Application of vegetation index time series to value fire effect on primary production in a Southern European rare wetland

Fire disturbance is an intrinsic component of the Mediterranean biome playing an important role in ecosystem dynamics and processes. However, frequent and severe anthropogenic wildfires can be detrimental to natural ecosystems, particularly in small natural protected areas, where they may hamper the flow of ecosystem services (ES). While post-fire dynamics of individual ES are heavily context-dependent, the primary productivity of the ecosystem can be regarded as a generic driver of several provisioning and regulating ES, as it represents the amount of energy available to plants for storage, growth, and reproduction, which drives future ecosystem structure and functions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of anthropogenic wildfire on the primary productivity of a rare wetland ecosystem in the Natura 2000 site \u201cTorre Guaceto\u201d in Southern Europe. Productivity was estimated by calculating a 15-year time series of vegetation indices (EVI and NDWI)from remotely sensed MODIS imagery. Our results in terms of PP trends may be relevant to assess the change in ecosystems services provided by wetlands. Interactions between wildfire, ecosystem productivity and climate were then analyzed. During the selected period, climate did not play a significant effect on primary productivity, which was mainly driven by post-fire vegetation recovery. Findings of the present study demonstrate that the wildfire affecting the Natural Protected Area of Torre Guaceto in summer 2007 had a major effect on primary productivity, inducing the regeneration of Phragmites australis and the replacement of old individuals by structurally and functionally better ones

Silvicultural strategies for introduced tree species in Northern Italy

The bio-deterioration of the historical heritage by fast growing and vigorous introduced tree species, and the reduction of native diversity, mostly in riparian, forest, wetland, and coastal habitats are considered amongst particularly relevant impacts for Italy. According to a recent survey of EU Life+ projects, the introduced tree species most often targeted for eradication by conservation projects across Europe are black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.), tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle), red oak (Quercus rubra L.), and black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.). In this chapter, we report on the few field experiences and success stories of silvicultural control of these introduced tree species in urban and natural habitats in northern Italy

Bioinspired negatively charged calcium phosphate nanocarriers for cardiac delivery of MicroRNAs

Aim: To develop biocompatible and bioresorbable negatively charged calcium phosphate nanoparticles (CaP-NPs) as an innovative therapeutic system for the delivery of bioactive molecules to the heart. Materials & methods: CaP-NPs were synthesized via a straightforward one-pot biomineralization-inspired protocol employing citrate as a stabilizing agent and regulator of crystal growth. CaP-NPs were administered to cardiac cells in vitro and effects of treatments were assessed. CaP-NPs were administered in vivo and delivery of microRNAs was evaluated. Results: CaP-NPs efficiently internalized into cardiomyocytes without promoting toxicity or interfering with any functional properties. CaP-NPs successfully encapsulated synthetic microRNAs, which were efficiently delivered into cardiac cells in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion: CaP-NPs are a safe and efficient drug-delivery system for potential therapeutic treatments of polarized cells such as cardiomyocytes

Driving factors of a vegetation shift from Scots pine to pubescent oak in dry Alpine forests

An increasing number of studies have reported on forest declines and vegetation shifts triggered by drought. In the Swiss Rhone valley (Valais), one of the driest inner-Alpine regions, the species composition in low elevation forests is changing: The sub-boreal Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) dominating the dry forests is showing high mortality rates. Concurrently the sub-Mediterranean pubescent oak (Quercus pubescens Willd.) has locally increased in abundance. However, it remains unclear whether this local change in species composition is part of a larger-scale vegetation shift. To study variability in mortality and regeneration in these dry forests we analysed data from the Swiss national forest inventory (NFI) on a regular grid between 1983 and 2003, and combined it with annual mortality data from a monitoring site. Pine mortality was found to be highest at low elevation (below 1000 m a.s.l.). Annual variation in pine mortality was correlated with a drought index computed for the summer months prior to observed tree death. A generalized linear mixed-effects model indicated for the NFI data increased pine mortality on dryer sites with high stand competition, particularly for small-diameter trees. Pine regeneration was low in comparison to its occurrence in the overstorey, whereas oak regeneration was comparably abundant. Although both species regenerated well at dry sites, pine regeneration was favoured at cooler sites at higher altitude and oak regeneration was more frequent at warmer sites, indicating a higher adaptation potential of oaks under future warming. Our results thus suggest that an extended shift in species composition is actually occurring in the pine forests in the Valais. The main driving factors are found to be climatic variability, particularly drought, and variability in stand structure and topography. Thus, pine forests at low elevations are developing into oak forests with unknown consequences for these ecosystems and their goods and services

