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Social Indicators Research (SIR) year by year has consolidated its preeminent position in the debate concerning the study of all the aspects of quality of life . The need of a journal focused on the quantitative evaluation of social realities and phenomena dating back to the seventies, when a new branch of Social Science—called Social Indicators Research —came into the international scientific landscape. This paper aims at reviewing the whole collection of publications appeared on SIR from 1989 to 2018, providing a complete overview of the main factor that affected the journal in the last 30 years. The approach followed to analyse this extensive corpus of documents relies upon the theoretical framework of bibliometric studies.

We report a study examining interspecies emotion transfer via body odors (chemosignals). Do human body odors (chemosignals) produced under emotional conditions of happiness and fear provide information that is detectable by pet dogs (Labrador and Golden retrievers)? The odor samples were collected from the axilla of male donors not involved in the main experiment. The experimental setup involved the co-presence of the dog’s owner, a stranger and the odor dispenser in a space where the dogs could move freely. There were three odor conditions [fear, happiness, and control (no sweat)] to which the dogs were assigned randomly. The dependent variables were the relevant behaviors of the dogs (e.g., approaching, interacting and gazing) directed to the three targets (owner, stranger, sweat dispenser) aside from the dogs’ stress and heart rate indicators. The results indicated with high accuracy that the dogs manifested the predicted behaviors in the three conditions. There were fewer and shorter owner directed behaviors and more stranger directed behaviors when they were in the “happy odor condition” compared to the fear odor and control conditions. In the fear odor condition, they displayed more stressful behaviors. The heart rate data in the control and happy conditions were significantly lower than in the fear condition. Our findings suggest that interspecies emotional communication is facilitated by chemosignals.

Several orofacial painful conditions are influenced by gender-related factors, but no studies are available with regard to Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS). The present study aimed at investigating gender differences among BMS patients and their influence on pain perception. 242 BMS males (BMSm) and 242 BMS females (BMSf) matched for age were consecutively enrolled. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were recorded and the numeric rating scale (NRS), the Total Pain Rating Index (T-PRI), the Hamilton rating scale for anxiety and depression (HAM-A, HAM-D), the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) were administered. The BMSm presented statistically significant higher levels of education and rate of employment compared to the BMSf ( p -values: 0.001**). Moreover, the BMSm were greater consumers of alcohol and had a higher BMI than the BMSf ( p -values: < 0.001**, 0.034*). With respect to systemic comorbidities, cardiovascular diseases were statistically more prevalent among the BMSm, while hypothyroidism was more frequent in the BMSf ( p -vales: < 0.001**). No differences were noted between the two groups in terms of oral symptoms and in the median scores of NRS, T-PRI, HAM-A, HAM-D, PSQI and ESS. Interestingly, the multivariate regression analysis revealed that, while anxiety, high BMI, poor sleep and high level of T-PRI were correlated to the intensity of pain (NRS) in both groups, low education was additional predictor of pain in BMSf. Further, depression, alcohol and intensity of pain were factors positively associated to the quality of pain (T-PRI) in the BMSm, whereas low education, non-married status and NRS were correlated to the T-PRI, in the BMSf. Surprisingly, smoking was inversely correlated to the intensity of pain and quality of pain respectively in BMSf and BMSm. Sociodemographic and risk factors were found to differently influence pain perception in BMSm and BMSf. Therefore, clinicians should take into account gender differences in the assessment of BMS patients to better tailor the overall pain management.

