Large-Scale Distribution of the European Seahorses (Hippocampus Rafinesque, 1810): A Systematic Review

Human pressures on marine ecosystems have caused extensive degradation of marine habitats and several local extinctions. Overexploitation and destructive fishing practices are responsible for biodiversity loss in many coastal ecosystems. The definition of conservation programs in marine fish requires comprehensive knowledge on large-scale geographical distribution, while considering distribution/abundance patterns in relation to key environmental variables. Due to their life-cycle traits, the two European seahorses (Hippocampus guttulatus and H. hippocampus), as with other congeneric species, are particularly sensitive to the effects of anthropogenic activities and habitat changes. However, information on the ecological distribution of these two species is scattered, patchy, and mainly focused on small-scale studies. In this paper, we followed an international standard protocol for systematic reviews (the PRISMA protocol) to provide a detailed assessment of the two species’ geographical distribution in relation to the environmental characteristics. According to the 134 analyzed studies, Hippocampus guttulatus is more common in confined areas, while H. hippocampus is found in marine shelf waters. With several interspecific differences, seagrasses were the most used holdfasts of both species. The EUNIS codes (European nature information system) referring to a specific and unique habitat were discussed as a potential tool for defining the ecological distribution of the two species. The obtained results and their future implementation could help plan conservation actions

Association between work related stress and health related quality of life: the impact of socio-demographic variables. A cross sectional study in a region of central Italy

The aim of this work is investigate relationship between health-related quality of life and work-related stress and the impact of gender, education level, and age on this relationship. A cross-sectional study was conducted among workers of various setting in Rome and Frosinone. Work-related stress was measured with a demand-control questionnaire and health-related functioning by SF (short form)-12 health survey. There were 611 participants. Men reported high mental composite summary (MCS) and physical composite summary (PCS). In multivariate analysis age, gender (p < 0.001) and job demand (0.045) predicted low PCS. Low MCS predicted poor PCS. Job demand and educational level resulted negatively associated with MCS. In an analysis stratified for age, gender, and educational level, gender and age resulted effect modifier for MCS, gender and education level for PCS. In women increase of decision latitude predict (p = 0.001) an increase in MCS; a low job demand predict high MCS in male (p ≤ 0.001). In younger workers, a lower level of job demand predicted high MCS (<0.001). For PCS, gender and education level resulted effect modifier. In women, high decision latitude predicted higher PCS (p = 0.001) and lower level of job demand results in higher PCS (p ≤ 0.001). Higher educational level resulted predictor of low PCS. Management of risk about work-related stress should consider socio-demographic factors

The association between adherence to cancer screening programs and health literacy. A systematic review and meta-analysis

The effectiveness of a cancer screening program relies on its adherence rate. Health literacy (HL) has been investigated among the factors that could influence such participation, but the findings are not always consistent. The aim of this meta-analysis was to summarize the evidence between having an adequate level of HL (AHL) and adherence to cancer screening programs. PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched. Cross-sectional studies, conducted in any country, that provided raw data, unadjusted or adjusted odds ratio (OR) on the associations of interest were included. The quality of the studies was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Inverse-variance random effects methods were used to produce pooled ORs and their associated confidence interval (CI) stratified by time interval (e.g., undergoing screening in the last period, or at least once during lifetime) for each cancer type, considering unadjusted and adjusted estimates separately. A sensitivity analysis was performed for those studies providing more estimates. Overall, 15 articles of average-to-good quality were pooled. We found a significant association between AHL and higher screening participation for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer, independently of other factors, both overall (N = 7, aOR = 1.73; 95% CI: 1.27–2.36; N = 3, aOR = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.30–2.09; and N = 5, aOR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.12–1.39, respectively) and in most time-stratified analyses. The sensitivity analyses confirmed these results. Health literacy seems to be critical for an effective cancer prevention. Given the high prevalence of illiterate people across the world, a long-term action plan is needed

Elucidating food webs in infralitoral rocky coastal habitats invaded by Caulerpa cylindracea (Sonder 1845)

