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Background/Aims The global proportion of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) attributable to metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is unclear. The MAFLD diagnostic criteria allows objective diagnosis in the presence of steatosis plus defined markers of metabolic dysfunction, irrespective of concurrent liver disease. We aimed to determine the total global prevalence of MAFLD in HCC cohorts (total-MAFLD), including the proportion with MAFLD as their sole liver disease (single-MAFLD), and the proportion of those with concurrent liver disease where MAFLD was a contributary factor (mixed-MAFLD). Methods This systematic review and meta-analysis included studies systematically ascertaining MAFLD in HCC cohorts, defined using international expert panel criteria including ethnicity-specific BMI cut-offs. A comparison of clinical and tumour characteristics was performed between single-MAFLD, mixed-MAFLD, and non-MAFLD HCC. Results 22 studies (56,565 individuals with HCC) were included. Total and single-MAFLD HCC prevalence was 48.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 34.5–63.0%) and 12.4% (95% CI 8.3–17.3%), respectively. In HCC due to chronic hepatitis B, C, and alcohol-related liver disease, mixed-MAFLD prevalence was 40.0% (95% CI 30.2–50.3%), 54.1% (95% CI 40.4–67.6%) and 64.3% (95% CI 52.7–75.0%), respectively. Mixed-MAFLD HCC had significantly higher likelihood of cirrhosis and lower likelihood of metastatic spread compared to single-MAFLD HCC, and a higher platelet count and lower likelihood of macrovascular invasion compared to non-MAFLD HCC. Conclusions MAFLD is common as a sole aetiology, but more so as a co-factor in mixed-aetiology HCC, supporting the use of positive diagnostic criteria.

Background & Aims: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a growing epidemic and a risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study investigated the long-term outcomes of liver resection (LR) for HCC in patients with MS. Rates, timing, patterns, and treatment of recurrences were investigated, and cancer-specific survivals were assessed. Methods: Between 2001 and 2021, data from 24 clinical centers were collected. Overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and cancer-specific survival were analyzed as well as recurrence patterns and treatment. The analysis was conducted using a competing-risk framework. The trajectory of the risk of recurrence over time was applied to a competing risk analysis. For post-recurrence survival, death resulting from tumor progression was the primary endpoint, whereas deaths with recurrence relating to other causes were considered as competing events. Results: In total, 813 patients were included in the study. Median OS was 81.4 months (range 28.1–157.0 months), and recurrence occurred in 48.3% of patients, with a median RFS of 39.8 months (range 15.7–174.7 months). Cause-specific hazard of recurrence showed a first peak 6 months (0.027), and a second peak 24 months (0.021) after surgery. The later the recurrence, the higher the chance of receiving curative intent approaches (p = 0.001). Size >5 cm, multiple tumors, microvascular invasion, and cirrhosis were independent predictors of recurrence showing a cause-specific hazard over time. RFS was associated with death for recurrence (hazard ratio: 0.985, 95% CI: 0.977–0.995; p = 0.002). Conclusions: Patients with MS undergoing LR for HCC have good long-term survival. Recurrence occurs in 48% of patients with a double-peak incidence and time-specific hazards depending on tumor-related factors and underlying disease. The timing of recurrence significantly impacts survival. Surveillance after resection should be adjusted over time depending on risk factors. Impact and implications: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a growing epidemic and a significant risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The present study demonstrated that patients who undergo surgical resection for HCC on MS have a good long-term survival and that recurrence occurs in almost half of the cases with a double peak incidence and time-specific hazards depending on tumor-related factors and underlying liver disease. Also, the timing of recurrence significantly impacts survival. Clinicians should therefore adjust follow-up after surgery accordingly, considering timing of recurrence and specific risk factors. Also, the results of the present study might help design future trials on the use of adjuvant therapy following resection.

Alternaria brown spot (ABS), caused by Alternaria alternata, is one of the main citrus diseases that causes heavy production losses and reductions in fruit quality worldwide. The application of chemical fungicides has a key role in the management of ABS. In this study, 48 isolates of A. alternata collected from citrus orchards since 2014 were tested in vitro for their sensitivity to pyraclostrobin and fludioxonil, the latter being temporarily registered in Italy since 2020. Pyraclostrobin sensitivity was determined using spore germination and mycelial growth assays. The effective concentration inhibiting 50% of fungal growth (EC50) was determined for each isolate. The sensitivity assays showed that the majority of A. alternata isolates tested were sensitive to pyraclostrobin. EC50 values of fludioxonil in a mycelial growth assay indicated that 100% of isolates were sensitive to this fungicide. The analysis of the cytochrome b gene showed that none of the 40 isolates with a different sensitivity profile had the G143A mutation, and the subgroup of 8 isolates analyzed by real-time PCR did not carry the G137R and F129L mutations. A subset of four more sensitive and two reduced-sensitive isolates was chosen to assess sensitivity on detached citrus leaves treated with pyraclostrobin at the maximum recommended label rate. Disease incidence and symptom severity were significantly reduced, with a small reduction reported in leaves inoculated with the reduced-sensitive isolates. Furthermore, there was no correlation between sensitivity and fitness parameters evaluated in vitro (mycelium growth and sporulation rate). These findings help the development of monitoring resistance programs and, consequently, set up effective anti-resistance strategies for managing ABS on citrus orchards.

Road safety is an important subject to study in both the technical and academic fields of road transportation. In recent years, there has been a significant rise in the number of studies that look at how intelligent transportation systems (ITS) can be used and what role it plays in making roads safer in different countries. Nevertheless, there are still relatively few in-depth quantitative and qualitative analyses published on the topic of ITS's role in ensuring road safety. For this purpose, the main goal of this study is to look at a thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis of how ITS is used in road safety as a part of transportation engineering. In this study, we reviewed the scientific studies done on the use of ITS in studies of road safety from 1990s to 2022. These studies were published in journals or presented at conferences that were part of the Web of Science (WoS) Index. The analysis in this study gives a thorough map of the field, showing how it has changed over time and pointing the way to new areas of research.

Abstract Background Municipal biowaste management may generate a negative impact on the environment; therefore, their biomasses could be valorised as an alternative feedstock to fossils to produce high performance compounds useful for agricultural applications. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the potential agricultural applications of bioproducts (BPs) obtained by alkaline hydrolysis of the solid anaerobic digestate of municipal biowastes (ADMBW) and of one oxidized (ozonized) product (ADMBW BP OX). Both products were chemically characterized and used for agricultural in vitro assays. Results BP preparations were tested for their potential effect as enhancers of seed germination process using five concentrations (1, 10, 100, 1000, and 5000 mg L−1) and three different species: cress (Lepidium sativum), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). At this aim several germination indices were calculated to establish the priming effect of these substances on the selected seeds. Moreover, the potential in vitro antifungal effects of BPs at three concentrations (100, 1000, and 5000 mg L−1) on many dangerous fungal phytopathogens of economically important cultivated crops were evaluated and compared to Benzothiadiazole, one of the most-used plant disease suppressants. Results show that these ADMBW derived BPs exert a seed specie-specific positive effect on germination process, inducing better performances in the several calculated indices at all the concentration tested, except for the ADMBW BP OX 5000 mg L−1, which showed at the highest concentration a strong phytotoxic effect on tomato seeds. Conclusions The fungicidal potency of ADMBW BP OX was for the first time clearly demonstrated on multiple targets as Botrytis cinerea, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Monilia sp., Sclerotium rolfsii, and Phytophthora nicotianae, by calculating their relative EC50 and, when it was possible, also EC95 and MIC values. These results are of great impact in the actual historical moment, as from a biowaste as DMBW, which is worldwide constantly produced, may be possible to obtain agrochemicals and fertilizers without the usual feedstocks, which are more and more expensive. Graphical Abstract

