Egg parasitoid exploitation of plant volatiles induced by single or concurrent attack of a zoophytophagous predator and an invasive phytophagous pest

Zoophytophagous insect predators can induce physiological responses in plants by activating defence signalling pathways, but whether plants can respond to facultative phytophagy by recruiting natural enemies remains to be investigated. In Y-tube olfactometer bioassays, using a system including a Vicia faba plant, the zoophytophagous predator Podisus maculiventris and the egg parasitoid Telenomus podisi, we first demonstrated that T. podisi females are attracted by broad bean plants damaged by feeding activity of P. maculiventris and on which host egg masses had been laid, while they are not attracted by undamaged plants or plants damaged by feeding activity alone. In a second experiment, we evaluated the impact of the invasive phytophagous pest Halyomorpha halys on this plant volatile-mediated tritrophic communication. Results showed that the invasive herbivorous adults do not induce plants to recruit the native egg parasitoid, but they can disrupt the local infochemical network. In fact, T. podisi females are not attracted by volatiles emitted by plants damaged by H. halys feeding alone or combined with oviposition activity, nor are they attracted by plants concurrently infested by P. maculiventris and H. halys, indicating the specificity in the parasitoid response and the ability of the invasive herbivore in interrupting the semiochemical communication between plants and native egg parasitoids. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study showing that zoophytophagous predator attacks induce indirect plant defences similarly to those defence strategies adopted by plants as a consequence of single or concurrent infestations of herbivorous insects

Per il «Doligamus» di Adolfo di Vienna: le “fabulae” VIII e IX, ovvero alcune variazioni sul tema

Il «Doligamus», opera latina in 342 distici elegiaci e 7 esametri leonini degli inizi del sec. XIV (1315), si inserisce pienamente nel filone di poesia misogina di origine clericale che ebbe grande diffusione durante il Medioevo. Il suo autore, Adolfo di Vienna, attinge alla tradizione degli "exempla" e del materiale favolistico per condannare, in nove "fabulae", il comportamento deplorevole delle donne, siano esse mogli infedeli o vecchie diaboliche. In questo lavoro, dopo una presentazione generale dell’autore e dell’opera, ci si sofferma sulle ultime due "fabulae" del «Doligamus», la VIII e la IX, delle quali vengono studiati e analizzati la trama, i modelli, lo stile, la lingua e, soprattutto, le diverse “variazioni sul tema” nell’ambito della produzione novellistica ed esemplare dei secc. XIII e XIV.The «Doligamus», a latin work of 342 elegiac couplets and 7 leonine hexameters of the beginnings of XIVth century (1315), is strictly inserted in the misogynous clerical poetry which had a big diffusion during the Middle Ages. His author, Adolph of Vienna, draws from the tradition of "exempla" and "fabulae" for condemning, in his nine "fabulae", the dreadful manners of women, adulterous wives or diabolic old females. This paper, after a general presentation on the author and the work, offers an analysis of the lost two "fabulae" of the «Doligamus» (fab. VIIIth and IXth), in his plot, sources, style, language and, expecially, in the several “variations on the theme” in the literary production of short stories and "exempla" between XIIIth and XIVth centuries

Microcephaly and macrocephaly. A study on anthropometric and clinical data from 308 subjects

Head circumference is the auxological parameter that most correlates with developmental anomalies in childhood. Head circumference (HC) two standard deviations (SD) below or above the mean defines microcephaly and macrocephaly, respectively. The aim of this retrospective study was to explore anthropometric parameters and clinical characteristics among subjects with abnormalities in HC who had been referred for developmental assessment. One hundred and sixty four subjects with microcephaly and 144 subjects with macrocephaly were enrolled from birth to 18 months of age. Head circumference at birth and the association with variables related to maternal health status, gestational age, growth pattern, brain imaging and clinical characteristics were analyzed. In some cases, an etiological diagnosis was made. In the two considered conditions, we found different anthropometric and clinical associations, some of which were statistically significant, with implications for ongoing neurodevelopmental surveillance

