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Purpose The recent European Union Directive 95/2014 enforced a radical shift from voluntary to mandatory disclosure of non-financial information. Given radical changes in reporting practices, there is an urgent need to assess the firms’ attitude to disclose non-financial information regarding the new requirement. This paper aims to investigate whether the quantity and quality of non-financial information, voluntarily disclosed in the years before the directive came into force, were linked to the level of compliance. Design/methodology/approach Selecting a sample of 60 Italian companies from the obliged entities, the authors carried out a manual content analysis on corporate reports and developed some research hypotheses to explore if their sustainability practices can affect non-financial disclosures required by the Italian adoption of the European directive (i.e. Legislative Decree 254/2016). Findings Evidence showed that prior skills and competencies in non-financial reporting made a significant contribution especially regarding to the presence of business model, but further efforts are expected to improve the quality of non-financial reports. Practical implications This study yields an initial assessment of the implementation of the European directive in Italy. It may, therefore, help policymakers to identify ways to improve the harmonization of reporting practices. Preparers can also be supported in choosing different positioning of reporting on non-financial information. Originality/value This research provides interesting insights into the ex ante and ex post adoption of the European directive by investigating how Italian companies are reacting to regulatory and institutional requirements. One of the main problems remains the lack of a shared understanding of the term “non-financial”, which can make the communication process difficult and unclear.

We provided the first multi-species study investigating the presence and organotropism of trace elements in three tissues of 12 elasmobranch species. Shark species showed comparable TE loads, although milk sharks and juvenile scalloped hammerhead sharks exhibited the highest Cd and Hg levels, respectively. Fins accumulated higher levels of Pb, Co, and Cr; muscles higher V, As, and Hg; livers higher Se and Cd levels. The organotropism of TEs calls for cautious when choosing a tissue to be sampled since certain tissues, like fin clips, do not provide reliable surrogate for the internal loads of some TEs. Strong correlations between essential and toxic TEs indicated detoxification mechanisms, while the TMF provided evidence for Hg, As and Se biomagnification along the food-web. Considering the difficulties in assessing elasmobranchs contamination from different areas, the proposed multi-species approach represents a valuable way to estimate the species-specific accumulation and transfer of pollutants in sharks.

The investigation of trace element pollution is important for the environmental assessment and management of lacustrine ecosystems, especially when these represent critical freshwater resources in densely populated areas. In this context, this study determined the levels of 15 trace elements in muscles of shad, Alosa agone (Scopoli 1786), a commercialized zooplanktivourous fish, from three primary, but currently still poorly studied, Italian lakes, namely, Lake Como, Iseo, and Garda. Research findings show that shads present similar trace element accumulation patterns among lakes, except for arsenic, which occurs at lower levels in Lake Como. Results provide evidence also for mercury biomagnification in fish, whereas all the other selected trace elements undergo bio-dilution through the same trophic chain. Maximum allowable limits for foodstuff were exceeded for chromium and selenium in shads, whereas mercury levels exceeded the European Environmental Quality Standard biota. These results highlight the need for regular monitoring activities of trace elements in the biota of these lakes.

International audience; Fish concentrations of perfluorocarboxylic and perfluorosulfonic acids were reported for seven deep lakes in the European subalpine area, namely Lake Geneva, L. Lugano and L. Maggiore, L. Iseo, L. Como, L. Garda and L. Mergozzo, one shallow lowland (L. Varese) and two high-altitude alpine (> 2000 m asl) lakes. Fillets and, in selected cases, other body fractions (viscera, liver and residual carcass) from eight fish species were analysed. The possibility of harmonizing the monitoring protocols was tested: the results suggest that the sampling season is not critical for PFASs and the total protein content cannot be used for normalization of tissue concentrations because PFASs bind to specific proteins. Moreover, the polar lipid content could be used to reduce the variability of PFAS concentrations in phospholipid rich fractions of fish such as viscera and carcass. The data comparison and analysis demonstrate that the PFAS contamination in lake fish is generally correlated with the degree of the urbanization of the lake catchment, but it is sometimes difficult to compare absolute concentrations in lake fish, because the lake hydro-morphological characteristics have a substantial role in determining the chemical concentrations of persistent and mobile contaminants.