Background & Aims: Alcohol abuse and metabolic disorders are leading causes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide. Alcohol-related aetiology is associated with a worse prognosis compared with viral agents, because of the lower percentage of patients diagnosed with HCC under routine surveillance and a higher burden of comorbidity in alcohol abusers. This study aimed to describe the evolving clinical scenario of alcohol-related HCC over 15 years (2006–2020) in Italy. Methods: Data from the Italian Liver Cancer (ITA.LI.CA) registry were used: 1,391 patients were allocated to three groups based on the year of HCC diagnosis (2006–2010; 2011–2015; 2016–2020). Patient characteristics, HCC treatment, and overall survival were compared among groups. Survival predictors were also investigated. Results: Approximately 80% of alcohol-related HCCs were classified as cases of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease. Throughout the quinquennia,

What are the motivations that support Ukrainians’ strenuous and unexpected resistance to the invasion, which began in 2014, of their republic? For many political observers, journalists, researchers and scholars, the Ukrainians’ tenacity, courage, and determination remain little or not fully understandable to this day. In reality, the reasons for that tenacity are many. However, the main has been and continues to be the opportunity, in the thirty years of Independence, to discover one’s own history, both from the period of the Russian and the Soviet Empires. Ukraine’s history has been difficult, punctuated with long denied, counterfeited, and obscured tragedies. Its discovery is the most important reason that supports the will to resist today. What is taking place today thus is the intensification of a centuries-long process of de-colonization that not only affects the ethnic Ukrainian component, but also becomes an attempt to block the way for the return of autocratic and totalitarian rule that threatens to overwhelm a fragile civic nation in the making for the past 30 years.

With more cars on the road and an increasing travel rate, one of the main issues in transportation engineering is how to make roads safe. The evaluation of the level of road crash severity is a significant component of the road safety assessment in terms of financial and personal losses. One of the most advanced ways to control and manage traffic information in modern traffic management systems is through intelligent transportation systems (ITS). ITS plays a big part in improving road safety. On the other hand, machine learning techniques play an important role in increasing the level of ITS performance. Hence, this study aims to predict the level of crash severity through a classification approach. In this study, two machine learning techniques namely artificial neural network (ANN) and Grey Wolf optimization algorithm (GWO)–ANN were developed to predict the level of road crash severity, and several performance metrics were used to assess the predictive algorithms' predictive capability. For this purpose, some factors that affect the level of severity were considered, including light condition (LC), weekday (W), horizontal alignment (HA), road element (RE), type of crash (TC), vehicle type (VT), driver gender (DG), average speed (AS) and annual average daily traffic (AADT). 202 case studies were recorded from urban roads in Calabria in southern Italy. When comparing the proposed GWO–ANN model to the ANN model, the findings clearly demonstrated the superiority of the proposed GWO–ANN model.

The main pathogens affecting the carob (Ceratonia siliqua) tree in the Mediterranean basin are described in this overview. The most widespread diseases periodically occurring in carob orchards are powdery mildew (Pseudoidium ceratoniae) and cercospora leaf spot (Pseudocercospora ceratoniae). The causal agents of “black leaf spots” (e.g., Pestalotiopsis, Phyllosticta and Septoria spp.) are responsible for symptoms similar to those previously mentioned for foliar diseases, but are reported in carob orchards at a negligible frequency. Likewise, canker and branch diebacks caused by fungal species belonging to Botryosphaeriaceae are almost never recorded. Among the rots of wood tissues that may compromise old carob specimens, “brown cubical rot” caused by Laetiporus sulphureus is the most widespread and recurrent issue; this pathogen is also well-known for producing edible fruit bodies that are appreciated for pharmaceutical and industrial purposes. On the other hand, “white rots” caused by Fomes and Ganoderma species are less common and reported for the first time in this review. Gall-like protuberances on twigs of uncertain aetiology or tumors on branches associated with Rhizobium radiobacter are described, although these symptoms are seldom detected, as they are also observed for necrotic leaf spots caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. ciccaronei. A worldwide list of pathogens not yet recorded but at high risk of potential introduction in Italian carob-producing areas is also provided. Finally, concerns related to new phytopathogenic fungi vectored by the invasive Xylosandrus compactus ambrosia beetle are addressed. All the described pathogens could become limiting factors for carob production in the near future, because they could be favored by high-density orchards, the increasing global network of trade exchanges, and the high frequency at which extreme events related to climate change occur globally. Thus, symptoms and signs, causal agents, epidemiology, and, whenever applicable, recommendations for disease prevention and management are provided in this review.

In the age of the smart city, things like the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data analytics are making big changes to the way traditional structural health monitoring (SHM) is done. Also, the capacity, flexibility, and robustness of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques for solving complex real-world problems have led to an increasing interest in applying these methods to SHM systems of infrastructures in recent years. Therefore, an analytical evaluation of recent advancements in SHM for infrastructures appears to be important. The bridge is one of the significant transportation infrastructures where existing environmental and destructive variables can have a negative impact on the structure’s life and health. The SHM system for bridges in different stages of their life cycle, such as construction, development, management, and maintenance, is seen as a complementary part of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The main goal of this study is to look at how AI can be used to improve the current state of the art in data-driven SHM systems for bridges, including conceptual frameworks, advantages, and challenges, as well as existing approaches. This article presents an overview of the role of AI in data-driven SHM systems for bridges in the future. Finally, some potential research possibilities in AI-assisted SHM are also emphasized and detailed.

