Interactions between environmental contaminants and gastrointestinal parasites: novel insights from an integrative approach in a marine predator

Environmental contaminants and parasites are ubiquitous stressors that can affect animal physiology and derive from similar dietary sources (co-exposure). To unravel their interactions in wildlife, it is thus essential to quantify their concurring drivers. Here, the relationship between blood contaminant residues (11 trace elements and 17 perfluoroalkyl substances) and nonlethally quantified gastrointestinal parasite loads was tested while accounting for intrinsic (sex, age, and mass) and extrinsic factors (trophic ecology inferred from stable isotope analyses and biologging) in European shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis. Shags had high mercury (range 0.65–3.21 μg g–1 wet weight, ww) and extremely high perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) residues (3.46–53 and 4.48–44 ng g–1 ww, respectively). Males had higher concentrations of arsenic, mercury, PFOA, and PFNA than females, while the opposite was true for selenium, perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoA), and perfluooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS). Individual parasite loads (Contracaecum rudolphii) were higher in males than in females. Females targeted pelagic-feeding prey, while males relied on both pelagic- and benthic-feeding organisms. Parasite loads were not related to trophic ecology in either sex, suggesting no substantial dietary co-exposure with contaminants. In females, parasite loads increased strongly with decreasing selenium:mercury molar ratios. Females may be more susceptible to the interactive effects of contaminants and parasites on physiology, with potential fitness consequences

Studio di validazione del test audiometria vocale con liste di comandi motori in bambini normoacusici di 5 anni di et\ue0

I deficit uditivi di grado lieve, ma in grado di compromettere il corretto sviluppo linguistico e cognitivo si manifestano spesso nel bambino in et\ue0 prescolare in modo sfumato, tanto da non essere facilmente individuabili se non da personale specializzato. L\u2019individuazione precoce di tali deficit e di conseguenza l\u2019avvio di un corretto procedimento diagnostico e dell\u2019eventuale progetto terapeutico riabilitativo prima dell\u2019inizio della scuola primaria consentirebbe di raggiungere risultati terapeutici pi\uf9 significativi, un pi\uf9 agevole impatto con l\u2019ambiente scolastico e un pi\uf9 corretto e armonico sviluppo del bambino. L\u2019audiometria vocale con liste di comandi motori \ue8 un nuovo test audiometrico messo a punto presso l\u2019Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Milano in cui la risposta del soggetto a comandi verbali consiste nell\u2019esecuzione di task motori semplici e complessi. Questo test \ue8 stato adattato per i bambini di cinque anni di et\ue0 con l\u2019obiettivo di valutare non solo la discriminazione uditiva, ma anche la discriminazione visiva, la memoria uditiva a breve termine, le prassie motorie e la comprensione verbale. L\u2019obiettivo di questo studio \ue8 validare un test di screening che soddisfi i requisiti di semplice esecuzione, basso costo e alta sensibilit\ue0 per l\u2019individuazione dei soggetti a rischio per le disfunzioni uditive, visive, mnesiche, cognitive e motorie da avviare ad approfondimento diagnostico. Il test audiometria vocale con liste di comandi motori sar\ue0 somministrato a 50 bambini normoudenti di 5 anni di et\ue0 di ambo i sessi e i punteggi ottenuti saranno confrontati con quelli ottenuti nello stesso campione dalla somministrazione di test gi\ue0 validati e standardizzati a livello internazionale (alcuni sottotest della BVN e dell\u2019ITPA) per la valutazione del funzionamento nelle aree indagate. Se i risultati saranno concordi, questo nuovo test di facile e rapida esecuzione potr\ue0 essere somministrato come screening dagli operatori sociosanitari e scolastici a contatto coi bambini con la possibilit\ue0 di individuare quei soggetti da avviare ad un approfondimento diagnostico prima dell\u2019inserimento nella scuola primaria

From action to spatial cognition: the rehabilitation program based on SaM Method

Background: Research from Neuroscience highlights that motor experiences underlie cognition (Gallese and Lakoff 2005) and cover a key role for intentional action and sensorimotor integration in the dynamic spatial processing (Fogassi et al. 1996). Aims: The goal is to introduce SaM Method, an innovative neuropsychological rehabilitation program, in which the embodied perspective plays a central role (Risoli 2019). Specifically, the intentional action is a fundamental element both for the processing of spaces (personal, peripersonal, extrapersonal) and for the activation of implicit and explicit learning, which support the cognitive processing of integrated abstraction levels. Methods: SaM Method operates through two types of activities, namely Basic Activities, using errorless learning techniques, and Multimodal Integration Activities, based on sensorimotor experiences affecting executive functions. They act in three different spaces: personal space (promoting mental representations concerning the body schema), peripersonal space (increasing the repertory of motor acts, the ability to carry out actions and to plan complex behaviors), extrapersonal space (contributing to plan and perform operations on mental imagery). Results: SaM Method is addressed both to subjects in developmental age and to adults. Clinical evidence supports the use of the Method with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as DCD, and traumatic brain injuries, promoting improvements in cognitive abilities, motor skills and daily activities, i.e., swimming, using phone and money (for a single case, see: Risoli et al. 2015). Conclusion: SaM Method, with a restitutive approach, is focused on enabling and improving the spatial cognition ability, starting from the body experience

