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Aim: Coralligenous reefs are the main marine bioconstructions in terms of spatial distribution within the Mediterranean basin. Two distinct reef morphologies can be distinguished based on the surface and topographical features of the seafloor: cliffs developing vertical slopes and banks found on gently steep or horizontal bottoms. Despite their importance for monitoring and conservation efforts, observations regarding the variability of biogeographical patterns are scarce. Here, we aimed to assess the differences in the composition and structure of these cliffs across ecoregions and estimate the relative role of abiotic environmental features, geographic location, and connectivity in shaping diversity patterns. Location: The study was carried out in the Central‐Western Mediterranean Sea. Samples were collected at 65 sites across the Algero‐Provençal Basin, the Ionian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Methods: We assessed the composition and structure of coralligenous cliffs through photographic samplings collected by scuba divers. Patterns in α‐ and β‐diversity were associated with 9 abiotic environmental variables, latitudinal and longitudinal gradients, and connectivity measures using Generalized Additive (GAM) and Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) models. Results: Coralligenous cliffs were primarily composed of algae and displayed a high degree of variability. The Partition Around Medoids (PAM) clustering method successfully delineated seven distinct clusters with a non‐uniform distribution within the studied ecoregions. The α‐diversity increased in eastern and northern sites and with phosphate concentration, while decreased with temperature, chlorophyll and nitrates concentration. β‐diversity at the site level increased with temperature, while it was negatively affected by northward current speed and chlorophyll concentration. Moveover, β‐diversity increased within connected sites. Main Conclusions: Coralligenous cliff diversity responds both to the physico‐chemical features of the habitat and between‐habitats connectivity. However, our findings suggest that small‐scale abiotic and biotic processes could contribute to explaining the variability observed. These findings can significantly enhance the monitoring and conservation efforts of this Mediterranean endemic ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at providing a standardized procedure to assess the ecological quality of Mediterranean marine habitats in relation to biological invasions by macroalgae through the employment of the ALEX index.Available data from previous ALEX applications were used to optimize the sampling design and to propose a standardized procedure. The procedure was applied to the main Mediterranean sensitive habitats, coralligenous reefs and meadows of the endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica, at two sites in the north‐western Mediterranean Sea.A total of 73 native macroalgal taxa and four introduced taxa (the Chlorophyta Caulerpa cylindracea and the turf forming Rhodophyta Acrothamnion preissii, Womersleyella setacea and Asparagopsis spp.) were identified. Coralligenous reefs exhibited a higher abundance of both C. cylindracea and introduced turf species, while P. oceanica meadows were mostly affected by W. setacea and A. preissii.The application of ALEX for different years on coralligenous reefs highlighted the consistency of the index over time in the absence of further invasions.The use of ALEX index with other ecological quality indices showed similar patterns in both habitats. The concurrent assessment of the ecological quality of ecosystems by generic indices and the level of invasion through ALEX index may be a useful approach for answer to requirements of the European Directives and to plan even more complete and effective conservation programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to propose a biotic index (North Adriatic Mesophotic BiogEnic Reefs, NAMBER) suitable for assessing the ecological quality of the mesophotic biogenic reefs of the northern Adriatic continental shelf based on photographic sampling.At each of the 20 study sites, the degree of bioconstruction (expressed as percentage cover of crustose coralline algae), the α‐diversity (expressed as the mean number of taxa), and the degree of sensitivity to human disturbance and climate change (based on literature data and expert judgement) of the benthic assemblages were selected as descriptors and combined in the NAMBER index, using the best values that the three metrics can currently achieve in the studied region as a reference.The study highlighted that there was large spatial heterogeneity among reefs and high variability in the ecological quality values obtained by NAMBER, ranging from bad to