Earlier work explored this strategy using EEG (Brown and Lehmann, 1979, Kellenbach et al., 2002 and Pulvermüller, Mohr et al., 1999) and fMRI (Vigliocco et al. 2006) but, especially in the fMRI studies, it was not always possible to control all relevant confounds in an optimal fashion. For example, Vigliocco et al. (2006) compared Italian nouns and verbs with sensory or motor features and found a semantic-topographical but not a lexical class difference. However, a shortcoming of this study was that their Italian noun/verb stimuli shared stems but differed in their affixes (e.g.

noun “arrivo” [-O] and verb “arrivare” [-ARE]) and no stimulus matching for word length, word frequency or other lexical variables was reported. This study, as many earlier ones, did not exclude important Veliparib price psycholinguistic confounds this website which might have led differences in brain activation between nouns and verbs to be overlooked. On

the other hand, the fact that ”sensory words were judged as less familiar, acquired later, and less imageable than motor words” (Vigliocco et al., 2006, p. 1791) leaves it open whether the observed differences in brain activation between word types were due to their sensorimotor semantics or to other psycholinguistic features. It is therefore of the essence to properly address the issue of putative lexical–grammatical class differences in brain activation with these pitfalls avoided, and in particular to examine the relationship of lexical class differences to the semantic differences in brain activation reported by the aforementioned authors. The debate concerning lexical vs. semantic differences as the primary factor for

neural differentiation might be addressed with the exploration of well-matched word categories orthogonalised for semantic and lexical factors, such that the contribution ADP ribosylation factor of these factors to brain activation in specific cortical areas can be clarified. Whilst nouns and verbs have generally been investigated in the context of concrete items which refer respectively to objects and actions in the world (e.g. “door” and “speak”), they are also highly typical as abstract items generally used to speak about abstract concepts or feelings (e.g. “despair” and “suffer”, “idea” and “think”) and therefore possessing few, if any, sensorimotor associations. Using typical nouns and verbs of a concrete or abstract semantic nature, we here tested predictions of theories of lexical and semantic category representation in the human brain. The lexical–grammatical approach to category-specific local brain processes postulates that the differences in word-elicited cortical activation landscapes are best described in terms of the lexical (or grammatical) categories of nouns and verbs (Daniele et al., 1994, Miceli et al., 1988 and Miceli et al., 1984; Shapiro et al., 2000, Shapiro et al.

In the elderly other common causes for hypoperfusion of the retina are thromboembolic events [2] and [3]. As a tool for the detection of TA, high-resolution ultrasonography of the superficial temporal artery has had a significant impact, with a high positive predictive value for the diagnosis of TA (specificity of 91%). However, a missing “halo” sign, suggestive for VE821 vessel wall inflammation seen on ultrasonography, does not sufficiently rule out presence of the disease (sensitivity 68%) and, therefore, superficial temporal

artery biopsy remains the gold standard in the diagnosis of TA [4]. The differentiation of embolic versus arteritic occlusion remains a diagnostic challenge in elderly patients with ischemic optic neuropathy, because symptoms of TA, such as headache and elevation of inflammatory parameters, often coexist with significant cerebrovascular risk profiles. Additionally, depending on the cause of occlusion, different acute management strategies need to be applied

quickly to improve long-term outcomes in these patients. It is evident that we still need additional criteria Atezolizumab with high negative predictive values to exclude the presence of vasculitis. In a previously published series of patients with criteria for TA and sudden blindness, we found a hyperechoic embolic occlusion of the CRA in the area of the optic nerve head, which could be used to exclude TA; we called this a retrobulbar “spot sign” [5]. Foroozan et al. published a series of 29 patients with acute vision loss irrespective of the criteria

for TA and observed this phenomenon in 9 patients with central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) detected by retinal fluorescence angiography [6]. High-resolution Sinomenine color-coded ultrasonography can also be applied to the orbit since vitreous gel does not lead to any significant absorption of the incidental ultrasound beam. Orbital color-coded sonography (OCCS) allows detection of retrobulbar arteries and veins in addition to an assessment of orbital structures [7]. An analysis of Doppler flow spectra further aids the assessment and, to some degree the quantification, of retinal hypoperfusion due to CRA stenosis or occlusion. Normal flow velocity values within the CRA have been established previously [8]. This is the first prospective study in which patients suffering from acute vision loss due to either thromboembolic events or vasculitic changes in vessel walls were examined to identify the frequency of the “spot sign” in these specific disease patterns. We demonstrate that OCCS can be used to significantly discriminate embolic CRAO from arteritic causes of sudden ocular blindness in the elderly. The study protocol was approved by the local ethics committee at the University of Regensburg in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Patients were first seen and screened at the Department of Ophthalmology of the University Hospital Regensburg.

