Species sensitivity distribution of rare earth elements: A full overview.

Rare earth elements (REEs) encompass 15 lanthanides and play a crucial role in modern technology. Despite their essential uses, REEs are emerging environmental contaminants due to their growing presence in industrial, agricultural, and medical applications. For the first time, the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) approach was applied to REEs considering 58 papers including toxicity about Ce, Dy, Er, Gd, La, Lu, Nd, Pr, Sm, and Y.

Application limits of the scaling relations for Monte Carlo simulations in diffuse optics. Part 2: results.

The limits of applicability of scaling relations to generate new simulations of photon migration in scattering media by re-scaling an existing Monte Carlo simulation are investigated both for the continuous wave and the time domain case. We analyzed the convergence properties in various scenarios by numerical methods, trying to derive practical guidelines for the judicious use of this approach, as well as a deeper understanding of the physics behind such relations. In the case of scaling of the absorption coefficient, the convergence is always rigorous both for the forward and inverse problems, relying on the derivatives with respect to the absorption coefficient.

Preventing Trauma and Grief in Emergency and Critical Care Units: A Mixed Methods Study on a Psycho-Educational Defusing Intervention.

Emergency and critical care services inevitably expose their staff to potential work stressors and traumatic events, which can cause emotional, behavioral, and physical reactions. The literature presents a wide range of evidence-based knowledge on the effectiveness of interventions to promote mental health after traumatic events. However, little is known about the effectiveness of prevention programs.

Combining Fiber Bragg Grating and Artificial Intelligence Technologies for Supporting Epidural Procedures.

Objective: Loss of resistance (LOR) is a widely accepted method for performing epidural punctures in clinical settings. However, the risk of failure associated with LOR is still high. Solutions based either on Fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBG) or on artificial intelligence (AI) are gaining ground for supporting clinicians during this kind of procedure.

Levels of rare earth elements on three abandoned mining sites of bauxite in southern Italy: A comparison between TXRF and ICP-MS.

The essential utilization of rare earth elements (REEs) for the production of several electronic devices is making the demand for them being increased all the time. This extensive use of these elements has also increased concern about human and environmental health. Previous studies have shown that REE levels are higher in environmental samples near mining sites, and they are highly possible to be transferred to biota.

Flexible Matrices for the Encapsulation of Plant Wearable Sensors: Influence of Geometric and Color Features on Photosynthesis and Transpiration.

The safeguarding of plant health is vital for optimizing crop growth practices, especially in the face of the biggest challenges of our generation, namely the environmental crisis and the dramatic changes in the climate. Among the many innovative tools developed to address these issues, wearable sensors have recently been proposed for monitoring plant growth and microclimates in a sustainable manner. These systems are composed of flexible matrices with embedded sensing elements, showing promise in revolutionizing plant monitoring without being intrusive.

Statistics of maximum photon penetration depth in a two-layer diffusive medium.

We present numerical results for the probability density function () and for the mean value of photon maximum penetration depth ‹› in a two-layer diffusive medium. Both time domain and continuous wave regime are considered with several combinations of the optical properties (absorption coefficient, reduced scattering coefficient) of the two layers, and with different geometrical configurations (source detector distance, thickness of the upper layer). Practical considerations on the design of time domain and continuous wave systems are derived.

Optimizing Sensor Placement for Temperature Mapping during Ablation Procedures.

Accurately mapping the temperature during ablation is crucial for improving clinical outcomes. While various sensor configurations have been suggested in the literature, depending on the sensors' type, number, and size, a comprehensive understanding of optimizing these parameters for precise temperature reconstruction is still lacking. This study addresses this gap by introducing a tool based on a theoretical model to optimize the placement of fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBG) within the organ undergoing ablation.

Application limits of the scaling relations for Monte Carlo simulations in diffuse optics. Part 1: theory.

