Mediterranean Island Of Sardinia Research Articles

Passive Surveillance as a Key Tool for African Swine Fever Eradication in Wild Boar: A Protocol to Find Carcasses Tested and Validated in the Mediterranean Island of Sardinia.

African swine fever (ASF) is one of the most important and serious contagious hemorrhagic viral diseases affecting domestic pigs and wild boar and is associated with high mortality rates while also having an extensive sanitary and socioeconomic impact on the international trade of animal and swine products. The early detection of the disease is often hampered by inadequate surveillance. Among the surveillance strategies used, passive surveillance of wild boars is considered the most effective method for controlling the African swine fever virus (ASFV). Otherwise, the design of a sufficiently sensitive ASF surveillance system requires a solid understanding of the epidemiology related to the local eco-social context, especially in the absence of virus detection. Even if the number of carcasses needed to demonstrate ASF eradication has been established, the scientific context lacks detail compared to protocols applied in the active search for wild boar carcasses. The aim of this study was to describe the protocol applied in the active search for carcasses, providing detailed information on the number of people and dogs as well as the amount of time and space used within the Mediterranean area. Using a specific tool developed to record, trace, and share field data (the GAIA observer app), a total of 33 active searches for wild boar carcasses were organized during 2021-2023. Most of these searches were planned to find carcasses that had previously been reported by hunters. A total of 24 carcasses were found, with only 2 carcasses not previously reported. The final protocol applied involved four people, with an average speed of 1.5 km/h. When a carcass had been previously reported, about 2 km of distance had to be covered in about 1.5 h to find the carcass, and even less time was spent when a dog (untrained) was present. In conclusion, it can be stated that, when searching for carcasses, solid collaboration with local hunters or other forest visitors is necessary to ensure carcasses are reported. The process involves small groups of experts actively searching for carcasses, possibly with the use of hunting dogs without special training. The data presented could be of valid support for those countries characterized by Mediterranean vegetation that are faced with the need to plan active carcass searches.

Thalassemia prevention: Religious and cultural barriers to premarital screening in Bangladesh.

Thalassemia prevention: Religious and cultural barriers to premarital screening in Bangladesh.

Seasonal Variations of Milk Composition of Sarda and Saanen Dairy Goats

Traditionally, in Mediterranean areas the goat population was composed of autochthonous breeds with strong milk production seasonality. In the last decades, high productive alpine breeds were introduced together with more widespread out-of-season milk production practices. This study is a large-scale survey on the seasonal variations of the main compositional characteristics of goat milk obtained from Sarda and Saanen breeds reared on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (Italy). Analysis of data indicated that milk from the Sarda breed was significantly richer, at p < 0.001, in protein, fat, and lactose, and had a lower urea mean content than Saanen. Throughout the year, fluctuations of mean contents of the milk parameters were similar for the two groups of goats, indicating that, besides genetic intrinsic differences, climate and herbage growth influenced the Sarda as well as the Saanen goats. During the summer, milk from Saanen showed a marked drop in fat and protein contents, with 21% of samples showing a fat-to-protein ratio <1. No significant differences were found for the somatic cell count; however, the Sarda breed showed a higher bacterial count, suggesting improper milk handling and/or storage equipment more frequently encountered in extensive and semi-extensive farm systems.

Incorporating the visibility analysis of fire lookouts for old-growth wood fire risk reduction in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia

Sardinia is subject to many fire events each year. A visibility analysis of old-growth woods from the network of fire lookouts was performed; the visibility of fires from lookouts and the level of old-growthness of woods were then implemented to the common information of wildfire hazard maps to obtain a vulnerability map. The results show that 78% of Sardinian old-growth woods are visible from lookouts and that 99% of them fall into the network of protected areas. However, old-growth woods are unevenly protected from fires, with visibility coverages ranging from 40% in the Sulcis macro-area to 100% in others. Compared with the wildfire hazard map, the vulnerability map led to different outputs in terms of fire protection prioritization, allowing better risk assessment and improved fire control planning. The integration of other parameters into wildfire hazard maps is a replicable focus-oriented approach that might be tested in other contexts.