Octopuses represent interesting model studies for different fields of scientific inquiry. The present study provides a bibliometric analysis on research trends in octopuses biological studies. The analysis was executed from January 1985 to December 2020 including scientific products reported in the Web of Science database. The period of study was split into two blocks (“earlier period” (EP): 1985−2010; “recent period” (RP): 2011−2020) to analyze the evolution of the research topics over time. All publications of interest were identified by using the following query: ((AK = octopus) OR (AB = octopus) OR (TI = octopus)). Data information was converted into an R-data frame using bibliometrix. Octopuses studies appeared in 360 different sources in EP, while they increased to 408 in RP. Sixty countries contributed to the octopuses studies in the EP, while they were 78 in the RP. The number of affiliations also increased between EP and RP, with 835 research centers involved in the EP and 1399 in the RP. In the EP 5 clusters (i.e., “growth and nutrition”, “pollution impact”, “morphology”, “neurobiology”, “biochemistry”) were represented in a thematic map, according to their centrality and density ranking. In the RP the analysis identified 4 clusters (i.e., “growth and nutrition”, “ecology”, “pollution impact”, “genes, behavior, and brain evolution”). The UK with Ireland, and the USA with Canada shared the highest number of publications in the EP, while in the RP, Spain and Portugal were the leading countries. The current data provide significant insight into the evolving trends in octopuses studies.

We provide a novel approach to evaluate access to health care based on the monetization of access barriers individuals face. This approach allows to distinguish the opportunities individuals enjoy from their utilization of health services, permitting a better assessment of potential, as opposed to revealed, access. An application to Italian data on heart valve replacement shows that the methodology we provide can be easily applied to quantify the share of the population to which access is precluded and the key determinants of denied access.

Background: Due to its common association with chronic pain experience, cognitive impairment (CI) has never been evaluated in patients with burning mouth syndrome (BMS). The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of CI in patients with BMS and to evaluate its relationship with potential predictors such as pain, mood disorders, blood biomarkers, and white matter changes (WMCs). Methods: A case-control study was conducted by enrolling 40 patients with BMS and an equal number of healthy controls matched for age, gender, and education. Neurocognitive assessment [Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Digit Cancellation Test (DCT), the Forward and Backward Digit Span task (FDS and BDS), Corsi Block-Tapping Test (CB-TT), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), Copying Geometric Drawings (CGD), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), and Trail Making A and B (TMT-A and TMT-B)], psychological assessment [Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and Anxiety (HAM-D and HAM-A), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36)], and pain assessment [Visual Analogic Scale (VAS), Total Pain Rating index (T-PRI), Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), and Pain DETECT Questionnaire (PD-Q)] were performed. In addition, blood biomarkers and MRI of the brain were recorded for the detection of Age-Related WMCs (ARWMCs). Descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney U -test, the Pearson Chi-Squared test and Spearman's correlation analysis were used. Results: Patients with BMS had impairments in most cognitive domains compared with controls ( p < 0.001 ** ) except in RAVLT and CGD. The HAM-D, HAM-A, PSQI, ESS, SF-36, VAS, T-PRI, BPI and PD-Q scores were statistically different between BMS patients and controls ( p < 0.001 ** ) the WMCs frequency and ARWMC scores in the right temporal (RT) and left temporal (LT) lobe were higher in patients with BMS ( p = 0.023 * ). Conclusions: Meanwhile, BMS is associated with a higher decline in cognitive functions, particularly attention, working memory, and executive functions, but other functions such as praxis-constructive skills and verbal memory are preserved. The early identification of CI and associated factors may help clinicians to identify patients at risk of developing time-based neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VD), for planning the early, comprehensive, and multidisciplinary assessment and treatment.

The Wall Gecko shows heterogeneous colour pattern, which may vary among individuals, depending on the time of day and on the habitat segregation. Nocturnal pale geckos live exclusively on walls. Diurnal dark geckos preferentially live on olive tree trunks, demonstrating an ability to change skin colour that is superior to that of the pale gecko and allows diurnal geckos becoming camouflaged on the diverse substrates occupied during the day. In our study, the nocturnal/pale/wall and diurnal/dark/trunk geckos could be considered the extremes of an ecological cline of morphological variation on which divergent selection may be acting. Combining the effect of balancing selection on nocturnal geckos and disruptive selection between two sympatric populations could lead to speciation. All geckos analysed here belong to the same species, as confirmed by genetic characterization, however diurnal and nocturnal gecko populations seem to be in an early stage of incipient speciation. These two different morphs still combine genes, as revealed by neutral genetic markers, yet they show complete separation according to the analyses of mtDNA coding genes. Experimental results show that diurnal and nocturnal geckos do not swap their niches, likely because the predation pressure causes severe selection for background matching. Genomic analysis of complete mtDNA suggests that nocturnal geckos seem to be under balancing selection perhaps due to the narrow niche in which they live, whereas the daytime population has more opportunity in fitting into the multiple available niches, and they experience positive selection. Here we hypothesize that the ecological segregation that we are witnessing between the nocturnal and diurnal geckos, can lead to a ecological speciation.