high. The index indicates that reefs lying furthest from the coast, under substantially lower anthropogenic pressure, have a generally higher status of environmental quality. However, a clear geographical pattern did not emerge, as reefs close together often had different ecological qualities.The NAMBER index, which combines three ecological descriptors, in accordance with the requirements of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive, represents a specific adaptation to the northern Adriatic Sea of a multimetric index previously developed for the north‐western Mediterranean Sea, capitalizing on previous knowledge and research efforts.This multimetric biotic index provides an effective standardized tool for monitoring programmes and environmental impact assessments in the northern Adriatic mesophotic biogenic reefs and lays the foundation for ecosystem‐based management and conservation in this basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was in Love in Earnest (1970), one of the rare studies ever written on Uranian poetry, that Timothy d'Arch Smith chose the name 'Uranians' to designate a group of English poets and artists who shared a common love for boys and poetry in a period that went from about 1880 to 1930. These poets resorted to a set of symbols and imagery as a mode to conceal the object of their writings, appropriating fin-de-siècle Decadence and modelling a real 'fashion', an artistic attitude that might well be defined as 'Decadent Neoclassicism'. The aim of this article is to examine the uses and functions of flowers in Uranian poetry, and more specifically two peculiar flowers often associated with malemale love as from the late nineteenth century: hyacinths and narcissi. One of the reasons behind their employment goes beyond aesthetic choices, as they are part of those ways adopted to conceal - or, simultaneously, highlight - the Uranian theme. Once outlined the polarities of an aporia of light and shade, candour and censorship, which can be traced in different hues in each and every author and text of my corpus, I will consider the possible Uranian influences on the works of those who, at least in their explicit intentions, would flee from such a poetics: the Modernist poets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Langerhans cells (LCs) are crucial regulators of anti-cancer immune responses. Cancer, however, can alter DCs functions leading to tolerance. The enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO1) plays a crucial role in this process. In sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) of patients with melanoma, LCs show phenotypical and functional alterations favoring tolerance. Herein we aimed to investigate IDO1 expression in SLN LCs from patients with melanoma. We showed by immunofluorescence analysis that a portion of Langerin+ LCs, located in the SLN T cell-rich area, displayed the typical dendritic morphology and expressed IDO1. There was no significant difference in the expression of IDO between SLN with or without metastases. Double IDO1/CD83 staining identified four LCs subsets: real mature IDO1−CD83+ LCs; real immature IDO1−CD83− LCs; tolerogenic mature IDO1+CD83+ LCs; tolerogenic immature IDO1+CD83− LCs. The latter subset was significantly increased in metastatic SLNs as compared to negative ones (p < 0.05), and in SLN LCs of patients with mitotic rate (MR) > 1 in primary melanoma, as compared to MR ≤ 1 (p < 0.05). Finally, immature SLN LCs, after in vitro stimulation by inflammatory cytokines, acquired a maturation profile by CD83 up-regulation. These results provide new input for immunotherapeutic approaches targeting in vivo LC of patients with melanoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) constitutes the most frequent malignant cancer endangering women's health. In this study, a new spontaneously immortalized breast cancer cell line, DHSF-BR16 cells, was isolated from the primary IDC of a 74-years old female patient, treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and disease-free 5-years after adjuvant chemotherapy. Primary breast cancer tissue surgically removed was classified as ER−/PR−/HER2+, and the same phenotype was maintained by DHSF-BR16 cells. We examined DHSF-BR16 cell morphology and relevant biological and molecular markers, as well as their response to anticancer drugs commonly used for breast cancer treatment. MCF-7 cells were used for comparison purposes. The DHSF-BR16 cells showed the ability to form spheroids and migrate. Furthermore, DHSF-BR16 cells showed a mixed stemness phenotype (i.e. CD44+/CD24−/low), high levels of cytokeratin 7, moderate levels of cytokeratin 8 and 18, EpCAM and E-Cadh. Transcriptome analysis showed 2071 differentially expressed genes between DHSF-BR16 and MCF-7 cells (logFC > 2, p-adj < 0.01). Several genes were highly upregulated