The moult represents an important seasonal change in the physiology of phocid seals. However, physiological measurements are challenging due to the impracticalities of instrumenting moulting animals. The aim of this study was (i) to assess the feasibility of a long-term deployment of fully implantable loggers to measure heart rate (HR) and sub-blubber temperature (T b ) in harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) and (ii) to compare H...

Disease management decision support systems (DSS) are typically prediction algorithms that help farmers assess the risk of an epidemic, to guide whether, and to what extent, fungicide treatment is needed. However, there is frequently little information presented to quantify the value of using the DSS, i.e. the likely increased profit or reduced impact to the environment, and the risks of failing to control the pest. Validation...

Purpose Sex-steroid hormones are associated with postmenopausal breast cancer but potential confounding from other biological pathways is rarely considered. We estimated risk ratios for sex-steroid hormone biomarkers in relation to postmenopausal estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer, while accounting for biomarkers from insulin/insulin-like growth factor-signaling and inflammatory pathways. Methods This analysis inclu...

Over the years, transportable instrumentation for cultural heritage (CH) in situ measurements has noticeably widespread, due to logistic, economical and safety reasons. Ion beam analysis, a powerful set of analytical techniques, of great importance for CH, is instead carried out by using fixed instrumentation. To overcome this limit, the Italian national Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Re...