Journal articles: 'Citizen's associations – Italy'

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Giacomelli, Andrea, Luciano Massetti, Francesco Sabatini, and Elena Maggi. "Participatory Dark Sky Quality Monitoring from Italy: Interactions Between Awareness Raising and Research." International Journal of Sustainable Lighting 18 (December 31, 2016): 40–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.26607/ijsl.v18i0.20.

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Research on light pollution and its effects developed in Italy through a peculiar path. After originating seminal work in the late Nineties, above all the first world atlas of night sky brightness, the academic system apparently did not leverage this asset to a wider set of studies. In parallel, some activities which are prerequisites to research and analysis, such as measurement campaigns or development of calibration tests, were initiated in a “grassroots mode” by other sectors of society, such as non-governmental associations. One of the relevant example of this process is the BuioMetria Partecipativa project which was started in 2008 in Italy with the aim of encouraging non-professionals to collect data on light pollution as a strategy for environmental awareness raising. The BMP project conjugates this component with a scientific approach, allowing the collection of valuable quantitative environmental data, using a low-cost device, called Sky Quality Meter (SQM), provided to citizens. The measurements are loaded to a database on the project web site, and are published in a variety of formats. In 2011 the system was extended to collect data from fixed SQM stations for continuous monitoring, with the development of automated data harvesting procedures and leading to complement the citizen science measures with more high-quality time series of light pollution data. At the national level, the project obtained considerable recognition, in terms of citizen participation and media coverage. Most interestingly from a research perspective, the project acted as a trigger to initiate light pollution studies by Italian experts, namely in the areas of biometeorology and marine ecology. The article will review the process which led the authors to escalate their operations from awareness raising to research, and will provide an overview of the models and of the first tests conducted in the context of our research studies.

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Palamenghi, Lorenzo, Fabiola Giudici, Guendalina Graffigna, and Daniele Generali. "Patients’ Engagement in Early Detection of COVID-19 Symptoms: An Observational Study in the Very Early Peak of the Pandemic in Italy in 2020." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 5 (March 5, 2022): 3058. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19053058.

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COVID-19 exerted a strong impact on the Italian healthcare systems, which in turn resulted in a reduction in the citizens’ trust towards healthcare authorities. Moreover, the focused attention on the typical COVID-19 symptoms (fever, cough) has also impacted the social representation of health priorities, potentially reducing the perceived importance and severity of other symptoms. This study aimed to determine the association of general-practitioner (GP) contact with various symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Cremona, an Italian city at the very epicentre of the pandemic. Between April and June 2020, an anonymous survey was completed by 2161 respondents. Logistic-regression analyses were used to examine the associations of GP contact with sociodemographic characteristics and the presence of symptoms. Of the 2161 respondents (43.5% female, 75.0% aged less than 55 years), 959 (44.4%) reported experiencing various symptoms and 33.3% contacted a GP. GP contact was significantly associated with poor appetite (OR, 2.42; 95% CI 1.63 to 3.62; p < 0.001), taste dysfunctions (OR 1.67; 95% CI 1.20 to 2.34; p < 0.001) and sleepiness during the day (OR 4.15; 95% CI 2.13 to 8.09; p = 0.002). None of the gastrointestinal symptoms resulted in significantly increasing the likelihood of contacting a GP. This study offers a unique observation of citizens’ attitudes and behaviours in early symptom communication/detection during the initial peak of the Italian COVID-19 pandemic.

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Ingegnoli, F., M. Buoli, C. Posio, R. DI Taranto, A. Lo Muscio, E. Cumbo, S. Ostuzzi, and R. Caporali. "POS1161 A CITIZEN SCIENCE APPROACH TO CAPTURE POOR MENTAL HEALTH RELATED TO COVID-19 IN RHEUMATIC PATIENTS AFTER CONFINEMENT DURING PANDEMIC IN ITALY." Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 80, Suppl 1 (May 19, 2021): 858.2–859. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-eular.380.

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Background:A considerable psychosocial burden is one of the relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, quarantine measures have been related to negative psychological effects, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, stress, anxiety, and depression (1). This rise in mental health disorders might be even worse among people more vulnerable to psychological stress such as patients suffering from chronic rheumatic diseases (RDs).Objectives:The present Italian nationwide survey engages patients with rheumatic conditions through eleven associations of RD patients. It is conducted to establish the COVID-19 related self-reported poor mental health symptoms and to identify potential factors associated with these concerns among RDs who experienced the COVID-19 quarantine in Italy.Methods:We collected data from May to September 2020 from RD patients living in Italy during the COVID-19 quarantine by an ad-hoc online survey. By using their mailing list and the related webpage and social network, eleven patients’ associations sent a call to RD patients asking them to complete an anonymous online survey which included the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Impact Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). χ2 tests were performed to detect statistically significant differences in both rating scale scores between groups defined by qualitative variables. Correlation analyses were realized with quantitative variables and rating scale scores. Variables significant in univariate analyses were then inserted in multivariate regression models.Results:In total, 507 RD patients completed to the survey. 375 (73.9%) patients had inflammatory arthritis (243 rheumatoid arthritis, 76 psoriatic arthritis, 49 ankylosing spondylitis, and 7 Still’s disease), and 96 (18.9%) with connective tissue diseases or systemic vasculitis. 31 (6.1%) patients had primary fibromyalgia and 5 osteoarthritis or crystal arthropathies. Self-reported major sources of anxiety are reported in the Figure 1 below.The mean (SD) scores of the PSS-10 and the IES-R were 18.1 ± 8.1 and 29.7 ± 17.5, respectively. With regard to the IES-R subscale scores, the total sample did not show a prominence of one of the three main domains (intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal). Higher PSS scores were significantly associated with younger age (p<0.01), female gender (p<0.01), living outside Lombardy (p=0.03), presence of overweight/obesity (p=0.01), ongoing psychopharmacotherapy (p<0.01), and anxiety for loss of incomes (p<0.01). Female gender (p<0.01) and living outside Lombardy (p=0.02) were associated also with higher IES-R scores, together with the presence of intestinal diseases (p=0.03), anxiety disorders (p<0.01), and worries about health (p<0.01).Conclusion:This nationwide study revealed a high impact of self-reported distress, anxiety, and perceived stress among rheumatic patients after confinement during COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Different factors were found to be predictive of poor mental health such as having female gender, younger age, living outside Lombardy, having overweight/obesity, or intestinal diseases, having a history of psychiatric symptoms (e.g. anxiety). Moreover, the lockdown experience worsened psychiatric symptoms and increased the assumption of psychopharmacotherapy in this vulnerable population. Prevention strategies focused on specific variables should be implemented to ameliorate psychological well-being of fragile patients during pandemics.References:[1]Brooks SK, et al. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. Lancet. 2020;395:912-20Acknowledgements:We wish to thank the Lombard Association of Rheumatic Diseases (ALOMAR) for its invaluable contribution to the planning and dissemination the survey, all the Italian associations among which the National Association of People with Rheumatic and Rare Diseases (APMARR) and National Association of People with Rheumatic Diseases (ANMAR) that disseminated the survey through social media. The authors are grateful to all patients for contributing to this project.Disclosure of Interests:Francesca Ingegnoli: None declared, Massimiliano Buoli: None declared, Cristina Posio: None declared, Raffaele Di Taranto: None declared, Alessandro Lo Muscio: None declared, Enrico Cumbo: None declared, Silvia Ostuzzi: None declared, Roberto Caporali Speakers bureau: Abbvie, Amgen, BMS, Celltrion, Galapagos, Gilead, Lilly, Pfizer, Roche, UCB, Sanofi, Fresenius Kabi, Samsung bioepis, MSD, Consultant of: Galapagos, Gilead, Lilly,Janssen, MSD.

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Melotti, Giannino, Mariana Bonomo, Eemeli Hakoköngäs, and Monica Pivetti. "Social representations of coronavirus/COVID-19 in Italy: Psychosocial anchoring to conspiracy beliefs, vaccine hesitancy, and the psychological dimension." Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology 16 (January 2022): 183449092210744. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/18344909221074469.

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From the societal approach of the Theory of Social Representations, this study aimed to investigate the social representations of coronavirus/COVID-19 among the Italian population. By means of an online questionnaire, 599 individuals participated in the research, with a mean age of 38.09 years (SD = 14.44), 62.1% being women. The instrument was composed of sociodemographic questions, free association technique for the inductive term “coronavirus/COVID-19” and scales on conspiracy beliefs, vaccine hesitancy, and psychological dimension. The results allowed us to identify four social representations: “Citizens driven by Social Representations anchored to factual Covid-19 pandemic data,” with lower vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy beliefs, and greater faith in science; “Citizens with low confidence in anti-pandemic preventive measures by government,” with lower agreement with restriction measures; “Emotional people,” with higher agreement with restriction measures and expression of psychological distress; and “Minority group of Citizens driven by denial of Covid-19,” with higher vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy beliefs. We discuss the different social representations identified from the psychological and psychosocial anchoring processes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Di Brino, Eugenio, Federica Morandi, and Americo Cicchetti. "PP84 Change Management Of Patient Associations In Italy: From Emergency Response To Organizational Learning." International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care 38, S1 (December 2022): S67—S68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0266462322002136.

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IntroductionThe role of associations dedicated to patient advocacy has assumed strategic importance within the most advanced health systems, including the Italian NHS. In this period of strong national and international emergency, the associations of citizens and patients have also changed their actions and have implemented others to alleviate the discomforts of sick people in Italy, collaborating with institutions and health services.MethodsData were collected using a semi-structured survey, with both yes / no and open questions, developed and administered by the Patient Advocacy LAB (ALTEMS- Catholic University of Sacred Heart) to 150 patient advocacy associations. The organizational changes and the initiatives adopted by patient associations during the COVID-19 emergency was investigated.ResultsThe majority of the initiatives adopted by patient advocacy associations during the COVID-19 pandemic have been introduced during the first wave (March- June 2020), and that most of them have been maintained to (December 2020). These initiatives included improvements and updating of the communication tools aimed at reaching the higher number of patients. Thanks to these new approaches, the empathy and the assistance to patients have been increased. In addition, a number of training initiatives have been developed online and they have been followed by a large number of patients and caregivers. At an operative level, during the pandemic, many patient advocacy associations have provided their support to distribute masks, gloves, and therapies to patients. Unfortunately the fundraising activities suffered due to the lockdown, and the main problems were related to social distancing and lack of public campaigns. The institutional relationships have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and they mainly regarded the participation in legislative interventions. Among the initiatives adopted, our sampled associations affirmed that they would like to maintain the social support provided to patients experienced during the pandemic.Finally we calculated a resiliency score and we discovered that the majority of the sampled associations developed an intermediate level of resiliency and that it is positively correlated with their tenure.ConclusionsOur results provide a fresh view about the role of patient advocacy associations during the pandemic indicate their important role within the NHS.

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Sukhobokova, Olga. "Humanitarian Assistance of Italy to Ukraine in 2014-2018 рр." European Historical Studies, no. 12 (2019): 107–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.17721/2524-048x.2019.12.107-124.

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The article deals with the provision of humanitarian aid to Ukraine by the government and society (citizens) of Italy during the period of Russian armed aggression against Ukraine (2014-2018). Among them are the efforts of the large Ukrainian community in Italy (according to official figures in Italy, there are more than 230 thousand Ukrainians registered). The directions, volumes and methods of relief assistance for Ukrainian military and population in war-affected areas in eastern Ukraine and settlers were analyzed. It was determined that government financial assistance (over 3 million euros was allocated for 2014-2018) during this period came through international humanitarian organizations, which deal with the civilian people affected by the armed conflict and the program of demining of ukrainian territories. The Ukrainian community in Italy provides individual assistance (from individuals) and from organizations (for example, the Congress of Ukrainians in Italy, “EuroMaydan-Rome” and others). Ukrainian communities of entire cities and regions may be involved in collecting a large sum (the most active are Ukrainians in Rome, Brescia, Milan, Naples).Mostly Ukrainians provided cars for units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and volunteer groups in the area of fighting, equipment, clothes and funds for the needs of Ukrainian defenders, as well as food and gifts for them to holidays, organized humanitarian cargoes for the victims of the war of the population. At the same time, the Ukrainian community in Italy tried to hold public information events in support of Ukraine in the early years of the Russian-Ukrainian War and inform the Italian society and authorities about the events in it.The third source of humanitarian aid for Ukraine in Italy is Italian voluntary associations such as “Italy-Ukraine-Maidan”, which independently delivers the largest humanitarian cargo to the east of Ukraine. Italy’s assistance to Ukraine is considered in the context of the socio-political processes and the foreign policy line of the Italian government. It is determined how the traditional strong ties between Italy and Russia affect for the attitude and assistance to Ukraine.