Octopus vulgaris possesses highly sophisticated sense organs, processed by the nervous system to generate appropriate behaviours such as finding food, avoiding predators, identifying conspecifics, and locating suitable habitat. Octopus uses multiple sensory modalities during the searching and selection of food, in particular, the chemosensory and visual cues. Here, we examined food choice in O. vulgaris in two ways: (1) We tested octopus’s food preference among three different kinds of food, and established anchovy as the preferred choice (66.67%, Friedman test p < 0.05); (2) We exposed octopus to a set of five behavioural experiments in order to establish the sensorial hierarchy in food choice, and to evaluate the performance based on the visual and chemical cues, alone or together. Our data show that O. vulgaris integrates sensory information from chemical and visual cues during food choice. Nevertheless, food choice resulted in being more dependent on chemical cues than visual ones (88.9%, Friedman test p < 0.05), with a consistent decrease of the time spent identifying the preferred food. These results define the role played by the senses with a sensorial hierarchy in food choice, opening new perspectives on the O. vulgaris’ predation strategies in the wild, which until today were considered to rely mainly on visual cues.

Background: Xerostomia and sialorrhea often accompany Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) despite no change in saliva quantity. This study analyzed BMS patients with different symptom combinations: burning only (B), burning and xerostomia (BX), burning and sialorrhea (BS), and burning with xerostomia and sialorrhea (BXS), using a large sample of 500 patients from the University of Naples Federico II. Methods: After a medical evaluation, patients were divided into four groups based on their reported symptoms: B (140), BX (253), BS (49), and BXS (58). Patient data on education, BMI, smoking/alcohol habits, comorbidities, medication use, pain intensity, quality, and psychological profile were collected. Results: The BX group showed a higher prevalence of patients taking blood thinners. Additional symptoms varied among groups, with the BX group experiencing more dysgeusia and globus, and the BS group reporting more tingling. Multivariate analysis identified BMI, dysgeusia, globus, and blood thinner use as significant factors in the B and BX groups, while male gender, tingling, alcohol use, and pain quality were significant in the BS and BXS groups. Conclusions: Overall, BMS patients display a complex range of symptoms, with xerostomia being the most frequent additional symptom. Sociodemographic, psychological, and medical factors cannot fully explain the variations in symptomatology among different patient subgroups. Further research is needed to understand the underlying causes and develop tailored treatment approaches.

Background: B-cell depletion therapy was demonstrated to be a valid and safe alternative as an adjuvant in oral-pharyngeal pemphigus vulgaris (OPV) patients. We aimed to assess its effects on anti-desmoglein (Dsg) 1 and 3 and leukocytes subsets profile in these patients’ population. Methods and Materials: We evaluated the immunologic profile of 10 OPV patients treated with RTX as adjuvant by using the ELISA testing for anti-Dsg-1 and -3 titers and the immunophenotyping for B and T-cell lymphocyte subpopulations and compared them with the PDAI score for clinical remission. Results: A significant difference in medians between baseline, end of RTX therapy, and 6 months after RTX therapy was observed in Dsg-3 titer (p < 0.001), in the CD8 (p = 0.009), and CD20 counts (p < 0.001). Multiple comparisons after Bonferroni adjustment confirmed such significant differences mainly between baseline and the end of RTX therapy and baseline and 6 months after RTX therapy. Only the anti-Dsg-3 titer at the end of RTX therapy demonstrated a slight positive correlation with the PDAI score at baseline (p = 0.046, r = 0.652). Conclusions: B-cell depletion adjuvant therapy in OPV patients demonstrated a significant impact on anti-Dsg-3 titer and B and T-cell lymphocyte subpopulations profile.