Background & Aims: Two recently developed composite models, the alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) score and Metroticket 2.0, could be used to select patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who are candidates for liver transplantation (LT). The aim of this study was to compare the predictive performance of both models and to evaluate the net risk reclassification of post-LT recurrence between them using each model’s original thresholds. Methods: This multicenter cohort study included 2,444 adult patients who underwent LT for HCC in 47 centers from Europe and Latin America. A competing risk regression analysis estimating sub-distribution hazard ratios (SHRs) and 95% CIs for recurrence was used (Fine and Gray method). Harrell’s adapted c-statistics were estimated. The net reclassification index for recurrence was compared based on each model’s original thresholds. Results: During a median follow-up of 3.8 years, there were 310 recurrences and 496 competing events (20.3%). Both models predicted recurrence, HCC survival and survival better than Milan criteria (p

The ability of plants to assemble particulate structures such as virus-like particles and protein storage organelles allows the direct bioencapsulation of recombinant proteins during the manufacturing process, which holds promise for the development of new drug delivery vehicles. Storage organelles found in plants such as protein bodies (PBs) have been successfully used as tools for accumulation and encapsulation of recombinant proteins. The fusion of sequences derived from 27-kDa-γ-zein, a major storage protein of maize, with a protein of interest leads to the incorporation of the chimeric protein into the stable and protected environment inside newly induced PBs. While this procedure has proven successful for several, but not all recombinant proteins, the aim of this study was to refine the technology by using a combination of PB-forming proteins, thereby generating multi-layered protein assemblies in N. benthamiana. We used fluorescent proteins to demonstrate that up to three proteinaceous components can be incorporated into different layers. In addition to 27-kDa-γ-zein, which is essential for PB initiation, 16-kDa-γ-zein was identified as a key element to promote the incorporation of a third zein-component into the core of the PBs. We show that a vaccine antigen could be incorporated into the matrix of multi-layered PBs, and the protein microparticles were characterized by confocal and electron microscopy as well as flow cytometry. In future, this approach will enable the generation of designer PBs that serve as drug carriers and integrate multiple components that can be functionalized in different ways.

As more than 75% of the global population is expected to live in urban areas by 2050, there is an urgent need to assess the risk of natural hazards through a future-focused lens so that adequately informed spatial planning decisions can be made to define preventive risk policies in the upcoming decades. The authors propose an innovative methodology to assess the future multi-hazard exposure of urban areas based on remote sensing technologies and statistical and spatial analysis. The authors, specifically, applied remote sensing technologies combined with artificial intelligence to map the built-up area automatically. They assessed and calibrated a transferable Binary Logistic Regression Model (BLRM) to model and predict future urban growth dynamics under different scenarios, such as the business as usual, the slow growth, and the fast growth scenarios. Finally, considering specific socioeconomic exposure indicators, the authors assessed each scenario’s future multi-hazard exposure in urban areas. The proposed methodology is applied to the Municipality of Rende. The results revealed that the multi-hazard exposure significantly changed across the analyzed scenarios and that urban socioeconomic growth is the main driver of risk in urban environments.

(1) Background: Little is known about the long-term impact of sustained virological response (SVR) on fibrosis progression and patient survival in liver transplantation (LT) recipients treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). We investigated liver fibrosis evolution and patient survival in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients receiving DAAs after LT. (2) Methods: All consecutive HCV-infected patients treated with DAAs after LT between May 2014 and January 2019 were considered. The clinical and virological features were registered at the baseline and during the follow-up. The liver fibrosis was assessed by liver biopsy and/or transient elastography (TE) at the baseline and at least 1 year after the end of treatment (EoT). (3) Results: A total of 136 patients were included. The SVR12 was 78% after the first treatment and 96% after retreatment. After the SVR12, biochemical tests improved at the EoT and remained stable throughout the 3-year follow-up. Liver fibrosis improved after the SVR12 (p < 0.001); nearly half of the patients with advanced liver fibrosis experienced an improvement of an F ≤ 2. The factors associated with lower survival in SVR12 patients were the baseline platelet count (p = 0.04) and creatinine level (p = 0.04). (4) Conclusions: The long-term follow-up data demonstrated that SVR12 was associated with an improvement in hepatic function, liver fibrosis, and post-LT survival, regardless of the baseline liver fibrosis. The presence of portal hypertension before the DAAs has an impact on patient survival, even after SVR12.

The Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR) of Birobidzhan in Siberia is still alive. The once famous “Siberian Zion”, at the confluence of the Bira and Bidzhan rivers, a stone’s throw away from China and a day from the Pacific Ocean, 9,000 km and six days by train from Moscow, is still a geographical reality. The political class of the Soviet Union decided to create a territory the size of Belgium for a settlement for Jews, choosing a region on the border between China and the Soviet Union. It believed that Soviet Jews needed, like other national minorities, a homeland with a territory. The Soviet regime thus opted to establish an enclave that would become the JAR in 1934. We should note that the creation of the JAR was the first historically fulfilled case of building an officially recognised Jewish national territory since antiquity and well before Israel. Nevertheless, many historians declared this experiment a failure and the history of the Region only tragic. It is interesting to note, however, that the survival of the JAR in post-Soviet Russia has been not only a historical curiosity, a legacy of Soviet national policy, but today – after the collapse of the Soviet Union – it represents a very interesting case study. It is also a topic useful for the analysis and understanding of inter-ethnic relations, cooperation, and coexistence and it is a unique case of geographic resettlement that produced a special case of “local patriotism”, as an example also for different ethnic groups living in the JAR, based on Jewish and Yiddish roots.

Introduction: The prognosis of patients undergoing transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is extremely variable, and a confounding factor is that TACE is often repeated several times. We retrospectively evaluated the accuracy of different prognostic scores and staging systems in estimating overall survival (OS) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: An analysis considering prognostic models as time-varying variables was performed, calculating OS from the time of TACE to the time of the subsequent treatment. Total follow-up time for each patient was therefore split into several observation times accounting for each TACE procedure. Values of the likelihood ratio test (LRT) and Akaike information criterion (AIC) were used to compare different systems. Univariable and multivariable analyses were conducted to identify additional factors predictive of OS. We analyzed 1,610 TACE performed in 1,058 patients recorded in the Italian Liver Cancer database from 2008 through 2016. Results: The median OS of the enrolled patients was 41 months. According to LRT χ2 and AIC values based on the time-varying analysis, mHAP-III achieved the best values (41.72 and 4,625.49, respectively, p < 0.0001), indicating the highest predictive performance compared with all other scores (HAP, mHAP-II, ALBI, and pALBI) and staging systems (MELD, ITALICA, CLIP, MESH, MESIAH, JIS, HKLC, and BCLC). In the multivariable Cox proportional hazards model, mHAP-III maintained an independent effect on OS (hazard ratio 1.31, 95% CI: 1.10–1.55, p < 0.0001). Time-varying age, alcoholic etiology, radiologic response to TACE, and performing ablation or surgery after TACE were additional significant variables resulting from the multivariable model. Conclusion: An innovative time-varying analysis revealed that mHAP-III was the most accurate model in predicting OS in patients with HCC undergoing TACE. Other clinical pre- and post-TACE variables were also found to be relevant for this prediction.

Mal secco, caused by Plenodomus tracheiphilus, is an economically important fungal vascular disease in citrus-growing countries of the Mediterranean basin. Preventing fungal infections usually requires a high number of copper treatments but European legislation imposes the minimization of their accumulation in soil. In our study, biological control agents (BCAs) and a plant resistance inducer (PRI), tested in four different experiments on citrus seedlings under controlled conditions, have resulted in promising strategies to control mal secco disease. Foliar (Experiment I) and soil (Experiment II) applications of two formulations of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain D747 (Amylo-X® LC and Amylo-X® WG) provided similar performances in reducing the disease amount (incidence and symptoms severity) over time compared to the untreated control, whereas copper hydroxide (Kocide Opti®) used as standard was the most effective treatment over time. In the third experiment, Pythium oligandrum strain M1 (Polyversum®) and Trichoderma asperellum strain ICC012 + Trichoderma gamsii strain ICC080 (Remedier®) were able to reduce disease incidence and symptoms severity compared to the untreated control. Remedier® provided the best performances in reducing the disease amount, whereas the Polyversum® application was the least effective treatment over time. The effectiveness of the Trichoderma spp. formulation in reducing P. tracheiphilus infections did not significantly differ from the standard copper compound (Kocide Opti®). Comprehensively, in the last experiment (IV), acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM) alone and in mixture with metalaxyl-M proved as effective as B. amyloliquefaciens strain FZB24, with no dose–response relationships observed. These findings provide important insight for the integrated management of mal secco disease.

