Borga scale

We here investigate the role of risk aversion in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. The theoretical effect is ambiguous, as both COVID-19 infection and vaccination side-effects involve probabilistic elements. In large-scale data covering five European countries, we find that vaccine hesitancy falls with risk aversion, so that COVID-19 infection is perceived as involving greater risk than is vaccination.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the opportunity of Borg scale using for applying and monitoring the aerobic training intensity in the pool as well as the relationship between the Borg scale and the heart rate (HR) in the aquatic environment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study involved 11 healthy individuals (mean age 46.4±7.5 years). After a cardiopulmonary test on a treadmill and a probation lesson the training was conducted in the pool using a set of basic aerobic exercises lasting 45 minutes...

Variable renewable energy sources display different space-time variability driving the availability of energy generated from these sources. Complementarity among variable renewable energies in time and space allows reducing the variability of power supply and helps matching the electricity demand curve. This work investigates the temporal structure of complementarity along an alpine transect in North-East Italy, considering a 100% renewable energy mix scenario composed by photovoltaic and run-of-the-river energy...

Variable energy sources such as solar and runoff sources are intermittent in time and space, following their driving hydro-meteorological processes. Recent research has shown that in mountainous areas the combination of solar and hydropower has large potential (termed complementarity) to cover the temporal variability of the energy load and, by this mean, to facilitate integration of renewables into the electricity network. Climate change is causing widespread glacier retreat, and much attention is devoted to negative impacts such as diminishing water resources and shifts in runoff seasonality...

Climate change has led to concerns about increasing river floods resulting from the greater water-holding capacity of a warmer atmosphere1 . These concerns are reinforced by evidence of increasing economic losses associated with flooding in many parts of the world, including Europe2 . Any changes in river floods would have lasting implications for the design of flood protection measures and flood risk zoning. However, existing studies have been unable to identify a consistent continental-scale climatic-change signal in flood discharge observations in Europe3 , because of the limited spatial coverage and number of hydrometric stations...

Avian egg production demands resources such as lipids and proteins. Relative egg size and mass varies across species, reflecting differences in maternal investment. This variability may affect the maternal transfer of anthropogenic pollutants including lipophilic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and protein-associated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and mercury (Hg). We conducted a meta-analysis on seabirds and investigated whether interspecies variation in maternal investment contributes toward skewed pollutant concentration ratios between males and females, as Cmale /Cfemale (80 studies)...

Large floods may produce remarkable channel changes, which determine damages and casualties in inhabited areas. However, our knowledge of such processes remains poor, as is our capability to predict them. This study analyses the geomorphic response of the Nure River (northern Italy) and nine tributaries to a high-magnitude flood that occurred in September 2015. The adopted multi-disciplinary approach encompassed: (i) hydrological and hydraulic analysis; (ii) analysis of sediment delivery to the stream network by means of landslides mapping; (iii) assessment of morphological modifications of the channels, including both channel width and bed elevation changes...

Research gaps in understanding flood changes at the catchment scale caused by changes in forest management, agricultural practices, artificial drainage, and terracing are identified. Potential strategies in addressing these gaps are proposed, such as complex systems approaches to link processes across time scales, long-term experiments on physical-chemical-biological process interactions, and a focus on connectivity and patterns across spatial scales. It is suggested that these strategies will stimulate new research that coherently addresses the issues across hydrology, soil and agricultural sciences, forest engineering, forest ecology, and geomorphology...

A warming climate is expected to have an impact on the magnitude and timing of river floods; however, no consistent large-scale climate change signal in observed flood magnitudes has been identified so far. We analyzed the timing of river floods in Europe over the past five decades, using a pan-European database from 4262 observational hydrometric stations, and found clear patterns of change in flood timing. Warmer temperatures have led to earlier spring snowmelt floods throughout northeastern Europe; delayed winter storms associated with polar warming have led to later winter floods around the North Sea and some sectors of the Mediterranean coast; and earlier soil moisture maxima have led to earlier winter floods in western Europe...

AIM: To compare magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-derived breast density measurements using automatic segmentation algorithms with radiologist estimations using the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data Systems (BI-RADS) density classification. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty women undergoing mammography and dynamic breast MRI as part of their clinical management were recruited. Fat-water separated MRI images derived from a two-point Dixon technique, phase-sensitive reconstruction, and atlas-based segmentation were obtained before and after intravenous contrast medium administration...

