A comparative analysis of aquatic and polyethylene-associated antibiotic-resistant microbiota in the mediterranean sea

In this study, we evaluated the microbiome and the resistome profile of water and fragments of polyethylene (PE) waste collected at the same time from a stream and the seawater in a coastal area of Northwestern Sicily. Although a core microbiome was determined by sequencing of the V3–V4 region of the bacterial 16S rDNA gene, quantitative differences were found among the microbial communities on PE waste and the corresponding water samples. Our findings indicated that PE waste contains a more abundant and increased core microbiome diversity than the corresponding water samples. Moreover, PCR analysis of specific antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) showed that PE waste harbors more ARGs than the water samples. Thus, PE waste could act as a carrier of antibiotic-resistant microbiota, representing an increased danger for the marine environment and living organisms, as well

Multi-Locus Phylogenetic Analyses of the Almadablennius Clade Reveals Inconsistencies with the Present Taxonomy of Blenniid Fishes

We used a multi-locus phylogenetic approach (i.e., combining both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA fragments) to address some long-standing taxonomic inconsistencies within the diverse fish clade of Combtooth Blennies (Blenniidae—unranked clade Almadablennius). The obtained phylogenetic trees revealed some major inconsistencies in the current taxonomy of Parablennini, such as the paraphyletic status of the Salaria and Parablennius genera, casting some doubt regarding their actual phylogenetic relationship. Furthermore, a scarce-to-absent genetic differentiation was observed among the three species belonging to the genus Chasmodes. This study provides an updated taxonomy and phylogeny of the former genus Salaria, ascribing some species to the new genus Salariopsis gen. nov., and emphasizes the need for a revision of the genus Parablennius

Unveiling the egg microbiota of the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta in nesting beaches of the Mediterranean Sea

Microbes have central roles in the development and health of animals, being the introduction of specific microbial species a potential conservation strategy to protect animals from emerging diseases. Thus, insight into the microbiota of the species and their habitats is essential. In this manuscript, we report for the first time the bacterial composition of all the components (eggshells of hatched and unhatched eggs, internal content of unhatched eggs, intestinal content of hatchling and pipping sea turtles, and sand) of three nesting beaches of Caretta caretta along the Italian coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. The analysis of 26 amplicon samples was carried out using next-generation sequencing analysis, targeting V3–V4 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Samples featured mainly Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes, whose percentages depended on the sample type. Our results showed that, although from different sampling sites, the internal content of the unhatched eggs, intestinal content of hatchling and pipping sea turtles share the microbiota, which was yet different from that of eggshells and sand of the same nesting beach. This study suggests the maternal and environmental influence alongside a protective role of eggshells in shaping the egg microbiota of Caretta caretta sea turtles

Conservation state of two paintings in the Santa Margherita cliff cave: role of the environment and of the microbial community

The conservation of ancient paintings sited in humid environments is an actual challenge for restorers, because it needs the knowledge of the materials the paintings are made up and of their interaction with a peculiar surrounding environment; thus, tailored procedures and strategies aimed at restoring and preserving paintings are necessary. Santa Margherita’s cave in Castellammare del Golfo (Trapani, Italy) is a natural cave, containing the remains of paintings, in a poor state of conservation, belonging to an ancient church dated back to the Middle Age. The present manuscript reports the monitoring of environmental conditions (i.e., temperature and humidity) in a full year, as well as a study on the materials constituting the stone support and the paintings together with a survey of the microbial community. The findings allow us to define the causes that mainly involve the degradation of the paintings. In detail, the degradation of the east and the west walls occurred differently because of the exposure to the sea aerosol, which influenced the salt composition, also contributing to diversifying the bacterial community. Some specific actions to plan the conservation and restoration of paintings and to preserve the site are suggested

Risk factors for pancreas and lung neuroendocrine neoplasms: a case-control study.

Neuroendocrine neoplasia (NEN) has been displaying an incremental trend along the last two decades. This phenomenon is poorly understood, and little information is available on risk factor for neuroendocrine neoplasia development. Aim of this work is to elucidate the role of potentially modifiable risk factors for pancreatic and pulmonary NEN. We conducted a case-control study on 184 patients with NEN (100 pancreas and 84 lung) and 248 controls. The structured questionnaire included 84 queries on socio-demographic, behavioral, dietary and clinical information. Increased risk was associated with history of cancer ("other tumor", lung OR = 7.18; 95% CI: 2.55-20.20 and pancreas OR = 5.88; 95% CI: 2.43-14.22; "family history of tumor", lung OR = 2.66; 95% CI: 1.53-4.64 and pancreas OR = 1.94; 95% CI: 1.19-3.17; "family history of lung tumor", lung OR = 2.56; 95% CI: 1.05-6.24 and pancreas OR = 2.60; 95% CI: 1.13-5.95). Type 2 diabetes mellitus associated with an increased risk of pancreatic NEN (OR = 3.01; 95% CI: 1.15-7.89). Besides site-specific risk factors, there is a significant link between neuroendocrine neoplasia and cancer in general, pointing to a shared cancer predisposition