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Bobbio, Marco, Sandra Vernero, Domenico Colimberti, and Andrea Gardini. "Slow Medicine and Choosing Wisely: a synergistic alliance." Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare 4 (January 7, 2022): e4222. http://dx.doi.org/10.17267/2675-021xevidence.2022.e4222.

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Choosing Wisely® is an initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation to help physicians and patients engage in conversations about the overuse of tests and procedures and support physician efforts to help patients make smart and effective care choices. Choosing Wisely campaigns are now active and present in 25 countries around the world, on five continents. Italy is the only country where a Choosing Wisely campaign was launched, and it is currently steered by a Nationwide association (Slow Medicine), creating a synergistic alliance. The Slow Medicine Association was founded in 2011 when a group of health professionals and citizens shared a new paradigm of values, methodology, and interventions and decided to establish an association with the mission of working for a health system driven by ethics and quality principles. Three keywords summarize the philosophy of Slow Medicine: measured because it acts with moderation, gradualness, and without waste; respectful because it is attentive to the dignity of individuals recognizing their values; and equitable because it is committed to ensuring appropriate care based on the best available evidence. Slow Medicine allowed the spread of Choosing Wisely in Italy involving several professional societies and participating at the National meetings of the Societies as well as numerous other meetings, in which the mission of the Association is combined with the principle of the ‘do not’ recommendations. Numerous other initiatives were carried out, and new projects were planned in synergy with Choosing Wisely.

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González-González, Pablo, Hugo Marcos-Marné, Iván Llamazares, and Homero Gil de Zúñiga. "The Informational Consequences of Populism: Social Media News Use and “News Finds Me” Perception." Politics and Governance 10, no. 1 (February 17, 2022): 197–209. http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/pag.v10i1.4772.

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Prior studies have theorized a positive association between people’s populist attitudes and an increased use of social media to consume news, which will be mainly driven by individuals’ engagement with news that reflects their people-centered, anti-elitist, and Manichean understanding of politics. However, such general connection remains elusive. This research seeks to further clarify this strand of the literature by incorporating people’s belief that important political information will find them without actively seeking news—"News Finds Me” perception (NFM). For that, we use online survey data from two European countries that differ regarding the ideological political supply side of populism (Italy and Portugal). The main results suggest that citizens who hold stronger populist attitudes will also develop stronger NFM. Furthermore, findings reveal a mediating effect of social media news use on the effects of populist attitudes over NFM. That is, those who hold stronger populist attitudes tend to use social media to get exposed to public affairs news more often, which in turn explains the development of the NFM. These results emphasize the importance of systematically exploring citizens populists’ attitudes within today’s social media, social networks, and complex information systems.

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Pavolini, Emmanuele, and Elena Spina. "Users’ involvement in the Italian NHS: the role of associations and self-help groups." Journal of Health Organization and Management 29, no. 5 (August 17, 2015): 570–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jhom-05-2014-0089.

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Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to show the importance of considering patients’ and citizens’ associations for understanding users’ involvement in health care systems. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on both qualitative and quantitative data on Italy drawn from various sources (national statistics, own survey data, qualitative interviews). Findings – Although the paper avoids an excessively positive view of the success and frequency of collective patients’ participation, it nevertheless shows that the Italian National Health Care System (NHS) is undergoing important changes in this regard. Voice and co-production among patients, health care services and professionals have become more common and important also because of forms of collective action. Professionals themselves often belong to or promote such associations and groups. The Italian case also shows that voice and co-production tend frequently to merge into a single complex strategy where patients’ requests go along with their direct involvement in health care provision. Social implications – The study provides useful information for policy makers considering the implementation of policies that promote collective action in order to increase an active users’ participation in health care. Originality/value – This is one of the limited number of Italian studies which investigates users’ involvement in the NHS and collective action, thus adding knowledge to the limited research in this field.

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Votta, Mariano, Maira Cardillo, and Michaela Papavero. "Isolated but not alone: the response to the pandemic in the story of PAGs from the Italian case history to the Global Health Summit "Rome Declaration"." Advances in Health and Behavior 5, no. 1 (2022): 200–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.25082/ahb.2022.01.002.

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Struggling with practical problems such as the sudden cancellation of scheduled visits and exams and a sense of abandonment and uncertainty. This is how the "ordinary" patients lived the period of the health emergency in Italy. At the same time, civic and rights protection associations, since the beginning, have been active with a sense of responsibility, creativity, and energy, often revealing themselves to be the only point of reference and the only service available to citizens. This is the double side of the coin, in the implications of the pandemic on chronic and rare patients, which emerged from the XVIII National Report on Chronic Policies of Cittadinanzattiva, presented on October 13th, 2020, and entitled: "Isolated but not alone: the response to the pandemic in the story of Patients Advocacy Groups (PAGs)". The Report arised from the story of 34 Italian associations of patients with chronic and rare diseases who adhered to the National Coalition of Associations for Patients suffering Chronic Diseases (CnAMC) of Cittadinanzattiva. This experience thanks to Active Citizenship Network was first socialized on the occasion of the 15th European Patients’ Rights Day held on May 5th & 6th, 2021, and then brought to the attention of the leaders of the G20 and other states, gathered together with the heads of international and regional organizations on the occasion of the Global Health Summit held in Rome on May 21, 2021.

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WARNES, ANTHONY M., RUSSELL KING, ALLAN M. WILLIAMS, and GUY PATTERSON. "The well-being of British expatriate retirees in southern Europe." Ageing and Society 19, no. 6 (November 1999): 717–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x9900759x.

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This article examines the personal outcomes of overseas residence in later life, by analysing some findings from the first large-scale, comparative study of the retirement of British citizens to southern Europe. Four study areas are compared: Tuscany in Italy, Malta, the Costa del Sol of Spain, and the Algarve region of Portugal. The analysis focuses on the expressed reasons for moving to and residing in the areas, the reported advantages and disadvantages, and the respondents' predictions of whether they would stay or leave in response to adverse and beneficial events. Overall the subjects give very positive reports, but there are considerable differences among the four areas. The associations of individual variation in well-being with both a person's ‘temporal commitment’ to the area and to facets of their social integration are analysed. The onset of severe incapacity, sufficient to prevent the continued running of a home, is the event most likely to cause people to leave their adopted areas of residence.

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Fronte, L., B. Mazzon, F. Metruccio, N. Munaretto, M. Doro, P. Giommi, I. Viale, and U. Barres de Almeida. "A catalog of new Blazar candidates with Open Universe by High School students." Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2429, no. 1 (February 1, 2023): 012045. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2429/1/012045.

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Abstract Blazars are active galactic nuclei whose ultra-relativistic jets are co-aligned with the observer direction. They emit throughout the whole e.m. spectrum, from radio waves to VHE gamma rays. Not all blazars are discovered. In this work, we propose a catalog of new highly probable candidates based on the association of HE gamma ray emission and radio, X-ray an optical signatures. The relevance of this work is also that it was performed by four high school students from the Liceo Ugo Morin in Venice, Italy using the open-source platform Open Universe in collaboration with the University of Padova. The framework of the activity is the Italian MIUR PCTO programme. The success of this citizen-science experience and results are hereafter reported and discussed.

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Votta, Mariano. "Isolated but not alone: the response to the pandemic in the story of pags: from the italian case history to the global health summit “rome declaration”." Clinical Research Notes 3, no. 3 (April 30, 2022): 01–04. http://dx.doi.org/10.31579/2690-8816/057.

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Struggling with practical problems such as the sudden cancellation of scheduled visits and exams and a sense of abandonment and uncertainty. This is how the “ordinary” patients lived the period of the health emergency in Italy. At the same time, civic and rights protection associations, since the beginning, have been active with a sense of responsibility, creativity, and energy, often revealing themselves to be the only point of reference and the only service available to citizens. This is the double side of the coin, in the implications of the pandemic on chronic and rare patients, which emerged from the XVIII National Report on Chronic Policies of Cittadinanzattiva, presented on October 13th, 2020, and entitled: “Isolated but not alone: the response to the pandemic in the story of Patients Advocacy Groups (PAGs)” [1]. The Report arised from the story of 34 Italian associations of patients with chronic and rare diseases who adhered to the National Coalition of Associations for Patients suffering Chronic Diseases (CnAMC) [2] of Cittadinanzattiva [3]. This experience - thanks to Active Citizenship Network [4] - was first socialized on the occasion of the 15th European Patients' Rights Day held on May 5th & 6th, 2021 [5], and then brought to the attention of the leaders of the G20 and other states, gathered together with the heads of international and regional organizations on the occasion of the Global Health Summit held in Rome on May 21, 2021 [6].

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Veronesi, Giovanni, Sara De Matteis, Giuseppe Calori, Nicola Pepe, and Marco M. Ferrario. "Long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 incidence: a prospective study of residents in the city of Varese, Northern Italy." Occupational and Environmental Medicine 79, no. 3 (January 10, 2022): 192–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2021-107833.

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ObjectivesTo investigate the association between long-term exposure to airborne pollutants and the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 up to March 2021 in a prospective study of residents in Varese city.MethodsCitizens of Varese aged ≥18 years as of 31 December 2019 were linked by residential address to 2018 average annual exposure to outdoor concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, NO and ozone modelled using the Flexible Air quality Regional Model (FARM) chemical transport model. Citizens were further linked to regional datasets for COVID-19 case ascertainment (positive nasopharyngeal swab specimens) and to define age, sex, living in a residential care home, population density and comorbidities. We estimated rate ratios and additional numbers of cases per 1 µg/m3 increase in air pollutants from single- and bi-pollutant Poisson regression models.ResultsThe 62 848 residents generated 4408 cases. Yearly average PM2.5 exposure was 12.5 µg/m3. Age, living in a residential care home, history of stroke and medications for diabetes, hypertension and obstructive airway diseases were independently associated with COVID-19. In single-pollutant multivariate models, PM2.5 was associated with a 5.1% increase in the rate of COVID-19 (95% CI 2.7% to 7.5%), corresponding to 294 additional cases per 100 000 person-years. The association was confirmed in bi-pollutant models; excluding subjects in residential care homes; and further adjusting for area-based indicators of socioeconomic level and use of public transportation. Similar findings were observed for PM10, NO2 and NO. Ozone was associated with a 2% decrease in disease rate, the association being reversed in bi-pollutant models.ConclusionsLong-term exposure to low levels of air pollutants, especially PM2.5, increased the incidence of COVID-19. The causality warrants confirmation in future studies; meanwhile, government efforts to further reduce air pollution should continue.

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Banio, Adrianna. "The Influence of Latin Dance Classes on the Improvement of Life Quality of Elderly People in Europe." Sustainability 12, no. 6 (March 11, 2020): 2155. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12062155.

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The aim of this paper addresses the problem of the quality of life of elderly people by presenting the energy of Latinos that arouses optimism in European citizens and provides them with joy through Latin dances on a regular basis. The research covered 163 people in the old, so-called third, age, from the European countries with the highest aging rate, namely: Italy, Germany, Greece and Poland. Results shows that physical activity in the form of Latin American dances has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the body. Not only does it allow for maintaining physical fitness and inhibiting the development of many ailments and diseases, but also stimulates the brain to constant activity, which results in improvement of the ability to make associations, concentration and, above all, memory. It is also a way to fill the gap that arises as a consequence of the completion of certain life stages. Through making new social contacts, it is possible to forget about loneliness, stagnation and the monotony of everyday life. However, above all, Latin dance is a source of satisfaction, joy and happiness, i.e., determinants of the quality of life.

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Petri, Davide, Gaetano Licitra, Maria Angela Vigotti, and Luca Fredianelli. "Effects of Exposure to Road, Railway, Airport and Recreational Noise on Blood Pressure and Hypertension." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 17 (August 30, 2021): 9145. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179145.

