Preferences for facial and vocal masculinity in homosexual men: the role of relationship status, sexual restrictiveness, and self-perceived masculinity

Studies on mate preferences usually examine heterosexual attraction; comparatively little is known about preferences of individuals whose sexuality is aimed at the same sex. We examined preferences of two groups of androphilic individuals-homosexual men and heterosexual women- for male facial and vocal level of masculinity. Facial images of 58 men and vocal recordings of 30 men were rated by 51 heterosexual women and 33 homosexual men for their attractiveness and masculinity- femininity. In both groups of raters, ratings of vocal attractiveness and masculinity were positively correlated, but there was no overall preference for facial masculinity. After splitting raters according to their relationship status, sexual restrictiveness, and self-rated masculinity, we found significant preferences for masculine voices only in single homosexual men and coupled heterosexual women, while a preference for feminine male faces was found in coupled homosexual men. Furthermore, homosexual men describing themselves as relatively masculine significantly preferred masculine voices but also more feminine male faces. Our results demonstrate that conditional mate preferences are not restricted to heterosexual interactions, and homosexual men prefer a mixture of masculine and feminine traits in their potential male partners

Distribution and natural history of Plutonium zwierleini (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) in Sicily (Italy)

Plutonium zwierleini is a large plutoniumid centipede of great evolutionary interest, occurring with isolated populations along the western Mediterranean area, from Spain to Italy. Due to its rarity and the extreme paucity of available records, P. zwierleini is among the least known Mediterranean chilopods, and scarce information is currently available on its ecology and natural history. Based on an extensive sampling effort carried out in Sicily between 2022 and 2023, we here provide additional occurrence localities for the species across Sicily, and new insights into its ecology. Overall, 29 novel Sicilian records of P. zwierleini, scattered across 21 localities, were collected thus increasing its known Sicilian distribution area by 117%, and the number of localities by 110%. The species was found in a wide range of habitats such as open areas, woods, buildings, and caves, characterizing Plutonium zwierleini as a habitat generalist, whose fine ecological preferenda need to be further explored. Moreover, to explore the diet and behaviour of the species, some specimens were kept in captivity. The captive individuals fed mostly on dead or poorly mobile soft-bodied prey and inert food, without ever displaying predatory behaviour; this suggests that, contrarily to what is currently assumed, P. zwierleini might be a scavenger rather than a predator. The potential distribution of Plutonium zwierleini in Sicily was inferred based on georeferenced occurrence records and climatic variables. The implemented MaxEnt model forecasts the possible occurrence of P. zwierleini on the whole island, with the single exception of its south-easternmost part, possibly due to the local pattern of precipitation seasonality. We hope that the present work might pave the way for further surveys aimed at a better understanding of the ecology of Plutonium zwierleini and the collection of new data in the other regions inhabited by this secretive species

Water resource recovery facilities (Wrrfs): The case study of palermo university (Italy)

The wastewater sector paradigm is shifting from wastewater treatment to resource recovery. In addition, concerns regarding sustainability during the operation have increased. In this sense, there is a need to break barriers (i.e., social, economic, technological, legal, etc.) for moving forward towards water resource recovery facilities and demonstration case studies can be very effective and insightful. This paper presents a new water resource recovery case study which is part of the Horizon 2020 EU Project “Achieving wider uptake of water-smart solutions—Wider Uptake”. The final aim is to demonstrate the importance of a resource recovery system based on the circular economy concept. The recovery facilities at Palermo University (Italy) are first presented. Afterwards, the resource recovery pilot plants are described. Preliminary results have underlined the great potential of the wastewater treatment plant in terms of resources recovery and the central role of the University in fostering the transition towards circular economy. The fermentation batch test highlighted a volatile fatty acids (VFAs) accumulation suitable for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production. The results of static adsorption and desorption tests showed that the highest amount of adsorbed NH4+ was recorded for untreated and HCl-Na treated clinoptilolite

PRIMARY HYPERPARATHYROIDISM AND THE PRESENCE OF KIDNEY STONES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH DIFFERENT HAPLOTYPES OF THE CALCIUMSENSINGRECEPTOR

