Contenimento naturale di Bactrocera oleae (Rossi): clima o parassitoidi? Confronto tra Western Cape (Sud Africa) e Sicilia

Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), mosca delle olive, e\u300 presente anche in Sud Africa, ma finora non si sono avute notizie di infestazioni economicamente rilevanti negli oliveti. L\u2019accertata presenza di un maggior numero di braconidi parassitoidi della mosca delle olive rispetto alle aree mediterranee e\u300 stata ed e\u300 considerata da molti autori la principale causa di queste minori infestazioni, senza che pero\u300 siano stati eseguiti in Sud Africa adeguati studi sulle infestazioni da B. oleae e sui fattori cli- matici delle aree interessate. Analizzando recenti dati sui livelli d\u2019infestazione di B. oleae registrati su olivo coltivato e selvatico nel Western Cape e in Sicilia, appaiono simili in una normale annata fino a meta\u300 estate, ma sono nettamente differenti a fine estate-inizio autunno, quando in Sicilia il clima diviene piu\u300 umido. Da una puntuale analisi dei corrispondenti dati climatici registrati nelle due aree e\u300 infatti emersa una sostanziale differenza nel decorso piu\u300 caldo e secco degli ultimi tre mesi precedenti la raccolta nel Western Cape; questo periodo invece in Sicilia e\u300 caratterizzato da temperature piu\u300 fresche e un aumento dell\u2019umidita\u300 relativa che favorisce l\u2019impennata delle infestazioni di B. oleae. Nei quattro mesi presi in considerazione si rileva anche una significativa differenza nell\u2019escursione termica, maggiore nel Western Cape, dovuta a minime notturne piu\u300 basse. Da un confronto dei livelli di parassitizzazione di B. oleae del Western Cape (Sud Africa) e dell\u2019area costiera della Provincia di Trapani, recentemente registrati su olivo colti- vato e selvatico (Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata in Sud Africa, Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. sylvestris in Sicilia) non sono emerse sostanziali differenze quantitative, pur confer- mando che in Sud Africa i principali parassitoidi sono tre bra- conidi (Utetes africanus (Sze\u301pligeti), Psyttalia lounsburyi (Silvestri) e Bracon celer (Sze\u301pligeti)), con il primo preva- lente sull\u2019olivo selvatico e l\u2019ultimo sul coltivato, mentre in Sicilia il braconide parassitoide Psyttalia concolor (Sze\u301pligeti) prevale sia sull\u2019olivo selvatico che sul coltivato. Comunque in entrambe le aree la parassitizzazione su B. oleae non rag- giunge elevati ed efficaci livelli. Il clima, e non la parassitizzazione dovuta ai braconidi, appare il piu\u300 importante fattore di contenimento di B. oleae anche in Sud Africa. L\u2019introduzione di parassitoidi specifici della mosca delle olive e\u300 necessaria nelle aree colonizzate di recente dove essi mancano, ma i tentativi di fornir loro una maggiore dis- ponibilita\u300 di larve dell\u2019ospite mediante l\u2019impianto di cultivar d\u2019olivo a maturazione e permanenza dei frutti piu\u300 differen- ziata, potrebbe produrre risultati certamente piu\u300 negativi che positivi nei confronti della presenza e dei livelli d\u2019infesta- zione di B. oleae sull\u2019olivo coltivato, come avviene nelle aree pandacie dove cresce spontaneo l\u2019olivastro.Natural environmental control of Bactrocera oleae (Rossi): climate or parasitoids? A comparison between the Western Cape of South Africa and Sicily. Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), the olive fruit fly is considered not a continuosly serious pest of olive trees in the Western Cape of South Africa, in spite of the climate similar to Mediterranean areas. South African braconid parasitoids of B. oleae are more numerous than in Mediterranean areas, and until now their action has been considered the factor lowering the level of infestation due to the olive fruit fly, but no deep studies on its infestation levels and climatic factors influencing them were carried out in the past. Analyzing recent data on infestation levels collected in the Western Cape and Sicily, they appear similar in a regular mid- summer, differing at the end of summer-beginning of autumn, when in Sicily the climate becomes more humid than in the Western Cape. A comparison of climatic data regarding four years underlines that Somerset West and Franshhoek, in comparison with Trapani, have significantly lower minimum daily temperatures, a higher daily thermal excursion and a lower relative humidity in the last three months preceding harvesting. Parasitization rates on B. oleae of Western Cape and Sicily, recorded on both cultivated and wild olives (Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata in South Africa, Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. sylvestris in Sicily) are not substantially different, confirming that in South Africa three braconids, Utetes africanus (Sze\u301pligeti), Psyttalia lounsburyi (Silvestri) and Bracon celer (Sze\u301pligeti), are the main parasitoids, with the first one as leader in wild olives and the last one as leader in cultivated ones, while in Sicily the braconid Psyttalia concolor (Sze\u301pligeti) is the main parasitoid in both wild and cultivated olives. Nevertheless parasitism on B. oleae doesn\u2019t reach effective levels of control in bats ragions. The climate, instead of parasitization due to braconids, is the main environmental factor limiting the olive fruit fly infestations in the Western Cape of South Africa. The introduction of parasitoids specific to the olive fruit fly is necessary in new invaded areas where they lack, but the attempt of providing them a more available amount of host fruits along the year, planting olive trees bearing fruits up to spring, could bring serious problems as those typical of Mediterranean areas where the European wild olive naturally grows