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Noise is one of the most diffused environmental stressors affecting modern life. As such, the scientific community is committed to studying the main emission and transmission mechanisms aiming at reducing citizens’ exposure, but is also actively studying the effects that noise has on health. However, scientific literature lacks data on multiple sources of noise and cardiovascular outcomes. The present cross-sectional study aims to evaluate the impact that different types of noise source (road, railway, airport and recreational) in an urban context have on blood pressure variations and hypertension. 517 citizens of Pisa, Italy, were subjected to a structured questionnaire and five measures of blood pressure in one day. Participants were living in the same building for at least 5 years, were aged from 37 to 72 years old and were exposed to one or more noise sources among air traffic, road traffic, railway and recreational noise. Logistic and multivariate linear regression models have been applied in order to assess the association between exposures and health outcomes. The analyses showed that prevalence of high levels of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is consistent with an increase of 5 dB (A) of night-time noise (β = 0.50 95% CI: 0.18–0.81). Furthermore, increased DBP is also positively associated with more noise sensitive subjects, older than 65 years old, without domestic noise protection, or who never close windows. Among the various noise sources, railway noise was found to be the most associated with DBP (β = 0.68; 95% CI: −1.36, 2.72). The obtained relation between DBP and night-time noise levels reinforces current knowledge.

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Speak, Andrew Francis, and Fabio Salbitano. "Thermal Comfort and Perceptions of the Ecosystem Services and Disservices of Urban Trees in Florence." Forests 12, no. 10 (October 11, 2021): 1387. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f12101387.

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Modern urban lifestyles have most likely generated a loss of awareness of the bio-cultural benefits derived from the presence of trees and forests in cities. The present study aimed at understanding the level of awareness and the ability to express significant relationships, both positive and negative, on ecosystem services and disservices by the citizens of a Mediterranean city where thermal comfort during the summer period can be particularly problematic. A questionnaire consisting of multiple-choice and open-ended questions was disseminated to citizens of Florence, Italy. The open questions allowed respondents space to describe what they perceive are the benefits and disbenefits of urban trees. Meanwhile, geospatial and climate data were processed in order to check the vegetation and microclimate conditions of the city areas where the 592 respondents live. The vast majority of respondents felt Florence is unbearably hot in summer with 93% agreeing the city needs more trees, and shaded places were perceived as the most important feature of urban green space. The results reveal many positive and negative associations to different species of trees and bring out a rich mosaic of perceptions towards urban green spaces and the features they contain. People are generally aware of a wide range of the benefits trees provide to communities and a good knowledge of the microclimate modification properties was revealed. Many of the popular public tree genera in the city, such as Tilia, Platanus and Pinus were favoured by residents however there was some overlap with trees that provoke negative experiences, and this information can be useful to city planners aiming to maximise ecosystem services and minimise ecosystem disservices.

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Lusiani, Luigi, Roberto Frediani, Roberto Nardi, Andrea Fontanella, and Mauro Campanini. "Doing more does not mean doing better: the FADOI contribution to the Slow Medicine program for a sustainable and wise healthcare system." Italian Journal of Medicine 9, no. 3 (September 22, 2015): 281. http://dx.doi.org/10.4081/itjm.2015.580.

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Consistently with its own vision on the necessity to implement a sustainable and frugal medicine, in 2013 the Italian Federation of Associations of Hospital Doctors in Internal Medicine (FADOI) decided to adhere to the Slow Medicine program entitled <em>Doing more does not mean doing better</em>, launched in Italy in late 2012, following the Choosing Wisely® campaign of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation started in the USA in 2010. According to the program, FADOI has now produced a list of ten evidence-based recommendations of the <em>do not</em> type, regarding different practices whose benefits for the patients are questionable at least, if not harmful at worst. The list was obtained from a questionnaire submitted to 1175 FADOI members, containing a purposely selected choice of 32 pertinent recommendations already published by Choosing Wisely®, and reflects the qualified opinion of a large number of Italian internists. These recommendations are now endorsed by the FADOI, as a contribution to the discussion among doctors, health professionals, nurses, patients and citizens about what is worth choosing in medicine; they are also meant to promote a shared decision making process in the clinical practice.

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Bianchi, Piervito, Giulio Mario Cappelletti, Elisabetta Mafrolla, Edgardo Sica, and Roberta Sisto. "Accessible Tourism in Natural Park Areas: A Social Network Analysis to Discard Barriers and Provide Information for People with Disabilities." Sustainability 12, no. 23 (November 27, 2020): 9915. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12239915.

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Although regulations designed to meet the necessities of tourists with disabilities are allowing disables to travel more, they are still encountering barriers and discriminatory practices. A relevant obstacle in making the tourist policy effective is represented by the lack of information and communication about needs and expectations of disabled categories. In this context, the present paper focuses on the coproduction process of tourist public policies for disables by looking at the network that facilitates communication among the actors taking part in the process. We adopt the Social Network Analysis (SNA) to study the policy network, i.e., how public administrations and policy users (associations of citizens/people with disabilities and entrepreneurs) exchange information about the accessibility to the Gargano National Park, a protected natural area in the South of Italy. In particular, we investigate the role of entrepreneurial stakeholders in channeling information and the presence of policy brokers, i.e., stakeholders that spread the policies to the whole network. Our findings show that a limited number of actors involved in granting accessibility to tourists with disabilities is engaged in information exchanges. Moreover, information flows are guided by only one public administration that plays, therefore, a key role in the implementation of policies that support the parks’ accessibility.

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Giazzi, Marco, Gianandrea Peressutti, Luca Cerri, Matteo Fumi, Isabella Francesca Riva, Andrea Chini, Gianluca Ferrari, et al. "Meteonetwork: An Open Crowdsourced Weather Data System." Atmosphere 13, no. 6 (June 7, 2022): 928. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos13060928.

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Citizen science has shown great potential for bringing large groups of people closer to science, thanks in part to cooperation with universities and research centers. In this context, amateur weather networks played a major role in the last few decades thanks to a constant growth in technology. An example is given by the Meteonetwork association, born in 2002, and mainly composed by atmospheric science enthusiasts, who built up in time a huge weather station network in Italy. In recent years, they have enlarged their horizons over Europe, displaying real time observations and daily maps coming from both personal weather stations and official networks. This study described how Meteonetwork has set up an open crowdsourced weather data system, how data are validated, and which products are generated and freely accessible for scientists and stakeholders for their own purposes. Two concrete use cases were described as examples: the Weatherness Project, which selects a subnet of Meteonetwork data for biometeorological and health purposes and the data assimilation process implemented to improve the initial conditions into the WRF meteorological model for daily weather forecasts.

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Gorini, Francesca, Elisa Bustaffa, Davide Bolignano, Liliana Cori, Francesco Faita, Amalia Gastaldelli, Monica Interdonato, et al. "Biomarkers of exposure and early effect in three contaminated sites of southern Italy: protocols for etiological epidemiological studies." BMJ Open 10, no. 5 (May 2020): e036160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-036160.

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IntroductionEnvironmental pollution has been progressively becoming one of the main risk factors to human diseases. In particular, populations living in high-contaminated sites are particularly exposed to environmental toxicants, with consequent increased risks to human health. In Italy, there are currently ongoing three epidemiological etiological studies aimed at evaluating the association between exposure to inorganic and organic chemicals and presence of biological markers of early effects in population living in three National Priority Contaminated Sites (NPCSs). Specifically, the correlations concern preclinical indicators of liver disease in Priolo NPCS, thyroid diseases in Milazzo-Valle del Mela NPCS and cardiovascular risk and kidney damage in Crotone NPCS.Methods and analysisOverall, approximately 1300 subjects of both sexes will be enrolled in the three NPCSs according to specific inclusion criteria. For each subject, serum and urine specimens are collected, on which the determination of biological markers of exposure and early effects for the selected outcomes are performed. Individual information on environmental and occupational exposure, medical history, diet and life habits is obtained through questionnaires provided by web platform. In Milazzo-Valle del Mela and Crotone NPCSs, not invasive instrumental and imaging examinations are performed in order to evaluate further risk factors of thyroid carcinoma and cardiovascular disease, respectively.Ethics and disseminationThe protocol studies have been approved by the Ethics Committees responsible for the three involved NPCSs: the Ethics Committee ‘Catania 2’ for the NPCS of Priolo (21 July 2017, n. 500/2017/CECT2), the Ethics Committee of the University Hospitals of Messina for the NPCS of Milazzo-Valle del Mela (19 February 2018, n.2/2018); the Ethics Committee of the Region of Calabria for the NPCS of Crotone (20 July 2017, n. 174). Results will be disseminated among policy-makers, citizens, stakeholders and scientific community through the organisation of conferences and events, and the publication on international peer/reviewed journals.

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Gallozzi, Francesco, Paolo Colangelo, Gabriele Senczuk, and Riccardo Castiglia. "Phylogeographic and Bioclimatic Determinants of the Dorsal Pattern Polymorphism in the Italian Wall Lizard, Podarcis siculus." Diversity 14, no. 7 (June 28, 2022): 519. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d14070519.

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The geographic variability of the dorsal pattern (DP) of the Italian wall lizard, Podarcis siculus, across its native range was studied with the aim of understanding whether the distributions of this phenotypic trait were more shaped by allopatric differentiation rather than adaptive processes. A total of 1298 georeferenced observations scattered across the Italian peninsula and the main islands (Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia) were obtained from citizen science databases and five DPs were characterized by different shapes of the dark pattern (“reticulated”, “campestris”, “reticulated/campestris” and “striped”) or by absence of it (“concolor”). Frequencies of different DP phenotypes differ between the two main mtDNA lineages settled in central-northern and in southern Italy, respectively. This pattern may be indicative of a role of long-term allopatric historical processes in determining the observed pattern. The analysis also identified a putative wide area of secondary contact, in central southern Italy, characterized by high diversity of the DP. Generalized Linear Models (GLMs), used to estimate a possible association between bioclimatic variables and the observed phenotypic variation, showed that each of the five DPs is correlated to different environmental factors and show a different distribution of areas with high probability of occurrence. However, for all but one of the DPs, the area with the greatest probability does not correspond exactly to the real distribution of the DP. Conversely, the “concolor” phenotype does not seem related to any particular mtDNA lineage and it shows a preference for areas with high temperature and low rainfall. This is in agreement with the expectation of low amount of melanin of the dorsal pattern that, in the study areas, is characterized by a light uniform coloration which could confer a better thermoregulation ability in high temperatures environments to avoid overheating.

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Castiglioni, Chiara, Claudia Condorelli, Paola Amore, Valentina Perrone, Davide Alessandrini, Chiara Veronesi, Luca Degli Esposti, Eleonora Premoli, and Carina Fiocchi. "Greatalys: Generating Real World Evidence across Italy in Sickle Cell Disease." Blood 134, Supplement_1 (November 13, 2019): 4707. http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2019-125612.

