53,978 research outputs found
Background levels of PTEs in terraced agroecosystems of NE Italy: geogenic vs anthropogenic enrichment and phytoremediation perspectives.
No full textThe effects of land use changes on mountainous terraced soil systems of the Dolomites region (northern Italy)
No full text
Potentially harmful elements in terraced agroecosystems of NE Italy: geogenic vs anthropogenic enrichment
No full textThe pedological heritage of the Dolomites (Northern Italy): Features, distribution and evolution of the soils, with some implications for land management.
No full text
Toxicity Assessment of Contaminated Soils from a Mining Area in Northeast Italy by Using Lipid Peroxidation Assay.
No full textContamination by heavy metals in soils may strongly affect the environmental quality. Lipid peroxidation
caused by heavy metals in plants was investigated as a relevant bioassay of toxicity. Soils and wild plants
(dandelion and willow) were collected from an abandoned mine area in northeast Italy, and the concentration
of different heavy metals (Ni, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe and Mn) were measured and analyzed. Soils affected by
mining activities presented total Zn, Cu, and Pb concentrations (2566, 3975, 20,815 mg kg−1 respectively)
above toxic thresholds, and 58% for Fe. Heavy metal-induced oxidative stress was evidenced by the generation
of reactive radicals, followed by an increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) production up to 41.64 μM in
willow leaves. We found that MDA concentration in plant tissues differed significantly among species and
plant organs. The higher concentration of metal in soil corresponded with the higher concentration of
MDA in the plant. The combined results of metal concentration, MDA content and translocation coefficients
in plants show that the investigated plants are rather highly tolerant towards environmental pollution.
This suggests that they could be useful in phytoremediation of metal contaminated sites
Cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress mediates the relationship between extraversion and unrestricted sociosexuality
No full textWe investigated the hypotheses that extraversion is associated with unrestricted sociosexuality (operationalized as greater sexual experience and greater short-term mating orientation) and that this association is mediated by reduced cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress. Study participants were heterosexual male college students (n = 109). Extraversion was assessed with the Big Five Inventory and sociosexuality was assessed with the Multidimensional Sociosexuality Orientation Inventory. Cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress was assessed via three saliva samples collected immediately before, immediately after, and 15 min after the Trier Social Stress Test. Extraversion was associated with greater sexual experience but not with greater short-term mating orientation. As predicted, more extraverted individuals showed a lower increase in cortisol in response to psychosocial stress than less extraverted individuals. Previous sexual experience and short-term mating orientation were negatively correlated with cortisol reactivity to stress. Finally, mediation analyses confirmed our hypothesis that cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress is a mechanism mediating the association between extraversion and unrestricted sociosexuality. These findings have implications for our understanding of the benefits and costs of different personality traits as well as for our understanding of the determinants or correlates of individual differences in sociosexuality. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd
Interest in Babies Negatively Predicts Testosterone Responses to Sexual Visual Stimuli Among Heterosexual Young Men
No full textMen's testosterone may be an important physiological mechanism mediating motivational and behavioral aspects of the mating/parenting trade-off not only over time but also in terms of stable differences between mating-oriented and parenting-oriented individuals. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that self-reported interest in babies is inversely related to testosterone reactivity to cues of short-term mating among heterosexual young men. Among 100 participants, interest in babies was related to a slow life-history strategy, as assessed by the Mini-K questionnaire, and negatively related to testosterone responses to an erotic video. Interest in babies was not associated with baseline testosterone levels or with testosterone reactivity to nonsexual social stimuli. These results provide the first evidence that differential testosterone reactivity to sexual stimuli may be an important aspect of individual differences in life-history strategies among human males
- …
