Ricerc@Sapienza

Background: University students confront psychological difficulties that can negatively influence their academic performance. The present study aimed to assess several areas of adaptive and maladaptive psychological functioning among university students who request counseling services.

The biosynthesis of endogenous androgenic anabolic steroids (EAAS) in males varies with age. Knowledge of the general urinary EAAS profile's dependence from aging – not reported up to now – may represents a prerequisite for its exploitation in the screening and diagnostic support for several pathologies. Extended urinary EAAS profiles were obtained from healthy and pathological individuals, using a GC–MS method which was fully validated by a stepwise, analyst-independent scheme.

Avola almond is part of the “Traditional Italian Agri-food Product” (PAT) list, as established by The Italian Ministry of agricultural food, forestry and tourism policies; this endorsement testifies its status as a high added-value product, and, consequently, it highlights the need of analytical methodologies suitable for its authentication. For these reasons, in the present study, the possibility of developing a non-destructive approach, aimed at distinguishing almonds cultivated in the Avola area from others presenting a different geographical origin, has been investigated.

Modern analytical measurement technologies, such as infrared, NMR, mass spectrometry and chromatography, provide a wealth of information on the chemical composition of all kinds of samples. These instruments are invariably controlled by computers, and the data (spectrum, chromatogram) recorded in digital form. A measurement on a single sample typically comprises thousands of numbers. Usually, this is many more than the number of samples, meaning that the experiment overall is underdetermined.

One hundred and forty-nine (149) Italian saffron samples produced in the years from 2013 to 2016 in distinct sites located in five different Italian regions, Abruzzo, Tuscany, Umbria, Campania and Sardinia, together with twenty-seven (27) commercial samples, have been analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). Among the investigated samples, those produced in Abruzzo (L'Aquila area) present an even higher added-value, because, since 2005, saffron of L'Aquila has been granted of the protected designation of origin (PDO) mark.

Remotely sensed observations of seasonal greenness dynamics represent a valuable tool for studying vegetation phenology at regional and ecosystem-level scales. We investigated the seasonal variability of forests in Italy, examining the different mechanisms of phenological response to biophysical drivers. For each point of the Italian National Forests Inventory, we processed a multitemporal profile of the MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index. Then we applied a multivariate approach for the purpose of (i) classifying the Italian forests into phenological clusters (i.e.