Although many authors have observed a degradation in greening cover alongside an increase in the built-up areas, resulting in a deterioration of the essential environmental services for the well-being of ecosystems and society, few studies have measured how greening developed in its full spatiotemporal configuration with urban development using innovative remote sensing (RS) technologies. Focusing on this issue, the authors propose an innovative methodology for the analysis of the urban and greening changes over time by integrating deep learning (DL) technologies to classify and segment the built-up area and the vegetation cover from satellite and aerial images and geographic information system (GIS) techniques. The core of the methodology is a trained and validated U-Net model, which was tested on an urban area in the municipality of Matera (Italy), analyzing the urban and greening changes from 2000 to 2020. The results demonstrate a very good level of accuracy of the U-Net model, a remarkable increment in the built-up area density (8.28%) and a decline in the vegetation cover density (5.13%). The obtained results demonstrate how the proposed method can be used to rapidly and accurately identify useful information about urban and greening spatiotemporal development using innovative RS technologies supporting sustainable development processes.

In September 1494, when the King Charles VIII of France began his expedition on Naples, one soldier of his Army, the bastard Glaude de Lantiglaco, died in Chieri, near Turin. In his last will, full of details, great space is given to the horses owned by the bastard. The essay focuses on a linguistic analysis of will, which offers a key to understanding the types of horses brought in the military campaign of Charles VIII by one of his armiger.

The protectionism of the last twelve years is forcing many countries to backtrack in the face of the devastating consequences of those policies on their economies and the world trade. The pandemic COVID-19 has highlighted even more how those policies may be destructive and produce impoverishment. The current global pandemic crisis is producing an abrupt and probably very long braking effect on international trade. However, it would be wrong to consider it as the exclusive or the most important cause of global trade stagnation. In fact, the ground had already been prepared by the economic-financial crisis of 2007–2008 and in particular by the choices of “economic nationalism” of neo-protectionist type, which made a precise political use of the modern linear border. Globalisation means mainly the overcoming of political barriers, borders, and the opening to the global free trade market. On the contrary, it is now still hindered by heavy political factors, among which protectionism has been the main one for many years. Those policies, implemented on the large areas by major world powers, have caused a long phase of “de-globalisation”, characterised by the renewed use of the modern border to enclose economies, well before the pandemic crisis.

Background & Aims: Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are selected for liver transplantation (LT) based on pre-LT imaging ± alpha-foetoprotein (AFP) level, but discrepancies between pre-LT tumour assessment and explant are frequent. Our aim was to design an explant-based recurrence risk reassessment score to refine prediction of recurrence after LT and provide a framework to guide post-LT management. Methods: Adult patients who underwent transplantation between 2000 and 2018 for HCC in 47 centres were included. A prediction model for recurrence was developed using competing-risk regression analysis in a European training cohort (TC; n = 1,359) and tested in a Latin American validation cohort (VC; n=1,085). Results: In the TC, 76.4% of patients with HCC met the Milan criteria, and 89.9% had an AFP score of ≤2 points. The recurrence risk reassessment (R3)-AFP model was designed based on variables independently associated with recurrence in the TC (with associated weights): ≥4 nodules (sub-distribution of hazard ratio [SHR] = 1.88, 1 point), size of largest nodule (3–6 cm: SHR = 1.83, 1 point; >6 cm: SHR = 5.82, 5 points), presence of microvascular invasion (MVI; SHR = 2.69, 2 points), nuclear grade >II (SHR = 1.20, 1 point), and last pre-LT AFP value (101–1,000 ng/ml: SHR = 1.57, 1 point; >1,000 ng/ml: SHR = 2.83, 2 points). Wolber’s c-index was 0.76 (95% CI 0.72–0.80), significantly superior to an R3 model without AFP (0.75; 95% CI 0.72–0.79; p = 0.01). Four 5-year recurrence risk categories were identified: very low (score = 0; 5.5%), low (1–2 points; 15.1%), high (3–6 points; 39.1%), and very high (>6 points; 73.9%). The R3-AFP score performed well in the VC (Wolber’s c-index of 0.78; 95% CI 0.73–0.83). Conclusions: The R3 score including the last pre-LT AFP value (R3-AFP score) provides a user-friendly, standardised framework to design post-LT surveillance strategies, protocols, or adjuvant therapy trials for HCC not limited to the Milan criteria. Clinical Trials Registration: NCT03775863. Lay summary: Considering discrepancies between pre-LT tumour assessment and explant are frequent, reassessing the risk of recurrence after LT is critical to further refine the management of patients with HCC. In a large and international cohort of patients who underwent transplantation for HCC, we designed and validated the R3-AFP model based on variables independently associated with recurrence post-LT (number of nodules, size of largest nodule, presence of MVI, nuclear grade, and last pre-LT AFP value). The R3-AFP model including last available pre-LT AFP value outperformed the original R3 model only based on explant features. The final R3-AFP scoring system provides a robust framework to design post-LT surveillance strategies, protocols, or adjuvant therapy trials, irrespective of criteria used to select patients with HCC for LT.

BackgroundLong-term survival after liver transplantation (LT) for hepatocellular cancer (HCC) continues to increase along with the modification of inclusion criteria. This study aimed at identifying risk factors for 5- and 10-year overall and HCC-specific death after LT.MethodsA total of 1,854 HCC transplant recipients from 10 European centers during the period 1987–2015 were analyzed. The population was divided in three eras, defined by landmark changes in HCC transplantability indications. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the significance of independent risk factors for survival.ResultsFive- and 10-year overall survival (OS) rates were 68.1% and 54.4%, respectively. Two-hundred forty-two patients (13.1%) had HCC recurrence. Five- and 10-year recurrence rates were 16.2% and 20.3%. HCC-related deaths peaked at 2 years after LT (51.1% of all HCC-related deaths) and decreased to a high 30.8% in the interval of 6 to 10 years after LT. The risk factors for 10-year OS were macrovascular invasion (OR = 2.71; P = 0.001), poor grading (OR = 1.56; P = 0.001), HCV status (OR = 1.39; P = 0.001), diameter of the target lesion (OR = 1.09; P = 0.001), AFP slope (OR = 1.63; P = 0.006), and patient age (OR = 0.99; P = 0.01). The risk factor for 10-year HCC-related death were AFP slope (OR = 4.95; P < 0.0001), microvascular (OR = 2.13; P < 0.0001) and macrovascular invasion (OR = 2.32; P = 0.01), poor tumor grading (OR = 1.95; P = 0.001), total number of neo-adjuvant therapies (OR = 1.11; P = 0.001), diameter of the target lesion (OR = 1.11; P = 0.002), and patient age (OR = 0.97; P = 0.001). When analyzing survival rates in function of LT era, a progressive improvement of the results was observed, with patients transplanted during the period 2007–2015 showing 5- and 10-year death rates of 26.8% and 38.9% (vs. 1987–1996, P < 0.0001; vs. 1997–2006, P = 0.005).ConclusionsLT generates long-term overall and disease-free survival rates superior to all other oncologic treatments of HCC. The role of LT in the modern treatment of HCC becomes even more valued when the follow-up period reaches at least 10 years. The results of LT continue to improve even when prudently widening the inclusion criteria for transplantation. Despite the incidence of HCC recurrence is highest during the first 5 years post-transplant, one-third of them occur later, indicating the importance of a life-long follow-up of these patients.

