Struttura crostale e subcrostale della penisola italiana dalla interpretazione congiunta di immagini tomografiche e profile DSS

Questo studio rappresenta la conclusione di una serie di analisi precedentemente proposte e volte alla migliore comprensione della struttura profonda della penisola italiana. Tale serie, iniziata con il confronto tra la sismicità crostale e le interpretazioni dei profili DSS (Cassinis e Solarino, 2004; Cassinis e Solarino, 2006), si era successivamente estesa alla struttura litosferica (Solarino e Cassinis, 2005; Solarino e Cassinis, 2007). In ambedue le occasioni lo studio era stato condotto avendo cura di utilizzare le più recenti elaborazioni dei profili e selezionando gli ipocentri con criteri molto restrittivi. Nello spirito dei precedenti lavori, anche in questo caso si è eseguita una analisi congiunta di dati ottenuti con diverse tecniche sovrapponendo alle interpretazioni già esistenti le informazioni ricavate da un recente studio tomografico (Scafidi et al., 2008) effettuato con la tecnica della inversione di terremoti locali (Thurber, 1983)

The discovery of plant biodiversity by children through the animated movies: Alice in Wonderland

The discovery of biodiversity in childs occurs through various channels: either through direct contact with the outside world, and indirectly through paintings, games and the media. Since 1937, Walt Disney Animation Studios realized animated movies inspired from novels. The first feature film was \u201cSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs\u201d. Since this, Disney\u2019s studios realized more than 10 dozen movies. The feature that distinguishes these works from a technical point of view is the attention to detail especially for the scene where the action takes place. Animals are often the protagonists of these stories, rarely plants. A good example of the latter is in \u201cAlice in wonderland\u201d, a movie distributed in 1951 that tells the story of the discovery by Alice of an unmusical, fantasy-filled world beyond her imagination populated by odd human and plant and animal characters. The plot of this film is taken from \u201cAlice's Adventures in Wonderland\u201d, an 1865 novel written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll with several inclusions of the sequel \u201cThrough the Looking-Glass\u201d another novel by the same Lewis Carroll, published in 1871. Both are novels full of symbolism, mathematical allusions and satire and contain the customs of England in the Victorian Age. Alice, in the real and in in her imaginary world, moves within scenarios in which plants are the main background. But it happens in the scene in which Alice is in the flower garden that flowers come alive and become characters of the story. This scene is inspired by the second chapter of the \u201cThrough the Looking- Glass\u201d titled \u201cThe garden of live flowers\u201d. In the novel, Alice comes up a hill along a winding path, that houses a flower garden populated by daisies, a weeping willow, a lily, a rose, a larkspur and a violet. The real work of exaltation of plant biodiversity is made in the film by Walt Disney where in a scene of about 5 minutes more than 20 flowers are presented. In the scene are clearly identifiable: Bellis perennis, Cestrum elegans, Chrysanthemum indicum, Convallaria majalis, Cyclamen persicum, Delphinium sp., Hyancinthoides non-scripta, Ipomoea violacea, Iris germanica, Leucanthemum 7superbum, Leucanthemum vulgare, Lilium candidum, L. davidii, Narcissus incomparabilis, N. pseudonarcissus, Nelumbo nucifera, Ranunculus asiaticus, Rosa indica, Salix babylonica, Syringa vulgaris, Taraxacum sect. Taraxacum, Viola odorata, V. 7wittrockiana and Zinnia sp. It is a real triumph of sounds and colours that leave the spectator delighted. The theme of the plants between knowledge and representation has been the subject of international meetings and scientific contributions. Studies about the representation of plants in pre-Christian (1), during the Middle Ages and in European art of the XIV - XVII have been done (2). In our case the plants drawn in Alice in Wonderland seems to belong more to the plants cultivated in the Americans gardens of during 1950\u2019s, when the film was made, rather than to the English gardens of the Victorian era where the novel is set. Nevertheless these drawings approach children, and the adults accompanying them in the vision, to the biodiversity of flowering plants cultivated. Offering to the spectator a wide representation of plants commonly grown with their shape and colours. Certainly, "Alice in wonderland" is a good example of how even cartoons, such as fairy tales, can play an educational role, as they allow the child to learn while having fun. In particular, this cartoon can be a good teaching tool for knowledge of plant biodiversity. In fact, it can provide many ideas for developing a number of educational activities to be proposed in both the kindergarten and in the primary school, intended to make understand even the youngest children the meaning and the value of plant biodiversity, as well as to know some plants and their growth environments. Therefore, it would be desirable in the future to take into account such aspects, uncommon in animated films for children. In consideration of the now urgent need to fill several gaps of knowledge, widespread in the younger generation (3) in respect of the plants and the environment in general

