Optimized and Scalable Precoating-Free Reprogramming of Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells into iPSCs.

Human disease modeling has been profoundly transformed by the introduction of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), marking the onset of a new era. This ground-breaking development offers a tailored framework for generating pluripotent cells from any individual, effectively enabling the development of cellular models for the study of human physiology and diseases on an unprecedented scale. Although technologies for iPSCs generation have advanced rapidly over the past two decades, protocols for reprogramming patient-derived somatic cells into stem cells still pose a major challenge for the development of automated pipelines capable of generating iPSCs at scales that are cost-effective, reproducible, and easy to implement.

The emergence of social soft skill needs in the post COVID-19 era.

Social soft skills are crucial for workers to perform their tasks, yet it is hard to train people on them and to readapt their skill set when needed. In the present work, we analyze the possible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on social soft skills in the context of Italian occupations related to 88 economic sectors and 14 age groups. We leverage detailed information coming from ICP (i.

Lack of the transcription factor Nfix causes tachycardia in mice sinus node and rats neonatal cardiomyocytes.

Aims: Nfix is a transcription factor belonging to the Nuclear Factor I (NFI) family comprising four members (Nfia, b, c, x). Nfix plays important roles in the development and function of several organs. In muscle development, Nfix controls the switch from embryonic to fetal myogenesis by promoting fast twitching fibres.

Author Correction: Plant recording across two centuries reveals dramatic changes in species diversity of a Mediterranean archipelago.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Exploring patterns of beta-diversity to test the consistency of biogeographical boundaries: A case study across forest plant communities of Italy.

Aim: To date, despite their great potential biogeographical regionalization models have been mostly developed on descriptive and empirical bases. This paper aims at applying the beta-diversity framework on a statistically representative data set to analytically test the consistency of the biogeographical regionalization of Italian forests.

Location: Italy.

Optical Investigation of Action Potential and Calcium Handling Maturation of hiPSC-Cardiomyocytes on Biomimetic Substrates.

Cardiomyocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC-CMs) are the most promising human source with preserved genetic background of healthy individuals or patients. This study aimed to establish a systematic procedure for exploring development of hiPSC-CM functional output to predict genetic cardiomyopathy outcomes and identify molecular targets for therapy. Biomimetic substrates with microtopography and physiological stiffness can overcome the immaturity of hiPSC-CM function.

Generation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (EURACi001-A, EURACi002-A, EURACi003-A) from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of three patients carrying mutations in the CAV3 gene.

Caveolinopathies are a heterogeneous family of genetic pathologies arising from alterations of the caveolin-3 gene (CAV3), encoding for the isoform specifically constituting muscle caveolae. Here, by reprogramming peripheral blood mononuclear cells, we report the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from three patients carrying the ΔYTT deletion, T78K and W101C missense mutations in caveolin-3. iPSCs displayed normal karyotypes and all the features of pluripotent stem cells in terms of morphology, specific marker expression and ability to differentiate in vitro into the three germ layers.

Plant recording across two centuries reveals dramatic changes in species diversity of a Mediterranean archipelago.

Although islands are model systems for investigating assembly of biological communities, long-term changes in archipelago communities are not well understood because of the lack of reliable data. By using a vast amount of floristic data we assembled a dataset of the plant species occurring on 16 islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, Italy, across two periods, 1830-1950 and 1951-2015. We collected 10,892 occurrence records for 1,831 species.

The Influence of Vegetation and Landscape Structural Connectivity on Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea and Hesperiidae), Carabids (Coleoptera: Carabidae), Syrphids (Diptera: Syrphidae), and Sawflies (Hymenoptera: Symphyta) in Northern Italy Farmland.

Landscape structure as well as local vegetation influence biodiversity in agroecosystems. A study was performed to evaluate the effect of floristic diversity, vegetation patterns, and landscape structural connectivity on butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea and Hesperiidae), carabids (Coleoptera: Carabidae), syrphids (Diptera: Syrphidae), and sawflies (Hymenoptera: Symphyta). Vegetation analysis and insect samplings were carried out in nine sites within an intensively farmed landscape in northern Italy.

Effect of oenological practices on microbial populations using culture-independent techniques.

Sulphur dioxide (SO(2)) addition and yeast inoculation are well-established practices in winemaking for restricting the growth of indigenous yeasts and bacterial populations. The effect of these oenological practices on wine microbial populations has been evaluated using culture-independent methods. These are quantitative PCR (qPCR) for the enumeration of yeasts, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and acetic acid bacteria (AAB), and PCR-DGGE to determine the yeast and bacteria species diversity.

Diversity of lactic acid bacteria population in ripened Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

The diversity of dominant lactic acid bacteria population in 12 months ripened Parmigiano Reggiano cheeses was investigated by a polyphasic approach including culture-dependent and independent methods. Traditional plating, isolation of LAB and identification by 16S rDNA analysis showed that strains belonging to Lactobacillus casei group were the most frequently isolated. Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp.

Application of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis to evaluate acetic acid bacteria in traditional balsamic vinegar.

Acetic acid bacteria (AAB) are fastidious micro-organisms to isolate and cultivate despite of the great number of growth media available. Moreover, conventional techniques used to study AAB populations are time consuming and not completely reliable. In this study, we tested the usefulness of the polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electophoresis (PCR-DGGE) as a rapid and cost effective method for the screening of AAB in traditional balsamic vinegar (TBV).