Lack of implementation of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) vaccination policy in household contacts of HBV carriers in Italy.

Background: In Italy, HBV vaccination is recommended and offered free of charge through the National Health Service to selected population groups -- e.g., family members of an HBsAg carrier, healthcare workers, newborns and those who were 12-years old in 1991.

Epidemiology of viral hepatitis infections in an area of southern Italy with high incidence rates of liver cancer.

Southern Italy shows the highest rates of liver cancer for Europe, mainly related to infection with hepatitis viruses. We thus described incidence rates of liver cancer and investigated prevalence and determinants of HCV and HBV infections in 4496 individuals randomly selected from the general population of the province of Naples. 7.

Th1 and Th2 cytokines exert regulatory effects upon islet microvascular areas in the NOD mouse.

In this study, we show that intra- and peri-islet microvascular areas undergo different changes during the islet inflammation in the nonobese diabetes-prone female mice. Actually, although the islet vascular area (IVA) considerably decreases while the infiltration progresses, at 15 weeks of age, the peri-islet vascular bed is unexpectedly and significantly increased. On the contrary, the intra-IVA is significantly decreased, due to vessel dilation.