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Background: Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a severe, potentially life threatening hereditary hemoglobin disorder requiring multidisciplinary care including screening, prevention, health education and management of acute and chronic complications. [ME Houwing et al, Blood Rev 2019] Although it affects millions of people throughout the world mainly individuals of African descent, Mediterranean (Caucasian) and Asiatic population, global migration from regions where the disease is endemic are changing its geographical distribution with a significant impact on patient survival, quality of life and costs for health systems requiring new treatment and preventive approaches. Data on epidemiological and clinical profiles of SCD have deeply changed also in Italy, a country with a high prevalence of hemoglobinopathies and where SCD is already present in the native population, due to an increasing number of immigrants from countries with high disease prevalence. Currently, approximately 2,000 SCD patients live in Italy. The creation of an Italian National Registry of Thalassemia and Hemoglobinopathies - was approved in 2017 thanks to a strong joint initiative of the Italian Society of Thalassemias and Hemoglobinopathies (SITE) and national patients associations. However the Registry is not yet completed, thus, the information currently available is very limited. [G Russo et al, Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2019] The Italian National Health Service is organized in Regions and Local Health Units (LHU). Each LHU reimburses health providers (eg, public and private hospital, general practitioners, outpatient services providers) for health assistance provided to citizens referring to the LHU, and uses specific databases to track the health assistance provided containing useful data to describe the type of assistance (eg, patient beneficiary, date of assistance) and to calculate the related charge. The main purpose of GREATalyS trial (CSEG101AIT01) is to collect data on SCD which may be representative of the national picture to better understand the burden of illness in terms of patient population, key disease features and resources consumption in Italy. Methods: Observational retrospective analyses will be carried out by integrating administrative databases for healthcare resources consumption (pharmaceuticals database, hospitalizations database, diagnostic tests and specialist visits database) from a sample of Italian Regions and LHUs, geographically distributed across the National territory (balanced between regions and number of covered residents). A representative sample of the whole national landscape through the involvement of approximately 11 LHUs and Regions will allow capture of approximately 23 million covered residents, representing about 38% of the entire Italian population. Patient Socio-Demographic characteristics (age, gender), all hospitalizations (SCD related and not related), previous SCD treatment type, co-morbidity profiles, patient treatment patterns, resources use and health services cost will be collected and analyzed. Anonymized patient data will be extracted into the Hospitalization database searching the relevant International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM codes). All analyses will be performed by STATA SE, version 12.0. The Local Ethics Committee of each participating Region/LHU has been notified about the study. Objectives: Composite objectives will collect both epidemiological and burden of illness data. Primary study objective is to estimate SCD prevalence and incidence rate from January 2010 to December 2018. Key secondary objectives include description of demographic and clinical characteristics, therapeutic pathways, health care resource use and direct costs (derived from health care resource utilization in term of drug treatments, diagnostic tests, specialist visits and hospitalizations) for patients affected by SCD. Conclusions: GREATalyS is to our knowledge the first SCD real world evidence study in Italy leveraging National Health System administrative databases to collect epidemiological and burden of illness data, and represents a useful health assessment model to better understand the evolving scenario in Italy, a country where SCD is becoming an emerging health problem. Figure Disclosures Castiglioni: Novartis Farma SpA: Employment. Condorelli:Novartis Farma SpA: Employment. Amore:Novartis Farma SpA: Employment. Perrone:CliCon srl: Employment. Alessandrini:CliCon srl: Employment. Veronesi:CliCon srl: Employment. Degli Esposti:CliCon srl: Employment. Premoli:Novartis Farma SpA: Employment. Fiocchi:Novartis Farma SpA: Employment.

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Rimini, Margherita, Andrea Casadei-Gardini, Alessandra Ravaioli, Giulia Rovesti, Fabio Conti, Alberto Borghi, Anna Dall’Aglio, et al. "Could Inflammatory Indices and Metabolic Syndrome Predict the Risk of Cancer Development? Analysis from the Bagnacavallo Population Study." Journal of Clinical Medicine 9, no. 4 (April 20, 2020): 1177. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm9041177.

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Background: Despite the robust data available on inflammatory indices (neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII)) and clinical outcome in oncological patients, their utility as a predictor of cancer incidence in the general population has not been reported in literature. Methods: The Bagnacavallo study was performed between October 2005 and March 2009. All citizens of Bagnacavallo (Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy) aged 30–60 years as of January 2005 were eligible and were invited by written letter to participate to the study. All participants underwent a detailed clinical history and physical examination following the model of the Dionysos Study. All blood values included in the analysis were obtained the day of physical examination. Cancer incidence data were obtained from the population-based Romagna Cancer Registry, which operates according to standard methods. The aim of this analysis was to examine the association between metabolic syndrome and baseline SII, NLR, and PLR levels, and the diagnosis of an invasive cancer in the Bagnacavallo study cohort. Results: At univariate analysis, metabolic syndrome was not associated with an increase of cancer incidence (HR 1.30; p = 0.155). High glucose (HR 1.49; p = 0.0.16), NLR HR 1.54, p = 0.002), PLR (HR 1.58, p = 0.001), and SII (HR 1.47, p = 0.006) were associated with an increase of cancer incidence. After adjusting for clinical covariates (smoking, physical activity, education, age, and gender) SII, PLR, and NLR remained independent prognostic factors for the prediction of cancer incidence. Conclusions: Inflammatory indices are promising, easy to perform, and inexpensive tools for identifying patients with higher risk of cancer in cancer-free population.

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Bagmet, Ksenia V. "Growth and Social Capital: Empirical Analysis of the Relationship." Mechanism of an Economic Regulation, no. 2 (2019): 128–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.21272/mer.2019.84.11.

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The article provides an empirical test of the hypothesis of the influence of the level of economic development of the country on the level of development of its social capital based on panel data analysis. In this study, the Indices of Social Development elaborated by the International Institute of Social Studies under World Bank support are used as an indicators of social capital development as they best meet the requirements for complexity (include six integrated indicators of Civic Activism, Clubs and Associations, Intergroup Cohesion, Interpersonal Safety and Trust, Gender Equality, Inclusion of Minorities), comprehensiveness of measurement, sustainability. In order to provide an empirical analysis, we built a panel that includes data for 20 countries divided into four groups according to the level of economic development. The first G7 countries (France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom); the second group is the economically developed countries, EU members and Turkey, the third group is the new EU member states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania); to the fourth group – post-Soviet republics (Armenia, Georgia, Russian Federation, Ukraine). The analysis shows that the parameters of economic development of countries cannot be completely excluded from the determinants of social capital. Indicators show that the slowdown in economic growth leads to greater cohesion among people in communities, social control over the efficiency of distribution and use of funds, and enforcement of property rights. The level of tolerance to racial diversity and the likelihood of negative externalities will depend on the change in the rate of economic growth. Also, increasing the well-being of people will have a positive impact on the level of citizens’ personal safety, reducing the level of crime, increasing trust. Key words: social capital, economic growth, determinant, indice of social development.

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Mazzarella, Luca, Edoardo Botteri, Anthony Matthews, Davide Disalvatore, Vincenzo Bagnardi, Massimo Breccia, Pau Montesinos, et al. "Obesity As a Risk Factor for Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia. Results from Population and Case-Control Studies Across Western Countries and Correlation with Gene Expression in the TCGA." Blood 128, no. 22 (December 2, 2016): 448. http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood.v128.22.448.448.

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Abstract Background. Much uncertainty remains over the aetiology of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and of its biological subtypes, of which Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) is the best defined. In recent years, an elevated Body Mass Index (BMI) has been identified as a risk factor for several diseases. Whether BMI influences risk of developing AML and APL is not well understood. Methods. We have collated information from population-based and case-control studies conducted in four different countries. In the population-based study, we obtained data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, that includes primary care data of 5.2 million UK citizens. We identified APL and other leukemia cases using ICD identifiers ("APL" (n=24), "non APL-AML" (n=972), lymphoid leukemias ("LL", n=2724) and "other" (n=1850). We fitted linear models to investigate the association between BMI and any of the above leukemic classes. In the case-control studies, we analysed data from patients included in the PETHEMA (Spain, n=414) and GIMEMA (Italy, n=134) databases and patients from the USA-based AML genome sequencing study (the AML TCGA cohort with 22 additional cases characterized at Washington University-St Louis, n=42) ("case" cohorts). We then created age-, gender, ethnicity- and year of diagnosis-matched control cohorts from national BMI surveys and tested deviation of observed cases from expected controls. Lastly, we applied Quantitative Set Analysis for Gene Expression (quSAGE) analysis to investigate APL- or BMI-specific gene expression signatures from TCGA data Findings. In the UK population study, the Hazard Ratio per each 5 kg/m2 increase was 1.44 for APL (95% CI 1.0-2.08), 1.17 for non APL-AML (95% CI 1.10-1.26), 1.04 for LL (95% CI 1.0-1.09) and 1.10 for other leukemias (95% CI 1.04-1.15). In the case-control studies, BMI distribution in cases was significantly higher than expected from controls for all three cohorts: (Italy p<0.001, Spain p=0.011, USA p<0.001). quSAGE transcriptional analysis revealed significant enrichment of several pathways in APL vs other AMLs, in particular arachidonic and linoleic acid metabolism and upregulation of Insulin and IGF1 receptors. Interpretation. A higher BMI was associated with increased risk of leukemia, particularly APL; increased risk of APL was confirmed in all populations examined, irrespective of gender or ethnicity. Elevated BMI should be considered a risk factor for APL development. APL is associated with a characteristic metabolic transcriptional signature that might be responsible for some of its clinical features Disclosures Breccia: Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Pfizer: Honoraria; Ariad: Honoraria; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria. Lo Coco:Lundbeck: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Consultancy; Baxalta: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy; Teva: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau.

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Imbevaro, Silvia, Alberto Bortolami, Magdalena Mazurek, Paola Rescigno, Antonio Jirillo, and Maria Giacobbo. "Access to medical treatments in relation to the social status of the cancer patient cured at the Veneto Oncology Institute of Padua (IOV)." Journal of Clinical Oncology 31, no. 15_suppl (May 20, 2013): e12028-e12028. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jco.2013.31.15_suppl.e12028.

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e12028 Background: The NHS in Italy is a public system of universal nature that guarantees health care to all citizens. Few Italian studies relate the therapy received by a cancer patients with their socio-economic status, so we decided to analyze the situation of the IOV. Methods: It is an observational monoinstitutional study conducted on 886 patients (pts) treated at the IOV from May 2006 to December 2011. They were selected from the Onco-AIFA registry which is a national tool used to monitor anticancer high-cost therapies. The socio-demographic data were obtained from medical records.We verified if there are differences in access to treatments (number of diagnostic tests, chemotherapy treatments, specialist and follow visits) in association with the socioeconomic determinants. We analyzed the survival differences in connection with demographic and clinical characteristics.The statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Cox model. Results: There are 520 pts evaluable of the 886 pts selected: 42% suffering from colorectal cancer, 28% lung cancer and 30% breast cancer. The median age is 63 years (41% male). With regard to the profession the sample is divided as follows: 34% traders/artisans/workers, 25% technical professions/office workers, 14% highly specialized occupations, 25% retired/housewives. The statistical analysis shows no significant differences in the number of exams and medical services in relation to the profession, except one that regards the mean number of chemotherapy infusions (25 manual professions vs. 20 other professions, p = 0.007). The socioeconomic variables do not affect survival, unlike the age (hazard ratio [HR], 1.42, p <.001) and the type of cancer (HR, 0.72, p <.001). The average cost of benefits per pt is about 4.600,00 euro/year, there is a major expense for traders/artisans /workers compared to other professions (+19%). Conclusions: The analysis of the sample of cancer pts did not reveal significant differences if it comes to access to care, so the system does not seem discriminatory. Probably these differences are homogenized by the state of economic well-being enjoyed so far by pts of the IOV.

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Perez, Nahshon. "Hegemonic Religions, Majoritarianism, and the Legitimate Limits of Governmental Religious Bias." Religions 11, no. 9 (August 25, 2020): 438. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel11090438.

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Recent major court decisions and important political events in democratic countries demonstrated, explicitly or implicitly, governmental bias in favor of a given religious tradition. Some prominent cases include the Swiss minarets ban of 2009, the 2011 ECtHR decision in the Lautsi case (Lautsi vs. Italy (2011) Application No. 30814/06) as well as the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the American Legion v. American Humanist Association case (No. 17-1717, 588 U.S. (2019), legitimizing the usage of public funds to maintain the Maryland Bladensburg Cross. Major scholars, such as David Miller, Joseph Weiler, and Cecile Laborde suggested a novel, detailed argument, justifying the rights of majorities in given countries to structure religion–state institutions following the majority religion, as long as the rights of minority communities and individuals are upheld. The aim of the current article is twofold: First, in section one, we shall attentively define the ‘religious majoritarian approach’ (RMA), that upholds the presumed rights of majorities to structure religion–state institutions according to the majority-religion. The core features of the RMA will be defined, and three pre-conditions the model requires in order to ‘fit’ any given case will be described (‘shared understanding’; ‘tradition’ and ‘democratic challenge’). Second, in section two, once we have a precise understanding of the RMA, to suggest a critical discussion of this approach. For the sake of the argument, and in order to enable a proper conversation with RMA proponents, this article will not assume that the RMA is illegitimate to begin with, as would be the case if our starting point would have been some version of liberal-neutrality. Rather, the main critical argument will be that the positive case for the RMA is under-studied. In ‘positive’, it would mean here the arguments for the RMA, rather than focusing on the mere permissibility of it. After all, if a government wishes to adopt a certain policy, it is not sufficient to argue that it does not violate certain moral or legal standards, rather, the citizens of said country would like to know what is the utility of this policy? What does it attempt to achieve? How is it justified? The ‘positive’ examination of the RMA will be divided into two categories: The first, examining the merits and plausibility of the pre-conditions and the arguments made by RMA scholars themselves. Therefore, in cases in which they are not met, the RMA should be rejected according to the RMA itself. The second is to confront RMA models with further critiques and difficulties, focusing on concerns raised regarding the entanglement between religion and state that the RMA entails, from the perspective of both religion and government. Somewhat schematically, we can label the former critique as ‘internal’, and the latter as ‘external’.

