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In recent years, the introduction of alien and invasive marine species in the Mediterranean Sea has rapidly increased. Laonome triangularis is a sabellid worm, native to the Australian coasts. Its first record in the Mediterranean Sea dates back to 2009 and, in this area, it is currently labeled as an allochthonous species. In the present work, we report the fìrst record of this polycheate in Italian waters and we provide some diagnostic features that are useful to identify the species.

Marine plastic pollution represents a major problem owing to its increasing presence in the environment, persistence and ability to spread in every compartment in the form of small plastic particles, namely microplastics (MPs). Studies concerning MPs abundance in the Mediterranean Sea are growing, but their occurrence in the Southern regions remains largely unexplored. In this study, distribution, abundance, size, and polymer type of microplastics were investigated in surface water samples collected with a Manta net (200 μm mesh size) and in 118 marine specimens of commercial interests, including fishes, crustaceans, and mollusks, during Spring and Autumn 2019 EU H2020 Claim Project sampling Campaigns in the Gulf of Gabes (Southern Mediterranean Sea). Laboratory characterization showed significant plastic pollution concentrations, with an average abundance of 312,887 and 77,110 items/km2 in surface water samples collected in Spring and Autumn, respectively. A 3D hydrodynamic and Tracking Model was used to identify dispersal and transport pathways of the floating plastics, reporting a seasonal variability observed in MPs distribution between I (Spring) and II Campaign (Autumn). Despite the high values of MPs abundance found in surface water samples, an overall low frequency of ingestion among studied species was observed, with a maximum value of 20% of individuals (in Scomber scombrus) found with ingested MPs. The present study contributes to expand our state of knowledge regarding MPs pollution level in water and biota samples collected in the Gulf of Gabes, an area of particular interest for its biological resources, but still little investigated.

In this study, the abundance and properties (size, shape, and polymer type) of microplastics (MPs) in sea surface water samples, collected during two sampling campaigns over 2018–2019, in four coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea (Saronikos Gulf, LIgurian Sea, Gulf of Lion, and Gabes Gulf) were investigated. Coupled hydrodynamic/particle drift model simulations with basin-scale Mediterranean and high resolution nested models were used to provide a better understanding on the variability of the abundance/size of MPs, originating from wastewater and river runoff, in the four areas. Different size classes of MPs were considered in the model, taking into account biofouling induced sinking, as a possible mechanism of MPs removal from the surface. The Gabes Gulf showed the highest mean MPs abundance (0.073–0.310 items/m2), followed by Ligurian Sea (0.061–0.134 items/m2), Saronikos Gulf (0.047–0.080 items/m2), and Gulf of Lion (0.029–0.032 items/m2). Overall, the observed MPs abundance and size distribution was reasonably well reproduced by the model in the four different areas, except an overestimation of small size contribution in Saronikos Gulf. The basin-scale simulation revealed a strong decrease of smaller size MPs in offshore areas, due to biofouling induced sinking, with larger (floating) MPs being able to travel longer distances in the open sea. A significant impact of waves drift and advection of MPs from non-local sources was identified from model simulations, particularly in the Gulfs of Lion and Gabes, having a stronger effect on larger microplastics. In Gabes Gulf, most MPs originated from offshore areas, being mainly (floating) larger size classes, as suggested by the observed quite small contribution of

Il contributo presenta i primi risultati di un’indagine nell’Archivio storico dell’Università degli Studi di Milano che ha consentito di recuperare e studiare la documentazione relativa ai primi cinque anni di attività dei Corsi internazionali di lingua e cultura italiana di Gargnano. È dal 1956 che presso Palazzo Feltrinelli, sede dell’Università, hanno preso l’avvio i corsi estivi, che sono continuati senza interruzione fino a oggi, con un crescente e riconosciuto prestigio in campo internazionale. L’articolo ripercorre la loro storia: come sono nati e come erano strutturati in quei primi anni. La ricerca d’archivio condotta ha messo in evidenza anche un insieme di materiali utili per determinare la metodologia didattica utilizzata nelle lezioni di italiano dei primi anni dei corsi. L’indagine è proseguita nella Biblioteca di Palazzo Feltrinelli dove si trovano ancora oggi i primi manuali di insegnamento di italiano agli stranieri che risalgono agli anni Quaranta e Cinquanta del Novecento. Nella seconda parte del contributo vengono analizzati alcuni di questi testi. The beginnings of the International Italian Language and Culture Summer courses in Gargnano. First investigations from the historical archives of the University of Milan The contribution presents the first results of a survey of the Historical Archive of the University of Milan, which made it possible to retrieve and study the documentation relating to the first five years of the International Courses for Italian Language and Culture in Gargnano. In 1956 summer courses began at the Palazzo Feltrinelli, the university’s headquarters, and they have continued without interruption to the present, with growing and recognized international prestige. This article traces the history: how the courses were founded and structured in those early years. The archive research has also highlighted a set of useful materials to determine the teaching methodology used in Italian lessons during the first years of the courses. The investigation continued at the Palazzo Feltrinelli Library, where the first Italian teaching manuals for foreigners dating back to the 1940s and 50s can still be found. In the second part of the paper, some of these texts are analyzed.

