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Objective: Neonatal seizures are alarming manifestations of an underlying significant disorder demanding immediate attention and intervention. Hypocalcemia, although rare, must be considered in the differential diagnosis of neonatal seizures.Method: We present an unusual case of a 10-day-old infant with unexplained symptomatic hypocalcemia, experiencing multiple episodes of focal tonic-clonic seizures, born by an entirely asymptomatic mother. Moreover, we conducted a systematic search in PubMed and Scopus databases to present a clinical overview of all similar cases.Result: Maternal laboratory investigation revealed markedly increased calcium levels with concomitant high parathyroid hormone levels due to a parathyroid adenoma, undiagnosed during antenatal checkup.Conclusion: This is one of the few cases in the literature where neonatal symptomatology led to the diagnosis of undiagnosed maternal hyperparathyroidism. Early detection and appropriate management of neonatal hypocalcemia could eliminate serious maternal and fetal morbidity.

Since the emergence of microplastics, the scientific community has been extremely alarmed regarding their potential risks for and threats to both the environment and human lives. MPs are traced in freshwater and marine environments, day-to-day-life ecosystems, and the bodies of animals and humans. Due to their usage advancements, MPs have become directly or indirectly an integral part of personal care, cosmetics, and cleaning products and appeared as a domestic cause of environmental pollution. Over the years, researchers have ascertained the harmful effects of MPs on the environment. In this regard, the monitoring and assessment of MPs in PCCPs necessitates considerable attention. The worldwide ban legislation on plastic μBs used in cosmetic products has driven researchers to investigate sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. This review paper summarizes the potential threats of MPs used in cosmetics and the utilization of potential alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, food and water security and ecosystem sustainable management are tightly interlinked and require holistic approaches to achieve solutions that do not impact adversely one-another. The objective of this work was to conduct studies, collect data and assess the Water-Ecosystem-Food (WEF) nexus in avocado plantations in the Mediterranean region systematically to minimize the environmental footprint while maximizing the benefits for the farmer and the environment. The study includes two distinct experiments; the first addresses the impact of soil organic amendments addition to optimize the WEF nexus and the second monitors experimentally crop water needs and thus illustrates how irrigation practices aided by technology can reduce substantially water consumption. The results showed that organic amendments addition improves fertility, nutrient sequestration and structure but only had a weak effect on biodiversity by increasing the number of unique species. For the development of an efficient irrigation system it is necessary to determine the radius around the tree, the depth of the roots and the time required for the water to reach the active root zone to determine the amount and duration of irrigation. In this way sufficient water will be added to replenish the soil moisture deficit created due to the evapotranspiration. HYDRUS-1D model was used to simulate soil moisture and the hydrologic budget of an avocado tree located in Koiliaris river basin and confirm the percolation losses to groundwater. The results of this study showed that the actual irrigation needs of avocados in the Mediterranean is less than 2,000 m3/ha which is 75% less than what is recommended and could become the primary measure for the mitigation of climate change impacts especially in semi-arid regions such as the Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The water ecosystem food (WEF) nexus duly acknowledges the complex interdependencies among water, ecosystems, and food production, underscoring nature based solutions (NBS) as an efficacious strategy for navigating these interconnections. In this research, four different NBS (terraces, riparian forest, livestock management and agro ecological practices) were assessed in terms of their impact to WEF nexus. The Karst-SWAT and the one-dimensional integrated critical zone (1D-ICZ) models were used to simulate the impact of NBS on water quantity and quality as well as on soil ecosystem services of Koiliaris River Basin, which serves as an illustrative example of a basin that has experienced severe soil and biodiversity degradation. The Karst-SWAT model showed that a combination of NBS of terraces and riparian forest can reduce soil erosion and the sediment load by 97%. The 1D-ICZ model successfully simulated the soilplant-water system and showed that agro ecological practices affect biomass production, carbon and nutrient sequestration, soil structure and geochemistry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature-based solutions (NBSs), defined as actions that work with and