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V. V., Novitskyi. "Political and legal mechanisms for the protection of human rights through the lens of the European Union countries." Almanac of law: The role of legal doctrine in ensuring of human rights 11, no. 11 (August 2020): 180–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.33663/2524-017x-2020-11-32.

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The author of the article, first of all, draws attention to the current problems of protection and protection of human rights, which unfortunately are traced within the territorial jurisdiction of the European Union. Such problem is quite well demonstrated by Berbel Koffler, as the Commissioner of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany on human rights and humanitarian aid policy. Indeed, the Ombudsman of Germany has raised a number of deep dilemmas: violence against human rights defenders on the grounds of their professional activity, the relation of human rights institutions with public security and economic development. In fact, these questions, in varying percentages, are equally relevant to many countries in the world. In the outlined context, the case of the European Court of Human Rights “Gabriel Weber and Caesar Richard Saravia v. Germany” of 29.06.06 was analyzed. Actually, this case covers directly the issues of human rights and national security of Germany. Grounds for initiating this case have arisen in connection with the legislative provisions of the Law of Germany on the Restriction of the Secret of Correspondence, Mail and Telecommunications of 13.08.68., ("Law G-10"), taking into account changes made under the Anti-Crime Act of 28.10.94, which extend the powers of the Federal Intelligence Service, within the so-called strategic monitoring. It is about collecting information by listening to telephone conversations in order to identify and prevent serious threats to the Federal Republic of Germany, such as: armed attacks on its territory, international terrorist attacks, other serious crimes. According to the applicants who worked as journalists, strategic monitoring can be used against individuals to prevent effective journalistic investigations. In view of these suspicions, the applicants argued that they had violated the human rights guaranteed by the Convention, such as the right to privacy and correspondence, the violation of press freedom, and the right to an effective remedy. The ECHR Judges, having examined the circumstances of the case, concluded that there were no grounds to satisfy the complaints on the basis of the following arguments: 2) German legislation, as part of strategic monitoring, is endowed with adequate and effective safeguards against abuse by authorized entities. In addition, the article analyzes the multi-vector issue of banning citizens of some European Union countries from wearing hats that completely or partially hide their faces. The fact is that, under such restrictions, in particular, the traditional clothing of women adherents of Islam has fallen. It is a “burqa” and a “niqab”. The presented study is mainly based on the legislative practice of France, Belgium, which provides for administrative as well as criminal penalties for non-compliance with the stated prohibition. In such cases as S.А.С. France, Belkacemi and Oussar v. Belgium, Dakir v. Belgium, the applicants, alleged that they had violated the human rights guaranteed by the Convention, including: the right to respect for their private life; the right to freedom of expression of one's religion or belief; the right to freedom of expression; the right to freedom of association; humiliating treatment and discrimination against the enjoyment of the abovementioned human rights. According to most ECHR judges, who have dealt with the said cases, the disputed prohibition is not necessary in a "democratic society for public safety" but its main task is to preserve the conditions of "cohabitation" as an element of "protection of the rights and freedoms of others." In the context of this debate, attention was paid indirectly to such EU Member States as: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland. Keywords: human rights, legal guarantees, security, privacy.

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Acocella, Ivana. "The activism of young muslims in Italy: Citizens ‘crossing borders’ in search of recognition." Ethnography, July 14, 2022, 146613812211158. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14661381221115801.

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The article investigates how young Muslims born and/or raised in Italy perform ‘acts of citizenship’ combining religious belief and civic engagement. We present the results of 40 in-depth interviews carried out with young Muslims active in two associations: Giovani Musulmani d’Italia and Islamic Relief. The aim is to explore how the tactics of visibility, the strategies of recognition ‘from below’ and the forms of transnational mobilisation of Western Muslim activists may trigger processes to ‘denationalize’ the meaning of citizenship, challenging original autochthony as the primordial ‘right’ of belonging. Furthermore, in the Italian model of imperfect secularism, young Muslims’ acts of citizenship can shed light on the limits of the fictitious principle of public ‘neutrality’ as tolerance and the need to redefine the public sphere as a common and heterogeneous space affirming cultural pluralism and the right to difference as integral elements of the foundation of civil society.

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Taylor, O., S. Loubiere, A. Tinland, A. Loundou, P. Auquier, HOME EU, and Jose Ornelas. "Addressing & understanding citizens’ perceptions of homelessness: a cross-European study." European Journal of Public Health 29, Supplement_4 (November 1, 2019). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz187.202.

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Abstract Objective Addressing Citizen’s perspectives on homelessness is crucial for the design of effective and durable policy responses, and available research in Europe is not yet substantive. We aim to explore citizens’ opinion about homelessness and to explain the differences in attitudes within the general population of eight European countries: France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. Methods A nationally representative telephone survey of European citizens was conducted in 2017. Three domains were investigated: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices about homelessness. Based on a multiple correspondence analysis, a generalized linear model for clustered and weighted sample was used to probe the associations between groups with opposing attitudes, adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. Results The response rate ranged from 30.4% to 33.5% (N = 5,295). Most respondents (57%) had poor knowledge about homelessness. Respondents who thought the government spent too much on homelessness, homeless people should be responsible for housing, people remain homeless by choice, or homelessness keeps capabilities/empowerment intact clustered together (negative attitudes, 30%). Respondents who were willing to pay taxes, welcomed a shelter, or acknowledged homeless people may lack some capabilities (i.e. agreed on discrimination in hiring) made another cluster (positive attitudes, 58%). Older respondents (OR = 0.99; p=.011), those living in rural areas (OR = 0.78, p<.001), those with a poor level of knowledge about homelessness (OR = 0.68, p=.007), and those from France and Poland (p<.001) were less likely to report positive attitudes. Conclusions Although it is clear that there is strong support for increased government action and more effective solutions for Europe’s growing homelessness crisis, there also remain public opinion barriers rooted in enduring negative perceptions. Key messages A majority of European citizens reported positive attitudes towards Homelessness. There is strong support for increased government action and more effective solutions for Europe’s growing homelessness crisis.

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Cazzolla Gatti, Roberto, Arianna Di Paola, Alfonso Monaco, Alena Velichevskaya, Nicola Amoroso, and Roberto Bellotti. "A ten-year (2009–2018) database of cancer mortality rates in Italy." Scientific Data 9, no. 1 (October 21, 2022). http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01729-0.

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AbstractIn Italy, approximately 400.000 new cases of malignant tumors are recorded every year. The average of annual deaths caused by tumors, according to the Italian Cancer Registers, is about 3.5 deaths and about 2.5 per 1,000 men and women respectively, for a total of about 3 deaths every 1,000 people. Long-term (at least a decade) and spatially detailed data (up to the municipality scale) are neither easily accessible nor fully available for public consultation by the citizens, scientists, research groups, and associations. Therefore, here we present a ten-year (2009–2018) database on cancer mortality rates (in the form of Standardized Mortality Ratios, SMR) for 23 cancer macro-types in Italy on municipal, provincial, and regional scales. We aim to make easily accessible a comprehensive, ready-to-use, and openly accessible source of data on the most updated status of cancer mortality in Italy for local and national stakeholders, researchers, and policymakers and to provide researchers with ready-to-use data to perform specific studies.

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Oradini-Alacreu, A., A. Rebecchi, A. G. Mezzoiuso, R. Croci, M. Buffoli, A. Odone, C. Signorelli, and S. Capolongo. "Measuring health outcomes of OECD countries’ urban greenspace, with a special focus on Milan (Italy)." European Journal of Public Health 30, Supplement_5 (September 1, 2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.161.

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Abstract Background Urban world population has raised to 4.2 billion in 2018, with 2.5 billion more forecasted by 2050. Cities are places of opportunities but, at the same time, sites of environmental and social risk factors. Scientific evidence about urban green's environmental benefits is abundant, but Public Health outcomes are seldom carefully defined. The project aims at assessing the Public, Urban and Mental Health outcomes of urban green areas in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, and at exploring citizen urban greenspace perception in Milan, Italy. Methods A systematic review of literature was conducted according to the 2015 PRISMA statement. Two online databases (Medline and Embase), were consulted, and inclusion criteria were set, ruling in all OECD countries-based, English-written studies from 2000 to December 2019. Only objectively measurable health outcomes were deemed suitable for analysis. Based on the main review findings, a community-based survey was created, targeting residents of Milan and its suburban area to understand better how they benefit from the urban green areas in their city. The study is being carried out by an interdisciplinary team of medical doctors and architects. Results We grouped health outcomes into five separate domains, namely cardiovascular, obesity, respiratory, neoplasia and mental health. We found negative associations between disease prevalence and urban greenspace overall quantity. Size, perceived quality and accessibility were powerfully explanatory variables. Milan community-based survey drafting is underway. Results are still preliminary and will be presented by tables, graphs and plots. Conclusions Cities are increasingly becoming critical points for many emerging Public Health challenges. The results of our study may help urban planners, key stakeholders, policymakers and communities to preserve and increase existing green spaces, and to improve Urban Public Health. Key messages Urban greenspace is paramount to OECD cities’ current and future sustainability because of its significant impact on Public, Urban and Mental Health. Milan citizens show remarkable care for urban greenspaces integrity and development.

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Avi, Maria Silvia. "Innovations On Sustainability and the Environment in the Italian Constitution. Non-Financial Information and the Audit of Documents Containing Such Disclosures." Journal of Economics, Finance And Management Studies 05, no. 02 (February 17, 2022). http://dx.doi.org/10.47191/jefms/v5-i2-14.

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In February 2022, the Constitution in Italy was amended by adding articles 9 and 41 to introduce the issue of the environment and sustainability in general into the constitutional law. However, in February 2022, the additions to Articles 9 and 41 made sustainability issues, the environment and animal protection more relevant at the state level. At the same time, the Italian Association of Auditors, Assirevi, issued a research paper (research paper no. 243 of February 2022) so that the audit on non-financial information would be more comprehensive than what was already established in Assirevi paper no. 127 of 2019. Only time will tell whether these changes to the Italian Constitution and these documents on the audit and control of non-financial data will lead to an overall improvement in the widespread application of sustainability at each Italian citizen's corporate and personal level.

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Del Pin, M., G. Varadi, S. Pascut, R. Tito, A. Dovier, C. Covre, F. Honsell, F. Valent, M. Parpinel, and S. Brusaferro. "Association of nationality and education with oral health: a screening programme in Northern Italy." European Journal of Public Health 29, Supplement_4 (November 1, 2019). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz187.083.

