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A espécie Lavandula dentata L., conhecida como lavanda é difundida no mundo inteiro, sendo que no Brasil seu cultivo está vinculado principalmente à extração de óleo essencial. Muito utilizada na medicina popular, a lavanda também vem se destacando na indústria cosmética e alimentícia. O processo de extração de óleo essencial de lavanda gera um subproduto aquoso chamado hidrolato, o qual é um resíduo de baixo valor agregado. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a atividade antimicrobiana do hidrolato de L. dentata L. frente aos microrganismos Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa e Candida albicans. Para a avaliação do teste antimicrobiano, foi utilizado o método de disco-difusão. Dentre as estirpes analisadas, somente S. aureus apresentou sensibilidade frente ao hidrolato testado. Esta bactéria é de grande importância clinica devido ao surgimento de novas cepas resistentes aos tratamentos tradicionais, por isso se faz necessário o estudo de novas formas de controle. Perante aos resultados encontrados, destaca-se a importância de um estudo de caracterização fitoquimica do hidrolato para identificação dos compostos quimicos presentes, já que a composição quimica deste produto pode sofrer alteração devido a caracteristicas edafoclimáticas., EVALUATION OF THE ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF LAVANDULA DENTATA L.

L'ecologia è lo studio delle interazioni tra gli organismi e l'ambiente che li ospita. Si tratta di indagini scientifiche complesse e interdisciplinari in quanto gli ecosistemi sono caratterizzati da numerose componenti biotiche e abiotiche che interagiscono in modo dinamico. Questo implica la necessità di considerare le strutture e i processi analizzati secondo diverse scale spaziali e temporali, per poter cogliere l'intera gamma di variabilità e i trend evolutivi dei sistemi. I dati forniti da queste indagini sono di grande utilità per comprendere molti tratti della biodiversità naturale sul nostro pianeta, le dinamiche degli ecosistemi e le loro risposte agli impatti climatici e antropici, consentendo valutazioni per la loro salvaguardia. Le ricerche ecologiche di lungo termine (LTER, Long Term Ecological Research) forniscono la base scientifica di riferimento per distinguere la dinamica naturale dei processi ecologici, che si manifesta su lunghi intervalli temporali, dagli effetti di tendenze globali quali il cambiamento climatico o di fattori d'influenza e disturbo locali. La disponibilità di lunghe serie di dati ecologici e di biodiversità consente inoltre di valutare l'efficacia delle azioni di salvaguardia e recupero di ambienti che abbiano subito alterazioni quali, ad esempio, eutrofizzazione, contaminazione del suolo, impatto da eventi estremi, introduzione di specie alloctone, diventando strumento sia di pianificazione che di verifica nella gestione delle risorse e del territorio. La Rete LTER-Italia, che raccoglie 79 siti distribuiti sul territorio nazionale in cui si conducono ricerche ecologiche di lungo termine, è caratterizzata da un'estrema diversità di ambienti naturali (eco-domini in ambito terrestre, marino, di acque interne e di transizione) ed è il contesto ideale in cui proseguire o avviare studi trans-ecodomini e di carattere interdisciplinare per un approccio olistico alla comprensione dell'ambiente e delle sue dinamiche. Proprio in virtù di questo approccio integrato, gli studi di lungo termine condotti nell'ambito della Rete si collegano alle scienze di base, applicate e tecnologiche e permettono di creare un ponte tra i ricercatori, i cittadini, gli utilizzatori e i decisori politici. La disponibilità di lunghe serie temporali di dati ecologici sul territorio Italiano da siti così diversificati consente di monitorare nel tempo i processi legati alle variazioni naturali e antropiche e di raccogliere informazioni basilari per lo sviluppo economico e sociale del Paese e per adempiere agli obiettivi di sostenibilità, di fondamentale importanza per la sopravvivenza degli ecosistemi. Questo volume offre un quadro aggiornato delle diverse attività condotte dalla Rete LTER-Italia e dei risultati acquisiti durante i primi 15 anni dalla sua costituzione. Si tratta di una panoramica che spazia dagli aspetti storici e divulgativi a quelli politici e sociali, avendo come fulcro le ricerche condotte negli innumerevoli siti di osservazione e che coprono un ampio spettro di tematiche e approcci. Questo volume, frutto di un grande sforzo collettivo, si rivolge a tutti coloro che siano spinti da interesse a conoscere la diversità e la bellezza del nostro ambiente, insieme alle sue tante problematiche.

This is an updated version of the Deliverable "Management handbook, monitoring and evaluation plan and risk management plan" of the H2020 Project CLIC CIRCULAR MODELS LEVERAGING INVESTMENTS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE ADAPTIVE REUSE. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 776758 Call H2020-SC5-2017-OneStageB submitted for H2020-SC5-22-2017 / 07 Mar 2017 submitted on M3. Even if in DOA Description it has reported an update each six month, since no relevant change occurred, the first updated has been released on M20.

