Search

The research is devoted to the analysis of biodiversity of Antarctic cyanobacteria in hypolithic organic-accumulative horizons of soils in the Larsemann Hills oasis. Studies of fouling glasses by the methods of light and confocal microscopy, as well as by fluorescent in situ hybridization, indicate that filamentous forms predominate among cyanobacteria in the upper layers of Antarctic hypolithic microbial communities. Strains of the genera Nostoc, Halotia, Leptolyngbya, Plectolyngbya, and Phormidesmis, as well as some new and previously undescribed cyanobacteria, were isolated from corresponding soil samples to clarify their taxonomic status. As a result, a unique collection of Antarctic cyanobacteria isolated from soils was obtained for the first time. The strains were described according to the modern polyphasic taxonomy methods based on an integrated assessment of morphological and molecular-genetic features. Phylogenetic analysis of primary 16S rRNA sequences and peculiarities of secondary structures of internal transcribed spacers enabled us to identify new taxa of potentially endemic cyanobacteria among the strains studied. The high level of similarity between the 16S rRNA gene sequences of soil strains and those previously found in benthic mats of water bodies in the Larsemann Hills confirmed the ability of cyanobacteria to expand beyond different ecological niches and to adapt to contrasting environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstracts related to orthopaedic surgery are presented, including the surgery for hip fracture patients, the outcomes of primary total hip arthroplasty, and the orthogeriatric services on 30-day mortality for hip fracture patients.

Soil under six different land uses on Pianosa Island, in the Mediterranean Sea, was characterized in terms of microbial activity and organic matter quality, in order to define relationships between living and dead organic matter. Biological measurements and chemical and spectroscopic (13C NMR and FTIR) investigation of the extracted soil organic matter provided clues to the effects of soil management on the reciprocal interactions between living and dead organic matter. In particular, the conversion from the original bushy maquis to other land uses, such as degraded thickets of holm oak, maquis-invaded groves of olive trees, stands of Aleppo pines and abandoned pastures, implied significant reduction of soil organic carbon (SOC) and its microbial fraction (MBC). Cropland, which is the land use with the greatest perturbation of soil, had the smallest SOC, MBC and soil respiration rate. Significant differences in extractable SOC among land uses occurred, both as total amount and as molecular mass distribution. The relatively good relationship between soil respiration and the extracted SOM-fraction of 2-50 kDa, expressed on a molecular mass basis, suggests that this size is strongly linked to heterotrophic organisms and that it could be representative of a transitory pool of C in soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1484 and 1507, an anonymous Franciscan Observant friar recorded his own preaching in northern and central Italy in a diary now housed in Foligno City Library as manuscript C. 85. The diary is a unique historical document because it enables us to reconstruct the process of sermon preparation from the friar's perspective. It also allows us to view his growth as a preacher, from novice to expert. In the early years of the diary, the preacher selected his models by topic from past popular preachers' sermons. In the middle years, he composed his own sermon collections and began to use them in his preaching. In the final years, he added his new collection of sermons. He also recalled and reused sermons that he had delivered before, increasing the number of cross-references in the diary. Consequently, the diary reminded him vividly of his own experiences: the outlines of past sermons, their results, or other pieces of advice to himself. The preacher thus prepared his sermons while maintaining a dialogue with his past self. Examining the twenty Lenten sermon cycles that comprise a large part of manuscript C. 85 in chronological order, I describe the manuscript as a Bildungsroman ante litteram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of characteristic fine folds is important for modeling realistic looking virtual garments. While recent garment capture techniques are quite successful at capturing the low-frequency garment shape and motion over time, they often fail to capture the numerous high-frequency folds, reducing the realism of the reconstructed space-time models. In our work we propose a method for reintroducing fine folds into the captured models using data-driven dynamic wrinkling. We first estimate the shape and position of folds based on the original video footage used for capture and then wrinkle the surface based on those estimates using space-time deformation. Both steps utilize the unique geometric characteristics of garments in general, and garment folds specifically, to facilitate the modeling of believable folds. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our wrinkling method on a variety of garments that have been captured using several recent techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shallow soils of Pianosa—a small calcareous island in the Mediterranean Sea, facing Tuscany, central Italy—developed under the same pedogenic factors with the exception of vegetation and, in the last two centuries, human impact. Originally, they were covered by “macchia,” a tangled mix of bushy species, or, in a few more fertile sites, by Quercus ilex L. Currently there are six land uses on the island: (1) pristine macchia, (2) groves of Olea europaea L. totally reinvaded by macchia, (3) degraded residual thickets of Q. ilex, (4) cropland, (5) recently abandoned pastures, and (6) stands of Pinus halepensis Mill. The related soils were analysed by solid-state cross polarisation/magic angle spinning 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to compare the spectroscopic properties of their organic pool. The prevalence of O-alkyl C over other C forms is evident in all cases, while there is large variability with respect to the alkyl C to aromatic C ratio between both the different soils, and the horizons of a same soil. On the whole, the results show that on Pianosa Island, human impact has profoundly altered not only the amount but also the quality of soil organic matter (SOM). The SOM residual of the dichromate oxidation in the Walkley–Black method—a widely used method to measure soil organic C—was also analysed by NMR. It comprised almost exclusively alkyl C and aromatic C, as a result of the removal of carbonyl and O-alkyl C. Most of the aromatic C seems to belong to charcoal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Italian Journal of Neurological Sciences is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)