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Abstract Background Socioeconomic status (SES) has been proposed as an important determinant of oral health outcomes. The aim of this project is to assess the association between nationality, parents’ educational level and oral health in a sample of children in Udine, Italy. Methods Between February and May 2018, in the context of a screening programme carried out to evaluate the oral health status in 6-year-old children, parents filled out a questionnaire investigating behavioural, socioeconomic and demographical factors. For each child the number of decayed, missing and filled deciduous teeth (dmft) and caries prevalence (CP) were assessed. Results The screening was conducted on 976 children, 705 (72%) Italian (I) and 271 (28%) foreign residents (F). Not-Italian nationality significantly increased the CP (F: 59.32%; I: 32.74%; RR: 1.81 [95% CI: 1.57-2.10]; Risk Difference: 26.59 [95% CI: 19.98-33.19]) and dmft median value (F: 2±5; I:0±1; p < 0.0001). Stratified by level of education, the differences between I and F were significant when both parents had low educational level (CP: RR = 1.62 [95%; CI: 1.00-2.62]; dmft: F = 5±5; I = 0±3; p < 0.05) and when both parents had high school education (CP: RR = 1.45 [95%; CI: 1.14-1.84]; dmft: F = 2±6; I = 0±2; p < 0.001). Otherwise, when both parents had university degree, nationality did not increase significantly the outcome (CP: RR = 1.17 [95%; CI: 0.91-1.50; p > 0.1]; dmft: F = 0±2; I = 0±0; p > 0.1). Conclusions The analyses suggest that being a foreign resident is a risk factor for lower child oral health. Moreover, parents’ educational level seems to be an effect modifier: when parents had a university degree there was no significant difference between Italians and foreign residents, otherwise the lower the level of education, the greater the difference between the categories. These data may help to identify particularly vulnerable groups and to develop preventive strategies. Key messages These findings confirmed the presence of a vulnerable population (foreign residents) in which socioeconomic factors had stronger associations to oral health than Italian citizens. Further research may be useful to identify both protective and risk factors associated with different nationality, in order to evaluate specific interventions in low-SES groups.

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Travaglino, Giovanni A., and Chanki Moon. "Compliance and Self-Reporting During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Cultural Study of Trust and Self-Conscious Emotions in the United States, Italy, and South Korea." Frontiers in Psychology 12 (March 16, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.565845.

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The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented health crisis. Many governments around the world have responded by implementing lockdown measures of various degrees of intensity. To be effective, these measures must rely on citizens’ cooperation. In the present study, we drew samples from the United States (N = 597), Italy (N = 606), and South Korea (N = 693) and examined predictors of compliance with social distancing and intentions to report the infection to both authorities and acquaintances. Data were collected between April 6th and 8th 2020. We investigated the role of cultural orientations of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism, self-conscious emotions of shame and guilt related to the infection and trust in the government’s action. Across all countries, vertical collectivism (VC) predicted stronger shame, whereas horizontal collectivism predicted stronger trust in the government. Only in the United States, VC was associated with stronger trust. Stronger feelings of shame predicted lower compliance and intentions to report the infection to both authorities and acquaintances. In contrast, guilt was associated with stronger intentions to report the infection to the authorities. Finally, trust was associated with stronger compliance and intentions to report the infection to the authorities. Unlike Italy and South Korea, the association between trust on compliance was not statistically significant in the United States, implications of the findings, and directions for future research are discussed.

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Mowbray, Miranda. "Neither Male or Female." M/C Journal 3, no. 4 (August 1, 2000). http://dx.doi.org/10.5204/mcj.1863.

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Very large numbers of people habitually spend time interacting in online social spaces based on the software developed by Pavel Curtis for Lambda MOO. Although chatting is part of the functionality of these spaces, it is much richer than the functionality given by basic chat rooms. In particular, members of these spaces explicitly declare a gender within the space (I will call it their 'presenting gender'), which may or may not correspond with their offline gender. As well as the traditional options of "male" and "female", it is possible to choose presenting genders such as "neutral", "royal", or "witch". Around 35% of the members of Media MOO and 22% of Lambda MOO have a presenting gender that is neither "male" nor "female" (Danet). I surveyed active citizens of another such space, Little Italy, by examining 400 characters that had accessed the space during the preceding month. Of these, 72 (18%) had a presenting gender other than "male", "female", and the default, "neutral" (assigned to Little Italians who haven't yet chosen a presenting gender). 11% had default presenting gender. I found that those who had a presenting gender 'other' than "male", "female", or the default were more likely to still be active in Little Italy a year later. This result holds at the 80% significance level -- in other words, there is a less than 1 in 5 probability that the difference observed could have arisen by chance if the distributions were in reality identical. In fact, 'other'-gendered active citizens were 23% more likely than "male" and 32% more likely than "female" active citizens to be still active a year later. This suggests that 'other'-gendered chat may be more a pleasant (or addictive) activity than male- or female-gendered chat. Amazingly, 49% of the 'other'-gendered citizens sampled were still active a year later. This intrigued me, so I sent a message to currently active Little Italians with presenting genders other than male or female, asking them why they had chosen such a presenting gender. I had 28 responses. Quotations from the responses below are by permission, and translated from the Italian. A popular idea amongst gender theorists (e.g. Stone) is that choosing a presenting gender other than "male" and "female" is a strategy for people who don't feel they fit precisely into gender stereotypes. This may include most of us to some degree. As the Kinks sang, "girls will be boys and boys will be girls, it's a mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world, except for Lola" -- where Lola has ambiguous presenting gender, and thus is the only non-mixed-up one. This is indeed the reason given by one respondent for choosing a presenting gender other than male or female: "despite being a man, I feel very feminine (since I was small I've always wanted to be a woman)". However, no other respondents gave this as their reason. Another idea from the literature is that of "gender masking" (Jaffe et al. 11-2, and table 1). According to this theory, people, especially women, hide their gender online in order to avoid discrimination and harassment, or gender-related assumptions. Indeed, one respondent described his/her 'masked' character as "a mind without sex or body, an entity without appearance, as insubstantial as a cloud of smoke". On the other hand, the majority of other-gendered Little Italians give some clue that they are either male or female in their character descriptions, and most give some clue when speaking socially within Little Italy. Italian is an inflected language, and has many constructions that reveal whether the speaker is male or female -- it is rare (although not unknown) for a Little Italian to avoid these constructions or to use them ambiguously, as might be expected by someone masking their gender. To consider another idea, Bruckman (also Reid ch. 3 iii) suggests that the online world can be an "identity workshop" (1), where people can emphasise particular aspects of their personality, or try out new personae, or experience what it is like to be someone completely different. Some Little Italians emphasise part of their real identity through their presenting gender, choosing for example to have a gender such as "rebel", "dutch", or "angel". One respondent suggested, "I chose 'angel' because I help everyone who asks me -- and some who don't ask -- let's say I like being a guardian angel ;) and because my name is Michelangelo". Other Little Italians choose 'other' presenting genders precisely because these genders do not have an offline equivalent. Their choice is a form of creativity or escapism. One such respondent asked, "if everything is just like reality, what's the point of logging on?" This creative aspect becomes clear in the more outré genders invented by Little Italians, such as "\V/amp!" for a vampire character, which includes a visual reference to Dracula's high collar, and "...nothing like the sun" (the ellipsis is part of the gender). One surprise was that several citizens became 'other'-gendered by accident! Offline it is difficult to have a sex-change without realising, but online a badly-designed interface can have this effect. 3% of the sample had gender "me", which is a side-effect of a particular mistake in the use of the space. Another surprise was the joke gender. If you ask the system for information about a Little Italy character, one line of the answer is of the form "Sex: <the character's presenting gender>". Around 2% of the sample had presenting genders such as "If only!", "Too much!!", and "Go ahead!!". Several other citizens told me their genders were references to in-jokes amongst their online friends. Some characters had an 'other' gender because the character portrayed was not a human being -- such as a duck with presenting gender "duck", and a character called Harley with presenting gender "H-D". Looking at the 'other' genders in the sample, I was struck by the diversity both of the genders themselves, and of the reasons for which they are chosen. There is no single motive valid for most 'other'-gendered citizens. I was also struck by their lightheartedness. Gender studies texts tend to treat the choice of presenting gender as something highly serious and important. Several writers deal with gender as performance (Butler interviewed by Osborne and Segal, 109-26) or masquerade (Danet) with playful and ironic characteristics (Haraway 149-81). These writers, however, tend to emphasise a serious purpose underlying the performance. Haraway talks of "serious play" (149) and Butler is interested in performing gender as a subversive practice that aims to undermine the dominant forms of gender. Little Italy shows that in online spaces this need not be the case. The Little Italian with presenting gender "duck" does not think of herself as a duck, she is not critiquing female stereotypes, she is not questioning the idea of femaleness, she is not hiding her offline gender to avoid harassment, she is not asserting her inner duckiness; she's just having a bit of fun. Little Italy is more of an identity playground than an identity workshop. The creation of 'other' presenting genders in Little Italy is an example of the unexpectedly creative use of public space by members (in this case the space after Sex: in the character information) that was not originally designed with this use in mind. It is perhaps even more fascinating than other examples of folk art in unexpected places, such as graffiti, crop circles, bumper stickers or carved spoon handles, because of the clarity of its relationship with the artists' (lighthearted) construction of their identities. 'Stickiness' -- the likelihood of visitors to continue visiting a Website over an extended period of time -- is a quality much sought after by e-companies. Little Italy is very 'sticky' for all its citizens, but exceptionally so for other-gendered ones. In my opinion, it is the personal creative investment of the other-gendered citizens in Little Italy that makes them especially likely to remain active citizens. 'Other' presenting genders are possible in Little Italy because Pavel Curtis's software does not limit the options to male and female. This research suggests that designers and administrators of commercial Websites who want stickiness should avoid making assumptions about how their visitors may wish to present and express themselves. Rather, they should try to leave spaces open for their visitors' creativity. Many commercial Websites try to control and limit visitors' interaction, using forms and limited-choice menus. But if I am right about the stickiness of personal creative investment, then this may be a mistake. Creative empowerment of visitors may be better for the bottom line. Acknowledgements Grazie ai cittadini e wiz di Little Italy, sopratutto a quelli citati, per loro aiuto e amichevolezza. References Bruckman, Amy. "Identity Workshop: Emergent Social and Psychological Phenomena in Text-based Virtual Reality." Masters thesis, MIT Media Laboratory. 1992. Danet, Brenda. "Text as Mask: Gender and Identity on the Internet." Conference on "Masquerade and Gendered Identity". Venice, Italy, Feb. 1996. 18 Jul. 2000 <http://atar.mscc.huji.ac.il/~msdanet/mask.php>. Haraway, Donna. "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century." Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge, 1991. Jaffe, J. Michael, et al. "Gender, Pseudonyms, and CMC: Making Identities and Baring Souls." 45th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association. Albuquerque, USA, 1995. 18 Jul. 2000 <http://members.iworld.net/yesunny/genderps.php>. Osborne, Peter, and Lynne Segal. "Gender as Performance." Interview with Judith Butler. A Critical Sense: Interviews with Intellectuals. Ed. Peter Osborne. London and New York: Routledge, 1996. Elizabeth Reid. "Cultural Formations in Text-based Virtual Realities." Masters thesis, Dept. of English, University of Melbourne. 1994. 11 Aug. 2000 <http://www.aluluei.com>. Stone, Allucquère Rosanne. "Will the Real Body Please Stand Up? Boundary Stories about Virtual Cultures." Cyberspace: First Steps. Ed. Michael Benedikt. Cambridge, MA: MIT P, 1991. 18-118. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Miranda Mowbray. "Neither Male nor Female: Other -- Gendered Chat in Little Italy." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3.4 (2000). [your date of access] <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0008/gendered.php>. Chicago style: Miranda Mowbray, "Neither Male nor Female: Other -- Gendered Chat in Little Italy," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3, no. 4 (2000), <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0008/gendered.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Miranda Mowbray. (2000) Neither male nor female: other -- gendered chat in Little Italy. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3(4). <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0008/gendered.php> ([your date of access]).

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Coppola, Annachiara, Carlo Buonerba, Davide Cardinale, Gabriella Lo Conte, Donato Sansone, Giuseppe Rofrano, Sabato De Vita, et al. "Durability of Humoral Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2 in Citizens of Ariano Irpino (Campania, Italy): A Longitudinal Observational Study With an 11.5-Month Follow-Up." Frontiers in Public Health 9 (December 17, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.801609.

