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Severe chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a debilitating disease with a significant impact on the quality of life (QoL). It is typically characterized by a type 2 inflammatory reaction and by comorbidities such as asthma, allergies and NSAID-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (N-ERD). Here, the European Forum for Research and Education in Allergy and Airway diseases discusses practical guidelines for patients on biologic treatment. Criteria for the selection of patients who would benefit from biologics were updated. Guidelines are proposed concerning the monitoring of the drug effects that provide recognition of responders to the therapy and, subsequently, the decision about continuation, switching or discontinuation of a biologic. Furthermore, gaps in the current knowledge and unmet needs were discussed.

We report the discovery and confirmation of the planetary system TOI-1288. This late G dwarf harbours two planets: TOI-1288 b and TOI-1288 c. We combine TESS space-borne and ground-based transit photometry with HARPS-N and HIRES high-precision Doppler measurements, which we use to constrain the masses of both planets in the system and the radius of planet b. TOI-1288~b has a period of $2.699835^{+0.000004}_{-0.000003}$ d, a radius of $5.24 \pm 0.09$ R$_\oplus$, and a mass of $42 \pm 3$ M$_\oplus$, making this planet a hot transiting super-Neptune situated right in the Neptunian desert. This desert refers to a paucity of Neptune-sized planets on short period orbits. Our 2.4-year-long Doppler monitoring of TOI-1288 revealed the presence of a Saturn-mass planet on a moderately eccentric orbit ($0.13^{+0.07}_{-0.09}$) with a minimum mass of $84 \pm 7$ M$_\oplus$ and a period of $443^{+11}_{-13}$ d. The 5 sectors worth of TESS data do not cover our expected mid-transit time for TOI-1288 c, and we do not detect a transit for this planet in these sectors., 16 pages, 17 figures, under review MNRAS

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is known to affect around 5 % of the total population, with major impact on the quality of life of those severely affected (1). Despite a substantial burden on individuals, society and health economies, CRS often remains underdiagnosed, under-estimated and under-treated (2). International guidelines like the European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps (EPOS) (3) and the International Consensus statement on Allergy and Rhinology: Rhinosinusitis 2021 (ICAR) (4) offer physicians insight into the recommended treatment options for CRS, with an overview of effective strategies and guidance of diagnosis and care throughout the disease journey of CRS. ispartof: RHINOLOGY vol:61 issue:1 pages:85-89 ispartof: location:Netherlands status: published

Belatacept is employed alongside calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) therapy to prevent graft rejection in kidney transplant patients who are Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) seropositive. Preliminary data suggested that rates of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) were higher in individuals treated with belatacept compared to CNI therapy alone.The records of 354 adults who underwent kidney only transplantation from January 2015 through September 2021 at one medical center were evaluated. Patients underwent treatment with either low-doses of mycophenolate, tacrolimus and sirolimus (BThere were no cases of PTLD in either cohort within the study period. Recipients in the belatacept cohort experienced lower estimated glomerular filtration rates at 12 months (BNon-belatacept (MMF, tacrolimus and sirolimus) and belatacept-based (MMF, tacrolimus and belatacept) regimens do not appear to pose any increased risk of early onset PTLD. Both cohorts benefited from low rates of rejection, malignancy, mortality and graft failure. Recipients will continue to be monitored as PTLD can manifest as a long-term complication.

Le réalisme et le nominalisme ont constitué la principale alternative philosophique élaborée entre la fin du Moyen Âge et le début de l’époque moderne au sujet de la structure et de l’ordre de la réalité ainsi que de la nature et de la fonction de l’esprit et du langage. De manière très simplifiée, l’on peut dire que les réalistes admettaient (d’une certaine façon) l’existence extra-mentale de natures (ou formes ou essences) communes, alors que les nominalistes la niaient. Les réalistes pensa...

