Analysis of soil and vegetation patterns in semi-arid Mediterranean landscapes by way of a conceptual water balance model

International audienceThis paper investigates the impact of various vegetation types on water balance variability in semi-arid Mediterranean landscapes, and the different strategies they may have developed to succeed in such water-limited environments. Water balance constraints are assumed to dominate the organization of landscapes and a conceptual bucket approach is adopted to model the temporal water balance dynamics, with vegetation water use efficiency being parameterized through the use of empirically obtained crop coefficients as surrogates of vegetation behavior in various developmental stages. Sensitivity analyses with respect to the root zone depth and soil water holding capacity are carried out with the aim of investigating the existence of preferential soil-vegetation associations and, hence, the spatial distribution of vegetation types within the study region. Based on these sensitivity analyses the degrees of suitability and adaptability of each vegetation type to parts of the study region are explored with respect of the soil water holding capacity, and the model results were found to be able to explain the observed affinity patterns. Finally, the existence of such preferential association between soil water holding capacity and vegetation species is verified through an extensive soil survey available in the study region

From regional climate simulations to the hydrological information needed for basin scale impact studies

The accuracy of local downscaling of rainfall predictions provided by climate models is crucial for the assessment of climate change impacts on hydrological processes because the presence of bias in downscaled precipitation may produce large bias in the assessment of soil moisture dynamics, river flows, and groundwater recharge. <br><br> In this study, the output of a regional climate model (RCM) is downscaled using a stochastic modelling of the point rainfall process able to adequately reproduce the daily rainfall intermittency which is one of the crucial aspects for the hydrological processes characterizing Mediterranean environments. The historical time-series from a dense rain-gauge network were used for the analysis of the RCM bias in terms of dry and wet daily period and then to investigate the predicted alteration in the local rainfall regime. A Poisson Rectangular Pulse (PRP) model (Rodriguez-Iturbe et al., 1987) was finally adopted for the stochastic generation of local daily rainfall as a continuous-time point process with forcing parameters resulting from the bias correction of the RCM scenario

Stochastic bias-correction of daily rainfall scenarios for hydrological applications

The accuracy of rainfall predictions provided by climate models is crucial for the assessment of climate change impacts on hydrological processes. In fact, the presence of bias in downscaled precipitation may produce large bias in the assessment of soil moisture dynamics, river flows and groundwater recharge. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; In this study, a comparison between statistical properties of rainfall observations and model control simulations from a Regional Climate Model (RCM) was performed through a robust and meaningful representation of the precipitation process. The output of the adopted RCM was analysed and re-scaled exploiting the structure of a stochastic model of the point rainfall process. In particular, the stochastic model is able to adequately reproduce the rainfall intermittency at the synoptic scale, which is one of the crucial aspects for the Mediterranean environments. Possible alteration in the local rainfall regime was investigated by means of the historical daily time-series from a dense rain-gauge network, which were also used for the analysis of the RCM bias in terms of dry and wet periods and storm intensity. The result is a stochastic scheme for bias-correction at the RCM-cell scale, which produces a realistic representation of the daily rainfall intermittency and precipitation depths, though a residual bias in the storm intensity of longer storm events persists

Stress among medical students: Factor structure of the University Stress Scale among Italian students

Objectives The main purpose of the current study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the University Stress Scale (USS) among Italian medical students. Design, setting and participants A cross-sectional observational study based on data from an online cross-sectional survey from 11 to 23 December 2018. A total of 1858 Italian medical students participated in the study. Outcome measures We measured perceived stress among medical students using the USS, the Effort-Reward Imbalance Student Questionnaire (ERI-SQ) and the Kessler-10 (K10). Results Results showed that a bifactor-Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling solution provided excellent levels of fit to the data. Our results suggest that the modified version of 19 items of the Italian version of the USS does not have a simple unidimensional structure. Overall, an inspection of ancillary indices (omega indices, ECV and percentage of uncontaminated correlations) revealed that these were too low to suggest the use of the USS as a composite measure of university stress. We tested an alternative unidimensional short form (eight items; USS-S) that assessed all the five sources of stress. This version provided a good fit to the data. Evidence of convergent validity of the USS-S was observed by analysing the correlations between the USS and ERI-SQ (ranging from-0.34 to 0.37, all p&lt;0.01). Finally, based on the clinical cut-off recommended on the K10, results from receiver operating characteristic showed that considering the clinical cut-off of the USS is 7.5 and that 59.70% of medical students reported stress levels in the clinical range. Conclusion Finally, our results showed a lack of support for using the USS to measure a general university stress factor, as the general USS factor accounted for little variance in our sample. In this sense, stress scores among Italian students can be better assessed by the use of the USS-S