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As of November 17, 2021, SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2), the causative agent of COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease 19), has infected ~250 million people worldwide, causing around five million deaths. Titers of anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies were relatively stable for at least 9 months in a population-based study conducted in Wuhan, China, both in symptomatic and in asymptomatic individuals. In the mass screening campaign conducted in the town of Ariano Irpino (Avellino, Italy) in May, 2020, 5.7% (95% CI: 5.3-6-1) of the 13,444 asymptomatic citizens screened were positive for anti-nucleocapsid antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Among these, 422 citizens were re-tested for anti SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in January, 2021 and/or in April, 2021 and enrolled in this longitudinal observational study. Median (interquartile range) age of the study cohort was 46 years (29–59), with 47 (11.1%) participants of minor age, while 217 (51.4%) participants were females. There was no evidence of re-infection in any of the subjects included. Presence of anti-nuclear antibodies antibodies (Elecysis, Roche) was reported in 95.7 and 93.7% of evaluable participants in January and April, 2021. Multiple logistic regression analysis used to explore associations between age, sex and seroprevalence showed that adults vs. minors had significantly lower odds of having anti-S1 antibodies (Biorad) both in January, 2021 and in April, 2021. Our findings showed that antibodies remained detectable at least 11.5 months after infection in >90% of never symptomatic cases. Further investigation is required to establish duration of immunity against SARS-CoV-2.

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Riccioni, Luigi, Francesca Ingravallo, Giacomo Grasselli, Davide Mazzon, Emiliano Cingolani, Gabrio Forti, Vladimiro Zagrebelsky, Riccardo Zoja, and Flavia Petrini. "The Italian document: decisions for intensive care when there is an imbalance between care needs and resources during the COVID-19 pandemic." Annals of Intensive Care 11, no. 1 (June 29, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13613-021-00888-4.

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Abstract Background In early 2020, the Italian Society of Anesthesia Analgesia Resuscitation and Intensive Care (SIAARTI) published clinical ethics recommendations for the allocation of intensive care during COVID-19 pandemic emergency. Later the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) invited SIAARTI and the Italian Society of Legal and Insurance Medicine to prepare a draft document for the definition of triage criteria for intensive care during the emergency, to be implemented in case of complete saturation of care resources. Methods Following formal methods, including two Delphi rounds, a multidisciplinary group with expertise in intensive care, legal medicine and law developed 12 statements addressing: (1) principles and responsibilities; (2) triage; (3) previously expressed wishes; (4) reassessment and shifting to palliative care; (5) collegiality and transparency of decisions. The draft of the statements, with their explanatory comments, underwent a public consultation opened to Italian scientific or technical-professional societies and other stakeholders (i.e., associations of citizens, patients and caregivers; religious communities; industry; public institutions; universities and research institutes). Individual healthcare providers, lay people, or other associations could address their comments by e-mail. Results Eight stakeholders (including scientific societies, ethics organizations, and a religious community), and 8 individuals (including medical experts, ethicists and an association) participated to the public consultation. The stakeholders’ agreement with statements was on average very high (ranging from 4.1 to 4.9, on a scale from 1—full disagreement to 5—full agreement). The 4 statements concerning triage stated that in case of saturation of care resources, the intensive care triage had to be oriented to ensuring life-sustaining treatments to as many patients as possible who could benefit from them. The decision should follow full assessment of each patient, taking into account comorbidities, previous functional status and frailty, current clinical condition, likely impact of intensive treatment, and the patient's wishes. Age should be considered as part of the global assessment of the patient. Conclusions Lacking national guidelines, the document is the reference standard for healthcare professionals in case of imbalance between care needs and available resources during a COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, and a point of reference for the medico-legal assessment in cases of dispute.

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Marcone, Roberto, and Antonietta Caputo. "Covert-overt prejudices towards the intellectual disabilities at school: A study on teachers and non-teachers of southern Italy." Current Psychology, June 15, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01964-5.

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AbstractIntellectual Disabilities (ID) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with considerable individual variability in type and severity. Due to overt and covert prejudices around ID, however, society tends to generalize this condition. Also, in schools, teachers’ attitudes toward students with IDs often differ from those toward regular students. The purpose of this study is to examine the levels of overt and covert prejudices toward ID of curricular and support teachers and non-teachers, in a sample of Southern Italian citizens, by evaluating age, gender and socioeconomic differences, as well as the associations of prejudice with education about and contact with ID. Six hundred and sixty-four participants (484 F; 38% teachers), 18–70 years old (M = 38.72; SD = 14.79) participated in the study. The Modern and Classical Prejudices Scale was administered in paper and online forms. Sociodemographic measures, as well as measures around ID education and contact with people with ID were collected. The results show that teachers had higher levels of classical prejudices compared to non-teacher participants. Teachers of primary schools showed higher levels of classical and modern prejudices. No gender and socioeconomic status (SES) differences were found in the whole sample. The entry of children with Intellectual Disabilities into primary school can be strongly influenced by teachers’ prejudices. Therefore, the need for teachers’ information and training on Intellectual Disabilities is evident.

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Riniolo, Veronica, and Livia Elisa Ortensi. "Young Generations' Activism in Italy: Comparing Political Engagement and Participation of Native Youths and Youths from a Migrant Background." Social Indicators Research, October 23, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02487-5.

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Abstract Focusing on individuals aged 14–35 still living with their family of origin, we compare the political activism of Italian natives with their first and second-generation migrant peers. We based our analysis on two different national household surveys, carried out by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in 2011–2012: the survey 'Condizione e integrazione sociale dei cittadini stranieri' [Condition and Social Integration of Foreign Citizens] and 'Aspetti della vita quotidiana' [Multipurpose Survey on the Aspects of Everyday Life]. Our results revealed that natives are more likely to be involved in politics compared to their migrant peers. However, the migrant background is not a factor negatively affecting youth participation or involvement in politics in itself. The gap with native is fully explained by differences in socio-economic background and family political socialisation. When these aspects are controlled, data suggest that no differences exist in participation to most time-consuming acts (such as taking part in political meetings, demonstrations, participation in a political association, etc.). More of it, young people with migrant backgrounds are more likely to be engaged in activities that reflect a general interest in politics, such as discussing politics, seeking information on Italian politics, and listening to political debates, compared to their native counterparts.

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Rousset, S., E. Camussi, C. Piccinelli, C. Senore, P. Armaroli, L. Giordano, G. Ferrante, F. Bert, and R. Siliquini. "Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy." European Journal of Public Health 31, Supplement_3 (October 1, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.013.

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Abstract Introduction Social restrictions imposed by the Italian Government during the COVID-19 emergency might have had a significant impact on mental health. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of depressive and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTDS) symptoms in a sample of Italian citizens during the first COVID-19 pandemic wave. Materials and methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out between April and June 2020 using a snowball sampling. Depressive symptoms were explored through the Patient Heath Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), while the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTDS) was investigated through the SPAN (Startle, Physical arousal, Anger, Numbness) questionnaire. Poisson regression models were used to explore the association between the outcomes under study and sociodemographic/housing characteristics. Results A total of 10.758 interviews were collected and 7.847 (73%), complete for a minimum set of indicators (age, sex, area of residence), were included in the final analysis. The majority of the respondents were females (71%). Sample mean age was 48.6 years. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 21.2% and that of PTDS was 43.8%. Symptoms of depression and PTDS significantly diminished across age groups, in particular in people over 70 years compared with people aged 14-29 years (PR 0.65, 95% CI 0.49-0.86). A higher prevalence was found in students compared with retired people, both for depressive symptoms (PR 1.49, 95% CI: 1.05-2.10) and PTDS (PR 1.31, 95% CI: 1.02-1.69). Conclusions Prevalence of depressive and PTDS symptoms was high, in particular among younger people and students. That could potentially lead to adverse mental health outcomes in the future, with serious public health consequences. As the pandemic emergency is not solved yet, it is necessary to implement preventive strategies in order to protect the mental well-being of particularly vulnerable subgroups in the population. Key messages The prevalence of psychological symptoms was high in this sample during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The subgroups of the population at higher risk for adverse psychological outcomes were younger people and students.

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Terragni, L., G. Calogiuri, and H. Finbråten. "Health literacy among first-generation Italian immigrants in Norway." European Journal of Public Health 30, Supplement_5 (September 1, 2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.583.

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Abstract Background People with an immigration background often have poorer health than the general population. Italians in Norway have tripled throughout the past 15-years, but little is known about their health. Health literacy (HL) has been emerging as a fundamental construct in enabling citizens to play an active role in improving their own and theirs community's health. The objective of our study was i) to describe HL among first-generation Italian immigrants in Norway, ii) examine the association between HL and health-related empowerment, and iii) compare HL in Italian immigrants with the general Norwegian population's. Methods The data was retrieved from a cross-sectional survey (n = 321) conducted within the study Mens Sana in Corpore Sano (inclusion criteria: age ≥18 years, living in Norway permanently, having lived in Italy at least until age 16). HL was measured using the short form of the European Health literacy survey questionnaire (HLS-Q12; α = 0.83). Empowerment was assessed using a 4-items scale (α = 0.73), developed on basis the World Health Organization's definition of individual empowerment and aspects of patient empowerment. Additionally, information about gender, age, educational level, and self-rated health was collected. Results Preliminary results indicated that 8% had inadequate HL, whereas about 40% had marginal HL. No significant differences in HL were observed in relation to gender, age, education level or general health. A medium correlation was found between HL and empowerment (r = 0.42, p < 0.001). The Italian's HL was significantly lower than the general Norwegian population's (M±SD = 32.46±4.79 and 33.11 ± 4.12, respectively; p = 0.028). Conclusions This is the first study investigating HL and its associations with the health-related empowerment of first-generation Italian immigrants in Norway. More research is needed in order to better understand this phenomenon as well as the effectiveness of HL-enhancing initiatives. Key messages We investigated the levels of health literacy and health-related empowerment among first-generation Italian immigrants in Norway. The Italians’ heath literacy, which correlated with empowerment, was lower than the general Norwegian population’s. There were no differences across gender, age, education level or general health.

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Giordano, Felice, Valeria Margherita Petrolini, Domenico Spagnolo, Rosanna Maria Fidente, Lucrezia Lanciotti, Lucilla Baldassarri, Francesco Luca Moretti, et al. "Significant variations of dangerous exposures during COVID-19 pandemic in Italy: a possible association with the containment measures implemented to reduce the virus transmission." BMC Public Health 22, no. 1 (March 5, 2022). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12860-3.

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Abstract Background In response to the COVID-19 health emergency, mass media widely spread guidelines to stop the virus transmission, leading to an excessive and unaware use of detergents and disinfectants. In Italy and in other countries this tendency caused a significant increase of exposures to these products in 2020. Evaluating data collected by the Italian Pavia Poison Centre (PPC), this study intends to examine the relationship between the COVID-19 lockdown and the variations of exposures to specific product categories possibly associated to the containment measures implemented. Simultaneously, this work shows the effectiveness of the European Product Categorisation System (EuPCS) in surveillance activities of dangerous chemicals. Methods Exposure cases managed by the PPC during March–May 2020 (lockdown) and during the same months of 2017–2018-2019 were compared. Differences in categorical variables were tested with the Chi-square test. The level of significance was set at Alpha = .05. The study included all EuPCS groups but specifically focused on cleaners, detergents, biocides and cosmetics. Results During the lockdown, calls from private citizens showed a highly significant increase (+ 11.5%, p < .001) and occupational exposures decreased (− 11.7%, p = .011). Among Cleaners, exposures to Bleaches slightly increased while Drain cleaning products went through a significant reduction (− 13.9%, p = .035). A highly significant increase of exposures to Disinfectants was observed (+ 7.7%, p = .007), particularly to those for surfaces (+ 6.8%, p = .039). Regarding Cosmetics, both handwashing soaps and gel products significantly increased (respectively: + 25.0, p = .016 and + 9.7%, p = .028). Among children 1–5 years, the statistical significance is reached with exposures to Dishwashing detergents (+ 13.1%, p = .032), handwashing soaps (+ 28.6%, p = .014) and handwashing gel products (+ 16.8%, p = .010). Contrarily, Liquid Laundry Detergent Capsules decreased in a highly significant manner (− 25%; p = .001). The general severity of exposures showed a highly significant decrease (Moderate: − 10.1%, p = .0002). Conclusions This study investigated the relationship between the COVID-19 lockdown and the variations of exposures to some product categories related to the containment measures. The results obtained support any action to be taken by Competent Authorities to implement measures for a safer use of cleaners/disinfectants. This paper shows the benefit in applying the EuPCS to categorize products according to their intended use, though an extension of this system to products not covered by CLP Regulation may be a further advantage.

