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Beech is one of the most important forest tree species in Europe, hence possible adverse factors affecting its physiology and productivity can have strong ecological and economic impacts. In this context, four beech forests along a latitudinal gradient from southern Apennines to middle European lowlands were selected for chronological determinations of carbon isotope composition (δ13C) in tree-ring cellulose. The main objectives of this study were to assess (i) the effect of climate on the carbon signature of tree-ring cellulose (δ13C); (ii) the physiological response to recent CO2 concentration increment and to climatic variation; and (iii) the relationship between intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE, here the average long-term ratio of net photosynthesis to stomatal conductance) and growth of trees in different sites since 1950. Our results demonstrated that site climatic conditions peculiarly affect δ13C. In northern sites, a climatic control of summer precipitation and temperature on stomatal conductance was demonstrated by their opposite correlations with δ13C, negative and positive, respectively. Furthermore, an ‘earliness effect’ was suggested by a significant relationship between spring temperature and δ13C in the coldest sites and by a positive one between winter temperature and δ13C in the warmest ones. In all the study sites, during the maturity phase, a positive correlation between the increment of CO2 and iWUE was observed, due to an active response of trees to CO2 increment. This increment of CO2 was the main driver of the long term increasing trend of iWUE, resulting by an active response of trees to CO2 fertilization. Moreover, precipitation mostly influences positively and negatively the inter-annual variations of iWUE of the southernmost and northernmost sites, respectively. Overall, we observed a mean increment of 40% of iWUE. Moreover, the sensitivity of iWUE to the increase of CO2 was different between the northernmost and southernmost sites. Increasing iWUE was correlated to growth in the two sites during the release phase and we hypothesize a positive effect of silvicultural treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the debate on petitioning between England and the papal curia in Avignon during the reign of Edward II (1307-27). The first part of the article attempts a comprehensive historiographical survey of petitioning on the continent and in England during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, while the second part suggests a new methodogical approach to the topic, which is illustrated by means of case studies. The main sources of the article are the Roman rolls, which are preserved at The National Archives and enroll petitions sent from the English chancery to the papal curia. Where possible, these English records have been matched with the papal responses to the petitions, recorded in the Registra Vaticana and Registra Avenionensia. Arguably, the cross-examination of secular and ecclesiastical sources allows a comparison between different administrative practices and will help to redefine the nature of diplomacy in the early fourteenth century, challenging some of the existing historiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the discovery of two unedited notarial instruments preserved among Westminster abbey muniments and compiled by Petracco di ser Parenzo dell’Incisa, father of the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca. The two documents are dated February and April 1310 and prove that Petracco was working at Avignon earlier than it has been thought until now and in contrast with the claims of his son Francesco, who states that his family moved to Avignon between 1311 and 1312. The documents also highlight the connections between Petracco and the merchant company of the Frescobaldi, who traded at the papal curia in the early fourteenth century. The company employed a number of exiled Florentine Bianchi, who were interested in humanist ideas and classical texts, forming the first humanist circle at Avignon under the patronage of Cardinal Niccolò da Prato, who also became one of the patrons of Francesco Petrarca. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The ameliorating effects of wild ginseng on learning and memory deficits were investigated in rats. Methods Rats were treated daily with wild ginseng or cultivated ginseng for 7 days at 30 min before scopolamine injection (2 mg/kg, i.p.). After inducing cognitive impairment by the administration of scopolamine, behavioural assessment using the Morris water maze was performed. Changes in cholinergic system reactivity were also examined by measuring the immunoreactive neurons of choline acetyltransferase and the reactivity of acetylcholinesterase in the hippocampus. Key findings Scopolamine injection induced impaired performance in the water maze test and severe cell losses in hippocampal cholinergic neurons, as indicated by decreased choline acetyltransferase immunoreactivity and increased acetylcholinesterase reactivity. Daily administration of wild ginseng produced a significant improvement in the escape latency for finding the platform in the Morris water maze and reduced the loss of cholinergic immunoreactivity in the hippocampus. The reduced expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor mRNA due to the