Jèssica Gómez-Garrido, Fergal Martin, Leanne Haggerty
et al.
High-quality reference genomes are critical resources for understanding biodiversity and supporting conservation efforts. We present the chromosome-level assembly of the Spanish moon moth, Actias isabellae (Graells, 1849), a nocturnal lepidopteran protected under the EU Habitats Directive. The assembly spans 0.56 Gb across 31 pseudomolecules, including the Z chromosome, with a contig N50 of 18.9 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 20.4 Mb. The mitochondrial genome was also assembled into a 15,247 bp circular sequence. Annotation identified 11,805 protein-coding genes and 2,238 non-coding genes, with a BUSCO completeness of over 94%. Notably, no W chromosome was detected, suggesting a ZZ/Z0 sex determination system. This reference genome provides an essential foundation for studying sex chromosome evolution in Lepidoptera and enables advanced population genomics monitoring of this protected species. More broadly, it contributes to ongoing efforts within the European Reference Genome Atlas and the Earth BioGenome Project to harness genomics for biodiversity conservation.
Cristina Cairone, Sara Mazzilli, Calogero Carlino
et al.
Abstract Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a complex and often overlooked public health concern in prison settings, particularly among marginalized populations. This retrospective cohort study investigated the incidence and determinants of NSSI among people living in prison (PLP) at San Vittore, a pre-trial detention facility in Milan, Italy, between February and June 2023. Data were collected and updated until October 1, 2023. Among 712 incarcerated men, 8% engaged in NSSI during their detention. Nearly 90% of all NSSI episodes involved individuals from North Africa. In this subgroup, NSSI was frequently motivated by requests to change cell location or to access medication, underscoring its communicative function within the prison environment. Multivariable analysis showed that, among North African PLP, younger age and a prior history of NSSI were significantly associated with increased risk of self-injury. Among individuals from other regions, psychiatric illness, previous NSSI, and previous suicide attempts were key risk factors, while having children and higher educational attainment were protective. These findings suggest that NSSI reflects not only psychological distress but also structural barriers to care and communication. The study highlights the urgent need for culturally competent, age-sensitive mental health interventions and systemic reforms. Without targeted action, NSSI will remain a critical indicator of unmet needs and health inequities in correctional systems.
Claudia Francisca Martinez, Augusto Di Castelnuovo, Simona Costanzo
et al.
Background and objectives: The guidelines provided by the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute of Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) aim to reduce the risk of developing cancers worldwide. The WCRF/AICR advises cancer survivors to follow the same recommendations for cancer primary prevention. These recommendations have been operationalized into a quantitative index based on a total of seven or eight healthy lifestyles; the points-based system allows for scoring a full point and, in some cases, partially meeting a recommendation. Evidence of the usefulness of the WCRF/AICR recommendations in populations different from those in the US is scarce. The aim of the present study was to assess whether compliance with the 2018 WCRF/AICR recommendations for cancer prevention is related to all-cause mortality among cancer survivors recruited in the Moli-sani Study cohort in Italy (2005–2010). Methods: A longitudinal analysis of 786 participants (59.7% women) with a history of cancer at study entry were analyzed. The 2018 WCRF/AICR score included seven components: body weight, physical activity, plant-based foods, fast foods, red and processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, and alcohol; the optional breastfeeding component was excluded. The final score ranged between 0 and 7 points, with higher values reflecting greater alignment with the WCRF/AICR recommendations. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models adjusted to account for sociodemographic factors and major health conditions were fitted for estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all-cause mortality. Results: The sample consisted of cancer survivors with an average age (SD) of 62.7 years old (11.7). Over a median follow-up of 11.8 years, a total of 220 deaths were registered. The median WCRF/AICR score was 4.6 ± SD 0.9. In multivariable-adjusted analyses, the risk of mortality was lower for participants who scored >5 points (HR = 0.54; 0.37–0.78; <i>p</i> value = 0.0010) compared to those who scored 0–4 points. Each one-point increment in the WCRF/AICR score was associated with a 22% decreased risk of all-cause mortality (HR = 0.78; 0.66–0.90; <i>p</i> value = 0.0012). Discussion: Higher compliance with the WCRF/AICR recommendations regarding diet, physical activity, and body weight was associated with lower all-cause mortality risk among cancer survivors. These findings suggest that cancer survivors should be encouraged to increase their adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations.
