University of Catania

Construction and characterisation of the DarkSide-20k veto silicon photo-multiplier tiles

Abstract Silicon photo-multipliers (SiPMs) are state-of-the-art sensors capable of detecting a single photoelectron under cryogenic conditions, with potentially lower radioactivity than widely used photomultiplier tubes. The DarkSide-20k experiment, designed to perform direct dar...

Underground Signals: The Ecological Power of Root Volatiles

Root volatiles mediate diverse belowground interactions among plants, microbes, and invertebrates, but biological and environmental conditions strongly influence their production, movement, perception, and ecological effects. This review synthesizes current knowledge through an i...

Voices, Memory, and Identity in the First Lay of Guðrún: A Narratological Analysis

The First Lay of Guðrún ( Guðrúnarkviða I ) is one of the most intense and moving poems of the Poetic Edda. It is distinguished by its polyphonic structure and its exploration of individual grief through the interplay of multiple female voices. At the centre of the poem is Guðrún...

ARISTOPHANES, PEACE 246

Abstract A conjecture in Aristophanes, Peace 246.

Surgical outcomes for proximal femoral fractures: a longitudinal analysis pre- and post-pandemic

Proximal femoral fractures are a major cause of disability in older adults and require timely surgical treatment. This study aimed to compare perioperative and clinical outcomes of elderly patients with proximal femoral fractures treated during the pre-COVID-19 (2018–2019), COVID...

Qualitative and Quantitative Differences between GSR and non-GSR Source Particles Revealed by Raman Spectroscopy

Analysis of Gunshot Residue (GSR) is relevant to forensic science by providing a correlation between an individual and a firearms incident. Detection of GSR is usually made by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). Pa...

Dietary (Poly)phenol Intake, Inflammatory Biomarkers, and Mild Cognitive Impairment in Italian Adults

Background: Dietary (poly)phenols have been proposed to protect against age-related cognitive decline through antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective mechanisms. However, evidence specifically addressing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) remains limited. This study inve...

Virologic, Lipid, Renal and Hepatic Laboratory Outcomes After Switching to Doravirine/Lamivudine/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate in Treatment-Experienced People with HIV: Real-World Evidence from the SHINe-SHIC Cohort

Background/Objectives: Doravirine/lamivudine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (DOR/3TC/TDF) is used as a switch regimen in treatment-experienced people with HIV (PWH), particularly when simplification, lipid improvement, or avoidance of interaction-prone regimens is needed. We evalu...

Data-driven seismic fragility and risk evaluation of existing reinforced-concrete bridge portfolios under limited data

Preliminary screening of existing transport infrastructure networks is essential to support timely maintenance and retrofit decisions, improve structural resilience, and reduce the economic and environmental impacts of severe damage, failure, and inefficient resource allocation....

L-AmB as the Real First-Line Therapy for Paediatric Visceral Leishmaniasis: A Multicentre Retrospective Study from an Endemic Area of Southern Italy

Background/Objectives: visceral leishmaniasis (VL) remains an important zoonotic disease in endemic Mediterranean regions, where children represent one of the populations at highest risk of developing symptomatic infection. Although pentavalent antimonials have historically been...

Substance Use during Pregnancy: A Retrospective Multicenter Clinical Report from Four Italian Centers

Background: Rising substance use during pregnancy is a major global health concern associated with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Despite growing international literature, Italian real-world multicenter data remain limited. Methods: We conducted a retrospective descripti...

Management accounting practices as a means of learning in the professionalisation process

Abstract This study examines how professionalisation unfolds in family firms by investigating “whether” and “how” the management accounting language game sustains dialogical interactions between family firm and professional communities by activating reciprocal situated learning p...

Securing Marine Assets: Edge ML and LoRa Mesh Integration for IoT Anti-Theft Systems

This paper presents a maritime Internet of Things anti-theft architecture based on an ESP32 onboard node, local motion analysis, and LoRa mesh communication. The proposed detection pipeline uses a one-dimensional convolutional autoencoder trained on stationary vessel data and app...

Personalized Sequential Nephron Blockade for Diuretic Resistance in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure: A Narrative Review for the Cardiorenal Clinician

Heart failure affects more than 64 million people worldwide, and admissions for acute decompensation account for a substantial proportion of cardiovascular healthcare expenditure. Achieving complete decongestion remains the principal objective of inpatient management, yet many pa...

Smartphone-Based Automated Quantification of Bulbar Conjunctival Hyperemia Using Vessel Density Mapping

Purpose: To develop a smartphone application (Conjunctiva VD) that objectively quantifies bulbar conjunctival hyperemia by estimating the conjunctival vessel density (VD) within a user-defined region of interest (ROI). Methods: A total of 100 conjunctival images from 2 public dat...

Addressing the Limits of Emx2 Therapy of Glioblastoma Multiforme by Transgene Insulation and Epigenetic Pharmacological Intervention

Introduction/Objectives: Implicated in the regionalization of the anterior central nervous system (CNS) and the progression of pallial astrogliogenesis, the transcription factor gene EMX2 has been reported to be specifically silenced in several tumors, both non-neural and neural....

Biovid dataset and challenge: biometric user recognition on smartphone data in real-world conditions

Abstract User authentication is more and more crucial in everyday life, with researchers developing sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, approaches to enforce secure authentication while providing a smooth user experience. This is particularly true in mobile authentication, in which t...

Reproducible human reward imaging phenotypes exhibit differential sensitivity to dopamine D2 receptor antagonism

Abstract Human reward processing varies along cue-centric and outcome-centric axes, but a reproducible mechanistic account of individual variation in incentive salience attribution has been lacking. Using fMRI across five cohorts (N-total=1,251; N1=890; N2=245; N3=34; N4=48; N5=3...

Geneslator: an R package for comprehensive gene identifier conversion and annotation

Abstract Motivation High-throughput sequencing generates large gene lists, making data interpretation challenging. Accurate gene annotation and reliable conversion between identifiers (e.g., gene symbols, Ensembl GeneIDs, Entrez GeneIDs) are essential for integrating datasets, co...

Pharmacological Targets for Periodontitis: A Systematic Review of Drug‐Target Mendelian Randomisation Studies

ABSTRACT Aim Drug‐target Mendelian randomisation (MR) studies investigate whether genetically proxied modulation of druggable proteins affects the risk of periodontitis, thereby identifying potential pharmacological targets. Methods A systematic review was conducted following PRI...