Search results for " migration"
showing 10 items of 754 documents
Salah Methnani’s Immigrato: Portrait of a Migrant as a Young Man
2012
Although after Unification Italy was predominantly a country of emigration, in recent years it has become a hub for migrants from different parts of the world. Among these migrants a group of writers has contributed to re-configuring Italy's national literary identity. Read by critics primarily as an autobiographical text with remarkable sociological value, Tunisian-born Salah Methnani’s Immigrato is, I argue, first and foremost a classic Bildungsroman. Salah, the 'immigrant' in the title, is the story's protagonist, point of view and leading metaphor. His Bildung follows a double path. On the one hand Italy is a country imagined through TV and books read in school, on the other it is the c…
Postfazione a E. C. Osondu, Quando il cielo vuole spuntano le stelle
2020
The Postface to E. C. Osondu's most recent novel offers a commentary on this Bildungsroman, whose protagonist is a young man from an unknown African country who leaves home behind to reach Europe hoping in a better world. Although narrated in a lyrical tone, the protagonist's epic journey resonates with the actual stories of the uncountable young African men who in the past years have crossed the Black Mediterranean.
Individual repeatability in timing and spatial flexibility of migration routes of trans-Saharan migratory raptors
2015
Satellite-tracking technology has allowed scientists to make a quantum leap in the field of migration ecology. Nowadays, the basic description of migratory routes of many species of birds has been reported. However, the investigation of bird migration at individual level (i.e. repeatability in migratory routes and timing) still remains seldom explored. Here, we investigated repeated migratory trips of a trans-Saharan endangered migratory raptor, the Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus, tracked by GPS satellite telemetry. We compared between- and within-individual variation in migratory routes and timing in order to assess the degree of repeatability (or conversely, the flexibility) in mi…
A divergent Anaplasma phagocytophilum variant in an Ixodes tick from a migratory bird; Mediterranean basin
2020
Anaplasma phagocytophilum (AP) has vast geographical and host ranges and causes disease in humans and domesticated animals. We investigated the role of northward migratory birds in the dispersal of tick-borne AP in the African-Western Palearctic. Ticks were collected from northward migratory birds trapped during spring migration of 2010 at two localities in the central Mediterranean Sea. AP DNA was detected by PCR (gltA and 16S rRNA) and variant determination was performed using ankA sequences. In total, 358 ticks were collected. One of 19 ticks determined as Ixodes was confirmed positive for AP DNA. The tick was collected from a woodchat shrike (Lanius senator senator) trapped in Greece, a…
Detection of tick-borne encephalitis virus in I. ricinus ticks collected from autumn migratory birds in Latvia.
2014
Birds have a potential of spreading ticks via bird migration routes. In this study, we screened 170 ticks removed during autumn 2010 from 55 birds belonging to 10 species for the presence of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). In total, TBEV RNA was detected in 14% of I. ricinus tick samples obtained from different birds species. The results of this study indicate the possible role of migrating birds in the dispersal of TBEV-infected ticks along the southward migration route.
Specific expression of a TRIM-containing factor in ectoderm cells affects the skeletal morphogenetic program of the sea urchin embryo
2011
In the indirect developing sea urchin embryo, the primary mesenchyme cells (PMCs) acquire most of the positional and temporal information from the overlying ectoderm for skeletal initiation and growth. In this study, we characterize the function of the novel gene strim1, which encodes a tripartite motif-containing (TRIM) protein, that adds to the list of genes constituting the epithelial-mesenchymal signaling network. We report that strim1 is expressed in ectoderm regions adjacent to the bilateral clusters of PMCs and that its misexpression leads to severe skeletal abnormalities. Reciprocally, knock down of strim1 function abrogates PMC positioning and blocks skeletogenesis. Blastomere tran…
Effects of marine 2-polyprenyl-1,4-hydroquinones on phospholipase A2 activity and some inflammatory responses.
1995
Three 2-polyprenyl-1,4-hydroquinone derivatives (2-heptaprenyl-1,4-hydroquinone: IS1, 2-octaprenyl-1,4-hydroquinone: IS2 and 2-[24-hydroxy]-octaprenyl-1,4-hydroquinone: IS3) isolated from the Mediterranean sponge Ircinia spinosula, were evaluated for effects on phospholipase A2 activity of different origin (Naja naja venom, human recombinant synovial fluid and bee venom), as well as on human neutrophil function and mouse ear oedema induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA). IS1 interacted minimally with these responses. In contrast, IS2 and IS3 inhibited human recombinant synovial phospholipase A2 in a concentration-dependent manner, with minor effects on the rest of the enzymes…
The genomic history of the Aegean palatial civilizations
2021
Summary The Cycladic, the Minoan, and the Helladic (Mycenaean) cultures define the Bronze Age (BA) of Greece. Urbanism, complex social structures, craft and agricultural specialization, and the earliest forms of writing characterize this iconic period. We sequenced six Early to Middle BA whole genomes, along with 11 mitochondrial genomes, sampled from the three BA cultures of the Aegean Sea. The Early BA (EBA) genomes are homogeneous and derive most of their ancestry from Neolithic Aegeans, contrary to earlier hypotheses that the Neolithic-EBA cultural transition was due to massive population turnover. EBA Aegeans were shaped by relatively small-scale migration from East of the Aegean, as e…
Cardiovascular, ventilatory and total activity responses of brown trout to handling stress
1994
Changes in total activity, heart and ventilation rates were observed in 2-year-old brown trout, following handling stress, using non-contact bioelectronic monitoring equipment. Experiments were carried out in laboratory conditions at water temperatures below 4° C, Transfer between tanks as well as 5 min restraint stress increased the total activity of fish for 24 to 48 h, after which it declined to near the pre-stress level. The transfer and struggle both elevated the heart rate for 3 to 4 days. Ventilation rate was elevated to a maximum of about 30% above the nominal level and recovered within 3 to 4 days. Both heart and ventilation rates were higher in feeding fish relative to fasting fis…
Role of Chemokines in Melanoma Progression
2011
Metastasis is the main cause of death from melanoma. Chemokines are low molecular weight chemotactic cytokines that facilitate cellular migration. Thus, cells that express receptors for a given chemokine are attracted to the site of its production. As certain chemokines are found in abundance in organs that are common targets of metastasis and receptors for these chemokines are expressed by tumor cells, it was hypothesized that chemokine gradients might selectively facilitate metastasis to these organs. A later finding that these chemokines were produced by tumor cells, with evidence of autocrine effects, obliged the modification of that hypothesis. Many chemokines are also known to have op…