 O and we propose the use of both measures (or similar instruments) to comprehensively assess anomalous subjective states produced by dissociative NMDAR antagonists.

Predicting in vitro fertilization success in the Brazilian public health system: a machine learning approach - Nayara C. N. Barreto; Giulia Z. Castro; Ramon G. Pereira; Francisco A. N. Pereira; Fernando M. Reis; Wagner M. Junior; Ines K. D. Cavallo; Karina B. Gomes (Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, 2022)

Ask the shark: blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus) as a sentinel of plastic waste on the seabed - Alice Sbrana; Alessandro Cau; Davide Cicala; Simone Franceschini; Tommaso Giarrizzo; Maria Flavia Gravina; Alessandro Ligas; Giulia Maiello; Marco Matiddi; Antonio Parisi; Paolo Sartor; Mario Sbrana; et al. (Marine Biology, 2022)
The presence of plastic waste in the marine environment has driven the scientific community to make significant efforts to study and mitigate its possible effects. One of the critical aspects is to determine if and how an increase in ingestion events may occur as a result of the accumulation of plastic waste on the seabed. In this study, G. melastomus is examined for its ability to indirectly provide information on the amount of macroplastics accumulating on the seafloor. Plastic ingestion is explored by describing the feeding habits of the species, which have the potential to provide very useful information regarding biological or ecological issues. The diet of G. melastomus mainly consisted of cephalopods, bathypelagic fishes, and decapod crustaceans, increasing in diversity during growth. The generalist-opportunistic feeding behaviour of this species leads to the incidental ingestion of plastic particles ( N = 47, with a mean (± SD) of 1.47 ± 0.28 per specimen) which can be indirectly associated to the presence of macroplastics on the seafloor. Indeed, our results indicate a significant relationship between the amount of macroplastics present on the seabed and the frequency of ingestion of plastic particles by blackmouth catshark. We propose G. melastomus as an excellent candidate for developing a valid monitoring strategy for the presence of plastics on the seabed, as requested by the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Massive Accumulation of Sphingomyelin Affects the Lysosomal and Mitochondria Compartments and Promotes Apoptosis in Niemann-Pick Disease Type A - Emma Veronica Carsana; Giulia Lunghi; Simona Prioni; Laura Mauri; Nicoletta Loberto; Alessandro Prinetti; Fabio Andrea Zucca; Rosaria Bassi; Sandro Sonnino; Elena Chiricozzi; Stefano Duga; Letizia Straniero; et al. (Journal of Molecular Neuroscience, 2022)
Niemann-Pick type A disease (NPA) is a rare lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations in the gene coding for the lysosomal enzyme acid sphingomyelinase (ASM). ASM deficiency leads to the consequent accumulation of its uncatabolized substrate, the sphingolipid sphingomyelin (SM), causing severe progressive brain disease. To study the effect of the aberrant lysosomal accumulation of SM on cell homeostasis, we loaded skin fibroblasts derived from a NPA patient with exogenous SM to mimic the levels of accumulation characteristic of the pathological neurons. In SM-loaded NPA fibroblasts, we found the blockage of the autophagy flux and the impairment of the mitochondrial compartment paralleled by the altered transcription of several genes, mainly belonging to the electron transport chain machinery and to the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway. In addition, SM loading induces the nuclear translocation of the transcription factor EB that promotes the lysosomal biogenesis and exocytosis. Interestingly, we obtained similar biochemical findings in the brain of the NPA mouse model lacking ASM (ASMKO mouse) at the neurodegenerative stage. Our work provides a new in vitro model to study NPA etiopathology and suggests the existence of a pathogenic lysosome-plasma membrane axis that with an impairment in the mitochondrial activity is responsible for the cell death.

Uncovering Lampris species (Actinopterygii, Lampridae) in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean: a molecular and morphometric approach - Giulia Terlecki; Lucas dos Santos Rodrigues; Eidi Kikuchi; Felippe Veneziani Abbatepaulo; Camila Bosenbecker; Marcio de Araújo Freire; Maria Cristina da Silva Cortinhas; Maíra Carneiro Proietti; Luis Gustavo Cardoso (Hydrobiologia, 2022)

Characterization of organophosphate esters (OPEs) and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFASs) in settled dust in specific workplaces - Elisa Sonego; Giulia Simonetti; Patrizia Di Filippo; Carmela Riccardi; Francesca Buiarelli; Alice Fresta; Matteo Olivastri; Donatella Pomata (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022)

Rummeliibacillus suwonensis: First Time Isolation from Human Feces by Culturomics - Gianluca Quaranta; Jessica Mandrioli; Stefano Bibbò; Alessandra Guarnaccia; Giovanni Fancello; Cecilia Simonini; Amedeo Amedei; Elena Niccolai; Giulia Nannini; Giovanni Cammarota; Maurizio Sanguinetti; Luca Masucci (Current Microbiology, 2022)

A narrative review on the potential of tomato and lycopene for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias - Federica Ratto; Flaminia Franchini; Massimo Musicco; Giulia Caruso; Simona Gabriella Di Santo (Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2022)

First report of leaf spot caused by Alternaria tenuissima on Salvia caudata in Italy - Angelo Garibaldi; Domenico Bertetti; Giulia Tabone; Incoronata Luongo; Maria Lodovica Gullino (Journal of Plant Pathology, 2022)

The chemical composition of the flowers essential oil of Inula crithmoides (Asteraceae) growing in aeolian islands, Sicily (Italy) and its biocide properties on microorganisms affecting historical art crafts - Giulia D’Agostino; Natale Badalamenti; Palla Franco; Maurizio Bruno; Giuseppe Gallo (Natural Product Research, 2022)

Biocide vs. Eco-Friendly Antifoulants: Role of the Antioxidative Defence and Settlement in Mytilus galloprovincialis - Costantino Parisi; Jessica Sandonnini; Maria Rosaria Coppola; Adriano Madonna; Fagr Kh. Abdel-Gawad; Emidio M. Sivieri; Giulia Guerriero (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2022)
Antifoulant paints were developed to prevent and reduce biofouling on surfaces immersed in seawater. The widespread use of these substances over the years has led to a significant increase of their presence in the marine environment. These compounds were identified as environmental and human threats. As a result of an international ban, research in the last decade has focused on developing a new generation of benign antifoulant paints. This review outlines the detrimental effects associated with biocide versus eco-friendly antifoulants, highlighting what are effective antifoulants and why there is a need to monitor them. We examine the effects of biocide and eco-friendly antifoulants on the antioxidative defence mechanism and settlement in a higher sessile organism, specifically the Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis. These antifoulants can indirectly assess the potential of these two parameters in order to outline implementation of sustainable antifoulants.

A case report of a rapid development of fetal anasarca in a canine pregnancy at term - Giulia Siena; Michela Corrò; Claudia Zanardello; Greta Foiani; Stefano Romagnoli; Lluis Ferré-Dolcet; Chiara Milani (Veterinary Research Communications, 2022)

Fry Survival Rate as a Predictive Marker of Optimal Production of Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Valenciennes 1844): A Biostatistical Study in Deroua Fish Farm, Morocco - Fatima-Zahra Majdoubi; Anouar Ouizgane; Sana Farid; Laura Mossetti; Mohammed Droussi; Giulia Guerriero; Mustapha Hasnaoui (Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 2022)
Several indicators show that the world population is rapidly increasing with prospects of reaching close to 10 billion people in 2050. Optimal production of fish is a tentative goal to ensure human feeding and resources sustainability. The present study was performed on eggs of the silver carp, collected during the breeding season of consecutive years with different environmental temperature profiles at the Deroua Fisheries Station to evaluate the seasonal and inter-seasonal changes of eggs quality in order to promote a predictive marker for optimal production of silver carp. The viability of the obtained eggs was detected using ANOVA followed by the Tukey test to analyze fertilization rate, embryos survival rate, and fry survival rate. Data analysis showed no significant difference in the fertilization and survival rate of the embryos during the two breeding seasons, and therefore these can not be used as an adequate criterion to predict the viability of the fry of silver carp. Although the survival rate of the fry did not change during the first season, it changed significantly during the second when there was an increase in the environmental temperature. This factor could be responsible for the disturbance of the females' oogenesis and consequently the degradation of the eggs' quality. The results showed that the fry survival rate could be used as a parameter to predict the yield of silver carp production rather than the success of fertilization and the survival of embryos. This paper discusses the importance and scope of this approach.

Lung-Brain Crosstalk in Sepsis: Protective Effect of Prophylactic Physical Exercise Against Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Rats - Amanda Della Giustina; Judite Filgueiras Rodrigues; Erick Bagio; Sandra Bonfante; Larissa Joaquim; Graciela Zarbato; Solange Stork; Richard Simon Machado; Mariana Pereira de Souza Goldim; Lucinéia Gainski Danielski; Khiany Mathias; Carlos Dacoregio; et al. (Molecular Neurobiology, 2022)

A retrotransposon storm marks clinical phenoconversion to late-onset Alzheimer’s disease - Fabio Macciardi; Maria Giulia Bacalini; Ricardo Miramontes; Alessio Boattini; Cristian Taccioli; Giorgia Modenini; Rond Malhas; Laura Anderlucci; Yuriy Gusev; Thomas J. Gross; Robert M. Padilla; Massimo S. Fiandaca; et al. (GeroScience, 2022)
Recent reports have suggested that the reactivation of otherwise transcriptionally silent transposable elements (TEs) might induce brain degeneration, either by dysregulating the expression of genes and pathways implicated in cognitive decline and dementia or through the induction of immune-mediated neuroinflammation resulting in the elimination of neural and glial cells. In the work we present here, we test the hypothesis that differentially expressed TEs in blood could be used as biomarkers of cognitive decline and development of AD. To this aim, we used a sample of aging subjects (age > 70) that developed late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) over a relatively short period of time (12–48 months), for which blood was available before and after their pheno conversion, and a group of cognitive stable subjects as controls. We applied our developed and validated customized pipeline that allows the identification, characterization, and quantification of the differentially expressed (DE) TEs before and after the onset of manifest LOAD, through analyses of RNA-Seq data. We compared the level of DE TEs within more than 600,000 TE-mapping RNA transcripts from 25 individuals, whose specimens we obtained before and after their phenotypic conversion ( pheno conversion) to LOAD, and discovered that 1790 TE transcripts showed significant expression differences between these two timepoints (logFC ± 1.5, logCMP > 5.3, nominal p value < 0.01). These DE transcripts mapped both over- and under-expressed TE elements. Occurring before the clinical pheno conversion, this TE storm features significant increases in DE transcripts of LINEs, LTRs, and SVAs, while those for SINEs are significantly depleted. These dysregulations end with signs of manifest LOAD. This set of highly DE transcripts generates a TE transcriptional profile that accurately discriminates the before and after pheno conversion states of these subjects. Our findings suggest that a storm of DE TEs occurs before pheno conversion from normal cognition to manifest LOAD in risk individuals compared to controls, and may provide useful blood-based biomarkers for heralding such a clinical transition, also suggesting that TEs can indeed participate in the complex process of neurodegeneration.

