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The analysis of shoreline changes is very important for coastal planning and management. In territories such as Calabria (Italy), characterized by significant anthropogenic pressures and various eroded coasts, the knowledge of the shoreline changes, and the factors that influence them, is necessary for management and planning of coastal areas. In fact, shoreline position is one of the most important indicators of coastal dynamics. From this point of view recent advances in remote sensing and GIS techniques allow to estimate with great precision the shoreline changes over the years. The paper analyzes the shoreline changes near the mouth of the Sant'Agata River (Reggio Calabria, Italy), carried out through the comparison of various cartography data. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the main factors influencing the coastal dynamics in order to identify possible correlation between these factors and the shoreline changes. The analysis of these factors shows that, in this case study, the rainfall regime has a considerable influence on shoreline change. The methodology described in this paper is particularly useful for better understanding the factors that most influence the coastal balance and, therefore, is applicable to many contexts which are similar to the Sant'Agata river mouth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pituitary gland of swordfish (Xiphias gladius L.) was studied immunohistochemically using antibodies against h-FSH β, h-LH β, GTH I β and GTH II β. The immunogold method for detection, at the ultrastructural level, of gonadotropins was also used. The immunostaining methods allowed identification of two distinct GTH I β (FSH-like) and GTH II β (LH-like) cells. Both GTH I β and GTH II β immunoreactive cells were observed in swordfish, although there were greater numbers of GTH II β immunoreactive cells. The localization and structure of the two different gonadotropic cells of swordfish are compared with other teleost arrangement. mRNA was isolated from X. gladius pituitaries and a series of oligonucleotides were constructed and used as primers in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify GTH cDNAs. PCR products of eight independent PCR amplification reactions were cloned and sequenced for both GTH I β and GTH II β to avoid potential errors introduced during the PCR amplification. Two oligonucleotide probes were constructed and used in direct label fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for measuring GTH I and GTH II mRNA expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two Amyclina species were examined concerning the more significant anatomo-morphological differences and the different cytological aspects in the nucleoli of growing oocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]