Olon (Italy)

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition requiring personalised therapeutic approaches. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies (EAATs) in 86 children with varying ASD severity levels (levels 1-3). Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales and the Parenting Stress Index were used. Between May 2022 and October 2023, participants completed 20 weekly sessions of 45 min each, tailored to their individual needs. Children with level 3 ASD demonstrated greater challenges in communication (level 1: 67.1 ± 29.0 vs. level 3: 30.0 ± 12.6; p < 0.001), daily living skills (81.0 ± 26.8 vs. 42.6 ± 18.1; p < 0.001), and socialisation (72.2 ± 23.2 vs. 37.3 ± 14.2; p < 0.001). Parental distress was higher in cases of greater ASD severity. Nevertheless, significant improvements were observed across the entire cohort in daily living skills (58.3 ± 25.5 vs. 67.8 ± 29.0; p = 0.023), with particularly notable outcomes in children with level 1 ASD (65.7 ± 26.9 vs. 81.0 ± 26.8; p = 0.010). While increases in socialisation were noted among children with level 1 ASD, these were not statistically significant (p = 0.073). EAAT fosters improvements in daily living skills, particularly in children with level 1 ASD, and has a positive impact on socialisation. For children with more severe ASD, targeted interventions are required.

Climate change and geopolitical instability have emerged as critical systemic threats to global financial stability, compelling regulators and financial institutions to reassess the adequacy of traditional stress testing and scenario analysis frameworks. While such tools have been foundational in post-crisis prudential regulation, their adaptation to climate-related and geopolitical risks remains uneven, with significant methodological, data, and governance challenges. This review examines the evolution of stress testing from credit and market risk applications to its integration with environmental, social, and geopolitical risk factors. Drawing upon frameworks developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and national regulators, the paper evaluates whether current regulatory models sufficiently capture the complexity, nonlinearity, and long-horizon impacts of climate and geopolitical shocks. The analysis highlights methodological innovations, including macro-financial linkages, cross-border contagion modeling, and tail-risk scenario design, while identifying persistent gaps in scenario plausibility, temporal scope, and integration into supervisory decision-making. Case studies from the European Central Bank, Bank of England, and stress testing exercises in emerging markets illustrate both promising practices and structural deficiencies. The review concludes with policy recommendations to enhance regulatory readiness through harmonized scenario design, improved data granularity, forward-looking risk metrics, and the embedding of climate-geopolitical risk analysis into macroprudential policy.

The co-identity of the antibiotics lipiarmycin A3 obtained from Actinoplanes deccanensis and tiacumicin B obtained from Dactylosporangium aurantiacum was unambiguously demonstrated through a number of experimental means. Spectroscopic analyses performed on both the antibiotics themselves and on their derivatives showed no difference between the two series of compounds. Moreover, unambiguous confirmation of the postulated identity of the two compounds was achieved by chemical degradation of lipiarmycin A3 and isolation of (3S,4R)-pentane-1,3,4-triol triacetate whose relative configuration was assigned by comparison with the authentic erythro and threo pentane-1,3,4-triol triacetates, obtained by chemical synthesis.

The stomach content of 524 Gaboon Vipers, Bitis gabonica gabonica (53 subadults, 222 males and 249 females) and 392 Nose‐horned Vipers, Bitis nasicornis (48 subadults, 163 males and 161 females), from a number of forest‐plantation mosaic areas of southern Nigeria (West Africa) were recorded. Adult sex ratio was close to 1:1 in both species. In both Gaboon and Nose‐horned vipers, mean SVL of females significantly exceeded that of males. 30.7% of the total sample of Gaboon Vipers and 26% of the total sample of Nose‐horned Vipers contained identifiable food in the stomach. The stomachs of gravid females of both species never contained food. The stomach contents of the Gaboon Vipers consisted mainly of small mammals, followed by birds, lizards and, occasonally frogs. Males and females had similar diets. The diet of subadults differed from that of adults in that there were significantly more newborn mice and more lizards consumed. Nose‐horned Vipers also fed mainly upon small mammals, but amphibians were also eaten. Males and females had similar diets, and the diet of subadults differed from that of adults and consisted largely of newborn mice.

Aspects of the ecology of a suburban population of rainbow lizards, Agama agama Linnaeus 1758, have been studied in Malindi, a coastal locality of SE Kenya. Four different family groups were monitored on a wall transect 120 m long. Each group constituted a dominant male (i.e. a brightly coloured and aggressive individual) and three to four adult females, but in one of the studied groups a subordinate male was also seen. Both sexes were active in the morning, and peak activity fell between 10.00 and 11.30 hours. Dominant males used elevated perches significantly more often than subordinate males and females. The diet consisted of terrestrial arthropods, and most of the prey eaten were beetles (6–8 mm long). The foraging strategy used by rainbow lizards was to eat small insects at very short time intervals. The lizards used sit‐and‐wait foraging, remaining motionless until the prey was &lt;5 cm away. The rainbow lizards studied did not feed upon plant material.