Flexible power grip use by capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.)

Grasping behavior relies on both motor and cognitive skills. The variability of power grip actions in a reaching-for-grasping task has been assessed in capuchins monkeys (N=20). On average, each individual used more than five different grip types, revealing a flexible use of the hand and a preference for the use of the thumb in opposition to the other fingers. No evidence of hemispheric specialization was found, however action planning abilities varied as a function of age and task practice

Protection against pertussis in humans correlates to elevated serum antibodies and memory B cells

Pertussis is a respiratory infection caused by Bordetella pertussis that may be particularly severe and even lethal in the first months of life when infants are still too young to be vaccinated. Adults and adolescents experience mild symptoms and are the source of infection for neonates. Adoptive maternal immunity does not prevent pertussis in the neonate. We compared the specific immune response of mothers of neonates diagnosed with pertussis and mothers of control children. We show that women have pre-existing pertussis-specific antibodies and memory B cells and react against the infection with a recall response increasing the levels specific serum IgG, milk IgA, and the frequency of memory B cells of all isotypes. Thus, the maternal immune system is activated in response to pertussis and effectively prevents the disease indicating that the low levels of pre-formed serum antibodies are insufficient for protection. For this reason, memory B cells play a major role in the adult defense. The results of this study suggest that new strategies for vaccine design should aim at increasing long-lived plasma cells and their antibodies

Biocorrosion of speleothems driven by lampenflora: preliminary observations in Bossea show cave (NW-Italy)

Speleothems in show caves are often subjected to tourism-driven alterations, including corrosion due to CO2 increase, undersaturated water and photosynthetic biofilms (e.g. Piano et al., 2015; Pulido-Bosch et al., 1997; White et al., 2021). In particular, the growth of the so-called “lampenflora” causes physical, chemical and aesthetic damage to speleothems (Piano et al., 2015). In this work we investigated for the first time the biocorrosion of speleothems at microscopic level due to lampenflora in Bossea Show cave (NW-Italy). In this cave, the presence of lampenflora was previously documented in Piano et al. (2015) and biocorrosion on speleothems can be observed in different areas along the touristic path. In this work, a first tentative to describe the possible related biocorrosion from a geo-mineralogical point of view was made. Four superficial samples of 1x1 cm of 0.5 maximum thickness were collected on speleothems along the tourist path, in close proximity of halogen lamps. During in situ sampling, the concentration of the main photosynthetic groups composing lampenflora (cyanobacteria, diatoms, and green algae) was measured with Benthotorch®, a portable fluorimeter. The substrate samples were analysed in laboratory by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), in order to assess the alteration degree and the presence of lampenflora possibly responsible of biocorrosion. SEM images of some speleothem samples show high abundance of diatom frustules and the presence of bacteria, algae and fungi. Fluorimeter measures of cyanobacteria, diatoms and green algae amount were then compared to SEM images and EDX results showing in some cases a relation between the speleothems features visible to the naked eyes, the in situ measurements, the degree of alteration of calcite and the presence of bacteria and diatoms frustules at microscope. Moreover, in light of a long-term study aiming at evaluating changes in calcite crystal habits over time, a homogenous speleothem was collected and divided into several parts, observed and photographed with SEM and placed along the tourist path in areas colonized by lampenflora, near the new LED lamps, where they will remain for about a year. The samples will then be collected and re-examined at SEM to verify and eventually quantify the degree of biocorrosion due to the flashlight after at least one year of exposition

A literature-based database of the natural heritage, the ecological status and tourism-related impacts in show caves worldwide

The touristic use of caves causes multiple environmental alterations to the subterranean ecosystem, having potential effects on all components, from the atmosphere to lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Setting a baseline on the current knowledge of the ecological status of world show caves is pivotal to implement monitoring and management programs aiming at their conservation. However, information on this topic is scattered throughout several publications, making it difficult to access data and ultimately delaying advances towards a sustainable touristic use of show caves. We provide a literature-based dataset relative to the knowledge on the ecological status of 265 show caves worldwide. Data were collated from 289 papers selected through a systematic literature survey of an initial set of more than 1,000 scientific papers. We made the compiled information available through two complementary datasets, reporting: (i) references of the selected papers and (ii) 44 fields relative to the main characteristics of show caves investigated in literature. These fields encompass information about geographic locations, cave general characteristics, natural heritage, and the specific environmental components—and related environmental parameters—investigated in each of the considered study. Such a dataset improves our accessibility to the basic information provided by literature on the ecological status of show caves, also pointing out some literature gaps that should be addressed by future research. By making these data freely available and re-usable, we hope to stimulate research in the field of cave tourism, cave conservation, and cave-based ecology

A literature-based database of the natural heritage, the ecological status and tourism-related impacts in show caves worldwide

Publisher Copyright: Copyright Elena Piano et al.The touristic use of caves causes multiple environmental alterations to the subterranean ecosystem, having potential effects on all components, from the atmosphere to lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Setting a baseline on the current knowledge of the ecological status of world show caves is pivotal to implement monitoring and management programs aiming at their conservation. However, information on this topic is scattered throughout several publications, making it difficult to access data and ultimately delaying advances towards a sustainable touristic use of show caves. We provide a literature-based dataset relative to the knowledge on the ecological status of 265 show caves worldwide. Data were collated from 289 papers selected through a systematic literature survey of an initial set of more than 1,000 scientific papers. We made the compiled information available through two complementary datasets, reporting: (i) references of the selected papers and (ii) 44 fields relative to the main characteristics of show caves investigated in literature. These fields encompass information about geographic locations, cave general characteristics, natural heritage, and the specific environmental components—and related environmental parameters—investigated in each of the considered study. Such a dataset improves our accessibility to the basic information provided by literature on the ecological status of show caves, also pointing out some literature gaps that should be addressed by future research. By making these data freely available and re-usable, we hope to stimulate research in the field of cave tourism, cave conservation, and cave-based ecology.Peer reviewe

