Integration of Morphological Data into Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis: Toward the Identikit of the Stylasterid Ancestor

Stylasteridae is a hydroid family including 29 worldwide-distributed genera, all provided with a calcareous skeleton. They are abundant in shallow and deep waters and represent an important component of marine communities. In the present paper, we studied the evolution of ten morphological characters, currently used in stylasterid taxonomy, using a phylogenetic approach. Our results indicate that stylasterid morphology is highly plastic and that many events of independent evolution and reversion have occurred. Our analysis also allows sketching a possible identikit of the stylasterid ancestor. It had calcareous skeleton, reticulate-granular coenosteal texture, polyps randomly arranged, gastrostyle, and dactylopore spines, while lacking a gastropore lip and dactylostyles. If the ancestor had single or double/multiple chambered gastropore tube is uncertain. These data suggest that the ancestor was similar to the extant genera Cyclohelia and Stellapora. Our investigation is the first attempt to integrate molecular and morphological information to clarify the stylasterid evolutionary scenario and represents the first step to infer the stylasterid ancestor morphology. \ua9 2016 Puce et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

CD3+CD4+LAP+Foxp3-regulatory cells of the colonic lamina propria limit disease extension in ulcerative colitis

Background and Aims: In ulcerative colitis (UC), inflammation begins in the rectum and can extend proximally throughout the entire colon. The extension of inflammation is an important determinant of disease course, and may be limited by the action of regulatory T cells (Tregs). In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated the relationship between UC extension and the proportions of CD3+CD4+Foxp3+ and CD3+CD4+LAP+Foxp3- Tregs in the colonic lamina propria (LP) of 79 UC patients and 29 controls. The role of these cells in UC extension was also investigated in the murine oxazolone-induced colitis model. Methods: Patients: Disease extension was classified according to the Montreal classification. Where possible, endoscopic biopsies of involved and uninvolved tissue were obtained from UC patients. Mouse model: Colitis was induced by intrarectal oxazolone administration. Lamina propria mononuclear cells were isolated from patient biopsies and mouse colon tissue using enzymatic method and the percentage of CD3+CD4+Foxp3+ and CD3+CD4+LAP+Foxp3-cells evaluated by immunofluorescence. Confocal microscopy was applied for the visualization and quantification of CD4+LAP+ cells on tissue histological sections. Results: In UC patients with distal colitis the proportion of LP CD3+CD4+Foxp3+ Tregs was significantly higher in inflamed tissue than uninvolved tissue. As opposite, the proportion of LP CD3+CD4+LAP+ Tregs was significantly higher in uninvolved tissue than involved tissue. Both LP CD3+CD4+Foxp3+ and LP CD3+CD4+LAP+ Tregs proportion in involved tissue was significantly higher than in controls irrespective of the extension of inflammation. In mice with oxazolone-induced distal colitis, treatment with LAP-depleting antibody was associated with the development of extensive colitis. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that CD3+CD4+LAP+Foxp3-Tregs limit the extension of inflammatory lesions in UC patients

Studio sull'effetto dell'aumento della sedimentazione su un popolamento coralligeno

Lo studio e` stato effettuato per valutare l'effetto della sedimentazione sui popolamenti coralligeni. Per valutare l'effetto e` stato compiuto un esperimento manipolativo sui popolamenti presenti presso le Secche di Vada. A seguito dell'esperimento sono stati compiuti dei grattaggi delle zone prese in esame ed i campiono sono stati successivamente analizzati in laboratorio. Sui dati sono state condotte delle analisi univariate e multivariate

Role of extraction procedures on the concentration of varietal thiol precursors in Grillo white grape must

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Sponges associated with octocorals in the Indo-Pacific, with the description of four new species

FIGURE 27. Size/frequency distribution of anisochela lengths of Mycale (Aegogropila) furcata n. sp.Published as part of Calcinai, Barbara, Bavestrello, Giorgio, Bertolino, Marco, Pica, Daniela, Wagner, Daniel & Cerrano, Carlo, 2013, Sponges associated with octocorals in the Indo-Pacific, with the description of four new species, pp. 1-61 in Zootaxa 3617 (1) on page 44, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3617.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/24815

Sistema Integrato Multicentrico di Indicatori. Rapporto 2005. Provincia di Potenza

