Hygienic behaviour (HB) in honeybees reflects social immunity against diseases and parasites. Young bees showing HB detect, uncap, and remove infested brood from a colony. We developed a new variant of freeze-killed brood (FKB*) test to optimise the duration of the HB test, the costs, and safety for the operator. In 2016, we performed a comparison between traditional FKB and FKB* on 25 unselected and unrelated colonies in the apiary of the University of Milano. To estimate repeatability and heritability, in 2017 and 2018, FKB* was used to phenotype, respectively, 56 and 95 colonies twice, in the context of a breeding programme. FKB* took less time and required a smaller amount of liquid nitrogen. The two methods showed a correlation between colony effects of 0.93, indicating that they measure the same trait. For single records, the phenotypic correlation between both methods was 0.64. Estimated heritability and repeatability for single records HB were 0.23 and 0.24, respectively, whilst heritability for the average HB value of two records was 0.37.

The quality of the honeybee queen has an important effect on a colony’s development, productivity, and survival. Queen failure or loss is considered a leading cause for colonies’ mortality worldwide. The queen’s quality, resulting from her genetic background, developmental conditions, mating success, and environment, can be assessed by some morphological measures. The study aims to investigate variability for traits that could assess the quality of the queen. Related animals were enrolled in this study. Variance components were estimated fitting a mixed animal model to collected data. Heritabilities of body and tagmata weights ranged from 0.46 to 0.54, whereas lower estimates were found for the tagmata width and wing length. Heritabilities estimated for the spermatheca diameter and volume, number of ovarioles, and number of sperms were 0.17, 0.88, 0.70, and 0.57, respectively. Many phenotypic correlations related to size were high and positive, while weak correlations were found between morphology and reproductive traits. Introducing a queen’s traits in a selection program could improve colonies’ survivability. Further research should focus on better defining the correlations between the individual qualities of a queen and her colony’s performance.

At the end of the last glaciation, Apis mellifera was established in northern Europe. In Italy, Apis melliferaligustica adapted to the mild climate and to the rich floristic biodiversity. Today, with the spread of Varroa destructor and with the increasing use of pesticides in agriculture, the Ligustica subspecies is increasingly dependent on human action for its survival. In addition, the effects of globalization of bee keeping favored the spread in Italy of other honeybee stocks of A. mellifera, in particular the Buckfast bee. The purpose of this study was to characterize the Italian honeybee’s population by sequencing the whole genome of 124 honeybees. Whole genome sequencing was performed by Illumina technology, obtaining a total coverage of 3720.89X, with a mean sample coverage of 29.77X. A total of 4,380,004 SNP variants, mapping on Amel_HAv3.1 chromosomes, were detected. Results of the analysis of the patterns of genetic variation allowed us to identify and subgroup bees according to their type. The investigation revealed the genetic originality of the Sicula, and in A.m. ligustica limited genetic introgression from the other breeds. Morphometric analysis of 5800 worker bees was in agreement with genomic data.

Honeybee pupae morphology can be affected by a number of stressor, but in vivo investigation is difficult. A computed tomography (CT) technique was applied to visualize a comb’s inner structure without damaging the brood. The CT scan was performed on a brood comb containing pupae developed from eggs laid by the queen during a time window of 48 hours. From the CT images, the position of each pupa was determined by recording coordinates to a common reference point. Afterwards, every brood cell was inspected in order to assess the developmental stage of the pupa, the presence of Varroa destructor, the number and progeny of foundress mites. Using data on 651 pupae, the relationships between varroa infestation status, developmental stage and spatial position of the pupa within the brood comb, and its length were investigated. Pupae at 8 post-capping days were shorter than pupae at 7 post-capping days. Pupae in infected cells were significantly shorter than those in varroa-free cells and this effect was linked both to mite number and stage and to the position in the comb. Overall, the results suggest that the CT-scan may represent a suitable non-invasive tool to investigate the morphology and developing status of honeybee brood.

Objective: The association between celiac disease (CD) and immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is still uncertain. The aim of this study was to characterize the coexistence of these two diseases in Italian children. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective multicenter study investigating the occurrence of CD in 28 children with ITP diagnosed from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2019. Results: The first diagnosis was ITP in 57.1% and CD in 32.1 % of patients. In 3 patients (10.7%), the two diagnoses were simultaneous. All the potential and silent cases of CD in our cohort were diagnosed in the groups of "ITP first" and "simultaneous diagnosis". In all children ITP was mild, and in 2 out of 8 not recovered from ITP at the time of CD diagnosis a normalization of platelet counts (>100,000/mu L) occurred 3 and 5 months after starting a gluten-free diet, respectively. Conclusion: We think that screening for CD should be considered in children with ITP regardless of the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms. Furthermore, some patients may recover from ITP after starting a gluten-free diet.

Honey bees play an essential role in modern agriculture as farm animals and crop pollinators, and they contribute to one third of our diet. Over the last few decades, managed honey bees have faced large-scale losses worldwide. Various causes include the spread of pathogens and parasites, habitat loss and loss of forage, pesticide use, and climate change. Many scientists investigated these issues worldwide separately and independently, often using different methodologies, and this approach might lead to conflicting and sometimes erroneous findings. To provide global and sustainable solutions, a group of bee scientists established COLOSS, a non-profit association for the prevention of honey bee COlony LOSSes. Its mission is to investigate the causes of declining bee health and find effective means to improve the well-being of bees. COLOSS comprises various Core Projects and Task Forces focusing on specific topics identified by the association to receive priority attention. Among the core projects, the COLOSS BEEBOOK is a unique venture aiming to provide a standardised methods manual for studying the honey bee. The project’s goal has been to create a comprehensive collection of established methods and techniques for honey bee research, with the aim of making studies conducted by different groups across the world more comparable. The resulting practical manual contains over 2,000 standardized methods across all fields of honey bee research. It is definitive, but evolving, research manual. There is a strong need for standardisation in the fast-growing field of edible insect farming and research. The COLOSS BEEBOOK stands as a testament to the achievements that can be made when researchers collaborate towards a common goal, and it can serve as an inspiration for the establishment of standardized methods for the mass rearing of edible insects.