Repoliticization Through Search and Rescue? NGOs and Humanitarian Migration Management in the Central Mediterranean

This article analyses the search and rescue (SAR) activities carried out by three NGOs (MOAS, MSF and Sea-Watch) in the Central Mediterranean, and asks whether and in how far nongovernmental SAR contributes to the repoliticization of the EU maritime border. The article first introduces the concept of depoliticization/repoliticization, as well as that of humanitarianization. Two sections summarize the development of the SAR regime and the governmentalization of international waters in the Strait of Sicily from the Cap Anamur case to 2016, and from late 2016 to recent days. Against this backdrop, the article analyses the different political positions taken by MOAS, MSF and Sea-Watch, their operational activities, as well as their cooperation and relations with the other actors involved in SAR. The three NGOs react differently to the contradictions that are typical of humanitarian non-state action. MOAS keeps a neutral political profile, whereas MSF and Sea-Watch regard their SAR activities as part of a political, not only humanitarian commitment. While the convergence of delocalized state sovereignty and humanitarian reason leaves hardly any room for manoeuvre, MSF and Sea-Watch try to question and contrast governmental policies and practices, as well as to turn international waters into a political stage from which they can make their voice heard and on which they can play the watchdog role

A modified culture medium for improved isolation of marine vibrios

Marine Vibrio members are of great interest for both ecological and biotechnological research, which often relies on their isolation. Whereas many efforts have been made for the detection of food-borne pathogenic species, much less is known about the performances of standard culture media toward environmental vibrios. We show that the isolation/enumeration of marine vibrios using thiosulfate-citrate-bile salts-sucrose agar (TCBS) as selective medium may be hampered by the variable adaptability of different taxa to the medium, which may result even in isolation failure and/or in substantial total count underestimation. We propose a modified TCBS as isolation medium, adjusted for marine vibrios requirements, which greatly improved their recovery in dilution plate counts, compared with the standard medium. The modified medium offers substantial advantages over TCBS, providing more accurate and likely estimations of the actual presence of vibrios. Modified TCBS allowed the recovery of otherwise undetected vibrios, some of which producing biotechnologically valuable enzymes, thus expanding the isolation power toward potentially new enzyme-producers Vibrio taxa. Moreover, we report a newly designed Vibrio-specific PCR primers pair, targeting a unique rpoD sequence, useful for rapid confirmation of isolates as Vibrio members and subsequent genetic analyses

Multiple IgE recognition on the major allergen of the Parietaria pollen Par j 2

tThe interaction between IgE antibodies and allergens is a key event in triggering an allergic reaction. Thecharacterization of this region provides information of paramount importance for diagnosis and therapy.Par j 2 Lipid Transfer Protein is one of the most important allergens in southern Europe and a well-established marker of sensitization in Parietaria pollen allergy. The main aim of this study was to map theIgE binding regions of this allergen and to study the pattern of reactivity of individual Parietaria-allergicpatients. By means of gene fragmentation, six overlapping peptides were expressed in Escherichia coli, andtheir IgE binding activity was evaluated by immunoblotting in a cohort of 79 Parietaria-allergic patients.Our results showed that Pj-allergic patients display a heterogeneous pattern of IgE binding to the differentrecombinant fragments, and that patients reacted simultaneously against several protein domains spreadall the over the molecule, even in fragments which do not contain structural features resembling thenative allergen. Our results reveal the presence of a large number of linear and conformational epitopeson the Par j 2 sequence, which probably explains the high allergenic activity of this allergen