THE FOSSIL VERTEBRATE DATABASE OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF FLORENCE AND HIGH-RESOLUTION MAGNETIC STRATIGRAPHY IN THE UPPER VALDARNO BASINS, AS A CLUE TO DATE OLD COLLECTIONS

The well established biochronologic sequence of the Villafranchian Stage in Italy is mainly based on faunal associations from the Upper Valdarno (UV) mostly collected since the late 18 hundreds, and housed in the Natural History Museum of Florence. The old collections were assembled from mostly unidentified stratigraphic levels, and their position possibly reconstructed from the surrounding geologic features. The recent magnetostratigraphic assessment of the sequence marked the earliest finds about 3.0 Ma in themid Pliocene. The end of the Pliocene was recorded by the Olduvai magnetochron in the Matassino and Poggio Rosso sites, and by other sparse assemblages. The Tasso Faunal Unit, assembled in the UV, is assigned to the Pleistocene, yet to be clarified by magnetostratigraphic data. The calibration of old, poorly timed faunas was greatly facilitatedby the computer automated catalogue of the Museum. The possibility of numerous feed-back controls enhanced any contradictory information in fossil collections and made them most fruitful for paleomagnetic calibrations: the Faella fauna and the Faella main outcrop are the ones that will be first re-examined. It is in fact now evidenced the potential role of the catalogue for accomplishing the calibration of old findings timed around the Olduvai chron, with an accuracy depending on the available record of their inferred stratigraphic levels. Numerical dates will make the old collections comparable to the new ones and both fitting into a comprehensive framework of faunal, chronologic, sedimentary evolution of the UV basin, and development in the Plio-Pleistocene climate changes.&nbsp

THE POGGIO ROSSO LOCALITY CALIBRATED TO THE END-PLIOCENE AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR DATING THE LATE VILLAFRANCHIAN MAMMAL FAUNAS OF THE UPPER VALDARNO, CENTRAL ITALY

A rich deposit of mammals was discovered in September 1995 at Poggio Rosso, the hill-top of the Matassino clay pit, in the Upper Valdarno Basin, 30 m above another deposit whose local fauna was assembled 30 years earlier. This latter provided the Matassino Locality, assigned to the beginning of the late Villafranchian Mammal Neogene age on the basis of its affinity with the Olivola faunal unit, which was also taken to represent the earliest assemblage in the Pleistocene. The paleomagnetic record in the short section across the Matassino Locality revealed the Olduvai chron, which was imprinted also in the fossil-bearing stratum of Poggio Rosso, so constraining both their ages to the latest Pliocene. The Poggio Rosso fauna, yet to be paleontologically determined, and the other late Villafranchian faunas collected in the Upper Valdarno from the Montevarchi complex fit a similar time span. Therefore, their magnetostratigraphically calibrated ages provide the time constraints for the biochronological relationships between faunas which can be tuned to several tie points for numerically evaluating their diversification steps during the whole Olduvai chron and shortly out of it.

PALEOMAGNETIC AND PALYNOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN THE UPPER VALDARNO BASIN (CENTRAL ITALY): CALIBRATION OF AN EARLY VILLAFRANCHIAN FAUNA

The silty clays embedding an early Villafranchian mammal fauna of the Triversa faunal unit (f.u.) have been paleomagnetically and palynologically studied in a continuous sequence exposed in the Santa Barbara quarry.The study has allowed to date the earliest occurrence in Italy of a faunal assemblage of this unit and to define the corresponding climatic conditions. The sampled section has provided a magnetic polarity sequence of the late Gauss,where the fossiliferous layer fits the Kaena reversed interval.Its age of ca. 3.1 Ma,during subtropical climate conditions correlatable to the Reuverian of Netherlands, suggests an older age for the beginning of the Villafranchian, possibly associated to a more dramatic scenario able to trigger the faunal turnover. &nbsp

Saggio di sacra inquisizione medievale in Tovo S. Giacomo dal 9 al 14 novembre 1881 e difesa del rev. arciprete Mandillo Giovanni Napoleone pubblicamente ed ingiustamente punito dall'eccellentissimo e reverendissimo monsignore Filippo Allegro