In an effort to increase the genomic resources and underpin future molecular investigations into this species, we have generated a transcriptome drawing on RNA from the head, skin and gastrointestinal (GI-) tract using 454 pyrosequencing. Atlantic halibut larvae were obtained from the aquaculture company Fiskeldi Eyjafjarðar Ltd. (Iceland) in December 2009. Larvae were reared in full-sea water using standard commercial procedures and normal metamorphosis was observed (Einarsdottir et al., 2006).

In brief, fertilised eggs from several spawning batches were hatched in an open system of egg incubators. Yolk sack larvae were transferred to silo-shaped (10 m3) through-flow systems in complete darkness at 5 °C until absorption of the yolk sack when they were moved to 100 l, round polyethylene start-feeding tanks containing sea-water at 10–11 °C under constant light conditions. The larvae were fed live Artemia ( Olsen click here et al., 1999) twice daily. Dead larvae were siphoned from the tanks each day and the mortality in each tank was registered. The larvae were euthanized with a lethal dose of MS-222 (50 mg·l− 1, ethyl 3-aminobenzoate methanesulfonate salt, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MAPK Inhibitor Library chemical structure USA). Photographs were taken of each larvae and developmental staging was performed using myotome height and standard length (defined in Sæle et al., 2004) and then stored individually in RNAlater (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, USA) at − 20 °C. All handling

procedures followed the European guidelines (86/609/EU). Larvae were dissected into head, GI-tract and skin at standard development stages before, during and after

metamorphic climax (n = 6 per stage). Total RNA was extracted from all tissue/stages using a Maxwell®16 Rho System (Promega, Madison, USA) and following the manufacturer’s instructions. Total RNA integrity was verified with an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyser (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, USA) and only the samples with RIN values equal to, or above 8 were used. cDNA libraries were prepared and sequenced at the Max Planck Genome Centre (Cologne, Germany), using 5 μg of total RNA obtained from a pool of 6 samples for each tissue/stage. First, the whole transcriptome was enriched by depletion of the ribosomal RNA (rRNA, 28S, 18S, 5.8S and 5S) using a RiboMinus™ Eukaryote Kit (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, USA) following the manufacturer’s instructions. Total RNA (after rRNA depletion) was used to construct sixteen cDNA libraries (head from stage 5; head, skin and GI-tract from stages 7, 8, and 9, Sæle et al., 2004; stage 9 samples were split into 3 groups, 9A, 9B and 9C to differentiate by eye position) using a cDNA Rapid Library Preparation Kit (Roche 454 Life Sciences, Branford, USA) following the manufacturer’s instructions. Each library had a unique barcode and was amplified by emulsion PCR and sequenced on the GS-FLX platform (Roche 454 Life Sciences, Branford, USA). 6,091,832 raw sequence reads (.

Thiamine diphosphate is the active form and serves

as a co‐factor to several enzymes involved primarily in carbohydrate catabolism. Those enzymes are important in the biosynthesis of a number of cell constituents, including neurotransmitters, and for the production of reducing equivalents used in oxidant stress defenses and in biosyntheses and for synthesis of pentoses used as nucleic acid precursors. The major manifestations of thiamine deficiency in humans involve the cardiovascular (wet beriberi) and nervous (dry beriberi, neuropathy and Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome) systems.7 WE is a devastating acute or subacute neurological disorder and remains the most important encephalopathy due to a single vitamin deficiency. The disease is rare, catastrophic in onset, clinically complex and often delayed in diagnosis. The reported prevalence of WE in autopsy studies ranges from 0.4% to 2.8%, accounting on average

