BACKGROUND: Ticks are vectors and important reservoirs for microbial agents that cause disease in humans and animals. Among these pathogens, the members of Rickettsia species play an important role in public health. AIM AND METHODS: One hundred twenty-nine ticks belonging to four tick species (Ixodes ricinus,Rhipicephalus turanicus,Dermacentor marginatus, and Haemaphysalis punctata) were collected at different sites of the Insugherata Natural Reserve, localized in the urban area of Rome, Italy. Questing ticks were tested by PCR for Rickettsia spp., amplifying partial gene of ompA. RESULTS: Forty-six ticks were found to be infected with Rickettsia species. Five SFG rickettsiae were identified: three human pathogens Rickettsia conorii, Rickettsia massiliae and Rickettsia aeschlimannii, and two putative new strains Rickettsia sp. strain RM1 and Rickettsia sp. strain RM2. The phylogenetic analysis of partial gene sequences of ompA, gltA, and 17-kd antigen showed that they clustered with several rickettsiae with unidentified pathogenicity. However, Rickettsia sp. strain RM1 and Rickettsia sp. strain RM2 clustered in a statistically supported clade with R. massiliae, and R. monacensis, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that Rickettsia species other than R. conorii are implicated in human disease in Italy.

BACKGROUND: Polyphenols from olive are known to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. AIM: The aim of this study was to study whether or not 10 consecutive days i.p. administration of a blend of olive (Olea europaea L.) polyphenols (10 mg/kg) containing mostly hydroxytyrosol could have an effect on cytokines playing important roles in inflammatory processes as TNF-α and IL-10. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Inflammation was induced in the mouse paw by 2 carrageenan injections (50 5l vol, 5 mg/kg each). TNF-α and IL-10 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Carrageenan decreased IL-10 in the paws, however, this reduction appeared to be less evident in mice treated with carrageenan but administered with polyphenols. As for TNF-α, our findings did not reveal differences between groups but an increase in the polyphenol and carrageenan group if compared to the carrageenan only group. As for antioxidant polyphenols' properties, no differences between groups in the serum glutathione were found. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, this investigation shows that olive polyphenols in the mouse may modulate the levels of cytokines having a role in the process of inflammation as TNF-α and IL-10.

INTRODUCTION: Visual performance of eyes with congenital pathologies is conditioned by an early diagnosis. Families having problems in accessing health services risk to delay or miss both an early diagnosis and an early treatment and amblyopia (lazy eye) prevention. METHODS: In our hospital, all full-term, healthy newborns are thoroughly examined by an ophthalmologist in the maternal ward, 1 to 3 days after birth. RESULTS: Among the first 5000 newborns examined, a high incidence of congenital pathologies compared to international literature was reported, with differences between Caucasians and non-Caucasians. CONCLUSION: Performing an early in-hospital thorough eye examination in all newborns as a screening would be an effective way to miss none and to start an early and effective pathway of disease treatment.

The Italian Dementia National Plan was formulated in October 2014 by the Italian Ministry of Health in close cooperation with the regions, the National Institute of Health and the three major national associations of patients and carers. The main purpose of this strategy was to provide directive indications for promoting and improving interventions in the dementia field, not limiting to specialist and therapeutic actions, but particularly focusing on the support of patients and families throughout the pathways of care. Four main objectives are indicated: 1) promote health- and social-care interventions and policies; 2) create/strengthen the integrated network of services for dementia based on an integrated approach; 3) implement strategies for promoting appropriateness and quality of care; and 4) improve the quality of life of persons with dementia and their families by supporting empowerment and stigma reduction. These objectives and the pertaining actions are described in the present paper.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this investigation is to estimate the incidence rates of upper extremity injuries and to give an overview of the most frequent diagnoses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two population databases were queried for all injuries in the upper extremities, the SINIACA-IDB (S-IDB: Emergency Department Injury Database in Italy) and the Hospital Discharge Register (HDR). The diagnoses codes of hand trauma were selected from both databases in order to estimate the national incidence rate. RESULTS: According to the S-IDB data of year 2011, total 1 479 510 ED attendances per year in Italy were estimated with an upper extremity injury (incidence rate: 2491 per 100 000 persons/year). About 880 816 Emergency Department (ED) attendances per year are due to hand injuries, while over 653 336 attendances per year concern arm injuries. The incidence rates are 1483 and 1100 per 100 000 person/year respectively. About 201 940 hospitalizations are observed in the HDR because of upper extremity injuries (incidence rate: 340 per 100 000 persons/year). Males have higher incidence rate (387 vs 280 per 100 000 persons per year). The trend in the incidence rates for the age group of inpatients shows two peaks: at age 12 (400 cases per 100 000 persons/year), and in the older age groups (700 cases per 100 000 persons/year).

