Estimating Overall and Cause-Specific Excess Mortality during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Methodological Approaches Compared.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, excess mortality has been reported worldwide, but its magnitude has varied depending on methodological differences that hinder between-study comparability. Our aim was to estimate variability attributable to different methods, focusing on specific causes of death with different pre-pandemic trends. Monthly mortality figures observed in 2020 in the Veneto Region (Italy) were compared with those forecasted using: (1) 2018-2019 monthly average number of deaths; (2) 2015-2019 monthly average age-standardized mortality rates; (3) Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) models; (4) Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) models.

[Residential cohort study to assess the impact of emissions released by a cement plant on the health status of the population residing in Pederobba (Veneto Region, Northern Italy)].

Objectives: to assess the impact of a cement plant emissions on mortality, hospitalizations, and cancer incidence in the residents of the municipality of Pederobba (Veneto Region, Northern Italy).

Design: retrospective residential cohort study.

Setting And Participants: the study was conducted in Pederobba and in 7 neighbouring municipalities (Cavaso Del Tomba, Cornuda, Crocetta del Montello, Monfumo, Segusino, Valdobbiadene, Vidor).

[Effects of high temperature and air pollution on the risk of preterm births. Analysis in six Italian cities, 2001-2010].

Objectives: to evaluate the association between short term maternal exposure to high temperature and air pollution on preterm births (PBs), which represent the first cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity in developed Countries, and to identify maternal risk factors enhancing individual susceptibility.

Design: time series. SETTING E PARTICIPANTS: all singleton live-births occurred in six Italian cities between 1st April and 31st October of each year in the period 2001-2010 were identified through the Certificate of Delivery Care Registry (CedAP).

The effect of job loss on pharmaceutical prescriptions.

We estimate the effect of job loss on the probability that long-tenured workers are prescribed anti-hypertensive and psychotropic drugs. We exploit two administrative data sources from the Veneto region in Italy and estimate an event-study model. Our results indicate that the probability of drug prescription increases among under-40 males but not among older males or female workers.

Cohort profile: the Italian Network of Longitudinal Metropolitan Studies (IN-LiMeS), a multicentre cohort for socioeconomic inequalities in health monitoring.

Purpose: The Italian Network of Longitudinal Metropolitan Studies (IN-LiMeS) is a system of integrated data on health outcomes, demographic and socioeconomic information, and represents a powerful tool to study health inequalities.

Participants: IN-LiMeS is a multicentre and multipurpose pool of metropolitan population cohorts enrolled in nine Italian cities: Turin, Venice, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, Florence, Leghorn, Prato and Rome. Data come from record linkage of municipal population registries, the 2001 population census, mortality registers and hospital discharge archives.

Socioeconomic factors influencing childhood vaccination in two northern Italian regions.

Background: Infant vaccination rates have been declining in Italy over the past 5-7years. The aims of this study were to assess the trend in the proportions of children unvaccinated at 24months old, to identify sociodemographic factors associated with non-vaccination; and to examine changes in parental attitudes to vaccination over time.

Methods: We conducted a population-based birth cohort study by combining existing electronic data sets.

Ethnic inequalities in acute myocardial infarction hospitalization rates among young and middle-aged adults in Northern Italy: high risk for South Asians.

The knowledge of ethnic-specific health needs is now essential to design effective health services and population-based prevention strategies. However, data on migrant populations living in Southern Europe are limited. The study is designed to investigate ethnic inequalities in hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the Veneto region (Italy).

Antioxidant Actions of Selenium in Orbital Fibroblasts: A Basis for the Effects of Selenium in Graves' Orbitopathy.

Background: A recent clinical trial has shown a beneficial effect of the antioxidant agent selenium in Graves' orbitopathy (GO). In order to shed light on the cellular mechanisms on which selenium may act, this study investigated its effects in cultured orbital fibroblasts.

Methods: Primary cultures of orbital fibroblasts from six GO patients and six control subjects were established.

Differences in mortality by immigrant status in Italy. Results of the Italian Network of Longitudinal Metropolitan Studies.

Despite a rapid increase in immigration from low-income countries, studies on immigrants' mortality in Italy are scarce. We aimed to describe differences in all and cause-specific mortality among immigrants and Italians residing in Turin and Reggio Emilia (Northern Italy), two cities participating in the Italian Network of Longitudinal Metropolitan Studies (IN-LiMeS). We used individual data from the municipal population registers linked to the cause of death registers.

[Investigation on the health effects of traffic-related air pollution from Mestre motorway (Veneto Region, Northern Italy)].

Objectives: to evaluate whether living near motorway A57 (Mestre motorway, Veneto Region, Northern Italy) might have affected the residents' health status.

Design: longitudinal cohort study.

Setting And Participants: 148,673 residents on the mainland in the Municipality of Venice (Mestre) who never changed their residence during the follow- up period (2002-2009).

Effect of active packaging on low-sodium restructured chicken steaks.

Contributing for a healthier lifestyle, the technology of active and biodegradable packaging with antimicrobial and/or antioxidants compounds and reduced sodium intake have been increasingly applied in meat and meat products. Thus, the objective of this research was to assess the effectiveness of oregano essential oil (OEO) and potassium sorbate incorporated in packaging applied to the restructured chicken steaks with 40 % reduction in sodium chloride in frozen storage for 150 days. The composition of packaging did not influence moisture, crude protein, total lipids, ash, sodium and potassium content as well as pH evaluated on days 0 and 150.

