Biodiversity conservation in cities is complicated by the many anthropogenic stressors and by climate change amplification in urban environments. Low-mobility taxa sensitive to soil sealing, pollution and drought, such as soil microarthropods, are especially vulnerable to the impacts of urbanization, and urban green areas are pivotal for their preservation. When planning management actions for urban soil fauna, however, it sho...

Aim Freshwater rock pools are ephemeral and fragile habitats that support specialised animal taxa. While distributed worldwide, these habitats are usually neglected and overlooked. We used DNA metabarcoding and metaphylogeographic approaches to study inter and intraspecific tardigrade biodiversity to identify their biogeographic patterns to inform conservation measures. Location Europe. Period Present. Major Taxa Studied Tardi...

This randomized controlled trial (RCT) assessed the non-inferiority of HomeCoRe, a home-based version of the CoRe (Cognitive Rehabilitation) software, compared to its in-clinic counterpart in older adults with mild or major neurocognitive disorders. Seventy-seven participants were randomized to receive a 6-week cognitive training with either HomeCoRe ( n = 40) or CoRe ( n = 37). Global cognition, specific cognitive domains, an...

Ramazzottius is a widespread genus of tardigrades with extreme cryptobiotic capabilities. Thanks to its ability to survive desiccation and freezing, this genus is usually recorded from harsh habitats such as exposed mosses and lichens and rock pools. In the last years, research focused on both describing Ramazzottius diversity and revealing the molecular mechanisms behind their cryptobiotic capabilities. Despite the research e...

In this study, we examine the distribution of cryptobiotic abilities, specifically anhydrobiosis and cryobiosis, in tardigrade communities across a habitat gradient from the edge to the centre of a forest bordering a desert. Our study demonstrates no correlation between desiccation and freezing tolerance at the community level. However, communities inhabiting the forest centre show higher cryptobiotic performance, likely due t...

Aim Tardigrades are important members of Antarctic metazoan communities with many endemic species. Major biogeographic patterns of Antarctic fauna have been identified, in particular regarding the zonation across the Gressitt line, dividing Continental and Peninsular Antarctica. Evidences suggest that Antarctic tardigrades follow this zonation too, but this has never been rigorously tested. Location Limnoterrestrial ecosystems...

The Hepatincolaceae ( Alphaproteobacteria ) are a group of bacteria that inhabit the gut of arthropods and other ecdysozoans, associating extracellularly with microvilli. Previous phylogenetic studies, primarily single‐gene analyses, suggested their relationship to the Holosporales , which includes intracellular bacteria in protist hosts. However, the genomics of Hepatincolaceae is still in its early stages. In this study, the...

The analysis of altimetric profiles in Antarctica and their evolution over the years is a sensitive topic for the scientific community since it helps understand the effects of climate change that the continent undergoes. Different geomatic techniques, including the GNSS technology, can be employed to obtain altimetric profiles. However, the GNSS differenced approaches, such as the Post Processing Kinematic, are hardly usable t...

Rock pools are ephemeral freshwater habitats characterized by their small size, well-defined boundaries, and periodic desiccation, making them ideal model systems to answer numerous ecological questions. Although there are numerous studies on rock pool fauna around the world, tardigrades have only rarely been recorded. We conducted the first tardigrade-focused study on rock pools by quantitatively extracting and classifying th...

Changes in bacterial composition of nasal microbiota may alter the host’s susceptibility to several infectious and allergic diseases such as chronic rhinosinusitis and allergic rhinitis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of 1-week administration of a probiotic product, composed by a combination of Streptococcus salivarius 24SMBc and Streptococcus oralis 89a, on the nostril microbiota. Differences in the nasal m...