Search results for "FLORA"
showing 10 items of 989 documents
Effects of HIV, antiretroviral therapy and prebiotics on the active fraction of the gut microbiota
2018
In a recent blinded randomized study, we found that in HIV-infected individuals a short supplementation with prebiotics (scGOS/lcFOS/glutamine) ameliorates dysbiosis of total gut bacteria, particularly among viremic untreated patients. Our study goal was to determine the fraction of the microbiota that becomes active during the intervention and that could provide additional functional information.A total of six healthy individuals, and 16 HIV-infected patients comprising viremic untreated patients (n = 5) and antiretroviral therapy-treated patients that are further divided into immunological responders (n = 7) and immunological nonresponders (n = 4) completed the 6-week course of prebiotic …
Occurrence of rhizobia in the gut of the higher termite Nasutitermes nigriceps
2006
Wood-eating termites feed on a diet highly deficient in nitrogen. They must complement their diet with the aid of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Nitrogen fixation in the gut has been demonstrated, but information about nitrogen-fixing bacteria in pure culture is scarce. From the higher termite Nasutitermes nigriceps the symbiotic bacterial strain M3A was isolated, which thrives in the hindgut contents. The Gram-negative strain exhibited similarities to the species of the genus Ensifer (including Sinorhizobium) on the basis of morphological and physiological/biochemical features. The 16S rRNA gene analysis showed the highest sequence similarity of the isolate M3A to Ensifer adhaerens (>99%; ATCC …
Metatranscriptomic Approach to Analyze the Functional Human Gut Microbiota
2011
The human gut is the natural habitat for a large and dynamic bacterial community that has a great relevance for health. Metagenomics is increasing our knowledge of gene content as well as of functional and genetic variability in this microbiome. However, little is known about the active bacteria and their function(s) in the gastrointestinal tract. We performed a metatranscriptomic study on ten healthy volunteers to elucidate the active members of the gut microbiome and their functionality under conditions of health. First, the microbial cDNAs obtained from each sample were sequenced using 454 technology. The analysis of 16S transcripts showed the phylogenetic structure of the active microbi…
Aggiornamento sul progetto PESI (a Pan European Species-directories Infrastructure) per lo studio coordinato della biodiversità in Europa
2010
Clostridium difficile heterogeneously impacts intestinal community architecture but drives stable metabolome responses
2015
Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD) is caused by C. difficile toxins A and B and represents a serious emerging health problem. Yet, its progression and functional consequences are unclear. We hypothesised that C. difficile can drive major measurable metabolic changes in the gut microbiota and that a relationship with the production or absence of toxins may be established. We tested this hypothesis by performing metabolic profiling on the gut microbiota of patients with C. difficile that produced (n=6) or did not produce (n=4) toxins and on non-colonised control patients (n=6), all of whom were experiencing diarrhoea. We report a statistically significant separation (P-value o0…
Advanced strategy to exploit wine-making waste by manufacturing antioxidant and prebiotic fibre-enriched vesicles for intestinal health.
2020
Grape extract-loaded fibre-enriched vesicles, nutriosomes, were prepared by combining antioxidant extracts obtained from grape pomaces and a prebiotic, soluble fibre (Nutriose®FM06). The nutriosomes were small in size (from ∼140 to 260 nm), homogeneous (polydispersity index < 0.2) and highly negative (∼ −79 mV). The vesicles were highly stable during 12 months of storage at 25 °C. When diluted with warmed (37 °C) acidic medium (pH 1.2) of high ionic strength, the vesicles only displayed an increase of the mean diameter and a low release of the extract, which were dependent on Nutriose concentration. The formulations were highly biocompatible and able to protect intestinal cells (Caco-2) fro…
Florintesa: patrimonio floristico e Orti botanici in Italia
2016
Bilabiate Flowers: The Ultimate Response to Bees?
2007
† Background and Aims Bilabiate flowers have evolved in many lineages of the angiosperms, thus representing a convincing example of parallel evolution. Similar to keel blossoms, they have obviously evolved in order to protect pollen against pollen-collecting bees. Although many examples are known, a comprehensive survey on floral diversity and functional constraints of bilabiate flowers is lacking. Here, the concept is widened and described as a general pattern. † Methods The present paper is a conceptional review including personal observations of the authors. To form a survey on the diversity of bilabiate blossoms, a search was made for examples across the angiosperms and these were combi…
Christian Konrad Sprengel’s Theory of the Flower: The Cradle of Floral Ecology
1996
As the plant taxonomist Karl Suessenguth once wrote, there are two kinds of discoveries: Detecting a thing nobody has seen before, or thinking what no one has thought before about something that everybody sees. A discovery of the second kind, and one of great moments in our science, was Sprengel’s theory of the flower. This theory clearly expressed for the first time the notion that flowers are designed for the transmission of pollen by foreign vectors, that is, animals or wind, and they can be understood only from this perspective.
Contributo alla conoscenza della distribuzione di Monotropa hypophegea Wallr. (Ericaceae) in Italia
2015
The authors report the distribution of Monotropa hypophegea Wallr. in Italy by the analyses of herbarium specimens, bibliographic references and records in the field. Its national distribution is extended to Tuscany, Marche, Umbria, Puglia Basilicata, Calabria and confirmed for Sicily. Some details concerning morphological characters are also provided to avoid confusion in identification with M. hypopitys L. the other congeneric species occurring in Italy. Furthermore, observations about ecology of these taxa are provided.