ZD1839 nmr for 1.3% of all autopsies, and seems to be much higher in alcoholics than in non‐alcoholics.8 The clinical diagnosis of WE requires two of the following four signs: dietary deficiencies, eye signs, cerebellar dysfunction, and either altered mental state or mild memory impairment.8 Whenever possible, direct measurement of thiamine and its phosphate esters in human blood by MK-8776 manufacturer high‐performance liquid chromatography should be performed before thiamine administration and MRI should be used to support the diagnosis of acute WE.8 According to European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS)

guidelines published in 2010, 600 cases of WE were reported in non‐alcoholic patients. WE was typically associated with malignant pathologies, gastrointestinal diseases and previous surgeries, or resulting from vomiting due to hyperemesis gravidarum.8 There are few reports in the literature of patients with IBD developing WE. Hanh et al. reported a case of a female patient with CD that was on chronic total parenteral nutrition and developed WE after a shortage of multivitamin infusion in the United States and recovered after thiamine replacement.9 In Larnaout et al. report, a patient with CD died due to the lack of thiamine replacement.10 In another report, a patient with CD, submitted to intestinal resection, presented with neurological manifestations and decreased thiamine levels and a significant improvement after vitamin B1 infusion was observed.11 Florfenicol Similar to this case study, Mattioli et al. reported the occurrence of WE in a patient with complicated UC and total parenteral nutrition, despite the administration of the usually recommended doses of vitamin B1.12 Another unusual finding in our patient was the complaint of dysphagia and the gastric stasis that developed before other neurologic findings and recovered after thiamine infusion. Dysphagia is an unusual finding in WE, especially as presenting symptom. Karaiskos13 described this same clinical presentation in an alcoholic man and Truedsson14 in a non‐alchoolic patient.

Conversely, the extremely dry region, which occupies most of the South-Central area at time scales

of 6 and 12 months, increases toward the north and decreases in the SW extreme at the low frequency scale of 18 months. The most vulnerable area to extraordinary extreme hydrological droughts, represented by the portion with SPI18 (t) < −2 (Fig. 9c), includes the North-Central zones of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Córdoba, South Smad inhibitor of Santiago del Estero and SW of Corrientes provinces. The Southwestern corner shows average normal conditions during critical months of the study period, similar to the scale of 12 months (Fig. 9b). Most of the region, except for the northern portion above 28° S, shows a significant vulnerability to extreme dry events at intra-annual time scale, relevant for agriculture (Fig. 9a), with a large area experiencing extraordinary extreme droughts in critical months between 1901 and 2010. Our results showed

that low-frequency behavior of EPE in the NEA was differentiated into two distinct periods: a dry one between 1901 and 1960 and a wet one between 1970 and 2003. This behavior is associated with well-known find more long-term changes in precipitation starting in the 1950s and reported by several authors (e.g., Minetti and Vargas, 1998, Krepper and Sequeira, 1998 and Krepper and Garcia, 2004). The time series of SPI and wetness area coverage analyzed at different time scales, presents signs of stabilization and a trend reversal toward drier conditions since 2007. These results are consistent with those reported by Seager et al. (2010) for the whole SESA region. They argue that while the long-term trend toward wetter conditions in SESA was of great benefit to regional agriculture, there is no reason to expect this to continue since it seems to have been influenced by tropical SST anomalies associated with the AMO. This index is presumed to be shifting toward a positive phase (Ting et al., 2009) HSP90 that may force

a decrease in SESA precipitation in the coming years. This implications and the results presented in this paper presumably indicate that hydrological wet EPE of high intensity, duration and spatial extent noticed between 1970 and 2003 could decline in the coming years. Viglizzo and Frank (2006) described a large drought episode in the 1930s and 1940s denoted as the “Pampas Dust Bowl” in the Western Pampas of Argentina. In our paper, the behavior of SPI fields and the area covered by droughts showed a dry period in the center of the study region between about 1925 and 1940 and for the Northwest extreme between 1930 and 1950 that might extend the “Pampas Dust Bowl” to the bulk of the NEA. The 1930s drought appears within a hemispherical symmetric pattern of precipitation anomalies across the Americas with drought in both the northern and southern extratropics.