Benjamin J. Hord, Eliza M.-R. Kempton, Thomas M. Evans-Soma
et al.
JWST has ushered in an era of unprecedented ability to characterize exoplanetary atmospheres. While there are over 5000 confirmed planets, more than 4000 Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) planet candidates are still unconfirmed and many of the best planets for atmospheric characterization may remain to be identified. We present a sample of TESS planets and planet candidates that we identify as “best-in-class” for transmission and emission spectroscopy with JWST. These targets are sorted into bins across equilibrium temperature T _eq and planetary radius R _p and are ranked by a transmission and an emission spectroscopy metric (TSM and ESM, respectively) within each bin. We perform cuts for expected signal size and stellar brightness to remove suboptimal targets for JWST. Of the 194 targets in the resulting sample, 103 are unconfirmed TESS planet candidates, also known as TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs). We perform vetting and statistical validation analyses on these 103 targets to determine which are likely planets and which are likely false positives, incorporating ground-based follow-up from the TESS Follow-up Observation Program to aid the vetting and validation process. We statistically validate 18 TOIs, marginally validate 31 TOIs to varying levels of confidence, deem 29 TOIs likely false positives, and leave the dispositions for four TOIs as inconclusive. Twenty-one of the 103 TOIs were confirmed independently over the course of our analysis. We intend for this work to serve as a community resource and motivate formal confirmation and mass measurements of each validated planet. We encourage more detailed analysis of individual targets by the community.
Makenzie E. Mabry, Muthukumar V. Bagavathiannan, James M. Bullock
et al.
Societal Impact Statement Given the rapidly increasing drought and temperature stresses associated with climate change, innovative approaches for food security are imperative. One understudied opportunity is using feral crops—plants that have escaped and persisted without cultivation—as a source of genetic diversity, which could build resilience in domesticated conspecifics. In some cases, however, feral plants vigorously compete with crops as weeds, challenging food security. By bridging historically siloed ecological, agronomic, and evolutionary lines of inquiry into feral crops, there is the opportunity to improve food security and understand this relatively understudied anthropogenic phenomenon. Summary The phenomenon of feral crops, that is, free‐living populations that have established outside cultivation, is understudied. Some researchers focus on the negative consequences of domestication, whereas others assert that feral populations may serve as useful pools of genetic diversity for future crop improvement. Although research on feral crops and the process of feralization has advanced rapidly in the last two decades, generalizable insights have been limited by a lack of comparative research across crop species and other factors. To improve international coordination of research on this topic, we summarize the current state of feralization research and chart a course for future study by consolidating outstanding questions in the field. These questions, which emerged from the colloquium “Darwins' reversals: What we now know about Feralization and Crop Wild Relatives” at the BOTANY 2021 conference, fall into seven categories that span both basic and applied research: (1) definitions and drivers of ferality, (2) genetic architecture and pathway, (3) evolutionary history and biogeography, (4) agronomy and breeding, (5) fundamental and applied ecology, (6) collecting and conservation, and (7) taxonomy and best practices. These questions serve as a basis for ferality researchers to coordinate research in these areas, potentially resulting in major contributions to food security in the face of climate change.
