1,721,367 research outputs found
Physio-morphological traits and drought stress responses in three wild Mediterranean taxa of Brassicaceae
Full text linkCrop wild relatives (CWRs) have extremely relevant roles in biodiversity conservation, in investigating phylogeny and improving abiotic stress tolerance of crop plants. We screened the variability in leaf functional traits of three CWRs of kale crops (Brassica oleracea) from Sicily, Italy, grown in pots under well-watered and drought conditions. Our aim was to highlight traits in the different genotypes of endemic Sicilian threatened taxa. We measured several structural/anatomical traits (stomatal size, density and stomatal pore index—SPI, leaf mass per area—LMA) and leaf functional traits (stomatal conductance—gs, leaf water potential—ΨL, leaf temperature (TL), leaf relative water content—RWC) at pre-dawn and midday of leaves of three wild taxa: B. macrocarpa, B. rupestris subsp. rupestris and B. villosa subsp. bivoniana. Pressure–volume curves were constructed to obtain leaf water potential at turgor loss point (Ψtlp), osmotic potential at full rehydration (Ψπ100), relative water content at turgor loss point (RWCtlp), elastic bulk modulus (εmax) and leaf area specific capacitance at full turgor (Cft*). Several significant differences were found among the taxa: under water deficit, B. macrocarpa had the less negative Ψtlp and showed the smallest ΔΨL between pre-dawn and midday. B. villosa subsp. bivoniana showed the highest SPI and had significantly higher gs under water availability, while under drought it had the most negative ΨL. Each of the taxa investigated possessed traits that confer particular stress tolerance, offer competitive advantage in their natural environment and may be exploited for crop improvement
Orthopaedic experience on inflammatory bowel disease (Lesniowski-Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis)
No full textInflammatory Bowel Diseasae (IBD)is a group of inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract. The major types of IBD are Lesniowski-Crohn's disease (L-CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). IBD sometimes presents with arthritic manifestations. The peripheral arthitis is a problem for the orthopaedist and the physiatrist. The Authors retrospectively reviewed 65 sicilian patients with IBD (38 with UC, 27 with L-CD) over a period of 5 years. All patients underwent clinical examinations, laboratory and imaging studies, and were screened for the presence of the rheumatoid factor. All patients also attended eight to ten 50-minutes sessions of physioterapy over a six-week period. REsults: 38 patients had UC (mean age 42,1 years, range. 19-75) and 27 patients had L-CD (mean age 37.2 years, range.17-64 years). Arthritis occurred in 11 patients (17%): 7 with UC (18.4%) and 4 with L-CD (14.8%). The mean age of patients with arthritis was 35 and mean duration of pain and functional limitation was 28 months. In 9 patients arthritis appeared after the onset of bowel symptoms with a mean duration of 20 months in UC and 24 months in L-CD; in two patients, arthritis preceded the onset of bowel symptoms for several months. exercise and manual therapy did not bring about good symptomatic improvement in patients with shoulder pain;good short-term results were only noted for patients with knee and hip arthitis. Conclusion: the association between IBD and arthritis has been reported in the literature and confirmed in our study. The role of the orthopaedist is to eliminate pain and dysfunction. Physical therapy is an optimal initial approach. prosthetic surgery should be chosen as an final option when medicaland manual therapies are no longer able to improve the quality of life of the patient
Ethnobotanical uses of wild taxa as galactagogues in Sicily (Italy)
Full text linkBreastfeeding furnishes optimal nutrition, immune support, and a multitude of health benefits to mothers and newborns. Since ancient times plants have been employed as galactagogues in the folk medicine of many human cultures. In Sicily, a region with great floristic diversity in the Mediterranean area, where a conspicuous pool of species is traditionally used for food and aromatic, cosmetic, handicraft, agricultural, forestry, and medicinal purposes, some people recognize the galactagogue properties of some spontaneous plants. The goal of this study was to identify wild plants with galactagogue properties and vegetable-food remedies traditionally used by women during breastfeeding to increase milk production. It was conducted in the Madonie territory (province of Palermo) by interviewing a sample of 105 people that was divided into three age groups. Ethnobotanical investigations revealed a total of 34 species, belonging to 11 families and 25 genera, used as galactagogues. For each taxon, the parts used, the methods of preparation, and the phytochemical profiles according to the literature were reported. The most represented family was Asteraceae, with 12 genera and 17 species, the majority of which contained latex. The most frequently used parts of the galactagogue plants were leaves (69%) that were mainly eaten as cooked vegetables, raw in salads, or utilized as an infusion tea. The species cited in this study are mainly wild traditional vegetables with high nutritional profiles that could improve the quality and the quantity of the milk produced. The study found that older people represent a precious source of information to help younger people preserve the cultural identity of the territory
The role of sub-interpolation for Delay-Line Time-to-Digital Converters in FPGA devices
No full textMost of the Time-to-Digital Converters (TDCs) implemented in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices are based on Tapped Delay Lines (TDLs). This solution makes mandatory the implementation of sub-interpolation procedures in the processing flow in order to mitigate effects of the different characteristics of the FPGA resources used Specifically, we focus issues of the sub-interpolation topic also still outstanding and realize the experimental comparison of the state-of-art techniques, providing design rules for their optimal implementation. According to the host electronic device, the paper reveals the design rules to get the best performance, by using known sub-interpolation techniques but introducing criteria of choice and design procedures never presented in literature. These are fundamental for the most proper and useful application of sub-interpolation techniques in designing high-performance TDCs
Presentation and item analysis of the IE-ACCME-B Test for measuring emotional and meta-emotional intelligence in children
Full text linkThis paper aims to present the initial findings and item analysis of the IE-ACCME-B test, a multi-method assessment tool specifically developed for evaluating emotional and meta-emotional intelligence in children aged 8 to 11 years. The IE-ACCME-B test was designed within the framework of the meta-emotional intelligence construct and has a dual purpose: 1) measuring emotional intelligence, defined as the ability to perceive, facilitate, understand, and manage emotions, and 2) assessing meta-emotional intelligence, which involves the belief system regarding emotions and
awareness of one's own emotional abilities in perceiving, facilitating, understanding, and managing emotions. The analysis of results and items was conducted using CUB models and by examining children's consensus scores
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
Karyological data of three Hieracium (Asteraceae) from Sicily and South Italy
Full text linkChromosome numbers are given for three endemic Hieracium taxa from Sicily and Campania (Southern Italy). All the examined taxa resulted triploid (2n = 3x = 27). The triploid chromosome set found in the population of H. pallidum from Rocche dell’Argimusco (Peloritani Mountains, NE-Sicily) differs from the previous counts (2n = 4x = 36) reported for the same species from its locus classicus (Mt. Etna)
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