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Populations of Monacha atacis from southern Occitania in France and of M. samsunensis from northern Anatolia in Turkey (Atakum/Samsun and Kastamonu) were investigated by an integrative approach based on morphological (shell and genitalia) and molecular (mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences) features. Morphological examination revealed a complex pattern of variation within and between geographically separated populations, while molecular analysis showed strong similarity between the two species, confirming earlier suggestions that the species are conspecific. Pfeiffer’s name Helix samsunensis introduced in 1868 has priority over the name M. atacis given by Gittenberger & de Winter in 1985.

A specimen of Indonesian snakehead, Channa micropeltes (Cuvier, 1831), 76.5 cm long (TL) and weighing 5.8 kg, was caught on 22 November 2012 in a small pool fed by a subthermal spring at Le Caldane (Colle di Val d’Elsa, Siena, Tuscany, Italy). This catch constitutes the first record of C. micropeltes in Europe.

OBJECTIVE:This NMA compared the efficacy and safety between IV antibiotics that are used in the current standard of care for managing adult patients (≥18 years of age) with ABSSSI. METHODS:Comparators were chosen on the basis that both direct and indirect comparisons between the interventions of interest could be performed. Outcomes of the analysis were selected on the basis that they are frequently measured and reported in trials involving ABSSSI patients, and only published randomised control trials of any size and duration and with any blinding status were eligible for inclusion in the analysis. The NMA was performed using both a fixed-effect and random-effect model. Efficacy-related endpoints were (1) clinical treatment success and (2) microbiological success at TOC visit. Safety-related endpoints were (1) number of discontinuations due to AEs/SAEs, (2) patients experiencing AEs, (3) patients experiencing SAEs and (4) all-cause mortality. RESULTS:Study interventions included daptomycin, dalbavancin, linezolid and tigecycline. Vancomycin was the comparator in all studies, except in two where it was linezolid and teicoplanin. The NMA showed that irrespective of patient subgroup, the likelihood of clinical and microbiological success with dalbavancin was statistically similar to the comparators studied. No statistically significant differences were observed between dalbavancin and any of the comparators in the discontinuation rate due to AEs/SAEs. In contrast, dalbavancin was associated with a significantly lower likelihood of experiencing an AE than linezolid, a significantly lower likelihood of experiencing a SAE than vancomycin and daptomycin, and a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality than vancomycin, linezolid and tigecycline. CONCLUSION:Dalbavancin affords a promising, new alternative IV antimicrobial agent which is as effective as traditional therapies, but with the added benefit of enabling clinicians to treat patients with ABSSSI in different organisational settings. Notwithstanding, any introduction of an effective treatment with a differential mode of administration into healthcare systems must be followed by a change in clinical practice and patient management in order to fully achieve desirable economic outcomes.

Plant trade and exchange for horticulture, recreation or research play a significant role in the dispersal of molluscs. Alien slugs and snails accidentally introduced into Europe have established rich communities in several countries, but although these introductions could have ecological and economic implications, mollusc xenodiversity in Italian botanical gardens, plant nurseries, and greenhouses has never been investigated. Facilities throughout the country were therefore visited between 2017 and 2023. Here the list of the achatinoidean species so far recorded from Italian greenhouses is provided, giving a short description of their diagnostic characters. The greenhouses of Trento and Padua host interesting assemblages of achatinoideans: the results of this study include the first reports of four achatinids, namely Allopeasclavulinum , Opeashannense , Paropeasachatinaceum and Subulinaoctona from Italy and the first record of Geostilbiaaperta from Europe. Reproductive anatomy of all species except Geostilbiaaperta is illustrated in detail, integrating anatomical knowledge of this group of tiny molluscs, some of which are known mainly from their shell characters. The systematics of all the species is discussed, highlighting topics for future research (e.g., status of Allopeasmauritianum , real identity of Helixhannense , anatomy of Opeashannense , species-level taxonomy of Subulina , systematic relationships and species-level taxonomy of Geostilbia )., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Giuseppe Manganelli, Andrea Benocci, Debora Barbato, Folco Giusti.)

Features of shell and genitalia as well as nucleotide sequences of selected mitochondrial and nuclear genes of specimens of Monachacantiana from ten northern French and two Dutch populations were compared with the same features of British and Italian populations. They were found to be very similar to populations previously identified as belonging to the CAN-1 lineage of M.cantiana . This confirms previous suggestions that M.cantiana was introduced to western Europe (England, France and the Netherlands) in historical times., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Joanna R. Pieńkowska, Giuseppe Manganelli, Małgorzata Proćków, Debora Barbato, Katarzyna Sosnowska, Folco Giusti, Andrzej Lesicki.)

