The phylogeny of Simulium (Chirostilbia) (Diptera: Simuliidae) and perspectives on the systematics of the genus in the Neotropical Region

Recently, knowledge of Neotropical Simuliidae has been accumulating quickly. However, information about supra-specific relationships is scarce and diagnoses of Simulium subgenera are unsatisfactory. To investigate the relationships among Simulium (Chirostilbia) species and test the subgenus monophyly, we performed a cladistic analysis. The ingroup included all species of this subgenus and the outgroup included representatives of the 17 species groups of Neotropical Simulium and three Holarctic species. The study was based on a data matrix with 31 terminal taxa and 45 morphological characteristics of adult, pupa and larva. The phylogenetic analysis under equal weights resulted in eight most-parsimonious trees (length = 178, consistency index = 34, retention index = 67). The monophyly of the S. (Chirostilbia) was not supported in our analysis. The Simulium subpallidum species group was closer to Simulium (Psilopelmia) and Simulium (Ectemnaspis) than to the Simulium pertinax species group. Additionally, we describe the three-dimensional shape of the terminalia of male and female of Simulium (Chirostilbia) for the first time and provide comments about the taxonomic problems involving some species of the subgenus: Simulium acarayense, Simulium papaveroi, S. pertinax, Simulium serranum, Simulium striginotum and S. subpallidum.

Natural abundance of stable isotopes (15N and 13C) and isotopic fractionation of sea bream muscle as markers of food and culture conditions and its relationship with metabolic and proteomic analyses

Els isòtops estables com a traçadors de la cadena alimentària, s'han utilitzat per caracteritzar la relació entre els consumidors i els seus aliments, ja que el fraccionament isotòpic implica una discriminació en contra de certs isòtops. Però les anàlisis d'isòtops estables (SIA), també es poden dur a terme en peixos cultivats amb dietes artificials, com la orada (Sparus aurata), la especie más cultivada en el Mediterráneo. Canvis en l'abundància natural d'isòtops estables (13C i 15N) en els teixits i les seves reserves poden reflectir els canvis en l'ús i reciclatge dels nutrients ja que els enzims catabòlics implicats en els processos de descarboxilació i desaminació mostren una preferència pels isòtops més lleugers. Per tant, aquestes anàlisis ens poden proporcionar informació útil sobre l'estat nutricional i metabòlic dels peixos. L'objectiu d'aquest projecte va ser determinar la capacitat dels isòtops estables per ser utilitzats com a marcadors potencials de la capacitat de creixement i condicions de cria de l'orada. En aquest sentit, les anàlisis d'isòtops estables s'han combinat amb altres metabòlics (activitats citocrom-c-oxidasa, COX, i citrat sintasa, CS) i els paràmetres de creixement (ARN/ADN). El conjunt de resultats obtinguts en els diferents estudis realitzats en aquest projecte demostra que el SIA, en combinació amb altres paràmetres metabòlics, pot servir com una eina eficaç per discriminar els peixos amb millor potencial de creixement, així com a marcador sensible de l'estat nutricional i d'engreix. D'altra banda, la combinació de l'anàlisi d'isòtops estables amb les eines emergents, com ara tècniques de proteòmica (2D-PAGE), ens proporciona nous coneixements sobre els canvis metabòlics que ocorren en els músculs dels peixos durant l‟increment del creixement muscular induït per l'exercici.

L. Junii Moderati Columellae de re rustica libri duodecim.

DD. de Bethune

1.° Palladii Rutilii Tauri Aemiliani de re rustica libri tredecim. — 2.° Fragmenta Petronii, Satyrici, quae edita sunt.

