On some arthropods associated with Ficus species (Moraceae) in the Maltese Islands

An account is given on the 39 arthropod species which were found on different Ficus trees in the Maltese Islands. Seventeen species represent new records for Malta including Anothopoda fici, Asetadiptacus emiliae, Astichus bachmaieri, Ecphylus caudatus, Empoasca alsiosa, Eupristina verticillata, Ficocyba ficaria, Gynaikothrips ficorum, Josephiella microcarpae, Philotrypesis caricae, Pleistodontes sp., Rhaphitelus maculats, Rhyncaphytoptus ficifoliae, Scobicia chevrieri, Silba adipata, Singhiella citrifolii and Zanchius breviceps. Anothopoda fici and Zanchius breviceps, also represent new records for the entire European territory. Of the 39 arthropods, 33 feed on Ficus trees, whereas the rest are either parasitoids or predators of some of these plant feeders. The 33 species which use Ficus as their host-plant spend most of their development on and utilise the aforementioned trees as their main source of food, at least during their larval development.peer-reviewe

On the Query Strategies for Efficient Online Active Distillation

Deep Learning (DL) requires lots of time and data, resulting in high computational demands. Recently, researchers employ Active Learning (AL) and online distillation to enhance training efficiency and real-time model adaptation. This paper evaluates a set of query strategies to achieve the best training results. It focuses on Human Pose Estimation (HPE) applications, assessing the impact of selected frames during training using two approaches: a classical offline method and a online evaluation through a continual learning approach employing knowledge distillation, on a popular state-of-the-art HPE dataset. The paper demonstrates the possibility of enabling training at the edge lightweight models, adapting them effectively to new contexts in real-time

Strain-dependent release of cytokines modulated by Lactobacillus salivarius human isolates in an in vitro model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Oral administration of probiotics is known to modulate cytokines profile not only locally, but also systemically. Four strains of <it>Lactobacillus salivarius</it>, LDR0723, BNL1059, RGS1746 and CRL1528, were evaluated for their ability to modulate release of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Strains were assessed for effects on production of Interleukin-12 (IL-12), Interferon-γ (IFN-γ), Interleukin-4 (IL-4) and Interleukin-5 (IL-5) by incubating bacterial suspensions with THP-1 macrophage like cells. Cytokines were determined by means of specific quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.</p> <p>LDR0723 and CRL1528 led to a sustained increment in production of IL-12 and IFN-γ and to a decrease in release of IL-4 and IL-5, while BNL1059 and RGS1746 favoured Th2 response, leading to a decrease in Th1/Th2 ratio with respect to unstimulated cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In conclusion, capability of <it>L. salivarius </it>to modulate immune response was strictly strain dependent and strains of the same species might have opposite effects. Therefore, a careful evaluation of anti-inflammatory properties of lactobacilli should be performed on single strain, before any consideration on potential probiotic use.</p

Exploring the use of modelling tools within the participatory approach to protect the water resource

Massaciuccoli lake, subsidence, numerical modelling, scenario

Effect of Heat Waves on Some Italian Brown Swiss Dairy Cows' Production Patterns

Climate change is impacting worldwide efficiency and welfare standards in livestock production systems. Considering the sensibility to heat stress reported for different milk production patterns in Italian Brown Swiss, this study aims to evaluate the effect of heat waves (HWs)of different lengths on some milk production traits (fat-corrected milk, energy-corrected milk, protein and fat yield, protein percentage, cheese production at 24 h, and cheese yield). A 10-year dataset (2009–2018), containing 202,776 test-day records from 23,296 Brown Swiss cows, was used. The dataset was merged both with the daily maximum temperature–humidity index (THI) recorded by weather stations and with the daily maximum THI threshold for each trait in Italian Brown Swiss cows. The study considered 4 different HWs according to their length: 2, 3, 4, and 5 consecutive days before the test-day over the weighted THI threshold. Milk production traits were determined as the difference in losses compared to those after only 1 day before the test-day over the weighted maximum THI. All traits showed to be affected by HWs. Particularly, protein percentage losses increased from −0.047% to −0.070% after 2 consecutive days over the daily THI threshold, reaching −0.10% to −0.14% after 5 days (p &lt; 0.01), showing a worsening trend with the increasing length of HWs. First parity cows showed to be more sensitive to HWs than other parity classes, recording greater losses after shorter HWs, compared to multiparous cows, for protein yield and, consequently, for cheese production at 24 h. This suggests a less efficient metabolic response to heat stress and exposure time in primiparous, compared to multiparous cows, probably due to their incomplete growth process that overlaps milk production, making it more difficult for them to dissipate heat. Although actions to mitigate heat stress are always needed in livestock, this study points out that often time exposure to warm periods worsens milk production traits in Brown Swiss cows