Introduction: Three single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the calcium-sensing receptor gene (CASR) encoding the missense substitutions A986S, R990G, and Q1011E have been associated with normal variation in extracellular calcium homeostasis, both individually and in haplotype combination. The aim of this study was to examine haplotype associations in primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). Patients and Methods: Patients with sporadic PHPT (n = 237) were recruited from endocrine clinics and healthy controls (n = 433) from a blood donor clinic, and levels of serum calcium, albumin, and PTH were measured. In PHPT patients, urinary calcium/creatinine clearances and bone mineral density at spine and femoral neck were measured and the presence of kidney stones and vertebral fractures identified. The CASR single-nucleotide polymorphisms were haplotyped by allele-specific sequencing. Results: Four haplotypes (ARQ, SRQ, AGQ, and ARE) of eight were observed, in keeping with significant linkage disequilibrium, but haplotype frequencies did not show significant Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium. The SRQ haplotype was more common in PHPT (125 of 474 alleles) than in controls (170 of 866 alleles, P = 0.006) and showed a significant (P = 0.006) gene-dosage effect. There was no significant association between haplotype and bone mineral density or fractures, but association with kidney stones was significant (P = 0.0007). In the stone-forming subgroup, the SRQ haplotype was underrepresented and AGQ overrepresented. Patients bearing the AGQ haplotype had an odds ratio of 3.8 (95% confidence interval, 1.30-11.3) for presentation with renal stones compared with the rest. Conclusion: Our data indicate that the CASR SRQ haplotype is significantly associated with PHPT in our population. Within the PHPT patient population, the AGQ haplotype is significantly associated with kidney stones

Large deletion at the CDC73 gene locus and search for predictive markers of the presence of a CDC73 genetic lesion

The Hyperparathyroidism with Jaw-Tumours syndrome is caused by mutations of the CDC73 gene: it has been suggested that early onset of the disease and high Ca2+ levels may predict the presence of a CDC73 mutation. We searched for large deletions at the CDC73 locus in patients with: HPT-JT (nr 2), atypical adenoma (nr 7) or sporadic parathyroid carcinoma (nr 11) with a specific MLPA and qRT-PCR assays applied on DNA extracted from whole blood. A Medline search in database for all the papers reporting a CDC73 gene mutation, clinical/histological diagnosis, age at onset, Ca2+, PTH levels for familial/sporadic cases was conducted with the aim to possibly identify biochemical/clinical markers predictive, in first diagnosis, of the presence of a CDC73 gene mutation. A novel genomic deletion of the first 10 exons of the CDC73 gene was found in a 3-generation HPT-JT family, confirmed by SNP array analysis. A classification tree built on the published data, showed the highest probability of having a CDC73 mutation in subjects with age at the onset < 41.5 years (44/47 subjects, 93.6%, had the mutation). Whereas the lowest probability was found in subjects with age at the onset ≥ 41.5 years and Ca2+ levels <13.96 mg/dL (7/20 subjects, 35.0%, had the mutation, odds ratio = 27.1, p < 0.001). We report a novel large genomic CDC73 gene deletion identified in an Italian HPT-JT family. Age at onset < 41.5 ys and Ca2+ > 13.96 mg/dL are predictive for the presence of a CDC73 genetic lesion

Primary hyperparathyroidism and the presence of kidney stones are associated with different haplotypes of the calcium-sensing receptor

Introduction: Three single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the calcium-sensing receptor gene (CASR) encoding the missense substitutions A986S, R990G, and Q1011E have been associated with normal variation in extracellular calcium homeostasis, both individually and in haplotype combination. The aim of this study was to examine haplotype associations in primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). Patients and Methods: Patients with sporadic PHPT (n = 237) were recruited from endocrine clinics and healthy controls (n = 433) from a blood donor clinic, and levels of serum calcium, albumin, and PTH were measured. In PHPT patients, urinary calcium/creatinine clearances and bone mineral density at spine and femoral neck were measured and the presence of kidney stones and vertebral fractures identified. The CASR single-nucleotide polymorphisms were haplotyped by allele-specific sequencing. Results: Four haplotypes (ARQ, SRQ, AGQ, and ARE) of eight were observed, in keeping with significant linkage disequilibrium, but haplotype frequencies did not show significant Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium. The SRQ haplotype was more common in PHPT (125 of 474 alleles) than in controls (170 of 866 alleles, P = 0.006) and showed a significant (P = 0.006) gene-dosage effect. There was no significant association between haplotype and bone mineral density or fractures, but association with kidney stones was significant (P = 0.0007). In the stone-forming subgroup, the SRQ haplotype was underrepresented and AGQ overrepresented. Patients bearing the AGQ haplotype had an odds ratio of 3.8 (95% confidence interval, 1.30-11.3) for presentation with renal stones compared with the rest. Conclusion: Our data indicate that the CASR SRQ haplotype is significantly associated with PHPT in our population. Within the PHPT patient population, the AGQ haplotype is significantly associated with kidney stones

Diagnostic and prognostic value of B4GALT1 hypermethylation and its clinical significance as a novel circulating cell-free DNA biomarker in colorectal cancer

