Integrated Climate Change Mitigation and Public Health Protection Strategies: The Case of the City of Bologna, Italy.

Introduction: The ongoing process of global warming, driven by the escalating concentration of greenhouse gases generated by human activities, especially in urban areas, significantly impacts public health. Local authorities play an important role in health promotion and disease prevention, and some aim to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. There is a consistent action underway to reach this goal, hence the need for mapping and implementing effective strategies and regulations.

Benchmarking Relevance for Hospital Design and Planning: An International Web-Based Survey.

Objective: The study aims to investigate what design practitioners and healthcare facility managers deem as important benchmarking metrics worldwide, investigating country differences in benchmarking usage and which metrics are prioritized.

Background: Benchmarking is a regular practice in the healthcare sector, both for clinical and managerial aspects to compare, measure, and improve standardized processes. However, limited knowledge is available about benchmarking procedures in hospital planning, design, and construction.

New Requirements for post-COVID-19 Hospital Inpatient Wards: Evidence, Design Recommendations and Assessment Tools.

Background: The evolution of hospital infrastructures highlights the need of its physical space to respond to new technological, societal and epidemiological transformations such as those following the COVID-19 pandemic experience. Although the new emerged needs of user-centeredness, comfort and wellbeing within specific functional areas, there is still a lack of measurable indications for addressing these challenges in-patient wards.

Study Design: The objective of this study is therefore to provide specific guidelines for the design of the in-patient ward, through measurable criteria and indicators based on evidence from the scientific literature, and to develop an assessment tool for its evaluation.

Evaluation of stakeholder opinion about Long Term Care Facilities for People with Dementia perceived quality: a web-based survey in the Italian context.

Background And Aim: Italy is a country where the percentage of elderly population is very high (23% over 65). The aim of the investigation is to bring out which aspects of the spaces intended to accommodate elderly People with Dementia pathologies should be most present and potentially interested in becoming cornerstones of a new model of Long-Term Care facilities (LTC).

Methods: This research uses a case studies analysis followed by a web based survey as methodological tools.

Built environment impact on people with dementia (PwD) health and well-being outcomes: a systematic review of the literature.

Background And Aim: The number of People with Dementia (PwD) is rising worldwide and represents a complex figure because of the changes in the cognitive sphere, altering perceptions of the Built Environment (BE). Even though the role of the built environment in the health and well-being of people it's nowadays well known, few studies analyze and evaluate the impact of specific Architectural Features. To this end, this contribution provides a systematic review that will underline the impacts of BE on the Health and Well-being of PwD and set a matrix of the relationship with measurable outcomes.

Application of an evaluation tool for mega-hospital site sustainability. Assessment of public private partnership large sized healthcare infrastructures in European context.

Background And Aim: Healthcare facilities are large and complex infrastructures designed to respond to a growing need of sanitary services in specialized environments to serve an increasing population number while containing costs. New financial and design models emerged for large sized Hospital -Facilities (Mega-hospitals) but their site sustainability is questioned.

Methods: The paper focuses on a comparison -between European region case studies of Public Private Partnership (PPP) Mega-Hospitals.

Green space in hospital built environment. A literature review about therapeutic gardens in acute care healthcare settings before Covid-19.

Background and aim Hospital facilities are one of the most stressful environments and there is evidence that during Covid-19 having outdoor and green spaces helped medical staff and nurses to decrease the stress and anxiety level. Nevertheless, knowledge about the type of green space is limited. The aim of the study is to systematize the existing scientific literature on the topic in a specific time period.

Covid-19 emergency management and preparedness in cross-border territories. Collection of experiences, needs and public health strategies in the framework of interreg GESTI.S.CO. project.

Background And Aim: The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted management difficulties in neighboring territories. The aim of the paper is to report the needs of different stakeholders during, before and after Covid-19 emergency with specific regard to challenges faced by public administrators in confined territories.

Methods: In the framework of Interreg GESTI.

Health and well-being key performance indicators in corporate sustainability disclosure. A review of sustainability reports from a sample of major European companies.

Background And Aim: Health and Well-Being (HWB) measurement represents a key issue for companies in all sectors and a core element of social sustainability, according to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite its importance for companies and in sustainability reporting, the topic has not been investigated yet from a cross-sectoral perspective. Therefore, this research aims to assess if health and well-being are disclosed in sustainability reports of the largest European companies.

The Dark Side of Artificial Intelligence: The Possible Risk of Falsifying Images for Scientific Articles.

This article explores the potential risks associated with using artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images in the field of microscopy. It discusses the current state-of-the-art AI-based image-generation techniques and their limitations. It investigates the potential risks associated with the illegal use of AI-generated images, including their use in creating falsified scientific data and the consequences of such misuse.

Lessons from the first wave of COVID-19 in Italy: A collection of design strategies to face pandemic situations in healthcare facilities.

Objectives: This study aims to provide metadesign indications for the improvement of healthcare facilities, emphasizing the role of spatial design in the management of epidemic health emergencies.

Study Design: A parallel mixed-method study including literature reviews, survey creation, and survey distribution was performed.

Methods: Data were collected between August and October 2020 capturing information related to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, utilizing a review of existing literature, a comparison of existing hospital planning guidelines and assessment tools, and distribution of a survey to analyze design changes within selected Italian hospitals.

Methodologies for Scalable Production of High-Quality Purified Small Extracellular Vesicles from Conditioned Medium.