In this study we analysed the diversity of vascular plants, soil microorganisms and microarthropods on two serpentine outcrops in the Northern Apennines (Italy). The soils of the two sites are at different stages of evolution, as shown by soil depth and soil organic matter (SOM) content: the first site is a serpentine grassland clearing within sub-montane vegetation, while the second is a serpentinite scree rich in specialised flora only, including rare hyperaccumulator plant species such as Noccaea caerulescens and Alyssum bertolonii. The aboveground biodiversity was analysed via floristic releves. The bacterial diversity was estimated through 16S rDNA profiling of the Ni hyperaccumulator N. caerulescens at the rhizosphere level, which thrives in both sites. Microarthropod communities were characterized by extracting and identifying organisms from the soil. The number of individuals per taxon, Acari/Collembola ratio, biodiversity indices and QBS-ar index were calculated. The two sites showed a clear difference as regards plant community: only three plant species were present in both sites, namely Euphorbia cyparissias, belonging to Euphorbiaceae, Galium spp., belonging to Rubiaceae, and N. caerulescens, belonging to Brassicaeae. Belowground diversity was positively correlated with vegetation cover and SOM content. In particular, among the bacteria colonising the rhizosphere of N. caerulescens (present in both sites), Actinobacteria, which exhibit K-strategist attributes and are more successful in resource-limited, crowded environments, appeared to be more abundant in the site with lower SOM and higher content of Ni. Bacterioidetes, which are specialised in degradation of cellulose, chitin and plant detritus, were instead more abundant in the site with higher SOM. As for soil microarthropod communities, the site with higher concentration and bioavailability of heavy metals and lower SOM showed poorer and less structured community. In conclusion, the data observed with plant, microbial and microarhropod communities identify different micro-habitats, in spite of proximal geographical position and the common metal-rich substrate.

BackgroundSystemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a complex autoimmune disease characterized by vascular damage, immune activation and fibrosis of skin and internal organs 1. Raynaud phenomenon (RP) is frequently the first symptom of the disease and growing evidences are supporting the hypothesis the SSc may be a vascular disease, with a pivotal role of endothelial cells, particularly in the very early phase2,3. Robust data support the use of vascular active drug to treat RP and to prevent vascular complication4–7.ObjectivesThe use of prostacyclin analog (PA) is evertything but standardized, with different regimen used all around the Country. We report data on the use of PA in a multicentric regional reality to understand which regimen are prevalent (and why) and if there is the opportunity to standardized them.MethodsWe collected data from an online survey exploring different items related to the use of PA.ResultsSurvey was fullfilled by 12 sites: 5 university hospital and 7 local hospitals, 7 driven by Rheumatologist and 5 from internal medicine specialists with/without concomitant rheumatologists. PA are ubiquitarly used for SSc-related digital ulcers (SSc-DU) and secondary RP but only a half of sites use it for primary RP. Seventy-five percent of sites (9/12) dispense PA at least once a month, but some other (1 each one respectively) on weekly basis, every other month or every 7 weeks. Drug administration may last from 2 to 5 consecutive days (mean 1.91+/- 1.5SD) with drug dose ranging from 0.5 to 2 ng/Kg/min with a minimum variability from site to site. Our regional hospitals may count on overall 68 spots, some available as beds (outpatient or inpatient), some as reclining chair or chair (outpatients only). University centers have usually more assigned personnel than local hospital (on average: 2 versus 1.5 physicians, 2 versus 1.2 nurse). Sites are able to offer meals (except one) and are able to accomodate from 1 to 12 patients at the same time (mean 3.45, +/- 3.2SD).ConclusionPA has known benefit in vascular involvement in SSc patients. Despite a multicenter palcebo-control study8 defining time and dose of this drugs and subsequent data based on the same regimen9, there is no homogeneity in treatment administration. The unequal treatment, based on our data, seems due to limited resources and personnel. High variability has been found in regimen duration and administration frequency.References[1]Ferri, C. et al. Systemic sclerosis evolution of disease pathomorphosis and survival. Our experience on Italian patients’ population and review of the literature. Autoimmunity Reviews vol. 13 1026–1034 (2014).[2]Mulligan-Kehoe, M. J. et al. Antiangiogenic plasma activity in patients with systemic sclerosis. Arthritis Rheum.56, 3448–58 (2007).[3]Wigley, F. M. Vascular disease in scleroderma. Clin. Rev. Allergy Immunol.36, 150–75 (2009).[4]Brueckner, C. S. et al. Effect of sildenafil on digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: Analysis from a single centre pilot study. Ann. Rheum. Dis.69, 1475–1478 (2010).[5]Kowal-Bielecka, O. et al. EULAR recommendations for the treatment of systemic sclerosis: A report from the EULAR Scleroderma Trials and Research group (EUSTAR). Ann. Rheum. Dis.68, 620–628 (2009).[6]Matucci-Cerinic, M. et al. Bosentan treatment of digital ulcers related to systemic sclerosis: Results from the RAPIDS-2 randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Ann. Rheum. Dis.70, 32–38 (2011).[7]Herrick, A. L. & Wigley, F. M. Raynaud’s phenomenon. Best Practice and Research: Clinical Rheumatology (2020) doi:10.1016/j.berh.2019.101474.[8]Wigley, F. M. et al. Intravenous iloprost infusion in patients with Raynaud phenomenon secondary to systemic sclerosis: A multicenter, placebo-controlled, double- blind study. Ann. Intern. Med.120, 199–206 (1994).[9]Cappelli, L. & Wigley, F. M. Management of Raynaud Phenomenon and Digital Ulcers in Scleroderma. Rheumatic Disease Clinics of North America vol. 41 419–438 (2015).Disclosure of InterestsNone declared