[Health impact assessment of airport noise on people living nearby six Italian airports].

Background: aircraft noise has been associated with several health effects. Because of the great success of low-cost flights, small airports have been turned into international airports thus exposing nearby residents to an increase in noise levels and potential disturbances and health disorders.

Objective: to estimate the exposure levels and evaluate the health impact of aircraft noise on residents nearby six airports in Italy (Rome: Ciampino; Milan: Linate and Malpensa; Pisa; Turin; Venice) focusing on hypertension, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), annoyance and sleep disturbances.

Electroretinographic modifications induced by agomelatine: a novel avenue to the understanding of the claimed antidepressant effect of the drug?

Background: Agomelatine, the first melatonergic antidepressant, has been postulated to enhance the dopaminergic activity at the central nervous system by 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor type 2C (5-HT2C) antagonism, yet the impact of melatonergic agonism on this pathway is unclear. Previous studies employing simplified, yet reliable, proxy (retinal) measures of the central nervous system dopaminergic activity, namely the standard electroretinogram (ERG) technique, suggested a reduction of the dopaminergic activity of the main ERG parameter, the b-wave, by pure melatonin, notably a hormone devoid of any antidepressant activity. Therefore, the antidepressant effects of the melatonergic antidepressant drug agomelatine should be reflected by a differential b-wave trend at ERG versus the effect exerted by pure melatonin, which was eventually found to be due to a contrasting effect on central dopaminergic transmission between the two drugs.

Prognostic value of the number and laterality of metastatic inguinal lymph nodes in vulvar cancer: revisiting the FIGO staging system.

Objective: Inguinal lymph node (LN) metastasis is an important prognostic factor in vulvar cancer. Our aims were to analyze the prognostic value of LN metastasis with regard to the number of LNs that were involved and their laterality and compare these results with the current FIGO staging system.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed in a series of 234 individuals who underwent inguinal lymphadenectomy for vulvar squamous cell carcinoma from January 1980 to February 2010.

Does the count after inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy in vulvar cancer correlate with outcome?

Background: Inguinal lymph node (LN) metastasis is an important prognostic factor in vulvar cancer. Our aim was to determine the prognostic value of the number of resected LNs in inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed in a series of 158 individuals who underwent bilateral inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy for vulvar squamous cell carcinoma from January 1980 to February 2010.

Electroretinographic assessment in major depressed patients receiving duloxetine: might differences between responders and non-responders indicate a differential biological background?

Introduction: Despite intense research efforts, still too little is known about the biological determinants of depression, thus soliciting diverse study approaches. Among others, the electroretinography (ERG) has been proposed even as a putative proxy (retinal) measurement of central dopaminergic activity for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) both in drug-naïve patients and subjects receiving antidepressant treatments. Nonetheless, current evidences are merely preliminary, essentially considering just older classes of antidepressants, thus requiring confirmation studies even with newer agents as duloxetine.

Surgical implications of mesenteric lymph node metastasis from advanced ovarian cancer after bowel resection.

Background: Studies addressing mesenteric and mesocolic lymph node metastasis in patients with advanced ovarian cancer that have undergone bowel resection are lacking.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed in a series of 50 individuals who underwent surgical cytoreduction for epithelial ovarian cancer that included bowel resection from April 2004 to September 2010.

Results: Forty-one patients had bowel resection with mesenteric lymph nodes that were suitable for analysis.

Integrating health and social care in community mental health teams in the UK: a study of assessments and eligibility criteria in England.

The purpose of this cross-sectional survey was to examine the relationship between assessments and eligibility decisions made by health and social care staff in multidisciplinary community teams in England. The data were collected between December 2004 and August 2005. The study was a replication of a study that took place in the same eight locations in England before the modernization of health and social care by the present government.

Fair Access to Care Services (FACS): implementation in the mental health context of the UK.

Since April 2003, all adults requiring social care services must have an assessment to determine their eligibility, which is set within the four-level framework of Fair Access to Care Services [FACS; LAC (2002)13]. This paper examines the implementation of FACS by community mental health teams in eight sites in mental health partnership trusts, and one in a mental health and social care trust in the UK. Twenty-eight respondents (managers within trusts and social services departments) participated in in-depth qualitative interviews, which were undertaken between August 2004 and February 2005.

[Topical beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) in intestinal inflammatory diseases: the results of a multicentre trial].

The authors assessed the efficacy and tolerability of BDP in an open protocol using rectal enemas and suppositories and in a double-blind protocol vs mesalazine using rectal enemas. A total of 47 patients suffering from ulcerous rectocolitis were enrolled in the study and treated for 42 days while undergoing endoscopic, histologic and clinical controls. In conclusion, the authors affirm that BDP may represent a useful new therapeutic instrument in the treatment of slight to moderately severe forms of inflammatory intestinal disease.

Validation of a simple and inexpensive method for the quantitation of infarct in the rat brain.

A gravimetric method was evaluated as a simple, sensitive, reproducible, low-cost alternative to quantify the extent of brain infarct after occlusion of the medial cerebral artery in rats. In ether-anesthetized rats, the left medial cerebral artery was occluded for 1, 1.5 or 2 h by inserting a 4-0 nylon monofilament suture into the internal carotid artery.