or downregulated in the new cell line (log2 scale fold change magnitude within − 9.6 to + 12.13). A spontaneous immortalization signature, mainly represented by extracellular exosomes-, plasma membrane- and endoplasmic reticulum membrane pathways (GO database) as well as by metabolic pathways (KEGG database) was observed in DHSF-BR16 cells. Also, these cells were more resistant to anthracyclines compared with MCF-7 cells. Overall, DHSF-BR16 cell line represents a relevant model useful to investigate cancer biology, to identify both novel prognostic and drug response predictive biomarkers as well as to assess new therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Coralligenous reefs represent one of the most important coastal ecosystems of the Mediterranean Sea, and their ecological quality must be assessed under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive to evaluate seafloor integrity. An effective standardized monitoring protocol is urgently needed in order to compare data at the Mediterranean scale and to plan efficient management and intervention programmes.This paper aims to: (a) review methods used to study shallow coralligenous reefs to propose a method able to optimize sampling effort; (b) select the most effective ecological descriptors to evaluate the responses of coralligenous assemblages to anthropogenic stress; and (c) synthesize available information in an integrated and standardized procedure.Ninety‐five scientific papers dealing with shallow coralligenous reefs were found. Among these, 52 papers reporting detailed descriptions about sampling methods were selected to identify methodologies and ecological descriptors suitable for monitoring purposes.Downstream of the bibliographic review, an integrated and standardized procedure, named STAR (STAndaRdized coralligenous evaluation procedure), was proposed to assess the ecological quality of coralligenous reefs.STAR was tested on coralligenous reefs at 12 sites, six of them subjected to high human pressure and six located in areas characterized by low human pressure.Significant differences between the two conditions were detected for all the ecological descriptors selected, thus confirming the effectiveness of STAR in the assessment of ecological quality of coralligenous reefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seagrasses are globally declining and often their loss is due to synergies among stressors. We investigated the interactive effects of eutrophication and burial on the Mediterranean seagrass, Posidonia oceanica. A field experiment was conducted to estimate whether shoot survival depends on the interactive effects of three levels of intensity of both stressors and to identify early changes in plants (i.e., morphological, physiological and biochemical, and expression of stress-related genes) that may serve to detect signals of imminent shoot density collapse. Sediment burial and nutrient enrichment produced interactive effects on P. oceanica shoot survival, as high nutrient levels had the potential to accelerate the regression of the seagrass exposed to high burial (HB). After 11 weeks, HB in combination with either high or medium nutrient enrichment caused a shoot loss of about 60%. Changes in morphology were poor predictors of the seagrass decline. Likewise, few biochemical variables were associated with P. oceanica survival (the phenolics, ORAC and leaf δ34S). In contrast, the expression of target genes had the highest correlation with plant survival: photosynthetic genes (ATPa, psbD and psbA) were up-regulated in response to high burial, while carbon metabolism genes (CA-chl, PGK and GADPH) were down-regulated. Therefore, die-offs due to high sedimentation rate in eutrophic areas can only be anticipated by altered expression of stress-related genes that may warn the imminent seagrass collapse. Management of local stressors, such as nutrient pollution, may enhance seagrass resilience in the face of the intensification of extreme climate events, such as floods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the application of multiple environmental descriptors through an asymmetrical sampling design to detect possible impacts related to the Costa Concordia event on the coastal marine environment. The Costa Concordia shipwreck occurred on a submerged rocky reef in the north-western Mediterranean Sea and the wreck was removed 2 years later. To achieve the proposed objective two main coastal ecosystems, the seagrass Posidonia oceanica and coralligenous assemblages were studied using two ecological indices, PREI and ESCA, respectively. Both indices show a lower ecological quality in the disturbed sites compared with the control ones. Differences between the disturbed and control sites observed in both studied ecosystems would seem to indicate an increase of turbidity around the shipwreck as the most plausible cause of impact. The concurrent use of different ecological indices and asymmetrical sampling designs allowed detection of differences in ecological quality of the disturbed sites compared with the controls. This approach may represent an interesting tool to be employed in impact evaluation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