Amphibioplanidae: a new branch and family on the phylogenetic tree of the triclad flatworms (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida), represented by a species from Sardinian caves with a remarkable lifestyle

AbstractIn this study we document the phylogenetic position and the anatomical and ecological characteristics of a new taxon of cave-dwelling triclad flatworms. This species from the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (Italy) forms a separate branch on the phylogenetic tree of the planarians for which we proposed a new genus and placed it in a new family. Molecular analysis reveals a sister-group relationship between this new family, Amphibioplanidae, and the family Dimarcusidae of the suborder Cavernicola, together constituting the sister-group of the suborder Maricola. The new species Amphibioplana onnisi Stocchino & Sluys, sp. nov. is slender and furnished with an epidermis that is abundantly and uniformly provided with cilia and rhabdites. The pharynx presents an oesophageal projection pointing into the pharynx lumen. Ovaries are located far behind the brain. A relatively long common oviduct opens into the diverticulum of the bursal canal. The probursal copulatory bursa is lined with a highly vacuolated, syncytial epithelium. The habitat of this species is formed by groundwater in microcrevices of the epikarst and temporary cave pools, but the animals can survive in a basically terrestrial environment, thus exhibiting an amphibious lifestyle. Some tentative scenarios are discussed for the evolution of the new taxon and for the presence of the new species in three separate caves in Sardinia.

Water and ancient cities: Urban supply systems

Water supply is widely recognized as one of the greatest challenges to urban living today. Whether negotiating shortage or excess, securing and sustaining a reliable supply of water for human consumption, health and sanitation, processing and manufacturing of goods, and all other aspects of life is a complex undertaking in urban contexts. To complicate provision even further, sources and resources of water are diverse, change over time, and interact with and are influenced by complex biophysical and cultural processes. People have been living in cities for millennia and across very different environments: from the earliest urban centers of the Near Eastern arid lands to the market towns growing along waterways and wetlands of northern Europe to mention but two profoundly different cases. How did ancient cities obtain water? What was water needed for? To inform these questions, we have curated a collection of articles that address how ancient urban societies have dealt with water, securing supply and negotiating changes over time across a wide spectrum of cultures, environments, and periods of time. Within the wide range of articles offered by WIREs Water to date, our selection currently presents case studies that illustrate different regional and cultural contexts for two main reasons. First, we want to illustrate the sheer diversity and complexity of past water–city interactions, with a focus on the creativity, dynamism, and flexibility expressed by historical water supply systems. Second, we aim to expose some of the links between opportunities and challenges shaping the water–city interplay over the long term. In our globalized world, urban living is characterized by increasing speed in the way we operate, relate to our surroundings, and satisfy our needs. Modern urban water supply is largely dependent on pipeline provisioning for fast and reliable delivery. While this collection does not explore the contribution of historical developments to issues concerning present and future urban water systems, we hope that the articles presented will inspire thinking beyond our times and reflecting on how past urban societies have secured water provision over the long term. Featuring profoundly different historical developments, the case studies in this collection illustrate some general threads running across three main topics. Local environmental conditions have played a critical role not only in shaping approaches to and maintenance of past water management strategies but also in the spatial organization of the urban settlement. For the same services, chiefly water supply to the urban population, ancient societies developed adaptive strategies that appear tailored to their environments. This is clearly demonstrated in the examples from Mesopotamia (Altaweel, 2019) and Mesoamerica (Chase & Cesaretti, 2018; Mejía Ramón & Johnson, 2019) that show how water supply was organized across urban landscapes, whereby conditions in the hinterlands had direct implications for the central areas and vice versa. A second main theme emerging from this collection is the sheer diversity of strategies used by past societies to secure water and negotiate scarcity or excess and conditional changes in social, environmental, and economic development. Firmly embedded and operating within urban landscapes, as illustrated above, ancient cities had several, often integrated ways to tap water from multiple sources and distribute it. We tend to consider rainfall as the main, if not the only, source of water for cities that have no immediate access to freshwater (surface) bodies. However, there are ample examples of past water systems integrating the management of groundwater reserves, water catchment stability, and soil moisture together with capturing and storing technologies to secure water supply for subsistence, food production, and resource processing. This is particularly well illustrated by examples from the Jordan desert (Raja & Lichtenberger, 2019), the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (Cespa, 2018), and Scandinavia (Poulsen & Gundersen, 2019) where ancient urban societies turned challenges into opportunities by developing a wide range of waterworks and solutions. A third, equally important aspect concerns how water availability, management, and changes shape societal power structures, behaviors, and belief systems. Control over, and access to, water determines the survival of people, species, and habitats, as we learn from the ancient cities in pre-Columbian North America (Baires, 2015), Maya Belize (Lucero, Harrison, Larmon, Nissen, & Benson, 2016) and medieval south Italy (Jäckh, 2019), where urban water availability and provision are intertwined with wealth, power, and prestige. These case studies show the intangible, often hidden influence of water on cultures, processes of decision-making and social relations, and the underlying mechanisms of adaptation in urban contexts. Water and Urban Landscapes Managing Urban Water Valuing Water and Urban Cultures

