Evaluating the impact of hydrometeorological conditions on E. coli concentration in farmed mussels and clams: experience in Central Italy.

Highly populated coastal environments receive large quantities of treated and untreated wastewater from human and industrial sources. Bivalve molluscs accumulate and retain contaminants, and their analysis provides evidence of past contamination. Rivers and precipitation are major routes of bacteriological pollution from surface or sub-surface runoff flowing into coastal areas.

Heavy Metals Contamination in Shellfish: Benefit-Risk Evaluation in Central Italy.

Seafood is a source of nutrients in human diet but also of environmental contaminants and its consumption could pose a risk to consumers' health. A survey regarding the exposure to cadmium, lead and mercury through the consumption of bivalve mollusks, gastropods and sea urchins collected on Italian coasts was carried out among central Italian population over a period of three years. A limited number of samples exceeds the threshold set by legislation (6 samples) and the average level of contamination was low in all the species considered.

Microbial assemblages for environmental quality assessment: Knowledge, gaps and usefulness in the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC (MSFD) defines a framework for Community actions in the field of marine environmental policy in order to achieve and/or maintain the Good Environmental Status (GES) of the European seas by 2020. Microbial assemblages (from viruses to microbial-sized metazoa) provide a major contribution to global biodiversity and play a crucial role in the functioning of marine ecosystems, but are largely ignored by the MSFD. Prokaryotes are only seen as "microbial pathogens," without defining their role in GES indicators.

Effects of high temperature and exposure to air on mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis, Lmk 1819) hemocyte phagocytosis: modulation of spreading and oxidative response.

Hemocytes are a critical component of the mussel defense system and the present study aims at investigating their spreading and oxidative properties during phagocytosis under in vivo experimental stress conditions. The spreading ability was measured by an automated cell analyzer on the basis of the circularity, a parameter corresponding to the hemocyte roundness. The oxidative activity was investigated by micromethod assay, measuring the respiratory burst as expression of the fluorescence generated by the oxidation of specific probe.