University of Catania

Dream experiences and psychological distress: a network analysis of pathological worry, depression, anxiety, and stress

Abstract Dreaming has long been implicated in emotional processing, yet the complex relationships between specific dream experiences and different dimensions of psychological distress remain insufficiently understood. This study explored the network relationships between dream-re...

Exploiting the Latent Space of Deep AutoEncoders for the Identification of Signal Pulses in Noisy Time-Series

We propose a data-driven procedure, based on convolutional variational autoencoders, to identify the presence of signal pulses in long time series. The dataset consists of synthetic waveforms, each composed of non-Gaussian noise and a log-normal-shaped signal of variable intensit...

Adult attachment, death anxiety, representation of death, and depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and somatic symptoms in early emerging adulthood: a moderated mediation model

Death anxiety has been increasingly recognized as a transdiagnostic factor associated with a wide range of internalizing symptoms, yet the psychological mechanisms linking existential concerns to psychopathology remain incompletely understood. Drawing on attachment theory and exi...

Machine Learning-Based Classification of Retinitis Pigmentosa from Color Fundus Images: A Reproducible Benchmark and Screening-Oriented Pipeline

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a rare inherited retinal disorder in which fundus changes may be subtle and heterogeneous, limiting detection from color fundus images. This study evaluated multiple machine learning architectures for binary-RP versus healthy-control classification, a...

Halloysite Nanotubesas Dynamic Interfaces for FunctionalEnzyme Biomaterials

Abstract The development of robust and recyclable enzyme-based materials is essential for advancing sustainable biocatalysis and biotechnologies. Herein, we report the design of covalent enzyme-halloysite biohybrid materials obtained by the controlled functionalization of halloys...

Geriatric nutritional risk index as a potential prognostic indicator in pancreatic cancer: evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Malnutrition is highly prevalent among patients with pancreatic cancer and has a substantial impact on prognosis, treatment tolerability, and quality of life. However, the prognostic significance of the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), a simple and objective tool for asse...

The benefits of green roofs for urban water management and thermal regulation: Insights from Catania (Sicily, Italy)

This study provides a comprehensive field-based assessment of the hydrological and thermal performance of three semi-intensive green roof (GR) technologies under Mediterranean climate conditions in Catania (Sicily, Italy). The experimental system, covering approximately 900 m2, w...

Chronological Age and Adaptive Outcomes Following Neuropsychomotor and Aquatic Interventions in Children with Autism: A Secondary Analysis

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be conceptualized not as a static condition but as a dynamic disorder of developmental regulation, in which neuroplastic potential is translated into functional gains only through structured, experience-dependent therapeutic input. N...

Concurrent Assessment of Micro- and Nanoplastics and Bisphenol A in Non-Dialysis Chronic Kidney Patients and Hemodialysis Patients: Results from a Cross-Sectional Human Biomonitoring Study Focusing on Sex-Related Patterns

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), particularly those receiving hemodialysis (HD), may be more vulnerable to exposure to micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) and bisphenol A (BPA) because of impaired renal clearance and frequent contact to plastic-based medical devices. This s...

Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) as target for anticancer therapy in brain and gastrointestinal cancers

Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) enzyme system plays a central role in cellular metabolism, growth, and differentiation, and its mutations are associated with alterations of the cell cycle and production of oncometabolites, promoting tumor development. In this narrative review, we...

Prolonged indolent clinical course in a high-risk chronic phase-CML patient without cytogenetic or molecular response: a case challenging established response paradigms

Chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CP-CML) is currently treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), and the early achievement of cytogenetic and molecular milestones is strongly associated with improved clinical outcomes. Here, we describe the case of a 55-year-old woman...

Sphereplasty with 3D porous titanium microspheres for thoracolumbar vertebral compression fractures: analysis of clinical efficacy and safety profile of a novel technique

PURPOSE: Porous Titanium Microspheres (PTM)-based Sphereplasty has been recently proposed as a novel vertebral augmentation technique for thoracolumbar Vertebral Compression Fractures (VCFs), potentially promoting bony fusion and reducing long-term complications. This study aims...

Incomplete male puberty: a new nosographic entity

Abstract Purpose Incomplete male puberty is a recently proposed nosographic entity defined by the development of normal secondary sexual characteristics in boys who nonetheless fail to achieve adequate testicular volume (<12 mL) during puberty due to underlying Sertoli cell dy...

Operation Melilli, forensic humanitarian medico legal activities on the largest known Mediterranean disaster: the shipwreck of April 18th, 2015

On April 18th, 2015, a boat carrying about 1,000 migrants sank in the Strait of Sicily, prompting one of the most complex recovery missions ever conducted in the Mediterranean. Operation Melilli was the first time a European Government authorized the recovery of a sunken migrant...

Detailed study of non-equilibrium characteristics of quasi-neutral TNSA plasmas

In an experiment performed in November 2022 at the petawatt (PW) laser facility at Vega III located in Salamanca-Spain, we have studied the successful production of several radioisotopes using protons accelerated by the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) mechanism (Rodrigue...