29, 0.11, 0.24, 0.16, 0.06, 0.16, 0.07, and 0.11 for Marseille, Barcelona, Valencia, Palma, Maó, Algiers, Offshore N, and Offshore S, respectively, which are within the range of values λλ estimated for this region by Wang et al. (2012). At the locations with lower λλ values, the PSS of Setting 8 tends to be closer to that of Setting 7, which is reasonable find protocol since Box–Cox transformation with λ=0λ=0 is log transformation. In terms of PSS, Setting 8 seems to be the best option for offshore deep water locations, but it is not clearly better for coastal nodes. Setting 8 substantially over-predicts extreme waves, showing larger positive RE values associated with the 99th HsHs percentile at the Northern Catalan coast (see Fig.

14). The above results of model performance evaluation suggest that the model Setting 5 is the best option for Catalan coast. Thus, we will use it to make projections of future wave climate in the next section. The calibrated statistical model is then applied to obtain HsHs that correspond to each of the 5 simulated SLP datasets described in Section 3.2. To diminish biases in the climate model simulations, the simulated SLP fields, denoted as Ps(t,m)Ps(t,m), are adjusted as follows: equation(24) selleckchem Pa(t,m)=σr(m)σs(m)Ps(t,m)-Ps‾(m)+Pr‾(m),where superscript r denotes the reference climate (i.e., obtained from the HIPOCAS data in this study), and X‾, the climatological mean (over the baseline

period 1971–2000) of variable X  . The σs(m)σs(m) and σr(m)σr(m) are the standard deviation field of Ps(m)Ps(m) and Pr(m)Pr(m), respectively. Thus, Pa(t,m)Pa(t,m) are the simulated SLP fields that have been adjusted to have the observed baseline climate Pr(m)Pr(m) and variation scale σr(m)σr(m). The above adjustments are performed for each Thalidomide of the 5 sets of SLP simulations.

These adjusted SLP fields, Pa(t,m)Pa(t,m), are then used to derive the predictors, including P(t,m),G(t,m), and their PCs and anomalies (see Section 4 for the details). These predictors are then fed into the calibrated statistical model to obtain the corresponding HsHs. To investigate how these adjustments affect the estimated changes in HsHs between future and present, and to show the actual model biases and inter-model variability, simulations of HsHs without these adjustments are also conducted and compared with those obtained with the adjustments. Despite the shortcoming of having a few values H^s<0, Setting 5 is selected to make HsHs projections because it presents the best skill for the Catalan coast area, the focus of this study. Firstly, these projections are carried out with the predictors derived from the unadjusted model data. Their biases are assessed by comparing the projected HsHs for the present-day (baseline period) climate with the corresponding value of the HIPOCAS data (see Fig. 15). Secondly, the predictors derived from the adjusted model data are also used to obtain the HsHs projections, which are then used to assess uncertainty in wave projections.

Although most of those studies involved only a small number of subjects, some studies demonstrated that alfacalcidol treatment resulted in a significant reduction [8] and [9], while others did not show a significant reduction [10] and [11], Enzalutamide mouse in vertebral fracture incidence compared with a placebo. However, the effect of eldecalcitol has not been compared head-to-head with that of alfacalcidol. An open-label clinical trial to compare the effect of eldecalcitol with that of alfacalcidol on bone turnover and calcium (Ca) metabolism showed that 0.5 to 1.0 μg/day eldecalcitol inhibits bone resorption more than alfacalcidol, while their

effects on bone formation markers and urinary Ca excretion were similar [12]. The present study was conducted to compare the effect of eldecalcitol with that

of alfacalcidol in preventing vertebral fractures in men and women with osteoporosis. This was a randomized, active comparator, double-blind, superiority trial of the effect of eldecalcitol versus alfacalcidol for reduction in incidence of vertebral fractures. A total of 1054 patients (1030 females and 24 males, all Japanese) aged from 46 to 92 years (mean 72.1 years) from 52 centers in Japan were selleck enrolled between September 2004 and August 2005, and randomly assigned to receive identical capsules of either 0.75 μg eldecalcitol or 1.0 μg alfacalcidol once a day for 36 months. Adherence to the medications was monitored by counting the remaining capsules at each visit, and was more than 95% in average throughout the study period (96.5% in eldecalcitol and 95.7% in alfacalcidol groups, respectively).