During the last century, soils have been over-exploited by humans through agriculture and industrial development. The need to assess different aspects of soil degradation has become a priority in the soil protection management. Among several indices developed in the last years, QBS-ar (Soil Biological Quality-arthropod) index joins the biodiversity of soil microarthropods community with the degree of soil vulnerability. Up to now, numerous publications have reported the results of the QBS-ar application. This paper starts a review process for QBS-ar assessment by taking into account its potential in highlighting the relationship between soil quality and different land uses. In order to clarify the relationship between QBS-ar values and land use, we collected 41 published papers that reported of QBS-ar applications. In this framework, another aim of this paper is to make a critical review of the QBS-ar in respect to applications in different environmental contexts, and to obtain critical indication about problem and potential of QBS-ar for monitoring activities. We collected published data on QBS-ar and we individualized eight groupages in relation to soil uses: 1) Agriculture lands (A, several crops, till and no-tillage, organic, conventional), 2) Woods (W, forests, maquis and bushes), 3) Restored (R, plant remediation, restored pit mine, peri -urban uncultivated areas), 4) Natural degradation (ND, soils in natural degraded conditions, e.g. serpentine soils, soil in the brUle), 5) Permanent grasslands, pastures and meadows (G), 6) Orchards (O), 7) Urban parks, residual urban woods, public gardens, botanical gardens, home gardens (UP), 8) Soils involved in human degradation (D). The results confirmed that land use significantly affects QBS-ar values. The overall mean of QBS-ar = 93.7 can be considered a tentative threshold that separates high quality soils and values which are typical for poor soils. In the end, we would like to affirm the validity of this index, which, allows to evaluate the suffering state of soils and its potentiality for an expeditious use to evaluate soil biological quality in recovery areas.

Gaia16aye was a binary microlensing event discovered in the direction towards the northern Galactic disc and was one of the first microlensing events detected and alerted to by the Gaia space mission. Its light curve exhibited five distinct brightening episodes, reaching up to I? =? 12 mag, and it was covered in great detail with almost 25 000 data points gathered by a network of telescopes. We present the photometric and spectroscopic follow-up covering 500 days of the event evolution. We employed a full Keplerian binary orbit microlensing model combined with the motion of Earth and Gaia around the Sun to reproduce the complex light curve. The photometric data allowed us to solve the microlensing event entirely and to derive the complete and unique set of orbital parameters of the binary lensing system. We also report on the detection of the first-ever microlensing space-parallax between the Earth and Gaia located at L2. The properties of the binary system were derived from microlensing parameters, and we found that the system is composed of two main-sequence stars with masses 0.57 ± 0.05 M? and 0.36 ± 0.03 M? at 780 pc, with an orbital period of 2.88 years and an eccentricity of 0.30. We also predict the astrometric microlensing signal for this binary lens as it will be seen by Gaia as well as the radial velocity curve for the binary system. Events such as Gaia16aye indicate the potential for the microlensing method of probing the mass function of dark objects, including black holes, in directions other than that of the Galactic bulge. This case also emphasises the importance of long-term time-domain coordinated observations that can be made with a network of heterogeneous telescopes. © ESO 2020.