Marine biofouling is an epibiotic biological process that affects almost any kind of submerged surface, causing globally significant economic problems mainly for the shipping industry and aquaculture companies, and its prevention so far has been associated with adverse environmental effects for non-target organisms. Previously, we have identified bromosphaerol (1), a brominated diterpene isolated from the red alga Sphaerococcus coronopifolius, as a promising agent with significant antifouling activity, exerting strong anti-settlement activity against larvae of Amphibalanus (Balanus) amphitrite and very low toxicity. The significant antifouling activity and low toxicity of bromosphaerol (1) motivated us to explore its chemistry, aiming to optimize its antifouling potential through the preparation of a number of analogs. Following different synthetic routes, we successfully synthesized 15 structural analogs (2–16) of bromosphaerol (1), decorated with different functional groups. The anti-settlement activity (EC50) and the degree of toxicity (LC50) of the bromosphaerol derivatives were evaluated using cyprids and nauplii of the cirriped crustacean A. amphitrite as a model organism. Derivatives 2, 4, and 6–16 showed diverse levels of antifouling activity. Among them, compounds 9 and 13 can be considered as well-performing antifoulants, exerting their activity through a non-toxic mechanism.

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Le migrazioni di questi ultimi decenni hanno cambiato cultura, lingua e immaginario del Paese. Voci e gesti nuovi portano un contributo alla scrittura e alla letteratura italiana che è bene scoprire più nel dettaglio.È quanto si propone la giornata di studio organizzata dal dipartimento di Studi filologici, letterari, linguistici e dal Calcif, il nostro Centro per la promozione della lingua e della cultura italiana “G. e C. Feltrinelli” di cui qui si pubblicano gli atti.Giuliana Nuvoli, Silvia Morgana e Gabriella Cartago, curatrici dell'evento, propongono un viaggio tra le parole di scrittori e poeti provenienti da vari Continenti. In programma interventi degli scrittori di origine senegalese Pap Khouma e Cheikh Gaye, dell'attore e regista uruguaiano Milton Fernandez, della musicista colombiana Luz Amparo Osorio, del poeta rumeno Viorel Boldis, della scrittrice nigeriana Isoke Aikpitanyi. Gli intermezzi musicali di Rossella Bellantuono, voce solista, e del chitarrista Marco Velluto reinterpretano temi e suggestioni degli interventi. “New italian” writers The migrations of the past few decades have changed the culture, language and imagery of Italy. It is a good idea to explore the voices and gestures that bring a new contribution to Italian writing and literature in greater depth. This is the purpose of the study day organized by the Department of Philological, Literary and Linguistic Studies and Calcif, the “G. e C. Feltrinelli” center for the promotion of Italian language and culture. This issue publishes the acts.Giuliana Nuvoli, Silvia Morgana and Gabriella Cartago, organizers of the event, proposed a journey through the words of writers and poets from various Continents. The program included contributions by two writers of Senegalese origin Pap Khouma and Cheikh Gaye, the Uruguayan actor and film director Milton Fernandez, the Colombian musician Luz Amparo Osorio, the Romanian poet Viorel Boldis and the Nigerian author Isoke Aikpitanyi. The musical interludes featured Rossella Bellantuono, soloist, and the guitarist Marco Velluto, who reinterpreted the themes and ideas of the speakers

L’articolo suggerisce che la scuola, sede dell’educazione linguistica, deve insegnare a riflettere sulla ‘norma implicita’ dei media, a cui i ragazzi sono esposti quotidianamente nel mondo extrascolastico. La formazione di capacità critiche rispetto alla lingua veicolata dai media può avere come punto di partenza l’esperienza del quotidiano in classe alle superiori, che oggi coinvolge più di 44.000 docenti e quasi un milione e ottocentomila studenti. L’osservazione di fenomeni innovativi rispetto all’italiano standard descritto dalle grammatiche, la riflessione sulle varietà e sul dilagare della dimensione orale nello scritto, il riconoscimento di tendenze ‘trasversali’ che coinvolgono diversi ambiti testuali, possono fornire validi strumenti alla pratica didattica. Ma tutto il sistema massmediatico oggi punta alla complementarietà, ai rimandi tra i vari media, con passaggi continui: i giornali dalla Tv e dal web, il cinema dal fumetto, il fumetto dal cinema, la pubblicità dal fumetto. Appare allora importante l’esigenza di introdurre nella pratica scolastica anche la capacità di riflettere sulla lingua di altri media che entrano nella esperienza quotidiana giovanile, come il fumetto. The article suggests that school, the place of linguistic education, should teach pupils to reflect on the ‘norma implicita’ of the media, to which young people are exposed every day outside school. The development of critical faculties to apply to the vehicled language of the media can take as its starting point the experience of reading newspapers in class at upper secondary school, something that now involves over 44 000 teachers and almost one million eight hundred thousand students. Observation of innovative features different to the standard Italian described in the grammar books, reflections on the variety and spread of oral registers in writing, the identification of “transversal” elements involving different textual areas, may provide valid tools for practical application in teaching. But the entire system of mass media nowadays aims at becoming complementary, at cross reference between one medium and another with constant shifts: TV and the worldwide web to newspapers, strip cartoons to the cinema, the cinema to strip cartoons, strip cartoons to advertising. It would thus seem to be important for our teaching to introduce the ability to reflect on the language of the other media that enter the daily experience of young people, such as strip cartoons.

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The effect of Aloe vera on the reduction of plaque and gingivitis was evaluated in a randomized, parallel and double-blind clinical trial. Subjects were randomly allocated to the test group (n=15) - dentifrice containing Aloe vera - or the control group (n=15) - fluoridated dentifrice. Plaque index (PI) and gingival bleeding index (GBI) were assessed at days 0 and 30. Subjects were asked to brush their teeth with the control or test dentifrice, three times a day, during a 30-day period. There was a significant reduction on plaque and gingivitis in both groups, but no statistically significant difference was observed among them (p>0.01). The dentifrice containing Aloe vera did not show any additional effect on plaque and gingivitis control compared to the fluoridated dentifrice.