European red list of vascular plants

The European Red List is a review of the conservation status of c. 6,000 European species (mammals, reptiles, amphibians, dragonflies, butterflies, freshwater fishes, and selected groups of beetles, molluscs, and vascular plants) according to IUCN regional Red Listing guidelines. It identifies those species that are threatened with extinction at the regional level – in order that appropriate conservation action can be taken to improve their status. This Red List publication summarises results for selected vascular plants in Europe

Causes of piracy in medieval Japan

In this thesis, I examine why there were phases of intense international raiding by Japanese pirates during Japan\u27s medieval period. The scope of the study spans two distinct phases of piratical activity by Japanese marauders known as the wako, the first lasting from 1223 to 1265 and the second from 1350 to the early 1400s. As the wako have been studied before from the perspective of the central governments of the period affected by the raiding, namely those of Japan, China, and Korea, this is an examination of the causes of piracy from the perspective of those on the periphery of Japanese society

Comparing Productivity and Costs of Three Subgrading Machines

Production rates and costs of three forest road construction machines (Ford County 1164 tractor, D4D and D6D Caterpillar bulldozers) were analysed and compared. Results showed that differences in production rates were attributed mainly by the type and the size of the machine, driver's working experience and the nature of the terrain side slope. Compared to other subgrade productivity studies, machine production rates found in this study were considered to be reasonably high. The mean production rates for the D6D, D4D and the County tractor were 129.0 m3/h, 41.0 mVh and 28.1 mVh respectively. High productive time, easily workable soils and few obstacles encountered during earthworks operation were the major factors which contributed to high machine production rates. Cost analysis showed that the higher the machine production rate the lower the subgrading cost and vice versa. The mean production costs for the D6D, D4D and the County were estimated to be US$0.49/m3, US$0.79/m3 and US$0.76 /m3 respectively. The estimated machine production costs were more or less the same as those estimated elsewhere. Although low machine production cost is usually the criterion used in choosing the machine to be used for road construction works, this paper recommends that other factors be considered

Conserving plant diversity in Europe: outcomes, criticisms and perspectives of the Habitats Directive application in Italy

Habitat Directive is the core strategy of nature conservation in Europe aiming at halting biodiversity loss. In this study the results of the third Italian assessment regarding the conservation status (CS) of plants listed in the Habitat Directive (Flora of community interest—FCI) was presented. Data was collected from several sources related to plant distribution, population data, habitats and pressures. Following the official European procedure, all parameters were evaluated and combined to give the CS of each taxon in each biogeographical region of presence. A comparison between the recent Italian IUCN and Reporting assessments was performed in order to evaluate the consistency between these two assessments. The official EU checklist comprises 113 Italian plant taxa, 107 of which were examined in this study. Our results showed a critical situation with only 34% of favourable CS, while 50% were unfavourable (40% inadequate plus 10% bad) and 16% unknown, in particular in the Mediterranean bioregion, where the unfavourable assessments reach the 65%. The results of the Report were consistent with those of the IUCN assessment, in which 41.9% of plants were threatened with extinction. This report highlighted some benefits and criticisms at national level, but it may have a wider significance. Although a general advance of knowledge, a great effort is needed to reach the Habitats Directive goals. Despite the limited resources, monitoring activities needs to be improved in order to close information gaps for several plants. A positive outcome was the development of a specific national project funded by the Italian Ministry of Environment, with the ambitious target to set future monitoring activities for FCI and optimize monitoring efforts

Advances in plant conservation translocation

With thousands of performed cases, conservation translocation is now widely used to restore rare and threatened plant populations worldwide. While we begin to understand from previous mistakes and best practices what makes translocations successful, we realize also how complex the process of performing a translocation is, from the very initial planning phases to the final monitoring phase. Conservation biologists and practitioners met in Rome at the Roma Tre University in June 2022 for the 1st International Plant Translocation Conference, a conference fully dedicated to the most recent advances in plant translocations. This special issue, containing eight articles on different aspects of plant translocation, is a tangible output of the efforts by all attendees to sharing knowledge and establishing plant translocation best practices. Besides reviews and species-specific apsects of translocation, the special issue highlights the importance of the community of scientists and practictioners and the multidisciplinarity of conservation translocations to achieve succesful outcome

Effectiveness of dolutegravir-based regimens as either first-line or switch antiretroviral therapy: data from the Icona cohort

