Pen shell Pinna nobilis L. (Mollusca: Bivalvia) from different peculiar environments: adaptive mechanisms of osmoregulation and neurotransmission

The pen shell Pinna nobilis (Linnaeus, 1758) is the largest endemic bivalve mollusc of the Mediterranean Sea, listed as an endangered species in the European Union. Because no information is available about the adaptation of pen shells to different habitats, herein the fundamental conditions of adaptation of P. nobilis to peculiar natural environments, such as the Strait of Messina (SM) and the meromictic Faro Lake (FL; Sicily, Italy), were explored by assessing the morphology, mucous production, osmoregulation and neurotransmission of their gills. Although gills of the pen shells from both sites exhibited a regular morphology, a higher presence of acid mucous cells was detected in P. nobilis from FL than SM, as well as higher levels of osmolytes but without interfering the osmoregulatory processes. About the functioning of gills, the cholinergic (i.e. acetylcholine and AChE) neuronal system was unaltered between individuals from the two sites, whereas the GABAergic neurotransmission (i.e. 4-aminobutyrate or GABA) was significantly augmented in gills of P. nobilis from FL than SM. This may be an adaptive response to hypoxic conditions in FL, as supported by the increased hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1α) in gills of pen shells from FL than SM. Noteworthy, this study reports for the first time the presence of the GABA neurotransmitter within the metabolite profile, obtained by application of a protonic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR)-based metabolomics approach, of a marine bivalve. Therefore, GABA may be suggested as a metabolite biomarker in pen shells. Overall, findings from this study provide new insights on the behavioural and adaptive responses of the pen shell Pinna nobilis settled in different peculiar environments

energy performance of chp system integrated with citrus peel air steam gasification a comparative study

Abstract The aim of this work is to exploit the potential of residual biomass, different from the traditional wood feedstock, by thermochemical gasification process. In particular, citrus peels waste of the juice extraction process, was selected since it is a typical local Sicilian residue. The citrus peel conversion performances in air-steam gasification process were evaluated and compared with those obtained with pinewood as feedstock. Experimental activities of air-steam gasification were carried out in a bench-scale fluidized bed reactor at 1023 K, for both citrus peel and pinewood, varying the steam to biomass ratio (S/B). A simulation model of the experimental facility was developed in order to find a useful tool to realize the virtual scale-up of the system with downstream syngas utilization. The cold gas efficiency (CGE) and the net cold gas efficiency (CGE net ) were calculated to define the best gasification conditions. Results showed that using pinewood a very low reactivity can be observed, showing a very low net CGE. The highest net CGE for citrus peel was observed at S/B = 0.5, while for pinewood the addition of water did not improve the net CGE. Finally, an integration of the citrus peel gasification system with a commercial CHP unit was proposed and the efficiencies were evaluated

Atrial Fibrillation in the Setting of Acute Pneumonia: Not a Secondary Arrhythmia

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in the setting of critically ill patients. Pneumonia, and in particular communityacquired pneumonia, is one of the most common causes of illness and hospital admission worldwide. This article aims to review the association between AF and acute diseases, with specific attention to pneumonia, from the pathophysiology to its clinical significance. Even though the relationship between pneumonia and AF has been known for years, it was once considered a transient bystander. In recent years there has been growing knowledge on the clinical significance of this arrhythmia in acute clinical settings, in which it holds a prognostic role which is not so different as compared to that of the so-called "primary"AF. AF is a distinct entity even in the setting of pneumonia, and acute critical illnesses in general, and it should therefore be managed with a guidelines-oriented approach, including prescription of anticoagulants in patients at thromboembolic risk, always considering patients' individuality. More data on the significance of the arrhythmia in this setting will help clinicians to give patients the best possible care

Haemolytic activity and characterization of nematocyst venom from Pelagia noctiluca (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa)

We investigated the haemolytic capacity of the crude venom extracted from isolated nematocysts of Pelagia noctiluca (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa), and evidenced the proteic fractions responsible for this activity. The nematocyst venom was used at various concentrations to evaluate the haemolytic activity and the lysosomal membrane stability of red blood cells of two teleostean species treated with the extract. The nematocyst extract was assayed against erythrocytes of the two teleostean species living in different environments, Carassius auratus as a common freshwater species, and Liza aurata as a representative of seawater species. Experiments on the haemolytic activity of P. noctiluca in the presence of lipid components of erythrocyte membranes showed that sphyngomyelin strongly inhibited this activity. The crude venom was analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis SDS-PAGE and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to detect the proteic composition, and it was found that the active haemolytic components of this venom are distributed in at least four protein fractions. The results of our experiments indicated that Pelagia noctiluca venom induces haemolysis and lysosomal membrane destabilisation in both species and that Carassius auratus was more susceptible to jellyfish venom than was Liza aurata. No significant differences in glutathione (GSH) levels were observed between control and treatments; consequently the toxins do not cause the oxidative stress but likely recognize specific targets (i.e. sphyngomyelin) in the plasmatic membrane of red blood cells