Background: Proper umbilical cord stump care during the first days of life (both in hospital and at home) should not be overlooked to prevent possible complications (e.g., purulent discharge, granulomas, or periumbilical erythema or omphalitis). Despite the known benefits of its correct execution, the care of umbilical cord stump remains controversial, and many different approaches are described. The World Health Organization suggests the use of dry cord stump care (easy and economic technique) in developed countries, but in many cases in the real life various topical antiseptics are used in combination with dry cord stump. The extracts of Arnica Montana (AM) have been reported to possess antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and immunomodulatory activities, very useful in the management of cord stump in full term infants., Methods: In our study we evaluated the efficacy of a powder containing AM (study group- GrA) versus dry cord stump (control group-GrB) in a population of healthy newborn >35 weeks of gestational age (GA)., Results: Three hundred twenty-six neonates (mean GA 39±1 in both groups and body weight 3200 g and 3400±448 g respectively in GrA and GrB) were enrolled in two standard neonatal care units (163 neonates in GrA and 163 in GrB). At T1 (48 hours after discharge) GrA showed significantly reduced incidence of mild complications in toto, in particular a lower rate of wet umbilical cord stump). No differences between the two groups at T2 (1 week after discharge)., Conclusions: The use of a natural topical dermo-protective powder containing AM reduces the risk of minor complications, both nurse and parental workload in the first days after discharge, but does not have an impact on cord detachment and other complications in neonates >35 weeks GA.

In terrestrial snails, thermal selection acts on shell coloration. However, the biological relevance of small differences in the intensity of shell pigmentation and the associated thermodynamic, physiological, and evolutionary consequences for snail diversity within the course of environmental warming are still insufficiently understood. To relate temperature-driven internal heating, protein and membrane integrity impairment, escape behavior, place of residence selection, water loss, and mortality, we used experimentally warmed open-top chambers and field observations with a total of >11,000 naturally or experimentally colored individuals of the highly polymorphic species Theba pisana (O.F. MÜller, 1774). We show that solar radiation in their natural Mediterranean habitat in Southern France poses intensifying thermal stress on increasingly pigmented snails that cannot be compensated for by behavioral responses. Individuals of all morphs acted neither jointly nor actively competed in climbing behavior, but acted similarly regardless of neighbor pigmentation intensity. Consequently, dark morphs progressively suffered from high internal temperatures, oxidative stress, and a breakdown of the chaperone system. Concomitant with increasing water loss, mortality increased with more intense pigmentation under simulated global warming conditions. In parallel with an increase in mean ambient temperature of 1.34°C over the past 30 years, the mortality rate of pigmented individuals in the field is, currently, about 50% higher than that of white morphs. A further increase of 1.12°C, as experimentally simulated in our study, would elevate this rate by another 26%. For 34 T. pisana populations from locations that are up to 2.7°C warmer than our experimental site, we show that both the frequency of pigmented morphs and overall pigmentation intensity decrease with an increase in average summer temperatures. We therefore predict a continuing strong decline in the frequency of pigmented morphs and a decrease in overall pigmentation intensity with ongoing global change in areas with strong solar radiation., Competing Interests: None declared., (© 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Specimens obtained from ten populations of a Monacha species from the central Apennines were compared with six molecular lineages of Monacha cantiana s. l. (CAN-1, CAN-2, CAN-3, CAN-4, CAN-5, CAN-6) and two other Monacha species ( M. cartusiana and M. parumcincta ), treated as outgroup, by molecular (nucleotide sequences of two mitochondrial COI and 16S rDNA as well as two nuclear ITS2 and H3 gene fragments) and morphological (shell and genital anatomy) analysis. The results strongly suggest that these populations represent a separate species for which two names are available: the older Helix pantanellii De Stefani, 1879 and the junior M. ruffoi Giusti, 1973. The nucleotide sequences created well separated clades on each phylogenetic tree. Genital anatomy included several distinctive features concerning vaginal appendix, penis, penial papilla and flagellum; instead, shell characters only enabled them to be distinguished from M. cartusiana and M. parumcincta . Remarkably, populations of M. pantanellii show high morphological variability. Shell variability mainly concerns size, some populations having very small dimensions. Genital variability shows a more intricate pattern of all anatomical parts, being higher as regards the vagina and vaginal appendix. Despite this morphological variability, the K2P distance range of COI sequences between populations is narrow (0.2-4.5%), if we consider all but three of the 53 sequences obtained. This research confirmed that the species of Monacha and their molecularly distinguished lineages can only occasionally be recognised morphologically and that they have significant inter- and intra-population variability. The possibility of using an overall approach, including shell, genital and molecular evidence, was taken in order to establish a reliable taxonomic setting., (Joanna R. Pieńkowska, Giuseppe Manganelli, Folco Giusti, Debora Barbato, Ewa Kosicka, Alessandro Hallgass, Andrzej Lesicki.)

