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In a view of the increased clinical interest in the presence of hormones in human milk, the objective of this study was to evaluate maternal plasma and milk cortisol levels in early puerperium and their relationship in breast-feeding in women who underwent elective cesarean section or who delivered vaginally. During the first 3 days of breast-feeding, plasma and milk cortisol levels declined significantly both in women who underwent elective cesarean section and in women who had spontaneous deliveries. Moreover, the breast-feeding procedure did not affect maternal plasma and milk hormonal levels, since no differences between the cortisol levels measured immediately before and after morning daily breast-feeding were detected. Furthermore, a very high positive correlation (p < 0.001) was found between plasma and milk cortisol concentrations. Therefore, maternal plasma cortisol levels can be considered a very reliable measure to predict the hormonal concentration in breast milk.

This paper presents the results of a sedimentological study performed to characterize the 'Bosco Pantano di Policoro e Costa Ionica Foce Sinni' coastal system, in Basilicata (southern Italy), as part of the PROVIDUNE LIFE Project. The study was focused on the morpho-sedimentological characterization of both the emerged and submerged sectors of the beach system developed along a 3.5 km-long segment of the Ionian coast. A multitemporal comparison of historical aerial photos of the studied coastline concerning the last 100 years was executed. A geomorphological survey was carried out along 36 topographic profiles (each up to 200-m long); these were coupled with bathymetric profiles, reaching a depth of 213 m. Both topographic and bathymetric profiles were measured on three occasions (July, October, December 2010). Textural and compositional analyses of sediments were also performed. The results of this study were synthesized in a series of maps illustrating a schematic geological outline of the study area, a reconstruction of the Sinni river course and shoreline changes from 1908 to 2010 (1:2,400 scale), significant topographic (1:1,300 scale) and bathymetric (1:5,000 scale) profiles, three bathymetric charts (1:31,000 scale) and morpho-sedimentological features of both the coastal and nearshore sectors (1:15,000 scale). This study provides a geological background that is crucial for any intervention planning, as well as for any coastal zone management projects. The results should be also used in order to protect coastal habitats, which is the ultimate goal of the LIFE project.

The present-day Lesina area (Adriatic coast of southern Italy) preserves in the subsurface the stratigraphic signature of a recent sedimentary process\ud regime change, which was responsible for the conversion of a former alluvial plain into a back-barrier tidal flat and, finally, into the modern barrier island.\ud Facies-based analyses of the first 55 m of the upper Pleistocene–Holocene stratigraphic record, integrated with biostratigraphic sampling, radiocarbon data,\ud and aerial observations of some diagnostic relict morphologies, allowed us to reconstruct the history of the last 20,000 years of this area. The succession\ud investigated is adjacent to a salt dome, which uplifted in recent times, forming the easternmost boundary of the present-day Lesina lagoon. Three main\ud stratigraphic intervals were detected in the subsurface: the lowermost unit is made up of conglomerates, sandstones, and mudstones of terrestrial origin,\ud belonging to a complex system of alluvial plain filling a pre-existing Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) topography. The second interval consists of sands and\ud muds, with subordinate conglomerates of brackish and marine origin, and lies on the previous one through a wide ravinement. Its composing lithofacies\ud exhibit a strong tidal signature preserved in tidal rhythmites belonging to a net of tidal channels, associated with marshes, mud flat, and lagoonal deposits.\ud These sediments record the emplacement of a back-barrier tidal flat, which developed under the strong influence of a tidal influx enhanced by the late\ud post-LGM transgression. The third uppermost interval resulted from the deposition of coastal-marine sands and gravels accumulated during the ensuing\ud modern normal regression, under the dominance of a wave-dominated coastal dynamics, which was responsible for the progradation of the present-day\ud beach barrier and the closure of the Lesina lagoon. The paleogeography of the back-barrier tidal flat preceding the onset of the modern barrier island\ud is thus reconstructed based on the results of our facies analysis, biostratigraphy, and AMS dating. Many of the elements composing this mid-Holocene\ud tide-influenced system were also interpreted from the aerial-photograph observation of several relict morphologies, which are still preserved in many\ud parts of the modern Lesina barrier island. We propose some new interpretation on the origin some of these elements, which possibly developed under\ud sedimentary process regimes different from the modern ones, including some flood-tidal deltas, previously interpreted as tsunami-derived washover fans

Along the eastern flank of the Murge, a karst plateu located in Apulia (southern Italy), the "Parco Naturale Regionale Lama Balice" ("Lama Balice" Regional Natural Park), which falls into the Metropolitan City of Bari, was established; in the Park, on a bottom surface of an abandoned quarry, several dinosaur footprints were found. The quarry develops in the Cretaceous limestones of the Calcare di Bari Fm, and shows an about 20 m thick upper Albian succession made up of carbonates and dolomites. A Research Convention stipulated between the Park authority, the University of Bari and the "Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la Città Metropolitana di Bari", allowed the access to the quarry and the study of both the stratigraphic succession and the trumpled surface.In order to investigate the outcropping succession, a stratigraphic log was realised, and 54 samples were collected. Thin sections were produced and a facies analysis was carried out by means of macroscopic feature observations and microscopic ones. Several facies were recognised allowing to attribute the studied succession to a tidal flat frequently subject to prolonged subaerial exposure. The study of the surface consisted both in an ichnological analysis of individual footprints and in the identification of potential trackways. In order to highlight the main morphological features of footprints, an ichnological survey was realised by means of interpretative drawings carried out directly in situ. Then, data were processed digitally through photos and photomosaics. The best-preserved footprints allowed us to recognize the presence of theropods, ankylosaurs, and probably sauropods. All the recognized taxa belong to small-to medium-sized dinosaurs.The presence of dinosaur footprints represents an important contribute to the knowledge of Cretaceous paleoenvironments of this sector of the Apulia Carbonate Platform corresponding to the Murge region.Interestingly, the occurrence of dinosaur footprints within a park area, located close to a large city and an airport, represents a powerful educational and cultural tool.