Background Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is a rare but extremely aggressive cancer of the thyroid, contributing up to 30-40% of thyroid cancer-specific mortality. We analyzed ATC characteristics and survival rates in Sicily to evaluate the possible influence of environmental factors. With this aim, data regarding ATC incidences in urban/rural and industrial, iodine-deficient, and volcanic vs ...

New data are presented on the taxonomy and distribution of some species of Otiorhynchus Germar, subgenus Arammichnus Gozis, in Sicily. Otiorhynchus (Arammichnus) ferrarii Miller is recorded from Sicily for the first time. Three new species are described: Otiorhynchus (Arammichnus) vagans n. sp., Otiorhynchus (Arammichnus) pseudosetosulus n. sp., and Otiorhynchus (Arammichnus) adrianus n. sp. Th...

Due to their strategic geographic location between three different continents, Sicily and Southern Italy have long represented a major Mediterranean crossroad where different peoples and cultures came together over time. However, its multi-layered history of migration pathways and cultural exchanges, has made the reconstruction of its genetic history and population structure extremely controver...

Previous reports on large population groups have suggested that the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Sicily and southern Italy is low, of the order of 4-8 per 100 000. In contrast, immigrants from Italy resident in Greater London, many of whom are from southern Italy and Sicily, had a hospitalised MS prevalence similar to that found among people born in the United Kingdom (1960-72). The...

We compute S-velocity profiles of the crust across the Messina strait (Italy), the tear zone at the southern end of the Ionian subduction zone. Separating Sicily from Calabria, the Messina Strait hosted some of the strongest earthquakes to ever occur in Italy. Here, the motion of the Ionian slab with respect to Sicily creates a complex tectonic setting characterized by lithospheric tearing. We ...

Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) outbreaks were detected in Sicily island, Italy for the first time in 2002. To gain insight into the evolutionary forces driving the emergence and phylogeography of these CTV populations, we determined and analyzed the nucleotide sequences of the p20 gene from 108 CTV isolates collected from 2002 to 2009. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis revealed that mild and severe C...

BACKGROUND The steadily increasing incidence of thyroid cancer has been attributed mostly to more sensitive thyroid nodule screening. However, various environmental factors, such as those associated with volcanic areas, cannot be excluded as risk factors. We evaluated thyroid cancer incidence in Sicily, which has a homogenous population and a province (Catania) that includes the Mt Etna volcani...

Thyroid cancer (TC), the most common endocrine tumor, has steadily increased worldwide due to the increase of the papillary histotype. The reasons for this spread have not been established. In addition to more sensitive thyroid nodule screening, the effect of environmental factors cannot be excluded. Because high incidences of TC were found in volcanic areas (Hawaii and Iceland), a volcanic env...

ewline"> Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is an oilseed species, which in southern Italy iscultivated as annual during the spring-summer period under irrigation, but in mosttemperate areas such as those of eastern coast of Sicily, it could be grown as semiperennial with no irrigation, by the adoption of autumnal sowings. A fieldexperiment was conducted in southeastern Sicily with the aim of assessi...

Surnames of grandparents were collected from children in the primary schools of the Albanian-Italian, Croat-Italian and Greek-Italian villages of southern Italy and Sicily. The coefficients of relationships by isonymy show almost no relationship with ethnicity. Ethnolinguistic minorities of southern Italy and Sicily are geographically subdivided into two main clusters: the first cluster compris...