Epidemiology, therapy and outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma between 2010 and 2019 in Piedmont, Italy.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. It is often diagnosed at an advanced stage and therefore its prognosis remains poor with a low 5-year survival rate. HCC patients have increasingly complex and constantly changing characteristics, thus up-to-date and comprehensive data are fundamental.

The role of general practitioners in the EU: time to draw lessons from a too wide range?

Although the role played by general practitioners (GPs) is historically consolidated, continuous changes have been recently introduced in Europe because of the increasing multimorbidity and complexity of patients. Here we try to compare the roles played by GPs in the four major countries of Europe. In France GPs are self-employed medical doctors, and their remuneration consists of a payment scheme for the services provided.

Human herpes virus 8-negative effusion-based lymphoma in a patient with persistent serous effusions.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most common histologic diagnosis among the aggressive lymphomas, accounting for 30% of all lymphomas. Human herpes virus 8-negative effusion-based lymphoma (HHV8-negative EBL) is a rare form of lymphoma, under recognized and still not well characterized in the literature. In contrast to primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), HHV8-negative EBL is characterized by malignant effusion in essentially serous body cavity with no detectable contiguous tumor masses and is no associated with human immunodeficiency virus and HHV8 infections.

[The European mosaic of specialty training programmes in general practice.].

During last decades, general practice has been internationally recognized as an independent and essential medical specialization, with specific skills and tasks. This inevitably created the need to widely implement an organized specialty training programmes to allow future general practitioners to acquire all the skills and knowledge necessary to work within the world of primary care. However, this process has not led to homogeneous applications in European countries, mainly due to the profound and structural differences of each national health system.

[The European enigma of pharmaceutical pricing: still solvable?].

The attempt to regulate pharmaceutical pricing has a long tradition in Western European countries and various solutions have been experienced in recent decades to try to control public pharmaceutical spending. Nonetheless, drug prices have become increasingly out of control and unsustainable even in the richest European countries. In a situation of "market failure" such as the pharmaceutical one, in fact, two totally opposite needs collide: the main objective of the health authorities of universal access to essential drugs, versus the aim of the pharmaceutical industry to maximize turnover in order to guarantee high returns on investments.

Multidrug-Resistant Bloodstream Infections in Internal Medicine: Results from a Single-Center Study.

Objectives: Infections due to multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) are expanding globally and are associated with higher mortality rates and hospital-related costs. The objectives of this study were to analyze the trends of MDRO bacteremia and antimicrobial resistance rates in Internal Medicine wards of our hospital and to identify the variables associated with these infections.

Methods: During a 6-year period (July 1, 2011-June 30, 2017), patients with positive blood culture isolates hospitalized in the Internal Medicine wards in the Santa Croce and Carle Hospital in Cuneo, Italy, were assessed.

[What future for the pharmaceutical patenting in europe: reforming or getting rid of it?].

The covid-19 pandemic and the anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have once again brought to the fore the issue of patents in the health sector. The current European panorama on the patenting of pharmaceuticals is rather confused and difficult to understand, characterized by a precarious (dis)balance between the commercial incentives guaranteed to the industry by supply-side patents and the regulatory framework in support of public interests on the demand side. Here, we first focus on a regulatory analysis of pharmaceutical patenting and more in general on market exclusivity within the European Union, and then set out some proposals for a radical reform of European legislation.

Integrated care in Western Europe: a wise solution for the future?

Introduction: IC is a term commonly adopted across the world underpinning a positive attitude against fragmentation of healthcare service provision. While the principles supporting IC are simple, their implementation is more controversial.

Areas Covered: The growing number of IC definitions is related to the increasing domains of applications, which reflect the increasing demand induced by aging multi-morbid patients.

[Integrated care: the right way for the future?].

Integrated Care (IC) is an "umbrella" term, under which numerous definitions are collected, which implies an attempt to coordinate and integrate fragmented and piecemeal health systems with new organizational arrangements. In fact, poor coordination of care is often a major obstacle for patients who access to health services. This adds on concern to the increasing demand for health and the greater proportion of healthcare expenditure induced by aging and chronic multiple comorbidity of patients.

Integrated care: easy in theory, harder in practice?

Integrated care (IC) is a term now commonly adopted across the world, which implies a positive attitude towards addressing fragmentation of service provision inside health systems. While the principles of IC are simple, their implementation is more controversial. The ever growing number of IC definitions is related to the increasing domains of applications, which reflect the increasing demand induced by ageing multi-morbid patients.