Search results for "Islands"
showing 10 items of 373 documents
Two new Salmonella genomic islands 1 from Proteus mirabilis and description of blaCTX-M-15 on a variant (SGI1-K7)
2018
Objectives To characterize the structure of Salmonella genomic islands 1 (SGI1s) from two clinical Proteus mirabilis isolates: one producing an ESBL and the other a penicillinase. Methods WGS completed by PCR and Sanger sequencing was performed to determine sequences of SGI1s from Pm2CHAMA and Pm37THOMI strains. Results Two new variants of SGI1 named SGI1-Pm2CHAMA (53.6 kb) and SGI1-K7 (55.1 kb) were identified. The backbone of SGI1-Pm2CHAMA shared 99.9% identity with that of SGI1. Its MDR region (26.3 kb) harboured two class 1 integrons (an In2-type integron and an In4-type integron) containing in particular a qacH cassette (encoding a quaternary ammonium compound efflux pump). These two i…
The rise and the fall of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa endemic lineage in a hospital
2021
The biological features that allow a pathogen to survive in the hospital environment are mostly unknown. The extinction of bacterial epidemics in hospitals is mostly attributed to changes in medical practice, including infection control, but the role of bacterial adaptation has never been documented. We analysed a collection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates belonging to the Besançon Epidemic Strain (BES), responsible for a 12year nosocomial outbreak, using a genotype-to-phenotype approach. Bayesian analysis estimated the emergence of the clone in the hospital 5 years before its opening, during the creation of its water distribution network made of copper. BES survived better than the refe…
BioTIME: A database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene
2018
Abstract Motivation The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time series. Our goal is to accelerate and facilitate quantitative analysis of temporal patterns of biodiversity in the Anthropocene. Main types of variables included The database contains 8,777,413 species abundance records, from assemblages consistently sampled for a minimum of 2 years, which need not necessarily be consecutive. In addition, th…
Impact of Demand Response Control Logic on Isolated Island's Distribution Networks
2019
The work presents the results of a study regarding the impact of some Demand Response control logics on an isolated distribution network. The proposed control is divided into precise steps in which the coordination between the general aggregator controller and the single local Energy Management Systems is developed and illustrated with details. The control is applied to the flexible loads and to the storage systems of photovoltaic plants installed at the end-users' houses and connected to the network. The study is carried out delivering a suitable network model of the island's system, with the implementation of load profiles for all the loads of the network for a total simulation time of 24…
Desalination by sea wave in small islands: The case of study of Lampedusa (Italy)
2018
The paper analyses the theme of water energy nexus, investigating a specific industrial process: desalination. In particular, the paper reports a case of study, applied in the small island of Lampedusa, located at south of Sicily (Italy). As the many small islands in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Lampedusa presents a small electrical grid, not connected to the mainland. The electrical production is entrusted to old diesel engines, consuming fossil fuel, transported by boat from Sicily. Besides, the renewable energy sources are extremely underdeveloped in this territory, since the environmental constraints make complex the use of technologies, like wind turbines or photovoltaic panels…
Methyl-CpG-binding domain sequencing reveals a prognostic methylation signature in neuroblastoma
2016
Accurate assessment of neuroblastoma outcome prediction remains challenging. Therefore, this study aims at establishing novel prognostic tumor DNA methylation biomarkers. In total, 396 low- and high-risk primary tumors were analyzed, of which 87 were profiled using methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD) sequencing for differential methylation analysis between prognostic patient groups. Subsequently, methylation-specific PCR (MSP) assays were developed for 78 top-ranking differentially methylated regions and tested on two independent cohorts of 132 and 177 samples, respectively. Further, a new statistical framework was used to identify a robust set of MSP assays of which the methylation score (i.e.…
Island Geographies of Separation and Cohesion: The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Geopolitics of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland).
2020
Abstract Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) is an Arctic highly autonomous subnational island jurisdiction (SNIJ) of Denmark, its former coloniser. The coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic of 2020 has influenced both Kalaallit Nunaat’s relations with the outside world and relations between people and places within the territory. The Kalaallit Nunaat government’s response to the pandemic, including both internal and external travel bans and restrictions on movement, has focused on eradicating the disease from the territory. This strategy, however, is challenged both by the SNIJ’s economic reliance on Denmark and by the Danish government’s own strategy of mitigating the disease. This paper explores the …
Inland areas between description and transformation. The case of the disused quarries on the island of Favignana
2022
The Municipality of Favignana is registered in the List of Municipalities of the ‘Inland Areas’ drawn up by the ‘Agenzia per la Coesione Territoriale’1. It is an island in Sicily and belongs to the inter-municipal pole of the city of Trapani. Its municipal territory is spread over the three islands of the Egadi archipelago and therefore also includes the islands of Levanzo and Marettimo. It is classified under category ‘E’ indicating ‘peripheral territory’. As is the case for many of the Italian islands included in the same census, the Egadi archipelago lives its meaning of periphery both in terms of geographical position and, above all, condition. External to the territory of Sicily, and s…
The Eighth Island
2014
This paper proposes a succinct analysis of the factors that have led Aeolians to leave their islands for Australia and explores how patterns of chain migration were established in the second half of the 19th century that are still active today. Saija argues that initially Aeolians went to Australia out of a yearning for adventure rather than out of economic need, although after the substantial economic downturn experienced by the islands from 1888 onwards, economic need became the predominant if not the only factor. Over the last 150 years so many Aeolians have migrated to Australia that it has become known in the Aeolian collective consciousness as the eighth island of the Aeolian archipel…
Environmental quality assessment of the Sicilian coast using a multi-disciplinary approach
2018
A multidisciplinary approach for the assessment of the environmental quality of the Sicilian coast is presented. This approach can be adopted for any Mediterranean coastline. The territory was divided into elementary areas and for each of them we reported the most important taxa, belonging to fauna and vascular, bryophytic and algal flora, from a biogeographic point of view in order to evaluate punctual and general levels of biodiversity conservation. The comparative analysis showed that the main circumsicilian islands and the carbonate promontories of the Tyrrhenian coast present the highest degree of biodiversity. The coastal lagoons located in the south-eastern Sicily, even though charac…