The SIMI (Integrated System of Indicators multicenter) Project contributes to the development of an integrated management of informative data streams related to drug addicted persons. This report analyzes the phenomenon of addiction on the territory of Potenza province through a description of the network services that provide care and rehabilitation of those addicted. Besides the characteristics of users of local services for addictions, has been developed the analysis of the subjects reported to the prefectures for use of illegal drugs and any action taken. Standard methods of estimation were also applied to quantify the proportion of users of substances that do not relate to services and to identify certain characteristics.Il Progetto SIMI (Sistema Integrato Multicentrico di Indicatori) intende contribuire allo sviluppo di una gestione integrata e sinergica dei flussi informativi relativi ai consumatori di sostanze stupefacenti afferenti alle diverse amministrazioni dello Stato. In linea con quanto proposto dall\u27Osservatorio europeo di Lisbona, per la descrizione e analisi del fenomeno connesso all\u27uso/abuso di sostanze, risulta di fondamentale importanza la possibilit? di ottenere informazioni esaustive e comparabili sulle persone che usano e/o abusano di sostanze psicotrope. Il presente rapporto analizza il fenomeno delle dipendenze sul territorio della provincia di Potenza attraverso la descrizione della rete dei servizi preposti alla cura e riabilitazione dei soggetti tossicodipendenti. Accanto alle caratteristiche degli utenti dei servizi territoriali per le dipendenze, ? stata sviluppata l\u27analisi dei soggetti segnalati alle Prefetture per uso di sostanze illegali e degli eventuali provvedimenti adottati. Sono state inoltre applicate metodologie standard di stima per quantificare la quota parte di utilizzatori di sostanze che non afferiscono ai servizi e per identificarne alcune caratteristiche

SfM-based method to assess gorgonian forests (Paramuricea clavata (Cnidaria, Octocorallia))

Animal forests promote marine habitats morphological complexity and functioning. The red gorgonian, Paramuricea clavata, is a key structuring species of the Mediterranean coralligenous habitat and an indicator species of climate effects on habitat functioning. P. clavata metrics such as population structure, morphology and biomass inform on the overall health of coralligenous habitats, but the estimation of these metrics is time and cost consuming, and often requires destructive sampling. As a consequence, the implementation of long-term and wide-area monitoring programmes is limited. This study proposes a novel and transferable Structure from Motion (SfM) based method for the estimation of gorgonian population structure (i.e., maximal height, density, abundance), morphometries (i.e., maximal width, fan surface) and biomass (i.e., coenenchymal Dry Weight, Ash Free Dried Weight). The method includes the estimation of a novel metric (3D canopy surface) describing the gorgonian forest as a mosaic of planes generated by fitting multiple 5 cm × 5 cm facets to a SfM generated point cloud. The performance of the method is assessed for two different cameras (GoPro Hero4 and Sony NEX7). Results showed that for highly dense populations (17 colonies/m2), the SfM-method had lower accuracies in estimating the gorgonians density for both cameras (60% to 89%) than for medium to low density populations (14 and 7 colonies/m2) (71% to 100%). Results for the validation of the method showed that the correlation between ground truth and SfM estimates for maximal height, maximal width and fan surface were between R2 = 0.63 and R2 = 0.9, and R2 = 0.99 for coenenchymal surface estimation. The methodological approach was used to estimate the biomass of the gorgonian population within the study area and across the coralligenous habitat between −25 to −40 m depth in the Portofino Marine Protected Area. For that purpose, the coenenchymal surface of sampled colonies was obtained and used for the calculations. Results showed biomass values of dry weight and ash free dry weight of 220 g and 32 g for the studied area and to 365 kg and 55 Kg for the coralligenous habitat in the Marine Protected Area. This study highlighted the feasibility of the methodology for the quantification of P. clavata metrics as well as the potential of the SfM-method to improve current predictions of the status of the coralligenous habitat in the Mediterranean sea and overall management of threatened ecosystems

Phenology of Anemonia viridis and Exaiptasia diaphana (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) from marine temperate ecosystems

Population dynamics in lower metazoans are strongly regulated by environmental factors. The current climate crisis could affect regularity of life strategies; therefore, studying life cycles and reproductive patterns of benthic species may provide key information on effects of environmental changes in temperate seas. The North Adriatic Sea is a peculiar basin due to high food availability and high fluctuations of physical parameters. Here, cnidarians are one of the most abundant taxa, and sea anemonesare the largest representatives. Aim of this study is to assess the life history and the reproductive biology of two potential species models: the sea anemones: Anemonia viridis and Exaiptasia diaphana. The present research is the first quantitative study on the variations in abundance and reproductive biology of the two species. We reported new insights about abundance fluctuations throughout the year and about the gametogenesis of the two sea anemones. In particular, data on spermatogenesis of A. viridis from the Mediterranean Sea were supplied for the first time

Spring composition of the macroalgal vegetation of a small offshore island in the north-western Mediterranean (Gallinara Island, Ligurian Sea)

Gallinara Island, a small island located 1.5 km off the shore of Liguria (Italy, north-western Mediterranean Sea) was included in a list of proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the early 90s. Since then, its benthic assemblages have been studied in detail and the main macrophytic communities have been mapped. A detailed assessment of its benthic macroalgal flora, however, has never been made. Gallinara was visited in the course of 5 consecutive years and its macroalgal flora was studied based on collections made by snorkelling and SCUBA diving. Overall, 141 macroalgal taxa were collected and identified (23 Chlorophyta, 94 Rhodophyta, 24 Ochrophyta); 91 of them represent new records for the island. One of the most notable new records is the non-indigenous red alga Womersleyella setacea, previously unreported from the island and widely distributed, particularly on the south-eastern shore. Observations made in the course of the surveys confirm the rarefaction of some large-sized brown algae (particularly Sargassum vulgare) but indicate also that others previously reported as rare (Cystoseira compressa, Dictyopteris polypodioides) are still common on the island