Assessing the Co-Occurrence of European Pine Marten () With Humans and Domestic Cats on a Mediterranean Island.

Anthropogenic activities often lead to changes in the distribution and behavior of wild species. The mere presence of humans and free-roaming domestic cats () can affect wildlife communities; however, responses to these disturbances might not be ubiquitous and may vary with local conditions. We investigated European pine marten's () distribution on Elba Island, Italy, where the species is the only wild carnivore.

Measuring Strong, Skillful, Good and Transpersonal Will: The development of the Multidimensional Will Scale.

Background And Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to provide a scale to assess different aspects of the will based on Roberto Assagioli's theory.

Methods And Results: The scale development followed three steps. Step 1 focused on operationalizing the construct and developing the items.

Measuring Spiritual Well-being using a numerical rating scale: Additional evidence of the validity of the Well-being Numerical Rating Scales (WB-NRSs).

The Well-being Numerical Rating Scales (WB-NRSs) can be used to assess rapidly and accurately different types of well-being. However, the spiritual well-being scale showed slightly weaker psychometric properties. This study aimed to further investigate its suitability in measuring spiritual well-being.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Seasonal Fluctuations of Wood Mouse Populations in Fields Surrounded by Woodlands.

The wood mouse is common in woodlands and open areas of the Western Palearctic. Despite extensive research, little is known about its population ecology in fields in the Mediterranean area, where the climate involves great seasonal changes in environmental features. Here, we investigated wood mice seasonal fluctuations in the number of captures and population structure by sampling long-fallow fields and woodlands, i.

Needs evaluation questionnaire for liver disease: a novel assessment of unmet needs in patients with chronic liver disease.

Patients with chronic liver disease face debilitating complications in their daily living and constantly report several types of unmet needs, but there is a paucity of validated questionnaires to assess these needs. In this study, we present the development of the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire for Liver Diseases (NEQ-LD) for the assessment of unmet needs in patients with chronic liver disease. Two hundred eighty-six outpatients with chronic liver diseases from a single tertiary referral center completed the NEQ-LD and related validity measures.

Quality of life in liver transplant recipients during the Corona virus disease 19 pandemic: A multicentre study.

Background: Liver transplant recipients require specific clinical and psychosocial attention given their frailty. Main aim of the study was to assess the quality of life after liver transplant during the current pandemic.

Methods: This multicentre study was conducted in clinically stable, liver transplanted patients.

Rapid and sound assessment of well-being within a multi-dimensional approach: The Well-being Numerical Rating Scales (WB-NRSs).

The assessment of well-being remains an important topic for many disciplines including medical, psychological, social, educational, and economic fields. The present study assesses the reliability and validity of a five-item instrument for evaluating physical, psychological, spiritual, relational, and general well-being. This measure uniquely utilizes a segmented numeric version of the visual analog scale in which a respondent selects a whole number that best reflects the intensity of the investigated characteristic.

Measuring self-control across gender, age, language, and clinical status: A validation study of the Italian version of the Brief Self- Control Scale (BSCS).

The present study aims to develop and validate an Italian version of the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS). A large sample of Italian-speaking participants (N = 1139) completed the BSCS and measures of personality and individual dispositions. A clinical sample (N = 217) was administered the Italian version and an English-speaking sample (N = 274) completed the original version to test measurement invariance.

Sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological characteristics identify groups of Italian cancer patients with high rates of unmet needs.

Purpose: Although an optimal goal remains the routine assessment of unmet needs of all patients with cancer, particular attention should be paid to those groups of patients with characteristics known to be more frequently associated with unmet needs in general or with specific areas of need. This report aims to describe the sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological characteristics associated with higher unmet needs in Italian cancer patients.

Methods: A total of 835 cancer patients from different care settings (ward, day hospital, follow-up ambulatory, rehabilitation unit, and palliative care) filled out the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire (NEQ), the Psychological Distress Inventory, and the Sense of Coherence Scale.

Assessing unmet needs in patients with cancer: An investigation of differential item functioning of the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire across gender, age and phase of the disease.

Objective: The main aim of this study was to provide evidence of the broad employability of the NEQ with patients of different gender and age with cancer in different phases of the disease and care process, using an Item Response Theory (IRT) approach and investigating Differential Item Functioning (DIF).

Methods: The NEQ was completed by 762 patients visiting, consecutively, outpatient clinics or admitted to oncology wards. Patients included in the study had different primary tumor sites and were in different phases of the disease and care process.

Unmet needs of Italian cancer patients in different stages of the disease and care process.

Purpose: Assessing patients' unmet supportive care needs is essential in order to prioritize areas of cancer care that require improvement. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to compare the unmet needs of cancer patients in different stages of the disease and care process (diagnosis, treatments following diagnosis, follow-up and/or rehabilitation, relapse/recurrence, progression of the disease, and palliative care).

Methods: The research focused on patients from 7 oncology units of the same geographic region (Tuscany, a region of central Italy) in the same period of time regardless of primary tumor site.

Live music intervention for cancer inpatients: The Music Givers format.

Unlabelled: ABSTRACTObjective:The present study intended to evaluate the impact of a standardized format-called the "Music Givers," based on a single session of music intervention followed by a buffet-on the psychological burden and well-being of hospitalized cancer patients.

Method: The Distress Thermometer (DT), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and self-reported visual analogue scales (score range = 1-10) to assess pain, fatigue, and five areas of well-being (i.e.

Live concerts reduce cancer inpatients' anxiety.