Colorectal cancer chemotherapy: can sex-specific disparities impact on drug toxicities? - Silvia De Francia; Paola Berchialla; Tiziana Armando; Silvana Storto; Sarah Allegra; Veronica Sciannameo; Giulia Soave; Andrea Elio Sprio; Silvia Racca; Maria Rosaria Caiaffa; Libero Ciuffreda; Maria Valentina Mussa (European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2022)
Purpose Given the biological differences between females and males, sex-specific evaluations should be carried out to obtain better cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment strategies. To this purpose, our aim was to evaluate sex differences for toxicity in a cohort of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients undergoing chemotherapy. Methods We performed a retrospective study in 329 CRC patients. Differences between males and females were tested performing the Mann-Whitney U test or the Fisher exact test. Multivariate logistic regression models were computed to evaluate the association between sex and risk of chemotherapy agent-related toxicity. Results According association sex toxicity, significant differences were observed in the median number of episodes of nausea ( p = 0.044), vomit ( p = 0.007), heartburn ( p = 0.022), thrombocytopenia ( p = 0.005), mucositis ( p = 0.024). Moreover, statistically significant differences between males and females were observed in the distribution of the highest toxicity grades of nausea ( p = 0.024), heartburn ( p = 0.016), and thrombocytopenia ( p = 0.034). Females have an increased risk of vomit ( p = 0.002), alopecia ( p = 0.035), heartburn ( p = 0.005), mucositis ( p = 0.003), and lower risk for thrombocytopenia ( p = 0.005). Conclusion According to the association of sex chemotherapy agent-related toxicities, females resulted on average at a significant increased risk of more common adverse events (constipation, dysgeusia, alopecia, heartburn, vomit, asthenia, nausea, pain events, and mucositis). Sex-tailored CRC chemotherapy treatment is necessary to obtain efficacy avoiding toxicity, based on patients’ biological and genetic characteristics, a vision that would change CRC setting, a stable disease but still orphan of a real tailored approach.

Healthcare waste generation in hospitals per continent: a systematic review - Marcos Paulo Gomes Mol; Tara Rava Zolnikov; Arthur Couto Neves; Giulia Roriz dos Santos; Júlia Luiza Lopes Tolentino; Raphael Tobias de Vasconcelos Barros; Leo Heller (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022)

Individual differences in mental imagery modulate effective connectivity of scene-selective regions during resting state - Maria Giulia Tullo; Hannes Almgren; Frederik Van de Steen; Valentina Sulpizio; Daniele Marinazzo; Gaspare Galati (Brain Structure and Function, 2022)
Successful navigation relies on the ability to identify, perceive, and correctly process the spatial structure of a scene. It is well known that visual mental imagery plays a crucial role in navigation. Indeed, cortical regions encoding navigationally relevant information are also active during mental imagery of navigational scenes. However, it remains unknown whether their intrinsic activity and connectivity reflect the individuals’ ability to imagine a scene. Here, we primarily investigated the intrinsic causal interactions among scene-selective brain regions such as Parahipoccampal Place Area (PPA), Retrosplenial Complex, and Occipital Place Area (OPA) using Dynamic Causal Modelling for resting-state functional magnetic resonance data. Second, we tested whether resting-state effective connectivity parameters among scene-selective regions could reflect individual differences in mental imagery in our sample, as assessed by the self-reported Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire. We found an inhibitory influence of occipito-medial on temporal regions, and an excitatory influence of more anterior on more medial and posterior brain regions. Moreover, we found that a key role in imagery is played by the connection strength from OPA to PPA, especially in the left hemisphere, since the influence of the signal between these scene-selective regions positively correlated with good mental imagery ability. Our investigation contributes to the understanding of the complexity of the causal interaction among brain regions involved in navigation and provides new insight in understanding how an essential ability, such as mental imagery, can be explained by the intrinsic fluctuation of brain signal.

Tasks activating the default mode network map multiple functional systems - Lorenzo Mancuso; Sara Cavuoti-Cabanillas; Donato Liloia; Jordi Manuello; Giulia Buzi; Franco Cauda; Tommaso Costa (Brain Structure and Function, 2022)
Recent developments in network neuroscience suggest reconsidering what we thought we knew about the default mode network (DMN). Although this network has always been seen as unitary and associated with the resting state, a new deconstructive line of research is pointing out that the DMN could be divided into multiple subsystems supporting different functions. By now, it is well known that the DMN is not only deactivated by tasks, but also involved in affective, mnestic, and social paradigms, among others. Nonetheless, it is starting to become clear that the array of activities in which it is involved, might also be extended to more extrinsic functions. The present meta-analytic study is meant to push this boundary a bit further. The BrainMap database was searched for all experimental paradigms activating the DMN, and their activation likelihood estimation maps were then computed. An additional map of task-induced deactivations was also created. A multidimensional scaling indicated that such maps could be arranged along an anatomo-psychological gradient, which goes from midline core activations, associated with the most internal functions, to that of lateral cortices, involved in more external tasks. Further multivariate investigations suggested that such extrinsic mode is especially related to reward, semantic, and emotional functions. However, an important finding was that the various activation maps were often different from the canonical representation of the resting-state DMN, sometimes overlapping with it only in some peripheral nodes, and including external regions such as the insula. Altogether, our findings suggest that the intrinsic–extrinsic opposition may be better understood in the form of a continuous scale, rather than a dichotomy.

High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex modulates decision-making and executive control - Giulia Mattavelli; Sara Lo Presti; Diana Tornaghi; Nicola Canessa (Brain Structure and Function, 2022)

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal - Clara Grilo; Beatriz C. Afonso; Filipe Afonso; Marta Alexandre; Sara Aliácar; Ana Almeida; Ivan Prego Alonso; Francisco Álvares; Paulo Alves; Paulo Célio Alves; Pedro Alves; Anabela Amado; et al. (Ecology, 2022)
Mammals are threatened worldwide, with ~26% of all species being included in the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associated with habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mammals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion for marine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems functionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is crucial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublished georeferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mammals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira that includes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occurring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live observations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%), bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent less than 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrows | soil mounds | tunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animal | hair | skulls | jaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8), observation in shelters, (9) photo trapping | video, (10) predators diet | pellets | pine cones/nuts, (11) scat | track | ditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalization | echolocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and 100 m (76%). Rodentia ( n =31,573) has the highest number of records followed by Chiroptera ( n = 18,857), Carnivora ( n = 18,594), Lagomorpha ( n = 17,496), Cetartiodactyla ( n = 11,568) and Eulipotyphla ( n = 7008). The data set includes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened (e.g., Oryctolagus cuniculus [ n = 12,159], Monachus monachus [ n = 1,512], and Lynx pardinus [ n = 197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate the publication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contribute to ecology and conservation‐related research, and therefore assisting on the development of more accurate and tailored conservation management strategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications.

Cell-Autonomous Processes That Impair Xenograft Survival into the Cerebellum - Lorenzo Magrassi; Giulia Nato; Domenico Delia; Annalisa Buffo (The Cerebellum, 2022)
In immunocompetent animals, numerous factors including the immune system of the host regulate the survival of neuro-glial precursors transplanted into the cerebellum. We transplanted human neuro-glial precursors derived in vitro from partial differentiation of IPS cells into the developing cerebellum of mice and rats before maturation of the host immune system. These approaches should facilitate the development of immune-tolerance for the transplanted cells. However, we found that human cells survived the engraftment and integrated into the host cerebellum and brain stem up to about 1 month postnatally when they were rejected in both species. On the contrary, when we transplanted the same cells in NOD-SCID mice, they survived indefinitely. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the slower pace of differentiation of human neural precursors compared to that of rodents restricts the induction of immune-tolerance to human antigens expressed before completion of the maturation of the immune system. As predicted by our hypothesis, when we engrafted the human neuro-glial precursor cells either in a more mature state or mixed with extracts from adult cerebellum, we prolonged the survival of the graft.

Contribution of Intermediate and High Trophic Level Species to Benthic-Pelagic Coupling: Insights From Modelling Analysis - Pasquale Ricci; Roberto Carlucci; Francesca Capezzuto; Angela Carluccio; Giulia Cipriano; Gianfranco D’Onghia; Porzia Maiorano; Letizia Sion; Angelo Tursi; Simone Libralato (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022)
Benthic-pelagic coupling (BPC) is a combination of downward (from pelagic to benthic) and upward (from benthic to pelagic) flows of organic matter and nutrients mediated by trophic interactions in the food web. Hydrological changes in marine ecosystems affect BPC patterns at several temporal and spatial scales. Thus, a food-web perspective help to to quantify and disentangle the role of ecosystem components and high trophic levels species in the BPC. This study investigated the spatio-temporal variability of energy and matter flows between the benthic and pelagic domains in two areas (Salento and Calabria) of the Northern Ionian Sea (Central Mediterranean Sea) during two different periods. The region is subject to large-scale oceanographic changes, e.g., the Adriatic-Ionian Bimodal Oscillating Systems (BiOS), that might result in relevant spatial and temporal BPC changes. Four food-web models describe the trophic structure, the role of ecosystem components and energy flows in the Salento and Calabrian areas, during two BiOS periods, the anticyclonic (1995-1997) and the cyclonic phases (2003-2005). The food webs are described by 58 functional groups obtained by aggregating species into ecological domains, depth gradients and biological traits. The role of species in the BPC has been quantified using a new Benthic-Pelagic Coupling Index calculated on the basis of food web flows estimated by models. The results highlight the pivotal role of deep faunal communities, in which demersal and benthopelagic species sustain upward energy flows towards the pelagic domain and shelf faunal communities. Temporal changes driven by BiOS affect the trophic state of the deep communities resulting in considerable variations in their amount of consumption flows. In addition, the presence of submarine canyons seems to better support the stability of the Calabrian food web in both investigated periods, whereas geomorphological traits of the Salento area seem to support greater pelagic production during the cyclonic period than the anticyclonic one. Benthopelagic species show an important role as couplers. In particular, Aristaemorpha foliacea , Hoplostetus mediterraneus , Macrourids and Plesionika martia are important couplers of bathyal communities in both areas.