Genetic history from the Middle Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia

The island of Sardinia has been of particular interest to geneticists for decades. The current model for Sardinia’s genetic history describes the island as harboring a founder population that was established largely from the Neolithic peoples of southern Europe and remained isolated from later Bronze Age expansions on the mainland. To evaluate this model, we generate genome-wide ancient DNA data for 70 individuals from 21 Sardinian archaeological sites spanning the Middle Neolithic through the Medieval period. The earliest individuals show a strong affinity to western Mediterranean Neolithic populations, followed by an extended period of genetic continuity on the island through the Nuragic period (second millennium BCE). Beginning with individuals from Phoenician/Punic sites (first millennium BCE), we observe spatially-varying signals of admixture with sources principally from the eastern and northern Mediterranean. Overall, our analysis sheds light on the genetic history of Sardinia, revealing how relationships to mainland populations shifted over time.

Surveillance and control of African Swine Fever in free-ranging pigs in Sardinia.

SUMMARYAfrican swine fever (ASF) is a notifiable infectious disease, caused by the ASF virus (ASFV), which is a DNA virus belonging to the family Asfarviridae, genus Asfivirus. This disease has gained importance in the last decade after its spread in several countries in Eastern and Central Europe, and more recently, in China. Despite the efforts made to eradicate it, ASF is still present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (Italy) and has been since 1978. ASF risk factors on the island have been analysed in previous studies; the role of free‐ranging pigs in virus persistence has been suggested, but has not been fully elucidated. The most recent eradication plan provides more stringent measures to combat free‐ranging pigs and any kind of illegality in the pig sector. From December 2017 to June 2018, a total of 29 depopulation actions were performed in 13 municipalities in central Sardinia, during which 2,281 free‐ranging pigs were culled and more than 50% of them were tested for ASFV and antibody presence (1,218 and 1,416, respectively). A total of 651 pigs were seropositive, with a mean seroprevalence of 53.4% (CI 95% = 50.6–56.3), and 38 were ASFV positive (virus prevalence = 2.6%; CI 95% = 2.1–3.0). To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to provide a complete evaluation of this millennial system of pig farming and ASFV prevalence in free‐ranging pigs. Furthermore, it has emphasised the necessity of combining the maintenance of an epidemiological surveillance program with continuous education of farmers and other people involved in pig husbandry, based on cultural and economic aspects.

The First Mitogenome of the Cyprus Mouflon (Ovis gmelini ophion): New Insights into the Phylogeny of the Genus Ovis.

Sheep are thought to have been one of the first livestock to be domesticated in the Near East, thus playing an important role in human history. The current whole mitochondrial genome phylogeny for the genus Ovis is based on: the five main domestic haplogroups occurring among sheep (O. aries), along with molecular data from two wild European mouflons, three urials, and one argali. With the aim to shed some further light on the phylogenetic relationship within this genus, the first complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a Cypriot mouflon (O. gmelini ophion) is here reported. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using a dataset of whole Ovis mitogenomes as well as D-loop sequences. The concatenated sequence of 28 mitochondrial genes of one Cypriot mouflon, and the D-loop sequence of three Cypriot mouflons were compared to sequences obtained from samples representatives of the five domestic sheep haplogroups along with samples of the extant wild and feral sheep. The sample included also individuals from the Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Corsica hosting remnants of the first wave of domestication that likely went then back to feral life. The divergence time between branches in the phylogenetic tree has been calculated using seven different calibration points by means of Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood inferences. Results suggest that urial (O. vignei) and argali (O. ammon) diverged from domestic sheep about 0.89 and 1.11 million years ago (MYA), respectively; and dates the earliest radiation of domestic sheep common ancestor at around 0.3 MYA. Additionally, our data suggest that the rise of the modern sheep haplogroups happened in the span of time between six and 32 thousand years ago (KYA). A close phylogenetic relationship between the Cypriot and the Anatolian mouflon carrying the X haplotype was detected. The genetic distance between this group and the other ovine haplogroups supports the hypothesis that it may be a new haplogroup never described before. Furthermore, the updated phylogenetic tree presented in this study determines a finer classification of ovine species and may help to classify more accurately new mitogenomes within the established haplogroups so far identified.