War and trauma-be it related to war itself, or to other problematical issues such as collective or individual precariousness, struggle for gender and or national identity, discovery of personal or historical truths are often sublimated in literature by objective correlatives and structural features that simultaneously create an identity and enhance the idealization related to it. Of particular interest are those works in which characters build their identities through an accumulation of both material and immaterial objects, which can be either utterly messy or compulsively ordered, in both structure and content. In Victorian and Edwardian England, Uranian poets and writers (John Gambril Nicholson, John Addington Symonds, William Johnson Cory, Lord Alfred Douglas, Montague Summers, Frederick Rolfe, Charles Kains Jackson, E. E. Bradford, John Moray Stuart-Young, among many others) based the essence of their works on apparently ordered classical forms and paradigms to represent complex questions of sexuality and social restraint. They often referred to World War I and to trauma as well, especially when personally experienced, as in the case of Edmund John and other canonical authors (see Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon), who were driven to write poetry to overcome shell shock. As Paul Fussell recognized, Uranian poetry formed the basis of World War I war poetry in terms of imagery, which drew on Greek myths and ideas to give structure to otherwise intolerable conflicts and emotions. Responding to the virtuosistic experimentation of Modernism and Postmodernism and the new realism of some post-war fiction, some novelists of the late twentieth century either adopted similar tendencies to create order out of a chaotic reality or subverted formal order completely. The latter seems to be the case with Jonathan Safran Foer's novel Everything Is Illuminated (2002), in which the precariousness of both the WWII and the post- 9/11 world is spasmodically controlled by the character's ambiguously 'rigid' search through history and by a formal coherence, in overlapping narratives and simultaneous, conflictual times and spaces, that intertwine lives in a mess of form and content. This article aims to analyse these modulations of classical order and Uranian and or postwar mess. Both such order and mess are arguably outcomes of disordered consciences and of attempts at using objects and myths to shape a suspect, often hostile, reality. This reading will tease out similar patterns in the representation of 'messiness' in contemporary British and American literature dealing with 'minoritarian subjects'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the success of invasiveCaulerpa cylindracea(Caulerpa racemosavar.cylindracea) in Mediterranean habitats may be linked to particular nutritional requirements and/or nutrient accumulation/reallocation dynamics within the algal thallus. To this end, a manipulative field experiment was carried out transplantingC. cylindraceaand supplying nutrients to subtidal rocky macroalgal assemblages. Morphological features ofC. cylindraceawere measured, while percentage cover and tissue nitrogen, carbon and phosphorus were determined forC. cylindraceaand two co-occurring species (the introducedLaurencia chondrioidesand nativeFlabellia petiolata) in nutrient-enriched and unenriched conditions. Growth ofC. cylindraceawas greater in the nutrient-enriched plots while no effect of nutrient enrichment was detected in co-occurring macroalgae. A particularly high requirement for nitrogen has been observed inC. cylindracea, but without severe N-limitation, while a general nutritional state of P-limitation was detected in both invasive and co-occurring macroalgae. The absence of inhibition in hypertrophic conditions and under high levels of ammonia together with a strong uptake and quick reallocation of nutrients within the coenocytic thallus probably represent the main advantages over the other co-occurring species which could explain part of the success ofC. cylindraceain the Mediterranean Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The effects of nutrients dynamics on biological invasions in marine habitats have not been fully investigated. The present study aimed to evaluate the role of nutrient pollution in determining the successful invasion of the introduced seaweed Caulerpa racemosa var. cylindracea in a Mediterranean subtidal rocky habitat. To this end, a manipulative field