Notulae to the Italian native vascular flora: 8

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of native vascular flora in Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes to the Italian administrative regions for taxa in the genera Ajuga, Chamaemelum, Clematis, Convolvulus, Cytisus, Deschampsia, Eleocharis, Epipactis, Euphorbia, Groenlandia, Hedera, Hieracium, Hydrocharis, Jacobaea, Juncus, Klasea, Lagurus, Leersia, Linum, Nerium, Onopordum, Persicaria, Phlomis, Polypogon, Potamogeton, Securigera, Sedum, Soleirolia, Stachys, Umbilicus, Valerianella, and Vinca. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrigenda are provided as Suppl. material 1

Ultraviolet-Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS), a rapid and non-destructive analytical tool for the identification of Saharan dust events in Particulate Matter filters

Mineral dust represents one of the main components of particulate matter (PM) in the Mediterranean area. The rapid identification of Saharan dust events in PM samples is desirable and required for several reasons, including their role in direct effect on climate by radiative forcing as well as their adverse effects on human health. For this purpose, the feasibility of UV-Vis Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS) is described as a rapid, inexpensive and non-destructive method of analysis of PM filters. The method developed allows to parameterize the PM filter colors and to obtain semiquantitative data related to iron oxide minerals, mainly hematite and goethite, two of the most representative minerals of Saharan dust in the Mediterranean area. The obtained results were validated based on the correlation between the spectrophotometric data of iron oxides from the membranes with the quantitative assessment of the concentration of iron by Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE). Moreover, colorimetric parameterization allows setting up a classification approach for filters with potential for a posteriori use of this data in the study of the optical behavior of aerosol particles in the air. In this work, it is demonstrated how, as the concentration of iron mineral oxides and especially of hematite increases, the extent of redness color in PM filters grows up. Therefore, this technique can be extremely useful for a rapid, cheap and unambiguous identification of Saharan dust events in PM filters. The diagnosis of Saharan dust events was performed on PM10 filters with a strong mineral dust component and demonstrated with the residence time analysis of back-trajectory ensembles, proving the reliability of this non-destructive methodology. This method has the potential to be adopted by the Environmental Protection Agencies, although further evaluations are necessary and currently underway to assess their applicability not only for PM filters sampled in remote stations but also in urban stations affected by both anthropogenic pollution and Saharan dust events

G protein-independent neuromodulatory action of adenosine on metabotropic glutamate signalling in mouse cerebellar Purkinje cells

Adenosine receptors (ARs) are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) mediating the neuromodulatory actions of adenosine that influence emotional, cognitive, motor, and other functions in the central nervous system (CNS). Previous studies show complex formation between ARs and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in heterologous systems and close colocalization of ARs and mGluRs in several central neurons. Here we explored the possibility of intimate functional interplay between Gi/o protein-coupled A1-subtype AR (A1R) and type-1 mGluR (mGluR1) naturally occurring in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Using a perforated-patch voltage-clamp technique, we found that both synthetic and endogenous agonists for A1R induced continuous depression of a mGluR1-coupled inward current. A1R agonists also depressed mGluR1-coupled intracellular Ca2+ mobilization monitored by fluorometry. A1R indeed mediated this depression because genetic depletion of A1R abolished it. Surprisingly, A1R agonist-induced depression persisted after blockade of Gi/o protein. The depression appeared to involve neither the cAMP-protein kinase A cascade downstream of the alpha subunits of Gi/o and Gs proteins, nor cytoplasmic Ca2+ that is suggested to be regulated by the beta-gamma subunit complex of Gi/o protein. Moreover, A1R did not appear to affect Gq protein which mediates the mGluR1-coupled responses. These findings suggest that A1R modulates mGluR1 signalling without the aid of the major G proteins. In this respect, the A1R-mediated depression of mGluR1 signalling shown here is clearly distinguished from the A1R-mediated neuronal responses described so far. These findings demonstrate a novel neuromodulatory action of adenosine in central neurons