Central-eastern Italy Research Articles

ARIMIDELPHIS SORBINII A NEW SMALL KILLER WHALE-LIKE DOLPHIN FROM THE PLIOCENE OF MARECCHIA RIVER (CENTRAL EASTERN ITALY) AND A PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF THE ORCININAE (CETACEA: ODONTOCETI)

Arimidelphis sorbinii is a new genus and a new species of Delphinidae (Cetacea, Odontoceti) based on an incomplete skull with right ear bones, mandible, teeth and left forelimb, all from one animal, from the Late Pliocene sediments of Marecchia river (Central Eastern Italy). This specimen had previously been wrongly referred to the fossil species Tursiops osennae . Arimidelphis shows some affinities with killer whale ( Orcinus ), as the short rostrum, the very strong preorbital process with circular lateral outline, and the very elevated coronoid crest of the mandible. A cladistic phylogenetic analysis points out the belonging of Arimidelphis to Orcininae and particularly to a clade also including the fossil genus Hemisyntrachelus , Orcinus and Pseudorca. The strong rostrum and mandible indicate a trophic adaptation similar to that of the last two genera. Other results of this cladistic analysis are the placement of Orcaella outside the Orcininae, and the position of Grampus near Globicephala, clearly inside the Orcininae. Tursiops and Delphinus (two genera of Delphininae) appear strongly distinct from Orcininae. This new genus confirms the high radiation of delphinids in the Pliocene of the Mediterranean, probably related to the recolonization of this basin after the Messinian salinity crisis. SHORT NOTE

PROVENANCE OF MEDIEVAL PIETRA OLLARE ARTEFACTS FOUND IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES OF CENTRAL–EASTERN ITALY: INSIGHTS INTO THE ALPINE SOAPSTONE TRADE*

Medieval archaeological findings made of pietra ollare (basic and ultrabasic metamorphic rocks belonging to the greenschist facies) and coming from central–eastern Italy have been characterized through a petrological study (modal mineralogy, whole‐rock geochemistry, XRD and SEM–EDS analyses). The pietra ollare artefacts considered in this work consist of fine‐grained, grey to pale‐grey, magnesite‐bearing talc‐schists (i.e., soapstones). In order to determine their production centres, Alpine soapstones quarried in ancient times were selected on the basis of their mineralogical and textural compatibility with the archaeological findings. The mineralogy and chemistry (major and trace elements) contributed to establishing the ancient quarries of the Valchiavenna (central Alps) as the probable provenance area. This archaeometric investigation proves that Alpine artefacts made of pietra ollare spread to the south of the Po Plain during the Middle Ages. It can be inferred that the Alpine soapstone trade towards the Marche and Abruzzo regions was addressed through the main waterways: Lake Como, the Adda and Po Rivers and finally the Adriatic Sea.

Regional flow-duration curves: reliability for ungauged basins

A flow-duration curve (FDC) illustrates the relationship between the frequency and magnitude of streamflow. Applications of FDC are of interest for many hydrological problems related to hydropower generation, river and reservoir sedimentation, water quality assessment, water-use assessment, water allocation and habitat suitability. This study addresses the problem of FDC estimation for ungauged river basins, assessing the effectiveness and reliability of several regional approaches. The study refers to a wide region of eastern central Italy and adopts a jack-knife cross-validation procedure to evaluate the uncertainty of regional FDC’s, comparing it with the uncertainty of empirical FDC’s constructed from short samples of streamflow data. The results (a) provide an evaluation of the reliability of the regional FDC’s for ungauged sites, (b) show that the reliability of the three best performing regional models are similar to one another, and (c) demonstrate that empirical FDC’s based on limited data samples generally provide a better fit of the long-term FDC’s than regional FDC’s.