enhance nature, providing environmental, social, and economic benefits, play a pivotal role in accomplishing multiple objectives within the Water–Ecosystem–Food Nexus domain. They contribute to facilitating the transition to more resilient agrifood systems and providing an evidence base for a broader Nexus policy dialogue. This paper describes the stepwise methodology developed in the EU-funded LENSES project to carry out a comprehensive analysis of NBSs in six pilot areas in five Mediterranean countries and presents the results of NBS implementation in four pilot areas, highlighting obstacles and opportunities. The methodology includes the development of an analytical evaluation framework and a comprehensive catalogue of Nexus-related NBSs, whose suitability needs to be assessed at the local level to achieve better use of protected/natural ecosystems, increase the sustainability and multifunctionality of managed ecosystems, and design and manage novel ecosystems. Subsequently, in a collective learning process that supported the operationalisation of the WEF Nexus, NBSs were identified that address specific contextual vulnerabilities, improve water distribution, and enhance food security while preserving ecosystems and supporting adaptation to climate change. The added value of the proposed methodology lies in the multi-stakeholder participatory approach to gain in-depth knowledge of local agri-food systems, including their main WEF-related challenges, and to facilitate overcoming barriers to NBS implementation. Finally, a final survey was conducted among a small group of purposively selected stakeholders to gain some insight into their perceptions of the impact of NBS and to gather some opinions on the main barriers and opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mediterranean Basin is severely impacted by anthropogenic changes affecting both natural ecosystems and human livelihoods. The region is highly vulnerable to natural hazards, with floods being considered the most important, due both to their frequency and impacts. Koiliaris watershed (northwest of Crete Island, Greece) represents a relevant case study as past land-use changes via deforestation and intense cultivation practices induce soil organic matter losses, making soils susceptible to water erosion and desertification. The restoration of native riparian forests has been identified as the most effective nature-based solution (NBS) for the area. Through modeling, our study assessed the effectiveness of this NBS in addressing flood risk and erosion while providing additional ecosystem services (carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation). A cost–benefit analysis has been then implemented to also investigate the sustainability of the investment from an economic point of view. Our results show the NBS would be successful in ensuring a better flow of targeted ecosystem services compared to the business-as-usual conditions. The associated investment would result in economic sustainability and associated costs would be paid back in five years. Though site-specific, our study provides lessons learned for dealing with future land-restoration challenges in the Mediterranean to cope with climate change-related challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To tackle the COVID-19 infodemic, we analysed 58,625 articles from 460 unverified sources, that is, sources that were indicated by fact checkers and other mis/disinformation experts as frequently spreading mis/disinformation, covering the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022. Our aim was to identify the main narratives of COVID-19 mis/disinformation, develop a codebook, automate the process of narrative classification by training an automatic classifier, and analyse the spread of narratives over time and across countries. Articles were retrieved with a customised version of the Europe Media Monitor (EMM) processing chain providing a stream of text items. Machine translation was employed to automatically translate non-English text to English and clustering was carried out to group similar articles. A multi-level codebook of COVID-19 mis/disinformation narratives was developed following an inductive approach; a transformer-based model was developed to classify all text items according to the codebook. Using the transformer-based model, we identified 12 supernarratives that evolved over the three years studied. The analysis shows that there are often real events behind mis/disinformation trends, which unverified sources misrepresent or take out of context. We established a process that allows for near real-time monitoring of COVID-19 mis/disinformation. This experience will be useful to analyse mis/disinformation about other topics, such as climate change, migration, and geopolitical developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a noticeable growing interest in the use of natural dyes in contemporary textile dyeing, motivated by the requirements imposed, in favour of environmental prosperity. The use of natural dyes reduces significantly both the energy requirements and the environmental impact of the process. In the