3,116 research outputs found
Molecular detection of parasites (Trematoda, Digenea: Bucephalidae and Monorchiidae) in the European flat oyster Ostrea edulis (Mollusca: Bivalvia)
Members of the globally distributed bivalve family Ostreidae (oysters) have a significant role in marine ecosystems and include species of high economic importance. In this work, we report the occurrence of digenean parasites of the families Bucephalidae (Prosorhynchoides sp.) and Monorchiidae (Postmonorchis sp.) in Mediterranean native populations of Ostrea edulis (but not in the introduced Magallana gigas). Molecular detection was based on DNA sequencing of the ribosomal intergenic spacer 2 (ITS2) marker. The importance of detecting the presence of overlooked digenean parasites in Mediterranean oysters is discussed. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Hepatotoxicity induced by greater celandine (Chelidonium majus L.): a review of the literature
The available literature assessing Chelidonium majus L. (CM) hepatotoxicity potential, and its risk to benefit assessment has been reviewed in this paper. Identification of significant scientific literature was performed via the following research databases: Cochrane Central, Google Scholar, EMBASE, Medline, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, using the following keywords: "Chelidonium majus", "greater celandine", "Hepatotoxicity", "Liver" "Injury", "Toxicity" individually investigated and then again in association. CM named also greater celandine, swallow-wort, or bai-qu-cai (Chinese), has been used for a long time in traditional Chinese medicine and phytotherapy. Its extracts have been claimed to display a wide variety of biological activities: antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic, antineoplastic, hepatoprotective, and analgesic. Moreover, herbal medicine suggests this plant have numerous additional effects which have not yet been scientifically evaluated, such as antitussive, diuretic, and eye-regenerative. However, despite its claimed hepatoprotective effects, several hepatotoxicity cases have been reported to be probably or highly probably connected with CM exposure, after their evaluation through liver-targeted causality assessment methods. CM hepatotoxicity has been defined as a distinct form of herb-induced liver injury (HILI), due to an idiosyncratic reaction of the metabolic type. This evidence has to be considered in relationship with the absence of considerable benefits of CM therapy. Therefore, the risk to benefit ratio of the use of herbal products containing greater celandine can actually be considered as negative
Full counting statistics in the gapped XXZ spin chain
We exploit the knowledge of the entanglement spectrum in the ground state of the gapped XXZ spin chain to derive asymptotic exact results for the full counting statistics of the transverse magnetisation in a large spin block of length \u2113. We found that for a subsystem of even length the full counting statistics is Gaussian, while for odd subsystems it is the sum of two Gaussian distributions. We test our analytic predictions with accurate tensor networks simulations. As a byproduct, we also obtain the symmetry (magnetisation) resolved entanglement entropies
A qualitative study on family carers views on how end-of-life communication contributes to palliative oriented care in nursing home.
Background. Although family-centered communication about end-of-life care has been recognized to promote palliative-oriented care in nursing home (NH), how this communication may work is still unknown. Therefore, we explored the mechanisms by which end-of-life communication may contribute to palliative-oriented care in NH from the perspective of bereaved family carers.Methods. A descriptive qualitative design was performed. Interviews were conducted with 32 bereaved family carers whose relative had died between 45 days to 9 months prior from 13 different NHs. A two-steps analysis process firstly with deductive and then with inductive content analysis was adopted.Results. Four mechanisms by which end-of-life communication contributed to palliative-oriented care were identified: a) promoting family carers understanding about their relative's health conditions, prognosis, and treatments available; b) fostering shared decision-making between healthcare professionals and residents/family carers; c) improving knowledge of residents' preferences; and d) improving knowledge of family carers' preferences.Conclusion. Clear and in-depth communication provides insight into residents' and family carers' preferences for care and treatment at the end-of-life, and increases understanding and shared decision-making
Assessment of ground-motion amplification in the Fucino Basin (Central Italy) through seismic data
The Fucino basin (Central Italy) is one of the largest intermountain alluvial plain in the Appennines range. It has
a tectonic origin related to the presence of important systems of faults located in its northern and eastern edges.
Some of these faults are still active and capable of generating strong seismic events as the January 13th 1915 Ms
7.0 Avezzano earthquake (about 30000 casualties). Site effects related to the soft soils filling the basin can be very
important also taking into account the presence of historical villages located at the edges of the basin and new
settlements developed in the area.
In this paper we show the preliminary results of a seismic network installed in the Fucino area in order to collect
information about site amplification effects and geometry of the basin. A lake occupied the Fucino basin for many
thousands of years and it was completely drained at the end of the 19th century.