Ethnopharmacognostic survey on the natural ingredients used in folk cosmetics, cosmeceuticals and remedies for healing skin diseases in the inland Marches, Central-Eastern Italy*1

An ethnopharmaceutical study focused on domestic cosmetics, cosmeceuticals, and remedies to heal skin diseases traditionally used in the inland part of the Marches region (Central-Eastern Italy) has been conducted. At present, traditional knowledge concerning home-made phytocosmetics is represented by both the remnants of an orally transmitted folk heritage and also by new forms of knowledge, sometimes coming from popular phytotherapeutical books and the mass media (out of the scope of this survey), but also as a result of recent migration trends from Eastern Europe. We recorded approximately 135 cosmetic or cosmeceutical preparations prepared from more than 70 botanical species and a very few animal or mineral ingredients. Among the recorded preparations, developing a clear distinction amongst cosmetics, cosmeceuticals and pharmaceuticals for skin diseases is very problematic, confirming that in folk knowledge systems medicinal products for healing skin diseases and cosmetics have often been perceived as two poles of a continuum. Many of the quoted species represented well-known medicinal plants of the European phytotherapy, although we also recorded a few unusual plant taxa, which are briefly discussed under the perspective of their eventual phytochemical and/or phytopharmacological potentialities. Exotic drugs or precious essences, even native of the Mediterranean, were not quoted as ingredients for preparing perfumes and fragrances by the interviewees of the present study, thus indicating that popular cosmetic practices in rural Central Italy have taken a much separated path away from the cosmetic “know-how” of the aristocracy and high bourgeois classes of the last centuries.

Ethnopharmacognostic survey on the natural ingredients used in folk cosmetics, cosmeceuticals and remedies for healing skin diseases in the inland Marches, Central-Eastern Italy

An ethnopharmaceutical study focused on domestic cosmetics, cosmeceuticals, and remedies to heal skin diseases traditionally used in the inland part of the Marches region (Central-Eastern Italy) has been conducted. At present, traditional knowledge concerning home-made phytocosmetics is represented by both the remnants of an orally transmitted folk heritage and also by new forms of knowledge, sometimes coming from popular phytotherapeutical books and the mass media (out of the scope of this survey), but also as a result of recent migration trends from Eastern Europe. We recorded approximately 135 cosmetic or cosmeceutical preparations prepared from more than 70 botanical species and a very few animal or mineral ingredients. Among the recorded preparations, developing a clear distinction amongst cosmetics, cosmeceuticals and pharmaceuticals for skin diseases is very problematic, confirming that in folk knowledge systems medicinal products for healing skin diseases and cosmetics have often been perceived as two poles of a continuum. Many of the quoted species represented well-known medicinal plants of the European phytotherapy, although we also recorded a few unusual plant taxa, which are briefly discussed under the perspective of their eventual phytochemical and/or phytopharmacological potentialities. Exotic drugs or precious essences, even native of the Mediterranean, were not quoted as ingredients for preparing perfumes and fragrances by the interviewees of the present study, thus indicating that popular cosmetic practices in rural Central Italy have taken a much separated path away from the cosmetic “know-how” of the aristocracy and high bourgeois classes of the last centuries.

A stochastic index flow model of flow duration curves

Annual flow duration curves (AFDCs) are used increasingly because unlike traditional period of record flow duration curves (FDCs), they provide confidence intervals for the median AFDC, they enable one to assign return periods to individual AFDCs, and they offer opportunities for developing a generalized stochastic model of daily streamflow. Previous stochastic models of FDCs and AFDCs were unable to reproduce the variance of AFDCs. We introduce an index flow approach to modeling the relationship between an FDC and AFDCs of daily streamflow series, which is able to reproduce the FDC, as well as the mean, median, and variance of the AFDCs without resorting to assumptions regarding the seasonal or persistence structure of daily streamflow series. Our approach offers additional opportunities for the regionalization of flow duration curves and for the generation of time series of daily streamflows at ungauged sites. Our approach is tested on three river basins in eastern central Italy.