Three-Dimensional Automated, Machine-Learning-Based Left Heart Chamber Metrics: Associations with Prevalent Vascular Risk Factors and Cardiovascular Diseases

Background. Three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (3DE) powered by artificial intelligence provides accurate left chamber quantification in good accordance with cardiac magnetic resonance and has the potential to revolutionize our clinical practice. Aims. To evaluate the association and the independent value of dynamic heart model (DHM)-derived left atrial (LA) and left ventricular (LV) metrics with prevalent vascular risk factors (VRFs) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in a large, unselected population. Materials and Methods. We estimated the association of DHM metrics with VRFs (hypertension, diabetes) and CVDs (atrial fibrillation, stroke, ischemic heart disease, cardiomyopathies, >moderate valvular heart disease/prosthesis), stratified by prevalent disease status: participants without VRFs or CVDs (healthy), with at least one VRFs but without CVDs, and with at least one CVDs. Results. We retrospectively included 1069 subjects (median age 62 [IQR 49–74]; 50.6% women). When comparing VRFs with the healthy, significant difference in maximum and minimum indexed atrial volume (LAVi max and LAVi min), left atrial ejection fraction (LAEF), left ventricular mass/left ventricular end-diastolic volume ratio, and left ventricular global function index (LVGFI) were recorded (p < 0.05). In the adjusted logistic regression, LAVi min, LAEF, LV ejection fraction, and LVGFI showed the most robust association (OR 3.03 [95% CI 2.48–3.70], 0.45 [95% CI 0.39–0.51], 0.28 [95% CI 0.22–0.35], and 0.22 [95% CI 0.16–0.28], respectively, with CVDs. Conclusions. The present data suggested that novel 3DE left heart chamber metrics by DHM such as LAEF, LAVi min, and LVGFI can refine our echocardiographic disease discrimination capacity

IBtkα Activates the β‐Catenin‐Dependent Transcription of MYC through Ubiquitylation and Proteasomal Degradation of GSK3βin Cancerous B Cells

The IBTK gene encodes the IBtkα protein that is a substrate receptor of E3 ubiquitin ligase, Cullin 3. We have previously reported the pro‐tumorigenic activity of Ibtk in MYC‐dependent B‐ lymphomagenesis observed in Eμ‐myc transgenic mice. Here, we provide mechanistic evidence of the functional interplay between IBtkα and MYC. We show that IBtkα, albeit indirectly, activates the β‐catenin‐dependent transcription of the MYC gene. Of course, IBtkαassociates with GSK3β and promotes its ubiquitylation, which is associated with proteasomal degradation. This event increases the protein level of β‐catenin, a substrate of GSK3β, and results in the transcriptional activation of the MYC and CCND1 target genes of β‐catenin, which are involved in the control of cell division and apoptosis. In particular, we found that in Burkitt’s lymphoma cells, IBtkα silencing triggered the downregulation of both MYC mRNA and protein expression, as well as a strong decrease of cell survival, mainly through the induction of apoptotic events, as assessed by using flow cytometry‐based cell cycle and apoptosis analysis. Collectively, our results shed further light on the complex puzzle of IBtkα interactome and highlight IBtkα as a potential novel therapeutic target to be employed in the strategy for personalized therapy of B cell lymphoma

Publication and patent analysis of European researchers in the field of production technology and manufacturing systems

This paper develops a structured comparison among a sample of European researchers in the field of Production Technology and Manufacturing Systems, on the basis of scientific publications and patents. Researchers are evaluated and compared by a variegated set of indicators concerning (1) the output of individual researchers and (2) that of groups of researchers from the same country. While not claiming to be exhaustive, the results of this preliminary study provide a rough indication of the publishing and patenting activity of researchers in the field of interest, identifying (dis)similarities between different countries. Of particular interest is a proposal for aggregating analysis results by means of maps based on publication and patent indicators. A large amount of empirical data are presented and discusse