An on-line TFC (Turbulent Flow Chromatography) clean up procedures coupled with UHPLC–MS/MS (Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry) multi-residue method was developed for the simultaneous determination of 8 perfluroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCA, from 5 to 12 carbon atoms) and 3 perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFSA, from 4 to 8 carbon atoms) in environmental solid matrices. Fast sample preparation procedure was based on a sonication-assisted extraction with acetonitrile. Phospholipids in biological samples were fully removed by an off-line SPE purification before injection, using HybridSPE® Phospholipid Ultra cartridges. The development of the on-line TFC clean-up procedure regarded the choice of the stationary phase, the optimization of the mobile phase composition, flow rate and injected volume. The validation of the optimized method included the evaluation of matrix effects, accuracy and reproducibility. Signal suppression in the analysis of fortified extracts ranged from 1 to 60%, and this problem was overcome by using isotopic dilution. Since no certified reference materials were available for PFAS in these matrices, accuracy was evaluated by recoveries on spiked clam samples which were 98–133% for PFCAs and 40–60% for PFSAs. MLDs and MLQs ranged from 0.03 to 0.3 ng g−1 wet weight and from 0.1 to 0.9 ng g−1 wet weight respectively. Repeatability (intra-day precision) and reproducibility (inter-day precision) showed RSD from 3 to 13% and from 4 to 27% respectively. Validated on-line TFC/UHPLC–MS/MS method has been applied for the determination of perfluoroalkyl acids in different solid matrices (sediment, fish, bivalves and bird yolk).

The biomagnification of mercury, polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs) and perfluoroalkyl acids substances (PFASs) was evaluated in the trophic web of Lake Mergozzo, a small and deep Italian subalpine lake, which has been chosen because it is a protected environment, and discharges into the lake are mostly avoided. Carbon source and relative trophic levels were calculated by using 13C and 15N stable isotopes, respectively, and trophic magnification factors (TMFs) were derived. Zooplankton and thirteen species of fish were collected and analyzed, and the results showed the elevated level of biota contamination from both legacy and emerging pollutants, even if direct discharges were avoided. Concentrations in biota, expressed as sums of compounds, ranged from 0.4 to 60 &micro, g kg&minus, 1 wet weight (ww) for PFASs, from 16 to 1.3 104 &micro, 1 lipid content (lw) for DDTs, from 17 to 1.5 104 &micro, 1 lw for PCBs and from 20.0 to 501 &micro, 1 ww for mercury (Hg). TMFs of this deep, cold lake, with a prevalent pelagic trophic chain, were high and clearly indicated fish biomagnification, except for PFAS. The biomagnification capability of PFAS in a fish-only food web was discussed by using the biomagnification of Hg as a benchmark for assessing their bioaccumulation potential.

In the present paper the application of on-line preparation techniques applied to LC–MS for the determination of emerging contaminants in environmental samples are critically reviewed highlighting the advantages but also the limits and the way to overcome them. Recent methods are collected in a detailed table and discussed in the text according to the different classes of compounds. The implementation of on-line SPE made possible the effective development of faster methods by reducing the analysis time and thus increasing the analytical productivity. The on-line SPE method are particularly suitable in studies where only limited sample material is available, as the sample volume can be as low as 1 mL. Most of the multiresidual methods have been developed using wettable and polar embedded reverse phases, sometimes sequentially packed with weak ionic exchangers in order to widen the polarity range of the adsorbents. On-line techniques have been also applied in cleanup of extracts of solid environmental samples, such as sediment, soil and biota, in order to minimize the ionization suppression effects from the matrix. Many applications employed RAM, often coupled to monolithic pre-concentration columns, but there is an increasing number of application of TFC for the determination of emerging pollutants in environmental samples.

Bisphosphonates are the most important class of antiresorptive agents used against osteoclast-mediated bone loss, and, more recently, in oncology. These compounds have high affinity for calcium ions (Ca(2+)) and therefore target bone mineral, where they appear to be internalized selectively by bone-resorbing osteoclasts and inhibit osteoclast function. They are extensively used in healthcare, however they are affected by severe side effects; pharmacological properties of bisphosphonates depend on their molecular structure, which is frequently the cause of poor intestinal adsorption and low distribution. In this work we synthesized six novel bisphosphonate compounds having a variably substituted indole moiety to evaluate their extra- and intracellular calcium chelating ability in PE/CA-PJ15 cells. Preliminary in silico and in vitro ADME studies were also performed and the results suggested that the indole moiety plays an important role in cell permeability and metabolism properties.