Different patterns of H2S/NO activity and cross-talk in the control of the coronary vascular bed under normotensive or hypertensive conditions

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and nitric oxide (NO) play pivotal roles in the cardiovascular system. Conflicting results have been reported about their cross-talk. This study investigated their interplays in coronary bed of normotensive (NTRs) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). The effects of H2S- (NaHS) and NO-donors (sodium nitroprusside, SNP) on coronary flow (CF) were measured in Langendorff-perfused hearts of NTRs and SHRs, in the absence or in the presence of propargylglycine (PAG, inhibitor of H2S biosynthesis), L-NAME (inhibitor of NO biosynthesis), ODQ (inhibitor of guanylate cyclase), L-Cysteine (substrate for H2S biosynthesis) or L-Arginine (substrate for NO biosynthesis). In NTRs, NaHS and SNP increased CF; their effects were particularly evident in Angiotensin II (AngII)-contracted coronary arteries. The dilatory effects of NaHS were abolished by L-NAME and ODQ; conversely, PAG abolished the effects of SNP. In SHRs, high levels of myocardial ROS production were observed. NaHS and SNP did not reduce the oxidative stress, but produced clear increases of the basal CF. In contrast, in AngII-contracted coronary arteries of SHRs, significant hyporeactivity to NaHS and SNP was observed. In SHRs, the vasodilatory effects of NaHS were only modestly affected by L-NAME and ODQ; PAG poorly influenced the effects of SNP. Then, in NTRs, the vascular actions of H2S required NO and vice versa. By contrast, in SHRs, the H2S-induced actions scarcely depend on NO release; as well, the NO effects are largely H2S-independent. These results represent the first step for understanding pathophysiological mechanisms of NO/H2S interplays under both normotensive and hypertensive conditions

Detection methods for the Cherenkov Telescope Array at very-short exposure times

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation ground-based observatory for very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy, with the deployment of tens of highly sensitive and fast-reacting Cherenkov telescopes. It will cover a wide energy range (20 GeV - 300 TeV) with unprecedented sensitivity. To maximize the scientific return, the observatory will be provided with an online software system that will perform the first analysis of scientific data in real-time. This study investigates the precision and accuracy of available science tools and analysis techniques for the short-term detection of gamma-ray sources, in terms of sky localization, detection significance and, if significant detection is achieved, a first estimation of the integral photon flux. The scope is to evaluate the feasibility of the algorithms' implementation in the real-time analysis of CTA. In this contribution we present a general overview of the methods and some of the results for the test case of the short-term detection of a gamma-ray burst afterglow, as the VHE counterpart of a gravitational wave event.Comment: Proceedings of the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2021), PoS(ICRC2021)69, 8 pages + full author list, 5 figure

Energy dependence and fluctuations of anisotropic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at 1asNN = 5.02 and 2.76 TeV

Measurements of anisotropic flow coefficients with two- and multi-particle cu- mulants for inclusive charged particles in Pb\u2013Pb collisions at 1asNN = 5.02 and 2.76 TeV are reported in the pseudorapidity range |\u3b7| < 0.8 and transverse momentum 0.2 < pT < 50 GeV/c. The full data sample collected by the ALICE detector in 2015 (2010), corre- sponding to an integrated luminosity of 12.7 (2.0) \u3bcb 121 in the centrality range 0\u201380%, is analysed. Flow coefficients up to the sixth flow harmonic (v6) are reported and a de- tailed comparison among results at the two energies is carried out. The pT dependence of anisotropic flow coefficients and its evolution with respect to centrality and harmonic number n are investigated. An approximate power-law scaling of the form vn(pT) 3c pn/3 T is observed for all flow harmonics at low pT (0.2 < pT < 3 GeV/c). At the same time, the ratios v /vn/m are observed to be essentially independent of p for most centralities up to nmT about pT = 10 GeV/c. Analysing the differences among higher-order cumulants of elliptic flow (v2), which have different sensitivities to flow fluctuations, a measurement of the stan- dardised skewness of the event-by-event v2 distribution P(v2) is reported and constraints on its higher moments are provided. The Elliptic Power distribution is used to parametrise P(v2), extracting its parameters from fits to cumulants. The measurements are compared to different model predictions in order to discriminate among initial-state models and to constrain the temperature dependence of the shear viscosity to entropy-density ratio

Inclusive J/\u3c8 production in Xe\u2013Xe collisions at 1asNN = 5.44 TeV

Inclusive J/\u3c8 production is studied in Xe\u2013Xe interactions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 1asNN = 5.44 TeV, using the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. The J/\u3c8 meson is reconstructed via its decay into a muon pair, in the centre-of-mass rapidity interval 2.5 < y < 4 and down to zero transverse momentum. In this Letter, the nuclear modification factors RAA for inclusive J/\u3c8, measured in the centrality range 0\u201390% as well as in the centrality intervals 0\u201320% and 20\u201390% are presented. The RAA values are compared to previously published results for Pb\u2013Pb collisions at 1asNN = 5.02 TeV and to the calculation of a transport model. A good agreement is found between Xe\u2013Xe and Pb\u2013Pb results as well as between data and the model