In 1967 Aldo Palazzeschi (1885-1974), at the venerable age of 82, published this novel (however not the last)
in which critics wanted to see a return to the lazzi or experimentalism of the young futurist. The plot is soon
stated: "without characters and without direct dialogue, it is the novel of a teeming and charlatan mass" (Tellini)
who waits for a few days for the appearance of a Doge, who will never appear. Obviously, therefore, the setting
in Venice is teeming with tourists, famous and less famous, accompanied by a flood of suitcases, pretentious
in their ignorance when they talk about Dante (Alighieri!), famous polar explorer. A novel in which "a crowd
is crowded or a mass is crowded", in Arbasino's words. The focus of this contribution, however, is on the
linguistic expression of the novel. The reader is immediately struck and dazed by the long sections (of 17 lines
or more) and the risky syntactic structure, rhetorically constructed ("Mentre gli intransigenti … Altri invece, di
parer contrario sempre"). The criticism was rather severe in evaluating all this, speaking of 'lava flow' (Marco
Marchi), 'lutulent verbal river' (Tellini), 'abnormal syntactic regime' (De Maria). Here we propose, on the one
hand, to verify the suggestion of De Maria: "that Palazzeschi intends to parody the 'periodoni', canonical of
our literature, of the History of Italy of Guicciardini", associating examples from other writers of the Italian
sixteenth century. On the other hand, it is to rediscover this Palazzeschian passion for syntax in works of
previous periods of his literary production, where language is fully an opportunity to have fun. As I have tried
to demonstrate elsewhere, in fact, the tripartition in watertight bulkheads between an avant-garde period, a
subsequent return to order and therefore a resumption of the experimentalist vein, risks leading one astray. We
have here, returning to what Luciano De Maria said well: "Mass society interpreted, therefore, as a society of
universal gossip. The Venetian 'ciacola' as a symbol of a world parlerie perpetuated by newspapers, radio,
television". What a topicality! We can only imagine what Palazzeschi would have written in our years of the
triumph of bloggers and mobile phones!
Discussion of Workshop: Il paesaggio agrario tra età del Rame ed età del Ferro. Metodi di analisi delle risorse di sussistenza e delle modalità di gestione per una stima demografica.
Is Europe a continent marked by wars? This has been the perception of the ‘old continent’ for more
than 1000 years. In any case, it is the desire for peace that has led thinkers from different periods to propose a
political unification of countries. Erasmus did so in 1517 (Plea for Peace), Emmanuel Kant in 1795 (Essay on
Perpetual Peace) and Victor Hugo in 1849 (Speech to the International Peace Congress in Paris). During the
20th century, the idea of a federal union gained ground. However, it was the Second World War (1939-1945)
which, once over, triggered the creation of international structures such as the UN, the Council of Europe and,
of course, the European Communities. Considered the birth certificate of the European Union, its declaration
(inspired by Jean Monnet) paved the way for the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), created in 1951
by six countries: France, West Germany (FRG), Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. On May 9th
1950, Robert Schuman, the French Foreign Minister, proposed the pooling of French and German coal and steel
to “make war not only inconceivable but materially impossible”. Considered the birth certificate of the European
Union, his declaration (inspired by Jean Monnet) paved the way for the European Coal and Steel Community
(ECSC), created in 1951 by six countries: France, West Germany (FRG), Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and
Luxembourg. In this regard, we can discuss an instrument that is so popular and well known, but which, in turn,
has become a temptation to get rich quick for both natural and legal persons, the European Structural and
Investment Funds (ESIF). Originally, the ERDF was essentially economic. It has gradually evolved towards the
promotion of social rights and democracy, towards social inclusion in the broadest sense. The present study
seeks to analyse the history of these funds, the methods of fraud and the institutions responsible for preventing
or, where appropriate, investigating the fraudsters.
OBJECTIVE: In the last few years, quality of life (QOL) in people living with HIV (PLWH) gained more attention. Moreover, reaching a good QOL was set up as a main goal for PLWH. Data on QOL of PLWH in Southern Italy are very scarce, as well as data on factors correlated with QOL, we aimed at evaluating QOL in PLWH in our region.
We conducted a multicentre, cross-sectional study in a cohort of PLWH in the Calabria region (Southern Italy). This survey-based study was conducted in 7 centers of infectious and tropical disease in Southern Italy.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: We interviewed 309 patients, evaluating QOL through WHOQOLHIV-BREF questionnaire. Clinical data were retrieved from medical records.