Dopants and defects in proton-conducting perovskites

Many doped perovskites show high proton conductivity at intermediate to high temperatures (500- 900 °C), which has opened possibilities for many prospected applications in energy conversion (fuel cells), and electrochemical devices. In a doped perovskite, e.g. BaCe1-xYxO3-y, oxygen vacancies are created by charge compensation, and can eventually react with air moisture to form structural protonic defects. The sluggish nature of the proton, which is practically invisible to most structural analyses, and poses enormous problems to quantum chemistry, has surely contributed to slow down the progress in the understanding of these materials: in fact, the conduction dynamics and its interplay with structure are still matter of debate. The kind of trivalent dopant and its size, and the doping level, have all been found to critically influence the conductivity: to date, however, no comprehensive model was developed, and no clear explanations exist between the chemical and dynamical properties. Here we present results collected in several EXAFS experiments on doped BaCeO3 and BaZrO3 spanning three years, on the Ba site, Ce site, and the dopant (yttrium, gadolinium, indium: the ionic sizes of these are respectively equal, larger and smaller than Ce4+) site. The local structures up to about 6 Å around each site are solved with state-of-the-art techniques employing both the GNXAS and FEFF approaches, revealing unique features and demonstrating that in this case the conventional diffraction techniques are not suited to unravel the complexity of doped crystals. In particular, the attention will be drawn on the local deviations from Vegard’s law, the local expansion/contraction as a function of hydration degree, the interplay between dopant and defects, and the chemical compatibility (Pearson absolute hardness) instead of ionic size matching. The EXAFS results are correlated with complementary information about the dynamics of protons and other defects (IR and neutron vibrational spectroscopy, QENS, ionic and electronic conductivity measurements)

TTF-1/p63-positive poorly differentiated NSCLC: A histogenetic hypothesis from the basal reserve cell of the terminal respiratory unit

TTF-1 is expressed in the alveolar epithelium and in the basal cells of distal terminal bronchioles. It is considered the most sensitive and specific marker to define the adenocarcinoma arising from the terminal respiratory unit (TRU). TTF-1, CK7, CK5/6, p63 and p40 are useful for typifying the majority of non-small-cell lung cancers, with TTF and CK7 being typically expressed in adenocarcinomas and the latter three being expressed in squamous cell carcinoma. As tumors with coexpression of both TTF-1 and p63 in the same cells are rare, we describe different cases that coexpress them, suggesting a histogenetic hypothesis of their origin. We report 10 cases of poorly differentiated non-small-cell lung carcinoma (PD-NSCLC). Immunohistochemistry was performed by using TTF-1, p63, p40 (∆Np63), CK5/6 and CK7. EGFR and BRAF gene mutational analysis was performed by using real-time PCR. All the cases showed coexpression of p63 and TTF-1. Six of them showing CK7+ and CK5/6− immunostaining were diagnosed as “TTF-1+ p63+ adenocarcinoma”. The other cases of PD-NSCLC, despite the positivity for CK5/6, were diagnosed as “adenocarcinoma, solid variant”, in keeping with the presence of TTF-1 expression and p40 negativity. A “wild type” genotype of EGFR was evidenced in all cases. TTF1 stained positively the alveolar epithelium and the basal reserve cells of TRU, with the latter also being positive for p63. The coexpression of p63 and TTF-1 could suggest the origin from the basal reserve cells of TRU and represent the capability to differentiate towards different histogenetic lines. More aggressive clinical and morphological features could characterize these “basal-type tumors” like those in the better known “basal-like” cancer of the breast

Indium doping of proton-conducting solid oxides

Solid oxides protonic conductors are prepared by doping the pure matrix compounds with cationic species. Barium cerate and barium zirconate are perovskite-like compounds, characterized by a network of corner-sharing MeO6 octahedra (Me=Ce, Zr). Barium lies in the cavities between octahedra. Insertion of trivalent species in the octahedral site involves the formation of charge- compensating oxygen vacancies, that can be filled by hydroxyls coming from dissociative water absorption. Then, proton delocalization among structural oxygens ensures conductivity. The most effective conductors are obtained by yttrium doping that, on the other hand, enters only in limited amounts in both BaZrO3 and BaCeO3, thus involving limited carrier concentration. Perovskites are affected by different drawbacks: barium cerate compounds are very sensitive to the acidic components present in the environment and in particular to CO2 that induces decomposition in barium carbonate and cerium oxide; barium zirconate, notwithstanding a very high bulk conductivity, is biased by high grain boundary resistivity. A possible alternative to perovskite-like compounds is constituted by fergusonite-type lanthanum niobate and lanthanum tantalate compounds, characterized by a tetrahedral coordination of Nb and Ta. These oxides present a very high chemical stability but very low carrier concentration, usually induced by Ca-doping the lanthanum site [1]. Among the different trivalent dopants, it was demonstrated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy that indium is able to enter in any composition in the perovskite network, thus providing a very high carrier concentration, even if with lower proton mobility. This property of indium was ascribed to its electronic structure and in particular to the low Pearson hardness, allowing this cation to fit in a hosting matrix with the least structural strain [2]. A preliminar attempt of exploiting indium for enhancing the carrier concentration of lanthanum niobate was carried out. The solid state synthesis involved amounts of the reactant simple oxides suitable to force indium doping of the niobium site. X-ray diffraction do not show significant amounts of secondary oxide phases

