Strange loves: a remarkable case of aberrant copulation in beetles (Coleoptera: Meloidae, Chrysomelidae)

A case of copulation between two mimic and repellent beetle species (a male of Timarcha fracassii, and a female of Meloe autumnalis), belonging to distinct families (Chrysomelidae, Meloidae), is recorded

La tettonica per una pedagogia dell’architettura. Il progetto di una One Person House e nuovi paradigmi teorici / Tectonics for an architectural pedagogy. The One Person House project and new theoretical paradigms

Il paper presenta i presupposti metodologici e gli esiti di un percorso didattico sviluppato nel corso del lockdown dovuto al Covid-19. A par- tire da una riflessione sulla costruzione di uno spazio abitativo minimo, il tema progettuale sviluppato è stato la concezione di una One Person House (OPH) per far fronte ad ulteriori futuri periodi di lockdown e distanziamento sociale. Un processo di research by design condotto attraverso quattro esercizi propedeutici, d’ispirazione antropomorfa e concettualmente legati tra loro da ideali e progressive azioni di montaggio e con- trollo della misura; una pedagogia del progetto fondata sulla materialità dell’architettura, secondo una vera e propria poetica della costruzione che guarda a uno dei suoi principi fondativi, la tettonica, ovvero l’arte dell’assemblaggio. This paper presents the methodological assumptions and the results of an educational path developed during the Covid-19 lockdown. Starting from a reflection on the construction of a minimum living space, the de- sign theme developed was the concept of a one-person house (OPH) to cope with additional lockdowns and social distancing in the future. A process of research by design pursued through four propaedeutic exercises, anthropomorphically inspired and conceptually linked by ideal and progressive actions of assembly and control of measurement. A pedagogy of design based on the material nature of architecture, following a construction philosophy that focuses on one of its founding principles, tectonics, or the art of assembly

Rural–urban gradient and land use in a millenary metropolis: how urbanization affects avian functional groups and the role of old villas in bird assemblage patterning

Abstract. Urbanization generally leads to a complex environmental gradient, ranging from almost undisturbed natural areas to highly modified urban landscapes. Here we analyse the effects of a rural–urban gradient on breeding bird communities and functional species groups in remnant natural and semi-natural areas of Rome. A total of 69 breeding bird species were found in the study area. Species richness decreased with increasing urbanization at two spatial scales: the point count station and the landscape scales. Evenness showed a negative trend from periphery to city centre, whereas for dominant species the opposite was true. Functional species groups responded to the urbanization gradient with functional group-specific patterns. Those groups linked to open habitats (nesting and habitat functional groups) decreased in abundance along the rural–urban gradient, whereas those associated with forests exhibited a mixed trend. Generalist species' occurrence increased with urbanization. As for predators and granivorous species, we found a negative relationship with urbanization whereas for omnivorous species the opposite trend was true. The distribution of old villas (large-sized remnant green areas) in the inner city areas influenced species composition along the studied gradient, usually showing higher species richness than surrounding fragments. Agricultural areas hosted richer and better balanced bird assemblages in respect to those found in urban and forested areas. Our findings proved that an urban gradient plays a major role in structuring bird communities, although the extent and distribution of land use categories was another factor that influenced avian assemblages. The presence of historical villas also influenced bird assemblages, making it possible to preserve high bird diversity even in inner city-areas

The decline of the Aeolian wall lizard, Podarcis raffonei : causes and conservation proposals

Investigations carried out in the Aeolian Islands (off north-east Sicily) during 1989–99 gathered evidence strongly indicating that the endemic Aeolian wall lizard Podarcis raffonei is close to extinction. Competitive exclusion by the lizard Podarcis sicula, which has been introduced by man, habitat degradation, and possibly reduced genetic variability and inbreeding, were the main causes for the decline of the species. For the Aeolian wall lizard to recover from its threatened status and to prevent further decimation of populations, collection and trade in the species should be prohibited, and an education programme for local people should be promoted. An integrated project involving habitat protection and captive breeding is needed to secure the species in the wild for the future

