Background: Eubacterium rectale is one of the most prevalent human gut bacteria, but its diversity and population genetics are not well understood because large-scale whole-genome investigations of this microbe have not been carried out. Results: Here, we leverage metagenomic assembly followed by a reference-based binning strategy to screen over 6500 gut metagenomes spanning geography and lifestyle and reconstruct over 1300 E. rectale high-quality genomes from metagenomes. We extend previous results of biogeographic stratification, identifying a new subspecies predominantly found in African individuals and showing that closely related non-human primates do not harbor E. rectale. Comparison of pairwise genetic and geographic distances between subspecies suggests that isolation by distance and co-dispersal with human populations might have contributed to shaping the contemporary population structure of E. rectale. We confirm that a relatively recently diverged E. rectale subspecies specific to Europe consistently lacks motility operons and that it is immotile in vitro, probably due to ancestral genetic loss. The same subspecies exhibits expansion of its carbohydrate metabolism gene repertoire including the acquisition of a genomic island strongly enriched in glycosyltransferase genes involved in exopolysaccharide synthesis. Conclusions: Our study provides new insights into the population structure and ecology of E. rectale and shows that shotgun metagenomes can enable population genomics studies of microbiota members at a resolution and scale previously attainable only by extensive isolate sequencing.

This article explores the experiences of young people of Chinese background in Prato (Italy). Despite significant social exclusion, young Chinese develop a sense of belonging to Prato by creating local, translocal and transnational affiliations and interconnections. These relationships contribute to making an often overtly hostile local reality, liveable and meaningful. A central aim of this article is to examine the intersection between migration studies and youth studies. The former tend to focus on the processes of identity formation featuring ethnic background, hence the label 'second generation'. In contrast, the latter tend to foreground age-and generation-specific practices of belonging that may extend beyond ethnic identification, hence the focus on 'youth'. We argue that bringing migration and youth studies togetherby complicating notions of home and host, migrant and local identity and belonginghelps us to better understand how young people are managing multiplicity and mobility (and situatedness and stasis/fixity).

a b s t r a c tIn the literature, hope has been mainly analyzed as an emotional state linked to temporality. This stance has prompted criticism of hope as projecting promises, which may never be fulfilled, into an indefinite future. Whilst this is partly true, this paper aims to enlarge previous approaches by illustrating hope's connection with spatiality. The paper examines 'hope' among Italian families of Ecuadorian origin, through analysis of affective states produced by the place to which they have migrated. Hope emerges as a dynamic relation between the resources one has and the place one is in. The spatial dimension of hope mitigates criticisms of its evanescence; the paper emphasizes the political aspects of hope as a resource for migrants to realize their agency and interact with the world.

Based on an ethnographic study conducted in both biomedical and complementary and alternative medicine settings in north Italy, I explore how people and practitioners make sense of allergy and how patients utilize plural healing options. Despite a wide range of medical modalities, people categorize and use medicine according to whether they are 'natural' or 'not-natural,' thus dissolving any potential confusion between diverse therapies. I analyze how the concept of naturalness relates to allergy and medical pluralism. Nature is perceived as opposed to pollution, the first associated with a reassuring and idealized past and the latter to a modernity riddled with uncertainties. Participants associated a diverse set of meanings with nature, permitting them the syncretism of different medical modalities. Medical pluralism in the study area is an uneven platform for discussion and experimentation, the outcome of historical and cultural context and local entanglements of power.

This paper explores the meaning and mechanics of belonging with a particular focus on the role of place and place-making. It explores the ways people come to achieve a sense of belonging with reference to recent theoretical treatments of place, territory, and mobility. We ground our discussion in analysis of an ethnographic case of Ecuadorian families who have migrated to Trentino in northern Italy. Most families miss the social relationships and places they left behind, but have decided to stay permanently in Italy, giving up the "myth of return" (Anwar 1979). Trentino offers more opportunities in term of employment, education, and access to services than Ecuador. Yet the decision to stay in Trentino is based on more than a simple assessment of economic advantage. Participants spoke of a slowly unfolding sense of belonging to Trentino, with strong affective dimensions born of a specific attachment to the very materiality of place in Trentino. This attachment may be regarded as an assemblage of social, material and affective resonances, experiences and resources, revealing something of the place and feeling of belonging. Hence, the Ecuadorian sense of belonging does not rely on an abstract conception of cultural affiliation, nor is it a purely psychological response. Rather, belonging accrues in particular practices and material attachments. We unpack these practices by documenting the work participants put into inhabiting an unfamiliar place as "their" place, while at the same time questioning the ontological status of space.