Reply to “Intensification of an Essential Tremor by SARS-CoV-2” - Massimiliano Passaretti; Giulia Paparella; Alessandro De Biase; Luca Angelini; Antonio Cannavacciuolo; Donato Colella; Alfredo Berardelli; Matteo Bologna (The Cerebellum, 2022)

First report of white rust caused by Albugo trianthemae on Lampranthus sp. in Italy - Domenico Bertetti; Giulia Tabone; Maria Lodovica Gullino; Angelo Garibaldi (Journal of Plant Pathology, 2022)

First report of powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe buhrii on Dianthus caryophyllus in Italy - Domenico Bertetti; Giulia Tabone; Giorgio Bozzano; Patrizia Martini; Angelo Garibaldi; Maria Lodovica Gullino (Journal of Plant Pathology, 2022)

Prosthetic joint infection diagnosis applying the three-level European Bone and Joint Infection Society (EBJIS) approach - Chiara Papalini; Giacomo Pucci; Giulia Cenci; Antonella Mencacci; Daniela Francisci; Auro Caraffa; Pierluigi Antinolfi; Maria Bruna Pasticci (European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, 2022)
Sensitive and specific tests for the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection (PJI) are lacking. The aim of this study was to report clinical and microbiological findings of consecutive patients diagnosed with PJI at the University Hospital of Perugia, Perugia, Italy, and to validate these diagnoses utilizing the European Bone and Joint Infection Society (EBJIS) three-level diagnostic approach from 2021. Patients with a PJI diagnosis were included in this study and examined retrospectively. Overall, 133 patients were diagnosed with PJI: mean age 72 years, 54.9% female, and 55.6% with more than one comorbidity. The most frequent involved joints were hip 47% and knee 42%. Aetiology was identified in 88/133 (66.2%): staphylococci resulted the most frequent microorganisms and over 80% (45/54) resulted rifampin susceptible. Applying the EBJIS approach, PJI diagnosis resulted: confirmed in 101 (75.9%), likely in 25 (18.8%), and unlikely in 7 (5.3%). Likely PJIs aetiology was Staphylococcus aureus 11/25, coagulase-negative staphylococci 8/25, Streptococcus agalactiae 3/25, viridans group streptococci 2/25, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 1/25. No statistically significant differences were detected among the three diagnosis groups with regard to clinical characteristics with the exception of a higher number of confirmed PJIs occurring < 3 months after implantation. The logistic regression analysis did not disclose any independent predictor of confirmed PJIs. We recommend using all the diagnostic tests available to approach PJI diagnosis, and suggest caution before rejecting PJI diagnosis in the presence of highly virulent microorganisms from a single sample, in patients without sinus tract, and in those receiving antimicrobial at the time microbiologic samples are collected. Study approved by Umbrian Regional Ethical Committee, Perugia, Italy, Prot. N. 23,124/21/ON of 10.27.2021.

Correction to: Plasma concentrations of remdesivir metabolite in a critical COVID-19 patient needing continuous venovenous haemodialysis - Massimo Tempestilli; Giulia Valeria Stazi; Gaetano Maffongelli; Maria Cristina Marini; Tommaso Ascoli Bartoli; Giuseppe Ippolito; Emanuele Nicastri; Luisa Marchioni; Chiara Agrati (European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2022)

Changes in levels of legacy and emerging organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers in indoor dust from a former e-waste recycling area in South China: 2013–2017 - Bin Tang; Christina Christia; Xiao-Jun Luo; Adrian Covaci; Giulia Poma; Bi-Xian Mai (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022)

Changes in Serum Blood Parameters in Farmed Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Fed with Diets Supplemented with Waste Derived from Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) - Paolo Pastorino; Stefania Bergagna; Cristina Vercelli; Giulia Pagliasso; Lucrezia Dellepiane; Monia Renzi; Raffaella Barbero; Giovanni Re; Antonia Concetta Elia; Alessandro Dondo; Damià Barceló; Marino Prearo (Fishes, 2022)
The antimicrobial and immunostimulant proprieties of aromatic plant extracts have been widely described, but their effects on serum blood biochemistry in fish have not. For this study, we assessed the changes in serum blood biochemical parameters in rainbow trout fed with a fish diet supplemented with a basil supercritical extract (F1-BEO). Our hypothesis was that treatment and time would be associated with changes in 10 serum blood biochemical parameters. F1-BEO was added to a commercial feed (0.5, 1, 2, 3% w/w). The fish were fed for 30 days, and the blood samples were collected at 2 time points (15 and 30 days). A two-way ANOVA showed a significant effect of treatment, time, and interaction treatment × time on creatinine, urea, total protein, albumin, magnesium, and phosphorus (p

The Lame Rosse geosite (Northern Apennines, Italy): a glance at its formation processes - Ivan Martini; Giulia Pagliaricci (International Journal of Earth Sciences, 2022)

Accelerated epigenetic aging and inflammatory/immunological profile (ipAGE) in patients with chronic kidney disease - Igor Yusipov; Elena Kondakova; Alena Kalyakulina; Mikhail Krivonosov; Nadezhda Lobanova; Maria Giulia Bacalini; Claudio Franceschi; Maria Vedunova; Mikhail Ivanchenko (GeroScience, 2022)

Association of rs3027178 polymorphism in the circadian clock gene PER1 with susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease and longevity in an Italian population - Maria Giulia Bacalini; Flavia Palombo; Paolo Garagnani; Cristina Giuliani; Claudio Fiorini; Leonardo Caporali; Michelangelo Stanzani Maserati; Sabina Capellari; Martina Romagnoli; Sara De Fanti; Luisa Benussi; Giuliano Binetti; et al. (GeroScience, 2022)
Many physiological processes in the human body follow a 24-h circadian rhythm controlled by the circadian clock system. Light, sensed by retina, is the predominant “zeitgeber” able to synchronize the circadian rhythms to the light-dark cycles. Circadian rhythm dysfunction and sleep disorders have been associated with aging and neurodegenerative diseases including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In the present study, we aimed at investigating the genetic variability of clock genes in AD patients compared to healthy controls from Italy. We also included a group of Italian centenarians, considered as super-controls in association studies given their extreme phenotype of successful aging. We analyzed the exon sequences of eighty-four genes related to circadian rhythms, and the most significant variants identified in this first discovery phase were further assessed in a larger independent cohort of AD patients by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry. The results identified a significant association between the rs3027178 polymorphism in the PER1 circadian gene with AD, the G allele being protective for AD. Interestingly, rs3027178 showed similar genotypic frequencies among AD patients and centenarians. These results collectively underline the relevance of circadian dysfunction in the predisposition to AD and contribute to the discussion on the role of the relationship between the genetics of age-related diseases and of longevity.

A hands-on tutorial on network and topological neuroscience - Eduarda Gervini Zampieri Centeno; Giulia Moreni; Chris Vriend; Linda Douw; Fernando Antônio Nóbrega Santos (Brain Structure and Function, 2022)
The brain is an extraordinarily complex system that facilitates the optimal integration of information from different regions to execute its functions. With the recent advances in technology, researchers can now collect enormous amounts of data from the brain using neuroimaging at different scales and from numerous modalities. With that comes the need for sophisticated tools for analysis. The field of network neuroscience has been trying to tackle these challenges, and graph theory has been one of its essential branches through the investigation of brain networks. Recently, topological data analysis has gained more attention as an alternative framework by providing a set of metrics that go beyond pairwise connections and offer improved robustness against noise. In this hands-on tutorial, our goal is to provide the computational tools to explore neuroimaging data using these frameworks and to facilitate their accessibility, data visualisation, and comprehension for newcomers to the field. We will start by giving a concise (and by no means complete) overview of the field to introduce the two frameworks and then explain how to compute both well-established and newer metrics on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We use an open-source language (Python) and provide an accompanying publicly available Jupyter Notebook that uses the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project dataset. Moreover, we would like to highlight one part of our notebook dedicated to the realistic visualisation of high order interactions in brain networks. This pipeline provides three-dimensional (3-D) plots of pairwise and higher-order interactions projected in a brain atlas, a new feature tailor-made for network neuroscience.

The formation of SCEs as an effect of occupational exposure to formaldehyde - Federica Ghelli; Enrico Cocchi; Valeria Bellisario; Martina Buglisi; Giulia Squillacioti; Alfredo Santovito; Roberto Bono (Archives of Toxicology, 2022)
Formaldehyde (FA) is a ubiquitous toxic chemical employed worldwide due to its disinfectant and preservative properties. Despite being classified as a human carcinogen, FA is still employed as formalin in pathology wards as standard fixative. We evaluated its relationship with the formation of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs) in cultured peripheral blood lymphocytes on 57 pathologists and 48 controls and the risk/protective role played by several genetic polymorphisms. All subjects were assessed for SCEs and genotyped for the most common cancer-associated gene polymorphisms: CYP1A1 exon 7 (A > G), CYP1A1 *2A (T > C), CYP2C19 *2 (G > A), GSTT1 (presence/absence), GSTM1 (presence/absence), GSTP1 (A > G), XRCC1 (G399A), XRCC1 (C194T), XRCC1 (A280G), XPC exon 15 (A939C), XPC exon 9 (C499T), TNFα − 308 G > A), IL10 − 1082 (G > A), and IL6 − 174 (G > C). Air-FA concentration was assessed through passive personal samplers. Pathologists, exposed to 55.2 μg/m 3 of air-FA, showed a significantly higher SCEs frequency than controls, exposed, respectively, to 18.4 μg/m 3 . Air-FA was directly correlated with SCEs frequency and inversely with the replication index (RI). Regression models showed FA exposure as a significant predictor in developing SCEs, while did not highlight any role of the selected polymorphisms. Our study confirms the role of low air-FA levels as genotoxicity inductor, highlighting the importance to define exposure limits that could be safer for exposed workers.

Reliable Numerical Models of Nickel-Titanium Stents: How to Deduce the Specific Material Properties from Testing Real Devices - Francesca Berti; Sara Bridio; Giulia Luraghi; Sanjay Pant; Dario Allegretti; Giancarlo Pennati; Lorenza Petrini (Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2022)
The current interest of those dealing with medical research is the preparation of digital twins. In this frame, the first step to accomplish is the preparation of reliable numerical models. This is a challenging task since it is not common to know the exact device geometry and material properties unless in studies performed in collaboration with the manufacturer. The particular case of modeling Ni–Ti stents can be highlighted as a worst-case scenario due to both the complex geometrical features and non-linear material response. Indeed, if the limitations in the description of the geometry can be overcome, many difficulties still exist in the assessment of the material, which can vary according to the manufacturing process and requires many parameters for its description. The purpose of this work is to propose a coupled experimental and computational workflow to identify the set of material properties in the case of commercially-resembling Ni–Ti stents. This has been achieved from non-destructive tensile tests on the devices compared with results from Finite Element Analysis (FEA). A surrogate modeling approach is proposed for the identification of the material parameters, based on a minimization problem on the database of responses of Ni–Ti materials obtained with FEA with a series of different parameters. The reliability of the final result was validated through the comparison with the output of additional experiments.