Sardinian Obsidian Circulation and Early Maritime Navigation in the Neolithic as Shown Through Social Network Analysis

ABSTRACTScholars typically argue that cultural interaction between the West Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Corsica and the European mainland took place through the Tuscan Archipelago, via such intermediary islands as Elba and Pianosa. This path is posited as the prime route in and out of these islands for both people and objects throughout prehistory largely due to the belief that early—pre-sail—seafarers would have wished to avoid more treacherous open-sea voyages. This article tests this hypothesis using social network analysis (SNA) to identify the strengths of inter-site relationships through time based on the relative proportions of West Mediterranean obsidian raw materials at 79 Neolithic sites dating from the sixth to fourth millennia BC. We argue that similar patterns of obsidian consumption reflect similar procurement mechanisms and the likelihood of more frequent interactions between the people of these communities. As such, it becomes possible to reconstruct the relationships that mediated the distribution of obsidian across the landscape. Contrary to previous interpretations highlighting the role of Elba and Pianosa in the exchange of obsidian from the geological sources of Sardinia along the coast to northern Italy and France, our results suggest that obsidian also took a more direct open-sea path upwards of 200 km from Corsica to the coastal regions of Provence and Languedoc in southern France. These results are contextualized within broader patterns of obsidian circulation and use and have important implications for debates surrounding Neolithic obsidian procurement, exchange spheres, and early maritime navigation.

A patient carrying a homozygous p.A382T TARDBP missense mutation shows a syndrome including ALS, extrapyramidal symptoms, and FTD

We have recently published data showing that a founder mutation of the TARDBP gene (p.A382T) accounts for approximately one third of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) cases on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (Chiò et al., 2011). In that report, we identified a 53-year-old man carrying a homozygous A382T missense mutation of the TARDBP gene with a complex neurological syndrome including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, parkinsonian features, motor and vocal tics, and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Due to the uniqueness of this case, here we provide a detailed clinical description, as well as neurophysiological, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging data for that case and his extended family.

DNA Study Gets a Snip Closer to Understanding Personality

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessDNA Study Gets a Snip Closer to Understanding PersonalityJoan Arehart-TreichelJoan Arehart-TreichelSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:6 Aug 2010https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.45.15.psychnews_45_15_024AbstractSome 4,000 individuals living on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia have a special claim to fame in the world of psychiatric genetics.They are a genetically homogenous population and thus ideal for gene hunts. They also agreed to participate in what appears to be the first genomewide association study to identify genes undergirding the major personality traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness identified by the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, and they were willing to provide blood samples for DNA analysis.This vigorous older man who lives on Sardinia is one of the many individuals on the island who agreed to participate in the study looking for genes underpinning the five big personality traits.Credit: Antonio Terracciano, Ph.D., et al.The researchers were headed by Antonio Terracciano, Ph.D., a staff scientist at the U.S. National Institute on Aging. They looked to see whether they could find genomewide significant associations between some of the snips of genetic material taken from subjects' DNA and the personality dimensions of interest. Unfortunately they could not, they reported in the June Molecular Psychiatry. Nonetheless, they did identify a handful of snips that might contribute to these traits.For example, a snip from chromosome 20 called SNAP25 was linked with neuroticism. SNAP25 had already been linked with mood disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and schizophrenia.A snip located close to the gene that codes for brain-derived neurotrophic factor was associated with extraversion. This was the most surprising finding, Terracciano told Psychiatric News, because they had expected it to be linked with neuroticism, not extraversion, as some previous studies had found. Nonetheless, “the finding has been corroborated in other samples,” he said.The strongest link was found between a snip called rs644148 and the personality trait of openness. This snip was linked to extraversion as well. This snip is not from any known gene, and its function is unknown.Several snips of genetic material located within or close to the CLOCK gene were linked with the personality trait of agreeableness. This was perhaps the most interesting finding, Terracciano and his group indicated, because the CLOCK gene is known to influence circadian rhythms and has been coupled with sleep and mood disorders.As for the personality trait of conscientiousness, it was associated with snips located within a gene on chromosome 21 called the DYRK1A gene. This gene is also known to be overly expressed in the brains of subjects with Down syndrome and to influence beta-amyloid production in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's. However, the reason why a conscientiousness-related gene might play a role in Down syndrome or Alzheimer's is far from clear, the researchers acknowledged.“Our findings and those of other genome-wide association studies are unlikely to have immediately translational impact,” Terracciano told Psychiatric News, “but they suggest a role of specific and often novel genetic variants in complex traits and diseases. These common genetic variants are [also] useful in pointing to biological pathways or genes that might harbor rarer variants with larger effects in a few families. It is also conceivable that they could be points of intervention by modifications in environmental factors or eventually in pharmaceutical products; but this is a distant prospect.”The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and NARSAD.An abstract of “Genome-Wide Association Scan for Five Major Dimensions of Personality” is posted at <www.nature.com/mp/journal/v15/n6/abs/mp2008113a.html>. ISSUES NewArchived

