Mannara dogs have long been bred in Sicily (Italy) to work alongside shepherds as flock guardians. This study provides a morphologic, genealogic, and genomic characterisation of the dog, us...

Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, King Sicily (1208–1250). Hohenstaufen was the second king Swabian dynasty to sit on throne Sicily. He crowned in 1198, but, consideration his young age, he only ruled independently from 1208 1250 (the year death). not held title but also Germany (or Romans), Jerusalem, and, above all, Emperor Holy Roman Empire. His most relevant and innovative iconographic represen...

Examination of recent benthic material collected during several cruises in the Gulf of Cadiz (NE Atlantic) and the Strait of Sicily (Mediterranean) has allowed the taxonomic reassessment of some previously identified specimens belonging to the monogeneric gorgonian family Dendrobrachiidae Brook, 1889. Dendrobrachia fallax Brook, 1889 is the type species of the single genus in this family, and w...

This paper outlines some important aspects of modeling oceanic fronts in the context of featureoriented regional modeling for the deep sea and the Global Coastal Ocean. Previously developed forms of feature models for different types of fronts are presented in a generalized approach. The large-scale meandering frontal systems such as the Gulf Stream, Kuroshio and Brazil current can be represent...

Berberis aetnensis C. Presl (Berberidaceae) is a bushy-spiny shrub common on Mount Etna (Sicily). We demonstrated that the alkaloid extract of roots of B. aetnensis C. Presl contains prevalently berberine and berbamine, possesses antimicrobial properties, and was able to counteract the upregulation evoked by glutamate of tissue transglutaminase in primary rat astroglial cell cultures. Until now...

Background Scant reports concerning Kawasaki Disease (KD) in Sicily have been published. Aim: to collect data from a 7-year survey. Methods: the charts of children discharged with the diagnosis of KD since January 2000 to December 2007, from the paediatric Units of 5 tertiary level Hospitals in Sicily were retrospectively reviewed. Data were collected through a questionnaire; gender, age at ons...

During a three-year period, from April 2002 to May 2005, one hundred-forty-seven samples, taken from technical systems of water distribution at point of use, were repeatedly collected at six different sites in Northern Sicily and assayed for the presence of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 and serogroups 2 to 14. At the first samplings, the water distribution systems of all the sites were hea...