Introduction: Concerns about dolutegravir (DTG) tolerability in the real-life setting have recently arisen. We aimed to estimate the risk of treatment discontinuation and virological failure of DTG-based regimens from a large cohort of HIV-infected individuals. Methods: We performed a multicentre, observational study including all antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naïve and virologically suppressed treatment-experienced (TE) patients from the Icona (Italian Cohort Naïve Antiretrovirals) cohort who started, for the first time, a DTG-based regimen from January 2015 to December 2017. We estimated the cumulative risk of DTG discontinuation regardless of the reason and for toxicity, and of virological failure using Kaplan–Meier curves. We used Cox regression model to investigate predictors of DTG discontinuation. Results: About 1679 individuals (932 ART-naïve, 747 TE) were included. The one- and two-year probabilities (95% CI) of DTG discontinuation were 6.7% (4.9 to 8.4) and 11.5% (8.7 to 14.3) for ART-naïve and 6.6% (4.6 to 8.6) and 7.6% (5.4 to 9.8) for TE subjects. In both ART-naïve and TE patients, discontinuations of DTG were mainly driven by toxicity with an estimated risk (95% CI) of 4.0% (2.6 to 5.4) and 2.5% (1.3 to 3.6) by one year and 5.6% (3.8 to 7.5) and 4.0% (2.4 to 5.6) by two years respectively. Neuropsychiatric events were the main reason for stopping DTG in both ART-naïve (2.1%) and TE (1.7%) patients. In ART-naïve, a concomitant AIDS diagnosis predicted the risk of discontinuing DTG for any reason (adjusted relative hazard (aRH) = 3.38, p = 0.001), whereas starting DTG in combination with abacavir (ABC) was associated with a higher risk of discontinuing because of toxicity (aRH = 3.30, p = 0.009). TE patients starting a DTG-based dual therapy compared to a triple therapy had a lower risk of discontinuation for any reason (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 2.50, p = 0.037 for ABC-based triple-therapies, aHR = 3.56, p = 0.012 for tenofovir-based) and for toxicity (aHR = 5.26, p = 0.030 for ABC-based, aHR = 6.60, p = 0.024 for tenofovir-based). The one- and two-year probabilities (95% CI) of virological failure were 1.2% (0.3 to 2.0) and 4.6% (2.7 to 6.5) in the ART naïve group and 2.2% (1.0 to 3.3) and 2.9% (1.5 to 4.3) in the TE group. Conclusions: In this large cohort, DTG showed excellent efficacy and optimal tolerability both as first-line and switching ART. The low risk of treatment-limiting toxicities in ART-naïve as well as in treated individuals reassures on the use of DTG in everyday clinical practice

Craniotomie réalisée en milieu sous équipé : deux observations cliniques de Kindu, en République Démocratique du Congo: Craniotomy performed in an equipped setting: a case series of two patients in Kindu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Head trauma (HD) is a common complaint in both Neurosurgery and Surgical Emergency units. However, the management of HD requires a technical platform, which is often non-existent in rural areas. The authors report the first two cases of craniotomy performed in Kindu, a rural city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These procedures were performed using local salvage material on a cranial and cerebral gunshot wound and right parietal skull depression complicated with left hemiplegia. The evolution was favorable for both patients. Les traumatismes crâniens représentent un motif de consultation fréquent dans le Service de Neurochirurgie et des urgences chirurgicales. Cependant, la prise en charge des traumatismes crâniens nécessite un plateau technique approprié qui est souvent inexistant en milieu rural. Les auteurs rapportent deux premiers cas des craniotomies réalisées dans la ville de Kindu. Ces interventions ont été effectuées avec du matériel de récupération obtenu sur place, pour une plaie cranio-cérébrale par arme à feu et une embarrure pariétale droite compliquée d’une hémiplégie gauche. L’évolution a été favorable pour les deux patients. L’accent est mis sur la précocité de la prise en charge et l’asepsie rigoureuse afin de maximiser les chances de réussite, en dépit du sous équipement

The species-specific monitoring protocols for plant species of Community interest in Italy.

The results of a project for the identification of species-specific monitoring protocols for the Italian plant species protected under the Habitats Directive (Annexes II/IV/V) are presented. The project led to the development of 118 monitoring factsheets, providing an operational guidance for 107 vascular taxa, 10 bryophytes and 1 lichen taxon. Each factsheet includes information on the species (distribution, biology, ecology, conservation status, threats, etc.) and the description of field methodologies for the detection of the two main reporting parameters, i.e. population size and habitat quality. Practical information to plan field activities are also given. Protocols were designed to address the requirements of the European reporting system with the aim to standardize future monitoring activities, optimize efforts at national scale and overcome some current problems related to data heterogeneity and discrepancies from the EC standards. More than 60 botanists collaborated to identify the best practices and to design an operational field survey format through several stages of discussion and sharing. The protocols, developed by ISPRA and Scientific Societies and shared with the Italian institutions responsible for the Directive application, were published in a dedicated National handbook. The work provides a first uniform technical basis for future national monitoring plans

Advancing blueberry postharvest biology : the effect of sulfur dioxide fumigation on blueberry physiology and rna-seq of the blueberry-colletotrichum fioriniae pathosystem in 'Elliott' fruit

The physiology and biology of blueberry fruit is the most important consideration for understanding postharvest storage. Fruit physiology is responsive to many stimuli including biotic, genetic, and environmental inputs. The extent to which a blueberry fruit are affected by these factors is largely cultivar dependent. The following studies address two aspects of blueberry fruit postharvest biology as it relates to pest control: In Chapter 2, we explore the effect of SO2 fumigation on five blueberry cultivars: 'Bluecrop', 'Draper', 'Elliott', 'Jersey', and 'Liberty' and the extent to which SO2 fumigation can be used to disinfest blueberry fruit of blueberry maggot (BBM) Rhagoletis mendax Curran. In Chapter 3, we use RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to reveal genes differentially expressed (DE) in 'Elliott' fruit in response to infection by Colletotrichum fioriniae compared to mock- (water- ) inoculated fruit. By filtering out DE genes in mock-inoculated fruit postharvest, as well as DE genes in infected 'Jersey' and 'Draper' fruit, we discovered 113 genes unique to 'Elliott' fruit that are inoculation-responsive. This set of genes include canonical plant resistance genes as well as genes associated with secondary metabolite biosynthesis, cell wall metabolism, reactive oxygen species production and scavenging, and the hypersensitive response. These studies provide important groundwork for future blueberry breeding by identifying cultivars with genetics and physiology amenable to different interventions for reducing postharvest fruit losses.Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University. Horticulture, 2022Includes bibliographical references (pages 78-96