Exploring Italian healthcare facilities response to COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned from the Italian Response to COVID-19 initiative.

The COVID-19 pandemic exerted an extraordinary pressure on the Italian healthcare system (Sistema Sanitario Nazionale, SSN), determining an unprecedented health crisis. In this context, a multidisciplinary non-governmental initiative called Italian Response to COVID-19 (IRC-19) was implemented from June 2020 to August 2021 to support the Italian health system through multiple activities aimed to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. The objective of this study was to shed light on the role of NGOs in supporting the SSN during the first pandemic wave by specifically exploring: (1) the main challenges experienced by Italian hospitals and out-of-hospital care facilities and (2) the nature and extent of the IRC-19 interventions specifically implemented to support healthcare facilities, to find out if and how such interventions met healthcare facilities' perceived needs at the beginning of the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic response and its impact on post-corona health emergency and disaster risk management in Italy.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted societies, influencing countries' Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (H-EDRM) systems. By taking Italy as a case study, this research aimed to investigate the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the changes made to the existing H-EDRM system, with an emphasis on human resources, health service delivery, and logistics and the forward-looking strategies for the next health emergencies and disasters.

Methods: We performed a retrospective observational case study using qualitative methodology.

Bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells drive protective M2 microglia polarization after brain trauma.

Microglia/macrophages (M) are major contributors to postinjury inflammation, but they may also promote brain repair in response to specific environmental signals that drive classic (M1) or alternative (M2) polarization. We investigated the activation and functional changes of M in mice with traumatic brain injuries and receiving intracerebroventricular human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) or saline infusion. MSCs upregulated Ym1 and Arginase-1 mRNA (p < 0.

Obsessive-Compulsive and Post Traumatic Avoidance Symptoms Influence the Response to Antihypertensive Therapy: Relevance in Uncontrolled Hypertension.

Aim: To investigate the association of uncontrolled hypertension with psychological factors associated with high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (type D personality, depression, posttraumatic stress-related symptoms).

Methods: 205 consecutive outpatient hypertensives completed three questionnaires evaluating Type D personality (DS 16), post traumatic symptoms (revised Impact of Events Scale), symptoms of anxiety, hostility, depression and obsessive-compulsive traits (subscales of the Symptom Checklist). Uncontrolled hypertension was diagnosed when clinic sitting blood pressure was above 140/90 mmHg (130/80 in the presence of diabetes or nephropathy), despite reported adherence to treatment with at least three antihypertensive medications, including a diuretic.

Autonomic nervous system function in chronic hypotension associated with Bartter and Gitelman syndromes.

Autonomic nervous system dysfunction has a major role in the blood pressure (BP) decrease associated with orthostatic hypotension and syncope. The clinical picture of Bartter and Gitelman syndromes includes reduced extracellular fluid volume and normotension or hypotension, but no study has explored autonomic nervous system status in patients with hypotensive episodes associated with these diseases. We tested sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system function in 4 patients with Bartter and Gitelman syndromes with chronic hypotension.

[C825T polymorphism of the GNB3 gene codifying the G-protein beta3-subunit and cardiovascular risk].

Hypertension is a common disorder of multifactorial origin that constitutes a major risk factor for cardiovascular events such as stroke and myocardial infarction. The subunits of the heterotrimeric G proteins are attractive candidate gene products for both susceptibility to essential hypertension and interindividual variation in blood pressure. A polymorphism (825C/T) in exon 10 of the GNB3 gene, that encodes for the beta3 subunit, has recently been described.