Appendices: Failures, errors and mistakes: A systematic review of the literature

Terms such as failure, mistakes, errors, obstacles, and struggle are used interchangeably, but each carry different connotations and discipline-specific meanings. Reactions to experiencing a failure can range as well, from being seen as having educative value to be debilitating. These reactions are based on criteria like environment, prior experiences and individual characteristics, to name a few. The purpose of this chapter is to synthesize and clarify how these terms are articulated and utilized in research studies and commentaries published between 1970 and 2017. Through a systematic literature review, we will discuss similarities and differences in how researchers defined these terms, as well as how these definitions differ by cultural context, discipline, and age of participants. Next, we briefly highlight how our research findings on failure within making and tinkering contexts contribute to our current thinking on failure, mistakes, and errors. Our research included approximately 500 youths and 150 educators situated in a variety of settings that implement making and tinkering programs and/or activities including an informal educational setting (i.e., museum), a formal educational setting (i.e., public middle school), and a hybrid setting (i.e., science center running after-school programming at local school sites). We conclude with open questions and recommendations for the field to consider when conducting research around failures, errors, and mistakes in educational contexts

Behavioural disorders in children and adolescents: A conceptual review about the therapeutic alliance with family and school

Aim: In disruptive behavioral disorders, given the wide range of symptomatic manifestations and the complexity of the sociofamiliar contexts in which they develop, it is now proven that more visible and more stable results can be achieved over time through multimodal and multidimensional interventions. These are accomplished through the integration of psychotherapeutic interventions for the child and parents, counseling interventions for all the various practitioners who come into contact with the child in school, sports, and social settings, through the possibility of organizing multiple settings in patient can be followed by several health professionals such as child and adolescent neuropsychiatrist, neuropsychomotricist, occupation therapist, psychologist

Review about comorbidities of behavioural disorders in children and adolescents: The focus on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) present high comorbidity rate mainly for opposite-defiant disorders that are frequent among children, adolescents and adults affected by with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), probably as result of common temperamental risk factors such as attention, distraction, impulsivity. ADHD tend to manifest in about 50% of individuals diagnosed as disruptive behavioral disorders

Microenvironment in neuroblastoma: Isolation and characterization of tumor-derived mesenchymal stromal cells