Petavianus

Microstructural, chemical and isotopic evidence for the origin of late neolithic leather recovered from an ice field in the Swiss Alps

Archaeological leather samples recovered from the ice field at the Schnidejoch Pass (altitude 2756 m amsl) in the western Swiss Alps were studied using optical, chemical molecular and isotopic (delta(13)C and delta(15)N of the bulk leather, and compound-specific delta(13)C analyses of the organic-solvent extracted fatty acids) methods to obtain insight into the origin of the leather and ancient tanning procedures. For comparison, leathers from modern native animals in alpine environment (red deer, goat, sheep, chamois, and calf/cow) were analyzed using the same approach. Optical and electron microscopically comparisons of Schnidejoch and modern leathers showed that the gross structure (pattern of collagen fibrils and intra-fibrils material) of archaeological leather had survived essentially intact for five millennia. The SEM studies of the hairs from the most important archaeological find, a Neolithic leather legging, show a wave structure of the hair cuticle, which is a diagnostic feature for goatskins. The variations of the bulk delta(13)C and delta(15)N values, and delta(13)C values of the main fatty acids are within the range expected for pre-industrial temperate C(3) environment. The archaeological leather samples contain a mixture of indigenous (from the animal) and exogenous plant/animal lipids. An important amount of waxy n-alkanes, n-alkan-1-ols and phytosterols (beta-sitosterol, sitostanol) in all samples, and abundant biomarker of conifers (nonacosan-10-01) in the legging leathers clearly indicate that the Neolithic people were active in a subalpine coniferous forest, and that they used an aqueous extract of diverse plant material for tanning leather. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Immunological response to re-infections with clones of the Colombian strain of Trypanosoma cruzi with different degrees of virulence: influence on pathological features during chronic infection in mice

Re-infections with Trypanosoma cruzi are an aggravating factor for Chagas disease morbidity. The Colombian strain of T. cruzirepresents multiclonal populations formed by clonally propagating organisms with different tropisms and degrees of virulence. In the present study, the influence of successive inoculations with clones of the Colombian strain, exhibiting different degrees of virulence, on chronic myocarditis and the humoral and cellular immune responses (Col-C1 high virulence, Col-C8 medium virulence and Col-C5 low virulence) were demonstrated. Mice from three groups with a single infection were evaluated during the acute (14th-30th day) and chronic phases for 175 days. An immunofluorescence assay, ELISA and delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) cutaneous test were also performed. Mice with a triple infection were studied on the 115th-175th days following first inoculation. The levels of IgM and IgG2a were higher in the animals with a triple infection. DTH showed a higher intensity in the inflammatory infiltrate based on the morphometric analysis during a 48 h period of the triple infection and at 24 h with a single infection. The histopathology of the heart demonstrated significant exacerbation of cardiac inflammatory lesions confirmed by the morphometric test. The humoral responses indicate a reaction to the triple infection, even with clones of the same strain.

Multi-isotopic and compositional exploration of factors controlling nitrate pollution

In Catalonia, according to the nitrate directive (91/676/EU), nine areas have been declared as vulnerable to nitrate pollution from agricultural sources (Decret 283/1998 and Decret 479/2004). Five of these areas have been studied coupling hydro chemical data with a multi-isotopic approach (Vitòria et al. 2005, Otero et al. 2007, Puig et al. 2007), in an ongoing research project looking for an integrated application of classical hydrochemistry data, with a comprehensive isotopic characterisation (δ15N and δ18O of dissolved nitrate, δ34S and δ18O of dissolved sulphate, δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon, and δD and δ18O of water). Within this general frame, the contribution presented explores compositional ways of: (i) distinguish agrochemicals and manure N pollution, (ii) quantify natural attenuation of nitrate (denitrification), and identify possible controlling factors.To achieve this two-fold goal, the following techniques have been used. Separate biplots of each suite of data show that each studied region has a distinct δ34S and pH signatures, but they are homogeneous with regard to NO3- related variables. Also, the geochemical variables were projected onto the compositional directions associated with the possible denitrification reactions in each region. The resulting balances can be plot together with some isotopes, to assess their likelihood of occurrence

U-Pb isotopic dating of fluid infiltration and metasomatism during Dalradian regional metamorphism in Connemara, western Ireland