present work natural and synthetic fibres were dyed with the dyestuff isolated from Crocus sativus L., after aqueous extraction of the dried stigmas of the plant. Additionally, part of the powder was purified by using ultrafiltration technology. The saffron extract and the ultrafiltrated saffron retentate were used to dye cotton, wool, nylon and polyester, in various depths of shade and temperatures. Both saffron and ultrafiltrated saffron successfully dyed not only the natural substrates, but also the synthetic ones, while higher dyeing temperatures produced level dyeing with all substrates used. Ultrafiltrated saffron powder produced brighter and much stronger dyeing to the original saffron powder, due to the elimination of extraction by‐products. Isothermal adsorptions for both colourants were performed on all substrates in order to investigate their adsorption mechanism. It was found that saffron and ultrafiltrated saffron follow a Freundlich‐type adsorption isotherm on cotton, wool and nylon which is a typical mechanism for a planar‐directed dye of big molecular weight. Nernst‐type adsorption was found to occur on polyester which again is typical for the adsorption of disperse dyes on polyester. Thus, saffron can be claimed as a universal dye, able to successfully dye natural and synthetic substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of educational software characteristics on software performance through the mediating role of user acceptance. Our approach allows for a deeper understanding of the factors that contribute to the effectiveness of educational software by bridging the fields of educational technology, psychology, and human–computer interaction, offering a holistic perspective on software adoption and performance. This study is based on a sample collected from public and private education institutes in Northern Greece and on data obtained from 236 users. The statistical method employed is structural equation models (SEMs), via SPSS—AMOS estimation. The findings of this study suggest that user acceptance and performance appraisal are exceptionally interrelated in regard to educational applications. The study argues that user acceptance is positively related to the performance of educational software and constitutes the nested epicenter mediating construct in the educational software characteristics. Additional findings, such as computer-familiar users and users from the field of choral music, are positively related to the performance of the educational software. Our conclusions help in understanding the psychological and behavioral aspects of technology adoption in the educational setting. Findings are discussed in terms of their practical usefulness in education and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An industry listed as one of the largest globally is the cosmetic industry. In recent years, this industry has shown growing interest in the application of natural ingredients providing advanced properties to cosmetic creams such as moisturizing, antioxidant, sun-protecting and antimicrobial effects. In this context, the present study concerns the production of cosmetic emulsions containing hippophae oil obtained via the methods of extraction, hydro-distillation and maceration using sunflower oil as the carrier oil. Firstly, an IR-ATR analysis was performed showing that the oils prepared were close to those commercially obtained. Then, the stability of the emulsions was tested over a time period of four months through measuring their pH and viscosity values with positive outcomes, and their antioxidant ability was also measured using the DPPH method. The latter one showed that hippophae oil greatly improves the antioxidant capacity. Moreover, based on the fact that sea buckthorn contains carotenoids, the SPF value of the emulsions was determined. The results showed that the addition of hippophae oil to the emulsions gave higher absorption in UV-Vis, thus higher SPF values. Py-GC/MS analysis was used to identify decomposition compounds in the produced oils. Among those, valuable compounds such as Ω-6, Ω-7 and Ω-9 fatty acids and many aldehydes were found by the decomposition of the oils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current work, Oil in Water (O/W) and Water in Oil (W/O) emulsions containing Vitamins A, C and E in 0.5, 1 and 2% wt concentrations were prepared. The pH and viscosity stability over storage, as well as the sunscreen and antioxidant properties of the obtained emulsions, were investigated. The results obtained showed that vitamins slightly increased the pH of the blank emulsions; however, their pH values were within the acceptable values (pH = 4–6). Nevertheless, all emulsions presented excellent pH stability during storage for up to 90 days. Similar results were observed by rheological measurements as the prepared emulsions did not exhibit viscosity instabilities deriving during storage. Moreover, emulsions containing Vitamin A exhibited higher UV protection than the other emulsions, as the W/O emulsion containing 2% wt Vitamin A presented the highest SPF value at 22.6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]