Aplysina aerophoba (Nardo, 1833) (Porifera, Demospongiae): an unexpected miniaturised growth form from the tidal zone of Mediterranean caves: morphology and DNA barcoding

In the Mediterranean Sea, the two sponges of the genus Aplysina (A. aerophoba and A. cavernicola) are identified on the basis of their external morphology and the environment in which they live. During a research program on the sponge fauna in semi-submerged caves of the Italian coasts, we have sampled an abundant very small yellow sponge, often living in the tidal zone, which were attributed to the genus Aplysina. Failing to assign the samples to a species through classical taxonomic methodologies (growth form and skeleton arrangement) and for the particular environment where this sponge lives, we have decided to use the COI analysis to solve the taxonomic problem offered by these miniaturized specimens. The analysis indicated that, in spite of the morphological differences, they belong to A. aerophoba. During old detailed surveys, conducted in the '60 years in some of the studied caves, this species was not recorded. It is possible that its abundant presence is related to the modifications occurred in the Mediterranean sponge communities occurred in the last decades in relation to global warming

Use of Sawing Waste from Zeolitic Tuffs in the Manufacture of Ceramics

This paper investigates the thermal transformation of powders of volcanic tuffs that are used as building stones and aims at thermally transforming them into ceramics. The following positive indications concerning this thermal transformation were found: (1) the structural evolution which brings products similar to traditional ceramics, (2) the good ability to give rise to dense and compact final products, and (3) the good mechanical properties and the lovely appearance of the final products. Nevertheless, the high values of linear shrinkages recorded in this work seem to strongly hinder the thermal transformation of this powder-like waste into ceramics. However, mixing this by-product with other powder-like waste exhibiting higher-dimensional stability, such as those deriving from sawing of granites, appears proper

Executive function impairment in early - treated PKU subjects with normal mental development

Executive functions were studied in 14 early and continuously treated PKU subjects (age 10.8 years, range 8-13) in comparison with controls matched for IQ, sex, age and socioeconomic status. Brain MRI examination was normal in all PKU patients. Neuropsychological evaluation included Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure Test, Elithorn's Perceptual Maze Test, Weigl's Sorting Test, Tower of London, Visual Search and Motor Motor Learning Test. Whatever the IQ, PKU subjects performed worse than controls in tests exploring executive functions. Subgrouping the PKU subjects according to the quality of dietary control for the entire follow-up period (using 400 micromol/L as cut-off value for blood phenylalanine (Phe) concentration) showed that patients with worse dietary control performed more poorly than both the PKU group with the best dietary control and the control group. However, a mild impairment of executive functions was still found in PKU patients with a good dietary control (Phe 400 micromol/L) compared to controls. Concerning the PKU group as a whole, no linear correlation was found between neuropsychological performance and historical and concurrent biochemical parameters. We conclude that (a) PKU patients, even when treated early, rigorously and continuously, show an impairment of frontal lobe functions; (b) a protracted exposure to moderately high levels of Phe can affect frontal lobe functions independently of the possible effect of the same exposure on IQ; (c) in order to reduce the risk of frontal lobe dysfunction, the target of dietary therapy should be to maintain blood Phe concentration below 400 micromol/L

Demosponge diversity from North Sulawesi, with the description of six new species

Volume: 680Start Page: 105End Page: 15

Silica Meets Tannic Acid: Designing Green Nanoplatforms for Environment Preservation

Hybrid tannic acid-silica-based porous nanoparticles, TA-SiO2 NPs, have been synthesized under mild conditions in the presence of green and renewable tannic acid biopolymer, a glycoside polymer of gallic acid present in a large part of plants. Tannic acid (TA) was exploited as both a structuring directing agent and green chelating site for heavy metal ions recovery from aqueous solu-tions. Particles morphologies and porosity were easily tuned by varying the TA initial amount. The sample produced with the largest TA amount showed a specific surface area an order of magnitude larger than silica nanoparticles. The adsorption performance was investigated by using TA-5SiO2 NPs as adsorbents for copper (II) ions from an aqueous solution. The effects of the initial Cu2+ ions concentration and the pH values on the adsorption capability were also investigated. The resulting TA-SiO2 NPs exhibited a different adsorption behaviour towards Cu2+, which was demonstrated through different tests. The largest adsorption (i.e., ~50 wt% of the initial Cu2+ amount) was obtained with the more porous nanoplatforms bearing a higher final TA content. The TA-nanoplatforms, stable in pH value around neutral conditions, can be easily produced and their use would well comply with a green strategy to reduce wastewater pollution

Parameters Expediting the Thermal Conversion of Ba-Exchanged Zeolite A to Monoclinic Celsian

Four samples of Ba-exchanged zeolite A, bearing small residual amounts of Na (0.27, 0.43, 0.58, and 0.74 meq/g), were thermally treated in the temperature range 200–1500∘C for times up to 28 hours. The same samples were pressed at 30 and 60 MPa to form cylindrical pellets which were thermally treated at 1300∘C for 5 hours. All materials were characterized by room temperature XRD. The sequence of thermal transformations that Ba-exchanged zeolite A undergoes (zeolite → amorphous phase → hexacelsian → monoclinic celsian) and the strong mineralizing action developed by Na are confirmed. Pressing the Ba-exchanged zeolite A powder-like samples to obtain cylindrical pellets is found to expedite the sluggish final phase transition hexacelsian → monoclinic celsian. The optimum residual Na content of Ba-exchanged zeolite A for transformation into monoclinic celsian is assessed to be between 0.27 and 0.43 meq/g

Separation of biological entities from human blood by using magnetic nanocomposites obtained from zeolite precursors

In this work, three novel magnetic metal-ceramic nanocomposites were obtained by thermally treating Fe-exchanged zeolites (either A or X) under reducing atmosphere at relatively mild temperatures (750-800 ◦C). The so-obtained materials were thoroughly characterized from the point of view of their physico-chemical properties and, then, used as magnetic adsorbents in the separation of the target gene factors V and RNASE and of the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria DNA from human blood. Such results were compared with those obtained by using a top ranking commercial separation system (namely, SiMAG-N-DNA by Chemicell). The results obtained by using the novel magnetic adsorbents were similar to (or even better than) those obtained by using the commercial system, both during manual and automated separations, provided that a proper protocol was adopted. Particularly, the novel magnetic adsorbents showed high sensitivity during tests performed with small volumes of blood. Finally, the feasible production of such magnetic adsorbents by an industrial process was envisaged as well