Monte Carlo (MC) is a powerful tool to study photon migration in scattering media, yet quite time-consuming to solve inverse problems. To speed up MC-simulations, scaling relations can be applied to an existing initial MC-simulation to generate a new data-set with different optical properties. We named this approach trajectory-based since it uses the knowledge of the detected photon trajectories of the initial MC-simulation, in opposition to the slower photon-based approach, where a novel MC-simulation is rerun with new optical properties.

Intra-articular temperature monitoring during radiofrequency ablation in ex-vivo bovine hip joints via Fiber Bragg grating sensors.

Purpose: Radiofrequency ablation is an increasingly used surgical option for ablation, resection and coagulation of soft tissues in joint arthroscopy. One of the major issues of thermal ablation is the temperature monitoring across the target areas, as cellular mortality is a direct consequence of thermal dosimetry. Temperatures from 45 °C to 50 °C are at risk of damage to chondrocytes.

The Antecedents of the Technology Acceptance Model in Microentrepreneurs' Intention to Use Social Networking Sites.

Social media platforms offer significant growth opportunities for enterprises, particularly microenterprises, due to the chance to establish direct contact with customers. Drawing on the Technology-Acceptance Model (TAM), in the present study, we investigate the psychological reasons that lead microentrepreneurs to use Social Networking Sites (SNSs) for their business. In doing so, we also extend TAM by taking into account entrepreneurs' personalities (e.

Geospatial pattern of topsoil pollution and multi-endpoint toxicity in the petrochemical area of Augusta-Priolo (eastern Sicily, Italy).

The present study was aimed at identifying geospatial patterns of pollutants including concentrations and toxicity as complex environmental mixtures, in topsoil samples close to petrochemical facilities in the heavily industrialized area of Augusta and Priolo in south-eastern Sicily (Italy). Elemental analysis of soil was conducted by ICP-MS for 23 metals and 16 rare earth elements (REEs). Organic analyses were primarily focused on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (16 parent homologs) and total aliphatic hydrocarbons (C10 - C40).

Hormetic Effects of Cerium, Lanthanum and Their Combination at Sub-micromolar Concentrations in Sea Urchin Sperm.

Rare earth elements (REEs) cerium (Ce) and lanthanum (La) and their combination were tested across a concentration range, from toxic (10 to 10 M) to lower concentrations (10 to 10 M) for their effects on sea urchin (Sphaerechinus granularis) sperm. A significantly decreased fertilization rate (FR) was found for sperm exposed to 10 M Ce, La and their combination, opposed to a significant increase of FR following 10 and 10 M REE sperm exposure. The offspring of REE-exposed sperm showed significantly increased developmental defects following sperm exposure to 10 M REEs vs.

Linear and Non-Linear Heart Rate Variability Indexes from Heart-Induced Mechanical Signals Recorded with a Skin-Interfaced IMU.

Heart rate variability (HRV) indexes are becoming useful in various applications, from better diagnosis and prevention of diseases to predicting stress levels. Typically, HRV indexes are retrieved from the heart's electrical activity collected with an electrocardiographic signal (ECG). Heart-induced mechanical signals recorded from the body's surface can be utilized to record the mechanical activity of the heart and, in turn, extract HRV indexes from interbeat intervals (IBIs).

Fluence rate directly derived from photon pathlengths: a tool for Monte Carlo simulations in biomedical optics.

In biomedical optics, the mean fluence rate of photons, assessed in a sub-volume of a propagating medium, is classically obtained in Monte Carlo simulations by taking into account the power deposited by the absorbed photons in the sub-volume. In the present contribution, we propose and analytically demonstrate an alternative method based on the assessment of the mean pathlength traveled by all the photons inside the sub-volume. Few practical examples of its applications are given.

On the mean path length invariance property for random walks of animals in open environment.

Random walks are common in nature and are at the basis of many different phenomena that span from neutrons and light scattering to the behaviour of animals. Despite the evident differences among all these phenomena, theory predicts that they all share a common fascinating feature known as Invariance Property (IP). In a nutshell, IP means that the mean length of the total path of a random walker inside a closed domain is fixed by the geometry and size of the medium.