During seed development, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) takes care of the synthesis and structural maturation of very high amounts of storage proteins in a relatively short time. The ER must thus adjust its extension and machinery to optimize this process. The major signaling mechanism to maintain ER homeostasis is the unfolded protein response (UPR). Both storage proteins that assemble into ER-connected protein bodies and those that are delivered to protein storage vacuoles stimulate the UPR, but its extent and features are specific for the different storage protein classes and even for individual members of each class. Furthermore, evidence exists for anticipatory UPR directly connected to the development of storage seed cells and for selective degradation of certain storage proteins soon after their synthesis, whose signaling details are however still largely unknown. All these events are discussed, also in the light of known features of mammalian UPR.

A new disease of fennel is described from Sicily (southern Italy). Surveys of the disease and sampling were conducted during spring 2017 and 2018 in Adrano and Bronte municipalities (Catania province) where this crop is widely cultivated. Isolations from the margin of symptomatic tissues resulted in fungal colonies with the same morphology. Pathogenicity tests with one isolate of the fungus on 6-month-old plants of fennel reproduced similar symptoms to those observed in nature. Inoculation experiments to assess the susceptibility of six different fennel cultivars to infection by the pathogen showed that the cultivars ‘Narciso’, ‘Apollo’, and ‘Pompeo’ were more susceptible than ‘Aurelio’, ‘Archimede’, and ‘Pegaso’. Phylogenetic analyses based on a matrix of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the large subunit (LSU), and the small subunit (SSU) rDNA regions revealed that the isolates represent a new genus and species within the Leptosphaeriaceae, which is here described as Ochraceocephala foeniculi gen. et sp. nov. This study improves the understanding of this new fennel disease, but further studies are needed for planning effective disease management strategies. According to the results of the phylogenetic analyses, Subplenodomus iridicola is transferred to the genus Alloleptosphaeria and Acicuseptoria rumicis to Paraleptosphaeria.

BackgroundTransarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is one of the most frequently applied treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide. In this study, we aimed at evaluating whether and how TACE application and repetition, as well as the related outcome, have changed over the last three decades in Italy.MethodsData of 7,184 patients with HCC were retrieved from the Italian Liver Cancer (ITA.LI.CA) database. Patients were divided according to the period of diagnosis in six cohorts: P1 (1988–1993), P2 (1994–1998), P3 (1999–2004), P4 (2005–2009), P5 (2010–2014), and P6 (2015–2019). All the analyses were repeated in the overall patient population and in Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) B patients, who are the subgroup of HCC patients originally supposed to receive TACE according to guidelines. TACE was defined as either the first or the main (more effective) treatment.ResultsThe proportion of patients receiving TACE as first or main therapy declined over time, and less than 50% of BCLC B patients were treated with chemoembolization from P3 onward. Conversely, TACE was widely used even outside the intermediate stage. Survival of TACE-treated patients progressively increased from P1 to P6. Although TACE was performed only once in the majority of patients, there was an increasing proportion of those receiving 2 or ≥3 treatments sessions over time. The overall survival (OS) of patients undergoing repeated treatments was significantly higher compared to those managed with a single TACE (median OS 40.0 vs. 65.0 vs. 71.8 months in 1, 2, and ≥3 TACE groups, respectively; p < 0.0001). However, after a first-line TACE, the adoption of curative therapies provided longer survival than repeating TACE (83.0 vs. 42.0 months; p < 0.0001), which in turn was associated with better outcomes compared to systemic therapies or best supportive care (BSC).ConclusionsDespite a decline in the percentage of treated patients over time, TACE has still an important role in the management of HCC patients. The survival of TACE-treated patients gradually improved over time, probably due to a better patient selection. Iterative TACE is effective, but an upward shift to curative therapies provides better outcomes while transition to systemic therapies and BSC leads to a worse prognosis.

I am pleased to present this edition of the Special Issue of Plants, dedicated to multifaceted topic of epidemiology and control of plant diseases in agricultural systems [...]

After the end of the bipolar world, the possibility of an East–West mass migration became a new issue that took root in the Italian consciousness in forms masked by the feelings of the threat of an imminent “mass invasion” from Central and Eastern Europe. This new fear stimulated restrictive measures belatedly adopted in Italy and created a de facto unjust and imbalanced condition for new migrants from Eastern Europe because the first South–North migrations’ wave had already occurred when the regimes of Central and Eastern Europe collapsed. There are many evident similarities between the beliefs, attitudes and the use of insecurity (not based on data) of the 1990s and the current Italian migration policy. What they have in common is the incorrect perception and the misuse of it by politicians and propagandists. Immigration from Eastern Europe continues to be compared to that from the South of the world and Asia which continues to be interpreted without considering their real natures and the actual trends that characterise them. According to new studies that compared survey results with population data, contemporary Italians overestimate the number of immigrants coming from outside the EU to their country more than any other Europeans. As a result, the misuse or ignorance of the data on migrations is particularly dangerous because the devaluation of them has critical implications for policymaking.

The challenges of urban administration are growing, as the population, automobiles, and cities rise. Making cities smarter is thus one of the most effective solutions to urban issues. A key feature of the “smart cities” of today is that they use cutting-edge technology in their infrastructure and services. With strategic planning, the smart city utilizes its resources in the most efficient manner. With reduced expenses and enhanced infrastructure, smart cities provide their residents with more and better services. One of these important urban services that can be very helpful in managing cities is structural health monitoring (SHM). By combining leading new technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) with structural health monitoring, important urban infrastructure can last longer and work better. A thorough examination of recent advances in SHM for infrastructure is thus warranted. Bridges are one of the most important parts of a city’s infrastructure, and their building, development, and proper maintenance are some of the most important aspects of managing a city. The main goal of this study is to look at how artificial intelligence (AI) and some technologies, like drone technology and 3D printers, could be used to improve the current state of the art in SHM systems for bridges, including conceptual frameworks, benefits and problems, and existing methods. An outline of the role AI and other technologies will play in SHM systems of bridges in the future was provided in this study. Some novel technology-aided research opportunities are also highlighted, explained, and discussed.

