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The lignocellulose is the main component of the plant cell wall and the most abundant polycarbohydrate in the Earth. It is a renewable and sustainable source for the manufacturing of bioproducts (biofuel, bioplastic, etc. ). Lignocellulose is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in different percentages organized into a complex structure, showing high recalcitrance to degradation. Due to its hydrophobic nature, the degradation of lignocellulose in the simple compounds is very difficult and only a small number of organisms is able to decompose it. Evidences show that bacteria contribute actively to the decomposition of cellulose, hemicellulose in forest soil and this degradation could represent a green alternative technology. The aim of this study was to explore and characterize the potential lignocellulolytic bacteria from soil of a temperate Mediterranean forest. The study areas are located in Sila National Park and Pollino National Park, Calabria, southern Italy, which could represent pilot areas in the whole Mediterranean. Soil samples were collected at the deep of 0-5 cm from different sites, which were characterized for height and tree cover and geolocalized using a differential GPS in RTK mode. Serial dilutions of each soil sample were plated in minimal culture media with lignocellulose (1%) as an only energy source. About 150 strains were isolated from soil samples of both sites and characterized by microbiological and enzymatic analyses. To verify and compare the cellulolytic activity among strains, the qualitative determination was achieved by growing the microorganisms in selective media with iodine solution, and the quantitative cellulolytic activity was determined by spectrophotometric analysis using a synthetic colorimetric substrate for the ? glucosidase activity which is the last step in cellulose degradation. To bacteria identification DNA were extracted from strains with efficent cellulolytic activity and 16S rDNA were sequenced. Beside other organic matter degradation activities were investigated in these strains. This study gives an overview of potential bacteria that could be used in the various biotechnological application

Plant nutrition plays an important role in increasing crop yields. Nevertheless, the need for more sustainable agricultural systems, reducing fertilization costs and concerns on environmental pollution have determined a shift towards precision agriculture. The study was aimed to quantify the spatial structure and map soil and leaf micronutrients in an olive (Olea europaea L.) orchard in a southern Italy area. The study was conducted in a 10,000 m2 (100 m x 100 m) olive orchard located in southern Italy (Calabria) where at 100 locations both topsoil (0-0.20 m) and vegetation (leaves) samples were collected. Soil samples were air-dried and sieved at 2 mm. Then both soil and vegetation samples were analyzed in laboratory for the main micronutrients (B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, and Zn) by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). A geostatistical approach was used (I) to quantify the spatial structure of soil and leaf micronutrients, and (II) to map their spatial distribution. Maps of each soil and leaf micronutrient were analyzed by visual comparison which confirmed a relation for almost all analyzed elements.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether anti-GM1 antibodies are increased in Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS: Serum immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG anti-GM1 antibodies were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 147 patients with PD and in 186 age-matched normal control subjects. Sera were assayed at initial dilution of 1:800 for IgM and 1:200 for IgG and were considered positive at absorbance values exceeding the value of 0.05 for IgM and 0.1 for IgG. RESULTS: Forty patients with PD (27.2%) had sera positive for IgM anti-GM1 antibodies, whereas only five normal controls (2.7%) resulted positive (P < 0.0001). Most of patients (75%) with positive sera had a tremor-dominant form of PD. Only two patients with PD (1.4%) and none of normal controls had sera positive for IgG anti-GM1 antibodies. CONCLUSION: A consistent portion of parkinsonians, mainly with a tremor-dominant form of PD, may have increased circulating IgM anti-GM1 antibodies.

Researches on beryllium in soil have, until now, mostly addressed issues on timing of landscape development, hillslope creep, weathering and formation of minerals, dust accumulation and the genesis of loess/paleosol sequences. Actually, beryllium, being one of the world's most toxic metals, which accumulates in soil not only from human activities but also from natural sources, should be approached in contamination key. Because of its toxicological effects, Be may seriously affect the health of human beings and other animals, as well as overexploits the natural soil functions of buffering, filtering and transforming. Therefore monitoring the contamination threshold concentration of beryllium to assess soil conditions and any need for protective action is of interest. A threshold provides a baseline against which sustainability can be assessed. The Italian government has developed criteria for evaluating soil pollution of public land to protect human health, through the Italian Legislative Decree no. 152 of 03/04/2006. The study was aimed to quantify natural concentration and spatial distribution of beryllium (9Be) in the topsoil in an olive orchard of southern Italy (Calabria). Topsoil samples and olive leaves at 100 locations were collected in a 100 m x 100 m olive orchard. Soil samples and olive leaves were ground, dried, weighed, and digested in aqua regia for laboratory analyses with ICP-MS. A geostatistical approach was used to quantify and map the spatial distribution of natural concentration of beryllium (9Be). The soil beryllium concentration varied spatially from a minimum value of 1.50 mg kg-1 to a maximum of 4.51 mg kg-1. In 98% of the soil samples the content of beryllium exceeds the Italian threshold value (2 mg kg-1) for public, private and residential green soil use. Therefore, the study area is a potentially contaminated site where the remediation must be carried out. These regulatory criteria might be useful in making risk assessments. The measured values of beryllium in the study area are also higher than the mean value of beryllium in the Earth's crust (2.6 mg kg-1). Beryllium contents in Olive leaves ranged from 0.0004 mg kg-1 to 0.0478 mg kg-1 and they are too low to affect human health by consumption of olives and olive oil. These results showed that olive plants take up beryllium from soil in small amounts, and also when it occurs in mobile forms, the measured Beryllium contents are not toxic for plants because of the high binding capacity of the soil for Be.