INTRODUCTION: Quantitative and accurate measurements of fat and muscle in the body are important for prevention and diagnosis of diseases related to obesity and muscle degeneration. Manually segmenting muscle and fat compartments in MR body-images is laborious and time-consuming, hindering implementation in large cohorts. In the present study, the feasibility and success-rate of a Dixon-based MR scan followed by an intensity-normalised, non-rigid, multi-atlas based segmentation was investigated in a cohort of 3,000 subjects...

Central obesity is the hallmark of a number of non-inheritable disorders. The advent of imaging techniques such as MRI has allowed for a fast and accurate assessment of body fat content and distribution. However, image analysis continues to be one of the major obstacles to the use of MRI in large-scale studies. In this study we assess the validity of the recently proposed fat-muscle quantitation system (AMRA(TM) Profiler) for the quantification of intra-abdominal adipose tissue (IAAT) and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (ASAT) from abdominal MR images...

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the possibility of quantifying brown adipose tissue (BAT) volume and fat concentration with a high resolution, long echo time, dual-echo Dixon imaging protocol. METHODS: A 0.42 mm isotropic resolution water-fat separated MRI protocol was implemented by using the second opposite-phase echo and third in-phase echo. Fat images were calibrated with regard to the intensity of nearby white adipose tissue (WAT) to form relative fat content (RFC) images...

AIM: To identify factors underlying attitudes towards the medical emergency team (MET) and barriers to its utilisation among ward nurses and physicians. METHODS: Multicentre survey using an anonymous questionnaire in hospitals with a fully operational MET system in the Piedmont Region, Italy. Response to questions was scored on a 5-point Likert-type agreement scale. Dichotomised results were included in a logistic regression model. RESULTS: Among 2279 staff members who were contacted, 1812 (79...

The purpose of this preliminary work was to develop a new short tool to assess personal health records (PHRs) self-efficacy. Prior work had found 4 distinct skills related to creating, updating, tracking symptoms, and sharing information with health care providers using PHR. Although PHRs have great promise, their uptake has been rather limited, especially in economically limited populations. A convenience sample of community-living persons with HIV/AIDS (N = 100) was asked to complete the new tool along with other self-efficacy measures...

PURPOSE: The mean intercept length tensor is the most used technique to estimate microstructure orientation and anisotropy of trabecular bone. This paper proposes an efficient extension of this technique to gray-scale images based on a closed formulation of the mean intercept length tensor and a generalization using different angular convolution kernels. METHODS: First, the extended Gaussian image is computed for the binary or gray-scale image. Second, the intercepts are computed for all possible orientations through an angular convolution with the half-cosine function...

When a mechanistic food web model was parameterized for the Arctic marine ecosystem, it predicted PCB concentrations in zooplankton and fish that were two orders of magnitude lower than measured. PCB concentrations measured in zooplankton and fish were within the laboratory's accredited quality assured criteria, and were comparable to other Arctic regions. Although on a different scale, the predicted and measured PCB concentrations were highly correlated. As sensitivity analyses indicated water concentrations as the most sensitive parameter for the model output, dissolved water concentrations were predicted using measured zooplankton and air PCB concentrations, and empirical and mechanistic models...

Establishing post-traumatic stress disorder as a psychiatric diagnosis has only marginally increased awareness of traumatic experiences. Traumas are inconsistently recorded in initial psychiatric histories and, when observed, rarely reflected in the primary diagnosis and treatment. The present study aimed to investigate if there is an association between sufficiently addressing trauma and long-term outcome and what factors affect whether trauma, according to the patient's view, is sufficiently addressed or not...

OBJECTIVE: Clomethiazole is virtually completely eliminated by hepatic metabolism. This study was designed to assess the impact of liver impairment on its elimination and sedative effects. METHODS: Eight patients with mild liver impairment (Child-Pugh grade A), eight patients with moderate/severe liver impairment (Child-Pugh grade B/C) and eight healthy subjects of similar age were given 68 mg/kg clomethiazole edisilate according to a 24-h infusion scheme aimed at producing minimum sedation as it was intended for clinical use in patients with stroke...