Two new lineages CAN-5 and CAN-6 were recognised in four populations of Monachacantiana (Montagu, 1803) s.l. from the Italian Apuan Alps by joint molecular and morphological analysis. They are different from other M.cantiana lineages known from English, Italian, Austrian and French populations, i.e. CAN-1, CAN-2, CAN-3 and CAN-4, as well as from the other Italian Monacha species used for comparisons ( M.parumcincta and M.cartusiana ). Although a definite taxonomic and nomenclatural setting seems to be premature, we suggest that the name or names for these new lineages as one or two species should be found among 19 th century names ( Helixsobara Mabille, 1881, H.ardesa Mabille, 1881, H.apuanica Mabille, 1881, H.carfaniensis De Stefani, 1883 and H.spallanzanii De Stefani, 1884).

Molecular analysis of nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) and 16S ribosomal DNA (16SrDNA) as well as nuclear histone 3 (H3) and internal transcribed spacer 2 of rDNA (ITS2) gene fragments together with morphological analysis of shell and genitalia features showed that English, French and Italian populations usually assigned to Monacha cantiana consist of four distinct lineages (CAN-1, CAN-2, CAN-3, CAN-4). One of these lineages (CAN-1) included most of the UK (five sites) and Italian (five sites) populations examined. Three other lineages represented populations from two sites in northern Italy (CAN-2), three sites in northern Italy and Austria (CAN-3), and two sites in south-eastern France (CAN-4). The taxonomic and nomenclatural setting is only currently available for lineages CAN-1 and CAN-4; a definitive frame for the other two requires much more research. The lineage CAN-1 corresponds to the true M. cantiana (Montagu, 1803) because it is the only one that includes topotypical English populations. The relationships and genetic distances support the hypothesis of the Italian origin of this lineage which was probably introduced to England by the Romans. The lineage CAN-4 is attributed to M. cemenelea (Risso, 1826), for which a neotype has been designated and deposited. Its diagnostic sequences of COI, 16SrDNA, H3 and ITS2 genes have also been deposited in GenBank. Molecular and morphological (shell and genitalia) features showed that M. parumcincta (Rossmässler, 1834) is a distinct taxon from the M. cantiana lineages.

Little is known about the evolutionary history of Helix, despite the fact that it includes the largest land snails in the western Palaearctic, some of which (e.g. H. pomatia Linnaeus, 1758) are valuable human food. We compared two groups of Helix with apparently contrasting evolutionary histories: the widespread species H. pomatia and the group distributed along the Italian Apennine chain, a relatively unknown set of species with a restricted distribution over a range of altitudes. To reconstruct the evolutionary trajectories of these two groups, we analysed morphological (shell and genitalia) and molecular characters (mitochondrial and nuclear markers) in a total of 59 populations from northern and central Europe (H. pomatia) and along the Apennine chain (various species). We also reconstructed the phylogeny and the evolutionary history of the genus by combining our data with that currently available in the literature. We found that spatial changes did not merely imply fragmentation of populations, but also implied environmental changes (woodlands vs. grasslands) that may have triggered the observed phenotypic diversification. We also found that Anatolia is the ancestral range of Helix and is therefore an important area for the Palaearctic diversity. The results provide insights into the evolutionary history of species richness and more generally into the processes that may have shaped the distribution and diversification of these organisms across Europe and the peri-Mediterranean area., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Within the framework of the European Life+-funded project PhotoPAQ (Demonstration of Photocatalytic remediation Processes on Air Quality), which was aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of photocatalytic coating materials on a realistic scale, a photocatalytic de-polluting field site was set up in the Leopold II tunnel in Brussels, Belgium. For that purpose, photocatalytic cementitious materials were applied on the side walls and ceiling of selected test sections inside a one-way tunnel tube. This article presents the configuration of the test sections used and the preparation and implementation of the measuring campaigns inside the Leopold II tunnel. While emphasizing on how to implement measuring campaigns under such conditions, difficulties encountered during these extensive field campaigns are presented and discussed. This included the severe de-activation observed for the investigated material under the polluted tunnel conditions, which was revealed by additional laboratory experiments on photocatalytic samples that were exposed to tunnel air. Finally, recommendations for future applications of photocatalytic building materials inside tunnels are given., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)