Eating in extreme environment: diet of the European hare (Lepus europaeus) on Vesuvius

The European hare (Lepus europaeus) is cosmopolitan species, living in a variety of habitats and showing a diversified diet, that has been described mainly from agricultural meadows and crops, with little information available for extreme environments. Here, we describe, for the first time, the diet of the European hare from Mount Vesuvius, using DNA metabarcoding and high- throughput sequencing on DNA extracted from faecal pellets, a proxy for a population living in a volcanic environment. The DNA from pellets was first genetically assigned to European hare using high-resolution melting analysis. The diet of the hare on Vesuvius is mainly composed of herbaceous species belonging to Fabaceae (86.26% of total diet). The most frequent plant items ingested by the species are Galega officinalis and Lupinus angustifolius (67.10% of total diet), although these are detected only sporadically in the study area. Indeed, the spectrum of available plants also includes other easily accessible wild (i.e. Lolium sp., Bromus sp., Rumex sp.) and cultivated (i.e. Solanum lycopersicum, Cucumis melo, Pisum sativum) plant items, found only in traces in the diet of the hares. Our contribution adds information on the trophic ecology of the European hare, exploring its ability to live in an extreme environment. This could be useful to set a management strategy for conservation of the species, which is ecologically relevant on Vesuvius as prey for birds and mammals, as well as a vegetation modulator via selective grazing by endozoochory. Furthermore, our study represents the latest information on the diet of the hare living in an environment that no longer exists: an extensive fire destroyed about 80% of the woody area after our sampling. The post-fire regrowth is transforming the original environment and consequently the trophic availability for the European hare

Between Past and Future: The Mission of University of L’Aquila and Its Action on Energy and Climate Change

For the University of L’Aquila, sustainability and civic engagement are key commitments. Actions to enhance and safeguard the territory and to improve the community wellbeing are even more meaningful in a city that, after the earthquake of 2009, is re-thinking its social and economic backbone. The aim to provide buildings with a high level of seismic security, of energy efficiency and resources saving, has been particularly challenging, but that also offered an opportunity. The participation to the UI Green Metric WUR has been a natural consequence of this process of renovation. Moreover, throughout the data collection and analysis, UI GM rankings stimulates the cross disciplinary cooperation in research, innovation, social and civic engagement.Concerning “Energy and Climate Change” the University could take the opportunity to exploit the competencies of research teams worldwide known working in renewable energies production (solar, wind, hydropower), building efficiency and retrofitting, environmental impacts. The University is member of the Italian University Network for Sustainable Development, which offered guidelines to implement energy and climate change related politics. The improvements of building focused on: smart illumination appliances (61% of the area), smart automation of heating/cooling (90% of the area), renewable energy production (PV and solar thermal), and integration of climate action into the strategic plan

Virtual reality body swapping to improve self-assessment in job interview training

Swapping visual perspective in Virtual Reality pro vides a unique means for embodying different virtual bodies and for self-distancing. Moreover, this technology is a powerful tool for experiential learning and for simulating realistic scenarios, with broad potential in the training of soft skills. However, there is scarce knowledge on how perspective swapping in Virtual Reality might benefit the training of soft skills such as those required in a job interview. The present study investigates the impact of virtual body swapping on the self-assessment of verbal and non- verbal communication skills, emotional states, and embodiment in a simulated job interview context. Three main conditions were compared: a baseline condition in which the participants practiced a job interview from the first-person perspective of a virtual interviewee (No Swap condition); an external point of view condition where, first, the participants answered questions from the interviewee perspective, but then swap visual perspective to re-experience their responses from a non-embodied point of view (Out of Body condition); a condition in which, after answering questions from the interviewee perspective, the participants re-experienced their responses from the embodied perspective of the virtual recruiter (Recruiter condition). The experimental results indicated that the effectiveness of the Out of Body and Recruiter Conditions was superior to the No Swap Condition to self-assess the communication styles used during a job interview. Moreover, all the conditions led to a high level of embodiment towards the interviewee avatar when seen from the first-person perspective; in the case of the Recruiter Condition, the participants also felt embodied in the recruiter avatar. No differences in emotional states were found among conditions, with all sharing a positive valence

High prevalence of human cytomegalovirus in a population of periodontally healthy subjects

Background: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) appears to be more frequent in periodontally affected patients than in healthy control groups. Based on this assumption, it has been suggested that HCMV may play a role in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. Objective: The objective of this uncontrolled study was to assess the occurrence of HCMV in a large unselected population of periodontally healthy subjects. Study Design: Fifty consecutive periodontally healthy patients satisfied the inclusion criteria. Two samples of gingival crevicular fluids were taken from two non-bleeding on probing sites for each patient. Samples were collected from the anterior and the posterior area. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to identify the presence of HCMV. Results: HCMV was detected in 17 (33%) out of 50 participants. Ten subjects showed presence of HCMV on both anterior and posterior sites, whereas the remaining 7 only had HCMV present in the anterior sites. No differences were noticed between HCMV positive and HCMV negative in terms of smoking (p = 0.33), drinking habits (p=0,94) or the presence of prosthodontic restorations (p= 0,89). Conclusions: HCMV was detected in a high proportion of periodontally healthy subjects. Its presence was not found to be influenced by smoking or drinking habits