Saggio di sacra inquisizione medievale in Tovo S. Giacomo dal 9 al 14 novembre 1881 e difesa del rev. arciprete Mandillo Giovanni Napoleone pubblicamente ed ingiustamente punito dall'eccellentissimo e reverendissimo monsignore Filippo Allegro Genova : tipografia dei Tribunali, 1882 88 p., [1! c. di tav. : ill. ; 24 cm Ritr. dell'A Precede il front. l'avvertenza dell'A. al lettore

Biometrics measurements in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in the Picentini area. Part I: intersexual differences between young adult and adult subjects.

A series of biometrics measurements have been obtained in 16 Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) duly hunted in the Picentini area, outside the protected area. Data recorded included the sex, bodyweight, and age class (young adults 2 y.o.) as determined on tooth wearing by an experienced wildlife operator. Occipito-coccygeal (OC), nasal-occipitalis (NO), tail and total lengths, wither height, ear and hind foot (HF) length, upper and lower canine length and width (UCL, LCL, UCW, LCW) and carnassial length and width (data not shown), were measured directly on the carcasses. Condilo-basal (CB), hard palate (HP), scapular, mandibular and upper dentition (UD) lengths, inter-carnassial (IC) and zygomatic (Z) width were measured on latero-lateral and ventro-dorsal radiograms. A Wilcoxon sum rank test was applied to compare variables not normally distributed. For normally distributed variables, homoscedasticity was investigated by using a Levene’s test, post hoc a Student’s t test or a Welch ANOVA was applied. Significance was set at P<0.05. Results are summarized in table 1

Molecular Imaging of Vascular Calcification with 18 F-Sodium-Fluoride in Patients Infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus

18F-Sodium Fluoride (NaF) accumulates in areas of active hydroxyapatite deposition and potentially unstable atherosclerotic plaques. We assessed the presence of atherosclerotic plaques in 50 adult patients with HIV (HIV+) who had undergone two cardiac computed tomography scans to measure coronary artery calcium (CAC) progression. CAC and its progression are predictive of an unfavorable prognosis. Tracer uptake was quantified in six arterial territories: aortic arch, innominate carotid artery, right and left internal carotid arteries, left coronary (anterior descending and circumflex) and right coronary artery. Thirty-one patients showed CAC progression and 19 did not. At least one territory with high NaF uptake was observed in 150 (50%) of 300 arterial territories. High NaF uptake was detected more often in non-calcified than calcified areas (68% vs. 32%), and in patients without than in those with prior CAC progression (68% vs. 32%). There was no correlation between clinical and demographic variables and NaF uptake. In clinically stable HIV+ patients, half of the arterial territories showed a high NaF uptake, often in the absence of macroscopic calcification. NaF uptake at one time point did not correlate with prior progression of CAC. Prospective studies will demonstrate the prognostic significance of high NaF uptake in HIV+ patients

Regulation of angiogenesis by a non-canonical Wnt-Flt1 pathway in myeloid cells

Myeloid cells are a feature of most tissues. Here we show that during development, retinal myeloid cells (RMCs) produce Wnt ligands to regulate blood vessel branching. In the mouse retina, where angiogenesis occurs postnatally, somatic deletion in RMCs of the Wnt ligand transporter Wntless results in increased angiogenesis in the deeper layers. We also show that mutation of Wnt5a and Wnt11 results in increased angiogenesis and that these ligands elicit RMC responses via a non-canonical Wnt pathway. Using cultured myeloid-like cells and RMC somatic deletion of Flt1, we show that an effector of Wnt-dependent suppression of angiogenesis by RMCs is Flt1, a naturally occurring inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). These findings indicate that resident myeloid cells can use a non-canonical, Wnt-Flt1 pathway to suppress angiogenic branching

Where are we now with European forest multi-taxon biodiversity and where can we head to?

