Plant communities of Italy. The vegetation prodrome

The Vegetation Prodrome of Italy was promoted in 2012 by the Italian "Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea Protection", in collaboration with the "Italian Society of Botany", to provide a comprehensive and systematic catalogue and description of Italian plant communities. The Prodrome that is presented in this paper is the first full organic synthesis of the vegetation of Italy at the alliance syntaxonomic level. It fulfils several needs, the main one being a unified and comprehensive national framework that may make an important contribution to the definition of the European Vegetation Prodrome. Syntaxonomy, as well as taxonomy, is sometimes based on considerations that may in part diverge: several authors tend to favour models that are divisive or aggregative to a greater or lesser extent in terms of flora, biogeography and ecology. These different points of view stimulate the scientific debate and allow the adoption of a framework that is more widely supported. The Prodrome includes 75 classes, 2 subclasses, 175 orders, 6 suborders and 393 alliances. The classes were grouped into nine broad categories according to structural, physiognomic and synecological elements rather than to syntaxonomic criteria. The rank, full valid name, any synonymies and incorrect names are provided for each syntaxon. The short declaration highlights the physiognomy, synecology, syndynamics and distribution of the plant communities that belong to the syntaxon. The Prodrome of the Italian Vegetation is linked to the European Strategy for Biodiversity, the European Habitats Directive and the European Working Groups related to the ecosystems and their services. In addition to basic applications, the Prodrome can be used as a framework for scientific research related to the investigation of the relationships between plant communities and the environmental factors that influence their composition and distribution

An Unusual Case of Adrenal Metastasis from Colorectal Cancer: Computed Tomography and Fluorine 18-Fluoro-Deoxy-Glucose Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography Features and Literature Review

Incidentally discovered adrenal masses are a common diagnostic problem. While computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging can adequately characterize most benign or malignant adrenal masses, in some cases the results are indeterminate. We report and discuss a case of an adrenal metastasis with misleading clinical and CT features, in which an abnormal metabolic uptake detected through fluorine 18-fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET)-CT raised the suspicion of adrenal metastasis relatively early compared with apparently normal results on repeated follow-up CT examinations

The polyamine “multiverse” and stress mitigation in crops: A case study with seed priming in quinoa

The importance of polyamines (PAs) in plant growth and development was recognised several decades ago and, since then, their role in cell proliferation, embryogenesis, organogenesis, flowering, fruit development and ripening, etc. has been investigated to a great extent. In more recent years, most of the attention on PAs has been focussed on their functions in biotic and, especially, abiotic stress responses. Exogenous application, transgenic plants over- or under-expressing PA biosynthetic genes, and mutants have been used to unveil their essential contribution to plant tolerance to salinity, drought, chilling, and heavy metal stresses, among others. In parallel, knowledge on their mechanisms of action has increased greatly and it is today evident that PA functions depend upon their ability to (a) bind electrostatically or covalently to numerous compounds thereby modulating membrane, cell wall, nucleic acid, and protein structure and functions, (b) produce hydrogen peroxide via their catabolic pathways, (c) interact with the biosynthetic and signaling pathways of practically all known phyto hormones, and (d) interact with nitric oxide. In this review, a state-of-the-art overview of PA functions in plants and their possible applications in mitigating stress in crop plants is provided. The potential of seed priming with PAs as an economically and environmentally valid approach for enhancing plant tolerance to adverse environmental conditions is discussed and some results from our study on quinoa and salt stress are presented

SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Facing the pandemic together as citizens and cardiovascular practitioners

Despite their highbrow name, coronarvirus have proved eminently disruptive in recent years. Since the epidemic of severe respiratory distress syndrome (SARS) due to the SARS-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MER S) due to the MER S-related coronavirus (MER S-CoV), several experts could expect the advent of additional epidemics due to coronaviruses. Yet, the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus-associated disease 2019 (COVID -2019) due to the infection from SARS-CoV-2 (also known as 2019-nCoV) has wreaked havoc worldwide (Figure 1). As Italian citizens and cardiovascular practitioners, we are now facing this storm, with a mix of incredulity, fear, boldness, and sense of duty