Impact of recurrence pattern in patients undergoing a second surgery for recurrent glioblastoma - Francesco Pasqualetti; Nicola Montemurro; Isacco Desideri; Mauro Loi; Noemi Giannini; Giovanni Gadducci; Giulia Malfatti; Martina Cantarella; Alessandra Gonnelli; Sabrina Montrone; Luca Visani; Cristian Scatena; et al. (Acta Neurologica Belgica, 2022)

Long‐distance movements of North Atlantic killer whales ( Orcinus orca ) from Iceland via Spain and Italy to Lebanon - Marie‐Thérèse Mrusczok; Biagio Violi; Milad Fakhri; Giulia Calogero; Elia Biasissi; Ali Jaouhar; Andrew Scullion; Maurizio Würtz (Marine Mammal Science, 2022)

Implementation of a new research tool for evaluating Mediterranean Sea Literacy (MSL) of high school students: A pilot study - MARIA CHEIMONOPOULOU; PANAYOTA KOULOURI; MONICA PREVIATI; GIULIA REALDON; Melita Mokos; Athanasios Mogias (Mediterranean Marine Science, 2022)
The Mediterranean Sea is recognized as a key component in the development, economy, and culture of European, North African, and Middle East countries. With respect to heterogeneity across the region in different sectors, Ocean Literacy, though still in its infancy, is nevertheless a requisite for a better understanding of the two-way interaction between the Sea and its people. In the present study, marine issues in relation to the content knowledge of 154 high school students from the Mediterranean region were investigated by using a structured questionnaire based on the recently published Mediterranean Sea Literacy guide. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics to portray frequencies and knowledge scores of the participants, and inferential statistics to assess the eﬀects of grade level on students’ knowledge. The study which focused for the first time on the unique features of the Mediterranean marine ecosystems, found the level of content knowledge of the participants to be low to moderate. It is therefore of the utmost importance for the organizations and networks working on marine issues in the Mediterranean Sea to develop synergies and coordinate research programmes to broaden engagement with human societies in the region.

Minimal prevalence of HPV vaccination and common occurrence of high-risk HPV types in pregnant women with HIV: data from a national study in Italy - Marco Floridia; Giulia Masuelli; Beatrice Tassis; Valeria M. Savasi; Matilde Sansone; Arsenio Spinillo; Laura Franceschetti; Giovanni Guaraldi; Carmela Pinnetti; Serena Dalzero; Alessandra Meloni; Antonella Vimercati; et al. (European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, 2022)

Life cycle assessment (LCA) of bio-based packaging solutions for extended shelf-life (ESL) milk - Giulia Cappiello; Clizia Aversa; Annalisa Genovesi; Massimiliano Barletta (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022)

Human amniotic membrane: an improvement in the treatment of Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ)? A case–control study - Mirko Ragazzo; Matteo Val; Giulia Montagner; Diletta Trojan; Stefano Fusetti; Luca Guarda Nardini (Cell and Tissue Banking, 2022)
The aim of this article is to report the results obtained by the use of HAM in surgical wound healing and the reduction of relapse in patients affected by Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ).The study involved patients with the diagnosis of MRONJ, surgically treated between October 2016 and April 2019, in a case–control setting. Enrolled patients were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group will be treated with resective surgery and with the insertion of HAM patch (Group A), while the second group had been treated exclusively with resective surgery (Group B).The patients underwent MRONJ surgical treatment with the placement of amniotic membrane patches at the wound site. Data regarding the long-term complications/functions were evaluated at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after surgery. Pain measurements were performed before the intervention (T0), 7(T1) and 30(T2) days after surgery. 49 patients were included in the study. 2 patients of GROUP A after 30 days since they were surgically treated showed persistent bone exposure. 5 patients of group B demonstrated a lack of healing of the surgical wound with the persistence of bone exposed to 30 days after surgery. Statistical analysis ruled out any difference in OUTCOME (relapse) between GROUP A and B ( p = 0.23). However, the Fisher test highlighted a significant difference between the use of HAM and only surgical treatment in pain at rest ( p = 0.032). The use of amniotic membrane implement the patient's quality of life and reduce pain perception. has a learning curve that is fast enough to justify its routine use.

Mesophotic Depth Biogenic Accumulations (“Biogenic Mounds”) Offshore the Maltese Islands, Central Mediterranean Sea - Or M. Bialik; Andrea Giulia Varzi; Ruth Durán; Timothy Le Bas; Adam Gauci; Alessandra Savini; Aaron Micallef (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022)
The mesophotic domain is a poorly explored part of the oceans, notably in the Mediterranean Sea. Benthic communities in these depths are not well documented and as such are under higher risk from anthropogenic impacts. Hard substrate habitats in this depth window are not common and are a key ecotope. The Malta Plateau in the central Mediterranean, which is characterized by low sedimentation rates, offers a potentially unexplored domain for these features. Bathymetric and backscatter data offshore of the eastern coast of the island of Malta were used to identify > 1,700 small structures in mesophotic depths. These structures were verified to be biogenic mounds by dives. The mounds extend from several meters to tens of meters in diameter and occur in two main depth windows −40 to 83 meters below present sea level (mbpsl) and 83–120 mbpsl—each formed probably in a different stage during the last glacial cycle. The mounds are composed of interlocking bioconstruction by encrusting organisms and are colonized by sponges and various cold water corals (most of which are protected; e.g., Madrepora oculata ). This unique and important habitat is currently under grave threat by human activity, most immediately by trawling and anchoring activity.

Ocean Acidification, but Not Environmental Contaminants, Affects Fertilization Success and Sperm Motility in the Sea Urchin Paracentrotus lividus - Marco Munari; Alessandro Devigili; Giulia dalle Palle; Davide Asnicar; Paolo Pastore; Denis Badocco; Maria Gabriella Marin (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2022)
Ocean acidification poses an increasing concern for broadcast spawning species that release gametes in the water column where fertilization occurs. Indeed, the functionality of gametes and their interactions may be negatively affected by reduced pH. Susceptibility to other environmental stressors, such as pollutants, may be also altered under acidified conditions, resulting in more detrimental effects. To verify this hypothesis, combined exposures to CO2-driven acidification and environmentally relevant concentrations (0.5 µg/L) of three contaminants (caffeine, diclofenac, and PFOS, all singularly or in mixture) were carried out to highlight potential negative effects on fertilization success and motility of sperm in the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. Our results showed a significant reduction in the percentage of fertilized eggs when sperm were pre-exposed to reduced pH (ambient pH minus 0.4 units) compared to that of controls (ambient, pH = 8.1). Sperm speed and motility also decreased when sperm were activated and then exposed at reduced pH. Conversely, at both pH values tested, no significant effect due to the contaminants, nor of their interaction with pH, was found on any of the biological endpoints considered.

Allometric relationships of ecologically important Antarctic and Arctic zooplankton and fish species - Fokje L. Schaafsma; Carmen L. David; Doreen Kohlbach; Julia Ehrlich; Giulia Castellani; Benjamin A. Lange; Martina Vortkamp; André Meijboom; Anna Fortuna-Wünsch; Antonia Immerz; Hannelore Cantzler; Apasiri Klasmeier; et al. (Polar Biology, 2022)
Allometric relationships between body properties of animals are useful for a wide variety of purposes, such as estimation of biomass, growth, population structure, bioenergetic modelling and carbon flux studies. This study summarizes allometric relationships of zooplankton and nekton species that play major roles in polar marine food webs. Measurements were performed on 639 individuals of 15 species sampled during three expeditions in the Southern Ocean (winter and summer) and 2374 individuals of 14 species sampled during three expeditions in the Arctic Ocean (spring and summer). The information provided by this study fills current knowledge gaps on relationships between length and wet/dry mass of understudied animals, such as various gelatinous zooplankton, and of animals from understudied seasons and maturity stages, for example, for the krill Thysanoessa macrura and larval Euphausia superba caught in winter. Comparisons show that there is intra-specific variation in length–mass relationships of several species depending on season, e.g. for the amphipod Themisto libellula . To investigate the potential use of generalized regression models, comparisons between sexes, maturity stages or age classes were performed and are discussed, such as for the several krill species and T. libellula . Regression model comparisons on age classes of the fish E. antarctica were inconclusive about their general use. Other allometric measurements performed on carapaces, eyes, heads, telsons, tails and otoliths provided models that proved to be useful for estimating length or mass in, e.g. diet studies. In some cases, the suitability of these models may depend on species or developmental stages.

Antibacterial activity of coumarin as an innovative organic control strategy for Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. euvesicatoria - Daniele Schiavi; Sara Francesconi; Giulia Bischetti; Geremia Giovanale; Elena Fortunati; Giorgio Mariano Balestra (Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection, 2022)

First report of powdery mildew caused by Golovinomyces magnicellulatus on Phlox maculata in Italy - Angelo Garibaldi; Domenico Bertetti; Giulia Tabone; Maria Lodovica Gullino (Journal of Plant Pathology, 2022)

First report of Pythium aphanidermatum causing leaf spot on Digitalis purpurea in Italy - Angelo Garibaldi; Giulia Tabone; Incoronata Luongo; Maria Lodovica Gullino (Journal of Plant Pathology, 2022)

A novel complex genomic rearrangement affecting the KCNJ2 regulatory region causes a variant of Cooks syndrome - Luigia Cinque; Lucia Micale; Elena Manara; Andrea Esposito; Orazio Palumbo; Andrea Maria Chiariello; Simona Bianco; Giulia Guerri; Matteo Bertelli; Maria Grazia Giuffrida; Laura Bernardini; Angelantonio Notarangelo; et al. (Human Genetics, 2022)

A thermoeconomic indicator for the sustainable development with social considerations - Umberto Lucia; Debora Fino; Giulia Grisolia (Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2022)
The United Nations action plan Agenda 21 has represented a milestone toward Sustainable Development. On its 40th Chapter, it is introduced the requirement to dispose of an accurate and continuous collection of information, essential for decision-making. Besides bridging the data gap and improving the information availability, it is highlighted the need to dispose of sustainable development indicators, in order to assess and monitor the performances of countries toward sustainability. In this paper, we develop an improvement of a new indicator, recently introduced linking environmental anthropic footprint and social and industrial targets. Here, we suggest a link with the Income Index, in order to consider also a condition of people well-being. Our results consists in an improvement of the present approaches to sustainability; indeed, we link the socio-economic considerations, quantified by the Income Index and the Human Development Index, to the engineering approach to optimization, introducing the thermodynamic quantity entropy generation, related to irreversibility. In this way, two different new indicators are introduced, the Thermodynamic Income Index and the Thermodynamic Human Development Index, which quantitatively express a new viewpoint, which goes beyond the dichotomy between socio-economic considerations on one hand and engineering and scientific approach to sustainability on the other one. So, the result leads to a unified tool useful for the designing of new policies and interventions for a sustainable development for the next generations.