Study of the alien flora of the urban area of Palermo (Sicily)

Alien plants are an integral part of the Mediterranean agricultural and urban landscape. Taking into account that man is an active voluntary or involuntary carrier of plant diasporas, cities and areas where human activity is predominant represent preferential targets for the study of new plant introductions. In addition, some species as Pennisetum setaceum (Forssk.) Chiov. and Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill., initially exclusive to high disturbed habitats, succeeded in penetrating in cliffs, degraded maquis and garrigues characterizing them. Thus the importance of studying these areas to predict future colonization of more natural habitats. Starting from literature and integrating it with field observations we prepared a list of alien species occurring in the urban area of Palermo. This list includes a categorization of the non native species occurring in the city according to their origin, their behaviour and the habitat where these plants were recorded. The starting points were the contributions about the flora of Sicily (1, 2, 3), the alien flora of Italy (4) and the flora living on trees of the city of Palermo (5). Literature sources were followed by intense field work from September 2013 to May 2016, that allowed to include new species that only recently showed their tendency to naturalization and to exclude species reported more than 100 years ago that have not be found anymore or taxa occurring in different parts of Sicily but not in the perimeter that defines the study area. About the categories, relevant literature gives different categorization depending on whether the point of view adopted is anthropocentric, biological, ecological or biogeographic. Here we adopted the categories suggested by Raimondo & al. (1) dividing the studied taxa in Adventive or Cultivated depending on whether the introduction was accidental or voluntary, and subdividing them further in casual, naturalized and invasive depending on whether their permanence and development into the new territory. On the whole, 145 specific and infraspecific taxa have been recorded. Neophytes are 133: 43 adventive and 90 coming from cultivation; 42 are casual, 94 naturalized and 9 invasive. Archaeophytes (cfr. 6, 7) are 12: 6 casual, 5 naturalized and 1 invasive. This study allowed to record recent changes in the alien flora of the city. These are mainly due to: - the popularity of the plants that are grown for ornament (e.g. Nephrolepis cordifolia (L.) K. Presl widely cultivated until 30 years ago now its cultivation is almost entirely disappeared inside the city); - the variation of construction techniques and materials with the rarefaction of roof tiles and rough walls in limestone in favour of more modern covers that do not allow the establishment of plants (comporting an evident reduction of Crassulaceae observable on the roofs); - the arrival of new pollinators that allowed the production of fertile fruits e.g. in Ficus microcarpa L. and F. watkinsiana F. M. Bailey. An example of the spreading of new taxa is Sesamum indicum L., reported as only cultivated plant without tendency to naturalize (8) in the last year, several individuals inside the city of Palermo have been recorded in ruderal habitat. This could have been due to the presence of an increasing number of not Italian of birth citizens who grow this plant for food purposes

Evaluation of liquefaction triggering potential in Italy: a seismic-hazard-based approach

