Recently, the Mediterranean littoral benthic communities suffered significant changes in their structure and composition, due to several natural and anthropogenic stresses. Also the Ligurian Sea has ...witnessed in several episodes (surface water warming, benthic mucilage developments, etc.) linked to the climate change that have influenced the structure of the benthic communities. In order to evaluate possible changes inside the benthic upper infralittoral community (4–7 m depth) living along the southern cliff of the Portofino MPA, sets of macro-photographs, realized in 2002–2003 and repeated 10 years later (2013), were analysed. The community structure, diversity, and species abundance were studied in 9 stations placed in three different localities (Ca’dell’Oro Bay, Punta Chiappa Point and St Fruttuoso Bay) at different levels of protection, although considered potentially affected only by natural stressors and not by direct human impacts.
Over 10-years, a significant change in the macroalgal coverage and composition was observed in all considered stations and localities, with a reduction of the habitat complexity, being the frondose and habitat-forming macroalgae (Fucales, Dyctiotales) significantly decreased. In contrast, as regards the sessile zoobenthos, there has been an increase of branched bryozoans and a drop in the presence of barnacles and mussels. A significant emergence of some alien species (Asparagopsis armata,Caulerpa cylindraceaand Paraleucilla magna) linked to warmer waters was recorded too.
In conclusion, the benthic upper infralittoral community (4–7 m depth) of the Portofino MPA seems to have being influenced by several climatic large-scale events that occurred in recent years in the Ligurian Sea and the change of its structural composition could be considered as a warning signal.
DNA monomers and oligomers are currently showing great promise as building blocks for supramolecular arrays that can self-assemble in a fashion preprogrammed by the base pairing code. The design and ...build-up of hybrid DNA/amphiphilic self-assemblies can expand the range of possible architectures and enhance the selectivity toward a well-specified geometry. We report on the self-assembly properties in aqueous solution of a cholesteryl-tetraethylenglycol single stranded 18-mer oligonucleotide (ON 1TEG-Chol) and on its spontaneous insertion in fluid phospholipid membranes. Up to 500 units of these lipophilic ss-oligonucleotides can be incorporated in the outer leaflet of 350 A radius POPC vesicle. The insertion and hybridization with the complementary oligonucleotide are monitored through light scattering as an increase of hydrodynamic thickness, which is interpreted in terms of average distance between anchoring sites. The conformation of the ss-oligonucleotidic portion is strongly dependent on surface coverage, passing from a quasi-random coil to a more rigid configuration, as concentration increases. Interestingly, conformational details affect in a straightforward fashion the hybridization kinetics. Liposomes with single- and double-strand decorations remain stable within the experimental time window (about one week). The structure represents an example of successful and stable amphiphile/DNA supramolecular hybrid, where a DNA guest is held in a membrane by hydrophobic interactions. The lipophilic oligonucleotide under investigation is therefore a suitable building block that can effectively serve as a hydrophobic anchor in the fluid bilayer to assemble supramolecular constructs based on the DNA digital code.
Forensic scientists often face the problem of extracting and typing human DNA from degraded materials such as muscle and bones from decomposed bodies. Bone samples are particularly difficult and time ...consuming to be analyzed and other body tissues suffer from rapid deterioration. Nails are a well-known source of DNA and their composition makes them less predisposed to decomposition compared to other soft tissues. With the aim of evaluating the usefulness of DNA extracted from aged human nails we analyzed nails taken either from exhumed and partially skeletonised bodies or from nail clippings stored at room temperature for 10–12 years. The adopted DNA extraction procedures yielded enough DNA for reliable PCR results even when no results were obtained either from soft or bone tissues. This study confirms the usefulness of nails as a source of DNA even in cases when PCR failed to amplify DNA extracted from bones.
A search for the rare two-body charmless baryonic decay $B^+ \to p \bar\Lambda$ is performed with $pp$ collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $3\mbox{\,fb}^{-1}$, collected by ...the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. An excess of $B^+ \to p \bar\Lambda$ candidates with respect to background expectations is seen with a statistical significance of 4.1 standard deviations, and constitutes the first evidence for this decay. The branching fraction, measured using the $B^+ \to K^0_{\mathrm S} \pi^+$ decay for normalisation, is \begin{eqnarray} \mathcal{B}(B^+ \to p \bar\Lambda) & = & ( 2.4 \,^{+1.0}_{-0.8} \pm 0.3 ) \times 10^{-7} \,, \nonumber \end{eqnarray} where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic.
One hundred eighteen people were killed at Milan's Linate airport on October 8th, 2001 in a runway collision between a SAS airliner preparing for take-off and a private Cessna plane. The ...identification of the victims was carried out with visual, anthropological, odontological, and genetic means. The genetic identification was carried out through comparison of the remains with reference samples from personal objects of the victims or blood/saliva samples from their relatives. DNA typing alone led to the identification of 12 victims and 4 body parts, while DNA in combination with odontology allowed to identify 27 victims. The combined work of pathologists, odontologists and geneticists led to the positive identification of all 118 victims in 14 days.
We present the genotyping of apolipoprotein (apo) E by means of restriction fragment analysis of amplified genomic DNA by high-performance capillary electrophoresis and a replaceable non-gel-sieving ...matrix. This procedure streamlines the genotyping of apo E in large-scale population studies because of the automation and speed of capillary electrophoresis.
Frequency data for the STR system HumFGA were obtained from a North Italian population sample (Milano area) of 201 unrelated individuals. PCR products were detected by horizontal polyacrylamide gel ...electrophoresis and a total of 15 alleles were identified by side-by-side comparison with a commercially available sequenced allelic ladder. The observed genotype distribution showed no significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The high information content (discrimination power > 0.96, polymorphism information content > 0.84) render this system a useful tool in forensic routine casework both in criminal and paternity cases.
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