Serum 25(OH)D measured by Nichols Allegro Lite (Nichols Institute, San Clemente, CA) was below 50 nmol/L in 39.3% of the patients at enrollment (208 in eldecalcitol and 206 in alfacalcidol group). These patients were given 400 IU/day vitamin D3 throughout the study period. Patients without vertebral fractures were enrolled if their lumbar spine or total hip BMD T-score was below − 2.6 and they were 70 years or older, or if their T-score was below − 3.4 and they were younger than 70 years. Patients with lumbar spine or total hip BMD T-score of below − 1.7 were enrolled if they had between one and Calpain five vertebral fractures. Prevalent vertebral fractures at enrollment were assessed by lateral spine X-ray examination of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, and were diagnosed quantitatively according to the criteria of the Japanese Society for Bone and Mineral Research [13] and [14]. Women were at least 3 years after menopause or older than 60 years. Patients were excluded if they had primary hyperparathyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome, premature menopause due to hypothalamic, pituitary or gonadal insufficiency, poorly controlled diabetes mellitus (HbA1c over 9%) or other causes of secondary osteoporosis, or had a history of urolithiasis.

Interestingly, to date, no strain with more than one kaiA gene has been identified. On the other hand, there are strains lacking some or even all Kai components. For example, MED4 is lacking KaiA; UCYN-A

possesses neither KaiA nor KaiB; and the Gloeobacter genome does not encode any kai gene at all. This terrestrial strain shows strong phylogenetic distance to the other Cyanobacteria. The Gloeobacter lineage diverged early within the radiation of Cyanobacteria and chloroplasts, making it possible that Kai-based circadian timing systems arose in other Cyanobacteria later during evolution, even though a loss of the corresponding genes in Gloeobacter AZD2014 order also seems possible ( Nakamura et al., 2003). The symbiotic cyanobacterial strain UCYN-A is among the most abundant oceanic nitrogen-fixing microorganisms whose nitrogen-fixation rates are Neratinib molecular weight equal to or even greater than those of Trichodesmium ( Church et al., 2005, Langlois et al., 2008, Moisander et al., 2010, Montoya et al., 2004 and Zehr et al., 2001). Interestingly, because UCYN-A is lacking an oxygen-evolving photosystem II, nitrogen fixation can be continued during the light period, making a timed regulation of this specific process unnecessary. With a genome size of only 1.44 Mbp, UCYN-A shows a high degree of genome streamlining, with components of photosystem II, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase and the tricarboxylic

acid cycle being completely absent ( Thompson et al., 2012, Tripp et al., 2010 and Zehr et al., 2008). Therefore an obligate symbiosis is suggested for this species. And indeed, a unicellular eukaryotic alga was shown to be its symbiotic partner ( Thompson et al., 2012). To date, it is not clear which role a circadian clock might play for UCYN-A in this

relationship and if any timing mechanism is present. Interestingly, Nodularia harbors a KaiA protein (101 aa) that is shorter than that of the other organisms (approximately 300 aa). This shortened KaiA protein, also present in other group IV-strains, is equivalent to the C-terminal domain of the S. elongatus-KaiA. However, it lacks the N-terminal pseudoreceiver domain, which is thought to be important for direct interaction with the light-responsive redox Montelukast Sodium sensor CikA ( Williams et al., 2002). In this respect, it appears consistent that species like MED4, which lack the KaiA protein entirely, also lack CikA. However, UCYN-A possesses a CikA protein without harboring a KaiA homolog. In this case, the role of CikA might be restricted to its output function (described below). Contrarily, some strains harbor a full-length KaiA homolog, but no CikA (e.g. S. WH 7803). Accordingly, their timing input machinery seems to function differently, possibly relying on other external stimuli than light-responsive redox potentials ( Williams, 2009).

(2007) cite Pakistan Irrigation Department data indicating that 7.2 Gt of sediment was delivered to the Indus Delta at a mean rate of 100.6 Mt/y. Therefore if the delivery of 100 Mt/y of river sediment results in a net land loss equivalent of 47 Mt/y, then the pre-Anthropocene flux estimate of 250 Mt/y (Milliman check details et al., 1984) would result in an active Indus Delta able to both aggrade and prograde seaward. The sediment budget remains qualitative, as it does not take into account subsidence across the delta, for lack of quantitative data. Satellite analysis suggests that there is significant sedimentation

within the inner tidal flats of the Rann of Kachchh (Fig. 10), further complicating a full quantitative assessment. Although part of the Rann of Kachchh (Lake Sindri south of the Allah Bund) underwent >1 m of incremental tectonic subsidence in 1819 it is not known