Invasive species including Caulerpa cylindracea affect coastal benthic communities inducing structural changes. To assess effects in rocky ecosystems, food webs have been depicted based on stable isotopic data collected from invertebrates and fishes at invaded and non-invaded coastal areas. Isotopic values of invertebrates were slightly higher in invaded than non-invaded habitats of Lampedusa Island, however no significant differences were found. Invasive fish Siganus luridus and native Sparisoma cretense had similar isotopic signatures indicating similar food sources

An objective based classification of aggregation techniques for wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks have gained immense popularity in recent years due to their ever increasing capabilities and wide range of critical applications. A huge body of research efforts has been dedicated to find ways to utilize limited resources of these sensor nodes in an efficient manner. One of the common ways to minimize energy consumption has been aggregation of input data. We note that every aggregation technique has an improvement objective to achieve with respect to the output it produces. Each technique is designed to achieve some target e.g. reduce data size, minimize transmission energy, enhance accuracy etc. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of aggregation techniques that can be used in distributed manner to improve lifetime and energy conservation of wireless sensor networks. Main contribution of this work is proposal of a novel classification of such techniques based on the type of improvement they offer when applied to WSNs. Due to the existence of a myriad of definitions of aggregation, we first review the meaning of term aggregation that can be applied to WSN. The concept is then associated with the proposed classes. Each class of techniques is divided into a number of subclasses and a brief literature review of related work in WSN for each of these is also presented

Distributed Synthesis in Continuous Time

We introduce a formalism modelling communication of distributed agents strictly in continuous-time. Within this framework, we study the problem of synthesising local strategies for individual agents such that a specified set of goal states is reached, or reached with at least a given probability. The flow of time is modelled explicitly based on continuous-time randomness, with two natural implications: First, the non-determinism stemming from interleaving disappears. Second, when we restrict to a subclass of non-urgent models, the quantitative value problem for two players can be solved in EXPTIME. Indeed, the explicit continuous time enables players to communicate their states by delaying synchronisation (which is unrestricted for non-urgent models). In general, the problems are undecidable already for two players in the quantitative case and three players in the qualitative case. The qualitative undecidability is shown by a reduction to decentralized POMDPs for which we provide the strongest (and rather surprising) undecidability result so far

Jaws from the deep: biological and ecological insights on the kitefin shark Dalatias licha from the Mediterranean Sea

Due to their late maturation, extreme longevity, low fecundity and slow growth rates, deep-sea Chondrichthyes are extremely vulnerable to human impacts. Moreover, assessing the impact of deep-sea fisheries is difficult, as many species (including sharks) are part of the bycatch and are often discarded at sea, and/or landed under generic commercial-species codes. The lack of this information on fishery data sets and the limited availability of species-specific life history data make challenging the management of deep-sea Chondrichthyes. The kitefin shark Dalatias licha is a cosmopolitan elasmobranch, mainly found on continental and insular shelf-breaks and slopes in warm-temperate and tropical waters. This species is a common by-catch of the deep-sea trawling, considered as “Endangered” by the IUCN Red List for all European waters, Mediterranean Sea included. Here we present the results of a study based on a total of 78 specimens of kitefin shark collected over 3 years in the Ligurian Sea (NW Mediterranean) as by-catch from deep-water fisheries. Total length ranged from 380 to 1164 mm, and individual weight ranged from 198 to 8000&nbsp;g. Immature and mature individuals showed a sex ratio dominated by males. Adult males were observed throughout the year, while mature females were observed only in spring-summer. These data lead to hypothesise a spatial segregation between genders. The kitefin shark diet was dominated by bony fish (mainly Macrouridae) and other small sharks (e.g., Galeus melastomus and Etmopterus spinax), but their gut included plastic items and parasites. Data reported here underline the rarity, complex ecology and the threat for this shark species and support the urgency of promoting initiatives for their monitoring and conservation

EVIDENCE OF PRIMARY EVENTS IN 20Ne, 22Ne FRAGMENTATION FROM COINCIDENCE MEASUREMENTS IN 20, 22Ne + 93Nb REACTION AT 30 MeV/A

Evidence that primary ejectiles formation strongly depends on the projectile structure is given by comparison of 20Ne + 93Nb and 22Ne + 93Nb reactions at 30 MeV/A. Pick-up, stripping, break-up mechanism are identified using light particles-projectile fragments coïncidence measurements

Fenomeno Caulerpa 2010-2013. Rapporto sull'evoluzione delle specie aliene nel Canale di Sicilia