Landslides are common in the Northern Apennines (Italy) and their resulting changes in soil structure affect edaphic fauna biodiversity, whose activity has concurrent impacts on soil structural stability and water-holding capacity. The aim of this study was to characterise landslide evolution and assess potential relationships between its hydrogeological features and soil fauna. The landforms of the study area, located in the River Taro valley, were mapped and the hydraulic head fluctuations and groundwater electrical conductivity profiles were measured. The soil arthropod community was studied in seven sites, one subject to earth flow and six to rotational slide, the last ones were divided into the main scarp of the slide, and five sites characterized by different land use: three grassland, a wheat cultivated field and an overgrown area. Soil organic matter (SOM) and pH measurements were performed. Hydrogeological results suggest unexpected rapid percolation of relatively low-salinity waters through the unsaturated zone. Both lower SOM content and arthropod biodiversity were found in earth flow area, while higher values were found in grasslands. Fauna composition appears to be a good indicator of soil degradation processes, linked to the hydraulic features, and contributes to the evaluation of the soil condition in landslide areas for further agricultural purposes.

The EU&rsquo, s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2014&ndash, 2020) on soil management points to the combination of sustainable food production with environmental protection, reduction of CO2 emissions, and safeguarding of soil biodiversity. In this study, three farms (in the Emilia-Romagna region), managed with both conventional and conservation practices (the last ones with and without sub-irrigation systems), were monitored from 2014 to 2017 to highlight the impact of different crops and soil managements on soil arthropods, in terms of abundance, composition, and soil biological quality (applying QBS-ar index). To do this, linear mixed models were performed, whereas arthropods assemblages were studied through PERMANOVA and SIMPER analysis. Soil communities varied among farms, although most differences were found among crops depending on management practices. Nonetheless, conservation systems and a wider reduction in anthropogenic practices provided better conditions for soil fauna, enhancing QBS-ar. Moreover, arthropod groups responded to soil practices differently, highlighting their sensitivity to agricultural management. Community assemblages in corn and wheat differed between managements, mainly due to Acari and Collembola, respectively. In conservation management, wheat showed the overall greatest abundance of arthropods, owing to the great number of Acari, Collembola, and Hymenoptera, while the number of arthropod groups were generally higher in crop residues of forage.

Robert Kilwardby is one of the most remarkable thinkers of the thirteenth century. He is the champion of the traditional approach to philosophy and theology, which developed the body of doctrines worked out by Augustine. His activity is set in the very crucial period of middle scholasticism, when the diffusion of Aristotle’s philosophical system and its utilization for Christian theology caused a sharp conflict between the followers of the Patristic tradition, such as Kilwardby or the members of the Franciscan school, and the new theologians, such as Thomas Aquinas, who tried to express the contents of divine revelation within the Aristotelian paradigm. Kilwardby used all of his intellectual resources and ecclesiastical authority in fighting against this new trend and in defending Augustinianism, whose main theses (for example, a plurality of substantial forms in composite substances, the presence of seminal reasons in matter, universal hylomorphism, individuation by matter and form, a conceptual distinction between the soul and its faculties, and the necessity of divine illumination in order to grasp the eternal truths) he supports in his writings.

Background and aim: The objective of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the degree of glycaemic control and the frequency of diabetic complications in Italian people with diabetes who were treated with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII). Methods and results: Questionnaires investigating the organisation of diabetes care centres, individuals’ clinical and metabolic features and pump technology and its management were sent to adult and paediatric diabetes centres that use CSII for treatment in Italy. Information on standard clinical variables, demographic data and acute and chronic diabetic complications was derived from local clinical management systems. The sample consisted of 6623 people with diabetes, which was obtained from 93 centres. Of them, 98.8% had type 1 diabetes mellitus, 57.2% were female, 64% used a conventional insulin pump and 36% used a sensor-augmented insulin pump. The median glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) level was 60 mmol/mol (7.6%). The HbA1c target (i.e. 18 years) was achieved in 43.4% of paediatric and 23% of adult participants. Factors such as advanced pump functions, higher rate of sensor use, pregnancy in the year before the study and longer duration of diabetes were associated with lower HbA1c levels. The most common chronic complications occurring in diabetes were retinopathy, microalbuminuria and hypertension. In the year before the study, 5% of participants reported ≥1 episode of severe hypoglycaemic (SH) episodes (SH) and 2.6% reported ≥1 episode of ketoacidosis. Conclusions: Advanced personal skills and use of sensor-based pump are associated with better metabolic control outcomes in Italian people with diabetes who were treated with CSII. The reduction in SH episodes confirms the positive effect of CSII on hypoglycaemia. Clinical trial registration number: NCT 02620917 (ClinicalTrials.gov).