whether slow secular subsidence occurs between earthquakes, either due to tectonic subsidence or sediment compaction. The 1945 Makran earthquake resulted in a tsunami that inundated the ports of Karachi and Mumbai, but no record of its effects have been preserved in the delta region (Bilham et al., 2007). The recent 2001 Mw = 7.6 Bhuj earthquake (Fig. 3) resulted in local subsidence in the southeastern Rann of Kachchh and was responsible for an estimated 20,000 deaths (Bodin and Horton, 2004). Tidal energy has been focused toward the eastern margins of the delta, apparently responding to changed hydraulic gradients or to the absence PLX-4720 manufacturer of sediments from the now inactive eastern distributaries. Evidently the sediment supply to Lake Sindri in the past 200 years has been insufficient to fill the tectonically induced basin since it remains a 20 km × 30 km basin, 1–2 m deep (Fig. 10). In contrast, the tidal flats in the western part of the Indus Delta appear

to be more stable, possibly protected from tidal and wave reworking of the shoreline by the absence of tectonic subsidence or possibly due to the presence of slow uplift. The effects of the transition to the Anthropocene delta due to its much-increased Adenylyl cyclase abstraction of water upstream are pronounced and well documented: seawater intrusion, soil salinization, deforestation of mangroves, reduced supply of surface- and ground-derived drinking water, low irrigation flows, and greatly depleted fisheries. Shrimp production has decreased by 90% (Inam et al., 2007). The delta’s mangrove forest, which covered ∼2500 km2, has been reduced by 60% (Kamal, 2004). The degraded mangrove ecosystem is virtually mono-specific, comparatively stunted, with losses of about 2% per year (Asianics Agro-Dev 2000). The increase in salinity during periods of low flow, and from the effects of upstream irrigation, has reduced the suitability of the delta for the cultivation of red rice, and for raising livestock.

The authors effectively balance between these two endpoints of historical ignorance. The text conveys a great deal of information, but is quite accessible to a non-specialist reader interested in natural history and environmental change. The scholarship is thorough, balanced, and impeccable, and the writing is engaging. The text is nicely illustrated with diagrams, historic maps, and matched

historic and contemporary photographs. The matched photographs are particularly effective because juxtaposed on the same page, facilitating visual comparison of changes through time. The title refers to irreversible changes to the river through the Tucson Basin, mainly from urbanization and groundwater overdrafts. The authors conclude the book by noting that, although “the Santa Cruz River of old can be neither GSK1349572 purchase restored nor revived” (p. 182), the river can be managed to minimize flood risk and maximize ecosystem services. This “will require both an acknowledgement http://www.selleckchem.com/products/azd2014.html of history and fresh perspectives on how to manage rivers and floodplains in urban areas of the Southwest” (p. 182). This

book provides a firm foundation for such a path forward. “
“Lagoons are widely distributed throughout the world ocean coasts. They constitute about 13 percent of the total world coastline (Barnes, 1980). They represent 5.3 percent of European coastlines (Razinkovas et al., 2008), with more than 600 lagoons in the Mediterranean area alone (Gaertner-Mazouni and De Wit, 2012). From geological and geomorphological viewpoints, coastal lagoons are ephemeral systems that can change in time (becoming estuaries or infilled; Davies, 1980). The nature of this change depends on the main factors controlling their evolution, such as mean sea level, hydrodynamic setting, river sediment supply and pre-existing topography. As observed by Duck and da Silva (2012), however, these coastal forms are seldom if ever allowed to evolve naturally. They are often modified by PLEK2 human intervention typically

to improve navigability or in attempts to maintain the environmental status quo. By controlling their depth and topography, humans have exploited them for many centuries for food production (fisheries, gathering of plants and algae, salt extraction, aquaculture, etc.) (Chapman, 2012). These modifications can transform radically the lagoon ecosystem. Human activities have also influenced the evolution of the Lagoon of Venice (Italy) over the centuries (Gatto and Carbognin, 1981, Favero, 1985, Carbognin, 1992, Ravera, 2000, Brambati et al., 2003 and Tosi et al., 2009). Together with the historical city of Venice, the Venice Lagoon is a UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site. The first human remains in the lagoon area date back to the upper Paleolithic age (50,000–10,000 BC). The lithic remains found in Altino (Fig.