Background: Throughout pregnancy maternal adipose tissue is metabolically active, producing adipocytokines involved in the process of insulin resistance. We explored the role of serum adipocytokines, including the newly identified adipocytokine visfatin, in the process of insulin resistance in normal pregnancy. Methods: We examined 80 pregnant nonobese, nondiabetic white women during the 3 trimesters of pregnancy. All study participants underwent anthropometric measurements, adipocytokine evaluation, and a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test. Homeostasis mathematical model assessment (HOMA-R), insulin sensitivity index (ISI), and indices of ␤-cell secretion were calculated. Results: Maternal weight, percentage total body fat, hip circumference, and indices of ␤-cell secretion increased significantly during the 3 trimesters, and HOMA-R and ISI increased and decreased, respectively, in the 3rd trimester. During early pregnancy, insulin resistance, ␤-cell secretion, and weight correlated positively with leptin. During the 1st trimester, visfatin correlated negatively with percentage

Algal habitat-forming forests composed of fucalean brown seaweeds (Cystoseira, Ericaria, and Gongolaria) have severely declined along the Mediterranean coasts, endangering the maintenance of essential ecosystem services. Numerous factors determine the loss of these assemblages and operate at different spatial scales, which must be identified to plan conservation and restoration actions. To explore the critical stressors (natural and anthropogenic) that may cause habitat degradation, we investigated (a) the patterns of variability of fucalean forests in percentage cover (abundance) at three spatial scales (location, forest, transect) by visual estimates and or photographic sampling to identify relevant spatial scales of variation, (b) the correlation between semi-quantitative anthropogenic stressors, individually or cumulatively (MA-LUSI index), including natural stressors (confinement, sea urchin grazing), and percentage cover of functional groups (perennial, semi-perennial) at forest spatial scale. The results showed that impacts from mariculture and urbanization seem to be the main stressors affecting habitat-forming species. In particular, while mariculture, urbanization, and cumulative anthropogenic stress negatively correlated with the percentage cover of perennial fucalean species, the same stressors were positively correlated with the percentage cover of the semi-perennial Cystoseira compressa and C. compressa subsp. pustulata. Our results indicate that human impacts can determine spatial patterns in these fragmented and heterogeneous marine habitats, thus stressing the need of carefully considering scale-dependent ecological processes to support conservation and restoration.

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Management of nutrient inputs and usage of nuisance biomass as feedstock for bioenergy may be the solution of coastal lagoons eutrophication. We studied the species composition, photosynthetic pigments (Chl-a and Chl-c) and performance (OJIP-kinetics and JIP-test parameters), biochemistry (lipids and carbohydrates composition), and hydrogen production potential of Limnoraphis (Lyngbya) nuisance biomass collected from Lafri lagoon (1.24 km2) in Greece. The results showed that the removal of algal biomass from Lafri lagoon before its sedimentation, characterized by low Fν/Fm (0.42) and PItotal (2.67) values, and transfer of this in a simple, closed bioreactor, has the potential to produce hydrogen (H2), a renewable CO2-neutral energy that can directly be converted into electricity. The free carbohydrates of the lagoon water and that from the algal cells (42g glucose analogs per m3) could be also transferred to alcohols (biofuels), while the rest of the biomass could be used as organic fertilizer. The total lipid content (2.51%) of dry biomass composed primarily by palmitic acid was low. However, the presence of eicosapentaenoic (3.5%), and docosahexaenoic (1.7%), polyunsaturated fatty acids is worth mentioning. By harvesting and conversion of this coastal lagoon nuisance algal biomass to energy or other products, one could improve its water quality and, therefore, biodiversity and fish production; that is a sustainable solution of eutrophication necessary for the ongoing climatic change.