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is involved in the inflammatory response, and its recurrent overexpression in cancers as well as in neurodegenerative disorders has made it an important target for therapy. For this reason, noninvasive imaging of COX-2 expression may represent an important diagnostic tool. In this work, a COX-2 inhibitor analogue, VA426 [1-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-(2-methoxyethyl)-2-methyl-5-(4-(methylsulfonil)phenyl)-1H-pyrrole], was synthesized and radiolabelled with the 11C radioisotope. The ex vivo biodistribution profile of 11C-VA426 was evaluated in the brain and periphery of healthy rats and mice and in brain and periphery of inflammation models, based on the administration of LPS. 11C-VA426 synthesis with the tBuOK base showed optimal radiochemical yield (15 ± 2%) based on triflate activity, molar activity (range 37-148 GBq/?mol), and radiochemical purity (>95%). Ex vivo biodistribution studies showed a fast uptake of radioactivity but a rapid washout, except in regions expressing COX-2 (lungs, liver, and kidney) both in rats and in mice, with maximum values at 30 and 10 minutes p.i., respectively. LPS administration did not show significant effect on radioactivity accumulation. Celecoxib competition experiments performed in rats and mice treated with LPS produced a general target unrelated reduction of radioactivity concentration in all peripheral tissues and brain areas examined. Finally, in agreement with the negative results obtained from biodistribution experiments, radiometabolites analysis revealed that 11C-VA426 is highly unstable in vivo. This study indicates that the compound 11C-VA426 is not currently suitable to be used as radiopharmaceutical for PET imaging. This family of compounds needs further implementation in order to improve in vivo stability.

A new dataset of 54 daily Italian downward surface solar radiation (SSR) records has been set up over the 1959- 2013 period. Particular emphasis is placed upon the quality control and the homogenization of the records in order to eliminate gross-errors and not climatic signals contained in the original records. This step has been shown as necessary due to the large differences obtained between the raw and homogenized dataset, especially during the first decades of the study period as a consequence of instrument changes and recalibrations. In addition, SSR series under clear-sky conditions were obtained considering only the cloudless days from corresponding groundbased cloudiness observations. Subsequently, the records were interpolated onto a regular grid and clustered in two regions, Northern and Southern Italy, which were averaged in order to get all-sky and clear-sky regional SSR records. Their temporal evolution is presented, and possible reasons for differences between the two conditions and the two regions are discussed in order to understand which part of the SSR variability depends on aerosols or clouds. Specifically, the all-sky SSR records show a decrease until the mid-1980s (dimming period) and a following increase until the end of the series (brightening period) even if the strength and the persistence of the tendencies are not the same in all seasons. The clear-sky records present stronger tendencies than the all-sky records during the dimming period in all seasons, and during the brightening period in winter and autumn, suggesting that under all-sky the variations caused by the variations of the aerosol concentrations have been partially masked by cloud cover variations, especially during the dimming period. The peculiarity of a stronger dimming in the South than in the North under clear-sky could be a consequence of a significant contribution of mineral dust variations to the SSR variability.

A large dataset from 78 Italian lakes was collated to analyze the relationships between species of benthic macroinvertebrates and environmental factors and to test if different lake types erected according to the Water Framework Directive (WFD) system B classification matched with distinct communities. The lakes have different morphometry (altitude, volume, surface, depth), origin (glacial, volcanic), chemistry (conductivity, pH) and anthropogenic pressures (eutrophication, acidification, hydromorphological alteration, climatic change). More than two hundred species (276) were found of which 189 belonged to Chironomids and 30 to Oligochaetes. Samples for which both quantitative benthic samples and environmental data (morphometric and chemical) were available were selected (2404 samples). Taxa present in the database with > 50 specimens (83 taxa) were included in data analysis. A self organizing map (SOM) from artificial neural network (ANN) followed by a k-mean clustering was used to order and classify sites. Environmental variables were included in the analysis as supplementary variables. SOM analysis gave a map of 240 cells, a k-mean cluster analysis grouped cells into 12 clusters: cluster 4 was characterized by species preferring high altitude and low water temperature, cluster 5 by species tolerating high TP and low dissolved oxygen; cluster 2 grouped species preferring high conductivity, cluster 1 those preferring high pH, cluster 10 those preferring high water temperature, cluster 3 included species with optimal response in sublittoral stations of large lakes, whereas cluster 8 species preferring profundal stations of large lakes; clusters 7 and 11 were defined by a characteristic species composition but no environmental variables could be associated. Natural variables well separated lakes into different types, but clusters of macroinvertebrate species did not match with the types erected according to the WFD system B classification. Altitude, depth, volume, conductivity used in the system B influenced the community structure, but others were the key factors (i.e. water temperature, dissolved oxygen and total phosphorous) determining species composition in different lakes. To sum up there was no agreement between the WFD system B classification and the one suggested by macroinvertebrates. Using weighted means of total phosphorus, Secchi transparency and minimum hypolimnetic oxygen % saturation an optimum value for each species was calculated and a benthic quality index (BQIM) was built. With the data available, it was not possible to build distinct BQIM for each lake type and the present results do not support the need of separate indexes.