In the present study, we analyze ground-motion hazard maps and hazard disaggregation in order to define areas in Italy where liquefaction triggering due to seismic activity can not be excluded. To this end, we refer to the triggering criteria (not to be confused with liquefaction susceptibility criteria, which essentially take into account soil type and depth to groundwater) proposed by the Italian Guidelines for Seismic Microzonation, which are described in the main body of the paper. However, the study can be replicated in other countries that adopt different criteria. The final goal is the definition of a screening map for all of Italy that classifies sites in terms of liquefaction triggering potential according to their seismic hazard level. The map, which is referred to with the Italian acronym MILQ – Mappa del potenziale d'Innesco della LiQuefazione (i.e., map of liquefaction triggering potential), and the associated data are freely accessible at the following web address: https://distav.unige.it/rsni/milq.php (last access: 28 April 2023). Our results can be useful to guide land-use planners in deciding whether liquefaction is a hazard that needs to be considered within the planning processes or not. Furthermore, they can serve as a guide for recommending geological and geotechnical investigations aimed at the evaluation of liquefaction hazards or, conversely, rule out further studies with consequent savings in efforts and money.</p

Cigarette smoke alters IL-33 expression and release in airway epithelial cells

AbstractAirway epithelium is a regulator of innate immune responses to a variety of insults including cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke alters the expression and the activation of Toll Like Receptor 4 (TLR4), an innate immunity receptor. IL-33, an alarmin, increases innate immunity Th2 responses. The aims of this study were to explore whether mini-bronchoalveolar lavage (mini-BAL) or sera from smokers have altered concentrations of IL-33 and whether cigarette smoke extracts (CSE) alter both intracellular expression (mRNA and protein) and release of IL-33 in bronchial epithelial cells. The role of TLR4 in the expression of IL-33 was also explored.Mini-BALs, but not sera, from smokers show reduced concentrations of IL-33. The expression of IL-33 was increased also in bronchial epithelium from smokers. 20% CSE reduced IL-33 release but increased the mRNA for IL-33 by real time PCR and the intracellular expression of IL-33 in bronchial epithelial cells as confirmed by flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry and western blot analysis. The effect of CSE on IL-33 expression was also observed in primary bronchial epithelial cells. IL-33 expression was mainly concentrated within the cytoplasm of the cells. LPS, an agonist of TLR4, reduced IL-33 expression, and an inhibitor of TLR4 increased the intracellular expression of IL-33. In conclusion, the release of IL-33 is tightly controlled and, in smokers, an altered activation of TLR4 may lead to an increased intracellular expression of IL-33 with a limited IL-33 release

Cigarette smoke increases BLT2 receptor functions in bronchial epithelial cells: in vitro and ex vivo evidence

Leukotriene B4 (LTB4) is a neutrophil chemotactic molecule with important involvement in the inflammatory responses of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Airway epithelium is emerging as a regulator of innate immune responses to a variety of insults including cigarette smoke, the major risk factor for COPD. In this study we have explored whether cigarette smoke extracts (CSE) or soluble mediators present in distal lung fluid samples (mini-bronchoalveolar lavages) from smokers alter the expression of the LTB4 receptor 2 (BLT2) and peroxisome proliferator- activated receptor-a (PPAR-a) in bronchial epithelial cells. We also evaluated the effects of CSE on the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and on the binding of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT-1) to ICAM-1 promoter as well as the adhesiveness of neutrophils to bronchial epithelial cells. CSE and minibronchoalveolar lavages from smokers increased BLT2 and ICAM-1 expression as well as the adhesiveness of neutrophils to bronchial epithelial cells and decreased PPAR-a expression. CSE induced the activation of STAT-1 and its binding to ICAM-1 promoter. These findings suggest that, in bronchial epithelial cells, CSE promote a prevalent induction of pro-inflammatory BLT2 receptors and activate mechanisms leading to increased neutrophil adhesion, a mechanism that contributes to airway neutrophilia and to tissue damage

Seismotectonic analysis of a complex fault system in Italy: the "Garfagnana-North" (Northern Tuscany) line