28th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 4490-4496, In the past few years the PV sector has experienced a very rapid increase in terms of installed capacity. PV was the 1st source of electricity installed in Europe in 2011, with 21.6 GWp of new power generation capacity. As comparison to other technologies, during the same period of time there were only new capacity of 9.6 GW for wind power plants, 9.7 GW for gas power plants, 2.1 GW for coal power plants, 0.6 GW for large hydro power plants and a decommissioning of 1.1 GW of fuel oil power plants and 6,2 GW of nuclear power plants. Based on these figures, PV has been seen as a potential and feasible electricity source in Europe. In the upcoming years the installed capacity of PV has to further increase to reach the “20-20-20” binding targets of 20% of RES in energy consumption until 2020, which corresponds to 30-35% of the electricity demand from RES, according the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) and beyond, until 2050, to achieve the targets of the Energy Roadmap 2050. According to the High RES scenario of the Energy Roadmap 2050, the share of RES in electricity should reach 75% in gross final energy consumption and 97% in terms of electricity production. Among the other renewable power technologies, PV will provide a relevant contribution to reach these ambitious European targets. To achieve such contribution from RES electricity, several key challenges need to be further addressed. At the time being, the status quo in the field of electricity generation is still based on a centralized concept, where electricity producers from small-scale renewable energy systems, such as photovoltaic systems, are forced to adapt their needs, in terms of legal and regulatory framework, grid access and market design rules, to the infrastructures developed to support a centralized approach for electricity production. The PV parity project aims at defining an appropriate policy and legal framework to ensure a sustainable PV market growth. To reach this ambitious target, during the PV Parity project, European and National policy makers have been provided with objective and transparent recommendations to implement support schemes to ensure that PV will become competitive with other electricity sources in Europe and to go beyond the PV competitiveness, in order to ensure a sustainable PV market growth until 2020, 2050 and beyond.

27th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 4379-4383, The European Directive 2009/28/EC for the promotion of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) sets the target of supplying 20% of EU’s final energy consumption from renewable energy sources by 2020, which corresponds to meeting 30-35% of the electricity demand from RES. High RES scenario presented in Energy Roadmap 2050 by the European Commission foresees that 75% of the gross final energy consumption and 97% of the electricity consumption can be supplied from RES by 2050. With the increasing system performances and decreasing production costs, PV will provide a strong contribution to reach these targets. The PV sector needs an appropriate policy and legal framework to ensure a sustainable market growth. To reach this ambitious target, European and National policy makers need to be provided with objective and transparent information on the potentiality of the PV sector, such as the competitiveness of electricity produced by PV systems, and on the appropriate support schemes to reach the PV competitiveness as well as to achieve further targets. Through the PV Parity project, policy makers will obtain the necessary information to ensure a sustainable policy framework for the PV sector. In order to ensure that the documentation elaborated during the PV Parity project is objective and transparent, the results achieved during the project will be shared with the relevant stakeholders of the PV sector, such as utilities, distributor system operators (DSOs), research institutes on energy and legislation, energy regulators. The steps to be carried out during the PV Parity project in order to reach a sustainable policy framework for the PV sector are the following: • definition of PV competitiveness • roadmaps to PV grid parity in 11 European Countries • definition of the relevance of PV electricity import from Middle East North Africa (MENA) countries • cost / benefits of the PV network integration • state of the art of the support schemes • elaboration of alternative support schemes • dissemination of the project outcomes to National and European policy makers The European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) presents a unique opportunity to share information on the initial results of the PV Parity project such as the definition of PV competitiveness and the roadmaps towards the PV competitiveness. The PV Parity project started in June 2011 and will end in November 2013. The PV Parity project is co-financed by the European Commission in the framework of the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) Program.

Soil pollution has become an important environmental issue in developed countries due to urban-industrial development. Among other pollutants, heavy metals are especially dangerous because of their persistence and toxicity. In general, the mobility and availability of heavy metals are controlled by absorption and desorption characteristics of soils, in particular they can be associated with soil properties including pH, organic matter content. The aims of this study were to determine contents of Ag, Be, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sn, Tl, Zn related to intervention values imposed by Italian government and to establish relationships between heavy metals and some soil properties in an olive orchard of southern Italy. Soil heavy metals content, pH, electrical conductivity and organic matter content were determined in 100 soil samples. Soil pH ranged from 5.73 to 7.45 i.e. strong acid to mild alkaline, organic matter contents ranged from 0.027 to 23.78 g/kg, electrical conductivity ranged from 106.80 to 654 µS/cm. These results indicated that the sampled soils covered a wide range of pH, organic matter and electrical conductivity being suitable for studying the influence of these soil properties on availability and plant uptake of heavy metals. Correlation matrix was used to identify the relationship between heavy metal contents and soil properties. The Italian government established intervention values for some toxic elements in soil. Among these, five elements exceeded the regulatory threshold value (Limit A of Italian Law no. 152/2006) in analysed soils.