Genomic imbalances are confined to non-proliferating cells in paediatric patients with acute myeloid leukaemia and a normal or incomplete karyotype

Copyright @ 2011 Ballabio et al.Leukaemia is often associated with genetic alterations such as translocations, amplifications and deletions, and recurrent chromosome abnormalities are used as markers of diagnostic and prognostic relevance. However, a proportion of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cases have an apparently normal karyotype despite comprehensive cytogenetic analysis. Based on conventional cytogenetic analysis of banded chromosomes, we selected a series of 23 paediatric patients with acute myeloid leukaemia and performed whole genome array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH) using DNA samples derived from the same patients. Imbalances involving large chromosomal regions or entire chromosomes were detected by aCGH in seven of the patients studied. Results were validated by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to both interphase nuclei and metaphase chromosomes using appropriate bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) probes. The majority of these copy number alterations (CNAs) were confirmed by FISH and found to localize to the interphase rather than metaphase nuclei. Furthermore, the proliferative states of the cells analyzed by FISH were tested by immunofluorescence using an antibody against the proliferation marker pKi67. Interestingly, these experiments showed that, in the vast majority of cases, the changes appeared to be confined to interphase nuclei in a non-proliferative status.This work was supported by a grant from Leukaemia Research UK (grant no. 0253). SJLK and RR were supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford, with funding from the Department of Health’s NIHR Biomedical Research Centres funding schemeThis article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund

Cytokine release syndrome after CAR infusion in pediatric patients with refractory/relapsed B-ALL: is there a role for diclofenac?

BACKGROUND: Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) is a major complication after chimeric-antigen receptor T-cell treatment, characterized by an uncontrolled systemic inflammatory reaction. We investigated the potential role of diclofenac in the management of CRS in five pediatric patients treated for relapsed/refractory B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia. METHODS: In case of persistent fever with fever-free intervals shorter than 3 hours, diclofenac continuous infusion was initiated, at the starting dose of 0.5 mg/Kg/day, the lowest effective pediatric dose in our experience, possibly escalated up to 1 mg/Kg/day, as per institutional guidelines. RESULTS: CRS occurred at a median of 20 hours (range 8–27) after tisagenlecleucel infusion. Diclofenac was started at a median of 20 hours (range 13–33) after fever onset. A mean of 3.07 febrile peaks without diclofenac and 0.95 with diclofenac were reported (p = 0.02). Clinical benefit was achieved by hampering the progression of tachypnea and tachycardia. Despite fever control, CRS progressed in four of the five patients, and hypotension requiring vasopressors and fluid retention, as well as hypoxia, occurred. Vasopressors were followed by 1–2 doses of tocilizumab (one in patient 2 and two in patients 3, 4, and 5), plus steroids in patients 4 and 5. CONCLUSION: Based on a limited number of patients, diclofenac leads to better fever control, which translates into symptom relief and improvement of tachycardia, but could not prevent the progression of CRS

Mid-infrared Hall effect in thin-film metals: Probing the Fermi surface anisotropy in Au and Cu

A sensitive mid-infrared (MIR, 900-1100 cm-1, 112-136 meV) photo-elastic polarization modulation technique is used to measure simultaneously Faraday rotation and circular dichroism in thin metal films. These two quantities determine the complex AC Hall conductivity. This novel technique is applied to study Au and Cu thin films at temperatures down to 20 K and magnetic fields up to 8 T. The Hall frequency is consistent with band theory predictions. We report the first measurement of the MIR Hall scattering rate, which is significantly lower than that derived from Drude analysis of zero magnetic field MIR transmission measurements. This difference is qualitatively explained in terms of the anisotropy of the Fermi surface in Au and Cu.Comment: 14 pages of text, 5 figure