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

Effetto di variabili ambientali sulla densit? di attivit? di tassocenosi edafiche (Isopoda Oniscidea, Chilopoda, Coleoptera Carabidae) in habitat forestali dell\u27Italia centrale

Results on research on Isopoda Oniscidea, Chilopoda and Coleoptera Carabidae in natural and artificial oak forests in centra Italy (Castel di Guido, Roma, 10-80 m s.l.m).Si riportano i risultati di una ricerca condotta su Isopodi Oniscidei, Chilopodi e Coleotteri Carabidi in querceti naturali e artificiali, in un\u27area sottoposta a gestione lungo il versante tirrenico dell\u27Italia centrale (Castel di Guido, Roma, 10-80 m s.l.m). Campionamenti mensili sono stati condotti per 12 mesi (2009-2010) con pitfall-traps (NaCl e aceto) in habitat forestali (4 stazioni, 8 trappole ciascuna) differenti per grado di complessit? strutturale. Scopo del lavoro ? stato quello di testare tramite regressioni multiple la possibile relazione tra variabili strutturali dell\u27ambiente (copertura di canopy, di strato arbustivo, di strato erbaceo, copertura e profondit? della lettiera, numero di rami a terra) e i valori di densit? di attivit? annuali (Day) delle singole trappole nei tre gruppi campionati, utilizzando le sei variabili ambientali e la loro combinazione in due fattori principali estratti dalla PCA. I valori delle variabili sono stati calcolati ogni mese secondo la scala di Braun-Blanquet entro una circonferenza di raggio 2 m con centro la trappola. I due modelli di regressione adottati hanno dato risultati significativi e parzialmente analoghi solo per Chilopodi e Coleotteri Carabidi. La DAy dei Chilopodi ? significativamente influenzata dalla copertura del canopy, dello strato arbustivo e della lettiera mentre quella dei Coleotteri Carabidi dal canopy e dallo strato arbustivo. E\u27 probabile che i fattori ambientali di tipo strutturale siano indirettamente importanti nella scelta dell\u27ambiente d\u27elezione da parte dei Chilopodi e dei Coleotteri Carabidi; infatti, la presenza di una complessa stratificazione in alcune delle stazioni esaminate e la diversificazione delle nicchie trofiche e spaziali potrebbero aver influenzato direttamente la presenza di molte specie di invertebrati fitofagi, potenziali prede per molte specie di Chilopodi e Coleotteri Carabidi

Guidelines for the monitoring of Rosalia alpina

Rosalia alpina (Linnaeus, 1758) is a large longhorn beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) which is protected by the Habitats Directive and which typically inhabits beech forests characterised by the presence of mature, dead (or moribund) and sun-exposed trees. A revision of the current knowledge on systematics, ecology and conservation of R. alpina is reported. The research was carried out as part of the LIFE MIPP project which aims to find a standard monitoring method for saproxylic beetles protected in Europe. For monitoring this species, different methods were tested and compared in two areas of the Apennines, utilising wild trees, logs and tripods (artificially built with beech woods), all potentially suitable for the reproduction of the species. Even if all methods succeeded in the survey of the target species, these results showed that the use of wild trees outperformed other methods. Indeed, the use of wild trees allowed more adults to be observed and required less intensive labour. However, monitoring the rosalia longicorn on wild trees has the main disadvantage that they can hardly be considered “standard sampling units”, as each tree may be differently attractive to adults. Our results demonstrated that the most important factors influencing the attraction of single trunks were wood volume, sun-exposure and decay stage. Based on the results obtained during the project LIFE MIPP, as well as on a literature review, a standard monitoring method for R. alpina was developed

3D vs. 2D MRI radiomics in skeletal Ewing sarcoma: Feature reproducibility and preliminary machine learning analysis on neoadjuvant chemotherapy response prediction