RESULTS: Overall, only 56% of participants reported a good QOL. At the multivariable model, adjusted for a good health self-reported status, statistically significant associations between good QOL and being employed and doing regular physical exercise were found (p<0.001 and p=0.01, respectively). By contrast, a negative impact of psychiatric disorders, history of fractures, and black ethnicity on good self-reported health status was confirmed (p=0.04, <0.001 and p=0.007, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study evaluating QOL in PLWH in Southern Italy. Routinely identifying factors negatively associated with good QOL may help clinicians in providing a better quality of care.
Andrea Manfredini, Eligio Malusà, Eligio Malusà
et al.
Microorganisms promised to lead the bio-based revolution for a more sustainable agriculture. Beneficial microorganisms could be a valid alternative to the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. However, the increasing use of microbial inoculants is also raising several questions about their efficacy and their effects on the autochthonous soil microorganisms. There are two major issues on the application of bioinoculants to soil: (i) their detection in soil, and the analysis of their persistence and fate; (ii) the monitoring of the impact of the introduced bioinoculant on native soil microbial communities. This review explores the strategies and methods that can be applied to the detection of microbial inoculants and to soil monitoring. The discussion includes a comprehensive critical assessment of the available tools, based on morpho-phenological, molecular, and microscopic analyses. The prospects for future development of protocols for regulatory or commercial purposes are also discussed, underlining the need for a multi-method (polyphasic) approach to ensure the necessary level of discrimination required to track and monitor bioinoculants in soil.
The article maps the relationship between the Italian Futurist movement and fascism from a general perspective. It deals with the relationship between the leader of Futurism F. T. Marinetti and Benito Mussolini from the beginning of their cooperation in 1915 to the end of the Second World War. Throughout its era, Futurism identified itself with Italy’s social and political climate. Futurism was one of the ideological sources for fascism and it was one of the movements that formed Fasci di Combattimento in 1919. But after Mussolini came to power, fascist cultural politics aesthetically preferred traditionalism, order, and a return to the achievements of history, a contemporary rappel à l’ordre, and Futurism found itself in cultural dissent. Marinetti thus spent the rest of his life trying to improve the position of modernist artists in fascist Italy, which would earn Futurism recognition of the official state art of the fascist regime.
This paper explores the evolution of Italy's regional inequality in the long run, from around Unification (1871) until our days (2011). To this scope, a unique and up-to-date dataset of GDP per capita, GDP per worker (productivity) and employment, at the NUTS II level and at current borders, for the whole economy and its three branches - agriculture, industry, services - is here presented and discussed. Sigma and beta convergence are tested for GDP per capita, productivity and workers per capita (employment/population). Four phases in the history of regional inequality in post-unification Italy are confronted: mild divergence (the liberal age), strong divergence (the two world wars and Fascism), general convergence (the golden age) and the "two-Italies" polarization. In this last period, for the first time GDP and productivity, as well as workers per capita and productivity, have been following opposite paths: the North-South divide increased in GDP, decreased in productivity.
Eugenio Mercuri, Simona Lucibello, Marco Perulli
et al.
Abstract Background The advent of new therapies in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) has highlighted the need to have natural history data for comparison. Natural history studies using structured assessments in type I however are very limited. We identified and reviewed all the existing longitudinal history data in infants with type I SMA first assessed before the age of 7 months with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Infant Test of Neuromuscular Disorders (CHOP INTEND). Main text Three longitudinal natural history studies, two performed in the United States and one in Italy, were identified. The different study design of these three studies made it possible for the cumulative dataset to include the full spectrum of severity; from infants with neonatal onset to those with a milder phenotype that were not always included in the individual natural history studies. The cumulative analysis confirmed that, even in a larger cohort, there was never an improvement on the CHOP INTEND over time. This was true for all the infants, irrespective of their age or baseline CHOP INTEND scores. Infants with neonatal onset had low CHOP INTEND scores and a fast decline. The relatively large number of patients allowed us to calculate the rate of progression in subgroups identified according to SMN2 copy number and baseline CHOP INTEND scores. Conclusion A detailed understanding of the existing data is important, as it will be difficult to acquire new systematic longitudinal history data because of the availability of disease modifying therapies. The cumulative findings in this review help to better understand the variability of natural history data in untreated patients and will be of use for comparison to the real world patients treated with the recently approved therapies that have shown encouraging results in clinical trials.