Epigenetic modifications of glyco-genes have been documented in different types of cancer and are tightly linked to proliferation, invasiveness, metastasis, and drug resistance. This study aims to investigate the diagnostic, prognostic, and therapy-response predictive value of the glyco-gene B4GALT1 in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. A Kaplan-Meier analysis was conducted in 1418 CRC patients (GEO and TCGA datasets) to assess the prognostic and therapy-response predictive values of the aberrant expression and methylation status of B4GALT1. Quantitative methylation-specific PCR (QMSP) and droplet digital quantitative methylation-specific PCR (dd-QMSP) were respectively used to detect hypermethylated B4GALT1 in metastasis and plasma in four cohorts of metastatic CRC cases (mCRC). Both the downregulated expression and promoter hypermethylation of B4GALT1 have a negative prognostic impact on CRC. Interestingly a low expression level of B4GALT1 was significantly associated with poor cetuximab response (progression-free survival (PFS) p = 0.01) particularly in wild-type (WT)-KRAS patients (p = 0.03). B4GALT1 promoter was aberrantly methylated in liver and lung metastases. The detection of hypermethylated B4GALT1 in plasma of mCRC patients showed a highly discriminative receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve profile (area under curve (AUC) value 0.750; 95% CI: 0.592-0.908, p = 0.008), clearly distinguishing mCRC patients from healthy controls. Based on an optimal cut-off value defined by the ROC analysis, B4GALT1 yield a 100% specificity and a 50% sensitivity. These data support the potential value of B4GALT1 as an additional novel biomarker for the prediction of cetuximab response, and as a specific and sensitive diagnostic circulating biomarker that can be detected in CRC

Biodiversity as a multidimensional construct: a review, framework and case study of herbivory's impact on plant biodiversity

Biodiversity is inherently multidimensional, encompassing taxonomic, functional, phylogenetic, genetic, landscape and many other elements of variability of life on the Earth. However, this fundamental principle of multidimensionality is rarely applied in research aimed at understanding biodiversity's value to ecosystem functions and the services they provide. This oversight means that our current understanding of the ecological and environmental consequences of biodiversity loss is limited primarily to what unidimensional studies have revealed. To address this issue, we review the literature, develop a conceptual framework for multidimensional biodiversity research based on this review and provide a case study to explore the framework. Our case study specifically examines how herbivory by whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) alters the multidimensional influence of biodiversity on understory plant cover at Black Rock Forest, New York. Using three biodiversity dimensions (taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity) to explore our framework, we found that herbivory alters biodiversity's multidimensional influence on plant cover; an effect not observable through a unidimensional approach. Although our review, framework and case study illustrate the advantages of multidimensional over unidimensional approaches, they also illustrate the statistical and empirical challenges such work entails. Meeting these challenges, however, where data and resources permit, will be important if we are to better understand and manage the consequences we face as biodiversity continues to decline in the foreseeable future

Frequent NRG1 fusions in Caucasian pulmonary mucinous adenocarcinoma predicted by Phospho-ErbB3 expression

NRG1 fusions were recently reported as a new molecular feature of Invasive Mucinous Adenocarcinoma (IMA) of the lung. The NRG1 chimeric ligand acts as a strong inductor of phosphorylation and tyrosine kinase activity of the ErbB2/ErbB3 heterodimer, thus enhancing the PI3K–AKT/MAPK pathways. The NRG1 fusions were widely investigated in Asian IMA cohorts, whereas just anecdotal information are available about the occurrence of NRG1 fusions in IMA Caucasian population. Here we firstly explored a large Caucasian cohort of 51 IMAs and 34 non-IMA cases for the occurrence of NRG1 rearrangements by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and RNA target sequencing. FISH results were correlated to the immunohistochemical expression of phosphorylated-ErbB3 (pErbB3) receptor and the mutational status of KRAS, EGFR and ALK genes. The NRG1 rearrangements were detected in 31% IMAs and 3% non-IMAs and the CD74-NRG1 fusion transcript variant was characterized in 4 NRG1-positive IMAs. Moreover, pErbB3 expression was found to be strictly associated to the mucinous pattern (p = 0.012, Chi-square test) and all IMA cases showing aberrant expression of pErbB3 demonstrated NRG1 rearrangements. No significant correlation between NRG1 rearrangements and EGFR, KRAS or ALK mutations respectively, was observed. We report for the first time that NRG1 fusions are driver alterations clearly associated with mucinous lung adenocarcinoma subtype of Caucasian patients and not exclusive of Asiatic population. pErbB3 immunostaining may represent a strong predictor of NRG1 fusions, pointing out the detection of pErbB3 by IHC as a rapid and effective pre-screening method to select the NRG1-positive patients