Prophylactic activity of increasing doses of intravenous histamine in refractory migraine: Retrospective observations of a series of patients with migraine without aura

Background: Histamine is thought to play a pivotal role in the modulation of peripheral and central pain. The administration of increasing doses of histamine may lead to desensitization of receptors of histamine types 1 and 2, causing meningeal vasodilation, and to depletion of neuropeptides in the trigeminal ganglion, thus inhibiting the initiation of migraine. Objective: In this study, the efficacy and tolerability of increasing doses of IV histamine in migraine prophylaxis were investigated. Methods: This single-center, open-label, retrospective, controlled study was conducted at the Headache Center (Department of Internal Medicine, University of Florence, Villa Monna Tessa, Italy). Patients included in the study had 3 to 6 migraines without aura per month that were refractory to common symptomatic and prophylactic agents in the 6 months preceding the study. Patients were treated with IV histamine hydrochloride for 21 days starting with a dosage of 0.5 mg/d and increasing to 4.0 mg/d. To assess the efficacy of the treatment, these patients were matched for age; sex; and frequency, duration, and severity of attacks with untreated migraineurs. Clinical benefit was defined as ⩽ 1 migraine of mild intensity per month. Tolerability was assessed during the hospitalization period, and patients were instructed to contact the Headache Center to report any adverse effects after hospital discharge. Results: The histamine group comprised 47 patients (40 women, 7 men; mean [SD] age, 42.0 [8.6] years) and the control group comprised 23 patients (20 women, 3 men; mean [SD] age, 38.8 [8.4] years). The histamine-treated patients showed a clinical benefit lasting for a mean of 10.4 (4.2) months, while the patients in the control group showed a clinical benefit of 3.8 (1.9) months. The difference in the duration of the clinical benefit between the 2 groups was 6.6 months (95% CI, 5.15-7.99). Adverse effects consisted of flushing, heat sensation during infusion, headache, and palpitations. Conclusions: In this study, histamine showed lasting prophylactic efficacy in migraineurs. If further research confirms this preliminary finding, histamine could be considered when established prophylactic drugs, such as betablockers, calcium antagonists, antidepressants, and antiepileptics, have not been effective

Using UAV-Based Systems to Monitor Air Pollution in Areas with Poor Accessibility

[EN] Air pollution monitoring has recently become an issue of utmost importance in our society. Despite the fact that crowdsensing approaches could be an adequate solution for urban areas, they cannot be implemented in rural environments. Instead, deploying a fleet of UAVs could be considered an acceptable alternative. Embracing this approach, this paper proposes the use of UAVs equipped with off-the-shelf sensors to perform air pollution monitoring tasks. These UAVs are guided by our proposed Pollution-driven UAV Control (PdUC) algorithm, which is based on a chemotaxis metaheuristic and a local particle swarm optimization strategy. Together, they allow automatically performing the monitoring of a specified area using UAVs. Experimental results show that, when using PdUC, an implicit priority guides the construction of pollution maps by focusing on areas where the pollutants' concentration is higher. This way, accurate maps can be constructed in a faster manner when compared to other strategies. The PdUC scheme is compared against various standard mobility models through simulation, showing that it achieves better performance. In particular, it is able to find the most polluted areas with more accuracy and provides a higher coverage within the time bounds defined by the UAV flight time.This work has been partially carried out in the framework of the DIVINA Challenge Team, which is funded under the Labex MS2T program. Labex MS2T is supported by the French Government, through the program "Investments for the Future" managed by the National Agency for Research (Reference: ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02). This work was also supported by the "Programa Estatal de Investigacion, Desarrollo e Innovacion Orientada a Retos de la Sociedad, Proyecto I+D+I TEC2014-52690-R," the "Programa de Becas SENESCYT de la Republica del Ecuador," and the Research Direction of University of Cuenca.Alvear-Alvear, Ó.; Zema, NR.; Natalizio, E.; Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM. (2017). Using UAV-Based Systems to Monitor Air Pollution in Areas with Poor Accessibility. Journal of Advanced Transportation. 2017:1-14. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/8204353S1142017Seaton, A., Godden, D., MacNee, W., & Donaldson, K. (1995). Particulate air pollution and acute health effects. The Lancet, 345(8943), 176-178. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(95)90173-6McFrederick, Q. S., Kathilankal, J. C., & Fuentes, J. D. (2008). Air pollution modifies floral scent trails. 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Unmanned aerial systems for photogrammetry and remote sensing: A review. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 92, 79-97. doi:10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2014.02.013Anderson, K., & Gaston, K. J. (2013). Lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles will revolutionize spatial ecology. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 11(3), 138-146. doi:10.1890/120150Zhang, C., & Kovacs, J. M. (2012). The application of small unmanned aerial systems for precision agriculture: a review. Precision Agriculture, 13(6), 693-712. doi:10.1007/s11119-012-9274-5Bellvert, J., Zarco-Tejada, P. J., Girona, J., & Fereres, E. (2013). Mapping crop water stress index in a ‘Pinot-noir’ vineyard: comparing ground measurements with thermal remote sensing imagery from an unmanned aerial vehicle. Precision Agriculture, 15(4), 361-376. doi:10.1007/s11119-013-9334-5Erman, A., Hoesel, L., Havinga, P., & Wu, J. (2008). 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Correlation between Choriocapillaris Density and Retinal Sensitivity in Stargardt Disease

