Rediscovering the scientific and didactic value of minor herbarium collections: the seeds and fruits collection by Gustavo Bonaventura

Seeds and fruits collections are very important from a systematic point of view and represent useful references in several disciplines and research fields. The Herbarium of Sapienza University of Rome (RO) hosts a Spermoteque/Carpoteque, which was organized by Gustavo Bonaventura (1902-1976). The purpose of this paper is to describe the heritage of Bonaventura's collection. It consists of 42 wooden boxes, globally hosting 3411 glass tubes containing seeds, fruits, and other materials. The collection was first of all catalogued; then, analysis were conducted regarding taxonomic composition, temporal and geographic coverage, institutions of provenience, collectors, content, and preservation status. The specimens refer to 2740 taxa, belonging to 890 genera and 135 families. Many genera of agricultural interest are present, each one with different cultivars. The collection spans across 130 years (1843-1975) and hosts specimens coming from all over the world. Materials were provided by several herbaria, botanical gardens and agrarian institutes, and by 50 collectors. The Bonaventura's collection is still a useful reference collection, testifying biodiversity over times and thus being useful for diachronic studies; moreover, it documents the interests of collectors and the past network activity between institutions

Rate and duration of hospitalisation for acute pulmonary embolism in the real-world clinical practice of different countries : Analysis from the RIETE registry

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Erbario Anzalone: a collection of RO Herbarium with a great importance for the floristic knowledge of Lazio region

The Herbarium Museum of Sapienza University of Rome (RO) hosts over one million specimens, in several historical and contemporary collections. It is divided into six main Herbaria (Erbario Romano, E. Generale, E. Cesati, E. Montelucci, E. Anzalone, E. Bazzichelli), and several minor collections (1). The computerized cataloging of RO Herbarium collections, carried out for many years (2, 3), has produced a Filemaker Pro relational database (4), which hosts also georeferenced data from literature, and fields surveys. Databases allow various analyses on data, e.g. the taxonomic composition of the collections, their temporal and geographical coverage, and collectors’ activity. At the same time, catalogues of the collections and floristic atlases can also be produced. Erbario Anzalone is a relevant collection for the knowledge of the flora of central Italy. Bruno Anzalone (1921-2007), full professor from 1974 to 1996 at Sapienza University of Rome, is considered the greatest expert of regional flora in Lazio. The collection, placed in the Erbario Romano room of the Museum, hosts about 37,700 specimens of vascular plants. It is organized in 361 parcels, and arranged in alphabetical order according to family, genus, and species; the delimitation of families and genera follows Pignatti (5). The specimens collected in Lazio are separated from those collected in other areas. The specimens collected by Anzalone in the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park are kept in a separate collection (43 parcels). The computerized cataloging of the materials, carried out from 2003 to 2014 with the supervision of the herbarium staff, was completed also thanks to the work of students, as the collection is also used for educational purposes. The nomenclatural update (6, 7) and the georeferencing of the materials is currently underway. The specimens belong to 180 families, and 997 genera. The most represented families are Asteraceae (4,539 specimens), Fabaceae (3,305), Apiaceae (2,174), Lamiaceae (1,718), Brassicaceae (1,677), Caryophyllaceae (1,470), Scrophulariaceae (1,373), Rosaceae (1,370), Poaceae (1,226), and Ranunculaceae (1,069). The most represented genera are Trifolium (552), Vicia (547), Centaurea (486), Ranunculus (455), Silene (452), Senecio (448), Carex (429), Euphorbia (370), Galium (355), and Quercus (335). Over 98% of the specimens were collected in Italy; 69% were collected in Lazio, 8% Trentino-Alto Adige, 7% Abruzzo, and 3% Marche. Anzalone collected about the 90% of the specimens (33,789); among the other 276 recorded contributors, the most active were Cesare Banchieri (682 specimens from Monte Cairo, Frosinone), Luigi Veri (404 specimens from the Ponziane islands), and Edda Lattanzi (356 specimens from different territories). The oldest specimen dates back to 1920, and the most recent one to 2004. The composition of the collection reflects the studies carried out by Anzalone throughout his career, testifying his interest in genera such as Astragalus, Centaurea (Fig. 1), Ferula, Pastinaca, Seseli, and the close relationship between Anzalone and his region. His intense activity, uninterrupted from 1940 to 2004, provided the essential data for drafting the vascular flora of Lazio (8), and for the geolocalised database that RO Museum is preparing (4). Within the database, the Erbario Anzalone provided valuable information on species distribution, useful to perform phytogeographical regionalisations (9), and to map rare, endemic, and endangered taxa (10)

A comparison between Laser Granulometer and Sedigraph in grain size analysis of marine sediments

A total of 24 sediment samples with wide dimensional, mineralogical and compositional range were considered, collected from 5 Italian coastal marine sites. The fine fraction (<63 μm) was analyzed using Laser Granulometer (LG) and X-ray Sedigraph (XS) in order to compare data and highlight potential differences. The unexpected variable sandy fraction in nearly all the samples was attributed to clay mineral aggregates. The highest sand percentages detected by XS were attributed to local compositional sediment features. An increase of 15–25% of clay in samples analyzed by XS was attributed to the different working principles of the considered devices. Nevertheless, final results succeeded in characterizing sediment texture and distribution as a function of water depth. In conclusion, it's important to select the analytical instrument according to the characteristics of sediments, to adjust the density of media solution for XS analysis, and to prevent aggregates formation for both XS and LG

Covid-19: High-resolution computed tomography findings in the first 64 patients admitted to the hospital of cremona, the epicentre of the pandemic in europe

Purpose: In December 2019, a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was identified as being responsible for the pulmonary infection called COVID-19. On 21 February 2020, the first autochthonous case of COVID-19 was detected in Italy. Our goal is to report the most common chest computed tomography (CT) findings identified in 64 patients, in the initial phase of COVID-19. Methods: Sixty-four chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) examinations performed at the Radiology Unit of the Hospital of Cremona, from 22 to 29 February 2020, of 64 patients during first week of hospitalization for COVID-19 were retrospectively evaluated. All cases were confirmed by real-time RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2. Image analysis was independently conducted by 2 radiologists with 10 years and 1 year of experience in chest imaging. The inter-observer agreement was obtained by applying a Cohen’s κ test. Results: The average age of patients was 67.1 years (± 12.2); men 42 (66%). HRCT was performed on the 5th (± 1.5) day of hospitalization. More frequently, the initial CT changes of the lung show more or less extensive areas of ground-glass, as single pattern or with parenchymal consolidations. Coronavirus lung involvement appears very frequently multi-lobar, bilateral, and it concerns both subpleural and central regions. An excellent agreement (κ: 0.88-1, CI: 0.79-1.01, p &lt; 0.05) concerning CT findings between the 2 operators was reached. Conclusions: Our data suggest that detection of the most frequent pulmonary CT-scan changes, in the early stages of COVID-19, can be performed, with excellent agreement, among readers with different experience, and consequently attribute their exact diagnostic value, in an appropriate clinical and environmental exposure setting