This work addresses the temporal dynamics of riparian vegetation in large braided rivers, exploring the relationship between vegetation erosion and flood magnitude. In particular, it investigates the existence of a threshold discharge, or a range of discharges, above which erosion of vegetated patches within the channel occurs. The research was conducted on a 14 km long reach of the Tagliamento River, a braided river in north-eastern Italy. Ten sets of aerial photographs were used to investigate vegetation dynamics in the period 1954-2011. By using different geographic information system (GIS) procedures, three aspects of geomorphic-vegetation dynamics and interactions were addressed: (i) long-term (1954-2011) channel evolution and vegetation dynamics; (ii) the relationship between vegetation erosion/establishment and flow regime; (iii) vegetation turnover, in the period 1986-2011. Results show that vegetation turnover is remarkably rapid in the study reach with 50% of in-channel vegetation persisting for less than 5-6 years and only 10% of vegetation persisting for more than 18-19 years. The analysis shows that significant vegetation erosion is determined by relatively frequent floods, i.e. floods with a recurrence interval of c. 1-2.5 years, although some differences exist between sub-reaches with different densities of vegetation cover. These findings suggest that the erosion of riparian vegetation in braided rivers may not be controlled solely by very large floods, as is the case for lower energy gravel-bed rivers. Besides flow regime, other factors seem to play a significant role for in-channel vegetation cover over long time spans. In particular, erosion of marginal vegetation, which supplies large wood elements to the channel, increased notably over the study period and was an important factor for in-channel vegetation trends.
Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic cancer and the fifth cause of cancer death in women (1). Most patients present at an advanced stage with poor survival while at early stages the long-term survival rate is close to 90% (2). There is no effective method for early diagnosis through serum markers or other means. The most common biomarker for ovarian cancer is CA 125 but it lacks sensitivity and specificity as it is elevated also in other benign and malignant clinical conditions (2).Insulin-like peptide-3 (INSL3), a recently identified member of the insulin superfamily, is synthesized in testicular Leydig cells and, although to a much lesser extent, in the theca cells of the ovary (3). A specific immunoassay for its measurement in plasma has been developed recently and it has been demonstrated that this peptide is secreted almost exclusively by Leydig cells in men, and that the plasma levels in premenopausal women are 6 to 13-fold lower than those in men (4).We recently observed a 34-year-old woman who was admitted in our clinic for dyspnea. A bilateral, poorly differentiated papillary serous ovarian carcinoma was diagnosed in April 2004 with distant metastatses (FIGO stage IV). After diagnosis the patient received chemotherapy and then underwent surgical removal of the ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes, breasts, omentum, peritoneum, spleen, and abdominal lymph nodes, which were all sites of metastatic invasion. On admission, the patient was severely dyspneic with respiratory acidosis and bilateral pleural effusion (cytologically proven as malignant); thoracic CT scan revealed multiple metastatic lesions in the lungs and pleuras. The patient died a few days after admission.In this patient CA 125 plasma levels were highly elevated. Using a specific enzymatic immunoassay we evaluated INSL3 plasma levels, which were 35-fold higher than those found in healthy premenopausal women (Tab. I). Plasma concentrations of INSL3 were determined in duplicate using an enzymatic immunoassay specific for human INSL3 (Phoenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Belmont, CA, USA). The lower detection limit of this assay is 10 pg/mL, with intra-and interassay variations of <5% and <14%, respectively.For the present study, premenopausal women were recruited among female partners of infertile couples attending our clinic because of male factor infertility; the women were healthy and had normal ovarian function. Postmenopausal women were recruited among patients admitted to our clinic because of emergencies pertaining to internal medicine. Male subjects were recruited among a group of young subjects attending our clinic because of left varicocele with normal testicular function. All subjects gave their informed consent for INSL3 plasma level evaluation (Tab. I).The elevated INSL3 plasma levels found in this ovariectomized patient with metastatic serous ovarian cancer suggest that during malignant transformation cancer cells acquired the ability to secrete this hormone, whose production in adult healthy women is negligible.To the best of our ...
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