Contribution to the floristic knowledge of the head of the Po Valley (Piedmont, north Italy)

In 2014, the annual field trip of the working group for Floristics, Systematics, and Evolution of the Italian Botanical Society was held in Piemonte (northern Italy), at the head of the Po Valley. This valley, at whose extremity is located the Monviso (3,841 m a.s.l.), belongs to the Cottian Alps about which very little is known from a floristic point of view. An inventory of the taxa of vascular plants collected during the field trip is reported here. The research led to the identification of 3,546 exsiccata, kept in nine public and nine private collections. A total of 669 taxa belonging to 79 plant families were recorded. Six taxa resulted endemic to Italy and three exclusive to Piemonte, while only nine alien species were detected; six taxa are new and five confirmed for the regional flora

Sulla presenza di alcune specie del genere Lemna L. (Araceae) in Piemonte (Italia nord-occidentale).

Some notes on the morphology, ecology and distribution in Piedmont (northwest Italy) of three related species included in the genus Lemna L. (Araceae) are provided with emphasis about the exotic L. minuta Kunth

Fragmentation of human erythrocyte actin following exposure to hypoxia

In a comparative study on erythrocytes (RBCs) drawn from mountaineers before and after a high-altitude stay, we observed that upon returning to sea level, their RBCs displayed a senescent-like phenotype as indicated by their density and the partial loss of membrane proteins which are shed by ageing RBCs. The aim of this study was to investigate possible changes in the membrane skeleton of these RBCs and to compare them with pathological RBCs. We analysed the proteins of RBC ghosts obtained from our subjects before and after returning to sea level by two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. We observed lower expression and fragmentation of beta-actin after exposure to hypoxia. This suggested an alteration in membrane skeleton structure, which was confirmed by beta-actin release in cell lysates during ghost preparation. We observed a similar actin fragmentation and release in RBC lysates from beta-thalassaemic patients. In conclusion, these results indicate that after exposure to hypoxia, RBCs display a modification of their actin and cytoskeleton instability