Distinct brain dysfunctions underlying visuo-constructive deficit in DLB and AD - Luca Beretta; Giulia Carli; Paolo Caffarra; Daniela Perani (Brain Imaging and Behavior, 2022)

Novel insights on GM1 and Parkinson's disease: A critical review - Maria Fazzari; Erika Di Biase; Giulia Lunghi; Laura Mauri; Elena Chiricozzi; Sandro Sonnino (Glycoconjugate Journal, 2022)
GM1 is a crucial component of neuronal membrane residing both in the soma and nerve terminals. As reported in Parkinson’s disease patients, the reduction of GM1 determines the failure of fundamental functional processes leading to cumulative cell distress up to neuron death. This review reports on the role of GM1 in the pathogenesis of the disease, illustrating the current data available but also hypotheses on the additional mechanisms in which GM1 could be involved and which require further study. In the manuscript we discuss these points trying to explain the role of diminished content of brain GM1, particularly in the nigro-striatal system, in Parkinson’s disease etiology and progression.

Shine a light: Under-ice light and its ecological implications in a changing Arctic Ocean - Giulia Castellani; Gaëlle Veyssière; Michael Karcher; Julienne Stroeve; S. Neil Banas; A. Heather Bouman; S. Andrew Brierley; Stacey Connan; Finlo Cottier; Fabian Große; Laura Hobbs; Christian Katlein; et al. (Ambio, 2022)
The Arctic marine ecosystem is shaped by the seasonality of the solar cycle, spanning from 24-h light at the sea surface in summer to 24-h darkness in winter. The amount of light available for under-ice ecosystems is the result of different physical and biological processes that affect its path through atmosphere, snow, sea ice and water. In this article, we review the present state of knowledge of the abiotic (clouds, sea ice, snow, suspended matter) and biotic (sea ice algae and phytoplankton) controls on the underwater light field. We focus on how the available light affects the seasonal cycle of primary production (sympagic and pelagic) and discuss the sensitivity of ecosystems to changes in the light field based on model simulations. Lastly, we discuss predicted future changes in under-ice light as a consequence of climate change and their potential ecological implications, with the aim of providing a guide for future research.

Lost diagnoses in not otherwise specified headache in Emergency Department - Antonio Granato; Laura D’Acunto; Maria Elisa Morelli; Giulia Bellavita; Franco Cominotto; Paolo Manganotti (Acta Neurologica Belgica, 2022)
The diagnosis of Not Otherwise Specified (NOS) headaches in the Emergency Department (ED) is frequent despite many specialist visits performed. The aim of the study was to examine specialist visits carried out in the patients discharged from ED with diagnosis of NOS headache to evaluate discrepancies between specialist and ED diagnosis at discharge. We retrospectively (1.6.2018–31.12.2018) analyzed all the patients admitted with non-traumatic headache to the ED of the tertiary-care University Hospital of Trieste. We evaluated the patients discharged from ED with a final diagnosis of NOS headache and who underwent at least one specialist examination. Demographic data, specialist and ED diagnosis were analyzed. One hundred twenty-four patients (93 F, 31 M, mean age 44 ± 15 years) were included. 71.8% of patients were examined only by a neurologist, 12.9% by non-neurologists, 15.3% by both neurologist and non-neurologist. Only 37% of the patients received a precise diagnosis. Neurologist made a diagnosis slightly more frequently than the other consultants (40.5% vs 37.5%). Neurologists diagnosed primary headaches, headaches secondary to neurological diseases, and facial neuralgia, instead non-neurologists diagnosed only headaches secondary to non-neurological diseases. Primary headaches were diagnosed in 25.7% of cases, migraine being the most frequent. Physicians did not report any specialist diagnoses in the ED discharge sheet. Specialist consultants made specific diagnoses in about one-third of patients that were not reported as final in the discharge records by the ED physician. This leads to a loss of diagnoses and to an overestimation of NOS headache.

Integrated multidisciplinary ecological analysis from the Uluzzian settlement at the Uluzzo C Rock Shelter, south‐eastern Italy - Sara Silvestrini; Matteo Romandini; Giulia Marciani; Simona Arrighi; Lisa Carrera; Andrea Fiorini; Juan Manuel López‐García; Federico Lugli; Filomena Ranaldo; Viviane Slon; Laura Tassoni; Owen Alexander Higgins; et al. (Journal of Quaternary Science, 2022)
The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, between 50 000 and 40 000 years ago, is a period of important ecological and cultural changes. In this framework, the Rock Shelter of Uluzzo C (Apulia, southern Italy) represents an important site due to Late Mousterian and Uluzzian evidence preserved in its stratigraphic sequence. Here, we present the results of a multidisciplinary analysis performed on the materials collected between 2016 and 2018 from the Uluzzian stratigraphic units (SUs) 3, 15 and 17. The analysis involved lithic technology, use‐wear, zooarchaeology, ancient DNA of sediments and palaeoproteomics, completed by quartz single‐grain optically stimulated luminescence dating of the cave sediments. The lithic assemblage is characterized by a volumetric production and a debitage with no or little management of the convexities (by using the bipolar technique), with the objective to produce bladelets and flakelets. The zooarchaeological study found evidence of butchery activity and of the possible exploitation of marine resources, while drawing a picture of a patchy landscape, composed of open forests and dry open environments surrounding the shelter. Ancient mitochondrial DNA from two mammalian taxa were recovered from the sediments. Preliminary zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry results are consistent with ancient DNA and zooarchaeological taxonomic information, while further palaeoproteomics investigations are ongoing. Our new data from the re‐discovery of the Uluzzo C Rock Shelter represent an important contribution to better understand the meaning of the Uluzzian in the context of the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition in south‐eastern Italy.

Behavioral Pattern of Risso’s Dolphin (Grampus griseus) in the Gulf of Taranto (Northern Ionian Sea, Central-Eastern Mediterranean Sea) - Giulia Cipriano; Roberto Carlucci; Stefano Bellomo; Francesca Cornelia Santacesaria; Carmelo Fanizza; Pasquale Ricci; Rosalia Maglietta (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2022)
Relatively scant information is available on the Risso’s dolphin in comparison to the other species regularly present in the Mediterranean Sea. Recently, its conservation status has been updated to Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in this Sea. Therefore, the need to increase information on its biology and ecology is even more urgent. This study reports the first preliminary information on the behavioral traits of the species occurring in the Gulf of Taranto (Northern Ionian Sea). Data on predominant behavioral activity states and on a set of group composition variables (group formation, cruising speed, dive duration and interaction between individuals) were collected from April 2019 to September 2021, applying the focal-group protocol with instantaneous scan sampling. Group size, depth and group composition variables were compared between activity states. Results highlight that both the group size and the several variables considered varied significantly depending on activity state. The group size was significantly smaller during feeding than resting and traveling and a characterization in terms of group formation, cruise speed, dive duration and interaction between animals is provided for the different activity states. Moreover, a list of behavioral events which occurred, as well as their relative frequency of distribution among activity states, is reported. Finally, details on the sympatric occurrences between Risso’s and striped dolphins, as well as the repetitive interaction observed between adult individuals and plastic bags floating on the sea surface, are reported and discussed.

The Paradox of an Unpolluted Coastal Site Facing a Chronically Contaminated Industrial Area - Cinzia Corinaldesi; Silvia Bianchelli; Eugenio Rastelli; Stefano Varrella; Sara Canensi; Cristina Gambi; Marco Lo Martire; Luigi Musco; Iacopo Bertocci; Emanuela Fanelli; Giulia Lucia; Nicola Simoncini; et al. (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022)
Present and past industrial activities in coastal areas have left us a legacy of contamination and habitat degradation with potential implications for human health. Here, we investigated a coastal marine area enclosed in a Site of National Interest (SNI) of the central-western Adriatic (Mediterranean Sea), where priority actions of environmental remediation are required by governmental laws due the high environmental and human risk, and that is off-limits to any human activity since 2002. In particular, our investigation was focused on an area located in front of a chemical industry dismissed more than 3 decades ago. We report that the concentrations of heavy-metal and organic contaminants in the investigated sediments were generally lower than those expected to induce detrimental biological effects. Meiofaunal abundance, biomass and community structure changed among stations, but regardless of the distance from the abandoned industrial plant. Taxa richness within the SNI did not change significantly compared to the controls and the lack of some taxa in the SNI transects was not due to the contamination of the SNI area. The results of this study suggest a natural recovery of the marine area over 2 decades of restrictions on human activities, including fishing and shipping bans. If the hypothesis of the natural recovery of this SNI will be further confirmed by other studies, the plans for the identification and monitoring of the most polluted areas in Italy should necessarily be redefined also in the light of the Water Framework, the Marine Strategy Framework and the Environmental Quality Standard Directives.

Navigating Ocean Literacy in Europe: 10 years of history and future perspectives - MELITA MOKOS; ELIANE DE-BASTOS; GIULIA REALDON; DOMINIKA WOJCIESZEK; MARTHA PAPATHANASIOU; PETER TUDDENHAM (Mediterranean Marine Science, 2022)
Ocean Literacy (OL) emerged in the USA in the 2000s as a concept developed for the education system aimed at teachers. In 2011, it gained the attention of European educators who formed the first OL network in Europe, the European Marine Science Educators Association (EMSEA). Parallel to that initiative, Portugal started the first initiative to adopt OL content into formal education. Since then, there has been a major shift towards a more literate society in Europe. This paper reviews the development of OL in Europe elaborates the role of OL for the sustainable future of the European seas, and provides recommendations for OL actions.

Worsening of Essential Tremor After SARS-CoV-2 Infection - Massimiliano Passaretti; Alessandro De Biase; Giulia Paparella; Luca Angelini; Antonio Cannavacciuolo; Donato Colella; Alfredo Berardelli; Matteo Bologna (The Cerebellum, 2022)

Common, low-frequency, rare, and ultra-rare coding variants contribute to COVID-19 severity - Chiara Fallerini; Nicola Picchiotti; Margherita Baldassarri; Kristina Zguro; Sergio Daga; Francesca Fava; Elisa Benetti; Sara Amitrano; Mirella Bruttini; Maria Palmieri; Susanna Croci; Mirjam Lista; et al. (Human Genetics, 2022)
The combined impact of common and rare exonic variants in COVID-19 host genetics is currently insufficiently understood. Here, common and rare variants from whole-exome sequencing data of about 4000 SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals were used to define an interpretable machine-learning model for predicting COVID-19 severity. First, variants were converted into separate sets of Boolean features, depending on the absence or the presence of variants in each gene. An ensemble of LASSO logistic regression models was used to identify the most informative Boolean features with respect to the genetic bases of severity. The Boolean features selected by these logistic models were combined into an Integrated PolyGenic Score that offers a synthetic and interpretable index for describing the contribution of host genetics in COVID-19 severity, as demonstrated through testing in several independent cohorts. Selected features belong to ultra-rare, rare, low-frequency, and common variants, including those in linkage disequilibrium with known GWAS loci. Noteworthily, around one quarter of the selected genes are sex-specific. Pathway analysis of the selected genes associated with COVID-19 severity reflected the multi-organ nature of the disease. The proposed model might provide useful information for developing diagnostics and therapeutics, while also being able to guide bedside disease management.