The evidence that in Northern Italy significant sources of perfluoroalkylacids (PFAA) are present induced the Italian government to establish a Working Group on Environmental Quality Standard (EQS) for PFAA in order to include some of them in the list of national specific pollutants for surface water monitoring according to the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). The list of substances included perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and related short chain PFAA such as perfluorobutanoate (PFBA), perfluoropentanoate (PFPeA), perfluorohexanoate (PFHxA) and perfluorobutanesulfonate (PFBS), which is a substitute of perfluorooctanesulfonate. For each of them a dossier collects available data on regulation, physico-chemical properties, emission and sources, occurrence, acute and chronic toxicity on aquatic species and mammals, including humans. Quality standards (QS) were derived for the different protection objectives (pelagic and benthic communities, predators by secondary poisoning, human health via consumption of fishery products and water) according to the European guideline. The lowest QS is finally chosen as the relevant EQS. For PFOA a QS for biota was derived for protection from secondary poisoning and the corresponding QS for water was back-calculated, obtaining a freshwater EQS of 0.1μgL-1. For PFBA, PFPeA, PFHxA and PFBS threshold limits proposed for drinking waters were adopted as EQS.

Antarctic fish live in very cold water and have adapted to this exceptional environment. Hemoglobin is absent or very low; yet these fish still have erythrocytes, and from these we prepared ghost-like membranes. We studied for the first time the lipid composition of ghost membranes and of plasma in Antarctic fish (C. hamatus and T. bernacchii) and compared our results with those obtained for temperate-water fish (C. auratus and A. anguilla taken from Lake Trasimeno, Perugia, Italy). The membranes of Antarctic fish were richer in glycerophospholipid (especially phosphatidylethanolamine), whereas the membranes of temperate-water fish were richer in sphingomyelin. Unsaturated fatty acids were particularly abundant in Antarctic fish: C. hamatus had long-chain unsaturated fatty acid (especially C22:6 omega-3), whereas T. bernacchii had shorter unsaturated fatty acyl chains (c16:1, omega-7). On the other hand, C. auratus and A. anguilla were particularly rich in C16:0, which constituted more than one-half of the total fatty acid. Plasma lipids (both phospholipid and cholesterol) were much more abundant in temperate-water fish. The differences in phospholipid content were mainly due to choline glycerolipids. Measures of membrane fluidity inferred from the fluorescence anisotropy of DPH indicated that the membranes from Antarctic fish were more fluid at any measured temperature than those obtained from fish living in temperate waters. The ability to live in a very cold environment has therefore been achieved by the two Antarctic species tested in this paper by different strategies, but with the same results on fluidity.

The homeostasis of cytosolic calcium [Ca2+]c in mammalian cells is a complex phenomenon, requiring the contribution of many cellular and extracellular systems. Nitric oxide (NO) acts on [Ca2+]c, although the mechanism of this action is unknown. We study the release and the uptake of Ca2+ in the endoplasmic reticulum and its capacitative entry in human lymphomonocytes in the presence of the NO donor S-nitrosocysteine (CysNO) at low (16 μM) and at high (160 μM) concentrations by measuring the [Ca2+]c by the Fura 2-AM method. Thapsigargin (TG), which inhibits sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA), and nifedipine (NIF), which blocks the Ca2+ release from intracellular stores, are used to clarify the effects of NO on calcium movements. In the absence of extracellular Ca2+, CysNO decreases basal [Ca2+]c, whereas TG increases it as the result of SERCA inhibition. This effect of TG diminishes in the presence of the NO donor. In the presence of extracellular Ca2+(capacitative entry conditions), CysNO does not influence Ca2+ entry but reduces the toxic effects of TG connected to the increase of [Ca2+]c in these conditions. The effect of NIF is, up to a certain extent, similar to that of CysNO, although the mechanisms of action of the two agents do not seem related. We conclude that CysNO participates in [Ca2+]c homeostasis by stimulating the movement of the ion from the cytosol to other compartments. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biochem Mol Toxicol 22:35–40, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/jbt.20211

Prostasomes are vesicles secreted by prostate epithelial cells and are found in abundance in the semen. Here we characterized two different prostasome populations isolated from human seminal fluid. Prostasomes were isolated using differential centrifugation, while dynamic light scattering (DLS) was used to characterize their size and size distribution. Their protein content was analyzed using two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. DLS showed two distinct prostasome subpopulations in centrifuged seminal plasma, with an average hydrodynamic radius of 80 and 300 nm. The larger population was isolated after centrifugation at 20,000 × g (P20), while the smaller one was recovered at 100,000 × g (P100). The two fractions had a similar lipid composition, showing an elevated content of sphingomyelin and cholesterol. The P100 vesicles showed a significant over-expression of proteins involved in the endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) machinery such as Alix, TSG101, and syntenin-1. Some proteins possibly involved in prostate cancer were present only in one specific population (TMPRSS2 in P100 and VCP in P20). The different size and protein profile in the two subpopulations of prostasomes might support differential roles of the semen vesicles toward the target cells, and/or different secretion pathways from the organ of origin.