Search results for "VIA"
showing 10 items of 4627 documents
Urbanization, trace metal pollution, and malaria prevalence in the house sparrow.
2013
10 pages; International audience; Anthropogenic pollution poses a threat for the environment and wildlife. Trace metals (TMs) are known to have negative effects on haematological status, oxidative balance, and reproductive success in birds. These pollutants particularly increase in concentration in industrialized, urbanized and intensive agricultural areas. Pollutants can also interfere with the normal functioning of the immune system and, as such, alter the dynamics of host-parasite interactions. Nevertheless, the impact of pollution on infectious diseases has been largely neglected in natural populations of vertebrates. Here, we used a large spatial scale monitoring of 16 house sparrow (P…
Innovative alternative technologies to extract carotenoids from microalgae and seaweeds
2016
Marine microalgae and seaweeds (microalgae) represent a sustainable source of various bioactive natural carotenoids, including β-carotene, lutein, astaxanthin, zeaxanthin, violaxanthin and fucoxanthin. Recently, the large-scale production of carotenoids from algal sources has gained significant interest with respect to commercial and industrial applications for health, nutrition, and cosmetic applications. Although conventional processing technologies, based on solvent extraction, offer a simple approach to isolating carotenoids, they suffer several, inherent limitations, including low efficiency (extraction yield), selectivity (purity), high solvent consumption, and long treatment times, w…
Agronomic Evaluation and Chemical Characterization of Sicilian Salvia sclarea L. Accessions
2020
Clary sage (Salvia sclarea L.), known for its aromatic and medicinal properties, belongs to the Lamiaceae family. Although the species grows wild throughout Sicily, knowledge of its production and qualitative properties is limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the agronomic behavior of the species over two years of testing and to characterize the chemical properties of its wild counterparts in order to identify the most promising accessions for cropping or for use in breeding programs. Tests were carried out during 2008, 2009, and 2010. During the first year, the plot was established. Subsequently, the main parameters for bio-agronomic evaluation were taken in 2009 and 2010. Regard…
Community size affects the signals of ecological drift and niche selection on biodiversity
2019
AbstractEcological drift can override the effects of deterministic niche selection on small populations and drive the assembly of small communities. We tested the hypothesis that smaller local communities are more dissimilar among each other because of ecological drift than larger communities, which are mainly structured by niche selection. We used a unique, comprehensive dataset on insect communities sampled identically in a total of 200 streams in climatically different regions (Brazil and Finland) that differ in community size by fivefold. Null models allowed us to estimate the magnitude to which beta diversity deviates from the expectation under a random assembly process while taking di…
Iodine Biofortification Counters Micronutrient Deficiency and Improve Functional Quality of Open Field Grown Curly Endive
2021
Human iodine (I) shortage disorders are documented as an imperative world-wide health issue for a great number of people. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends I consumption through ingestion of seafood and biofortified food such as vegetables. The current work was carried out to appraise the effects of different I concentrations (0, 50, 250, and 500 mg L−1), supplied via foliar spray on curly endive grown in the fall or spring–summer season. Head fresh weight, stem diameter, head height, and soluble solid content (SSC) were negatively correlated to I dosage. The highest head dry matter content was recorded in plants supplied with 250 mg I L−1, both in the fall and spring–summer se…
Resistance of a recombinant Escherichia coli to dehydration.
2009
International audience; Dehydration of microorganisms, rendering them anhydrobiotic, is often an efficient method for the short and long term conservation of different strain-producers. However, some biotechnologically important recombinant bacterial strains are extremely sensitive to conventional treatment. We describe appropriate conditions during dehydration of the recombinant Escherichia coli strain HB 101 (GAPDH) that can result dry cells having a 88% viability on rehydration. The methods entails air-drying after addition of 100 mM trehalose to the cultivation medium or distilled water (for short term incubation).
The way wear goes: phytolith-based wear on the dentine–enamel system in guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus)
2019
The effect of phytoliths on tooth wear and function has been contested in studies of animal–plant interactions. For herbivores whose occlusal chewing surface consists of enamel ridges and dentine tissue, the phytoliths might particularly erode the softer dentine, exposing the enamel ridges to different occlusal forces and thus contributing to enamel wear. To test this hypothesis, we fed guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus; n = 36 in six groups) for threeweeks exclusively on dry or fresh forage of low(lucerne), moderate (fresh timothy grass) or very high (bamboo leaves) silica content representing corresponding levels of phytoliths. We quantified the effect of these treatments with measuremen…
Assessing Methane Emission and Economic Viability of Energy Exploitation in a Typical Sicilian Municipal Solid Waste Landfill
2018
Sanitary landfills for municipal solid waste (MSW) represent one of the major anthropogenic source of GHGs emissions and are directly responsible of the climate changes we are facing nowadays. Indeed, the biodegradable organic matter of MSW undergoes anaerobic digestion producing the landfill gas (LFG), whose main components are CH4 and CO2. Therefore, biomethane energy exploitation in MSW landfills will reduce GHGs emission positively affecting the global warming. The aim of the present study was to assess the methane production in a Sicilian landfill by comparing the results from field measurements of methane emission and the estimates achieved by applying different mathematical models. A…
A new flatworm species of Temnocephala (Rhabdocoela, Temnocephalidae) ectosymbiont on the freshwater crab Valdivia serrata (Decapoda, Trichodactylida…
2020
A new species of temnocephalan is described from the branchial chambers ofValdivia serratain Colombia asTemnocephala ivandarioisp. nov.The most distinctive characters of the new species are in the cirrus and the epidermal ‘excretory’ syncytial plates. In the present study, the terminology to describe the cirrus of species ofTemnocephalais updated. Comparison between the shape of the cirrus of the temnocephalans associated with trichodactylid crabs is also provided.
Time to split Salvia s.l. (Lamiaceae) - New insights from Old World Salvia phylogeny.
2017
Abstract Aims Salvia L. is widely known as the largest genus in the mint family. A morphological modification of the androecium (lever-like stamens) was used to support this genus. However, molecular data revealed that Salvia is polyphyletic. Since phylogenetic studies largely underrepresented Old World Salvia species, we filled this gap and combined new data with existing sequences. The aim of our study was the identification of well-supported clades that provide the basis for evolutionary and taxonomic conclusions. Methods We included ITS data (internal transcribed spacer) from 220 Salvia species, 86 of which were sequenced for the first time. Additionally, the highly variable plastid mar…