MYT1L-associated neurodevelopmental disorder: description of 40 new cases and literature review of clinical and molecular aspects - Juliette Coursimault; Anne-Marie Guerrot; Michelle M. Morrow; Catherine Schramm; Francisca Millan Zamora; Anita Shanmugham; Shuxi Liu; Fanggeng Zou; Frédéric Bilan; Gwenaël Le Guyader; Ange-Line Bruel; Anne-Sophie Denommé-Pichon; et al. (Human Genetics, 2022)

Salmonella Abortusovis: An Epidemiologically Relevant Pathogen - Giulia Amagliani; Maria E. La Guardia; Sabrina Dominici; Giorgio Brandi; Enrica Omiccioli (Current Microbiology, 2022)

Discovering the Pandora’s box: the invasion of alien flatworms in Italy - Emiliano Mori; Giulia Magoga; Marta Panella; Matteo Montagna; Leigh Winsor; Jean-Lou Justine; Mattia Menchetti; Enrico Schifani; Beatrice Melone; Giuseppe Mazza (Biological Invasions, 2022)

Mapping the cellular response to electron transport chain inhibitors reveals selective signaling networks triggered by mitochondrial perturbation - Wanda van der Stel; Huan Yang; Nanette G. Vrijenhoek; Johannes P. Schimming; Giulia Callegaro; Giada Carta; Salihanur Darici; Johannes Delp; Anna Forsby; Andrew White; Sylvia le Dévédec; Marcel Leist; et al. (Archives of Toxicology, 2022)
Mitochondrial perturbation is a key event in chemical-induced organ toxicities that is incompletely understood. Here, we studied how electron transport chain (ETC) complex I, II, or III (CI, CII and CIII) inhibitors affect mitochondrial functionality, stress response activation, and cell viability using a combination of high-content imaging and TempO-Seq in HepG2 hepatocyte cells. CI and CIII inhibitors perturbed mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and mitochondrial and cellular ATP levels in a concentration- and time-dependent fashion and, under conditions preventing a switch to glycolysis attenuated cell viability, whereas CII inhibitors had no effect. TempO-Seq analysis of changes in mRNA expression pointed to a shared cellular response to CI and CIII inhibition. First, to define specific ETC inhibition responses, a gene set responsive toward ETC inhibition (and not to genotoxic, oxidative, or endoplasmic reticulum stress) was identified using targeted TempO-Seq in HepG2. Silencing of one of these genes, NOS3, exacerbated the impact of CI and CIII inhibitors on cell viability, indicating its functional implication in cellular responses to mitochondrial stress. Then by monitoring dynamic responses to ETC inhibition using a HepG2 GFP reporter panel for different classes of stress response pathways and applying pathway and gene network analysis to TempO-Seq data, we looked for downstream cellular events of ETC inhibition and identified the amino acid response (AAR) as being triggered in HepG2 by ETC inhibition. Through in silico approaches we provide evidence indicating that a similar AAR is associated with exposure to mitochondrial toxicants in primary human hepatocytes. Altogether, we (i) unravel quantitative, time- and concentration-resolved cellular responses to mitochondrial perturbation, (ii) identify a gene set associated with adaptation to exposure to active ETC inhibitors, and (iii) show that ER stress and an AAR accompany ETC inhibition in HepG2 and primary hepatocytes.

Glycopatterns of the foregut in the striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba , Meyen 1833 from the Mediterranean Sea - Roberto Carlucci; Giulia Cipriano; Carmelo Fanizza; Tommaso Gerussi; Rosalia Maglietta; Antonio Petrella; Guido Pietroluongo; Pasquale Ricci; Daniela Semeraro; Marco Vito Guglielmi; Giovanni Scillitani; Donatella Mentino (Marine Mammal Science, 2022)
The glycopatterns of the glycans secreted by the mucosa of stomach and duodenal ampulla of the striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba were studied by histochemical (Periodic acid‐Schiff, Alcian Blue pH 2.5, High Iron Diamine) and lectin‐binding (SBA, DBA, PNA, WGA, MAA‐II, SNA, ConA, UEA‐I, AAA, LTA) techniques. The stomach can be divided into four compartments: main stomach, two connecting chambers and pylorus. The pylorus is followed by the duodenal ampulla. Mucins are secreted by surface cells and intramucosal glands specific for each compartment. In the main stomach glands, neck cells were weakly sulphated, with prevailing glycosaminylated, glycosylated/mannosylated, and fucosylated residuals. Parietal and chief cells in general were scarcely reactive. In the connecting chambers glands, there were high levels of sulphation, glycosaminylation, glycosylation/mannosylation, and fucosylation, the latter with more complex patterns than those observed in the main stomach glands. In the pyloric glands sulphated, glycosaminylated and fucosylated residuals decreased, whereas the opposite was observed for galactosyl/galactosaminylated residuals. Glycosylation patterns in the glands of the duodenal ampulla differed from those of the pyloric ones, with similar levels of sulphation, lower levels of galactosyl/galactosaminylation and glycosaminylation, and higher level of fucosylation. The results are compared with those available in literature.

Triterpenoids isolated from Jatropha macrantha (Müll. Arg.) inhibit the NF-κB and HIF-1α pathways in tumour cells - Luis Apaza T.; Fabiana Antognoni; Giulia Potente; Ángel Rumbero Sánchez (Natural Product Research, 2021)

No evidence of isotopic fractionation in olive trees ( Olea europaea ): a stable isotope tracing experiment - Anam Amin; Giulia Zuecco; Chiara Marchina; Michael Engel; Daniele Penna; Jeffrey J. McDonnell; Marco Borga (Hydrological Sciences Journal, 2021)

Risk factors and plant management activities for the terraced agricultural systems on the Amalfi coast (Italy): an interdisciplinary approach - Emanuela Cicinelli; Giulia Caneva; Valentina Savo (Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali, 2021)
Cultivated terraces are outstanding modifications of mountains and hills to obtain arable land. These terraced agricultural systems are widespread traditional landscapes within the Mediterranean area. The cultivated terraces of the Amalfi Coast (Southern Italy) are outstanding examples of cultural landscapes, and they represent one of the key descriptors of the UNESCO Site. Terraces have characterized the landscape of the Amalfi Coast for a long time as their construction started during the Middle Age. However, their conservation is now threatened by abandonment, which has dramatically risen in the last 60 years, and by the ongoing climatic changes with the increased incidence of heavy rainfall events. We combined interviews with local farmers and vegetation surveys to understand which management activities are carried out to improve the conservation of cultivated terraces on the Amalfi Coast. To this end, we analyzed the linkages between these management practices and their influence on the vegetation growing on the terrace risers. Our informants identified the maintenance of waterways and walls as crucial factors influencing terrace and slope stability. The preservation of the integrity of terraces depends on periodic vegetation control and the maintenance of water drainage systems, which are carried out thanks to the active presence of farmers. According to our informants, the vegetation growing on the walls has a relevant role in the stability of terraces, and we found a prevalence of Hemicryptophytes that increase with the number of interventions over the year. Thus, active and vital agriculture becomes pivotal for the preservation of this cultural heritage.

Biological Effects Assessment of Antibiofouling EDCs: Gaeta Harbor (South Italy) Benthic Communities' Analysis by Biodiversity Indices and Quantitative gpx4 Expression - Adriano Madonna; Agostino Balzano; Dea Rabbito; Mustapha Hasnaoui; Abdelraouf A. Moustafa; Nourredine Guezgouz; Alessia Vittorioso; Fatima-Zara Majdoubi; Oladokun Sulaiman Olanrewaju; Giulia Guerriero (Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 2021)

Clinical and Molecular Aspects of the Neurodevelopmental Disorder Associated with PAK3 Perturbation - Giulia Pascolini; Federica Gaudioso; Chiara Passarelli; Antonio Novelli; Niccolò Di Giosaffatte; Silvia Majore; Paola Grammatico (Journal of Molecular Neuroscience, 2021)

Asfotase Alfa hypersensitivity: an outpatient 8-steps desensitization protocol - Stefania Scudu; Alessandra Ghisu; Giulia Costanzo; Maria Pina Barca; Davide Firinu; Stefano Del Giacco (Immunologic Research, 2021)

Low risk of reinfections and relation with serological response after recovery from the first wave of COVID-19 - Maddalena Peghin; Emilio Bouza; Martina Fabris; Maria De Martino; Alvisa Palese; Giulia Bontempo; Elena Graziano; Valentina Gerussi; Valentina Bressan; Assunta Sartor; Miriam Isola; Carlo Tascini; et al. (European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, 2021)

Effect of SAcubitril/Valsartan on left vEntricular ejection fraction and on the potential indication for Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator in primary prevention: the SAVE-ICD study - Federico Guerra; Ernesto Ammendola; Matteo Ziacchi; Vittorio Aspromonte; Pier Luigi Pellegrino; Giuseppe Del Giorno; Gabriele Dell’Era; Lorenzo Pimpini; Francesco Santoro; Roberto Floris; Giulia Stronati; Gerardo Nigro; et al. (European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2021)

Recent strategies in nanodelivery systems for natural products: a review - Giulia Vanti (Environmental Chemistry Letters, 2021)
Natural products are major molecules for drug discovery due to their structural diversity and their interaction with various biological targets, yet their clinical application is limited by poor water solubility or low lipophilicity, inappropriate molecular size, low dissolution rate and permeation, instability, high metabolic rate and rapid clearance. These issues can be solved by nanomedicine, by improving bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy. Here we review nanocarriers made of polymer or lipid constituents. Specifically, we describe the technological characteristics of each nanosystem, with examples of application to single natural constituents or plant extracts, and possible routes of administration. We report in vitro and in vivo studies and we conclude with the potential advantages of nanodelivery systems in terms of increased stability and solubility, improved biodistribution and efficacy, reduced adverse effects and toxicity.

