Evaluating Red Blood Cells' Membrane Fluidity in Diabetes: Insights, Mechanisms, and Future Aspects.

Aims: This review evaluates the mechanisms underlying red blood cell (RBC) membrane fluidity changes in diabetes mellitus (DM) and explores strategies to assess and address these alterations. Emphasis is placed on developing a comprehensive index for membrane fluidity to improve monitoring and management in diabetic patients.

Materials And Methods: We reviewed current literature on RBC membrane fluidity, focussing on lipid composition, glycation, oxidative stress, and lipid transport alterations in diabetic patients.

Prevalence and spectrum of germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 in a cohort of ovarian cancer patients from the Salento peninsula (Southern Italy): a matter of preventive health.

Objectives: The aim of this exploratory, descriptive study was to characterize the deleterious BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants evaluated by genetic testing in a group of Ovarian cancer patients living in the Salento peninsula (Southern Italy).

Methods: From June 2014 to July 2023, patients with histologically confirmed high-grade serous carcinoma, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who were referred to Lecce Familial Cancer Clinic were considered. BRCA-mutation genetic testing was performed on these patients.

Insulin pump treatment vs. multiple daily insulin injections in patients with poorly controlled Type 2 diabetes mellitus: a comparison of cardiovascular effects.

Aims: Both hyperglycaemia and large glycaemic variability are associated with worse outcomes in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), possibly causing sympatho-vagal imbalance and endothelial dysfunction. Continuous subcutaneous insulin injection (CSII) improves glycemic control compared to multiple daily insulin injections (MDI). We aimed to assess whether CSII may improve cardiac autonomic and vascular dilation function compared to MDI.

Gambling and internet addiction: a pilot study among a Population of Italian Healthcare : Gambling and Internet Addition in a Healthcare Group.

Aim: Measuring the phenomenon of gambling and Internet addiction, with analysis of attitudes and psychophysical consequences among nurses working in different care settings.

Methods: An observational, cross sectional, multicenter study was conducted from April to September 2020. Participants' socio-demographic information, the "Internet Addiction Test" (IAT) scale, and the "South Oaks Gambling Screen" (SOGS) were collected in order to assess the overuse of and whether an individual has a problematic relationship with gambling, respectively.

Effects of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) on lung microbiota and local immune response in long-term treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): utility of titration and therapeutic index.

Administration of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) is one of the most controversial issues in the treatment of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Associations between these drugs and increased incidence of severe pneumonia and other respiratory infections have already been reported in literature, as well as effects on the immune system and on the lung microbiota. ICS vary in their pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties, despite being widely considered therapeutically similar.

COVID-19 IgG/IgM patterns, early IL-6 elevation and long-term radiological sequelae in 75 patients hospitalized due to interstitial pneumonia followed up from 3 to 12 months.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic resulted in about 165 million infections and 3.4 million deaths all over the world across 15 months. The most severe clinical presentation of COVID-19 diseases is interstitial pneumonia.

Heat waves and adaptation strategies in a mediterranean urban context.

Background: Heat waves can be considered as an emerging challenge among the potential health risks generated by urbanization and climate changes. Heat waves are becoming more frequent, long and intense, and can be defined as meteorological extreme events consisting in prolonged time of extremely high temperatures in a particular region. The following paper addresses health threats due to heat waves presenting the case study of Lecce, a city located in Southern Italy; the Mediterranean area is already recognized in international literature as a hot-spot for climate changes.

Potential role of particulate matter in the spreading of COVID-19 in Northern Italy: first observational study based on initial epidemic diffusion.

Objectives: A number of studies have shown that the airborne transmission route could spread some viruses over a distance of 2 meters from an infected person. An epidemic model based only on respiratory droplets and close contact could not fully explain the regional differences in the spread of COVID-19 in Italy. On March 16th 2020, we presented a position paper proposing a research hypothesis concerning the association between higher mortality rates due to COVID-19 observed in Northern Italy and average concentrations of PM exceeding a daily limit of 50 µg/m.

An Approach to Diabetic Ketoacidosis in an Emergency Setting.

Background: Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) is one of the most commonly encountered diabetic complication emergencies. It typically affects people with type 1 diabetes at the onset of the disease. It can also affect people with type 2 diabetes, although this is uncommon.

Ivermectin, antiviral properties and COVID-19: a possible new mechanism of action.

Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug that has shown also an effective pharmacological activity towards various infective agents, including viruses. This paper proposes an alternative mechanism of action for this drug that makes it capable of having an antiviral action, also against the novel coronavirus, in addition to the processes already reported in literature.

Water Quality Assessment: A Quali-Quantitative Method for Evaluation of Environmental Pressures Potentially Impacting on Groundwater, Developed under the M.I.N.O.Re. Project.

At global level, the vulnerability of aquifers is deteriorating at an alarming rate due to environmental pollution and intensive human activities. In this context, Local Health Authority ASL Lecce has launched the M.I.

Updated incidence and costs of hip fractures in elderly Italian population.

Purpose: We aimed at updating our previous researches about the burden of hip fractures in elderly Italian population.

Methods: We analyzed national hospitalizations records from 2000 to 2014 to compute age- and sex-specific standardized rates.

Results: 1,335,375 hospitalizations were recorded in people ≥ 65 (1,031,816 women: 77.

Air Pollution and Estimated Health Costs Related to Road Transportations of Goods in Italy: A First Healthcare Burden Assessment.

: The Italian Society of Environmental Medicine has performed a preliminary assessment of the health impact attributable to road freight traffic in Italy. : We estimated fine particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) generated by road transportation of goods in Italy considering the number of trucks, the emission factors and the average annual distance covered in the year 2016.

Incidence and costs of hip fractures in elderly Italian population: first regional-based assessment.

Unlabelled: We analyzed for the first-time hospitalizations and costs for hip fractures in the elderly Italian population at the regional level from 2007 to 2014. The number of fractures and the overall costs increased, mainly due to people aged > 85 in all the Italian regions, although at different rates.

Objective: We aimed at evaluating the burden of hip fractures in elderly Italian population at the regional level.