Apart from the opposite semantic attitudes, the main difference between Late Medieval Realists and Nominalists lies in the antithetic evalutation of the nature and ontological status of essences. I...

Mining causes significant damage to the environment: the removal of top layers of soil causes loss of structure and functionality, with a subsequent reduction in biodiversity. Soil communities are important for soil formation, they contribute to the improvement of several characteristics of soils and they play key roles in many processes that enhance the success of restoration. Unfortunately, soil fauna are poorly monitored even though they represent a good tool for assessing soil quality. The “La Speranza” quarry in northern Italy was studied from the start of the restoration process in 2008 until 2012. Six sites were selected and monitored annually. Microarthropods were extracted from three replicates of soil drawn from each site, identified to order level and then counted. Both the abundances of taxa and the soil biological indices applied (Shannon diversity index (H’), Pielou's evenness index (J), the Acari to Collembola ratio (A/C) and the QBS-ar index) revealed a good level of soil recovery over the years studied. Furthermore, the edaphic organisms that are generally associated with stable conditions in the soil (e.g. Symphyla, Protura, Chilopoda), appeared in the most recent of the years.

Patient sex is known to influence the response to general and regional anaesthesia and recovery after surgery. However, most studies come from analyses carried out on middle-aged patients. As most of the patients admitted to the post-anaesthesia recovery room in our institution are elderly, we took the opportunity to investigate the association between sex and incidence of early adverse events in this older population of patients after major surgery. Consecutive patients undergoing general, orthopaedic, urological and gynaecological surgery, admitted to the recovery room of our institution over a 15-month period, were retrospectively studied. The following adverse events were considered in the analysis: shivering, postoperative nausea and vomiting, hypotension and hypertensive responses, new arrhythmias requiring treatment, acute respiratory failure and desaturation. A total of 1347 patients (mean age 73.3±15.1 years, 61.4% women) were included. Women showed a higher incidence of shivering (relative difference +48%, P=0.0003), postoperative nausea and vomiting (+91%, P0.0001), hypotension (+32%, P=0.044) and desaturation (+60%, P=0.0030) than men. The incidence of hypertensive response, arrhythmias and acute respiratory failure were not statistically significantly different. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that women have a higher risk of early postoperative adverse events even in a more elderly population.

In vitro short-term chronic phytotoxicity germination and root elongation test were applied to test the effects of nickel (Ni) in seed germination and root elongation in six plants species: Cucumis sativus (Cucurbitaceae), Lepidium sativum and Brassica nigra (Brassicaceae), Trifolium alexandrinum and Medicago sativa (Fabaceae), Phacelia tanacetifolia (Boraginaceae). A naturally Ni rich soil was used to compare the results obtained. Unlike root elongation, germination was not affected by Ni in any of the six species tested. EC50 values, calculated on the root elongation, showed that Ni toxicity decreases in the following order: P. tanacetifolia > B. nigra > C. sativus > L. sativum > M. sativa > T. alexandrinum. The test conducted using soil elutriate revealed a significantly lower effect in both seed germination and root elongation when compared to the results obtained using untreated soil. Conversely, the test performed on soil confirmed the high sensitivity of C. sativus, P. tanacetifolia and L. sativum to Ni.

The brine shrimp, Artemia spp., is widely used in ecotoxicology as a target biological model. Although several protocols were available in the early 1980s, only the 24-h acute mortality toxicity test was evaluated in a European intercalibration exercise during that period. Nevertheless, documentation of standard methods serving to provide specifications, guidelines or detailed characteristics of the 24-h protocol is still unavailable. This paper present the results of an intercalibration study of three toxicity-testing protocols using Artemia franciscana: (a) the 24-h static acute mortality test, (b) the 48-h static hatching test and (c) the 14-d static-renewal long-term mortality test. A first tier of experiments was conducted by a reference laboratory, which investigated the repeatability of the three methods. The feasibility and reproducibility of these protocols were then investigated by an intercomparison exercise involving 11 participants for the acute mortality test, seven for the acute hatching test and nine for the long-term mortality test. Protocols were tested on reference toxicants (copper sulphate pentahydrate and sodium dodecyl sulphate). The coefficients of variation were