In Italy a new experience of music medicine called "The Music Givers" is spreading among Oncology Units; it aims to organise weekly live concerts (length 45-60 min) followed by a buffet. Purpose of the present study is to evaluate the effect of the format of The Music Givers on cancer in-patients' anxiety. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y) was administered to 111 in-patients before and after the concerts.

Use of the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire with cancer outpatients.

Purpose: The Needs Evaluation Questionnaire (NEQ) is a self-administered instrument with 23 dichotomous items that is used both in oncology clinical practice and in research. It was originally developed for use in setting of hospitalization. The aim of the present study was to assess the factor structure of the NEQ in an outpatient oncology sample and to compare the unmet needs of inpatients and outpatients in the Italian context.

Complementary needs behind complementary therapies in cancer patients.

Objective: Although many studies indicate that the use of complementary and alternative medicine by cancer patients is common and widespread, few studies have focused on unmet needs of patients using complementary therapies (CTs). The aim of the present study was to evaluate, through a quantitative approach, possible associations between the use of CTs and the presence of specific unmet needs in cancer patients.

Methods: In six Italian oncology departments, 783 patients were interviewed about CTs use and completed the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire.

Actual and preferred place of death of home-dwelling patients in four European countries: making sense of quality indicators.

Background: Dying at home and dying at the preferred place of death are advocated to be desirable outcomes of palliative care. More insight is needed in their usefulness as quality indicators. Our objective is to describe whether "the percentage of patients dying at home" and "the percentage of patients who died in their place of preference" are feasible and informative quality indicators.

Use and perceived benefits of complementary therapies by cancer patients receiving conventional treatment in Italy.

Context: In Italy, data regarding the use of complementary therapies (CTs) among patients with cancer are sparse and discordant.

Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the demographic and psychological characteristics of Italian cancer patients who use CTs and the perceived benefit of users.

Methods: Eight hundred three patients from six Italian oncology departments were interviewed about CT use and completed two questionnaires to explore psychological distress and the resilience trait called sense of coherence (SOC).

The accuracy of the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) in measuring dispositional optimism: evidence from item response theory analyses.

The accuracy of the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) in measuring dispositional optimism was investigated applying item response theory (IRT). The study was conducted on a sample of 484 university students (62% males, M age = 22.79 years, SD = 5.

Temperament and character traits associated with health-related quality of life in cancer patients.

Background: There is an increase in the attention to factors influencing the quality of life of cancer patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate temperament and character traits related to health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with cancer.

Methods: Two hundred and three inpatients from three Italian oncology departments filled in the Temperament Character Inventory (TCI-140) based on Cloninger's personality model, the SF-36 questionnaire assessing HRQoL, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

Is the spiritual life of cancer patients a resource to be taken into account by professional caregivers from the time of diagnosis?

Background And Aim: Spiritual life can be defined as the search for personal contact with the transcendent. Careful assessment of spiritual life can help to value its importance to cancer patients from the moment of their diagnosis.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study.

Fully automated solid-phase microextraction-fast gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method using a new ionic liquid column for high-throughput analysis of sarcosine and N-ethylglycine in human urine and urinary sediments.

A fully automated, non invasive, rapid and high-throughput method for the direct determination of sarcosine and N-ethylglycine in urine and urinary sediments using hexyl chloroformate derivatization followed by direct immersion solid-phase micro extraction and fast gas chromatography-mass spectrometric analysis was developed and validated. The use of a new ionic liquid narrow bore column, as well as the automation and miniaturization of the preparation procedure by a customized configuration of the utilized XYZ robotic system, allowed a friendly use of the GC apparatus achieving a quantitation limit of 0.06 μg L(-1) for sarcosine, good repeatability with CV always lower than 7% and reduced analysis times useful for point-of-care testing.

Locating industrial VOC sources with aircraft observations.

Observation and characterization of environmental pollution, focussing on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), in a high-risk industrial area, are particularly important in order to provide indications on a safe level of exposure, indicate eventual priorities and advise on policy interventions. The aim of this study is to use the Solid Phase Micro Extraction (SPME) method to measure VOCs, directly coupled with atmospheric measurements taken on a small aircraft environmental platform, to evaluate and locate the presence of VOC emission sources in the Marghera industrial area. Lab analysis of collected SPME fibres and subsequent analysis of mass spectrum and chromatograms in Scan Mode allowed the detection of a wide range of VOCs.

New automated and high-throughput quantitative analysis of urinary ketones by multifiber exchange-solid phase microextraction coupled to fast gas chromatography/negative chemical-electron ionization/mass spectrometry.

The present research is focused on automation, miniaturization, and system interaction with high throughput for multiple and specific Direct Immersion-Solid Phase Microextraction/Fast Gas Chromatography analysis of the urinary ketones. The specific Mass Spectrometry instrumentation, capable of supporting such the automated changeover from Negative Chemical to Electron Ionization mode, as well as the automation of the preparation procedure by new device called MultiFiber Exchange, through change of the fibers, allowed a friendly use of mass spectrometry apparatus with a number of advantages including reduced analyst time and greater reproducibility (2.01-5.

Assessment of psychological distress in cancer patients: a pivotal role for clinical interview.

Objective: The evaluation of psychological distress in cancer patients recently entered oncologic clinical practice. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of clinical interview within psycho-oncologic assessment.

Methods: Questionnaires assessing distress (PDI), psychopathology (MHQ, HADS) and needs (NEQ) and a subsequent clinical interview were proposed to 320 consecutive inpatients from the Oncology Department of Careggi Hospital in Florence.