222Rn determination in some thermal baths of a central eastern Italian area

Some recent Italian laws, based on the Euratom Directive 26/96, introduce the obligation of monitoring the exposition to natural radioactivity in particular worksites (thermal baths, mines, basements, etc.). This paper reports the results of 222Rn measurements in some thermal baths of Rimini and Pesaro-Urbino provinces (Central Eastern Italy), by Radosys-2000, a complete set suitable to radon concentration measurements with CR-39 plastic alpha-track detectors. Some areas where radon could accumulate (bathing, reaction, muddy, inhalation, insufflation rooms and swimming pools) were selected for the investigation. The dosimeters have been exposed for 98 days. The results show that 222Rn concentrations are very low in the considered thermal baths (7-71 Bq.m-3). Moreover, no difference was observed between the concentrations measured in the therapy rooms (bathing, muddy, inhalation and insufflation rooms, swimming pools) and in the normal areas (passages, reaction rooms, dressing rooms, etc.). The calculated dose contribution to workers was about one tenth of the legally suggested value.

Variation of the Hypervariable Region-1 of Mitochondrial DNA in Central-Eastern Italy

Abstract DNA samples were extracted from fresh blood (5 mL in EDTA tube) by alkali bursting of blood cells followed by protein digestion with proteinase K. After a phenol-chloroform extraction, DNA was precipitated with absolute ethanol and dried at room temperature. The DNA pellet was diluted in 100 μL of TBE buffer (Tris HCl, 10mM, pH 7.5; EDTA 1mM). PCR amplification was carried out by using a Perkin Elmer 2400 thermal cycler in 25 μL reaction volume. The product of amplification was purified with a High Pure Product Purification Kit (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany). The sequencing reactions were performed separately on each strand with the primers L15990 and H16401. The hypervariable region-1 (HVR1) sequence analysis was carried out using the A.L.F. semi-automated sequencer (Pharmacia Biotech, Uppsala, Sweden). We observed a total of 44 different haplotypes out of 50 individuals examined, 41 of which were singletons. Only 8 haplotypes (no. 09, 13, 29, 39, 40, 42, 44, and 50) have been already observed among the Italian populations database available at www.hvrbase.de. The parameters of intrapopulation diversity (haplotype diversity 0.990 ± 0.008; mean number of pairwise differences 4.979 ± 2.463) fall into the range of values reported for Italian populations (1). The values of Tajima (1,944, p = 0.015) and Fu's tests (-25.552, p = 0.00) are those expected for populations who have had a large and sudden expansion (2). Applying an exact test for population comparisons implemented in the Arlequin software (3), we obtained statistically significant p-values for the comparison between our sample and those from Tuscany (0.004) Sardinia (0.039). Complete data are available at the e-mail address of the corresponding author upon request.

Large incidence variation of Type I diabetes in central-southern Italy 1990-1995: lower risk in rural areas.

To evaluate the relation between the incidence of childhood Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus and the degree of urbanization in the central-southern part of Italy. The incidence was determined in two areas: area A encompasses 3 regions of central-eastern Italy (Marche, Abruzzo, Umbria), whereas area B encompasses one southern region (Campania). During 1990-1995, 706 children aged 14 or under with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus of recent onset were registered. The completeness of the case ascertainment in the registries analysed separately for each region was high, ranging from 96.3 % to 99%. The age-standardized incidence was higher in area A (9.6 per 100000 person per year; 95 % confidence interval: 8.5-10.8) than in area B (5.4 per 100000 person per year; 95% confidence interval: 4.9-6.0). In both areas the standardized incidence ratios increased with the degree of urbanization (chi-squared for trend: area A= 140, p < 0.0001; area B = 79, p < 0.0001). The highest standardized incidence ratios were in the most urban communities. This study showed a statistically significant difference in incidence of childhood insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus among different areas of the continental peninsula of Italy. People living in the rural communities appear to have a lower risk.

