Evaluation of the Adriatic Sea pollution using mesozooplankton as an environmental indicator.

The Adriatic Sea is an enclosed basin threatened by marine pollution due to its hydrographic features and anthropogenic pressure. Although zooplankton has been worldwide regarded as an immediate warning signal of contamination, limited information is available on the contamination of these organisms at the Adriatic level. Hence, this study provides comprehensive data on the presence and levels of multiple pollutants in zooplankton collected from 46 locations.

Freshwater Lacustrine Zooplankton and Microplastic: An Issue to Be Still Explored.

Lakes are essentially interlinked to humans as they provide water for drinking, agriculture, industrial and domestic purposes. The upsurge of plastic usage, its persistence, and potential detrimental effects on organisms cause impacts on the trophic food web of freshwater ecosystems; this issue, however, still needs to be explored. Zooplankton worldwide is commonly studied as an indicator of environmental risk in aquatic ecosystems for several pollutants.

Tumor⁻Microenvironment Interaction: Analysis of Mast Cell Populations in Normal Tissue and Proliferative Disorders of the Canine Prostate.

Mast cells (MCs) are involved in angiogenesis, tissue remodeling and immunomodulation in several human and animal tumors, although their exact role is still controversial. Since no information is available in canine prostate carcinoma (PC) and normal prostate tissues, the aims of this study were to evaluate the possible correlations between MC distribution, molecular expression and microvessel density (MVD) in normal prostatic tissue and proliferative disorders of the canine prostate. All samples (6 normal, 15 benign prostate hyperplasia-BPH, 8 PC) were stained with Toluidine Blue and immunohistochemically evaluated for tryptase, c-Kit (CD117) and CD31.

Placental CoQ10 levels in HELLP syndrome.

Oxidative stress is considered a key factor in HELLP syndrome, a severe complication of preeclampsia in pregnancy. In the present study we analysed the content of Coenzyme Q(10) (CoQ(10)), a fundamental component of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and recognized lipophilic antioxidant, in placentas from women affected by HELLP syndrome and compared them with the relative controls. Twenty-eight patients with HELLP syndrome and twenty-eight age-matched healthy pregnant controls were enrolled.

Coenzyme Q10, antioxidant status and ApoE isoforms.

The aim of this study was to inquire the antioxidant status in plasma and lipoproteins isolated from normal subjects possessing different ApoE genotypes. For this purpose we investigated blood samples from 106 healthy blood donors: the distribution of ApoE alleles (E2/E2 = 0.9%, E2/E3 = 10.