Parenteral amino acids v. dextrose infusion: an anabolic strategy to minimise the catabolic response to surgery while maintaining normoglycaemia in diabetes mellitus type 2 patients

Loss of body protein and hyperglycaemia represent typical features of the stress response to surgery and anaesthesia. This appears to be particularly pronounced in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2. The aim of the present study was to highlight the greater benefit of amino acids (AA) as represented by positive protein balance and maintenance of blood glucose homoeostasis compared with dextrose (DEX) in diabetic patients after colorectal surgery. A total of thirteen patients underwent a 5h stable isotope infusion study (2h fasted, 3h fed with an infusion of AA (n 6) or DEX (n 7)) on the second post-operative day. Glucose and protein kinetics were assessed by using the stable isotopes l-[1-13C]leucine and [6,6-2H2]glucose. The transition from fasted to fed state decreased endogenous glucose production (P<0·001) in both groups, with a more profound effect in the DEX group (P=0·031). In contrast, total glucose production was increased by the provision of DEX while being lowered by AA (P=0·021). Feeding decreased protein oxidation (P=0·009) and protein synthesis in the AA group, whereas DEX infusion did not affect oxidation and even decreased protein synthesis. Therefore, only AA shifted protein balance to a positive value, while patients in the DEX group remained in a catabolic state (P<0·001). Parenteral nutritional support with AA rather than with DEX is an effective strategy to achieve a positive protein balance while maintaining normoglycaemia in diabetic patients after colorectal surger

Paleo‐thermal constraints on the origin of native diagenetic sulfur in the Messinian evaporites : The Northern Apennines foreland basin case study (Italy)

This work has benefited from the equipment and frame-work of the COMP- HUB Initiative (University of Parma), funded by the Department of Excellence programme of the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research (MIUR, 2018- 2022). This work has benefited from University of Roma Tre MIUR funds for the Department of Excellence. This work has benefited from the University of Parma FIL2016- 2018 responsible Professor Marco Roveri, University of Parma FIL2016- 2018 responsible Professor Vinicio Manzi, MIUR PhD scholarship 2016- 2019. Platte River Associates, Inc is kindly acknowledged for providing BasinMod2D® software for research purposes. Massimo Rossi (ENI S.p.A., Milano, Italy) is kindly acknowledged for his review of the manuscriptPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Multitemporal Analysis of Slow-Moving Landslides and Channel Dynamics through Integrated Remote Sensing and In Situ Techniques

The relationships between hillslope and fluvial processes were studied in a mountainous area of the Northern Apennines (Italy) where intermittent landslide activity has interacted for a long time with river morphodynamics. The aim of the study was to analyse such relationships in two study sites of the Scoltenna catchment. The sites were analysed in detail and monitored through time. A long-term analysis was carried out based on multitemporal photointerpretation of aerial photos. Slope morphological changes and land use modifications since 1954 were detected and compared with the evolution of the channel morphology. A short-term analysis was also performed based on two monitoring campaigns accomplished in 2021 and 2022 in order to detect possible slope displacements and channel-bed-level changes. The techniques used are global navigation satellite systems and drone photogrammetry accompanied by geomorphological surveys and mapping. The multitemporal data collected allowed us to characterise slope surface deformations and quantify morphological changes. The combination of various techniques of remote and proximal sensing proved to be a useful tool for the analysis of the surface deformations and for the investigation of the interaction between slope and fluvial dynamics, showing the important role of fluvial processes in the remobilisation of the landslide toe causing the displacement of a significant volume of sediment into the stream

Effect of Rearing Temperature on Growth and Microbiota Composition of Hermetia illucens