The role of perceived competence and risk perception in cycling near misses

Cyclists\u2019 crashes account for a relatively large proportion of road fatalities and this proportion is increasing. Research suggests that near misses can be used as surrogate measures of crashes, based on the assumption that they share common causes. Also, in the cycling domain, it has been suggested that near miss incidents may provide \u2018early warnings\u2019 of situations or behaviours that could lead to crashes. The aim of this study was to investigate the role played by perception of risk and control on the exposure to risky situations, such as the involvement in mixed traffic. We administered a questionnaire to 298 Italian cyclists measuring perceived competence (i.e. perceived control and overconfidence), risk perception of interactions with cars, bicycle use, avoidance of mixed traffic and recent experiences of near misses. Path analysis using Bayesian estimation showed that perceived control, mediated by overconfidence, had a positive indirect effect on bicycle use and a negative one on avoidance of mixed traffic, while it acted as a moderator in the relationship between risk perception of interaction with cars and avoidance of mixed traffic. Furthermore, the mediation paths revealed the indirect effects of perceived control on near misses through exposure. Results highlighted the importance of considering the role of individuals\u2019 perception of their ability to cycle with regard to near misses and provided new insight on how cyclists regulate their behaviour, as well as how such behaviour leads to different safety outcomes. Results have implications regarding theory, infrastructure and the application of new safety technologies

Population development and landscape preference of reintroduced wild ungulates: successful rewilding in Southern Italy

Background: In the past decades, the abandonment of traditional land use practices has determined landscape changes inducing reforestation dynamics. This phenomenon can be contrasted with rewilding practices, i.e., the reintroduction of animals that may promote the recovery of landscape diversity. In this study, we explore the dynamics of expansion of two reintroduced populations of wild ungulates, Italian roe deer (Capreolus capreolus italicus) and red deer (Cervus elaphus), assessing their contribution in the recovery of landscape diversity. Methods: By using direct and indirect information on the two species, collected by nocturnal and diurnal surveys and camera trapping, we modelled a habitat suitability map, and estimated the density and distribution of the populations. We also performed a land use changes analysis, combining the presence of wild ungulates and livestock. Results and discussion: We demonstrated that deer dispersed gradually from their release location, increasing in population size, and this occurred in the entire study area. Moreover, we show that areas with lower grazing density are significantly affected by forest encroachment. A possible interpretation of this result could be that wild grazers (roe deer and red deer) prefer semi-open areas surrounded by the forest. This, in association with other factors, such as domestic grazing, could be one of the main responsible in maintaining landscape mosaic typical of the Apennine mountain, confirming the value of grazers as a landscape management tool. Moreover, we show the possibility to conserve through reintroduction the vulnerable C.c. italicus

Alteration of Fecal Microbiota Profiles in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. Associations with HLA-B27 Allele and Disease Status.

Alteration of gut microbiota is involved in several chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, and gut microbial pro-arthritogenic profiles have been hypothesized. Intestinal inflammation may be involved in spondyloarthropathies and in a subset of patients affected by Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), the most common chronic rheumatic disease of childhood. We compared the fecal microbiota composition of JIA patients with healthy subjects (HS), evaluating differences in microbial profiles between sub-categories of JIA, such as enthesitis-related arthritis (JIA-ERA), in which inflammation of entheses occurs, and polyarticular JIA, non-enthesitis related arthritis (JIA-nERA). Through taxon-level analysis, we discovered alteration of fecal microbiota components that could be involved in subclinical gut inflammation, and promotion of joint inflammation. We observed abundance in Ruminococcaceae in both JIA categories, reduction in Clostridiaceae and Peptostreptococcaceae in JIA-ERA, and increase in Veillonellaceae in JIA-nERA, respectively compared with HS. Among the more relevant genera, we found an increase in Clostridium cluster XIVb, involved in colitis and arthritis, in JIA-ERA patients compared with HS, and a trend of decrease in Faecalibacterium, known for anti-inflammatory properties, in JIA-nERA compared with JIA-ERA and HS. Differential abundant taxa identified JIA patients for the HLA-B27 allele, including Bilophila, Clostridium cluster XIVb, Oscillibacter and Parvimonas. Prediction analysis of metabolic functions showed that JIA-ERA metagenome was differentially enriched in bacterial functions related to cell motility and chemotaxis, suggesting selection of potential virulence traits. We also discovered differential microbial profiles and intra-group variability among active disease and remission, suggesting instability of microbial ecosystem in autoimmune diseases with respect to healthy status. Similarly to other chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, different microbial profiles, as observed among different JIA subgroups compared to HS, and potential functional acquisition related to migration could promote inflammation and contribute to the disease pathogenesis