Hf-Nd isotope correlation in the Quaternary potassic magmatism from Central Italy: new evidence of oceanic crust contribution to the magma source

Pleistocene potassic and ultrapotassic primitive lavas and scorias (basanites, trachybasalts, basalts, phonotephrites and shoshonites) from different representative volcanic centers of the Roman Magmatic Province (RMP: Vulsini, Vico, Sabatini, Ernici), the Tuscan Magmatic Province (TMP: Cimini, Radicofani) and Sardinia (Logudoro) were collected. Nd and Hf isotopes were analysed in 27 very fresh samples using TIMS in Pisa and plasma-sector mass spectrometry in Lyon respectively. The Hf-Nd isotopic composition of the samples belonging to the RMP ranges from -0.28 (Ernici) to -8.11 (Vico) eHf and from -5.48 (Ernici) to -10.53 (Vico) eNd. In the TMP, the Cimini sample shows the lowest Hf-Nd isotope ratios (176Hf/177Hf = 0.282446; 143Nd/144Nd = 0.512055) while all the other rocks fall within the range of the RMP. Sardinian samples are characterized by eHf = -2.48 to -4.58 and eNd = -3.29 to -4.28. For a given Nd isotopic composition, all the samples from central eastern Italy are characterized by Hf isotope ratios that are significantly more radiogenic that what was usually found in most mantle-derived volcanic rocks and crustally-derived granites (Vervoort et al., 1998). In a eHf- eNd isotope space (Fig. 1), the compositions of the volcanics from the RMP and TMP plot above the Hf-Nd isotopic mantle-crust array, below the newly identified field of Mn-nodules (Albarede et al., 1998) and within the field of pelagic sediments (Vervoort et al., 1998). Therefore the Hf- Nd isotopic properties of these rocks signal a significant contribution of pelagic material to their source, whereas this component cannot be clearly resolved in Sr-Nd isotope space. Actually, with regards to a given Nd isotope ratio, radiogenic Hf isotopic composition in primitive rocks can be explained with the presence of Hf-Zr poor material in their source, that is to say with a lacking zircon content. Because of the physical properties of zircon, which due its heavy weight is unlikely to be transported by wind or suspended clay across ocean basins (Vervoort and Blichert-Toft, 1998), this material should reflect pelagic component. We suggest that the volcanics from the Roman and the Tuscan Magmatic Provinces formed with the contribution of the remelting of an oceanic crust component in which both the altered basaltic layer and its pelagic sediment veneer can be identified by radiogenic and stable isotopes (Turi and Taylor, 1976), as well as trace elements. It is likely that the isotopic signature was acquired far enough away from a terrigenous source for the pelagic component not to have become entirely diluted by terrigenous sedimentation and therefore points to an open ocean environment. Whether this pelagic component is actually present in the source or has been transported into the subcontinental mantle by suduction- related metasomatism is speculative, but we consider that metasomatic transport is not necessarily required by the data. Origin of the central Italy potassic magmas by melting of mantle that had incorporated slivers of “dirty” oceanic lithosphere by unknown geodynamic processes stands as the best interpretation of the present isotopic data.

Contributo alle Silicoflagellate fossili del Miocene superiore dell'Italia centrale

Abstract A contribution to the fossil Silicoflagellates of the late Miocene in Central Italy. - A microscopic analysis of fourteen diatomite samples from a Messinian (late Miocene) stratigraphic series, in central-eastern Italy, has been carried out in order to verify the presence of Silicoflagellates. The skeletons of eight taxa were found in good condition and identified. The most abundant and continuous in the stratigraphic series examined are Dictyocha fibula and Distephanus speculum, also known in the present-day seas; Cannopilus sphaericus, a very rare and interesting species extinct in the Miocene, is limited to only two samples. On the basis of the Silicoflagellates found, it is possible to suggest that they lived in an open sea with 30–40‰ salinity and a temperature of 10–20°C. A very similar situation is present nowadays in the middle-western Adriatic Sea.