Picoplankton Community Composition by CARD-FISH and Flow Cytometric Techniques: A Preliminary Study in Central Adriatic Sea Water

Data concerning picoplanktonic community composition and abundance in the Central Adriatic Sea are presented in an effort to improve the knowledge of bacterioplankton and autotrophic picoplankton and their seasonal changes. Flow cytometry analyses revealed the presence of two distinct bacteria populations: HNA and LNA cells. HNA cells showed an explicit correlation with viable and actively respiring cells. The study of viability and activity may increase our knowledge of the part that contributes really to the remineralization and bacterial biomass production. Authotrophic picoplankton abundance, especially picocyanobacteria, was strongly influenced by seasonality, indicating that light availability and water temperature are very important regulating factors. In terms of total carbon biomass, the main contribution came from heterotrophic bacteria with a lower contribution from autotrophic picoplankton. CARD-FISH evidenced, within the Eubacteria domain, the dominance of members of the phyla Alphaproteobacteria, with a strong contribution from SAR11clade, followed by Cytophaga-Flavobacterium and Gammaproteobacteria. The bacterial groups detected contributed differently depending when the sample was taken, suggesting possible seasonal patterns. This study documents for the first time picoplankton community composition in the Central Adriatic Sea using two different approaches, FCM and CARD-FISH, and could provide preliminary data for future studies

Cognitive Outcomes and Relationships with Phenylalanine in Phenylketonuria: A Comparison between Italian and English Adult Samples

We aimed to assess if the same cognitive batteries can be used cross-nationally to monitor the effect of Phenylketonuria (PKU). We assessed whether a battery, previously used with English adults with PKU (AwPKU), was also sensitive to impairments in Italian AwPKU. From our original battery, we selected a number of tasks that comprehensively assessed visual attention, visuo-motor coordination, executive functions (particularly, reasoning, planning, and monitoring), sustained attention, and verbal and visual memory and learning. When verbal stimuli/or responses were involved, stimuli were closely matched between the two languages for psycholinguistic variables. We administered the tasks to 19 Italian AwPKU and 19 Italian matched controls and compared results from with 19 English AwPKU and 19 English matched controls selected from a previously tested cohort. Participant election was blind to cognitive performance and metabolic control, but participants were closely matched for age and education. The Italian AwPKU group had slightly worse metabolic control but showed levels of performance and patterns of impairment similar to the English AwPKU group. The Italian results also showed extensive correlations between adult cognitive measures and metabolic measures across the life span, both in terms of Phenylalanine (Phe) levels and Phe fluctuations, replicating previous results in English. These results suggest that batteries with the same and/or matched tasks can be used to assess cognitive outcomes across countries allowing results to be compared and accrued. Future studies should explore potential differences in metabolic control across countries to understand what variables make metabolic control easier to achieve

Ultrastructural detection of environmental nanoparticles in circulating blood

The increase in the incidence of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) may suggest a possible environmental etiology. PM2.5 was declared by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO organ) a Class I carcinogen. To date, no reports have focused on particulate environmental pollution together with AML. The study investigated the presence and composition of particulate matter in circulating blood with a Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope coupled with an Energy Dispersive Spectroscope for the elemental analysis of the samples. 38 peripheral blood samples, 19 AML cases and 19 healthy controls, were analysed. A significant overload of particulate matter-derived nanoparticles linked or aggregated to blood components was found in AML patients, while almost absent in matched healthy controls. Two tailed Student’s t-test, MANOVA and Principal Component Analysis indicated that the total numbers of aggregates and particles were statistically different between cases and controls (MANOVA,

Adult cognitive outcomes in phenylketonuria:explaining causes of variability beyond average Phe levels

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to deepen the understanding of the causes of individual variability in phenylketonuria (PKU) by investigating which metabolic variables are most important for predicting cognitive outcomes (Phe average vs Phe variation) and by assessing the risk of cognitive impairment associated with adopting a more relaxed approach to the diet than is currently recommended. METHOD: We analysed associations between metabolic and cognitive measures in a mixed sample of English and Italian early-treated adults with PKU (N = 56). Metabolic measures were collected through childhood, adolescence and adulthood; cognitive measures were collected in adulthood. Metabolic measures included average Phe levels (average of median values for each year in a given period) and average Phe variations (average yearly standard deviations). Cognition was measured with IQ and a battery of cognitive tasks. RESULTS: Phe variation was as important, if not more important, than Phe average in predicting adult outcomes and contributed independently. Phe variation was particularly detrimental in childhood. Together, childhood Phe variation and adult Phe average predicted around 40% of the variation in cognitive scores. Poor cognitive scores (> 1 SD from controls) occurred almost exclusively in individuals with poor metabolic control and the risk of poor scores was about 30% higher in individuals with Phe values exceeding recommended thresholds. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide support for current European guidelines (average Phe value = < 360 μmol/l in childhood; = < 600 μmo/l from 12 years onwards), but they suggest an additional recommendation to maintain stable levels (possibly Phe SD = < 180 μmol/l throughout life). PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTS: We investigated the relationship between how well people with phenylketonuria control blood Phe throughout their life and their ability to carry out cognitive tasks in adulthood. We found that avoiding blood Phe peaks was as important if not more important that maintaining average low Phe levels. This was particularly essential in childhood. We also found that blood Phe levels above recommended European guidelines was associated with around 30% increase in the risk of poor cognitive outcomes