Soil pollution has become an important environmental issue in developed countries due to urban-industrial development. Among other pollutants, potentially harmful elements (PHEs) are especially dangerous because of their persistence and toxicity. In general, the mobility and availability of PHEs are controlled by absorption and desorption characteristics of soils, in particular they can be associated with soil properties including pH, organic matter content. The aims of this study were to determine contents of Ag, Be, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sn, Tl, Zn related to intervention values imposed by Italian government and to establish relationships between PHEs and some soil properties in an olive orchard of southern Italy. Soil PHEs content, pH, electrical conductivity and organic matter content were determined in 100 soil samples. Soil pH ranged from 5.73 to 7.45 i.e. strong acid to mild alkaline, organic matter contents ranged from 0.027 to 23.78 g/kg, electrical conductivity ranged from 106.80 to 654 µS/cm. These results indicated that the sampled soils covered a wide range of pH, organic matter and electrical conductivity being suitable for studying the influence of these soil properties on availability and plant uptake of PHEs. Correlation matrix was used to identify the relationship between PHEs contents and soil properties. The Italian government established intervention values for some toxic elements in soil. Among these, five elements exceeded the regulatory threshold value (Limit A of Italian Law no. 152/2006) in analysed soils.

35,660 healthy children attending secondary school in the Cosenza province, in the North of Calabria (Southern Italy), were screened for G6PD deficiency. Of 16,787 schoolboys, 209 were found to be G6PD deficient (1.24%). Of these, 99 (47.37%) had red cell G6PD activity below 5%, and they were classified as having the G6PD Mediterranean phenotype. The remaining 110 (52.63%), had a mild to moderate degree of deficiency, with an enzyme activity between 5 and 60%. Of these, 82 (74.55%) were electrophoretically normal, while 17 (15.45%) were electrophoretically fast and 11 (10.0%) were electrophoretically slow. The highest incidence of G6PD deficiency is on the Ionian Coast and along the Crati and Esaro river valleys, in good agreement with the distribution of the past malarial endemicity.

The continuous research of alternative and sustainable energy solutions with respect to fuels deriving from oil has led the current industrial and scientific system to analyze and develop approaches and technologies capable of enhancing materials of different nature for the production of biofuels. Algae are an alternative widely studied for this purpose, not only respect to the production of fossil fuels, but also respect to first-generation biofuels that use higher plants produced by normal cultivation methods. There are many plant solutions tested and disseminated internationally, operating in both outdoor and indoor environments. One of the most widespread criticisms is the inability to supply biodiesel quantities suitable for a production scale and with a positive economic and energy balance. This paper describes the results of a 4-years experimental research project oriented to the development of a low-scale demonstration plant of a complete advanced energy system based on the massive cultivation of microalgae and their treatment aimed at competitive production and sustainable bio-oil and biogas having requisites of suitability and compatibility with the relevant reference markets. The article intends to focus on a specific technological macrocomponent, completely studied and realized during the research project: the transparent, fully closed tubular photobioreactor (PBR) made of plastic material operating in continuous and in outdoor environments used for algal cultivation at low cost and high efficiency. The experimental plant was developed with the aim of providing a contribution to the main critical situations spread in this field, in particular: the need to reduce costs of the components of the plant and of the input resources necessary for the functioning of the system (energy, fertilizers, CO2, water, etc), as well as to maximize its modularity, reproducibility and exportability in other territorial contexts.

Changes in body weight may induce substantial variations in peripheral pharmacokinetics of drugs, but the relation between body weight and levodopa (LD) pharmacokinetics has never been investigated in Parkinson's disease. To address this issue, we conducted a pharmacokinetic study with 164 patients with sporadic Parkinson's disease. Patients underwent an oral acute LD test with 250 mg of LD, and pharmacokinetic variables were assessed at baseline and at 30, 60, 120, and 240 minutes after LD administration. Plasmatic-LD areas under the curve and body weight were significantly and inversely correlated as well as the elimination of the half-life of LD and body weight. In our sample, women were significantly lighter and had a significantly greater area under the curve than men. Moreover, a greater percentage of women showed LD peak-dose dyskinesias compared with men. Our findings suggest that lighter patients with Parkinson's disease probably receive a greater cumulative dosage of LD per kilogram of body weight during long-term treatment, because in clinical practice, LD is administered without any adjustment of the dose to body weight. This could explain gender differences for the development of LD- induced peak-dose dyskinesias observed during the course of the disease.