Background & Aims: Good outcomes after liver transplantation (LT) have been reported after successfully downstaging to Milan criteria in more advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We aimed to compare post-LT outcomes in patients receiving locoregional therapies (LRT) before LT according to Milan criteria and University of California San Francisco downstaging (UCSF-DS) protocol and ‘all-comers’. Methods: This multicentre cohort study included patients who received any LRT before LT from Europe and Latin America (2000–2018). We excluded patients with alpha-foetoprotein (AFP) above 1,000 ng/ml. Competing risk regression analysis for HCC recurrence was conducted, estimating subdistribution hazard ratios (SHRs) and corresponding 95% CIs. Results: From 2,441 LT patients, 70.1% received LRT before LT (n = 1,711). Of these, 80.6% were within Milan, 12.0% within UCSF-DS, and 7.4% all-comers. Successful downstaging was achieved in 45.2% (CI 34.8–55.8) and 38.2% (CI 25.4–52.3) of the UCSF-DS group and all-comers, respectively. The risk of recurrence was higher for all-comers (SHR 6.01 [p

Road safety assessment is one of the most important parts of road transport safety management. When road transportation networks are managed safely, they improve the quality of life for citizens and the economy as a whole. On the one hand, there are many factors that affect road safety. On the other hand, this issue is a dynamic problem, which means that it is always changing. So, there is a dire need for a thorough evaluation of road safety to deal with complex and uncertain problems. For this purpose, two machine learning methods called “feature selection algorithms” are used. These algorithms include a combination of artificial neural network (ANN) with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and the differential evolution (DE) algorithm. In this study, two data sets with 202 and 564 accident cases from cities and rural areas in southern Italy are investigated and analyzed based on several factors that affect transportation safety, such as light conditions, weekday, type of accident, location, speed limit, average speed, and annual average daily traffic. When the performance and results of the two models were compared, the results showed that the two models made the same choices. In rural areas, the type of accident and the location were chosen as the highest and lowest priorities, respectively. According to the results, useful suggestions regarding the improvement of road safety on urban and rural roads were provided. The average speed and location were considered the highest and lowest priorities in urban areas, respectively. Finally, there was not a big difference between the results of the two algorithms in terms of how well the algorithm models worked, but the proposed PSO model converged more quickly than the proposed DE model.

The development of liver metastases in colon rectal cancer has a strong impact on the overall survival (OS) of the patient, with a 5-year survival rate of 5% with palliative treatment. Surgical resection combined with pharmacological treatment can achieve a 5-year OS rate of 31–58%. However, in only 20% of patients with colon rectal liver metastases (CRLMs), liver resection is feasible. In highly selected patients, recent trials and studies proved that liver transplantation (LT) for non-resectable CRLM is a surgical option with an excellent long-term OS. The paper aims to review the indications and outcome of LT for CRLMs, with a special focus on immunosuppressive therapy and the management of local and extrahepatic recurrence after LT.

A methodology for calibrating and validating VISSIM simulation model is presented that allows to replicate the observed vehicles conflicts. A roundabout case study has been selected to test the usefulness of a combined approach of VISSIM simulation package and the surrogate safety assessment model (SSAM) for providing reliable estimates of traffic conflicts. Safety performance has been assessed from the field by video-recording vehicle interactions at the roundabout, and then expressed in terms of time to collision (TTC) values.The proposed calibration procedure has been performed by a multistage methodology involving microscopic drivers' car following behavior parameters to enhance the correlation between observed and simulated queue lengths at the roundabout's entries. The calibration procedure is based on a statistical screening of inputs leading to a linear expression relating significant parameters to the queue length. The best estimates of the model's parameters have been determined using a genetic algorithm technique.The spatial distribution of the rear-end conflicts and the TTC values determined by SSAM have been finally compared with the observed ones to analyze the capability of the model of replicating rear-end conflicts.The results suggest to this calibration procedure impacts positively on the estimate of the safety performance measures obtained through the simulation processes.Notwithstanding the good results in the evaluation of the model's accuracy, the simulation seems to fail in reproducing the traffic phenomena linked to unusual driving behavior, and therefore it is not able to replicate forced drivers' maneuvers that can lead to a conflict situation. Keywords: Simulation, Safety performance, Unmanned aerial vehicle, Roundabouts, Traffic conflicts

Natural disasters have a significant impact on urban areas, resulting in loss of lives and urban services. Using satellite and aerial imagery, the rapid and automatic assessment of at-risk located buildings from can improve the overall disaster management system of urban areas. To do this, the definition, and the implementation of models with strong generalization, is very important. Starting from these assumptions, the authors proposed a deep learning approach based on the U-Net model to map buildings that fall into mapped landslide risk areas. The U-Net model is trained and validated using the Dubai’s Satellite Imagery Dataset. The transferability of the model results are tested in three different urban areas within Calabria Region, Southern Italy, using natural color orthoimages and multi-source GIS data. The results show that the proposed methodology can detect and predict buildings that fall into landslide risk zones, with an appreciable transferability capability. During the prevention phase of emergency planning, this tool can support decision-makers and planners with the rapid identification of buildings located within risk areas, and during the post event phase, by assessing urban system conditions after a hazard occurs.

Pistachio (Pistacia vera) is an important Mediterranean crop. In Italy, pistachio is cultivated in the southern regions, of which Sicily is the main production area. Recently, the phytopathological situation of this crop has started to be updated, and new diseases have been discovered, studied, and reported. Botryosphaeriaceae spp. and Leptosillia pistaciae are major canker/rot pathogens, and Cytospora pistaciae and Eutypa lata have been reported as minor canker pathogens. In this paper, we evaluated different biological control agents, belonging to Trichoderma asperellum, T. atroviride and T. harzianum, as well as some Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strains, against above-mentioned pathogens. Results of dual culture assays showed that all the biological products, both fungi and bacteria, were able to inhibit the mycelial growth of the pathogens in vitro. Experiments using detached twigs showed no effect of biocontrol agents in reducing infections, except for Neofusicoccum hellenicum treated with T. harzianum T22 and Leptosillia pistaciae treated with B. amyloliquefaciens D747. Results of detached fruit experiments showed an efficacy ranging from 32.5 to 66.9% of all the biological products in reducing the lesions caused by N. mediterraneum. This study provides basic information for future research on biological control of pistachio diseases and future prospects for search of more effective biological control agents for canker diseases than those studied here.

In most wine-growing countries of the world the interest for organic viticulture and eco-friendly grape production processes increased significantly in the last decade. Organic viticulture is currently dependent on the availability of Cu and S compounds, but their massive use over time has led to negative effects on environment health. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative and sustainable treatments against powdery mildew, gray mold and sour rot under the field conditions on Nero d’Avola and Inzolia Sicilian cultivars. In detail, the efficacy of COS-OGA, composed by a complex of oligochitosans and oligopectates, and its effects in combination with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were evaluated to reduce airborne disease infections of grape. COS-OGA combined with AMF induced a significant reduction in powdery mildew severity both on Nero d’Avola and Inzolia with a mean percentage decrease of about 15% and 33%, respectively. Moreover, COS-OGA alone and combined with AMF gave a good protection against gray mold and sour rot with results similar to the Cu–S complex (performance in disease reduction ranging from 65 to 100%) on tested cultivars. Similarly, the COS-OGA and AMF integration provided good performances in enhancing average yield and did not negatively impact quality and microbial communities of wine grape. Overall, COS-OGA alone and in combination could be proposed as a valid and safer option for the sustainable management of the main grapevine pathogens in organic agroecosystems.