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Alvisi, Francesca, and Domenico D'Alelio. "Present and future of aquatic sciences: The perspective of AIOL scientific community for a priority roadmap over the next five years." Advances in Oceanography and Limnology 9, no. 1 (July 10, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.4081/aiol.2018.7580.

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Water issues represent an increasing societal challenge, since the 70% of Planet Earth is covered by water. The intensive use of the hydrosphere is changing the structure and functions of aquatic ecosystems and their ability to produce goods and services that are useful to humans. It is therefore necessary that the scientific community makes citizens aware of the results of scientific research on these issues and informs them about the need to intensify the study of the mechanisms that underlie the ongoing changes in aquatic ecosystems. To help meet this need, within the 23rd Congress of the Italian Association of Oceanology and Limnology (AIOL; http://www.aiol.info/), entitled "Functioning, alteration and recovery of aquatic ecosystems: the aquatic sciences to understand global change and to make the citizens aware of it" (Cagliari, Italy, 26-29 September 2017), all participants, among which some renown experts in the field of aquatic sciences, were invited to give their contribution, via a shared and bottom-up built questionnaire, in assessing a set of actions needed to achieve an adaptive and proactive management of changes that the aquatic sciences are going to face in the next five years. The results of this survey allowed us to identify a set of priorities that funding agencies should include in their economic and financial planning in the next future. Among all, we pinpoint that there is an urgent need in: (i) promoting sustainable food production by exploiting aquatic systems; (ii) diffusing an opportune spatial planning integrating ecosystem-based management approaches; (iii) developing recovery/remediation plans for contaminated sites; iv) promoting conservation of ecosystems by assessing their conservation status, first of all the water/ecosystem quality; (v) fostering the technological development of sustainable and integrated tools and procedures for environmental monitoring; (vi) developing a better forecasting capacity, particularly of extreme events, by implementing long-term research networks; and, ultimately, (vii) supporting a wider society learning processes and a more effective transfer of knowledge from science to society.

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Toccafondi, Alessandro, Giuseppina Simone, Marco Lombardi, and Pietro Claudio Dattolo. "MO200COVID-19 PANDEMIC INCREASED ADVANCE CARE PLANNING DEMAND." Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 36, Supplement_1 (May 1, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfab092.0078.

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Abstract Background and Aims Advance care planning (ACP) enables competent patients to define goals and preferences for future treatments and care, to discuss these goals and preferences with relatives, and if appropriate to record these preferences. After many years of political and social debates, in December 2017 the first advance directive and care planning legislation was approved in Italy. Nevertheless, citizens’ awareness of these issues is scarce as well as the integration of the advance care planning process into clinical routine. The latest data reported to the Italian Parliament by the Ministry of Health indicated that advance directives have been completed by 62030 people, approximately 1.1% of Italian adult population. However, during the last months, the COVID-19 pandemic solicited taking steps towards promoting an advance care planning culture. Indeed, the need of proposing ACP to patients have been recently stressed both by medical associations and national and local institutional documents. Method Since November 2020, our nephrology unit adopted a protocol approved by Ethical committee by Physician Order of Florence, aimed to conduct ACP interventions with dialysis patients. Firstly, all patients were informed about the possibility to taking part in one or more advance care planning conversations with their nephrologist. Secondly, a semi-structured guide to the conversation was created in order to support physicians in conducting the ACP intervention. Finally, patients along with nephrologist and their relatives, could documented their preferences for future treatments and care. Results From November to March only one patient asked to receive an ACP intervention. However, since COVID-19 spread in Italy last March, the number of patients who demanded ACP raised up. In the period from April to July, 15 out of 110 hemodialysis patients treated in our center asked for an ACP intervention and filled-in an advance directive. Specifically, no patients required an immediate discontinuation of dialysis, nevertheless 80% of them stated that would not like to continue with dialysis in case he/she was no longer able to self-determine (e.g. permanent loss of capacity to communicate with others). All patients except one have appointed a personal representative (usually their partner). In the eventuality of cardiac arrest, 60% of patients asked for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Finally, all patients expressed the wish to spend the last days of life at home. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic raised up the number of dialysis patients who required to taking part in a advance care planning intervention. In this sense, the pandemic can be an opportunity for consolidate advance care planning in Italy as well as in other countries, where these interventions are not well known by people and not yet regularly offered in the clinical routine. Using a semi-structured interview for the ACP interview can help the nephrologist to discuss future care and end-of-life topics with their patients.

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Petrocchi, Serena, Annalisa Levante, Federica Bianco, Ilaria Castelli, and Flavia Lecciso. "Maternal Distress/Coping and Children's Adaptive Behaviors During the COVID-19 Lockdown: Mediation Through Children's Emotional Experience." Frontiers in Public Health 8 (November 19, 2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.587833.

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The present study focused on the psychological impact that the lockdown due to coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) had on families in Italy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Italian government imposed a strict lockdown for all citizens. People were forced to stay at home, and the length of the lockdown was uncertain. Previous studies analyzed the impact of social distance measures on individuals' mental health, whereas few studies have examined the interplay between the adults' functioning, as parents, during this period and the association with the child's adjustment. The present study tested if maternal distress/coping predicts children's behaviors during the COVID-19 lockdown, hypothesizing a mediation effect via children's emotional experience. Participants were 144 mothers (Mage = 39.3, 25–52, SD = 5.6) with children aged 5–10 years (Mage = 7.54, SD = 1.6, 82 boys); mothers answered to an online survey. Results indicated that mothers with higher exposure to COVID-19 showed higher levels of distress and higher display of coping attitudes, even if in the structural equation modeling model, the COVID-19 exposure was not a predictor of mothers' distress. Compared with mothers with good coping skills, mothers with higher stress levels were more likely to attribute negative emotions to their children at the expense of their positive emotions. Moreover, children's emotions acted as mediators between maternal distress/coping and children's adaptive/maladaptive behaviors. In conclusion, it is important to support parents during pandemic emergence, by providing them with adequate information to manage the relationship with their children, to reduce their level of distress and to enhance their coping abilities.

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Dal Mas, Francesca, Helena Biancuzzi, Maurizio Massaro, Amelia Barcellini, Lorenzo Cobianchi, and Luca Miceli. "Knowledge Translation in Oncology. A Case Study." Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management 18, no. 3 (October 1, 2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.34190/ejkm.18.03.002.

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Knowledge translation (KT) is the ability to make knowledge accessible to different stakeholders by translating it into various contexts. Translating knowledge is particularly crucial in the healthcare sector, which is currently under significant pressure due to technological innovation, increasing demand of services by an ageing population, budget reductions, and new organisational challenges posed by the latest events like the COVID‑19 pandemic. While the first definition of KT was focused on the translation of scientific research into clinical practice, other types of KT later emerged. In healthcare, while stakeholders have different skills and competencies (such as clinical scientists versus physicians or other healthcare professionals), others experience diverse emotional feelings (like the patients or their families). An effective KT allows the transfer, sharing, and creation of new knowledge, enhancing innovation and co‑production dynamics. The paper employs a case study by analysing the Breast Unit of the C.R.O. National Cancer Institue of Aviano, Italy, one of the most acknowledged hospitals and research centres in Europe in the field of cancer surgery and treatments. The paper aims at studying the knowledge translation dynamics and tools by analysing the various relationships with the internal as well as the external stakeholders of the Breast Unit. Internally, knowledge translation is needed to merge the competencies of highly skilled multidisciplinary teams, which include surgeons and physicians with various specialities, researchers, psychologists, nurses and other healthcare professionals. Externally, knowledge is translated to meet the needs of patients, patients' associations, sponsors, citizens, and policymakers. Results highlight how different techniques and dynamics allow KT to happen within internal as well as external groups. Contributing to the knowledge management and knowledge translation theories, our findings open up to practical as well as research implications.

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Simone, Giuseppina, Alessandro Toccafondi, Giuseppe Ferro, Lorenzo Brogi, Gabriele Gori, Chiara Somma, Aris Tsalouchos, et al. "MO139: Advance Care Planning in Hemodialysis: A Challenge for the Italian Nephrology." Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 37, Supplement_3 (May 2022). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfac066.041.

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Abstract BACKGROUND Advance care planning (ACP) enables competent patients to define goals and preferences for future treatments and care, to discuss these goals and preferences with relatives, and if appropriate to record these preferences [1]. After many years of political and social debates, in December 2017 the first advance directive and care planning legislation was approved in Italy. In the last years, several national recommendations released by political institutions and medical associations have underlined the importance of conducting ACP with chronic patients, included dialyses patients. Nevertheless, citizens’ awareness of these issues is scarce as well as the integration of the ACP process into clinical routine [2]. METHOD Since November 2020, our nephrology unit adopted a protocol aimed to conduct ACP interventions with dialysis patients. Firstly, all patients were informed about the possibility to taking part in one or more ACP conversations with their nephrologist. Secondly, a semi-structured guide to the conversation was created in order to support physicians in conducting the ACP intervention. The guide is divided into three sections: (1) exploring patient's understanding of the disease and his/her hopes and life goals; (2) patient's social relationships; (3) preferences for future treatments and care (e.g. CPR, dialysis, palliative care, etc). Finally, patients along with nephrologist and their relatives can document their preferences. RESULTS Of 110 haemodialysis patients, 40 treated in our centre asked for an ACP intervention and filled-in an advance directive. Specifically, no patients required an immediate discontinuation of dialysis; nevertheless, 70% of them stated that would not like to continue with dialysis in case he/she was no longer able to self-determine (e.g. permanent loss of capacity to communicate with others). Most of patients (90%) have appointed a personal representative (usually their partner). In the eventuality of cardiac arrest, 55% of patients asked for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Pain control and palliative care was the overall most cited topic. The fear of being a burden on family members has been frequently expressed by not independent patients. Regarding the last phase of life, 75% of patients expressed the desire to stay at home, the others in hospice. CONCLUSION ACP process is very recent in Italy and not well known by patients and healthcare providers (HCPs). As a result, discussions about future treatments and care are rarely included in the clinical routine with haemodialysis patients. Training of HCPs on these issues as well as the use of procedures tailored to the Italian context for conducting ACP interventions is needed.

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Kjoelbye, Julie, Linn Andelius, Enrico Baldi, Angelo Auricchio, Marieke Blom, Martin Jonsson, Anne Juul Jørgensen, Carolina Malta Hansen, and Fredrik Folke. "Abstract 13298: Density, Coverage and Usage of Automated External Defibrillators in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Across Europe." Circulation 144, Suppl_2 (November 16, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/circ.144.suppl_2.13298.

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Introduction: Though deployment of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) is increasing rapidly, AEDs are often deployed in an un-strategic manner. Consequently, little is known about the association between AED density, AED coverage of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), and bystander defibrillation across different countries. This study aimed to investigate the differences in AED densities (AEDS/100,000 inhabitants/1,000 km2), the AED coverage of OHCAs, and bystander defibrillation across Europe. Hypothesis: AED density is directly associated with degree of bystander defibrillation across Europe. Methods: The study is a European Sudden Cardiac Arrest network towards Prevention, Education, New Effective Treatment (ESCAPE-NET) project. We included data from Ticino (Switzerland), Lombardy (Italy), and The Capital Region (Denmark) from 2019, covering over 3.7 million inhabitants. AED accessibility was defined as the AED being accessible 24/7 or not and AED coverage was defined as the OHCA being covered by an AED within 100, 250 and 500 meters. AED coverages were calculated the same way by all participants using a free software program (QGIS). Results: AED densities were: 87.3 for Ticino, 15.2 for Lombardy, and 139.4 for The Capital Region. The percentages of OHCAs covered by any AED and by 24/7 accessible AEDs are shown in Figure 1. The calculated AED density per 1% bystander defibrillation (for the percentage of OHCAs bystander defibrillated within 100, 250 and 500m of an AED) were 34.9, 17.5 and 15.6 for Ticino, 76.0, 50.7 and 38.0 for Lombardy and 19.4, 12.6 and 11.2 for The Capital Region. Conclusion: We found great variation in both AED coverage and 24/7 AED accessibility across regions, as well as marked differences in bystander defibrillation according to local AED density. Other factors like geographical differences in the regions, optimal AED placement and citizen responder programs for AED use might explain the observed differences.

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Journal articles on the topic 'Citizen's associations – Italy'

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