The aim of this work was to characterize the choriocapillaris (CC) in patients with Stargardt disease (STGD) using the swept source widefield optical coherence tomography angiography (SS WF OCTA) and to compare CC perfusion density to retinal sensitivity, analyzed using microperimetry (MP). This cross-sectional study included 9 patients (18 eyes) with STGD and central CC atrophy (stage 3 STGD). The CC was analyzed using SS WF OCTA and areas of different CC impairment were quantified and correlated with retinal sensitivity analyzed using MP. The main outcome measures were the percent perfused choriocapillaris area (PPCA), retinal sensitivity, and correlation between PPCA and retinal sensitivity. Seventeen eyes of 9 patients suffering from stage 3 STGD were analyzed. SS WF OCTA revealed a vascular rarefaction in central atrophic zones and a near atrophy halo of choriocapillaris impairment. In all eyes were noticed a central atrophy (CA) area with absolute absence of CC that corresponded to 0 dB points at MP, a near atrophy (NA) zone of PPCA impairment that included points with decreased sensitivity at MP and a distant from atrophy (DA) zone with higher PPCA and retinal sensitivity values. The mean difference of PPCA and retinal sensitivity between NA and CA and DA and CA was statistical significantly different (p &lt; 0.01), the latter showing higher values. A direct relationship between PPCA and retinal sensitivity was found (p &lt; 0.001). Choriocapillaris damage evaluated using SS WF OCTA correlates with MP, these data suggest that CC impairment may be a predictor of retinal function in patients with STGD

Edible wild mushrooms of the Northern Mediterraneanarea - Sectorial analysis and future perspectives

Aim of study: Wild mushrooms are among the most widespread non-wood forest products in the Mediterranean region contributing to the rural economies. However, the wild mushroom sector still faces problems along its supply chain that can compromise its future in a scenario of increasing demand. The aim of this study was to analyse the current epigeous wild mushroom sector. Area of study: Representative countries of the Mediterranean region: Spain, France, Italy, Croatia and Greece. Materials and methods: The analysis was carried out through a structured Delphi survey conducted in two rounds, with a questionnaire divided into four groups: 1) supply chain description, 2) sectorial SWOT analysis, 3) future challenges and 4) sectorial resilience increase. The Delphi survey started with the selection of an expert panel that included 14 representatives of the wild mushroom supply chain such as forest owners, mushroom pickers, processing industry and consumers. Main results: The results obtained from the expert panel confirmed the complexity of the wild mushroom supply chain with the following sectorial challenges: i) Traceability and sustainability is fundamental for the final consumer, ii) Sectorial administration should be more coordinated, iii) Mushroom picking should be regulated, as the grey market will decrease. Research highlights: The study identified the most important actions that will strengthen the links among sectorial actors and interconnect gastronomy with mushrooms sector. The creation of a common EU list of commercial mushroom species and the development of a taxation system together with the product traceability were also addressed.Grant 774632 – Innovation Networks of Cork, Resins and Edibles in the Mediterranean basin’ (INCREdible) projec