Burnout in Intensive Care Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review on Its Prevalence and Risk and Protective Factors.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has strained hospitals and healthcare workers engaged in combating the virus with limited knowledge and resources. Intensive care unit (ICU) nurses are among the healthcare workers most affected by the pandemic and are at risk for developing burnout syndrome.

Objective: The present study aims to explore burnout symptoms prevalence among ICU nurses and to identify the individual, organizational, and contextual risk, and protective factors of burnout in ICU nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

FBG-Based Soft System for Assisted Epidural Anesthesia: Design Optimization and Clinical Assessment.

Fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBGs) are considered a valid sensing solution for a variety of medical applications. The last decade witnessed the exploitation of these sensors in applications ranging from minimally invasive surgery to biomechanics and monitoring physiological parameters. Recently, preliminary studies investigated the potential impact of FBGs in the management of epidural procedures by detecting when the needle reaches the epidural space with the loss of resistance (LOR) technique.

Enhancing critical thinking skills and media literacy in initial vocational education and training self-nudging: The contribution of NERDVET project.

Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs are fuelled by technical and practical educational modules. The teaching staff adopts both traditional and innovative pedagogical frameworks to increase the generalization and maintenance of practical skills. At the same time, VET teachers and trainers have a few occasions to promote and include disciplines and educational programs for enhancing students' soft skills, e.

Evaluation of Rare Earth Element-Associated Hormetic Effects in Candidate Fertilizers and Livestock Feed Additives.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are recognized as emerging contaminants with implications in human and environmental health. Apart from their adverse effects, REEs have been reported as having positive effects when amended to fertilizers and livestock feed additives, thus suggesting a hormetic trend, implying a concentration-related shift from stimulation to inhibition and toxicity, with analogous trends that have been assessed for a number of xenobiotics. In view of optimizing the success of REE mixtures in stimulating crop yield and/or livestock growth or egg production, one should foresee the comparative concentration-related effects of individual REEs (e.

Two-step verification method for Monte Carlo codes in biomedical optics applications.

Significance: Code verification is an unavoidable step prior to using a Monte Carlo (MC) code. Indeed, in biomedical optics, a widespread verification procedure for MC codes is still missing. Analytical benchmarks that can be easily used for the verification of different MC routines offer an important resource.

Genetic Therapy and Molecular Targeted Therapy in Oncology: Safety, Pharmacovigilance, and Perspectives for Research and Clinical Practice.

The impressive advances in the knowledge of biomarkers and molecular targets has enabled significant progress in drug therapy for crucial diseases such as cancer. Specific areas of pharmacology have contributed to these therapeutic outcomes-mainly targeted therapy, immunomodulatory therapy, and gene therapy. This review focuses on the pharmacological profiles of these therapeutic classes and intends, on the one hand, to provide a systematic definition and, on the other, to highlight some aspects related to pharmacovigilance, namely the monitoring of safety and the identification of potential toxicities and adverse drug reactions.

Direct Measurement of the Reduced Scattering Coefficient by a Calibrated Random Laser Sensor.

The research in optical sensors has been largely encouraged by the demand for low-cost and less or non-invasive new detection strategies. The invention of the random laser has opened a new frontier in optics, providing also the opportunity to explore new possibilities in the field of sensing, besides several different and peculiar phenomena. The main advantage in exploiting the physical principle of the random laser in optical sensors is due to the presence of the stimulated emission mechanism, which allows amplification and spectral modification of the signal.

Epidural Steroid Injections for Low Back Pain: A Narrative Review.

Low back pain represents a significant socioeconomic burden. Several nonsurgical medical treatments have been proposed for the treatment of this disabling condition. Epidural steroid injections (ESIs) are commonly used to treat lumbosacral radicular pain and to avoid surgery.

Verification method of Monte Carlo codes for transport processes with arbitrary accuracy.

In this work, we present a robust and powerful method for the verification, with arbitrary accuracy, of Monte Carlo codes for simulating random walks in complex media. Such random walks are typical of photon propagation in turbid media, scattering of particles, i.e.