"Oops a Beaver Again!" Eurasian Beaver Castor fiber Recorded by Citizen-Science in New Areas of Central and Southern Italy.

The Eurasian beaver Castor fiber was once present in the Palearctic, ranging from the western Iberian Peninsula to northwestern China. In the Middle Ages, this rodent underwent a severe decline in population due to habitat loss, hunting for fur and meat, and the demand for castoreum. At the beginning of 1900, the range of the Eurasian beaver was limited to scattered refugia in Eurasia. Since 1920, legal protection, reintroduction events, and natural spread triggered the recovery of the species in most of its original range. In March 2021, the presence of the Eurasian beaver in Central Italy (Tuscany and Umbria regions) was confirmed through camera trapping after the detection of unequivocal signs of presence (i.e., gnawed trunks). Recordings are located about 550 km south of the known range of this species, thus suggesting that the presence of beavers in Tuscany and Umbria might be due to a local unauthorised reintroduction. In this work, we also reported the presence of beavers in the Abruzzi region and in Southern Italy (Molise-Campania regions), over 380 km in a straight line south to the southernmost record of beaver presence in Central Italy.

Cognitive impairment in patients with atrial fibrillation: What is the importance of anticoagulant therapy?

Atrial fibrillation represents one of the most significant aging markers and its prevalence increases with age, reaching 11.1% in men and 9.1% in women aged over 85 years. Fragility is nowadays defined according to two different phenotypes: the biologic-physiologic phenotype developed by L. Fried and Baltimora School and the clinic-multidimensional phenotype, proposed by Rockwood and Halifax School. If the clinical characteristics of elder patients hospitalized in acute geriatric unit care are considered, differences appear in the clinical features, in co-morbidity, in therapy and prognosis.

Frailty as a predictor of mortality and hospital services use in older adults: a cluster analysis in a cohort study.

Background: Lowering mortality and hospitalization of older adults is one of the main goals of public health to improve both health systems' sustainability and older adults' quality of life. The aim of this study is to identify the determinants associated with mortality and the use of hospital services in the population older than 64 years of age. Methods: A randomized sample from the population of the Lazio region (Italy) above the age of 64 was enrolled in 2014 by the administration of a questionnaire to assess frailty; the rates of use of hospital services and mortality in the year following the enrolment have been retrieved by the regional database. Univariable and multivariable analyses addressed the association of health status, social and economic variables with health outcomes. Results: One thousand two hundred and eighty persons were recruited; 52 deaths were reported at 1 year of follow-up (robust 1.8%, frail 10.1% and very frail 19.1%, P < 0.001). The mean rate of use of hospital services was 692.2 per 1000 observation/year (robust 589.5, frail 1191.1 and very frail 848.4, P < 0.001). In the multivariate analysis, the higher rate of use of hospital services was independently associated with functional status, social support, psychological/psychiatric discomfort, availability of home care services and physical health. Conclusions: Frailty, as a multidimensional issue, is also a strong predictor of survival in the short term. The use of the hospital services by older adults is associated mainly with functional status, social resources, psycho-physical status and health service organization factors.

Winter survival of microbial contaminants in soil: an in situ verification.

The aim of the research was to evaluate, at site scale, the influence of freezing and freeze/thaw cycles on the survival of faecal coliforms and faecal enterococci in soil, in a climate change perspective. Before the winter period and during grazing, viable cells of faecal coliforms and faecal enterococci were detected only in the first 10 cm below ground, while, after the winter period and before the new seasonal grazing, a lower number of viable cells of both faecal indicators was detected only in some of the investigated soil profiles, and within the first 5 cm. Taking into consideration the results of specific investigations, we hypothesise that the non-uniform spatial distribution of grass roots within the studied soil can play an important role in influencing this phenomenon, while several abiotic factors do not play any significant role. Taking into account the local trend in the increase of air temperature, a different distribution of microbial pollution over time is expected in spring waters, in future climate scenarios. The progressive increase in air temperature will cause a progressive decrease in freeze/thaw cycles at higher altitudes, minimising cold shocks on microbial cells, and causing spring water pollution also during winter.