Large-scale atmospheric circulation enhances the Mediterranean East-West tree growth contrast at rear-edge deciduous forests

Overlaid to a general reduction of European beech and sessile oak tree growth over the recent decades in the Mediterranean Basin, tree-ring records from western Mediterranean populations display a stronger growth decrease than eastern populations. We investigate here to what extent the impact of sustained atmospheric circulation patterns in summertime can explain the observed spatial patterns of tree growth. We use Canonical Correlation Analysis, a statistical method that identifies the coupled patterns that are optimally correlated between two multivariate data sets. A general change in growth trends, shifting from a general increase during the period 1950\ue2\u80\u931981 to a decrease during the last three decades (1982\ue2\u80\u932012), can be attributed to increasing summer temperatures, which exert a dominant and negative influence on growth in both tree species across sites. However, summer precipitation has gained importance for growth, coinciding with the intensification of the geographical polarity in climate conditions across the Mediterranean Basin. This intensification during the last three decades can be traced back to a strengthening of the Summer North Atlantic Oscillation (SNAO), which imparts an east-west dipole to summer climate in this region. Under predicted persistent stronger SNAO in the future, western populations would face harsher summer conditions than central and eastern rear-edge populations, due to decreasing precipitation and increasing temperatures in the western Mediterranean Basin. These results evidence the determinant role that changes in the atmospheric circulation patterns may play in the persistence of rear-edge temperate deciduous forests in the near future

Insight into Elderly ALS Patients in the Emilia Romagna Region: Epidemiological and Clinical Features of Late-Onset ALS in a Prospective, Population-Based Study

Few studies have focused on elderly (>80 years) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, who represent a fragile subgroup generally not included in clinical trials and often neglected because they are more difficult to diagnose and manage. We analyzed the clinical and genetic features of very late-onset ALS patients through a prospective, population-based study in the Emilia Romagna Region of Italy. From 2009 to 2019, 222 (13.76%) out of 1613 patients in incident cases were over 80 years old at diagnosis, with a female predominance (F:M = 1.18). Elderly ALS patients represented 12.02% of patients before 2015 and 15.91% from 2015 onwards (p = 0.024). This group presented with bulbar onset in 38.29% of cases and had worse clinical conditions at diagnosis compared to younger patients, with a lower average BMI (23.12 vs. 24.57 Kg/m2), a higher progression rate (1.43 vs. 0.95 points/month), and a shorter length of survival (a median of 20.77 vs. 36 months). For this subgroup, genetic analyses have seldom been carried out (25% vs. 39.11%) and are generally negative. Finally, elderly patients underwent less frequent nutritional- and respiratory-supporting procedures, and multidisciplinary teams were less involved at follow-up, except for specialist palliative care. The genotypic and phenotypic features of elderly ALS patients could help identify the different environmental and genetic risk factors that determine the age at which disease onset occurs. Since multidisciplinary management can improve a patient’s prognosis, it should be more extensively applied to this fragile group of patients

Nusinersen safety and effects on motor function in adult spinal muscular atrophy type 2 and 3.

ABSTRACT Objective To retrospectively investigate safety and efficacy of nusinersen in a large cohort of adult Italian patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Methods Inclusion criteria were: (1) clinical and molecular diagnosis of SMA2 or SMA3; (2) nusinersen treatment started in adult age (>18 years); (3) clinical data available at least at baseline (T0-beginning of treatment) and 6 months (T6). Results We included 116 patients (13 SMA2 and 103 SMA3) with median age at first administration of 34 years (range 18–72). The Hammersmith Functional Rating Scale Expanded (HFMSE) in patients with SMA3 increased significantly from baseline to T6 (median change +1 point, p<0.0001), T10 (+2, p<0.0001) and T14 (+3, p<0.0001). HFMSE changes were independently significant in SMA3 sitter and walker subgroups. The Revised Upper Limb Module (RULM) in SMA3 significantly improved between T0 and T14 (median +0.5, p=0.012), with most of the benefit observed in sitters (+2, p=0.018). Conversely, patients with SMA2 had no significant changes of median HFMSE and RULM between T0 and the following time points, although a trend for improvement of RULM was observed in those with some residual baseline function. The rate of patients showing clinically meaningful improvements (as defined during clinical trials) increased from 53% to 69% from T6 to T14. Conclusions Our data provide further evidence of nusinersen safety and efficacy in adult SMA2 and SMA3, with the latter appearing to be cumulative over time. In patients with extremely advanced disease, effects on residual motor function are less clear

