One year after on Tyrrhenian coasts: The ban of cotton buds does not reduce their dominance in beach litter composition

In January 2019, Italy banned the sale of plastic cotton buds, which is one of the most abundant litter items entering the sea and then washing ashore. However, since the ban came into force, no studies have been carried out to assess whether the measure has actually led to the reduction of plastic cotton buds accumulating on Italian coasts. Here we aim at evaluating the effectiveness of the ban in reducing the amount of cotton buds reaching sandy beaches of the Tyrrhenian coast. Specifically, we monitored the accumulation of beach litter for one year since the ban came into force. By surveying eight coastal sites from winter 2019 to winter 2020, we collected a total of 52,824 items mostly constituted by plastic debris (97.6%). We found that cotton buds were the most abundant item (42.3% of total litter), followed by plastic (28.5%) and polystyrene (5.43%) fragments. Our preliminary assessment suggests that the ban has so far not led to a sensible reduction in the amount of cotton buds entering the marine ecosystem. This was to be expected since implementation strategies are still lacking (i.e. no economic sanctions can be imposed in case of non-compliance) and bans are differently implemented among countries facing the Mediterranean Sea, calling for law enforcement and implementation at the national and international levels

Excitotoxic lesion of the perirhinal cortex impairs spatial working memory in a delayed-alternation task.

The perirhinal cortex (PRh) is strategically located between the neocortex and memory-related structures such as the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampal formation. The pattern of strong reciprocal connections between these areas, together with experimental evidence that PRh damage induces specific memory deficits, has placed this cortical region at the center of a growing interest for its role in learning and memory mechanisms. The aim of the present study is to clarify the involvement of PRh in learning and retention in a novel experimental model of spatial working memory, the water T-maze. The data show that pre-acquisition neurotoxic PRh lesions caused task-learning deficits. This impairment was observed during the acquisition phase as well as the retrieval phase. On the other hand, a post-acquisition PRh neurotoxic lesion failed to impair the acquisition and the retrieval of the water T-maze task performed 32 day after lesion. These results suggest a possible key role of PRh in the acquisition but not in the retention of a working memory task. Furthermore, these results show that the water T-maze may be a suitable learning paradigm to study different components of learning and memory

Excitotoxic lesion of the perirhinal cortex impairs spatial working memory in a delayed-alternation task.

The perirhinal cortex (PRh) is strategically located between the neocortex and memory-related structures such as the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampal formation. The pattern of strong reciprocal connections between these areas, together with experimental evidence that PRh damage induces specific memory deficits, has placed this cortical region at the center of a growing interest for its role in learning and memory mechanisms. The aim of the present study is to clarify the involvement of PRh in learning and retention in a novel experimental model of spatial working memory, the water T-maze. The data show that pre-acquisition neurotoxic PRh lesions caused task-learning deficits. This impairment was observed during the acquisition phase as well as the retrieval phase. On the other hand, a post-acquisition PRh neurotoxic lesion failed to impair the acquisition and the retrieval of the water T-maze task performed 32 day after lesion. These results suggest a possible key role of PRh in the acquisition but not in the retention of a working memory task. Furthermore, these results show that the water T-maze may be a suitable learning paradigm to study different components of learning and memory

Giureconsulti e giudici. L'influsso dei professori sulle sentenze, II, La dottrina nella giurisprudenza oltre i confini di spazio, giurisdizione e materia

Il volume, pubblicato nella Collana "Studi di Diritto Comparato", intitolato "La dottrina nella giurisprudenza oltre i confini di spazio, giurisdizione e materia", unitamente all'altro volume "Le prassi delle Corti e le teorie degli studiosi" (edito da Giappichelli nella Collana "Diritto privato comparato"), entrambi riuniti sotto l'unico titolo "Giureconsulti e giudici. L'influsso dei professori sulle sentenze", rappresenta il frutto di una ricerca scientifica triennale sul tema del rapporto tra dottrina e giurisprudenza delle Corti di vertice che ha coinvolto quattordici Università italiane e vari gruppi di ricerca internazionali. I saggi in essi raccolti sono stati presentati nel corso di convegni organizzati nell'ambito della ricerca presso le sedi universitarie di Napoli Federico II, Verona, Rabat (Marocco) e Torino. Come si legge nella premessa comune "i due libri sull'influsso dei professori sulla giurisprudenza delle corti di vertice testimoniano l'importanza del diritto comparato, che continua a proporsi come disciplina autonoma, vocata al ruolo di guardiano dei giudici, e attraverso di essi di custode del legislatore e di osservatore critico delle dottrine interne, che manifestino pretese di universalità". In particolare, il volume pubblicato in questa Collana include studi relativi all'influenza della dottrina sulla giurisprudenza di Corti accomunate dall'appartenenza a comuni ambiti territoriali e saggi che analizzano l'influsso dottrinario in sentenze di tribunali italiani e stranieri selezionate per materia e per rilevanza del contributo