As of today, there is not a complete study on the villas in Naples between the 16th and 17th centuries. The demolition or the big transformations of buildings incorporated in the new town have, until now, discouraged the scholars from this systematic investigation that could perhaps bring new insights on the theme of the villa in Italy. The study of architectural history of Villa Carafa in the 17th century can maybe help move forward in this direction.
This paper retraces the architectural history of Villa Carafa between the 17th and 18th centuries, before the opening of the new via Posillipo in the 19th century, when the villa was then distanced from the hill and was forced to change its orientation, urging for a new re-configuration.
With the help of new archival documents, the essay investigates the origins back to when the property belonged to the Hierosolymite Order in the early seventeenth century and focuses on the architectural works promoted by Carlo Carafa, after his brother purchased it in 1629. It was then that it became the magnificent villa overlooking the sea eulogised in the 17th century books and repeatedly depicted by landscape artists during the 18th century.
Background The stag beetle Lucanus cervus (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) is widely distributed in Europe. Habitat loss and fragmentation has led to significant reductions in numbers of this species. In this study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of L. cervus and reconstructed phylogenetic relationships among Lucanidae using complete mitochondrial genome sequences. Methods Raw data sequences were generated by the next generation sequencing using Illumina platform from genomic DNA of L. cervus. The mitochondrial genome was assembled by IDBA and annotated by MITOS. The aligned sequences of mitochondrial genes were partitioned using PartitionFinder 2. Phylogenetic relationships among 19 stag beetle species were constructed using Maximum Likelihood (ML) method implemented in IQ-TREE web server and Bayesian method implemented in PhyloBayes MPI 1.5a. Three scarab beetles were used as outgroups. Results The complete mitochondrial genome of L. cervus is 20,109 bp in length, comprising 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNAs and a control region. The A + T content is 69.93% for the majority strand. All protein-coding genes start with the typical ATN initiation codons except for cox1, which uses AAT. Phylogenetic analyses based on ML and Bayesian methods shown consistent topologies among Lucanidae.
BIM (Building Information Modeling) processes are the most effective way to know existing architectural structures, integrating the most advanced potentials of 3D modeling and the structured storage of heterogeneous information. Many HBIM (Heritage Building Information Modeling) applications lead to the systematization of survey data, even though a univocal working method is not yet clearly defined. This research considers the decomposition of architecture, based on structured criteria, and its reconstruction, through ideal models, as the main moments of the HBIM process. This hypothesis is verified through a procedure that links the survey 3D data with the characteristics of the ideal HBIM model, which allows a continuous comparison between the project model and <i>as-built</i>. The research provides for the setting up of a general methodology that, according to a growing approach to the complexity of the analyzed buildings, compares the process followed on two architectural structures. The study analyzes some important HBIM issues: The relationship between the semantic modeling and the surfaces’ continuity of architectural heritage; the relationship between the elements standardization, geometric irregularities, and material heterogeneity; the reliability of the built models; and the evaluation of the gap between an ideal model and the objective accuracy of surveying.
A search for a heavy resonance decaying into WZ in the fully leptonic channel (electrons and muons) is performed. It is based on proton–proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1. No significant excess is observed over the Standard Model predictions and limits are set on the production cross section times branching ratio of a heavy vector particle produced either in quark–antiquark fusion or through vector-boson fusion. Constraints are also obtained on the mass and couplings of a singly charged Higgs boson, in the Georgi–Machacek model, produced through vector-boson fusion.