The development of an extracellular vesicles (EV)-based therapeutic product requires the implementation of reproducible and scalable, purification protocols for clinical-grade EV. Commonly used isolation methods including ultracentrifugation, density gradient centrifugation, size exclusion chromatography, and polymer-based precipitation, faced limitations such as yield efficiency, EV purity, and sample volume. We developed a GMP-compatible method for the scalable production, concentration, and isolation of EV through a strategy involving, tangential flow filtration (TFF).

Effect of Housing Quality on the Mental Health of University Students during the COVID-19 Lockdown.

COVID-19 outbreak imposed rapid and severe public policies that consistently impacted the lifestyle habits and mental health of the general population. Despite vaccination, lockdown restrictions are still considered as potential measures to contrast COVID-19 variants spread in several countries. Recent studies have highlighted the impacts of lockdowns on the population's mental health; however, the role of the indoor housing environment where people spent most of their time has rarely been considered.

Lessons from the first wave of COVID-19 in Italy: A collection of design strategies to face pandemic situations in healthcare facilities.

Objectives: This study aims to provide metadesign indications for the improvement of healthcare facilities, emphasizing the role of spatial design in the management of epidemic health emergencies.

Study Design: A parallel mixed-method study including literature reviews, survey creation, and survey distribution was performed.

Methods: Data were collected between August and October 2020 capturing information related to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, utilizing a review of existing literature, a comparison of existing hospital planning guidelines and assessment tools, and distribution of a survey to analyze design changes within selected Italian hospitals.

Flexibility during the COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Healthcare Facility Assessment Tools for Resilient Evaluation.

Healthcare facilities are facing huge challenges due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Around the world, national healthcare contingency plans have struggled to cope with the population health impact of COVID-19, with healthcare facilities and critical care systems buckling under the extraordinary pressures. COVID-19 has starkly highlighted the lack of reliable operational tools for assessing the level sof flexibility of a hospital building to support strategic and agile decision making.

Covid-19 Massive Vaccination Center Layouts.

Background And Aim Of The Work: The rapid evolution of Covid-19 and the availability of numerous vaccines led countries to set up Massive Vaccination campaign in a very short time. Since December 2020, due to the lack of specific guidelines, multidisciplinary groups started to investigate the minimum requirements for Massive Vaccination Centers (MVC). The aim of the paper is to shed light on the process of development of a scalable model for MVC layout design and implementation.

Hospital Construction Cost Affecting Their Lifecycle: An Italian Overview.

The need for 24/7 operation, and the increasing requests of high-quality healthcare services contribute to framing healthcare facilities as a complex topic, also due to the changing and challenging environment and huge impact on the community. Due to its complexity, it is difficult to properly estimate the construction cost in a preliminary phase where easy-to-use parameters are often necessary. Therefore, this paper aims to provide an overview of the issue with reference to the Italian context and proposes an estimation framework for analyzing hospital facilities' construction cost.

Functionalized Scintillating Nanotubes for Simultaneous Radio- and Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer.

As a model radio-photodynamic therapy (RPDT) agent, we developed a multicomponent nanomaterial by anchoring conjugated chromophores on the surface of scintillating chrysotile nanotubes. Its ultimate composition makes the system a scintillation-activated photosensitizer for the singlet oxygen production. This nanomaterial shows a remarkable ability to enhance the production of singlet oxygen in an aqueous environment, under X-ray irradiation, boosting its production by almost 1 order of magnitude.

Shotgun Proteomics of Isolated Urinary Extracellular Vesicles for Investigating Respiratory Impedance in Healthy Preschoolers.

Urine proteomic applications in children suggested their potential in discriminating between healthy subjects from those with respiratory diseases. The aim of the current study was to combine protein fractionation, by urinary extracellular vesicle isolation, and proteomics analysis in order to establish whether different patterns of respiratory impedance in healthy preschoolers can be characterized from a protein fingerprint. Twenty-one 3-5-yr-old healthy children, representative of 66 recruited subjects, were selected: 12 late preterm (LP) and 9 full-term (T) born.

Hospital Architecture in Spain and Italy: Gaps Between Education and Practice.

Aim: The research sheds light on the challenges and limitations of Spanish and Italian hospital design by looking at the gaps between education and practice.

Background: Hospital design plays an important role in providing high-quality and cost-effective facilities for any healthcare system. Spain and Italy face contemporary challenges (i.

GMP-Grade Methods for Cardiac Progenitor Cells: Cell Bank Production and Quality Control.

Cardiac explant-derived cells (cEDC), also referred as cardiac progenitors cells (CPC) (Barile et al., Cardiovasc Res 103(4):530-541, 2014; Barile et al., Cardiovasc Res 114(7):992-1005, 2018), represent promising candidates for the development of cell-based therapies, a novel and interesting treatment for cardioprotective strategy in heart failure (Kreke et al.

COVID-19 Lockdown: Housing Built Environment's Effects on Mental Health.

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic on 11 March, severe lockdown measures have been adopted by the Italian Government. For over two months of stay-at-home orders, houses became the only place where people slept, ate, worked, practiced sports, and socialized. As consolidated evidence exists on housing as a determinant of health, it is of great interest to explore the impact that COVID-19 response-related lockdown measures have had on mental health and well-being.

COVID-19 and Healthcare Facilities: a Decalogue of Design Strategies for Resilient Hospitals.

Background And Aim: The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the global healthcare systems. The surge in infections and sick critically ill patients has tested the resilience of healthcare infrastructures and facilities forcing organizations to quickly adapt and embrace emergency solutions. The paper proposes a decalogue of design strategies applicable both to new hospitals and to the refurbishment of existing hospitals.