We present the results obtained combining different techniques to determine the seismotectonic character of the Garfagnana region (northern Tuscany). There, the existence of a rather complex fault system is acknowledged and somewhat mapped, but apart from the geological evidences, very little is known about its extension with depth and the regime. The seismic potential of the system is also well known. The area was characterized, in the past, by destructive earthquakes; in particular a major event (Ms=6.4) struck the Lunigiana-Garfagnana area in September 1920, but many others have been reported. Therefore, the seismicity is under constant monitoring by the national seismic network (RSNC – National Central Seismic Network) and a pool of local stations, belonging to a regional network (RSLG – Regional Seimic network of Lunigiana and Garfagnana). These additional stations account for the lower magnitude seismicity. Such a concentration of seismic stations, and the consequent availability of several seismograms, makes likely to record and localize earthquakes down to a very low magnitude threshold (inferior to Ml = 2.0) with extremely narrow hypocentral parameter errors . Making use of the resulting databases, several analyses were conducted to determine the shape, size, extension with depth of the fault and the associated seismicity. The methodology consists in seismic tomography (1D and 3D velocity models), precise location algorithms NonLinLoc and HypoDD (very constrained and reliable locations) and computation of focal mechanisms (fault orientation and source), all combined with the constraints provided by the geology. The main findings of the study are that the concentration of the recent seismic activity is close to the likely location of the most relevant historical events. In particular the earthquakes are distributed along a plane in the range 0 – 20 km depth dipping 30° NE. All focal mechanisms show a transtensive character

Brain energy metabolism: A roadmap for future research

Although we have learned much about how the brain fuels its functions over the last decades, there remains much still to discover in an organ that is so complex. This article lays out major gaps in our knowledge of interrelationships between brain metabolism and brain function, including biochemical, cellular, and subcellular aspects of functional metabolism and its imaging in adult brain, as well as during development, aging, and disease. The focus is on unknowns in metabolism of major brain substrates and associated transporters, the roles of insulin and of lipid droplets, the emerging role of metabolism in microglia, mysteries about the major brain cofactor and signaling molecule NAD+, as well as unsolved problems underlying brain metabolism in pathologies such as traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, and metabolic downregulation during hibernation. It describes our current level of understanding of these facets of brain energy metabolism as well as a roadmap for future research

Mediterranean plant germination reports – 5

This is the fifth issue of the series of germination reports from Mediterranean areas (sensu Med-Checklist). It comprises germination protocols for 18 taxa: Hieracium and Pilosella from South Italy by Di Gristina &amp; al. (Nos. 103-106); Genista from Sardinia by Deplano &amp; al. (No. 107); Antirrhinum, Anthyllis, Digitalis, Echium, Jasione, Nothoscordum, Silene and Verbascum by Martínez-Oliver &amp; al. (Nos. 108-116); Dianthus, Helichrysum and Silene from Sicily by Scafidi &amp; Salmeri (Nos. 117-120)

A dense micro-electromechanical system (MEMS)-based seismic network in populated areas: rapid estimation of exposure maps in Trentino (NE Italy)

The micro-electromechanical system (MEMS)-based seismic network of Trentino (NE Italy) consists of 73 low-cost accelerometers installed close to inhabited areas. These sensors have a suitable sensitivity to detect moderate-to-strong earthquakes but are able to record even weaker seismicity. The densely distributed peak ground acceleration values recorded by MEMS and other types of stations are integrated within the existing seismic monitoring procedure in order to automatically obtain a complete set of strong motion parameters a few minutes after the origin time. The exposure of the resident population and critical buildings is estimated by quantifying the different levels of shaking, which is expressed according to the Mercalli–Cancani–Sieberg intensity scale. These types of results, summarized in synthetic portable document format (PDF), can be useful for civil protection purposes to evaluate the state of emergency after a strong earthquake in a timely manner and to choose how and where to activate first aid measures and targeted structural monitoring.</p