Extracellular Vesicles: Footprints of environmental exposures in the aging process? - Paola Monti; Giulia Solazzo; Luca Ferrari; Valentina Bollati (Current Environmental Health Reports, 2021)

The role of stereotactic body radiation therapy and its integration with systemic therapies in metastatic kidney cancer: a multicenter study on behalf of the AIRO (Italian Association of Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncology) genitourinary study group - Ciro Franzese; Giulia Marvaso; Giulio Francolini; Paolo Borghetti; Luca Eolo Trodella; Matteo Sepulcri; Fabio Matrone; Luca Nicosia; Giorgia Timon; Lucia Ognibene; Annamaria Vinciguerra; Filippo Alongi; et al. (Clinical & Experimental Metastasis, 2021)

Amikacin for the treatment of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae infections: clinical efficacy and toxicity - Diógenes Rodrigues; Giulia Soska Baldissera; Douglas Mathos; Aline Sartori; Alexandre P. Zavascki; Maria Helena Rigatto (Brazilian Journal of Microbiology, 2021)

Optic flow selectivity in the macaque parieto-occipital sulcus - Sabrina Pitzalis; Fadila Hadj-Bouziane; Giulia Dal Bò; Carole Guedj; Francesca Strappini; Martine Meunier; Alessandro Farnè; Patrizia Fattori; Claudio Galletti (Brain Structure and Function, 2021)

Assessment of the conservation status of marine species of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) in Italy: results, drawbacks and perspectives of the fourth national report (2013–2018) - Gabriele La Mesa; Giancarlo Lauriano; Giulia Mo; Angela Paglialonga; Leonardo Tunesi (Biodiversity and Conservation, 2021)

The human hepatocyte TXG-MAPr: gene co-expression network modules to support mechanism-based risk assessment - Giulia Callegaro; Steven J. Kunnen; Panuwat Trairatphisan; Solène Grosdidier; Marije Niemeijer; Wouter den Hollander; Emre Guney; Janet Piñero Gonzalez; Laura Furlong; Yue W. Webster; Julio Saez-Rodriguez; Jeffrey J. Sutherland; et al. (Archives of Toxicology, 2021)
Mechanism-based risk assessment is urged to advance and fully permeate into current safety assessment practices, possibly at early phases of drug safety testing. Toxicogenomics is a promising source of mechanisms-revealing data, but interpretative analysis tools specific for the testing systems (e.g. hepatocytes) are lacking. In this study, we present the TXG-MAPr webtool (available at https://txg-mapr.eu/WGCNA_PHH/TGGATEs_PHH/ ), an R-Shiny-based implementation of weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) obtained from the Primary Human Hepatocytes (PHH) TG-GATEs dataset. The 398 gene co-expression networks (modules) were annotated with functional information (pathway enrichment, transcription factor) to reveal their mechanistic interpretation. Several well-known stress response pathways were captured in the modules, were perturbed by specific stressors and showed preservation in rat systems (rat primary hepatocytes and rat in vivo liver), with the exception of DNA damage and oxidative stress responses. A subset of 87 well-annotated and preserved modules was used to evaluate mechanisms of toxicity of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and oxidative stress inducers, including cyclosporine A, tunicamycin and acetaminophen. In addition, module responses can be calculated from external datasets obtained with different hepatocyte cells and platforms, including targeted RNA-seq data, therefore, imputing biological responses from a limited gene set. As another application, donors’ sensitivity towards tunicamycin was investigated with the TXG-MAPr, identifying higher basal level of intrinsic immune response in donors with pre-existing liver pathology. In conclusion, we demonstrated that gene co-expression analysis coupled to an interactive visualization environment, the TXG-MAPr, is a promising approach to achieve mechanistic relevant, cross-species and cross-platform evaluation of toxicogenomic data.

Modulation of Gilthead Sea Bream Gut Microbiota by a Bioactive Egg White Hydrolysate: Interactions Between Bacteria and Host Lipid Metabolism - Fernando Naya-Català; Giulia A. Wiggers; M. Carla Piazzon; Manuel I. López-Martínez; Itziar Estensoro; Josep A. Calduch-Giner; M. Carmen Martínez-Cuesta; Teresa Requena; Ariadna Sitjà-Bobadilla; Marta Miguel; Jaume Pérez-Sánchez (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2021)
This study aimed to highlight the relationship between diet, animal performance and mucosal adherent gut microbiota (anterior intestine) in fish fed plant-based diets supplemented with an egg white hydrolysate (EWH) with antioxidant and anti-obesogenic activity in obese rats. The feeding trial with juveniles of gilthead sea bream ( Sparus aurata ) lasted 8 weeks. Fish were fed near to visual satiety with a fish meal (FM)/fish oil (FO) based diet (CTRL) or a plant-based diet with/without EWH supplementation. Specific growth rate decreased gradually from 2.16% in CTRL fish to 1.88% in EWH fish due to a reduced feed intake, and a slight impairment of feed conversion ratio. Plant-based diets feeding triggered a hyperplasic inflammation of the anterior intestine regardless of EWH supplementation. However, EWH ameliorated the goblet cell depletion, and the hepatic and intestinal lipid accumulation induced by FM/FO replacement. Illumina sequencing of gut mucosal microbiota yielded a mean of 136,252 reads per sample assigned to 2,117 OTUs at 97% identity threshold. The bacterial diversity was similar in all groups, but a significantly lower richness was found in EWH fish. At the phylum level, Proteobacteria reached the highest proportion in CTRL and EWH fish, whereas Firmicutes were decreased and Actinobacteria increased with the FM/FO replacement. The proportion of Actinobacteria was restored by dietary EWH supplementation, which also triggered a highest amount of Bacteroidetes and Spirochaetes. At a closer look, a widespread presence of Lactobacillales among groups was found. Otherwise, polysaccharide hydrolases secretors represented by Corynebacterium and Nocardioides were increased by the FM/FO replacement, whereas the mucin-degrading Streptococcus was only raised in fish fed the plant-based diet without EWH. In addition, in EWH fish, a higher abundance of Propionibacterium was related to an increased concentration of intestinal propionate. The antagonism of gut health-promoting propionate with cholesterol could explain the inferred underrepresentation of primary bile acid biosynthesis and steroid degradation pathways in the EWH fish microbiota. Altogether, these results reinforce the central role of gut microbiota in the regulation of host metabolism and lipid metabolism in particular, suggesting a role of the bioactive EWH peptides as an anti-obesity and/or satiety factor in fish.

Characterizing the Profile of Recreational Fishers Who Share Their Catches on Social Media - Giulia Vitale; Arnau L. Dedeu; Marta Pujol; Valerio Sbragaglia (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2021)
Social media may provide information for monitoring recreational fisheries, but several caveats prevent operationalization. Specifically, the fraction and profile of recreational fishers sharing their catches is not known. Our aim was to advance the monitoring capacities of recreational fishing using social media data. We collected data with onsite (face-to-face) survey and online (emails) questionnaires to characterize marine recreational fishers sharing catches on digital platforms (“sharers”) along with other demographic or fishing information. In the online survey we found that 38% of recreational fishers share their catches using digital platforms (including the private messaging platform WhatsApp), but such proportion dropped to 12% when considering only public or semi-public social media (Instagram was the most commonly used platform, followed by Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter). A similar pattern was found with the online questionnaire where sharers represented 37% of recreational fishers (including WhatsApp), while such proportion dropped to 21% when considering only public or semi-public social media. In general, sharers were more avid (24 and 35 yearly fishing trips for onsite and online survey, respectively) compared to non-sharers (18 and 31 yearly fishing trips). Sharers also spent more money on each fishing trip (on average 26 and 31 euro for onsite and online survey, respectively) than non-sharers (on average 21 and 28 euro for onsite and online survey, respectively), but they had similar chances of catching something. However, for fishers with catches, the harvest per unit effort of sharers was higher than that of non-sharers (0.4 and 0.5 kg/h with respect to 0.3 and 0.4 kg/h, for onsite and online survey, respectively). Moreover, recreational fishers that caught trophy, iconic, or emblematic species were more inclined to share their catches. This study represents an important advancement for integrating social media data into the monitoring of recreational fishing.

IDPlanT: the Italian database of plant translocation - Thomas Abeli; Martina D’Agostino; Simone Orsenigo; Fabrizio Bartolucci; Rita Accogli; Giulia Albani Rocchetti; Claudia Alessandrelli; Arianna Amadori; Filippo Amato; Claudia Angiolini; Silvia Assini; Gianluigi Bacchetta; et al. (Plant Biosystems, 2021)

Quantitative cell biology of tip growth in moss - Jeffrey P. Bibeau; Giulia Galotto; Min Wu; Erkan Tüzel; Luis Vidali (Plant Molecular Biology, 2021)

Potential application and beneficial effects of a marine microalgal biomass produced in a high-rate algal pond (HRAP) in diets of European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax - Giulia Pascon; Maria Messina; Lisa Petit; Luisa Maria Pinheiro Valente; Beatriz Oliveira; Cyrille Przybyla; Gilbert Dutto; Francesca Tulli (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2021)
Microalgae have been used as live food in aquatic species. In recent years, the interest in microalgae has considerably increased, thanks to the evolution of production techniques that have identified them as an ecologically attractive aquafeed ingredient. The present study provides the first data about the effects of dietary inclusion of a microalgae consortium grown in a high-rate algal pond system on zootechnical performance, morphometric indices, and dietary nutrient digestibility as well as morphology and functionality of the digestive system of European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax . A dietary treatment including a commercial mono-cultured microalgae ( Nannochloropsis sp.) biomass was used for comparison. Six hundred and thirty-six European sea bass juveniles (18 ± 0.28 g) were randomly allotted into 12 experimental groups and fed 4 different diets for 10 weeks: a control diet based on fish meal, fish oil, and plant protein sources; a diet including 10% of Nannochloropsis spp. biomass (100 g/kg diet); and two diets including two levels (10% and 20%) of the microalgal consortium (100 and 200 g/kg diet) . Even at the highest dietary inclusion level, the microalgal consortium (200 g/kg diet) did not affect feed palatability and fish growth performance. A significant decrease in the apparent digestibility of dry matter, protein, and energy was observed in diets including 10 and 20% of the microalgal consortium, but all fish exhibited a well-preserved intestinal histomorphology. Moreover, dietary inclusion with the microalgal consortium significantly increased the enzymatic activity of maltase, sucrase-isomaltase, and ɤ-glutamil transpeptidase in the distal intestine of the treated European sea bass. Algal consortium grown using fish farm effluents represents an attempt to enhance the utilization of natural biomasses in aquafeeds when used at 10 % as substitute of vegetable ingredients in diet for European sea bass.

Impact of Ocean Acidification on Ecosystem Functioning and Services in Habitat-Forming Species and Marine Ecosystems - Serena Zunino; Simone Libralato; Donata Melaku Canu; Giulia Prato; Cosimo Solidoro (Ecosystems, 2021)
Ocean acidification (OA) is expected to impact habitat-forming species (HFS), with cascading effects on the whole marine ecosystem and related services that are seldom quantified. Here, the changes in HFSs biomass due to OA are modeled using a food web ecosystem model, and the trophic and non-trophic cascading effects on the marine community are investigated. The food web model represents a well-studied coastal marine protected area in the NW Mediterranean Sea where coralligenous reefs and Posidonia oceanica meadows constitute important HFS. The model is used to implement 5 scenarios of habitat degradation, that is, reduction of HFS biomass, induced by increasing OA and to quantify the potential changes in ecosystem properties and indicators of ecosystem services over the next 100 years. The changes in ecosystem indicators highlight a decrease in the size of the system and a reorganization of energy flows suggesting a high degree of ecosystem development. All the proxies for ecosystem services show significant decreases in their values. Although representing only a portion of the possible impacts of OA, the findings are consistent with the idea that ecological systems can react to OA effects to maintain the level of ecosystem development, but the new organization might not be optimal from an anthropocentric viewpoint.