The article focuses on one important aspect of this debate between Realists and Nominalists in the Late Middle Ages, namely the controversy between William Ockham and Walter Burley about the nature and status of relations and relatives, for the category of ad aliquid is the most intriguing category after substance, and in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages many authors attempted to develop new formulations of the Aristotelian theory of relatives. Burley believed that when two substances are related one to the other, five distinct elements can be singled out: the relation itself (for instance, the form of paternity); the ultimate substrate of that relation (namely, the substance that denominatively receives the name of the relation - the animal which is called ‘father’ because it begot another similar to itself); the fundamentum of the relation (namely the categorial item in virtue of which the relation inheres in its substrate - in our example, the generative power); the antecedent term of the relation (n...

Abstract The relationship between thought and reality was a focal point of Wyclif’s reflection. On the one hand, Wyclif believed that thought was linguistically constrained by its own nature; on the other hand, he considered thought to be related to reality in its elements and constitution. Hence he deemed language, thought, and external reality to be of the same logical coherence. Within this context, the theory of supposition was intended to explain the different roles that terms can have in relation to language and the extra-mental world when they appear as extremes in propositions. Characteristically, his theory of supposition provides an account not only of the truth-values of a sentence, but also of its meaning; it is not therefore simply a theory of reference, but a sort of complex analysis of language viewed as a semiotic system whose unique interpretative model was reality itself. It gives clear evidence of Wyclif’s realist stance and of his conviction that any kind of linguistic and semantic features must be grounded on ontological structures.

Eco-toxicological or bioassay tests have been intensively discussed as tools for the evaluation of soil quality. Tests using soil organisms, including microarthropods and plants, allow direct estimates to be made of important soil characteristics and functions. In this study we compared the results obtained by two in vitro standard bioassays following ISO or OECD guidelines: (i) the short term-chronic phytotoxicity germination and root elongation test using three different plant species Cucumis sativus L. (Cucurbitaceae), Lepidium sativum L. (Brassicaceae), and Medicago sativa L. (Fabaceae) and (ii) the inhibition of reproduction of Folsomia candida (Collembola) by soil pollutants to investigate the toxicity of a serpentine soil present in the Italian Apennines, rich in heavy metals such as Ni, Cr, and Co. In addition, microarthropod communities were characterised to evaluate the effects of metal contents on the soil fauna in natural conditions. Abundances, Acari/Collembola ratio, biodiversity indices and the QBS-ar index were calculated. Our results demonstrate that the two in vitro tests distinguish differences correlated with metal and organic matter contents in four sub-sites within the serpentinite. Soil fauna characterisation, not previously performed on serpentine soils, revealed differences in the most vulnerable and adapted groups of microarthropods to soil among the four sub-sites: the microarthropod community was found to be rich in term of biodiversity in the sub-site characterised by a lower metal content and a higher organic matter content and vegetation.

Biochar is a product of the thermal decomposition of biomass under a limited supply of oxygen and can be deriving from pyrolysis or gasification. As the product is rich in highly recalcitrant carbon, it has been proposed as a soil amendment to improve soil fertility and to stock carbon in soils. However, the contaminant compounds present in biochar could represent potential environmental threats. The gasification biochar is a promising by-product, but its effects on soil microarthropods are still nearly unknown. The aim of this study was to assess, using a prognosis approach, any ecotoxicological consequences of four biochars (conifer, poplar, grape marc, and wheat straw) on the springtail Folsomia candida. This was assessed through a series of tests: an avoidance behavior test, a survival and reproduction test, and a test based on the hatching of eggs. Biochars were tested at different concentrations (pulverized and diluted w/w with an artificial standard soil). The results showed that the springtails did not tend to avoid the biochars' substrates up to the rate of 2-5%, but any higher levels of concentration caused the animals to keep away from it. While mortality was negatively affected only in the grape marc biochar, reproduction was significantly reduced in all biochars considered. The hatching of the eggs was anticipated at even the lowest concentrations of herbaceous biochars, while a severe delay was observed in both concentrations tested of the conifer biochar. The endpoints considered were negatively affected by pH, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals (in order of importance). The findings confirmed the potential adverse effects that gasification biochars could have on soil microarthropods and demonstrated the necessity of introducing these tests into biochar characterization protocols.