1,721,022 research outputs found
Assessing the conservation value of forests: The redefinition of the Forest Status Quality indicator in a multiscale approach and its application in northern Italy (Lombardy)
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Terricolous lichen communities in Thero-Airion dry grasslands of the Po Plain (Northern Italy): syntaxonomy, ecology and conservation value|Erdflechtengesellschaften in Thero-Airion Trockenrasen der Po-Ebene (Norditalien): Syntaxonomie, Ökologie und Erhaltungswert
No full textTerricolous lichen communities in Thero-Airion dry grasslands of the Po Plain (Northern Italy): syntaxonomy, ecology and conservation value
No full textTerricolous lichen vegetation has been partially studied in Italy so far, particularly in the Po Plain. Here, pioneer acidic Thero-Airion dry grasslands host rich terricolous lichen communities which often include lichen species of conservation concern. Overall, 288 phytosociological releves were carried out with the Braun-Blanquet method using standard plots of 30 cm x 30 cm in lichen-rich stands within Thero-Airion dry grasslands located in 16 localities of the western Po Plain, an area with continental climate. Releves were manually sorted and species composition was analyzed through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and non-parametric MANOVA. Biological, ecological, chorological and rarity spectra were computed and analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis tests to assess differences among the communities. Nine lichen communities were recognized. One community dominated by Cladonia pulvinata referred to the Pycnothelio-Cladonietum cervicornis. Three communities referred to the Cladonietum foliaceae are dominated respectively by C. foliacea, C. furcata and C. rangiformis. Three communities referred to the Cladonietum rei are dominated respectively by C. rei, C. polycarpoides and C. coccifera. Two communities dominated respectively by C. peziziformis and C. cariosa are referred to an undescribed association, temporarily attributed to the Cladonion rei. All communities significantly differ in the mean ecological indicator values - soil pH, light, aridity, eutrophication, poleotolerance. The communities Pycnothelio-Cladonietum cervicornis, Cladonietum foliaceae (C. foliacea facies) and the C. peziziformis-C. cariosa community are pioneer communities. The Cladonietum rei (C. rei facies) and the Cladonietum foliaceae (C. rangiformis facies) are the more mature communities, respectively in disturbed and undisturbed sites. This study shows that terricolous lichen communities represent an important component of biodiversity in Thero-Airion dry grasslands, due to their diversification in different syntaxa and, in some cases, to their role as microhabitats for lichen species of conservation concern. Thus, our study contributes to the knowledge on Thero-Airion dry grasslands, which is a key component in the choice of management and conservation strategies
A comparison of IHA and ELISA tests in the detection of antibodies to entamoeba histolytica
No full textIn this report we have evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of IHA and ELISA for the detection of anti-amebic antibodies in the serum samples of 147 patients with poor mental and hygienic status hospitalized in mental institutions. Our data have demonstrated a positive agreement between ELISA and IHA on positive sera. The major drawback of IHA is the occurrence of false negative results, 13/82 sera negative in IHA (less than 1/128) are positive in the ELISA. Furthermore, the ELISA is useful for serological diagnosis of amebiasis in the laboratories of low endemic areas
Early Intervention Programme for Young Adults in Northern Italy: A 10-Year Analysis of Socio-Demographic and Clinical Characteristics
No full textIntroduction: Early intervention represents an opportunity to contain psychological distress and intervene promptly on conditions that, otherwise, could assume a chronic course. Based on these observations, an early intervention programme for people 18-25 years old, the 'Progetto Giovani' (Youth Project), was implemented in two adult mental health services (AMHSs) in the northwest of Italy. Methods: This study aims to describe the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients included in the Youth Project from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2022. A retrospective observational design was used. Results: In 10 years, 323 patients were taken into care. More than half (56.3%) were females; the mean age was 20.7 years (SD 2.3). The most frequent diagnosis was anxiety disorder (38%). Seventy per cent of subjects benefitted from psychological treatment, and 60.8% had a pharmacological prescription. In 87.8% of cases, the care pathway was ≤ 24 months, and more than two-thirds of the subjects did not go to another AMHS after discharge. More than 90% of subjects did not require hospitalisation in the psychiatric diagnostic and treatment service. Conclusions: These findings suggest that early intervention programmes may be a valuable tool for AMHSs to improve patient outcomes and reduce the burden on the healthcare system
Habitat loss, extinction debt and climate change threaten terricolous lichens in lowland open dry habitats
Full text linkHabitat loss is the main driver of biodiversity decline worldwide. An immediate consequence can be extinction debt, i.e. time-delayed extinction of species following habitat loss. We tested extinction debt in terricolous lichen communities in 45 patches of lowland open dry habitats in the western Po Plain (northern Italy) considering richness of four species groups: total, red-listed, rare, and common species. The distance from the currently nearest patch and the annual precipitation correlated – negatively and positively, respectively – with all the groups. Total, red-listed, and rare species were positively related to the oldest available patch extent (1954). Common species were positively related to the current (2020) patch extent. Total and red-listed species were negatively related to the extent difference (1954–2020). Results reveal an extinction debt which has not yet been completely paid and that could be exacerbated by climate change. To counteract this trend, management should conserve habitat patches with the highest species richness, improve connectivity between habitat patches, and provide suitable microrefugia for species with different ecological requirements
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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