One year after on Tyrrhenian coasts: The ban of cotton buds does not reduce their dominance in beach litter composition

In January 2019, Italy banned the sale of plastic cotton buds, which is one of the most abundant litter items entering the sea and then washing ashore. However, since the ban came into force, no studies have been carried out to assess whether the measure has actually led to the reduction of plastic cotton buds accumulating on Italian coasts. Here we aim at evaluating the effectiveness of the ban in reducing the amount of cotton buds reaching sandy beaches of the Tyrrhenian coast. Specifically, we monitored the accumulation of beach litter for one year since the ban came into force. By surveying eight coastal sites from winter 2019 to winter 2020, we collected a total of 52,824 items mostly constituted by plastic debris (97.6%). We found that cotton buds were the most abundant item (42.3% of total litter), followed by plastic (28.5%) and polystyrene (5.43%) fragments. Our preliminary assessment suggests that the ban has so far not led to a sensible reduction in the amount of cotton buds entering the marine ecosystem. This was to be expected since implementation strategies are still lacking (i.e. no economic sanctions can be imposed in case of non-compliance) and bans are differently implemented among countries facing the Mediterranean Sea, calling for law enforcement and implementation at the national and international levels

Age- and season-dependent pattern of flavonol glycosides in Cabernet Sauvignon grapevine leaves

Flavonols play key roles in many plant defense mechanisms, consequently they are frequently investigated as stress sensitive factors in relation to several oxidative processes. It is well known that grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) can synthesize various flavonol glycosides in the leaves, however, very little information is available regarding their distribution along the cane at different leaf levels. In this work, taking into consideration of leaf position, the main flavonol glycosides of a red grapevine cultivar (Cabernet Sauvignon) were profiled and quantified by HPLC–DAD analysis. It was found that amount of four flavonol glycosides, namely, quercetin-3-O-galactoside, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, kaempferol-3-O-glucoside and kaempferol-3-O-glucuronide decreased towards the shoot tip. Since leaf age also decreases towards the shoot tip, the obtained results suggest that these compounds continuously formed by leaf aging, resulting in their accumulation in the older leaves. In contrast, quercetin-3-O-glucuronide (predominant form) and quercetin-3-O-rutinoside were not accumulated significantly by aging. We also pointed out that grapevine boosted the flavonol biosynthesis in September, and flavonol profile differed significantly in the two seasons. Our results contribute to the better understanding of the role of flavonols in the antioxidant defense system of grapevine

Expression Analysis of Stress-Related genes involved in the response of Durum wheat to salinity and high light

The study of stress-related genes is critical to understand the molecular mechanisms of stress tolerance in plants. Several studies have demonstrated the important role of asparagine synthetase, glutamate decarboxylase and Δ1 -pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase genes signalling in response to environmental stresses. In order to investigate the expression changes of these genes in durum wheat under salinity and high light, a semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis was performed. High light increased the gene expression level of TdAsn1 alone (2.6 fold) and in combination with salinity (2 fold) in comparison with the control at low light. The isoforms TdAsn2 was expressed at low levels compared to TdAsn1 and the transcript was present only in leaves in control conditions or simultaneous stresses . A trend similar to that of TdAsn1 was observed for P5CS expression. On the contrary, GAD expression was decreased by salinity and high light (1.1 and 1.5-fold, respectively) and even more under the two combined stresses (3.7 fold) compared to control. The expression levels were compared to the respective enzymatic activities. Our expression data confirmed the pivotal role of the studied genes in the response to abiotic stresses in durum wheat

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Problems and prescriptions: motherhood and mammismo in postwar Italian advice columns and fiction

This chapter explores the way that motherhood was represented and debated in Italian magazine advice columns of the 1950s, a time of burgeoning success for the illustrated magazine and also the period that saw the emergence of the stereotype of mammismo. A study of four contrasting magazines, Grazia, Famiglia cristiana, Noi donne and Epoca, it discusses not only the normative prescriptions of some publications, but also the ways in which advice columnists attempted to establish a genuine dialogue with their readers and, to varying degrees, to respond to their interests and anxieties. It also gives an insight into the prevalence of mammismo in popular discourse, and, in Epoca and the writing of its columnist Alba de Céspedes, a specifically female perspective on the causes and durability of the stereotype