experiment was carried out by supplying the water column with nutrients for a one-year period. Afterwards C. racemosa was transplanted in both nutrient-enriched and control macroalgal assemblages. Results showed that the penetration and biomass of C. racemosa in the assemblages previously treated with nutrients were higher than in control ones, indicating that communities stressed by nutrient pollution are more vulnerable to invasion. The nutrient enrichment changed the structure of natural macroalgal assemblages, mainly by encouraging the growth of turf species. No significant effects were detected for the erect and prostrate layers and for the number of species, suggesting that the susceptibility of the community to invasion may depend more on the morpho-functional identity of macroalgae rather than on the diversity of assemblages. Changes in the availability of seawater nutrients may foster the spread of C. racemosa, both by enhancing its growth and eroding the natural resistance of macroalgal assemblages. Thus, the maintenance of good water quality may play an important role in containing both C. racemosa and other introduced seaweeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new biotic index (ESCA, Ecological Status of Coralligenous Assemblages), based on analyses ofin siturecords of coralligenous macroalgal assemblages in the Mediterranean Sea. The ESCA index was developed on the basis of previous impact evaluation studies carried out by traditional destructive methods. It was validated on an independent dataset collected during a 3-year study carried out at five localities in the north-western Mediterranean, and tested on a gradient of anthropogenic stressors. Assemblage descriptors selected as metrics of the ESCA index were: (a) presence/absence and abundance of sensitive taxa/groups (expressed as sensitivity level of assemblages, SL), (b) diversity of assemblages (expressed as α-diversity) and (c) heterogeneity of assemblages (expressed as β-diversity). The three metrics were combined to give a final value for the multimetric ecological index, Ecological Quality Ratio, calculated as the ratio between the measured values and the value obtained in the reference condition. The Ecological Quality Ratio values ranged from 0 to 1 and five ecological status classes were defined in accordance with the Water Framework Directive. The ESCA index could be used to define the ecological status of the studied sites, providing differences between assemblages similar to those shown by multivariate analyses. Moreover, ecological quality values were quite steady throughout the study period. The ESCA index may represent a useful tool for monitoring programmes in coastal waters, since it has been developed in compliance with the Water Framework Directive; it synthesizes complex information in a simple and reliable way; and its application is simple and cost-effective. However, further studies are necessary to complete index development and to properly evaluate its strengths and weaknesses on a larger scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a novel treatment for recurrent or in-transit unresectable melanoma metastases based on the administration of anti-neoplastic drugs followed by cancer cell electroporation. Whether ECT can also induce anti-tumour immunity is unclear. We addressed this issue investigating the presence of dendritic cells (DCs) in the inflammatory infiltrate of ECT-treated lesions. Biopsies from melanoma patients ( n = 9) were taken before ECT (T0), at d7 and d14 after treatment and studied by immunofluorescence with DCs-related antibodies. Epidermal Langerin Langerhans cells (LCs) were the most represented subset before treatment. ECT induced a significant reduction in epidermal LCs number at d7 ( p < 0.001), while they were completely replaced at d14. Similarly, the few LCs observed intermingled with metastatic melanoma cells at T0 decreased after treatment ( p < 0.001), suggesting an ECT-induced activation of LCs. Consistently, at d1 after ECT ( n = 3 patients), LCs were found to express CCR7, which mediates LCs migration to regional lymph nodes, and CD83, the typical DCs maturation marker. In contrast, plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) were not present at T0, but significantly increased after ECT both in melanoma metastasis ( p < 0.001) and perilesionally ( p < 0.05). Similarly, CD1c dermal DCs (dDCs), observed in low number before ECT, strongly increased at d7 and even more at d14 ( p < 0.05 and p < 0.001, respectively). Notably, some dDCs expressed CD83. These data suggest that ECT promotes LCs migration from the tumour to draining lymph nodes and pDCs and dDCs recruitment at the site of the lesion. These findings may help to design new strategies of in situ DCs vaccination in cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]