"To Be or Not to Be" a Conscientious Objector to Voluntary Abortion: An Italian Web-Survey of Healthcare Workers.

: Conscientious objection to voluntary abortion remains a hot debate topic. This could affect the accessibility to pregnancy termination. Our aim is to evaluate the possible aspects related to an operators' choice about objection for voluntary abortion, such as the following: the abolition of the time limit, the instruction of a multi-collegiate commission, the introduction of pharmacological rather than surgical procedures, the fetal/maternal illness and the case of sexual violence.

The "Ideal Birth": The Occurrence of Severe Perineal Lacerations, Related Factors and the Possibility of Identifying Patients at Higher Risk.

Background: Obstetric lesions of the anal sphincter (OASIS) are tears intersecting the structure of the anus after vaginal delivery. Our aim is to provide data on the incidence of OASIS and investigate potentially connected risk factors.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 464 parturient patients admitted to the AOU Maggiore della Carità, Novara (Italy), in the last ten years (2013-2023), comparing 116 cases (with OASIS) versus 348 controls (with no OASIS).

Cost-utility analysis of empagliflozin for heart failure in the Philippines.

Aims: Empagliflozin confers cardioprotective benefits among patients with heart failure, across the range of ejection fraction (EF), regardless of type 2 diabetes status. The long-term cost-effectiveness of empagliflozin for the treatment of heart failure (HF) in the Philippines remains unclear. This study aims to determine the economic benefit of adding empagliflozin to the standard of care (SoC) vs the SoC alone for HF in the Philippines.

Innate-immune cell distribution in pediatric HIV patients and uninfected controls.

Innate immune cells are important players during an infection. The frequency of monocytes, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), natural killer (NK), and NKT cells were assessed in blood samples of children and adolescents living with HIV (CALHIV) and HIV-uninfected (HU) children. Blood samples from 10 CALHIV (treated or not) and six HU individuals were collected for approximately one year.