MASTREE+: time-series of plant reproductive effort from six continents

Significant gaps remain in understanding the response of plant reproduction to environmental change. This is partly because measuring reproduction in long-lived plants requires direct observation over many years and such datasets have rarely been made publicly available. Here we introduce MASTREE+, a data set that collates reproductive time-series data from across the globe and makes these data freely available to the community. MASTREE+ includes 73,828 georeferenced observations of annual reproduction (e.g. seed and fruit counts) in perennial plant populations worldwide. These observations consist of 5971 population-level time-series from 974 species in 66 countries. The mean and median time-series length is 12.4 and 10 years respectively, and the data set includes 1122 series that extend over at least two decades (≥20 years of observations). For a subset of well-studied species, MASTREE+ includes extensive replication of time-series across geographical and climatic gradients. Here we describe the open-access data set, available as a.csv file, and we introduce an associated web-based app for data exploration. MASTREE+ will provide the basis for improved understanding of the response of long-lived plant reproduction to environmental change. Additionally, MASTREE+ will enable investigation of the ecology and evolution of reproductive strategies in perennial plants, and the role of plant reproduction as a driver of ecosystem dynamics.Additional co-authors: Ciprian Palaghianu, Mario Pesendorfer, Akiko Satake, Eliane Schermer, Andrew J. Tanentzap, Peter A. Thomas, Davide Vecchio, Andreas P. Wion, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Tingting Xue, Marie-Claire Aravena Acuña, Marcelo Daniel Barrera, Jessica H. Barton, Stan Boutin, Emma R. Bush, Sergio Donoso Calderón, Felipe S. Carevic, Carolina Volkmer de Castilho, Juan Manuel Cellini, Colin A. Chapman, Hazel Chapman, Francesco Chianucci, Patricia da Costa, Luc Croisé, Andrea Cutini, Ben Dantzer, R. Justin DeRose, Jean-Thoussaint Dikangadissi, Edmond Dimoto, Fernanda Lopes da Fonseca, Leonardo Gallo, Georg Gratzer, David F. Greene, Martín A. Hadad, Alejandro Huertas Herrera, Jill F. Johnstone, Urs Kalbitzer, Władysław Kantorowicz, Christie A. Klimas, Jonathan G. A. Lageard, Jeffrey Lane, Katharina Lapin, Mateusz Ledwoń, Abigail C. Leeper, Maria Vanessa Lencinas, Ana Cláudia Lira-Guedes, Michael C. Lordon, Paula Marchelli, Shealyn Marino, Harald Schmidt Van Marle, Andrew G. McAdam, Ludovic R. W. Momont, Manuel Nicolas, Lúcia Helena de Oliveira Wadt, Parisa Panahi, Guillermo Martínez Pastur, Thomas Patterson, Pablo Luis Peri, Łukasz Piechnik, Mehdi Pourhashemi, Claudia Espinoza Quezada, Fidel A. Roig, Karen Peña Rojas, Yamina Micaela Rosas, Silvio Schueler, Barbara Seget, Rosina Soler, Michael A. Steele, Mónica Toro-Manríquez, Caroline E. G. Tutin, Tharcisse Ukizintambara, Biplang Yadok, John L. Willis, Anita Zolles, Magdalena Żywiec, Davide Ascol

MASTREE+ : time-series of plant reproductive effort from six continents

Significant gaps remain in understanding the response of plant reproduction to environmental change. This is partly because measuring reproduction in long-lived plants requires direct observation over many years and such datasets have rarely been made publicly available. Here we introduce MASTREE+, a data set that collates reproductive time-series data from across the globe and makes these data freely available to the community. MASTREE+ includes 73,828 georeferenced observations of annual reproduction (e.g. seed and fruit counts) in perennial plant populations worldwide. These observations consist of 5971 population-level time-series from 974 species in 66 countries. The mean and median time-series length is 12.4 and 10 years respectively, and the data set includes 1122 series that extend over at least two decades (≥20 years of observations). For a subset of well-studied species, MASTREE+ includes extensive replication of time-series across geographical and climatic gradients. Here we describe the open-access data set, available as a.csv file, and we introduce an associated web-based app for data exploration. MASTREE+ will provide the basis for improved understanding of the response of long-lived plant reproduction to environmental change. Additionally, MASTREE+ will enable investigation of the ecology and evolution of reproductive strategies in perennial plants, and the role of plant reproduction as a driver of ecosystem dynamics