Background: Liver resection represents the first curative treatment to treat primary and secondary hepatic tumors. Thoracoscopic liver ablation is a viable and minimally invasive alternative treatment, especially for patients with previous multiple abdominal surgeries. The aim of the study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of thoracoscopic ablation for liver tumors.Methods: Retrospective analysis of a prospective database of patients with liver tumors, treated with thoracoscopic trans-diagrammatic ablation (MWA or RFA) at our institution from 2012 to 2018. The primary endpoint was post-operative mortality at 30 days, while secondary endpoints were morbidity and efficacy of ablation (i.e., response rate evaluated according to mRECIST criteria, and overall patient survival). Patient demographics, operational characteristics, and complications were recorded.Results: A total of 13 nodules were treated in 10 patients with a median age of 65.5 years. Post-operative mortality was 0%, and overall morbidity was 40% (Clavien-Dindo I complications 30%, II 0%, III 10%, IV 0%). Complete radiological response was obtained in 83.3% of nodules at 3 months. After a median follow-up of 20.95 months, the local tumor progression rate was 30%, with an intra-segmental-recurrence of 30%, and an intra-hepatic-recurrence of 30%. The overall 1-, 2-, and 3-years survival rates were 80%, 58%, and 58%.Conclusion: Thoracoscopic trans-diaphragmatic ablation proved to be a safe and effective way to treat liver tumors when abdominal approach is not feasible. Considering the low morbidity, it is a viable option to treat patients with recurrent disease and/or previous multiple abdominal surgeries.

Background. Solid organ transplants (SOTs) are life-saving interventions, recently challenged by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). SOTs require a multistep process, which can be affected by COVID-19 at several phases. Methods. SOT-specialists, COVID-19-specialists, and medical ethicists designed an international survey according to CHERRIES guidelines. Personal opinions about continuing SOTs, safe managing of donors and recipients, as well as equity of resources’ allocation were investigated. The survey was sent by e-mail. Multiple approaches were used (corresponding authors from Scopus, websites of scientific societies, COVID-19 webinars). After the descriptive analysis, univariate and multivariate ordinal regression analysis was performed. Results. There were 1819 complete answers from 71 countries. The response rate was 49%. Data were stratified according to region, macrospecialty, and organ of interest. Answers were analyzed using univariate-multivariate ordinal regression analysis and thematic analysis. Overall, 20% of the responders thought SOTs should not stop (continue transplant without restriction); over 70% suggested SOTs should selectively stop, and almost 10% indicated they should completely stop. Furthermore, 82% agreed to shift resources from transplant to COVID-19 temporarily. Briefly, main reason for not stopping was that if the transplant will not proceed, the organ will be wasted. Focusing on SOT from living donors, 61% stated that activity should be restricted only to “urgent” cases. At the multivariate analysis, factors identified in favor of continuing transplant were Italy, ethicist, partially disagreeing on the equity question, a high number of COVID-19-related deaths on the day of the answer, a high IHDI country. Factors predicting to stop SOTs were Europe except-Italy, public university hospital, and strongly agreeing on the equity question. Conclusions. In conclusion, the majority of responders suggested that transplant activity should be continued through the implementation of isolation measures and the adoption of the COVID-19-free pathways. Differences between professional categories are less strong than supposed.

With the increasing population of cities, expanding roads as one of the essential urban infrastructures is a necessary task; therefore, adverse effects such as increased fuel consumption, pollution, noise, and road accidents are inevitable. One of the most efficient ways to mitigate congestion-related adverse effects is to introduce effective intelligent transportation systems (ITS), using advanced technologies and mobile communication protocols to make roads smarter and reduce negative impacts such as improvement in fuel consumption and pollution, and reduction of road accidents, which leads to improving quality of life. Smart roads might play a growing role in the improved safety of road transportation networks. This study aims to evaluate and rank the potential smartification measures for the road network in Calabria, in southern Italy, with sustainable development goals. For this purpose, some potential smartification measures were selected. Experts in the field were consulted using an advanced procedure: four criteria were considered for evaluating these smartification measures. The Integrated fuzzy decision support system (FDSS), namely the fuzzy Delphi analytic hierarchy process (FDAHP) with the fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) were used for evaluating and ranking the potential smartification measures. The results demonstrated that the repetition of signals in the vehicle has the highest rank, and photovoltaic systems spread along the road axis has the lowest rank to use as smartification measures in the roads of the case study.

The evaluation of road safety is a critical issue having to be conducted for successful safety management in road transport systems, whereas safety management is considered in road transportation systems as a challenging task according to the dynamic of this issue and the presence of a large number of effective parameters on road safety. Therefore, the evaluation and analysis of important contributing factors affecting the number of vehicles involved in crashes play a key role in increasing the efficiency of road safety. For this purpose, in this research work, two machine learning algorithms, including the group method of data handling (GMDH)-type neural network and a combination of support vector machine (SVM) and the grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA), are employed. Hence, the number of vehicles involved in an accident is considered to be the output, and the seven factors affecting transport safety, including Daylight (DL), Weekday (W), Type of accident (TA), Location (L), Speed limit (SL), Average speed (AS), and Annual average daily traffic (AADT) of rural roads in Cosenza, southern Italy, are selected as the inputs. In this study, 564 data sets from rural areas were investigated, and the relevant, effective parameters were measured. In the next stage, several models were developed to investigate the parameters affecting the safety management of road transportation in rural areas. The results obtained demonstrated that the “Type of accident” has the highest level and “Location” has the lowest importance in the investigated rural area. Finally, although the results of both algorithms were the same, the GOA-SVM model showed a better degree of accuracy and robustness than the GMDH model.

A distinct set of channels and transporters regulates the ion fluxes across the lysosomal membrane. Malfunctioning of these transport proteins and the resulting ionic imbalance is involved in various human diseases, such as lysosomal storage disorders, cancer, as well as metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases. As a consequence, these proteins have stimulated strong interest for their suitability as possible drug targets. A detailed functional characterization of many lysosomal channels and transporters is lacking, mainly due to technical difficulties in applying the standard patch-clamp technique to these small intracellular compartments. In this review, we focus on current methods used to unravel the functional properties of lysosomal ion channels and transporters, stressing their advantages and disadvantages and evaluating their fields of applicability.

Some of the amendments proposed by the President to the Russian Constitution of 1993, though not substantial, could however significantly affect the political and constitutional structure of post-Soviet Russia. The most significant ones, in fact, exacerbate the authoritarian practices typical of these last twenty years and stir the Country towards a greater centralization and a hierarchical-vertical structuring of an increasingly patrimonial power. They lead towards a nationalist closure, by means of sovereign ideological instruments, to the encapsulation both of the political class and the presidential charge, as well as to a cancellation of the formal aspects of the pravovoe gosudarstvo (rule of law). To better understand the causes and consequences of these amendments, it may be useful to look at them through the lens of Political Science.

