Environmental Diagnosis through a Flow Cytometric Approach.

In an era when ecological and environmental needs and responsibilities apply pressure on the world's countries and sustainability takes centre stage, ecologic/environmental (E/E) laboratories stand as beacons of scientific inquiry, innovating, optimising, and applying various tests for a better knowledge of our natural resources and the quality status of ecosystems. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the use of flow cytometry (FC) as a tool for assessing environmental quality, mainly using living organisms and their biological changes as bioindicators. Cytometric approaches applied to both marine and terrestrial ecosystems ensure the detection of biochemical and functional status of the cells composing either an organ thereof or the organism itself.

The COVID-19 green certificate's effect on vaccine uptake in French and Italian regions.

The COVID-19 green certificates were introduced in many countries in 2021 to encourage vaccine uptake against the COVID-19 virus in order to reduce the spread of severe infection among the population, ensure the safety of cross-border movements, and facilitate the resumption of social life and economic activities. This study uses a single-group interrupted time series approach to examine the effect of the green certificate announcement on the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in 20 Italian and 18 French regions during the summer of 2021. The estimation results show that the green certificate announcement mitigated regional disparities in vaccine uptake.

Flow cytometric analysis of hepatopancreatic cells from Armadillidium vulgare highlights terrestrial isopods as efficient environmental bioindicators in ex vivo settings.

Several studies have reported the high bioindication capacity of Isopoda (Crustacea, Oniscidea), which is related to their important ability to accumulate contaminants, usefulness in soil ecotoxicology and bioindication activities. Any change in the isopod population, diversity and life cycle can indicate relevant pollution levels. The analysis of target tissues, such as the hepatopancreas, is another emerging approach (from a cytologic/histological level) to detect contaminant accumulation from different sources.

A proposal for the reference intervals of the Italian microbiota "scaffold" in healthy adults.

Numerous factors, ranging from genetics, age, lifestyle, and dietary habits to local environments, contribute to the heterogeneity of the microbiota in humans. Understanding the variability of a "healthy microbiota" is a major challenge in scientific research. The gut microbiota profiles of 148 healthy Italian volunteers were examined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing to determine the range and diversity of taxonomic compositions in the gut microbiota of healthy populations.

Italian national policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia and Umbria Regions.

Italy was the first European country to experience a huge outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and to implement various policies in order to contain the spread of the virus. This paper analyses the effects of policies implemented by the Italian government in response to the virus's spread in the first and the second wave of the pandemic. We analyze 307 municipalities of the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia and Umbria regions from 2 April 2020 to 7 February 2021.