Extensive sampling sheds light on species-level diversity in Palearctic Placobdella (Annelida: Clitellata: Glossiphoniiformes)

The bloodfeeding leech genus Placobdella is dominated by North American diversity, with only a single nominal species known from Central America and one from the Palearctic region. This is likely due to considerable underestimation of Palearctic biodiversity, but investigations into potential hidden diversity are lacking. To shed light on this, the present study introduces new data for specimens initially identified as Placobdella costata from Ukraine (close to the type locality), Italy, Germany, Latvia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Tunisia, and Algeria, and uses both nuclear (Internal Transcribed Spacer [ITS] region) and mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I [COI]) sequence data in phylogenetic and DNA barcoding frameworks, in order to better understand species-level diversity. Seven independent lineages are present in the trees, five of which show adequate separation at the COI locus to suggest their unique species-level status (COI distances between these clades range from 4.86 to 8.10%). However, the ITS data suggest that speciation is recent or incipient in these clades, and that not enough time has passed for clear separation at this locus. We discuss the evolutionary and taxonomic implications of our findings and speculate on dispersal events that may have contributed to shaping this pattern of geographic distribution

New distributional data for the Mediterranean medicinal leech Hirudo verbana Carena, 1820 (Hirudinea, Hirudinidae) in Italy, with a note on its feeding on amphibians

Scarce data are currently available about the distribution of the Mediterranean medicinal leech Hirudo verbana in Italy, and most of the known occurrence localities are based on records collected in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, which were not confirmed in the last decades, mostly due to a lack of surveys. Accordingly, the available knowledge on the distribution of the species is far from being updated and representative, although a significant negative trend of H. verbana throughout the country is supposed. The lack of sound distribution data is a significant shortfall, which hinders the implementation of the monitoring of the species as required by the Article 17 of the “Habitats Directive” on the species of Union concern. To provide recent, validated distributional data for the Mediterranean medicinal leech in Italy to be used as baseline data for further surveys and monitoring, we present herein a set of unpublished observations collected in the last decades in peninsular Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia. Moreover, we report observation of H. verbana feeding on amphibians, a feeding habit to date poorly documented for the Mediterranean medicinal leech. Based on both published and novel data, H. verbana is characterised by a large but fragmented distribution in Italy. Therefore, dedicated monitoring programs and the collection of validated occasional observations are highly desirable to get a clearer picture of the real distribution of the species

Construction and characterization of metal ion-containing DNA nanowires for synthetic biology and nanotechnology

DNA is an attractive candidate for integration into nanoelectronics as a biological nanowire due to its linear geometry, definable base sequence, easy, inexpensive and non-toxic replication and self-assembling properties. Recently we discovered that by intercalating Ag+ in polycytosine-mismatch oligonucleotides, the resulting C-Ag+-C duplexes are able to conduct charge efficiently. To map the functionality and biostability of this system, we built and characterized internally-functionalized DNA nanowires through non-canonical, Ag+-mediated base pairing in duplexes containing cytosine-cytosine mismatches. We assessed the thermal and chemical stability of ion-coordinated duplexes in aqueous solutions and conclude that the C-Ag+-C bond forms DNA duplexes with replicable geometry, predictable thermodynamics, and tunable length. We demonstrated continuous ion chain formation in oligonucleotides of 11-50 nucleotides (nt), and enzyme ligation of mixed strands up to six times that length. This construction is feasible without detectable silver nanocluster contaminants. Functional gene parts for the synthesis of DNA- and RNA-based, C-Ag+-C duplexes in a cell-free system have been constructed in an Escherichia coli expression plasmid and added to the open-source BioBrick Registry, paving the way to realizing the promise of inexpensive industrial production. With appropriate design constraints, this conductive variant of DNA demonstrates promise for use in synthetic biological constructs as a dynamic nucleic acid component and contributes molecular electronic functionality to DNA that is not already found in nature. We propose a viable route to fabricating stable DNA nanowires in cell-free and synthetic biological systems for the production of self-assembling nanoelectronic architectures

Symbols for Computer-Aided Design Software Operations: Selection and Effect on User Recall

Computer Aided Design (CAD) software can be difficult to learn. Past research has not investigated how the selection of symbols used to represent CAD operations affects a new user’s ability to learn CAD concepts. In this paper, we explore how symbol choice impacts short-term recall as measured by accuracy and response time. We performed an initial study to identify what 2D symbols users draw to perform common CAD operations. This study identified common symbols for five CAD operations and highlighted differences between symbols drawn by inexperienced and experienced CAD users. Then, we conducted a second study with three groups using different input methods: selecting Autodesk Inventor CAD operation icons, selecting 2D symbols derived from the first study, and physically drawing those same symbols. There is not a statistically significant difference between the three groups’ average question accuracy. For time taken to submit responses, the group selecting Autodesk icons was lowest, followed by the group selecting the symbols, and then the group drawing the symbols. Additionally, the group drawing the symbols had a greater improvement in response time compared to the group selecting Autodesk icons. Other differences between groups were not found to be statistically significant. The results from our second study suggest a negative correlation between our set of user-created symbols and response time, and the potential for further research on other symbols from our first study