ObjectiveThe extent of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy predicts survival in Ewing sarcoma. This study focuses on MRI radiomics of skeletal Ewing sarcoma and aims to investigate feature reproducibility and machine learning prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Materials and methodsThis retrospective study included thirty patients with biopsy-proven skeletal Ewing sarcoma, who were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery at two tertiary sarcoma centres. 7 patients were poor responders and 23 were good responders based on pathological assessment of the surgical specimen. On pre-treatment T1-weighted and T2-weighted MRI, 2D and 3D tumour segmentations were manually performed. Features were extracted from original and wavelet-transformed images. Feature reproducibility was assessed through small geometrical transformations of the regions of interest mimicking multiple manual delineations, and intraclass correlation coefficient >0.75 defined feature reproducibility. Feature selection also consisted of collinearity and significance analysis. After class balancing in the training cohort, three machine learning classifiers were trained and tested on unseen data using hold-out cross-validation. Results1303 (77%) 3D and 620 (65%) 2D radiomic features were reproducible. 4 3D and 4 2D features passed feature selection. Logistic regression built upon 3D features achieved the best performance with 85% accuracy (AUC=0.9) in predicting response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. ConclusionCompared to 2D approach, 3D MRI radiomics of Ewing sarcoma had superior reproducibility and higher accuracy in predicting response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, particularly when using logistic regression classifier

Italian natural history museums on the verge of collapse?

The Italian natural history museums are facing a critical situation, due to the progressive loss of scientific relevance, decreasing economic investments, and scarcity of personnel. This is extremely alarming, especially for ensuring the long-term preservation of the precious collections they host. Moreover, a commitment in fieldwork to increase scientific collections and concurrent taxonomic research are rarely considered priorities, while most of the activities are addressed to public events with political payoffs, such as exhibits, didactic meetings, expositions, and talks. This is possibly due to the absence of a national museum that would have better steered research activities and overall concepts for collection management. We here propose that Italian natural history museums collaborate to instate a “metamuseum”, by establishing a reciprocal interaction network aimed at sharing budgetary and technical resources, which would assure better coordination of common long-term goals and scientific activities

The Role of Attitudes Toward Medication and Treatment Adherence in the Clinical Response to LAIs: Findings From the STAR Network Depot Study

Background: Long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics are efficacious in managing psychotic symptoms in people affected by severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The present study aimed to investigate whether attitude toward treatment and treatment adherence represent predictors of symptoms changes over time. Methods: The STAR Network \u201cDepot Study\u201d was a naturalistic, multicenter, observational, prospective study that enrolled people initiating a LAI without restrictions on diagnosis, clinical severity or setting. Participants from 32 Italian centers were assessed at three time points: baseline, 6-month, and 12-month follow-up. Psychopathological symptoms, attitude toward medication and treatment adherence were measured using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI-10) and the Kemp's 7-point scale, respectively. Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate whether attitude toward medication and treatment adherence independently predicted symptoms changes over time. Analyses were conducted on the overall sample and then stratified according to the baseline severity (BPRS < 41 or BPRS 65 41). Results: We included 461 participants of which 276 were males. The majority of participants had received a primary diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (71.80%) and initiated a treatment with a second-generation LAI (69.63%). BPRS, DAI-10, and Kemp's scale scores improved over time. Six linear regressions\u2014conducted considering the outcome and predictors at baseline, 6-month, and 12-month follow-up independently\u2014showed that both DAI-10 and Kemp's scale negatively associated with BPRS scores at the three considered time points. Linear mixed-effects models conducted on the overall sample did not show any significant association between attitude toward medication or treatment adherence and changes in psychiatric symptoms over time. However, after stratification according to baseline severity, we found that both DAI-10 and Kemp's scale negatively predicted changes in BPRS scores at 12-month follow-up regardless of baseline severity. The association at 6-month follow-up was confirmed only in the group with moderate or severe symptoms at baseline. Conclusion: Our findings corroborate the importance of improving the quality of relationship between clinicians and patients. Shared decision making and thorough discussions about benefits and side effects may improve the outcome in patients with severe mental disorders