A metasomatic diopside rock occurs at the top of the dolomitic Connemara Marble Formation of western Ireland and contains titanite and K-feldspar in addition to around 90% diopside (X(Mg) = 0.90-0.97). U-Pb isotopic measurements on this mineral assemblage show that the titanite is both unusually uranium-rich and isotopically concordant, with the result that a precise U-Pb age of 478 +/- 2.5 Ma can be determined. The age is identical within error to a less precise Rb-Sr age of diopside-K-feldspar of 483 +/- 6 Ma. Petrological evidence indicates that the assemblage crystallized at c. 620-degrees-C close to or below the closure temperature of titanite. The age thus provides a precise estimate of the time of metamorphism; this age is 11 +/- 3 Ma younger than the 490 Ma age for nearby gabbroic plutons which has previously been used to constrain the peak metamorphic age. This difference accords well with geological evidence that the gabbros were emplaced prior to the metamorphic peak. Analysis of minerals with high closure temperature from assemblages whose crystallization is unambiguously associated with a specific episode of fluid infiltration at the peak of metamorphism provides the basis for a new approach to dating metamorphism. The success of this approach is demonstrated by the results from Connemara.

1.° Explicatio fabularum quae in Ovidii metamorphoseon libris occurrunt : authore anonymo. — 2.° Compendium cosmographiae Ptolemaei : authore anonymo. — 3.° Excerpta è libris ruralium commodorum, quos edidit Petrus de Crescentiis. — 4.° Palladii Rutilii Tauri Aemiliani de re rustica libri tredecim. — 5.° Aethici cosinographia. — 6.° Excerptum è libro Raymundi Lullii de memoria artificiali.

Mentellianus

The generation and re-generation of social capital and enterprises in multi-stakeholders social cooperative enterprises: a system dynamic approach

Theories on social capital and on social entrepreneurship have mainly highlighted the attitude of social capital to generate enterprises and to foster good relations between third sector organizations and the public sector. This paper considers the social capital in a specific third sector enterprise; here, multi-stakeholder social cooperatives are seen, at the same time, as social capital results, creators and incubators. In the particular enterprises that identify themselves as community social enterprises, social capital, both as organizational and relational capital, is fundamental: SCEs arise from but also produce and disseminate social capital. This paper aims to improve the building of relational social capital and the refining of helpful relations drawn from other arenas, where they were created and from where they are sometimes transferred to other realities, where their role is carried on further (often working in non-profit, horizontally and vertically arranged groups, where they share resources and relations). To represent this perspective, we use a qualitative system dynamic approach in which social capital is measured using proxies. Cooperation of volunteers, customers, community leaders and third sector local organizations is fundamental to establish trust relations between public local authorities and cooperatives. These relations help the latter to maintain long-term contracts with local authorities as providers of social services and enable them to add innovation to their services, by developing experiences and management models and maintaining an interchange with civil servants regarding these matters. The long-term relations and the organizational relations linking SCEs and public organizations help to create and to renovate social capital. Thus, multi-stakeholder cooperatives originated via social capital developed in third sector organizations produce new social capital within the cooperatives themselves and between different cooperatives (entrepreneurial components of the third sector) and the public sector. In their entrepreneurial life, cooperatives have to contrast the "working drift," as a result of which only workers remain as members of the cooperative, while other stakeholders leave the organization. Those who are not workers in the cooperative are (stake)holders with "weak ties," who are nevertheless fundamental in making a worker's cooperative an authentic social multi-stakeholders cooperative. To maintain multi-stakeholder governance and the relations with third sector and civil society, social cooperatives have to reinforce participation and dialogue with civil society through ongoing efforts to include people that provide social proposals. We try to represent these processes in a system dynamic model applied to local cooperatives, measuring the social capital created by the social cooperative through proxies, such as number of volunteers and strong cooperation with public institutions. Using a reverse-engineering approach, we can individuate the determinants of the creation of social capital and thereby give support to governance that creates social capital.