Gli studi effettuati da ARPA-Sicilia, ISPRA e CNR-IAMC hanno perseguito l’obiettivo principale di monitorare e valutare l’impatto della diffusione delle alghe indagate, attraverso l’analisi dell’evoluzione spazio-temporale del fenomeno e la caratterizzazione eco-tossicologica delle aree di pesca maggiormente interessate dalla presenza delle caulerpe. In particolare Le ricerche di ARPA-Sicilia sono state mirate a: - Definire le aree di studio principalmente interessate dal fenomeno di diffusione delle due alghe aliene; - Caratterizzare da un punto di vista ambientale le aree oggetto d’indagine; - Valutare le pressioni antropiche che insistono lungo le coste delle aree indagate; - Stimare l’influenza che le pressioni antropiche possono esercitare sulla diffusione della Caulerpa; - Indagare l’andamento spazio-temporale della distribuzione di Caulerpa in specifiche aree di indagine. Gli studi condotti da ISPRA hanno puntato a: - Valutare possibili interferenze dell’alga con le attività di pesca, l’intasamento delle reti e la riduzione della pescabilità dell’attrezzo; - Rilevare l’eventuale diversità tra aree con insediamento e prive di insediamento; - Avviare l’introduzione di buone pratiche per evitare che la pesca possa rappresentare un ulteriore vettore di invasioni secondarie attraverso disseminazione dei frammenti e propaguli dell’alga; - Definire comportamenti alieutici nel tempo utili alla mitigazione del potenziale impatto della pesca sulle risorse nelle aree colpite; - Istituire in tutta l’area di studio e, in particolare, nell’arcipelago delle Pelagie, un “Osservatorio delle Specie Aliene” per svolgere attività di monitoraggio sulla diffusione delle specie aliene, al fine di formulare proposte gestionali mirate alla salvaguardia degli ecosistemi e delle attività economiche di pesca. Le indagini realizzate dal CNR-IAMC hanno avuto come obiettivi principali: - Confrontare le caratteristiche dei popolamenti bentonici associati a praterie di Posidonia oceanica della Sicilia meridionale interessate dall’invasione di Caulerpa taxifolia var. distichophylla con quelle di popolamenti associati a posidonieti di località limitrofe non colpite dal fenomeno; - Confrontare la struttura trofica della comunità bentonica associata a matte di Posidonia oceanica in località invase e non invase da alghe aliene del genere Caulerpa della Sicilia meridionale; - Valutare gli effetti dell’invasione di Caulerpa racemosa var. cylindracea sulla struttura e sulla funzione di popolamenti macrobentonici sessili di fondo duro dell’infralitorale

Massive Consumption of Gelatinous Plankton by Mediterranean Apex Predators

Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen were used to test the hypothesis that stomach content analysis has systematically overlooked the consumption of gelatinous zooplankton by pelagic mesopredators and apex predators. The results strongly supported a major role of gelatinous plankton in the diet of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), little tunny (Euthynnus alletteratus), spearfish (Tetrapturus belone) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius). Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the oceanic stage and ocean sunfish (Mola mola) also primarily relied on gelatinous zooplankton. In contrast, stable isotope ratios ruled out any relevant consumption of gelatinous plankton by bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), blue shark (Prionace glauca), leerfish (Lichia amia), bonito (Sarda sarda), striped dolphin (Stenella caerueloalba) and loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the neritic stage, all of which primarily relied on fish and squid. Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) were confirmed as crustacean consumers. The ratios of stable isotopes in albacore (Thunnus alalunga), amberjack (Seriola dumerili), blue butterfish (Stromaeus fiatola), bullet tuna (Auxis rochei), dolphinfish (Coryphaena hyppurus), horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus), mackerel (Scomber scombrus) and pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) were consistent with mixed diets revealed by stomach content analysis, including nekton and crustaceans, but the consumption of gelatinous plankton could not be ruled out completely. In conclusion, the jellyvorous guild in the Mediterranean integrates two specialists (ocean sunfish and loggerhead sea turtles in the oceanic stage) and several opportunists (bluefin tuna, little tunny, spearfish, swordfish and, perhaps, blue butterfish), most of them with shrinking populations due to overfishing