scopolamine injection was recovered to normal levels by the administration of wild ginseng. Conclusions Wild ginseng demonstrates a significant neuroprotective effect against scopolamine-induced neuronal and cognitive impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The peculiar bioclimatic and geographic features of Corso–Sardinian islands may provide an ideal scenario for investigating microevolutionary processes, given their large heterogeneity of environments, which could affect dispersal and gene flow among populations, as well as processes of local adaptation. The genetic variation and differentiation among populations of the endemic lizard Archaeolacerta bedriagae were studied by allozyme electrophoresis at 20 presumptive loci. The genetic structure of this species is characterized by relatively high levels of polymorphism and low differentiation among populations. The pattern of genetic differentiation cannot be explained by genetic drift as a function of geographic distance. Genetic distance data show that genetic variation is distributed into three geographically coherent population groups and suggest a recent (Late Pleistocene) origin for the observed geographic fragmentation. The analysis of environmental correlates of allozymic variation indicates a strong correlation of the Idh-1 locus with climatic variables. The frequency of the Idh-1106 allele is negatively correlated with annual temperature, and positively correlated with annual precipitation. In addition, the observed heterozygosity at this locus decreases towards more arid climatic regimes. The results obtained support the assumption of differential selection acting on Idh-1 allozymes under diverse climates. An association between Idh-1 allozymes and local bioclimatic regimes was also observed for the sympatric lizard Podarcis tiliguerta, suggesting a key role for such selective agents on Idh-1 polymorphism in these two Corso–Sardinian lacertids. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 98, 661–676. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decades of the reign of the Spanish king Charles II saw the flowering of a movement of renewal in the field of sciences and arts, which was especially strong in towns such as Madrid, Seville and Valencia. In Valencia a strong academic movement attempted to place the cultivation of all the arts at the service of politics, thus fostering the consolidation of a local ruling class especially well formed in everything related to ceremony and etiquette. Politics, poetry, mathematics, music and dance were cultivated above all in the Academia de Valencia, whose members actively participated in theatricalized public festivities in which the display of artistic cultivation and of the skills acquired in ordinary sessions was presented in parallel with the display of power. These men also contributed directly to the music and choreography of the fiestas with a repertory ranging from the most traditional polychoral pieces to the Italianate recitado and to instrumental music of different kinds. In this, they to some extent contradicted their own aesthetics, which ranked music and dance lower in comparison with the other arts. The study of the documents relating to these activities proves to be of the greatest interest, allowing as it does a better perception of the cultivation of music in the domestic and secular sphere in Baroque Valencia. The War of Spanish Succession caused the academy to disappear, thus truncating a well-defined space for the integration of music within the means of social discourse of the educated upper class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the important contribution of Andrea Sapiti as a curial proctor in England. Sapiti has started his career as a notary public in Florence. He then pursues other career in Rome as the main advisor of Lord Walter Reynolds which lead him to become the proctor of Edward II and Edward III. He is tasked to represent the chancery and the apostolic chamber of papal curia. He also represented several notable people as he dealt with political and international affairs of the curial offices. His involvement in the scheme gives a new opportunity to build a communication between the English and papal administrative systems.

Repeated injections of nicotine can produce an increase in locomotor activity and the expression of immediate-early gene, c-fos, in the central dopaminergic areas. Many studies have shown that Coptidis Rhizoma (CR) and its main alkaloid compound, berberine (BER), have a suppressive effect on the central nervous system. We examined the influence of CR or BER on repeated nicotine-induced locomotor activity in rats and the change of c-Fos expression in the brain by using immunohistochemistry. Male Sprague–Dawley rats were given CR and BER before repeated injections of nicotine hydrochloride (0.4 mg kg–1, s.c.) twice daily for 7 days. After 3 days withdrawal, rats received a challenge injection of nicotine. Pretreatment with CR (100 mg kg–1, i.p.) and BER (100 mg kg–1, i.p.) significantly inhibited the nicotine-induced locomotor activity and expression of c-Fos in the striatum and the nucleus accumbens. These results suggest that CR and BER may produce inhibitory effects of nicotine on behavioural sensitization by possibly reducing postsynaptic neuronal activation in the central dopaminergic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]