Evaluation of transgenic tomato plants ectopically expressing the rice Osmyb4 gene

The rice Osmyb4 gene, coding for a MYB ranscription factor, is expressed at low levels in rice coleoptiles under normal conditions and strongly induced at 4 8C. Its overexpression in Arabidopsis thaliana plants increases biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and results in the accumulation of several metabolites, essential in defence response. The heterologous expression of the Myb4 transcription factor represents a promising potential approach to improve stress tolerance in crops, avoiding endogenous mechanisms that often co-suppress the transgene of interest. In order to explore the potential of the Osmyb4 gene to enhance tolerance toward multiple stresses in different host plant genomes, we generated transgenic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. Tondino) plants. Like Arabidopsis, tomato plants overexpressing Osmyb4 acquired a higher tolerance to drought stress and to virus disease. However, the transgenic plants did not appear to be more cold tolerant than the WT, in any tested condition. The data obtained indicate that the specificity and the degree of Osmyb4 activity depend on the host genomic background

Evaluation of transgenic tomato plants ectopically expressing the rice Osmyb4 gene

The rice Osmyb4 gene, coding for a MYB transcription factor, is expressed at low levels in rice coleoptiles under normal conditions and strongly induced at 4 \ub0C. Its overexpression in Arabidopsis thaliana plants increases biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and results in the accumulation of several metabolites, essential in defence response. The heterologous expression of the Myb4 transcription factor represents a promising potential approach to improve stress tolerance in crops, avoiding endogenous mechanisms that often co-suppress the transgene of interest. In order to explore the potential of the Osmyb4 gene to enhance tolerance toward multiple stresses in different host plant genomes, we generated transgenic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. Tondino) plants. Like Arabidopsis, tomato plants overexpressing Osmyb4 acquired a higher tolerance to drought stress and to virus disease. However, the transgenic plants did not appear to be more cold tolerant than the WT, in any tested condition. The data obtained indicate that the specificity and the degree of Osmyb4 activity depend on the host genomic background

Temporal and spatial differences in the post-breeding behaviour of a ubiquitous Southern Hemisphere seabird, the common diving petrel: Variation in post-breeding behaviour

The non-breeding period plays a major role in seabird survival and population dynamics. However, our understanding of the migratory behaviour, moulting and feeding strategies of non-breeding seabirds is still very limited, especially for small-sized species. The present study investigated the post-breeding behaviour of three distant populations (Kerguelen Archipelago, southeastern Australia, New Zealand) of the common diving petrel (CDP) (Pelecanoides urinatrix), an abundant, widely distributed zooplanktivorous seabird breeding throughout the southern Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. The timing, geographical destination and activity pattern of birds were quantified through geolocator deployments during the post-breeding migration, while moult pattern of body feathers was investigated using stable isotope analysis. Despite the high energetic cost of flapping flight, all the individuals quickly travelled long distances (greater than approx. 2500 km) after the end of the breeding season, targeting oceanic frontal systems. The three populations, however, clearly diverged spatially (migration pathways and destinations), and temporally (timing and duration) in their post-breeding movements, as well as in their period of moult. Philopatry to distantly separated breeding grounds, different breeding phenologies and distinct post-breeding destinations suggest that the CDP populations have a high potential for isolation, and hence, speciation. These results contribute to improving knowledge of ecological divergence and evolution between populations, and inform the challenges of conserving migratory species

Foraging trips and isotopic niche of chick-rearing South Georgian diving petrels from the Kerguelen Islands

Seabirds are central place foragers, relying on prey that is patchily distributed and of variable predictability. Species travelling at a high energetic cost are more strongly dependent on spatially predictable prey. This is the case for diving petrels Pelecanoides spp., which are small Procellariiformes that feed by pursuit diving and travel by flapping constantly. Despite their abundance and importance as zooplankton consumers, information on the foraging strategy of diving petrels is still lacking. The detailed at-sea movements and the trophic niche of the South Georgian diving petrel P. georgicus was investigated for the first time using miniaturized GPS and the stable isotope method, respectively. Overall, South Georgian diving petrels from the Kerguelen Islands performed unexpected, direct and long-distance trips (mean foraging range: 191-217 km) to the Antarctic Polar Front, south of the archipelago. This foraging ground is a productive and predictable area, where the birds stopped and fed at the distal part of their trip. Blood isotopic values indicate that the tracked birds fed consistently on macrozooplankton. Such a distant oceanic feeding strategy contrasts with the coastal foraging patterns of the closely related common diving petrel P. urinatrix. Commuting to a more distant but easily accessible resource allows South Georgian diving petrels to cope with their high commuting costs, and to segregate spatially from the sympatric common diving petrel during the breeding season