Sexual functioning and opioid maintenance treatment in women. Results from a large multicentre study

Opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) is the most widespread therapy for both females and males opioid addicts. While many studies have evaluated the OMT impact on men’s sexuality, the data collected about the change in women’s sexual functioning is still limited despite the fact that it is now well-known that opioids-both endogenous and exogenous-affect the endocrine system and play an important role in sexual functioning. The present study aims to determine how OMT with buprenorphine (BUP) or methadone (MTD) affects sexual health in women; examining also any possible emerging correlation between sexual dysfunction (SD), type of opioid and patients’ mental health. This multi-center study case recruited 258 female volunteers attending Italian public Addiction Outpatients Centers that were stabilized with OMT for at least 3 months. SD was assessed with the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale. The twelve-item General Health Questionnaire was used to assess participants’ mental health conditions. The results show that 56.6% of women receiving OMT for at least 3 months presented SD without significant differences between MTD e BUP groups. The majority of the subjects with SD have a poorer quality of intimate relationships and worse mental health than the average. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the largest report on the presence of SDs in women as a side effects of MTD and BUP used in OMT. Since SDs cause difficulties in intimate relationships, lower patients’ quality of life and interfere with OMT beneficial outcomes, we recommend that women undertaking an opioid therapy have routine screening for SD and we highlight the importance to better examine opioid-endocrine interactions in future studies in order to provide alternative potential treatments such as the choice of opioid, opioid dose reduction and hormone supplementation

Influences of Leaf Area Index estimations on water balance modeling in a Mediterranean semi-arid basin

Abstract. In the present work, the role played by vegetation parameters, necessary to the hydrological distributed modeling, is investigated focusing on the correct use of remote sensing products for the evaluation of hydrological losses in the soil water balance. The research was carried out over a medium-sized river basin in Southern Italy, where the vegetation status is characterised through a data-set of multi-temporal NDVI images. The model adopted uses one layer of vegetation whose status is defined by the Leaf Area Index (LAI), which is often obtained from NDVI images. The inherent problem is that the vegetation heterogeneity – including soil disturbances – has a large influence on the spectral bands and so the relation between LAI and NDVI is not unambiguous. We present a rationale for the basin scale calibration of a non-linear NDVI-LAI regression, based on the comparison between NDVI values and literature LAI estimations of the vegetation cover in recognized landscape elements of the study catchment. Adopting a process-based model (DREAM) with a distributed parameterisation, the influence of different NDVI-LAI regression models on main features of water balance predictions is investigated. The results show a significant sensitivity of the hydrological losses and soil water regime to the alternative LAI estimations. These crucially affects the model performances especially in low-flows simulation and in the identification of the intermittent regime

Concerns, Perceived Impact, Preparedness in Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic and Health Outcomes among Italian Physicians: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are among the professionals at serious risk for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their mental health. In this sense, the next public health challenge globally will be to preserving healthy HCWs during this pandemic. Aim: The present study has the aim of investigating the relationship among concerns, perceived impact, preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic and the mental health of Italian physicians. Methods: From March 29th to April 15th 2020, we conducted an online survey using snowball sampling techniques through Limesurvey platform. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple binary logistic regressions. Results: Multivariate analysis showed that the risk factors for perceived job stress were concerns about catching COVID-19 (OR = 3.18 [95% CI = 2.00-5.05] P &lt;.001), perceived impact on job demands (OR = 1.63 [95% CI = 1.05-2.52] P &lt;.05), perceived impact on job role (OR = 2.50 [95% CI = 1.60-3.90] P &lt;.001), and non-working concerns (OR = 1.86 [95% CI = 1.15-3.03] P &lt;.05). With respect to the risk factors for rumination about the pandemic emerged concerns about catching COVID-19 (OR 1.74, [95% CI = 1.12-2.71] P &lt;.05), perceived impact on job role (OR = 1.68 [95% CI = 1.12-2.52] P &lt;.05), and impact on personal life (OR = 2.04 [95% CI = 1.08-3.86] P &lt;.05). Finally, the risk factors for crying at work were perceived impact on job role (OR = 2.47, [95% CI = 1.20-5.09] P &lt;.05), rumination about the pandemic (OR = 3.027 [95% CI = 1.27-7.19] P &lt;.01), watching colleagues crying at work (OR = 3.82 [95% CI = 1.88-7.77] P &lt;.01), and perceived job stress (OR = 3.53 [95% CI = 1.24-10.07] P &lt;.05). Conclusion: In general, our results highlighted that being concerned about being infected/infecting other people, carrying out new and unusual tasks, and witnessing colleagues crying at work were important risk factors for physicians’ well-being. Additional data are necessary to advance understanding of these risk factors in a long-term perspective