Background: It has been proposed that mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) promote tumor progression by interacting with tumor cells and other stroma cells in the complex network of the tumor microenvironment. We characterized MSCs isolated and expanded from tumor tissues of pediatric patients diagnosed with neuroblastomas (NB-MSCs) to define interactions with the tumor microenvironment. Methods: Specimens were obtained from 7 pediatric patients diagnosed with neuroblastoma (NB). Morphology, immunophenotype, differentiation capacity, proliferative growth, expression of stemness and neural differentiation markers were evaluated. Moreover, the ability of cells to modulate the immune response, i.e. inhibition of phytohemagglutinin (PHA) activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and natural killer (NK) cytotoxic function, was examined. Gene expression profiles, known to be related to tumor cell stemness, Wnt pathway activation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and tumor metastasis were also evaluated. Healthy donor bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSC) were employed as controls. Results: NB-MSCs presented the typical MSC morphology and phenotype. They showed a proliferative capacity superimposable to BM-MSCs. Stemness marker expression (Sox2, Nanog, Oct3/4) was comparable to BM-MSCs. NB-MSC in vitro osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation was similar to BM-MSCs, but NB-MSCs lacked adipogenic differentiation capacity. NB-MSCs reached senescence phases at a median passage of P7 (range, P5-P13). NB-MSCs exhibited greater immunosuppressive capacity on activated T lymphocytes at a 1:2 (MSC: PBMC) ratio compared with BM-MSCs (p = 0.018). NK cytotoxic activity was not influenced by co-culture, either with BM-MSCs or NB-MSCs. Flow-cytometry cell cycle analysis showed that NB-MSCs had an increased number of cells in the G0-G1 phase compared to BM-MSCs. Transcriptomic profiling results indicated that NB-MSCs were enriched with EMT genes compared to BM-MSCs. Conclusions: We characterized the biological features, the immunomodulatory capacity and the gene expression profile of NB-MSCs. The NB-MSC gene expression profile and their functional properties suggest a potential role in promoting tumor escape, invasiveness and metastatic traits of NB cancer cells. A better understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying the interactions between NB cells and NB-derived MSCs should shed new light on potential novel therapeutic approaches

The behavioral parenting interventions (BPT) for support and mandatory integrative therapy for children and adolescents affected by disruptive behavioural disorders: A brief review

The behavioral parenting interventions (BPT), commonly abbreviated as parent training, is a program conducted by an expert with the specific purpose of improving or modifying parental practices in order to promote the child's well-being, increasing parenting skills in the daily management of the child, problem solving and reducing the level of parenting and family stress. BPT presents many positive effects on children or adolescents affected by neurodevelopmental disorder such as ADHD, autism and cognitive dysfunction but BPT appears to improve also other proximal outcomes such as parenting competence and parenting stress

Comparison of amsler–krumeich and sandali classifications for staging eyes with keratoconus

Keratoconus (KC) is the most common corneal ectasia characterized by progressive corneal thinning, protrusion, and irregular astigmatism. The Amsler–Krumeich classification based on the analysis of corneal topography, corneal thickness, refraction and biomicroscopy is the most commonly used; recently, a new classification based on anterior segment Optical Coherence Tomography was introduced by Sandali and colleagues. Since there is no information about the possible agreement between these two classifications, the aim of this study is to compare the stratification of consecutive KC patients using the Amsler–Krumeich and Sandali classifications, and to further ascertain KC cases in which one classification is preferred over the other. Overall, 252 eyes of 137 patients (41.45 ± 16.93 years) were analyzed: in 156 eyes (61.9%), the Amsler and Sandali staging differed in one stage while in 75 cases (29.8%) it differed in two or more stages. In 222 eyes (88.1%), the Sandali staging was higher compared to the Amsler one. These results show that the two classifications are not fully interchangeable: the Amsler–Krumeich classification is more appropriate in identifying and longitudinally monitoring patients with early stages of KC, while the Sandali classification for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with more advanced stages, particularly when a surgical planning has to be chosen

Families Engineering Together in Communities and At Home: Facilitation Guide

In this publication, we present a program that serves as a bridge between families and learning environments of all kinds, and provides a pathway for engineering design to be incorporated into the everyday lives of families and kids. Supporting families in their home environment, the program offers a fun and approachable introduction to thinking about engineering and bringing these concepts to life. Conversation and engagement between children and caregivers is so important during elementary school years - this program encourages families to think about, discuss, and experience engineering in a fun and accessible way in their home and community environments. This guide is written to support other stakeholders in implementing a similar program for families to engage as engineers together

A Reliable and Cost-Efficient PCR-RFLP Tool for the Rapid Identification of Cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea

Twenty-five species of cetaceans have been reported throughout the Mediterranean Sea, eight of them are commonly distributed in the whole basin and are regularly found beached or adrift in the sea. Stranded animals are frequently found in poor conservation status, preventing reliable identification; identification is thus often based solely on morphological features. Therewith, molecular tools are especially useful to provide taxonomic identification. In this work, a four-enzymes PCR-RFLP in silico protocol, based on a fragment of the mitochondrial gene cytb, has been designed for cetacean species occurring in the Mediterranean Sea. Moreover, beached or floating specimen samples belonging to the eight common species have been tested in the laboratory, providing evidence that this approach represents a reliable, cost- and time-effective tool for their specific identification