First records of Anagraphis ochracea (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) for continental Italy and Sicily with new observations on its myrmecophilous lifestyle

In the present study we describe and discuss for the first time the peculiar myrmecophilous habits of Anagraphis ochracea (L. Koch, 1867) and its strong association with the ant species Messor ibericus Santschi, 1931. The study is based on behavioural observations carried out both in the field and in captivity, and sheds light on the lifestyle of this poorly studied and rarely observed species. We also recorded the presence of A. ochracea on continental Italy and Sicily for the first time; provide a brief overview of its taxonomical history and present photographs of adult and juvenile specimens, the egg sac and the copulatory organs of both sexes. Finally, we provide a DNA-barcode (COI) for A. ochracea, which is the first for the genus Anagraphis as well

An Economical Evaluation of Anaerobic Digestion Plants Fed with Organic Agro-Industrial Waste

Anaerobic co-digestion technology is increasingly used to simultaneously treat solid and liquid organic waste to balance nutrient content, to reduce the negative effects of toxic compounds in the process, and to increase biogas yield. The aim of this study was to analyze the economic performance of co-digestion plants fed with agro-industrial wastes as a function of installed power, with a method of discounted cash flow. The study focused on Italian framework conditions concerning payment for electricity produced by anaerobic digestion (AD) plants as well as the production costs. The economic analysis was carried out using three different plant sizes: 100 kW, 500 kW, and 1000 kW, which are representative of biogas plants in Italy. The study showed that the improvement of the break-point is closely linked to the increase in corresponding plant size. Given the assumptions of the simulation, the payback for the 100 kW plant was nine years for both the all-inclusive tariff and the basic feed-in tariff (BFT). Regarding the 500 kW and 1000 kW plants, the payback periods were five and four years, respectively

Pseudopeptide Foldamers designed for photoinduced intramolecular electron transfer

We have designed and prepared three pseudopeptide foldamers, called dyads 1, 2 and 3, equipped with a donor and an acceptor unit to promote intramolecular electron transfer after light excitation. All the three dyads contain the same donor and acceptor, which are a derivative of 1,5-dihydroxynaphthalene and a derivative of pyromellitic diimide, respectively. The donor and acceptor units are separated by hybrid foldamers of different length in order to vary both their distance and relative orientation. Specifically, one, two or three L-Ala-D-Oxd (Ala ¼ alanine, Oxd ¼ 4-carboxy-5-methyl-oxazolidin-2-one) units are contained in dyads 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Dyad 1 folds in a bent conformation in which the donor and acceptor units lie one close to the other, while dyads 2 and 3 preferentially assume an extended conformation. In all the three dyads both the donor and acceptor emissions are efficiently quenched via intramolecular electron transfer, as suggested by photophysical and electrochemical investigations. Because of its bent conformation dyad 1 exhibits a charge-transfer (CT) band at 410 nm in CH2Cl2 solution and a photoinduced electron transfer that occurs more efficiently than in dyads 2 and 3. Upon dissolving dyad 1 in DMSO, a competitive solvent for hydrogen bonds that establish in the pseudopeptide linker, the CT band disappears and the efficiency of electron transfer slightly decreases, in agreement with an unfolded conformation in which donor and acceptor units are no longer in close contact

A new trans-Ionian spider species for the Italian fauna: Habrocestum graecum Dalmas, 1920 (Araneae, Salticidae)

The salticid spider Habrocestum graecum Dalmas, 1920, until now only known from Greece, is for the first time recorded in Italy. Observations on ecology and behavior are also reported and pictures of its habitus and genitalia are provided. Furthermore, the first DNA barcode sequence for H. graecum is produced and made publicly available. The species has been observed in Puglia, in South-Eastern Italy, and a trans-Ionian dispersal pattern is most likely the cause of its presence both in Greece and Southern Italy, as reported for other taxa with similar distribution in different animal groups.&nbsp

Proliferation of submesothelial mesenchymal cells during early phase of serosal thickening in the rabbit bladder is accompanied by transient keratin 18 expression

Partial outlet obstruction of the rabbit bladder induces serosal thickening and smooth muscle (SM) hypertrophy. Within thickened serosa, submesothelial (mesenchymal) cells differentiate into SM cells after 30 days of obstruction[S. Buoro et al. Lab. Invest. 69, 589-602, 1993]. Here, we show that submesothelial cells transiently express keratin (K) 18 but not K8 soon after obstruction. We investigated a possible relationship between keratin expression and cell proliferation/differentiation in vivo and in vitro. The results of this study indicate that expression of K18 is spatiotemporally related to the pattern of cell proliferation with respect to the localization of an elastic membrane which divides the thickened serosa into an "extrinsic" and an "intrinsic" region. Moreover, K18 is not present in bladder mesenchyma during early development, indicating that its expression in the adult is not attributable to a dedifferentiation process. However, simultaneous K18, K8, and desmoplakin (DP) expression can be induced in normal and thickened serosa upon treatment with bromo-deoxyuridine. Our results indicate that K18 is a marker of proliferating mesenchymal cells in rabbit serosa, whereas the combined expression of K18, K8, and DP might be related to the hypothesized alterations in the stability of gene expression. A model is proposed in which keratin-containing submesothelial cells can act as a "transit" cell phenotype involved in both regenerating mesothelial cells and formation of SM cells