Crystal Structure and Local Dynamics in Tetrahedral Proton-Conducting La1-xBa1+xGaO4

La1-xBa1+xGaO4-0 (LBG) compounds, based on unconnected GaO4 moieties, were recently proposed as proton conductors. Protonic defects in the lattice are inserted through self-doping with Ba2+, to create oxygen vacancies subsequently filled by hydroxyl ions. We present a combined structural analysis on self-doped LBG using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray absorption (EXAFS): these results unravel the finer structural details on the short-range and long-range scales, and they are correlated with the dynamical properties of protonic conduction coming from vibrational spectroscopy. The structure of the GaO4 groups is independent of the oxide composition. On hydration, an array of short intertetrahedral hydrogen bonds is formed, producing a contraction of the a axis. On the basis of thermogravimetric analysis, EXAFS, XRD and infrared spectroscopy (IR) results, we propose that the stiffness of the GaO4 tetrahedra hinders the intratetrahedral proton transfer, while the noticeable fraction of protons involved in strong hydrogen bonds limit the proton reorientational freedom

Long-Range and Short-Range Structure of Proton-Conducting Y:BaZrO3

Yttrium-doped barium zirconate (BZY) is the most promising candidate for proton-conducting ceramics and has been extensively studied in recent years. The detailed features of the crystal structure, both short-range and long-range, as well as the crystal chemistry driving the doping process, are largely unknown. We use very high resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) to resolve the crystal structure, which is very slightly tetragonally distorted in BZY, while the local environment around Zr4+ and Y3+ is probed with extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), and the symmetry and vibrations are investigated by using Raman spectroscopy. It is found that barium zirconate shows some degree of local deviation from the cubic arystotype even if undoped, which upon substitution by the perceptibly larger Y3+, playing the role of a rigid inclusion, is further increased. This distortion is one limiting factor concerning the Y3+ solubility. The effects are correlated to the proton conduction properties of BZY

Downregulation of NOX4 Expression by Roflumilast N-Oxide Reduces Markers of Fibrosis in Lung Fibroblasts

The phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor roflumilast prevents bleomycin- (BLM-) induced lung fibrosis in animal models. However, its mechanism of action remains unknown. We investigated whether roflumilast N-oxide (RNO), the active metabolite of roflumilast, can modulate in vitro the oxidative effects of BLM on human lung fibroblasts (HLF). In addition, since BLM increases the production of F2-isoprostanes that have per se fibrogenic activity, the effect of RNO on oxidative stress and fibrogenesis induced by the F2-isoprostane 8-epi-PGF2α was investigated. HLF were preincubated either with the vehicle or with RNO and exposed to either BLM or 8-epi-PGF2α. Proliferation and collagen synthesis were assessed as [3H]-thymidine and [3H]-proline incorporation. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and F2-isoprostanes were measured. NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) protein and mRNA were also evaluated. BLM increased both cell proliferation and collagen synthesis and enhanced ROS and F2-isoprostane production. These effects were significantly prevented by RNO. Also, RNO significantly reduced the increase in both NOX4 mRNA and protein, induced by BLM. Finally, 8-epi-PGF2α per se stimulated HLF proliferation, collagen synthesis, and NOX4 expression and ROS generation, and RNO prevented these effects. Thus, the antifibrotic effect of RNO observed in vivo may be related to its ability to mitigate ROS generation via downregulation of NOX4