BACKGROUND: Migrants have problematic access to health-care; non-institutional organizations (NGOs), as well as institutional bodies may play a role in facilitating their access to mainstream health care. AIM: Our research reviews actions that address the need of migrants in terms of health care in order to understand how, where, and who participates in this effort. METHOD: Data were from desk or web research, declaration from organisations and their websites, information from WHO Country Offices. RESULTS: 154 NGOs were identified in the WHO European Region. 58% were direct health care providers while the remaining provided either mediation services or were part of a network organization. 173 national institutes (GOVs) were found; less than the 20% were directly or indirectly involved in health care, whereas the majority were involved in research, policy development, international relations and human rights. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: Some gaps, a certain fragmentation and lack of coordination were identified. WHO can play an overarching role in the exchange of expertise and harmonisation of the efforts in this field.

In an article in The Boston Globe, Steven Pinker holds that the primary moral good of bioethics should be to "get out of the way". The accusation that bioethics is an obstacle to research because it calls attention to basic principles such as personal dignity and justice is clearly contradicted by the facts. There are, nonetheless, other ways in which bioethics can stand in the way of science, two of which, bureaucratisation and the loss of cultural vivacity, are worth addressing. Ethics committees provide a framework for evaluating problems and determining an appropriate course of action.

OBJECTIVE: To assess nurses' knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) towards spontaneous adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reporting. METHODS: The mixed-method study was conducted following a quanti-qualitative sequential approach: a survey (using a KAP questionnaire) followed by a focus group was performed. RESULTS: In the quantitative findings, responders (570 hospital nurses) declared that they were unaware of the pharmacovigilance system (58.1%, n = 331); where to find the reporting form (63.5%, n = 362); how fill it in (71.6%, n = 408); to whom and how to send it (65.8%, n = 375). Only 11.1% (n = 63) reported ADRs. The qualitative phase supported the quantitative findings and provided new information about other factors that condition ADR reporting: misinterpretation of the meaning of "reporting", unawareness of nurses' autonomy in ADR reporting and fear of consequences after ADR reporting. CONCLUSION: Nurses are not fully aware of their role in ADR reporting. We recommend educational interventions and management changes.

The present pilot study aims at analyzing the human activity of playing in the light of an indicator of human ecology (HE). We highlighted the four essential anthropological dimensions (FEAD), starting from the analysis of questionnaires administered to actual gamers. The coherence between theoretical construct and observational data is a remarkable proof-of-concept of the possibility of establishing an experimentally motivated link between a philosophical construct (coming from Huizinga's Homo ludens definition) and actual gamers' motivation pattern. The starting hypothesis is that the activity of playing becomes ecological (and thus not harmful) when it achieves the harmony between the FEAD, thus realizing HE; conversely, it becomes at risk of creating some form of addiction, when destroying FEAD balance. We analyzed the data by means of variable clustering (oblique principal components) so to experimentally verify the existence of the hypothesized dimensions. The subsequent projection of statistical units (gamers) on the orthogonal space spanned by principal components allowed us to generate a meaningful, albeit preliminary, clusterization of gamer profiles.

Deposition monitoring, already in use by government control organizations of various countries, contributes to an important increase in experimental knowledge on pollutant deposition fluxes, on their environmental fate and on the possible effects on human health. At the European level, the necessity to consider with extreme attention the environmental contamination due to deposition, has brought to adopt a series of legislative measures and recommendations; this has contributed to set up environmental surveillance systems and monitoring campaigns for a series of pollutants which may accumulate in the environment as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and for metals. More recently, with DL.vo 155/2010, the necessity to consider, in the development of monitoring stations, the possibility to detect also data on deposition rates which represent a non-direct exposure of the population through the food chain. For sampling the Decree considers only two types of depositions: for total deposition (bulk and Bergerhoff) and wet only deposition.

OBJECTIVE: To describe dietary habits and related geographic and socio-demographic characteristics among children aged 8-9 years in Italy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from the 2012 national nutritional surveillance system collected from children, parents and teachers, have been linked to determine the children's eating habits. Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the association between incorrect dietary habits and their potential predictors. RESULTS: Of the 46 307 children, 8.6% skipped breakfast, 48.8% did not eat vegetables and 28.7% did not eat fruit daily, 64.8% ate an abundant mid-morning snack, 41.4% drank sugary beverages and 12.5% drank carbonated beverages at least once a day. Three or more incorrect habits were found in 43.9% of the children. Incorrect dietary habits were more common among children with lower socio-economic conditions, who were resident in the South of the country and who spent more time watching TV. CONCLUSION: In Italy, unhealthy dietary habits are common among children. The deficiencies identified may well be a harbinger of future public health problems.

INTRODUCTION: The study aims to investigate the change in the burden of disease and the microbiological characteristics of Invasive Meningococcal Disease (IMD) in Puglia in comparison with overall incidence from 1994 through 2014. METHODS: Data are gathered in the frame of the National Surveillance System coordinated by the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) of the Istituto Superiore di Sanit`. RESULTS: In Puglia, from 1994 through 2014, the average incidence of IMD was 0.2 per 100 000 inhabitants, below the national average value (0.33). IMD cases tended to be older than the other cases reported in Italy (median age 19 vs 16). The case-fatality rate was 20.4% in Puglia vs 13.3% in Italy. Serogroups B and C were most frequently identified. Serogroups C and Y presented a fairly clonal pattern, whereas serogroup B was genetically rather heterogeneous. CONCLUSION: Surveillance systems are critical in monitoring any change in the epidemiology of IMD.