Il Casentino: tradizioni etnofarmacobotaniche nei comuni di Poppi e Bibbiena (Arezzo - Toscana)

The Casentino area: ethnopharmacobotanical traditions in the towns of Poppi and Bibbiena (Arezzo-Tuscany). The results refer an ethnopharmacobotanical study carried out in the territories of Poppi and Bibbiena in the Casentino area. There are 89 plants used in folk medicine; some of them are not known to scientific medicine (Asplenium trichomanes L., Fagus sylvatica L., Malva sylvestris L., Nerium oleander L. and Tamus communis L.)

Critical sets of nonlinear Sturm-Liouville operators of Ambrosetti-Prodi type

The critical set C of the operator F:H^2_D([0,pi]) -> L^2([0,pi]) defined by F(u)=-u''+f(u) is studied. Here X:=H^2_D([0,pi]) stands for the set of functions that satisfy the Dirichlet boundary conditions and whose derivatives are in L^2([0,pi]). For generic nonlinearities f, C=\cup C_k decomposes into manifolds of codimension 1 in X. If f''0, the set C_j is shown to be non-empty if, and only if, -j^2 (the j-th eigenvalue of u -> u'') is in the range of f'. The critical components C_k are (topological) hyperplanes.Comment: 6 pages, no figure

High prevalence of anti-hepatitis e virus antibodies among blood donors in central Italy, february to march 2014

Prevalence of anti-hepatitis E virus (HEV) antibodies is highly variable in developed countries, which seems partly due to differences in assay sensitivity. Using validated sensitive assays, we tested 313 blood donors attending a hospital transfusion unit in central Italy in January and February 2014 for anti-HEV IgG and IgM and HEV RNA. Data on HEV exposure were collected from all donors. Overall anti-HEV IgG prevalence was 49% (153/313). Eating raw dried pig-liver sausage was the only independent predictor of HEV infection (adjusted prevalence rate ratio = 2.14; 95% confidence interval: 1.23–3.74). Three donors were positive for either anti-HEV IgM (n = 2; 0.6%) or HEV RNA (n = 2; 0.6%); they were completely asymptomatic, without alanine aminotransferase (ALT) abnormalities. Of the two HEV RNA-positive donors (both harbouring genotype 3), one was anti-HEV IgG- and IgM-positive, the other was anti-HEV IgG- and IgM-negative. The third donor was positive for anti-HEV IgG and IgM but HEV RNA-negative. HEV infection is therefore hyperendemic among blood donors (80% men 18–64 years-old) from central Italy and associated with local dietary habits. Nearly 1% of donors have acute or recent infection, implying potential transmission to blood recipients. Neither ALT nor anti-HEV IgM testing seems useful to prevent transfusion-transmitted HEV infection. © 2016, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

Ensayos exploratorios en macetas sobre fertilidad de suelos del Chaco Oriental Argentino

Se estudia el efecto del agregado de P, K, Ca, Mg y Sen cuatro suelos del Chaco Oriental, República Argentina y de Mo,Cu,Zn y B en dos de ellos. Se aplicó la técnica del cultivo intensivo en macetas, en invernadero, la planta utilizada fue Trífolium repens cv. Haifa. El diseño estadístico fue completamente al azar con tres repeticiones. Se realizó el análisis de la variancia, las diferencias entre medias de los tratamientos se probaron con el test de Tukey, nivel 5 %. Los resultados indican que los suelos estudiados pueden presentar restricciones de nutrientes minerales que limitan el establecimiento y persistencia de leguminosas forrajeras invernales. Uno de los suelos estudiados, Los Laureles (Provincia de Santa Fe), tiene como deficiencias primarias P y Zn, siendo el Mg y S deficiencias secundarias. En dos suelos de la Provincia del Chaco hay deficiencias de Ca y Mg. Solo uno de los suelos (Provincia de Formosa) no presenta deficiencias minerales en los nutrientes analizados

Potential Nutrigenomic Approaches to Reduce the High Incidence of Obesity in Qatar

Obesity prevalence has been growing exponentially over the last few decades, with a high impact in high-income countries, like Qatar. Several approaches are attempting to understand the causes of this phenomenon however more important is what to do to reverse the trends. Obesity is widely studied, mostly in Europe and the Unites States, and a number of studies have demonstrate the role of specific gene patterns, transcriptome and proteome pathways, and gut microbiome strains. The Omics sciences have a great potential to investigate the determinants of non-communicable diseases, such as obesity. Nutritional genomics sciences apply all the Omics approaches to address nutrition-related diseases, investigating the interaction between genes and diet. To date, few data are available from nutrigenomic studies conducted in Middle East and particularly in Qatar to help the design of targeted interventions. The high incidence of obesity and the peculiar genetic make-up of the Qatari population provide opportunities for exploring nutrigenomic approaches to help addressing the problem