Satyrinae butterflies from Sardinia and Corsica show a kaleidoscopic intraspecific biogeography (Lepidoptera, Nymphlidae)

The Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Corsica are known for their multitude of endemics. Butterflies in particular have received much attention. However, no comprehensive studies aiming to compare populations of butterflies from Sardinia and Corsica with those from the neighbouring mainland and Sicily have been carried out. In the present study, the eleven Satyrinae species inhabiting Sardinia and Corsica islands were examined and compared with continental and Sicilian populations by means of geometric morphometrics of male genitalia. Relative warp computation, discriminant analyses, hierarchical clustering, and cross-validation tests were used to identify coherent distributional patterns including both islands and mainland populations. The eleven species showed multifaceted distributional patterns, although three main conclusions can be drawn: (1) populations from North Africa and Spain are generally different from those belonging to the Italian Peninsula; (2) populations from Sardinia and Sicily often resemble the North Africa/Spain ones; Corsica shows transitional populations similar to those from France; and (3) sea barriers represent filters to dispersal, although their efficacy appears to be unrelated to their extension. Indeed, the short sea straits between Sardinia and Corsica and between Sicily and the Italian Peninsula revealed a strong effectiveness with respect to preventing faunal exchanges; populations giving onto sea channels between Corsica and Northern Italy and between Sicily and Tunisia showed a higher similarity. A comparison of island and mainland distributions of the eleven taxa have helped to unravel the complex co-occurrence of historical factors, refugial dynamics, and recent (post-glacial) dispersal with respect to shaping the populations of Mediterranean island butterflies. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 100, 195–212.

The birth of a Trichinella britovi focus on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia (Italy)

For 60 years, the islands of the Mediterranean basin were considered to be Trichinella-free. In April 2005, an outbreak of human trichinellosis due to the consumption of infected pork involved 11 persons in the villages of Orgosolo and Lanusei (Nuoro province) on the island of Sardinia (Italy). We conducted an investigation to identify free-range and backyard pigs and other humans with Trichinella infection in the area of the 2005 outbreak. We also tested wild animals from various parts of Sardinia. In December 2005, eight persons were found to have been infected, and in May 2007 there was a single case of infection. The sources of all infections were domestic pigs. Artificial digestion of muscle samples from 681 pigs (325 free-range and 356 backyard pigs) revealed Trichinella sp. larvae in four sows (1.2%). All larvae, including those from the consumed pork products, were identified as Trichinella britovi. All infected pigs originated from the Orgosolo municipality. None of the 6188 wild boars (Sus scrofa) or 13 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) examined were positive for Trichinella sp., suggesting that this parasite is restricted to free-range pigs. The origin of infected animals on Sardinia remains to be determined, although it could be related to the presence of T. britovi-infected animals on the island of Corsica (France).

Genetic loci linked to Type 1 Diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis families in Sardinia

BackgroundThe Mediterranean island of Sardinia has a strikingly high incidence of the autoimmune disorders Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Furthermore, the two diseases tend to be co-inherited in the same individuals and in the same families. These observations suggest that some unknown autoimmunity variant with relevant effect size could be fairly common in this founder population and could be detected using linkage analysis.MethodsTo search for T1D and MS loci as well as any that predispose to both diseases, we performed a whole genome linkage scan, sequentially genotyping 593 microsatellite marker loci in 954 individuals distributed in 175 Sardinian families. In total, 413 patients were studied; 285 with T1D, 116 with MS and 12 with both disorders. Model-free linkage analysis was performed on the genotyped samples using the Kong and Cox logarithm of odds (LOD) score statistic.ResultsIn T1D, aside from the HLA locus, we found four regions showing a lod-score ≥1; 1p31.1, 6q26, 10q21.2 and 22q11.22. In MS we found three regions showing a lod-score ≥1; 1q42.2, 18p11.21 and 20p12.3. In the combined T1D-MS scan for shared autoimmunity loci, four regions showed a LOD >1, including 6q26, 10q21.2, 20p12.3 and 22q11.22. When we typed more markers in these intervals we obtained suggestive evidence of linkage in the T1D scan at 10q21.2 (LOD = 2.1), in the MS scan at 1q42.2 (LOD = 2.5) and at 18p11.22 (LOD = 2.6). When all T1D and MS families were analysed jointly we obtained suggestive evidence in two regions: at 10q21.1 (LOD score = 2.3) and at 20p12.3 (LOD score = 2.5).ConclusionThis suggestive evidence of linkage with T1D, MS and both diseases indicates critical chromosome intervals to be followed up in downstream association studies.