The potential utilization of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) as food or feed is interesting due to the nutritive value and the sustainability of the rearing process. In the present study, larvae and prepupae of H. illucens were reared at 20, 27, and 33 °C, to determine whether temperature affects the whole insect microbiota, described using microbiological risk assessment techniques and 16S rRNA gene survey. The larvae efficiently grew across the tested temperatures. Higher temperatures promoted faster larval development and greater final biomass but also higher mortality. Viable Enterobacteriaceae, Bacillus cereus, Campylobacter, Clostridium perfringens, coagulase-positive staphylococci, Listeriaceae, and Salmonella were detected in prepupae. Campylobacter and Listeriaceae counts got higher with the increasing temperature. Based on 16S rRNA gene analysis, the microbiota of larvae was dominated by Providencia (&gt;60%) and other Proteobateria (mainly Klebsiella) and evolved to a more complex composition in prepupae, with a bloom of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Bacilli, while Providencia was still present as the main component. Prepupae largely shared the microbiota with the frass where it was reared, except for few lowly represented taxa. The rearing temperature was negatively associated with the amount of Providencia, and positively associated with a variety of other genera, such as Alcaligenes, Pseudogracilibacillus, Bacillus, Proteus, Enterococcus, Pediococcus, Bordetella, Pseudomonas, and Kerstersia. With respect to the microbiological risk assessment, attention should be paid to abundant genera, such as Bacillus, Myroides, Proteus, Providencia, and Morganella, which encompass species described as opportunistic pathogens, bearing drug resistances or causing severe morbidity

The Messinian salinity crisis in Cyprus: a further step towards a new stratigraphic framework for Eastern Mediterranean

A revised stratigraphic framework for the Messinian succession of Cyprus is proposed demonstrating that the three-stage model for the Messinian salinity crisis recently established for the Western Mediterranean also applies to the Eastern Mediterranean, at least for its marginal basins. This analysis is based on a multidisciplinary study of the Messinian evaporites and associated deposits exposed in the Polemi, Pissouri, Maroni/Psematismenos and Mesaoria basins. Here, we document for the first time that the base of the unit usually referred to the 'Lower Evaporites' in Cyprus does not actually correspond to the onset of the Messinian salinity crisis. The basal surface of this unit rather corresponds to a regional-scale unconformity, locally associated with an angular discordance, and is related to the erosion and resedimentation of primary evaporites deposited during the first stage of the Messinian salinity crisis. This evidence suggests that the 'Lower Evaporites' of the southern basins of Cyprus actually belong to the second stage of the Messinian salinity crisis; they can be thus ascribed to the Resedimented Lower Gypsum unit that was deposited between 5.6 and 5.5\ua0Ma and is possibly coeval to the halite deposited in the northern Mesaoria basin. Primary, in situ evaporites of the first stage of the Messinian salinity crisis were not preserved in Cyprus basins. Conversely, shallow-water primary evaporites deposited during the third stage of the Messinian salinity crisis are well preserved; these deposits can be regarded as the equivalent of the Upper Gypsum of Sicily. Our study documents that the Messinian stratigraphy shows many similarities between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean marginal basins, implying a common and likely coeval development of the Messinian salinity crisis. This could be reflected also in intermediate and deep-water basins; we infer that the Lower Evaporites seismic unit in the deep Eastern Mediterranean basins could well be mainly composed of clastic evaporites and that its base could correspond to the Messinian erosional surface

Backdating systematic shell ornament making in Europe to 45,000 years ago.

Personal ornaments are commonly linked to the emergence of symbolic behavior. Although their presence in Africa dates back to the Middle Stone Age, evidence of ornament manufacturing in Eurasia are sporadically observed in Middle Palaeolithic contexts, and until now, large-scale diffusion has been well documented only since the Upper Palaeolithic. Nevertheless, little is known during the period between ca. 50,000 and 40,000 years ago (ka), when modern humans colonized Eurasia replacing existing hominin populations such as the Neandertals, and a variety of “transitional” and/or early Upper Palaeolithic cultures emerged. Here, we present shell ornaments from the Uluzzian site of Grotta del Cavallo in Italy, southern Europe. Our results show evidence of a local production of shell beads for ornamental purposes as well as a trend toward higher homogeneity in tusk bead shape and size over time. The temporal interval of the layers of interest (45–40 ka) makes Cavallo the earliest known shell ornament making context in Europe