Dealing With COVID-19 Patients: A Moderated Mediation Model of Exposure to Patients' Death and Mental Health of Italian Health Care Workers

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is asking health care workers (HCWs) to meet extraordinary challenges. In turn, HCWs were experiencing tremendous psycho-social crisis as they have had to deal with unexpected emotional requirements (ERs) arising from caring for suffering and dying patients on a daily basis. In that context, recent studies have highlighted how HCWs working during the COVID-19 outbreak manifested extreme emotional and behavioral reactions that may have impacted their mental health, increasing the risk for developing post-traumatic stress symptoms. Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate post-traumatic stress symptoms, such as intrusion symptoms, as a potential mediator of the link between ERs and crying at work, and whether rumination moderates the relationship between ERs and intrusion-based PTS symptoms among HCWs who have had to deal with patients dying from COVID-19. Methods: An online cross-sectional study design was performed. A total of 543 Italian HCWs (physicians and nurses) participated in the study. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. We used the SPSS version of bootstrap-based PROCESS macro for testing the moderated mediation model. Results: ERs had an indirect effect on crying at work through the mediating role of intrusion symptoms. Results from the moderated mediation model showed that rumination moderated the indirect effect of ERs on crying at work via intrusion symptoms, and this effect was significant only for high rumination. Furthermore, when we tested for an alternative model where rumination moderates the direct effect of ERs on crying at work, this moderation was not significant. Conclusions: As the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, there is an urgent need for decision-makers to rapidly implement interventions aimed at offering timely psychological support to HCWs, especially in those contexts where the risk of emotional labor associated to patients dying from COVID-19 is higher

Worries, Preparedness, and Perceived Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Nurses' Mental Health

Background: In times of global public health emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses stand at the front line, working in close contact with infected individuals. Being actively engaged in fighting against COVID-19 exposes nurses to a high risk of being infected but can also have a serious impact on their mental health, as they are faced with excessive workload and emotional burden in many front-line operating contexts. Purpose: The aim of the study is to analyze how risk factors such as perceived impact, preparedness to the pandemic, and worries were associated with mental health outcomes (crying, rumination and stress) in nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was performed via an online questionnaire survey. Participants included 894 registered nurses from Italy. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Multiple binary logistic regression was carried out to analyze the relationship between risk factors and health outcomes. Results: Increased job stress was related to higher levels of rumination about the pandemic (OR = 4.04, p &lt; 0.001), job demand (OR = 2.00, p &lt; 0.001), impact on job role (OR = 2.56, p &lt; 0.001), watching coworkers crying at work (OR = 1.50, p &lt; 0.05), non-work-related concerns (OR = 2.28, p &lt; 0.001), and fear of getting infected (OR = 2.05, p &lt; 0.001). Job stress (OR = 2.52, p &lt; 0.01), rumination (OR = 2.28, p &lt; 0.001), and watching colleagues crying (OR = 7.92, p &lt; 0.001) were associated with crying at work. Rumination was associated with caring for patients who died of COVID-19 (OR = 1.54, p &lt; 0.05), job demand (OR = 1.70, p &lt; 0.01), watching colleagues crying (OR = 1.81, p &lt; 0.001), non-work-related worries (OR = 1.57, p &lt; 0.05), and fear of getting infected (OR = 2.02, p &lt; 0.001). Conclusions: The psychological impact that this pandemic may cause in the medium/long term could be greater than the economical one. This is the main challenge that health organizations will have to face in the future. This study highlights that the perceived impact and worries about the pandemic affect nurses' mental health and can impact on their overall effectiveness during the pandemic. Measures to enhance nurses' protection and to lessen the risk of depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress should be planned promptly