Inhibition of interferon I induction by non-structural protein NSs of Puumala virus and other vole-associated orthohantaviruses: phenotypic plasticity of the protein and potential functional domains - Florian Binder; Giulia Gallo; Elias Bendl; Isabella Eckerle; Myriam Ermonval; Christine Luttermann; Rainer G. Ulrich (Archives of Virology, 2021)
The orthohantavirus Puumala virus (PUUV), which is transmitted by bank voles ( Clethrionomys glareolus ), and other vole-borne hantaviruses contain in their small (S) genome segment two overlapping open reading frames, coding for the nucleocapsid protein and the non-structural protein NSs, a putative type I interferon (IFN-I) antagonist. To investigate the role of NSs of PUUV and other orthohantaviruses, the expression pattern of recombinant NSs constructs and their ability to inhibit human IFN-I promoter activity were investigated. The NSs proteins of PUUV and related cricetid-borne orthohantaviruses showed strong inhibition of IFN-I promoter induction. We identified protein products originating from three and two methionine initiation codons in the NSs ORF of PUUV during transfection and infection, respectively. The three putative start codons are conserved in all PUUV strains analysed. Translation initiation at these start codons influenced the inhibitory activity of the NSs products, with the wild-type (wt) construct expressing two proteins starting at the first and second methionine and showing strong inhibition activity. Analysis of in vitro -generated variants and naturally occurring PUUV NSs proteins indicated that amino acid variation in the NSs protein is well tolerated, suggesting its phenotypic plasticity. The N-terminal 20-amino-acid region of the NSs protein was found to be associated with strong inhibition and to be highly vulnerable to amino acid exchanges and tag fusions. Infection studies using human, bank vole, and Vero E6 cells did not show obvious differences in the replication capacity of PUUV Sotkamo wt and a strain with a truncated NSs protein (NSs21Stop), showing that the lack of a full-length NSs might be compensated by its N-terminal peptide, as seen in transfection experiments. These results contribute to our understanding of virus-host interactions and highlight the importance of future innate immunity studies in reservoir hosts.

Subcellular architecture and metabolic connection in the planktonic photosymbiosis between Collodaria (radiolarians) and their microalgae - Johan Decelle; Giulia Veronesi; Charlotte LeKieffre; Benoit Gallet; Fabien Chevalier; Hryhoriy Stryhanyuk; Sophie Marro; Stéphane Ravanel; Rémi Tucoulou; Nicole Schieber; Giovanni Finazzi; Yannick Schwab; et al. (Environmental Microbiology, 2021)
Summary Photosymbiosis is widespread and ecologically important in the oceanic plankton but remains poorly studied. Here, we used multimodal subcellular imaging to investigate the photosymbiosis between colonial Collodaria and their microalga dinoflagellate ( Brandtodinium ). We showed that this symbiosis is very dynamic whereby symbionts interact with different host cells via extracellular vesicles within the colony. 3D electron microscopy revealed that the photosynthetic apparatus of the microalgae was more voluminous in symbiosis compared to free‐living while the mitochondria volume was similar. Stable isotope probing coupled with NanoSIMS showed that carbon and nitrogen were stored in the symbiotic microalga in starch granules and purine crystals respectively. Nitrogen was also allocated to the algal nucleolus. In the host, low 13 C transfer was detected in the Golgi. Metal mapping revealed that intracellular iron concentration was similar in free‐living and symbiotic microalgae ( c . 40 ppm) and twofold higher in the host, whereas copper concentration increased in symbionts and was detected in the host cell and extracellular vesicles. Sulfur concentration was around two times higher in symbionts (chromatin and pyrenoid) than their host. This study improves our understanding on the functioning of this oceanic photosymbiosis and paves the way for more studies to further assess its biogeochemical significance.

Vertebrate Palaeoecology of the Pisco Formation (Miocene, Peru): Glimpses into the Ancient Humboldt Current Ecosystem - Alberto Collareta; Olivier Lambert; Felix G. Marx; Christian de Muizon; Rafael Varas-Malca; Walter Landini; Giulia Bosio; Elisa Malinverno; Karen Gariboldi; Anna Gioncada; Mario Urbina; Giovanni Bianucci (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2021)
The northward-flowing Humboldt Current hosts perpetually high levels of productivity along the western coast of South America. Here, we aim to elucidate the deep-time history of this globally important ecosystem based on a detailed palaeoecological analysis of the exceptionally preserved middle–upper Miocene vertebrate assemblages of the Pisco Formation of the East Pisco Basin, southern Peru. We summarise observations on hundreds of fossil whales, dolphins, seals, seabirds, turtles, crocodiles, sharks, rays, and bony fishes to reconstruct ecological relationships in the wake of the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum, and the marked cooling that followed it. The lowermost, middle Miocene Pisco sequence (P0) and its vertebrate assemblage testify to a warm, semi-enclosed, near-shore palaeoenvironment. During the first part of the Tortonian (P1), high productivity within a prominent upwelling system supported a diverse assemblage of mesopredators, at least some of which permanently resided in the Pisco embayment and used it as a nursery or breeding/calving area. Younger portions of the Pisco Formation (P2) reveal a more open setting, with wide-ranging species like rorquals increasingly dominating the vertebrate assemblage, but also local differences reflecting distance from the coast. Like today, these ancient precursors of the modern Humboldt Current Ecosystem were based on sardines, but notably differed from their present-day equivalent in being dominated by extremely large-bodied apex predators like Livyatan melvillei and Carcharocles megalodon.

“New records of rare species in the Mediterranean Sea” (October 2021) - KONSTANTINOS TSAGARAKIS; SANDRA AGIUS DARMANIN; SARA A.A. AL MABRUK; ROCCO AURIEMMA; ERNESTO AZZURRO; NICHOLAS BADOUVAS; RIGERS BAKIU; MICHEL BARICHE; PIETRO BATTAGLIA; FEDERICO BETTI; DIEGO BORME; ROBERTO CACCIAMANI; et al. (Mediterranean Marine Science, 2021)
“New records of rare species in the Mediterranean Sea” (October 2021)

The use of fishers’ Local Ecological Knowledge to reconstruct fish behavioural traits and fishers’ perception of conservation relevance of elasmobranchs in the Mediterranean Sea - MATTEO BARBATO; CLAUDIO BARRÍA; ANDREA BELLODI; SARA BONANOMI; DIEGO BORME; ILIJA ĆETKOVIĆ; FRANCESCO COLLOCA; ANA I. COLMENERO; FABIO CROCETTA; FRANCESCO De CARLO; EGEMEN DEMİR; MANFREDI Di LORENZO; et al. (Mediterranean Marine Science, 2021)
The Mediterranean Sea has a long-lasting history of fishery exploitation that, together with other anthropogenic impacts, has led to declines in several marine organisms. In particular, elasmobranch populations have been severely impacted, with drastic decreases in abundance and species diversity. Based on their experience, fishers can provide information on marine species occurrence, abundance and behavioural traits on a long-term scale, therefore contributing to research on the poorly studied biological aspects of elusive or rare elasmobranch species. In this study, for the first time, the use of the Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) of fishers was applied to study the behavioural traits of sharks, rays and skates in 12 FAO-GFCM geographical sub-areas (GSAs) of the Mediterranean Sea. This study found both new insight and proved the reliability of LEK-based catch seasonality, reflecting seasonal movements, by comparing LEK-based findings and available literature on five elasmobranch taxa (Mustelus spp., Squalus acanthias, Raja spp., Myliobatis aquila and Scyliorhinus stellaris) in the Adriatic Sea and 7 taxa (Mustelus spp., Raja spp., Prionace glauca, Scyliorhinus canicula, Torpedo spp., Pteroplatytrygon violacea and Isurus oxyrinchus) in the remaining Mediterranean GSAs. In addition, LEK provided new insights into a novel comprehensive representation of species aggregations (Mustelus spp., S. acanthias, M. aquila and S. canicula) in the sampled GSAs and supplied the first descriptions of the size, number of individuals and sex composition of the aggregations. When the limits and shortcomings of LEK-based research are considered, this methodology can be a complementary and cost-effective tool used to study elasmobranchs in either a data-poor scenario or a scenario in which a baseline is missing. LEK can also be useful for the evaluation and inclusion of fishers’ perceptions on bottom-up management and to provide important evidence for conservation plans.

Clinical, neuroradiological and genetic findings in a cohort of patients with multiple Cerebral Cavernous Malformations - Silvia Lanfranconi; Lorenzo Piergallini; Dario Ronchi; Gloria Valcamonica; Giorgio Conte; Elena Marazzi; Giulia Manenti; Giulio Andrea Bertani; Marco Locatelli; Fabio Triulzi; Nereo Bresolin; Elisa Scola; et al. (Metabolic Brain Disease, 2021)

The two redox states of the human NEET proteins’ [2Fe–2S] clusters - Ke Zuo; Henri-Baptiste Marjault; Kara L. Bren; Giulia Rossetti; Rachel Nechushtai; Paolo Carloni (JBIC Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 2021)
The NEET proteins constitute a unique class of [2Fe–2S] proteins. The metal ions bind to three cysteines and one histidine. The proteins’ clusters exist in two redox states; the oxidized protein (containing two Fe III ions) can transfer the cluster to apo-acceptor protein(s), while the reduced form (containing one ferrous ion) remains bound to the protein frame. Here, we perform in silico and in vitro studies on human NEET proteins in both reduced and oxidized forms. Quantum chemical calculations on all available human NEET proteins structures suggest that reducing the cluster weakens the Fe–N His and Fe–S Cys bonds, similar to what is seen in other Fe–S proteins (e.g., ferredoxin and Rieske protein). We further show that the extra electron in the [2Fe–2S] + clusters of one of the NEET proteins (mNT) is localized on the His-bound iron ion, consistently with our previous spectroscopic studies. Kinetic measurements demonstrate that the mNT [2Fe–2S] + is released only by an increase in temperature. Thus, the reduced state of human NEET proteins [2Fe–2S] cluster is kinetically inert. This previously unrecognized kinetic inertness of the reduced state, along with the reactivity of the oxidized state, is unique across all [2Fe–2S] proteins. Finally, using a coevolutionary analysis, along with molecular dynamics simulations, we provide insight on the observed allostery between the loop L2 and the cluster region. Specifically, we show that W75, R76, K78, K79, F82 and G85 in the latter region share similar allosteric characteristics in both redox states. Graphic abstract

Relationships Between Petrophysical and Mechanical Properties of Certain Calcarenites Used in Building - Giulia Forestieri; Mónica Álvarez de Buergo (Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 2021)

Plasma concentrations of remdesivir metabolite in a critical COVID-19 patient needing continuous venovenous haemodialysis - Massimo Tempestilli; Giulia Valeria Stazi; Gaetano Maffongelli; Maria Cristina Marini; Tommaso Ascoli Bartoli; Giuseppe Ippolito; Emanuele Nicastri; Luisa Marchioni; Chiara Agrati (European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2021)