The European biodiversity and forest strategies rely on forest sustainable management (SFM) to conserve forest biodiversity. However, current sustainability assessments hardly account for direct biodiversity indicators. We focused on forest multi-taxon biodiversity to: i) gather and map the existing information; ii) identify knowledge and research gaps; iii) discuss its research potential. We established a research network to fit data on species, standing trees, lying deadwood and sampling unit description from 34 local datasets across 3591 sampling units. A total of 8724 species were represented, with the share of common and rare species varying across taxonomic classes: some included many species with several rare ones (e.g., Insecta); others (e.g., Bryopsida) were represented by few common species. Tree-related structural attributes were sampled in a subset of sampling units (2889; 2356; 2309 and 1388 respectively for diameter, height, deadwood and microhabitats). Overall, multitaxon studies are biased towards mature forests and may underrepresent the species related to other developmental phases. European forest compositional categories were all represented, but beech forests were overrepresented as compared to thermophilous and boreal forests. Most sampling units (94%) were referred to a habitat type of conservation concern. Existing information may support European conservation and SFM strategies in: (i) methodological harmonization and coordinated monitoring; (ii) definition and testing of SFM indicators and thresholds; (iii) data-driven assessment of the effects of environmental and management drivers on multi-taxon forest biological and functional diversity, (iv) multi-scale forest monitoring integrating in-situ and remotely sensed information. Forest biodiversity Multi-taxon Sustainable management Biodiversity conservation Forest stand structurepublishedVersio

Shedding light on typical species : implications for habitat monitoring

Habitat monitoring in Europe is regulated by Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, which suggests the use of typical species to assess habitat conservation status. Yet, the Directive uses the term “typical” species but does not provide a definition, either for its use in reporting or for its use in impact assessments. To address the issue, an online workshop was organized by the Italian Society for Vegetation Science (SISV) to shed light on the diversity of perspectives regarding the different concepts of typical species, and to discuss the possible implications for habitat monitoring. To this aim, we inquired 73 people with a very different degree of expertise in the field of vegetation science by means of a tailored survey composed of six questions. We analysed the data using Pearson's Chi-squared test to verify that the answers diverged from a random distribution and checked the effect of the degree of experience of the surveyees on the results. We found that most of the surveyees agreed on the use of the phytosociological method for habitat monitoring and of the diagnostic and characteristic species to evaluate the structural and functional conservation status of habitats. With this contribution, we shed light on the meaning of “typical” species in the context of habitat monitoring

A machine-learning based bio-psycho-social model for the prediction of non-obstructive and obstructive coronary artery disease

Background: Mechanisms of myocardial ischemia in obstructive and non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), and the interplay between clinical, functional, biological and psycho-social features, are still far to be fully elucidated. Objectives: To develop a machine-learning (ML) model for the supervised prediction of obstructive versus non-obstructive CAD. Methods: From the EVA study, we analysed adults hospitalized for IHD undergoing conventional coronary angiography (CCA). Non-obstructive CAD was defined by a stenosis &lt; 50% in one or more vessels. Baseline clinical and psycho-socio-cultural characteristics were used for computing a Rockwood and Mitnitski frailty index, and a gender score according to GENESIS-PRAXY methodology. Serum concentration of inflammatory cytokines was measured with a multiplex flow cytometry assay. Through an XGBoost classifier combined with an explainable artificial intelligence tool (SHAP), we identified the most influential features in discriminating obstructive versus non-obstructive CAD. Results: Among the overall EVA cohort (n = 509), 311 individuals (mean age 67 ± 11&nbsp;years, 38% females; 67% obstructive CAD) with complete data were analysed. The ML-based model (83% accuracy and 87% precision) showed that while obstructive CAD was associated with higher frailty index, older age and a cytokine signature characterized by IL-1β, IL-12p70 and IL-33, non-obstructive CAD was associated with a higher gender score (i.e., social characteristics traditionally ascribed to women) and with a cytokine signature characterized by IL-18, IL-8, IL-23. Conclusions: Integrating clinical, biological, and psycho-social features, we have optimized a sex- and gender-unbiased model that discriminates obstructive and non-obstructive CAD. Further mechanistic studies will shed light on the biological plausibility of these associations. Clinical trial registration: NCT02737982