We analyze ambient seismic vibrations and recordings of about 150 local earthquakes mainly related to the seismic
sequence of the April 6th 2009 Mw 6.3 L’Aquila event. Moreover the strongest events of L’Aquila sequence were
analyzed at the three strong-motion permanent stations operating in the area. Using standard spectral techniques
we investigate the variation of resonance frequencies within the basin. The ground motion recorded in the
Fucino plain is mainly characterized by strong energy at low-frequencies (f < 1 Hz) affecting both horizontal and
vertical components. This is particularly evident for stations deployed in correspondence of very thick deposits
of sedimentary filling, where a significant increase of ground-motion amplitude and duration is caused by locally
generated surface waves. The amplification at low-frequencies (< 1 Hz) on the horizontal components can reach
up a factor of 10 in comparison to nearby stiff sites. However, we found evidences of seismic amplification
phenomena also for stiff sites surrounding the basin, including stations of the Italian strong motion network. The
independent geological information, the shallow shear-velocity profiles available for the basin can be combined
with resonance frequencies of the sites for deriving representative geological sections to be used as base for future
numerical 2D-3D modeling of the seismic wave propagation in the basin. Seismic modeling can be important to
reduce the seismic hazard in the area
Definition and description of larval types of Cyaneolytta (Coleoptera Meloidae) and new records of their phoretic association with Carabidae (Coleoptera)
The hypothesis of a general phoretic association of Cyaneolytta Péringuey 1909 triungulins (Meloidae) with Anthiini (Carabidae) is supported by many new records from several regions of Africa and India. Four morphological larval types of Cyaneolytta are described and some morpho-species belonging to different morphotypes are identified and illustrated
Issues in Choosing the References to Use for Spectral Ratios from Observations and Modeling at Cavola Landslide in Northern Italy
A reference site has to be free of amplification or de-amplification effects, namely with no troughs and peaks in its Fourier amplitude spectrum. At the Cavola landslide we show that this spectrum is dependent on the direction of propagation of wave fronts for incidence angles in the range 30° to 90°. Our study is based on comparison of spectral ratios from observations and 2D numerical simulations. We have modeled propagation in a 2D profile for SH and SV waves with several incidence angles in the 0° ±90° range, where 0° and 90° are respectively vertical and horizontal incidence, except that ±90° denotes Rayleigh waves in the P-SV. We discuss in detail the result for angles of incidence of 0, ±20°, ±60°, ±90°. We have obtained observed horizontal-to-horizontal earthquakes spectral ratios using three reference sites. Two of these have matching receivers in the model, located at the opposite ends of the 2D profile. Overall observations are matched best when the reference site is located on the same side of the landslide as the incoming wave front. We also find general agreement of the observed H/H spectral ratios from earthquakes with H/V and H/H spectral ratios from noise, and the match between H/V values from noise and synthetic spectral ratios using an absolute, flat half-space reference is very good. On the other hand, 1D modeling performs poorly in comparison with 2D modeling in our case, for which the shape ratio h/D = 0.2 is intermediate between primarily-1D and strongly-2D wave propagation according to the classification of Bard and Bouchon (1985)
Assessment of ground-motion amplification in the Fucino Basin (Central Italy) through seismic data
The Fucino basin (Central Italy) is one of the largest intermountain alluvial plain in the Appennines range. It has
a tectonic origin related to the presence of important systems of faults located in its northern and eastern edges.
Some of these faults are still active and capable of generating strong seismic events as the January 13th 1915 Ms
7.0 Avezzano earthquake (about 30000 casualties). Site effects related to the soft soils filling the basin can be very
important also taking into account the presence of historical villages located at the edges of the basin and new
settlements developed in the area.
In this paper we show the preliminary results of a seismic network installed in the Fucino area in order to collect
information about site amplification effects and geometry of the basin. A lake occupied the Fucino basin for many
thousands of years and it was completely drained at the end of the 19th century.
We analyze ambient seismic vibrations and recordings of about 150 local earthquakes mainly related to the seismic
sequence of the April 6th 2009 Mw 6.3 L’Aquila event. Moreover the strongest events of L’Aquila sequence were
analyzed at the three strong-motion permanent stations operating in the area. Using standard spectral techniques
we investigate the variation of resonance frequencies within the basin. The ground motion recorded in the
Fucino plain is mainly characterized by strong energy at low-frequencies (f < 1 Hz) affecting both horizontal and
vertical components. This is particularly evident for stations deployed in correspondence of very thick deposits
of sedimentary filling, where a significant increase of ground-motion amplitude and duration is caused by locally
generated surface waves. The amplification at low-frequencies (< 1 Hz) on the horizontal components can reach
up a factor of 10 in comparison to nearby stiff sites. However, we found evidences of seismic amplification
phenomena also for stiff sites surrounding the basin, including stations of the Italian strong motion network. The
independent geological information, the shallow shear-velocity profiles available for the basin can be combined
with resonance frequencies of the sites for deriving representative geological sections to be used as base for future
numerical 2D-3D modeling of the seismic wave propagation in the basin. Seismic modeling can be important to
reduce the seismic hazard in the area
SAFE: a Self Adaptive Frame Enhancer FPGA-based IP-core for real-time space applications
Video-based navigation is an increasingly used procedure with hard real-time requirements and high computational effort. In this field, FPGA hardware accelleration supplyes low-cost and considerable performances enhancement. The video-based navigation algorithms extrapolate and correlates features from images, relying on their accuracy. Image enhancement provides more defined and contrasted frames, assuring high precision feature extraction. This work introduces an FPGA-based self-adaptive image enhancer. The IP-core is suitable for hard-real time applications, such as space applications, thanks to the guaranteed high-throughpu
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