Exotic ambrosia beetles are increasing in Europe due to global trade and global warming. Among these xylomycetophagous insects, Xylosandrus compactus (Eichhoff) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a serious threat for several Mediterranean host plants. Carob trees growing in Sicily (Italy) have been extensively attacked by beetles leading to rapid tree decline. Although X. compactus has been found in Europe for several years, most aspects of its ecology are still unknown. We thus studied the population structure and dynamics of X. compactus, together with its twig size preference during a sampling of infested carob trees in south east Sicily. In addition, fungi associated with insects or galleries were isolated and characterized. The results showed that, in this newly-colonized environment and host plant, adult X. compactus overwinters inside twigs and starts to fly and reproduce in mid spring, completing five generations before overwintering in late fall. The mean diameter of carob twigs infested by the beetle varied significantly over the seasons, with the insect tending to infest larger twigs as season progresses. The mean number of adults/gallery was 19.21, ranging from 6 to 28. The minimum temperature significantly affected the overwintering adult mortality. Ambrosiella xylebori and Fusarium solani were the main symbionts associated with the pest in this study. Acremonium sp. was instead recorded for the first time in Europe inside X. compactus galleries. Several other fungi species were also found for the first time in association with X. compactus. Our findings provide useful insights into the sustainable management of this noxious pest.

The effectiveness of biological commercial products based on Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strains was evaluated through in vitro and in vivo experiments against Plenodomus tracheiphilus. The activity of bacterial cells, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and culture filtrates of bacteria were tested in vitro against different isolates of P. tracheiphilus. Afterwards, the virulence of these isolates was evaluated on Citrus volkameriana plants to select the most virulent isolate to use in the in vivo experiments. To evaluate the effectiveness of products, C. volkameriana seedlings were pre-treated, twice with biological products and once with standard fungicides, before pathogen inoculation. Moreover, in order to determine the endophytic ability of the bacteria, the population density within the treated citrus stem was determined. Comprehensively, bacterial cells, filtrates, and VOCs were able to significantly reduce the average mycelial diameter of P. tracheiphilus, with some variability according to pathogen isolate. In planta experiments showed that the biological products on average were less effective than fungicides, although all formulates were able to significantly reduce disease incidence and symptom severity, except B. amyloliquefaciens strain D747 (Amylo-X) for symptom severity (SS) 20 days after inoculation. Bacteria were re-isolated from the internal woody tissue of treated plants, showing strong endophytic ability. This work is important as commercial biological products based on B. amyloliquefaciens strains could represent a promising and sustainable alternative for the integrated management of mal secco disease.

Background and Objectives: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has become the leading indication for liver transplantation in many countries, with a growing rate in the Western world. NASH patients are older and share a higher risk of comorbidities and cancer than patients with viral and/or alcoholic etiologies. The aims of this study were to evaluate waiting list (WL) registration and liver transplantation rates in patients with NASH-related cirrhosis at Padua University Hospital in the last fifteen years (1.2006–6.2020) and to compare clinical characteristics and indications for liver transplantation between patients with and without NASH, as well as the WL survival and post-transplant outcome. Materials and Methods: All adult patients with cirrhosis listed for liver transplantation at Padua University Hospital between 1.2006 and 6.2020 were retrospectively collected using a prospectively updated database; patients with NASH-related cirrhosis were divided by indication for liver transplantation (Dec-NASH vs. hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-NASH) and compared with patients with other etiologies of liver disease. The outcomes in terms of waiting list survival and post-transplant outcome were assessed. Results: One thousand four hundred and ninety-one adult cirrhotic patients were waitlisted during the study period. NASH patients accounted for 12% of all WL registrations, showing an increasing trend over time (from 2.5% in 2006 to 23% in 2020). In the last five years, NASH was the third, but most rapidly growing, indication for liver transplantation at our center. This trend was confirmed both for patients with decompensated cirrhosis (from 1.8% to 18%) and HCC as leading indication for transplantation (from 4% to 30%). NASH patients were older than non-NASH ones (mean ± SD age 59 ± 9 vs. 56 ± 9 years; p < 0.01), whereas no difference was found in gender or Child-Pugh of the model for end-stage liver disease score at WL registration. A majority (60.9%) of NASH patients underwent liver transplantation, showing 1-, 5- and 10-y post-transplant survivals of 86%, 73% and 60%, respectively. Conclusion: NASH cirrhosis has become a rapidly growing indication for liver transplantation at our center, both for HCC and decompensated disease, with good post-transplant survival.

Pre-plant soil fumigation for managing soilborne pathogens is practiced worldwide in several intensive ornamental and vegetable production areas. However, global regulations are currently implemented to minimize use of these chemicals. According to these policies, the efficacies of dazomet (DZ, Basamid Granulat®) applied alone to soil and under virtually impermeable film (VIF) at reduced (247.5 kg ha−1 a.i.) and label (495 kg ha−1 a.i.) rates were assessed in managing natural infections of Verticillium wilt and in reducing yield losses on greenhouse chrysanthemum plantations in two trials carried out in the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The performances of this fumigant at a lower rate combined with VIF application were also compared with standardized metam-sodium (MS, Divapan®) fumigation applied at 510 L ha−1 a.i. under VIF and application of dazomet at label rate alone to bare soil. Temperatures were monitored at 20-cm depth in plots covered (VIF) throughout the entire fumigation period. Although all fumigation treatments significantly reduced the infection level by V. dahliae on chrysanthemum, the performances differed among them. DZ and MS applied at label rates under VIF showed the most effectiveness in controlling Verticillium wilt of chrysanthemum. However, DZ applied to soil at a low rate under VIF mulching showed good performances, which were always better than application of DZ alone at label rate to bare soil. Moreover, when combining a reduced rate of DZ with VIF mulching, chrysanthemum yield losses were reduced in a similar manner to the label rate application under VIF. Based on these findings, DZ application at a reduced rate could be suggested on a large scale to prevent Verticillium attacks on chrysanthemum cultivated on a protected crop. Future studies should be performed to verify the ability of VIF application in inducing high temperatures in soil and above all in enhancing performances of soil fumigation at low rates performed with other natural and chemical sterilants.

Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims.) is an ever-increasing interest crop in Italy because it is mainly cultivated for its edible fruit and, secondly, as an ornamental evergreen climber. During the summer of 2020, two-year-old plants of purple passion fruit in one of the most important expanding production areas of Sicily (southern Italy) showed symptoms of yellowing, wilting, and vascular discoloration. Fusarium-like fungal colonies were consistently yielded from symptomatic crown and stem tissues. Five representative isolates were characterized by a morphological and molecular analysis based on a multilocus phylogeny using RNA polymerase’s second largest subunit (RPB2) and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF-1α) genes, as Fusarium nirenbergiae (Fusarium oxysporum species complex). Pathogenicity tests conducted on healthy 1-year-old passion fruit cuttings revealed symptoms similar to those observed in the field. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Fusarium wilt on passion fruit caused by Fusarium nirenbergiae. This report focuses on the phytopathological implications of this fungal pathogen, which may represent a future significant threat for the expanding passion fruit production in Italy and Europe.