Protective green cover enhances soil respiration and native mycorrhizal potential compared with soil tillage in a high-density olive orchard in a long term study

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), living in symbiosis with most food crops, improve plant growth and nutrition and provide fundamental ecosystem services. Here, the possibility of increasing root density and native AMF activity through appropriate soil management practices was investigated, comparing the long-term (10 years) effects of a permanent green cover (GC) with shallow tillage (ST) in a high-density olive orchard in a Mediterranean environment. Olive root density, AMF colonization, and soil mycorrhizal inoculum potential (MIP) were determined after trench excavations at different soil depths. Soil respiration was determined by infra-red gas analysis. The activity of native AMF, as assessed by MIP bioassay, was higher in GC plots than in ST ones. Olive roots were well colonized by AMF in both management systems. Soil respiration rates of GC plots were often higher than those of ST, whereas soil moisture and temperature in the topsoil were similar in both treatments. Soil depth significantly affected root density, which peaked at 0.2 m soil depth in both soil treatments. The maintenance of a permanent plant cover appears to be a better option than shallow tillage as a soil management practice to preserve biological soil fertility in olive orchards

CALDER - Neutrinoless double-beta decay identification in TeO2_2 bolometers with kinetic inductance detectors

Next-generation experiments searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay must be sensitive to a Majorana neutrino mass as low as 10 meV. CUORE, an array of 988 TeO$_2$ bolometers being commissioned at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy, features an expected sensitivity of 50-130 meV at 90% C.L, that can be improved by removing the background from $\alpha$ radioactivity. This is possible if, in coincidence with the heat release in a bolometer, the Cherenkov light emitted by the $\beta$ signal is detected. The amount of light detected is so far limited to only 100 eV, requiring low-noise cryogenic light detectors. The CALDER project (Cryogenic wide-Area Light Detectors with Excellent Resolution) aims at developing a small prototype experiment consisting of TeO$_2$ bolometers coupled to new light detectors based on kinetic inductance detectors. The R&D is focused on the light detectors that could be implemented in a next-generation neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, added reference to first result

Cross-reactivity of 4CMenB vaccine-induced antibodies against meningococci belonging to non-B serogroups in Italy

The four-component meningococcal serogroup B vaccine (4CMenB) contains antigens present in the majority of meningococci causing invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) and may potentially offer protection against strains belonging to non-B serogroups. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of 4CMenB-induced antibodies to kill, in a human serum bactericidal assay (hSBA), non-B meningococci belonging to the main genotypes responsible for IMD in Italy. Meningococci, collected between 2015 and 2017, was characterized for PorA, FetA and sequence type, and for clonal complex. Twenty non-B isolates, representative of the most frequent genotypes, were molecularly characterized for 4CMenB antigens and tested in hSBA with sera from 4CMenB-vaccinated infants and adolescents. Among twenty isolates, eleven were serogroup C, five were Y, two W and two X. All isolates contained genes encoding for fHbp and NHBA antigens and four harbored the NadA full-length encoding gene. Positive hSBA titers were obtained against all serogroup W, X and Y isolates and against five serogroup C isolates. These data show that the 4CMenB vaccine can induce bactericidal antibodies against genetically representative meningococcal W, Y and X strains from Italy. For serogroup C, different susceptibilities to killing were observed for strains with similar antigenic repertoires

Double-beta decay of 130^{130}Te to the first 0+^{+} excited state of 130^{130}Xe with CUORICINO

The CUORICINO experiment was an array of 62 TeO$_{2}$ single-crystal bolometers with a total $^{130}$Te mass of $11.3\,$kg. The experiment finished in 2008 after more than 3 years of active operating time. Searches for both $0\nu$ and $2\nu$ double-beta decay to the first excited $0^{+}$ state in $^{130}$Xe were performed by studying different coincidence scenarios. The analysis was based on data representing a total exposure of N($^{130}$Te)$\cdot$t=$9.5\times10^{25}\,$y. No evidence for a signal was found. The resulting lower limits on the half lives are $T^{2\nu}_{1/2}(^{130} Te\rightarrow^{130} Xe^{*})>1.3\times10^{23}\,$y (90% C.L.), and $T^{0\nu}_{1/2}(^{130} Te\rightarrow^{130} Xe^{*})>9.4\times10^{23}\,$y (90% C.L.).Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure